Chapter 2410

The Bear King roared a few times to stop them, but the usually obedient demon horde, normally more docile than dogs, now turned a deaf ear, each going their own way. After its roar, it felt a chill in its nostrils, sneezed, and for some reason, the more it looked at the little stone figure on its shoulder, the more displeasing it became, with old grudges of being scolded and punished by the Earth Mother welling up from its heart.

The Earth Mother glanced sideways at it: "What, you want to go mad too?"

When the Earth Mother changed expression, the Bear King felt a chill in its heart, as if icy water had been poured over its head, and that frenzied impulse was suppressed.

It had profound cultivation and had long been immersed in the Earth Mother's dignity, so it had not yet completely lost its mind.

But many demons had gone mad, launching indiscriminate attacks on nearby companions. In such a narrow area, this chaos hindered the Earth Mother's offensive.

"What exactly is causing this?" The little stone figure tilted its head, the light in its eyes turning black, and the scene before it instantly darkened, while all living beings in its sight turned red and orange.

Subsequently, the Earth Mother's avatar saw grayish-white things floating in the air—some legless like maggots, some with too many legs like centipedes, some scuttling sideways like crabs, and others like small skeletons, but skin and bones.

They flew in the air and drilled into the seven orifices of the demons. Once inside, the demon would mostly go mad.

What is this thing? Why does it look somewhat familiar? And the naked eye cannot see it, but fortunately the Earth Mother has some special divine abilities.

It casually cast two spells, but they passed straight through the bodies of these things, causing no harm whatsoever.

The stone figure tilted its head, concentrating hard in thought.

A foreign object that could drive demons mad and was unaffected by ordinary divine abilities.

The Wolf King repelled two frenzied gray wolves, then suddenly spoke: "The two humans from Heishuicheng said that Longpan Desert used to have a windy season every year, and besides the strong winds, ordinary people who entered the desert would go mad and die."

"Three Corpse Worms!" The Earth Mother understood. Those two captives had also mentioned that when Sun Fuping brought them into Longpan Desert, they had to take calming and restorative medicine to resist the invasion of the Three Corpse Worms. This thing is also a kind of heart demon, but demons are unfamiliar with it.

Once their true nature was identified, the next step became easy. The stone figure produced a translucent jade bottle, plucked a leaf from its body, dropped it in, and stirred it, whereupon the leaf became coated with dew.

It said to the Bear King:

"Blow!"

The Bear King let out a roar, and a massive airflow burst from its chest, blowing the dew on the leaf into a pale green thin mist that drifted forward.

A strange sight appeared: any demon enveloped by the mist saw the red light in its eyes instantly dim, and its violent attack slowed down.

After a few more breaths, they ceased movement, staring at each other.

Their consciousness returned, each looking dazed, unaware of what had just happened.

And in the stone figure's eyes, the thin mist fumigated the Three Corpse Worms out of the demons' seven orifices, causing them to flee in all directions, vanishing in an instant.

This was the dew it usually collected from the Wind-Dew Golden Lotus—unexpectedly useful here.

Although the Earth Mother's countermeasure was timely, the demon army had already suffered casualties, with many dead and wounded.

"Hurry, keep moving forward!"

Fortunately, the Earth Mother's deterrent power over the demons was strong, and the demon army soon recovered from the chaos and continued forward.

The two large stone balls rolling at the front had nearly reached their destination. The Earth Mother also noticed that this passage was actually not long, and after walking another ten or so zhang, they could return to the surface.

However, after the demon army advanced another three or two zhang, several demons felt their feet go soft, as if they had stepped on something they shouldn't have.

"Trap——" They were also alert, immediately raising their voices to signal.

But before the word "pit" could be spoken, sudden ghostly wails and wolf howls exploded from within the tunnel.

It was genuine ghostly wailing and wolf howling—mournful, loud, and piercing!

This tunnel had originally been quite quiet, shifting suddenly from extreme silence to extreme noise, and the explosion right by the ears left many demons dizzy and headachy.

Moreover, the tunnel was a relatively enclosed space, so the sound could not escape, but instead reflected off the rock walls, becoming surround sound that doubled the stimulation of the eardrums.

The person who set this trap was also vicious, having specially used divine abilities to amplify its sound effect.

Some demons with exceptionally keen hearing collapsed on the spot—mild cases fainted, severe ones died, with blood flowing from their ears.

"Ghost Silk Dolls!" Several demon officers and leaders rushed forward, pulling out over a dozen radish-like things from the ground, and snapped them in half on the spot.

A disturbance a hundred times sharper than a baby's cry—only then did it subside.

But many demons frantically shook their heads, still suffering from tinnitus, as if the wailing still lingered in their ears, unable to fade away.

The Ghost Silk Dolls were not originally that terrifying, but placed in this enclosed tunnel, their twofold power produced a sixfold effect.

They emerged from the dark chamber, had only walked five zhang when they encountered two ambushes, resulting in casualties. The remaining passage was still ten zhang long—who knew what surprises the enemy had prepared for them? Even those few pig demons felt a bit hesitant, unwilling to step forward.

They were only thick-skinned, not immune to sonic attacks.

"Enough! All of you, get lost!" The Earth Mother's avatar looked at their sluggish, dying appearance, furious beyond bearing, and shouted, "We'll break through upward!"

Having said that, it jumped off the Bear King's shoulder, and its body began to emit black light.

The Earth Mother is about to act! The demons, very experienced, upon seeing this, desperately retreated, even if the place was narrow, they made space for the Earth Mother's avatar to withdraw two zhang or so.

Then they dropped to their knees, all lying flat on the ground. Those too close to the Earth Mother could only hope for the best.

The Earth Mother's form began to grow larger, larger, larger!

When it was still a palm-sized pocket stone figure, it still had a touch of cuteness. But after being enlarged thousands of times, only horror remained.

A few demons nearby, unable to dodge, were crushed into meat patties by it.

The soil and rock layers here were extraordinarily hard, and as the Earth Mother's avatar attempted to break upward, it also felt stubborn resistance.

But almost no rock layer could withstand its power—the Earth Mother let out a roar and thrust upward violently—

With a crackling boom, the ground was arched open by it.

It relied solely on its own strength to carve out a huge skylight between the passage and the surface.

Of course, the most direct consequence of this was that the upper soil and rock layers collapsed, causing the tunnel to cave in and burying the entire demon army.

However, demon bodies are not as fragile as ordinary humans', so after just a dozen or so breaths, the rubble heap began to stir, and demons popped their heads out from below, starting to climb upward.

The Earth Mother's avatar was the first to emerge, surveying the surroundings.

As the final major boss of this operation, it should not have personally intervened so soon—not for show, but because its strength should be reserved for emergencies or formidable opponents.