Chapter 2443

The wind still carried a briny, wild scent—the unique smell of damp underground.

Mingke Xianren pulled a paper flower from his bosom, tossed it forward, and it hovered in midair, its color shifting from white to deep black.

He saw his face change slightly: "Such strong demonic aura."

But the paper flower's petals slowly opened, unfurled to full bloom, then gradually closed again.

Then opened again, closed again...

Though slow, it was very rhythmic.

Mingke Xianren watched for a while and asked, "Does this resemble the beating of a heart?"

He Lingchuan naturally knew what he meant: "Does a stone person's heart also beat like this?"

"No, this is merely a fluctuation of demonic power." Mingke Xianren said, "My paper flower is extremely sensitive to demonic power and can detect its faintest changes."

He turned and glanced at He Lingchuan: "Shall we go down?"

Earlier, Shangguan Biao had entered the underground from here. That protruding white stone on the surface matched Mingke Xianren's memory. Could their target truly be inside this stone nest?

"The menial workers of Changfeng Valley regularly come down to clean the nest, indicating this place is usually unoccupied and harmless. But to be safe, let's first probe the way with divine arts." Having said that, He Lingchuan took out a red hazelnut and tossed it into the earth fissure.

This was a pathfinding tool refined by Fuli Shan, distinguished by color for different uses. He Lingchuan found it useful and took it for himself, slipping it into his pocket.

The hazelnut sprouted legs upon landing, its body swelling to the size of a chicken egg, chirping as it rolled along the fissure into the depths.

The three stood on the surface, still able to hear the distant echoes of the hazelnut dolls from below.

They rolled with great speed, bickering and arguing as they went, never idle.

He Lingchuan also explained to Mingke Xianren: "If there's no danger below, they'll return later to report to their master."

"I know." This petty trick, Mingke Xianren also had several like it up his sleeve.

"But they also have a little surprise on them—"

He Lingchuan deliberately drew out his words, then suddenly barked in a low voice:

"Dodge!"

As he exhaled and shouted, he lunged sideways.

He moved, and Zhu Xiuer followed without hesitation, leaping up as well.

Mingke Xianren startled, but having entered the Secret Realm, he had constantly held his true power at the ready, so he lost no time and flashed to the side.

Then, a tremendous roar came from the earth fissure!

Boom—boom—boom, chained explosions.

One blast, over a dozen echoes.

Violent gales surged out from the fissure; had He Lingchuan and the others not dodged in time, they'd surely be sprayed head to toe.

Besides pathfinding, those hazelnut dolls also had explosive tempers—don't let their small size fool you; when they detonate against each other, their power can stack.

Over and over, they surpass even mountain-moving explosives in ferocity.

Mingke Xianren, ever sharp-eyed, noticed the hazelnut dolls' explosions produced not just stone fragments, but also oily green liquid and soft, dark, unidentified substances!

Something's wrong.

At the instant after the explosion, the ground leapt up.

Not a figure of speech—the vast "earth fissure" truly sprang up, lunging at the three!

Seeing this, Zhu Xiuer's leg hairs stood on end.

As the "earth fissure" left the ground, it shed its disguise, and only then did everyone see clearly: this was no earth fissure, but plainly a vast abyssal maw!

Only a normal creature's mouth has curvature; its shape would not be this irregular.

Only from the side could one see its true face—

This irregular maw took up half the total volume, while the head's rear body was utterly flat and plank-like, as if brutally squeezed between doors.

Zhu Xiuer cried out: "Stone anglerfish!"

Earlier, Shangguan Biao had entered here and even swept below for half a day; the three instinctively thought his path should be safer, so they'd likely choose to retrace their steps downward.

The Secret Realm's master exploited this psychology, placing a monster over the true fissure to make this place appear lifelike.

If the three went down, they'd walk straight into the fish's belly—walking into a dead end.

This creature is called the stone anglerfish; its ambush method resembles that of its deep-sea relatives, only the setting has shifted to rugged land. It usually just squats on the ground, and as nearby prey walks by, it draws them near its vast maw.

However, the living stone anglerfish is not this large—this is a remodeled Secret Realm monster by Shangguan Biao.

Though the three had already leapt clear, when the stone anglerfish opened its maw, its shadow still blanketed the three prey.

Mingke Xianren swept his whisk forward violently, and instantly a tremendous propulsive force arose, shoving him backward.

Faced with such unknown danger, he naturally wanted to temporarily blunt his edge before striking again.

As he prepared to sweep both companions along, the young general from Chang'an suddenly drew a long spear with his right hand, thrusting from left to right, aiming straight at the abyssal maw before him with a level chop!

The spear was a zhang long, but before this mountain-like shadow, it appeared as fine as an embroidery needle.

Yet his spear-wielding motion was fierce, swift, decisive, and his aura pressed forward irresistibly.

Zhu Xiuer and Mingke Xianren beside him saw clearly: the spear tip flared with black-purple gangqi, looking from afar like a violent giant blade, horizontally slicing the stone anglerfish's vast maw.

Their contact was soundless and traceless.

The stone anglerfish's maw had been a sheet of deep darkness, but after this strike, a light appeared before the three.

The three's forward rush remained swift, He Lingchuan in the lead, turning the spear tip and thrusting forward violently—

The stone anglerfish's upper jaw was actually toppled by him!

It turned out that earlier, that spear gangqi had been formless yet substantive, like a chainsaw, planing flat the stone anglerfish's upper jaw!

From inside to out, the wound was perfectly flat, even more precise than a ruler's measure.

The power of a single strike reached this extent!

He Lingchuan extended his spear for another thrust, and the upper jaw naturally fell away; before the three, light returned.

Don't even mention what reaction the owner of this Secret Realm might have upon truly seeing it—even Immortal Mingke was greatly startled upon seeing this. The general of Cangyan doesn't strike unless he must, but once he moves in martial action, he is unstoppably sharp!

This stone anglerfish was crafted by Shangguan Biao using the earth mother's rock shell, its hardness comparable to refined gold; even Immortal Mingke dared not claim he could surely shatter it, yet He Lingchuan, with a single-handed spear thrust while airborne, could cleave half its head off!

So strong!

Can the martial generals of the Human State possibly have reached such a level in their combat techniques and divine abilities?

After the three landed on the stone anglerfish's back, they saw its belly below riddled with thousands of holes, and stepping on it felt soft and squishy—likely it had been wounded by the Hazelnut Little People's explosions.

Wait until He Lingchuan chops off its skull again, then this monster fish can no longer support itself, collapsing to the ground and remaining utterly motionless.

Since this stone anglerfish's abdominal interior, carefully prepared by the Secret Realm's owner as a trap, obviously still holds some mystery, if the three were truly swallowed, they'd have no good outcome. After all, Shangguan Biao also possesses his sect's true transmission, and Longfeng Valley has long been renowned for spatial divine abilities.

Therefore, He Lingchuan chopped the stone anglerfish with a single blade, refusing to be led by the nose by the Secret Realm's owner.