Chapter 321: Changed Back

He Lingchuan fired the sleeve arrow, which pierced through the wound on its abdomen, bloomed in the back, and hooked firmly. Then he jumped onto a high rock and hung it in mid-air using a protruding sharp corner.

The monster couldn't touch the stone wall with any part of its body, including the soles of its feet, so the thawing and recovery would definitely be slower.

The group sat down on the ground and gasped for air. The skinny man lifted his water skin to drink, but because he was too hurried, he choked a few times.

Duan Xinyu sealed a few of his own acupoints to stop the bleeding and said intermittently: "H-how much longer can this drag on?"

He Lingchuan suddenly threw a candy to each person. This was the malt candy bought from a small shop at the entrance of Lady Mitian's temple, which Sun Fuling seemed to like eating, left over from the last purchase.

Everyone tore off the small piece of oil paper on the outer layer, and the sweetness of the honey immediately diluted the bitterness and bloodiness in their mouths.

In a desperate situation, this mouthful of sweetness was incomparably precious.

The group tasted it silently, not wanting to speak.

He Lingchuan looked around at everyone and suddenly smiled: "Not long, reinforcements have arrived!"

Everyone looked up suddenly, unable to believe it; the skinny man asked hoarsely: "Really?"

"Really!" He Lingchuan had one eye ruined and was covered in blood, looking disheveled, but his words were decisive, and in such times, they still had infectious power, "When have I ever lied to you? Didn't you notice this hatchling attacking like a mad tiger, impatient?"

Bah, could this count as good news? Duan Xinyu was displeased: "It attacks fiercely, and that's a good thing?"

"It is a good thing!" He Lingchuan wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead, lest it flow into his eyes and cause another stinging pain, "It doesn't even care about healing its wounds. Originally, this thing was extremely cautious, healing even minor wounds before coming to fight. That is to say, it, it can't afford to consume anymore."

The Jin Du hatchling was exceptionally smart, and smart creatures were mostly cherishers of life.

As teammates who had cooperated for a long time, the skinny man and others trusted He Lingchuan more and were willing to follow his line of thought: "It manages the entire underground palace; something must have happened inside and outside for it to be so eager for success."

Reminded by He Lingchuan, the patrol guards realized that this Jin Du hatchling was indeed covered in wounds.

It also needed time to find the underground palace for treatment; minor wounds took ten-odd breaths, and major wounds took dozens of breaths.

Could it not afford even that little bit of time? That is to say, it was also anxious.

"He who travels a hundred miles is half-way at ninety; we must not fall before the dawn!" He Lingchuan knew deeply that the only motivation for everyone to continue swinging their blades now was hope, even if it was just a thread. "The more desperate the beast, the crazier it is. I am very sure that a variable is coming; as long as we survive this wave, the ones who survive will definitely be us!"

No matter what the news, it was bad for the enemy and good for oneself.

The group's spirits were lifted.

He didn't need to say more; the others tried their best to regulate their breathing and recover their physical strength.

They had to believe.

They had to believe.

The dead-end road was very narrow and blocked by man-eating vines, so only a few bone puppets could rush over at a time, all of which were easily cleared by He Lingchuan.

He wanted to buy more recovery time for his teammates.

He was the most fearless person in this battle; if he died, he would just be full-blooded again next time he entered the dream.

But if he went offline hastily, what would happen to this group of people? Except for him, the others probably couldn't be resurrected if they died.

After just over ten breaths, the frozen monster made a few crisp, chilling cracking sounds.

The ice cracked.

He Lingchuan could see its eyeballs moving.

The cracks on the ice sculpture became more and more numerous and dense, finally being violently broken by the monster, shattering into ice dregs and falling off.

Even without the underground palace's healing support, the creature's own strength was very powerful.

It struggled twice, found that the hook of the sleeve arrow was hooked into its entire back and couldn't be broken free, so it simply grabbed the hook-line and climbed up, jumping down from the sharp rock.

It didn't look for Duan Xinyu anymore, lunging straight at He Lingchuan in mid-air, its small eyes full of bone-deep hatred.

These few prey were clearly injured and disabled, yet they were always unkillable; the monster finally discovered that it was this leader who caused it.

It should have killed him long ago; the team would have collapsed instantly.

He Lingchuan had basically adapted to the vision of one eye and had also seized the time to regulate his inner breath, his energy circulating again, so he gathered a bit of strength and slashed at it with a Wave Slash again.

*Clang, clang*, three exchanges, the first two were the clash of sharp weapons, and finally He Lingchuan's blade followed his will, cold light rising, shaving off half of its shoulder armor.

The shoulder armor fell, acid blood sprayed, and the monster howled in pain.

Just at this moment, the mine tunnel suddenly shook incessantly, as if encountering a magnitude seven or eight earthquake, and the passage even twisted ninety degrees, the stone wall becoming the ground, and the ground becoming the mountain wall.

All objects, including humans and monsters, rolled along with it.

Only the man-eating vines were rooted in the stone wall, not turning, and with their powerful entanglement, they pulled the bone puppets onto the wall along with them.

Now, they became monsters on the side wall.

Then, the group heard a long roar.

This sound was exceptionally magnificent, but very much like a woman, full of endless fear and pain.

Hearing a woman's voice here, it could only be—

"Its 'mother' is in trouble!" He Lingchuan reacted immediately, "Quick, take down this monster!"

They had struggled until now, wasn't it for a turning point? Now, it had arrived!

The patrol guards were overjoyed and worked together to attack the Jin Du hatchling. But this thing suddenly let out a loud cry, ignoring the many new wounds on its body, and wanted to slam into the stone wall.

How could He Lingchuan let it slip away, grabbing the hook-line and pulling back with force.

Just at this moment, the earthquake came again, even more violent than the last. Everyone could feel the power tearing everything apart erupting from underground, and then the mountain wall behind pushed forward rapidly.

"Run, run quick!"

At this time, no one cared about fighting, all exerting force to rush forward.

Fortunately, the passage had been inverted once, and the bone puppets were all on the wall, blocking no one's way.

Everyone rushed out of the dead-end road and found that the outside was also undergoing drastic changes; sudden rocks appeared, crushing several bone puppets into powder.

If Liu Tiao hadn't been quick-eyed and fast-handed to push Men Ban, he would have been crushed under the giant rock that suddenly tilted forward.

After just over ten breaths, the changes stopped.

The group, still in shock, looked back and saw that the entire passage was gone, as if completely erased by magic.

And the road outside had also split into two, narrower than before, but wooden frames, wooden strips, and other things supporting the mine tunnel reappeared.

"It changed back!" Duan Xinyu hissed, "It changed back to a mine tunnel, the underground palace is gone!"

Men Ban gripped his shield tightly, looking left and right: "What about that monster?"

The underground palace changed back to a mine tunnel, so the monster lost its home-field advantage and was seriously injured; even if it had ability, it was limited. Thinking of this, the pain of everyone's injuries didn't seem so bad, and even their strength seemed to have risen back a bit.

"It ran." Duan Xinyu panted, pointing to the left passage, "I saw it go this way."

Then what were they waiting for? "Chase!" Let's see how they take their revenge this time!

The patrol guards chased for more than ten zhang, even the blind one was supported by Liu Tiao, when Men Ban suddenly said: "Eh, we seem to be missing someone?"

He Lingchuan was running at the front and turned back to count.

Men Ban, Liu Tiao, the blind man, the skinny man, Xu Chun's partner, and himself, six in total.

"Duan Xinyu is missing."

The group was startled and looked at each other; Liu Tiao was so angry that her willow eyebrows stood up: "Damn it, that's a monster!"

The Jin Du ghost youngest one could transform into a human; it had disguised itself as Duan Xinyu's deputy captain Wang Xu to approach them at the beginning, how could they forget this ability after a fierce battle?

The dead-end road was too small, and everyone took care of each other, so it couldn't transform; during the earth-shaking changes, no one cared about others, so the villain took advantage of the loophole!

Encountering sudden changes, the light in the cave was poor, and everyone was covered in blood, so no one noticed where he was injured.

The group ran back.

Since the monster pointed them to the left road, it must have gone to the right road itself.

Running past that location, He Lingchuan divided the manpower: "Liu Tiao, Men Ban, follow me, the others stay to rescue Duan Xinyu!"

No one had any objections.

Since the monster disguised itself as Duan Xinyu, the latter might have met with misfortune. His leg injury was serious, and he might not have been able to escape the changes in the mine tunnel.

He Lingchuan led the three to chase urgently. After the mine tunnel returned to normal, there weren't so many forks, and the one they walked was almost straight forward, occasionally turning a corner, small and cramped.

And with the help of the fluorescent grass bundle, they could find the green bloodstains the monster dripped on the ground all the way.

He Lingchuan felt settled here, finally confirming that the monster could no longer shuttle through the underground palace at will.

￥￥￥￥￥

Just as He Lingchuan expected, after "Duan Xinyu" pointed the way, he followed the group and ran two steps hypocritically, then turned to the west road.

It knew the situation of the mine tunnel like the back of its hand, didn't walk a single wrong path, and ran back to the stone room in about thirty or fifty breaths.

The woman in the stone room had torn off all the "tendons" and was walking out with difficulty.

After the initial fear, all the pain surged up; she felt as if her body was full of holes inside and out, each one oozing blood.

In fact, it seemed to be the case.

The monster appeared suddenly, and before the woman could scream, she was pounced on and bitten fiercely!

"Don't eat me, don't eat me, I'm your mother!" She screamed in pain, reaching out to block, but the monster bit off her arm in one bite, gnawing with a creaking sound.

The woman fainted again.

At the same time, the injuries on its body recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even the half-palm it had lost grew back.

The Jin Du hatchling obtained nourishment from its mother; when its own injuries were too heavy, it would demand more hysterically.

Soon, the bone armor all over its body had grown back, and even sharp spikes emerged from its shoulders and elbows.

The Jin Du hatchling carried the woman on its shoulder and turned to leave.

It couldn't stay here anymore; it had to choose another place to build a nest.

However, it didn't run two steps before stopping, staring dead at the darkness in the opposite passage, instead slowly retreating two steps.

Just a few breaths later, He Lingchuan and the others appeared in the other passage.

They were chasing by following the bloodstains, and as soon as they turned a corner, they saw the Jin Du hatchling arching its body in preparation for battle, roaring at the front.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 322 =====

(End of Chapter)