Chapter 464: You Chase, I Escape

He Lingchuan looked at it; this thing was really not afraid of poison.

General Ling seemed to see his doubt and answered: "The toxicity of rock, metal, and medicinal herbs has little effect on us."

Good guy, this talent of the Drill-Wind Beast was amazing. He Lingchuan used the tip of his saber to scrape, scraping off a lot of powder.

Red... stone powder? The color was like pig liver red.

Seemed to have seen it somewhere? He beckoned Zhao Zhao Dazui to come over and ask: "What is this?"

Zhao Zhao Dazui was also at a loss.

It was normal for some miscellaneous minerals to grow in such nest caves, right?

He Lingchuan then took a small bottle from his bosom, poured out a little mixture of mud and red powder, and said to Jiao Yu: "Sniff this powder."

Fortunately, Jiao Yu didn't know where these things came from, so he leaned over and sniffed seriously, nodding: "It's the same kind as what you scraped off the stone. Where did you get it?"

"Just as I entered the territory of Chiyan, Fu Shanyue and I killed a sheep thief. He had this powder on him."

Jiao Yu understood: "He had been near here?"

"Very likely." He Lingchuan collected more powder from the stone: "Let's figure out what this is when we go back."

He felt comfortable.

After so many days, he finally got a usable clue.

Just at this moment, the bleating of the argali came down through the ground crack.

Having been with this spiritual mount for a long time, He Lingchuan could also distinguish its emotions, and at this time, he perceived that its bleating was full of panic.

"Not good, there's a situation above!"

The Soul-Sucking Mirror automatically translated for him: "Come up quickly! There's something underneath, right behind you!"

He Lingchuan felt the hair on his back stand up.

The culprit actually knew they were here?

Zhao Zhao Dazui of course couldn't hear what the Soul-Sucking Mirror said, but he was also startled: "We, we should go back quickly!" He said, turning to leave.

Jiao Yu and General Ling were preparing to follow, but He Lingchuan shook his head: "Why go far for what's near?"

Daylight could shine down from above, so they were only separated from the ground by the distance of a ground crack.

It's just that this ground crack was very narrow and had been collapsed by giant rocks for the most part.

He Lingchuan had prepared a large hammer for today's trip, so he took it out from his storage ring and tried to smash it twice. A pile of stones fell from above, almost covering him in dust.

Zhao Zhao Dazui couldn't help but say: "My lord, we can't get out from here."

It wasn't that he was gloating, but this lord really had no common sense. Above were large and small rocks collapsed from a high place; if they dug underneath, they would easily be crushed to death.

These people who lived in luxury were not as observant as a digging worker!

However, the space above had at least become larger.

While he was speaking, He Lingchuan threw a palm-sized doll at the rock pile.

With a soft 'bang', the doll turned into a giant one zhang tall.

The Golden Armored Bronze Man made its debut.

Of course, it could only hunch its waist here, its posture exactly the same as He Lingchuan's when he first entered the nest cave.

Under the master's command, it started a desperate digging mode, regardless of the stones falling from above.

If it only suffered minor injuries on the surface, it could heal itself very quickly.

Midway, He Lingchuan also controlled it to dodge two giant rocks riding on its face.

With a clatter, the falling stones and dust almost dyed it gray-white, but the daylight shining into the nest cave suddenly became bright.

Dug through!

"Go up." He Lingchuan jumped, his toes tapping on the shoulder of the Golden Armored Bronze Man, and he shot out of the large hole, straight to the ground.

The fierce tiger and the Drill-Wind Beast followed suit.

Zhao Zhao Dazui was dumbfounded and had to climb up carefully.

After landing, He Lingchuan didn't stop and ran quickly toward the argali.

But he saw this spiritual beast find a ground crack and scrape with its hooves quickly, as if wanting to dig out a hole.

But the crack was too small, it couldn't go down, and it bleated anxiously.

"What's the situation?"

The Soul-Sucking Mirror translated: "There's something underneath, very likely the source of the fishy smell."

Right, the last time the argali was attacked, it probably also smelled the culprit's scent.

He Lingchuan glanced near the ground crack and found that there was indeed something wriggling inside, and there was even a bit of dark brown reflection.

Well, it was actually here! He Lingchuan drew his large hammer, his arms full of strength, and smashed it three times with a bang!

Facing the fierce attack like a rainstorm, the rock shell broke in response.

He threw a bundle of fluorescent grass into it to explore the environment before jumping in.

Something slid into another nest cave.

He Lingchuan rushed over in one stride.

However, that object had already sunk into the stone ground, leaving only a bit of its tail tip outside.

General Ling rushed past him, as fast as a gust of wind.

It also saw this tail tip and, without hesitation, lowered its head, butted, and flicked! The Drill-Wind Beast's head-flicking power was enormous, and it could easily flick a giant rhinoceros up and throw it away. The thing underground was indeed flicked out for a long section, but the whole body didn't show up.

"Plop," the long tail landed and twisted non-stop, but it wasn't connected to the body.

It actually had the ability of a gecko to break its tail to survive! He Lingchuan subconsciously glanced at General Ling.

The speed at which this old sheep rushed over just now was ridiculously fast, like a javelin thrown at a target, or like a flash, and combined with that pair of sharp horns, it was truly a battle-stealth killing weapon.

In fact, this was the talent of the Drill-Wind Beast, called "Charge." Once it locked onto a target within eight zhang, it could arrive in an instant—provided there were no obstacles in the way.

If it were the first time fighting, He Lingchuan didn't dare to say he could definitely dodge it.

Monsters are not like humans; they don't need too complicated techniques, just practice their talents to perfection. General Ling's "Charge" talent had been practiced to the third level, meaning it could charge three times in a row, with each speed and power being progressive compared to the previous one.

By the third charge, it was truly indistinguishable to the naked eye.

When the fierce tiger Jiao Yu arrived, He Lingchuan and General Ling were both observing the long tail.

Brown-coffee colored, hairless, all meat, still twisting on the ground.

Jiao Yu stretched out a claw to poke it, then quickly retracted it: "It has mucus!"

"This is what I just cut off from that thing," He Lingchuan said. "It should be the tail tip."

There were two holes on the tail tip, which were poked out by General Ling's horns.

"Why is there no blood?"

"There is, it's just mixed in the mucus," He Lingchuan said thoughtfully. "Just like when you chop an earthworm into several pieces."

"Is this thing an earthworm?"

He Lingchuan shook his head: "I saw the reflection from the ground crack; the surface should be hard and smooth."

Jiao Yu looked back at the path: "There is mucus all the way on the ground."

"It leaves it as it walks."

"Mucus when walking, hard skin, hairless soft body..." Jiao Yu thought for a moment and got the conclusion without much effort. "Could it be a snail that became a monster?"

"Quite like it." He Lingchuan collected the trophy. "But what is its relationship with the dead sheep thief?"

No one had the answer to this question.

He Lingchuan traced the mucus traces on the ground back and found that the monster's direction of travel was toward the porcupine demon's ground nest, which was—the direction where they had been earlier.

"This thing was aiming for us," he said coldly. "It wanted to ambush us."

As a result, it was broken by the argali's bleating, and when the other side saw that the opportunity was lost, it slipped away.

Jiao Yu hesitated: "Is it possible it was just a coincidence?"

"From Wang Mazi's description, this thing's attack method is rainy night ambush, waiting for prey to come to the door. The night my mount was attacked, there was also a heavy rain," He Lingchuan pondered. "Today is a sunny day, and the ground is quite dry, which doesn't fit its usual routine. Therefore, it is very likely that it came specifically for us."

General Ling sneered: "Let it come! I'll teach it not to return!"

Jiao Yu said seriously: "No, it dares to come here, it must have something to rely on."

One man and one tiger returned to the ground, and the argali greeted them, lowering its head to gently butt He Lingchuan.

"Thank you," He Lingchuan stroked its curved large horns and thanked it sincerely. "This monster was probably already finished with its ambush underground, just waiting for us to return the same way, but it was broken by you."

Although Jiao Yu had primordial power, He Lingchuan didn't dare to be arrogant enough to think that his side wouldn't be hit. This monster had committed crimes everywhere and succeeded repeatedly; it must have something extraordinary. Not to mention anything else, were those over a hundred porcupine demons so easy to deal with?

If it were He Lingchuan himself facing a hundred angry porcupine demons, if he didn't use tricks and didn't have a numerical advantage, he would only have the share of holding his head and running away.

He was chasing the culprit, but the culprit set an ambush on the only way, waiting for them to throw themselves into the net in the most proficient way. Just thinking about this is very scary.

How dangerous, they almost fell into the other side's calculation. This risk came without any warning.

The argali rubbed his hand, meaning you're welcome.

The Drill-Wind Beasts originally looked down on it, thinking that the argali was too weak and could only be a mount for humans, but at this time, they also came up to butt heads with it to show their gratitude.

At this time, Zhao Zhao Dazui finally climbed up, panting and rushing over: "What happened?"

"The culprit intended to ambush us."

"Ah?!"

He Lingchuan ignored him and went to retrieve the Golden Armored Bronze Man: "Lead the way. We're going back to Youtian Town."

The return trip was smooth, without any twists and turns.

On the way, He Lingchuan, Jiao Yu, and General Ling exchanged opinions.

The other side actually appeared in the porcupine nest; either that was its habitat, or it came specifically to ambush the Crown Prince's special envoy.

Considering that the porcupine nest was relatively dry, and that kind of creature should prefer a damp and rotten habitat, one man, one tiger, and one sheep all thought the latter was more likely.

Then the next question came.

How did the other side know they would go to the porcupine nest today? If it wasn't following them all the way, it was someone leaking the Crown Prince's special envoy's itinerary.

Those who knew He Lingchuan's itinerary today were nothing more than the few people at the banquet last night.

Check them one by one, and there will always be a harvest.

The investigation finally made progress, and Jiao Yu was eager to try, its whip-like tiger tail hitting the carriage with a 'pop'.

Case investigation is actually a dull job; clues either don't match or are interrupted halfway, especially finding the reason for the disappearance of a bird is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Thanks to Dong Jiangshuang and Congcong Baobao for their support~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 465 =====