Chapter 500: The Intruder and the Tree Roots

That kind of screeching could pierce a person's mind like needles, and it would also trigger bouts of tinnitus and dizziness. To counter this, the solution He Lingchuan came up with was to throw out the net in his hand: hadn't he only caught four of them earlier?

The net was large, and there was still plenty of space.

The distance between the two sides was very close, and his movements were fast; at least forty or fifty bats couldn't stop in time and plunged headfirst into the mesh.

One had to praise the products of the Earth-Hole Spider—they were always high quality. Even with dozens of fierce, violent human-headed bats suddenly added, the net actually held up; it didn't tear even as they crashed into it frantically.

The remaining fifty or sixty bats dodged the net and split into two groups, charging straight at He Lingchuan.

He Lingchuan stood on a stalactite, feeling the direction of the wind.

These things were also flying with the wind.

Just as the first bat was about to pounce on his face, Fusheng finally left its sheath.

In the dark cavern, a flash of light suddenly appeared, like a startled swan, like an angry thunderbolt. Although it lasted only an instant, it covered the three-zhang area directly in front of him.

The tyrannical blade light was like a surging, crashing wave, shredding every bat that came rushing at him.

Wave Slash.

The rest saw that the situation was bad and tried to flee, but they were still swept into the blade wind and sank into oblivion in a second.

After these bats were shredded, they didn't explode into flesh and blood; instead, they turned into black debris, flying all over the sky.

These things looked like burnt spirit money.

Looking straight ahead again, that monster had somehow lost two or three faces, but a vertical pupil had grown on its forehead.

The vertical pupil was large and protruding, occupying half of the entire face, almost squeezing out the remaining facial features.

As soon as it opened, it glared at He Lingchuan, and the corners of its eyes were even covered in bloodshot veins.

Although he didn't know what abilities this thing had, it looked evil. He Lingchuan didn't intend to wait for it to unleash its power; he raised his hand and rewarded it with two more pellets.

The monster raised its hand to block, but as soon as the pellets touched its skin, there were two loud bangs—

They exploded.

The new fire pellets from Yunling Island, also known as "hand-flick cannons," had good effects.

As the smoke cleared, he saw the monster blown into pieces, like plasticine kneaded by a child; its body proportions were all wrong, with some parts long and some short, and a large chunk missing from its shoulder—that was where the fire pellet had touched it just now.

But that vertical pupil was still intact, completely whole.

It stared at He Lingchuan without blinking, and the strange creature even said, "Why can't I find it!"

Find what? These words sounded like it was muttering to itself.

Right before He Lingchuan's eyes, this thing actually started to recover.

The parts that had been blown up began to retract, as if an invisible hand were pinching it back into its original shape.

It didn't fear swords or blades, didn't fear water or fire, and could heal itself—where was this thing's weakness? The monster pressed one hand against the rock wall, and grey-green moss began to grow on the stone, spreading in all directions.

There seemed to be something wriggling on the moss.

Bugs?

He Lingchuan didn't have time to look closely, because within two breaths, the moss withered, turned into black ash, and fell in a rustle, leaving the rock wall clean again.

"Eh?" A look of surprise appeared on the monster's hideous face. The next time it slapped the rock wall, it was even harder, even making a banging sound.

However, it was useless.

The moss it released withered even faster this time, unable to spread more than two feet.

He Lingchuan said calmly, "Do you have any other tricks?"

Clearly, this thing wanted to unleash a large-scale supernatural ability, but for some reason, it wasn't working here.

A look of shock appeared on the monster's face, and it suddenly jumped into the water.

He Lingchuan had been keeping a close eye on it the whole time. As soon as it lifted its leg, he moved too, leaping across the three-zhang distance, as fast as a sleeve arrow he had shot himself, followed by a Swallow Strike, and Fusheng slashed out with a full-powered blade.

This monster should have been cut in two by the blade, but who knew it would press its palms together and actually catch the blade in its palms! This thing actually knew how to catch a blade with bare hands? And it used it with exceptional proficiency.

No matter how sharp Fusheng was, it was useless if it didn't cut into flesh.

Immediately after, the monster stretched its neck and opened its mouth wide, biting at He Lingchuan's head.

A human's neck length is limited; generally speaking, it wouldn't reach the enemy, but this creature's neck suddenly lengthened like a heron's, and with a bit more effort, it could have been tied into a knot.

Except for that astonishingly large vertical pupil on its forehead, it looked like a normal human face when its mouth was closed, but when it opened its mouth, it was like a dislocated jaw, capable of fitting an entire embroidered ball inside.

Of course, fitting a human head inside was no problem either.

And inside its mouth, besides two rows of fangs, it was pitch black like a deep hole.

This was something that could only appear in a nightmare; an ordinary person facing it would surely be scared out of their wits.

Fortunately, it hadn't been normal since it appeared, and now, no matter what other tricks it pulled, He Lingchuan was calm. Before the opponent's big mouth could reach his forehead, he had already raised his leg and kicked the opponent in the stomach.

However, this kick didn't manage to kick the opponent away; instead, it sank deep into it, like sinking into a quagmire.

This creature's body had too much plasticity.

Seeing the black-hole-like mouth almost at the top of his head, He Lingchuan raised his other fist and struck it directly on the chin.

"Click," he heard the sound of the opponent's two rows of big teeth clashing.

Then, both sides fell into the water together.

He Lingchuan channeled his Yuan power, and the blade edge emitted a pale yellow light. He then stirred it, chopping off the opponent's palm.

But taking advantage of this time, several strands of black smoke emerged from the monster's body and darted into the water.

Behind He Lingchuan, they turned into several water ghosts, their hair instantly growing into thick, lush water weeds, wrapping around his ankles and arms, dragging him toward the bottom of the water with all their might, with astonishing strength.

The monster in front also lunged at him.

Was this bullying him for being outnumbered?

He Lingchuan's brows twitched, and a shadow also manifested behind him, wielding dual blades, killing one water ghost with each strike.

The clone had come out.

The third water ghost realized the danger and turned to flee.

Once the restraint was gone, He Lingchuan's arms were free, and he aimed a blade at the monster in front.

The timing was just right; it looked as if the opponent had deliberately leaned in to take the blade.

He Lingchuan cared most about that big eyeball, and the monster's neck was thin, so it was cut off directly.

Even underwater, he could hear the wail the opponent let out.

In an inn three hundred zhang away.

The curse master had been kneeling before the idol, chanting incessantly. The three sticks of incense were burning extremely fast; they would likely burn out in about fifty breaths.

And the curse master had to keep adding incense to ensure the incense fire was continuous.

These three sticks were already more than half gone.

He opened his eyes, just about to add more, when he heard a "pop" sound; the three sticks of incense suddenly snapped without wind and fell onto the table.

This is...? The curse master was stunned. The chaotic smoke in the room suddenly condensed into the shape of the idol again. It first looked at the three broken sticks of incense on the table, then questioned the curse master: "What kind of offering did you give me!"

"It's a person," the curse master answered subconsciously. "Although he has the Crown Prince's appointment, he is a foreigner and cannot use Yuan power!"

If He Lingchuan had Yuan power protecting his body, he wouldn't have summoned such an evil spirit.

"Wrong! It's not that simple!" the smoke said irritably. "Wait until I return, then I'll deal with you!"

Having said that, it rushed out the window with a "whoosh," even triggering a small storm in the room.

Several sheets of white paper on the table behind were lifted and flew everywhere.

The smoke returned to calm, even dissipating outside the window. The curse master knew that this thing had gone personally.

All he had to do was continue offering incense.

But the curse master's mood was not calm at this moment. With this idol's ability, wouldn't it be a piece of cake to ambush an unknown, completely unprepared human?

Even if this one had only sent out a clone earlier, it shouldn't have failed.

What was going on now?...

Although the monster was covered in faces, the one on its neck was the most important. At this moment, it couldn't care about He Lingchuan and lowered its body to retrieve its own head.

It is worth mentioning that after the head was cut off, the monster's own body size returned to normal, its neck shortened, and its torso was no longer elongated.

Seeing this, He Lingchuan felt a stir in his heart. He reached out and grabbed the monster's shoulder, throwing it out of the water before the strange face on its chest could move over to bite him.

Don't look at how thin this thing was; it was unexpectedly heavy, ridiculously so. He Lingchuan felt like he wasn't pulling up a person, but a wild boar weighing over three hundred jin.

Fortunately, his true energy was abundant, flowing through both arms, and he stood on a stalagmite on the side, which allowed him to exert his strength.

With this throw, the monster was not far from the rock wall.

He Lingchuan threw the Fusheng blade backhanded, and with a "swoosh," it pinned the monster to the stone wall.

Without its head, it had no way to transform and couldn't slide off the blade edge.

Only then did He Lingchuan swim away, relieved, to find that head.

Looking around, the head was gone.

His heart skipped a beat, and he dove into the water with a splash.

Using the light of the fluorescent grass, he swam two laps before discovering that the monster's head had actually grown a new body; this time it was thin and long, without limbs.

It dove into the deep water continuously; not having hands or feet didn't hinder it from swimming fast.

At this time, the clone had already dealt with the last water ghost and happened to be not far from this head, so it immediately fired a sleeve arrow.

He Lingchuan was afraid that this thing would open its mouth to eat the arrow, so the arrowhead was aimed at its messy, grass-like hair.

Sure enough, this arrow pinned the head's messy hair into a nearby stone crevice.

He Lingchuan also dove to this spot, took his clone's blade, and directly cut off its newly grown body, only then grabbing the head and floating up.

The head was already in hand, but he still had to go up and deal with the monster's body.

However, when he floated to the surface and looked up with the fluorescent grass, he was startled again: many dark brown vines had grown on the rock wall at some point, some thick and some thin, actually binding the monster's body firmly.

That was truly a "five-flower binding."

Even though the monster struggled, it was pinned by the Fusheng blade and couldn't go anywhere.

He Lingchuan looked closer, and felt that these didn't look like vines, but rather like...

Tree roots?

Because there were countless tiny root hairs on them.

What kind of plant could instantly grow so many root systems? The roots were here, but where was the plant itself?

He Lingchuan traced the roots to their source and discovered that the root system might have originated from a crack in the rock wall directly above.

It was very clear that it was targeting the monster.

Some root tips even pierced directly into the monster's skin, sucking away like it was drinking nutrient solution.

The remaining faces on the monster's body wanted to escape, but they were firmly fixed by the root system, and the root hairs even emitted a faint green light, preventing them from turning into black smoke and slipping away.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 501 =====