Chapter 909: Dragon Spine Island

Standing at the end of the hillside, everyone felt their eyes light up: ahead lay a vast, open plain. It couldn't hold a stampede of ten thousand horses, but a thousand would be no problem, and it grew only weeds, with hardly a tree in sight.

Of course, the grass was taller than a person.

Beyond the plain were rolling mountains, their ends piercing into the plain like blades; it truly lived up to the name "Dragon Spine."

It wasn't just a sea of green here. At the end of August, wild flowers were still blooming fiercely on Dragon Spine Island, a riot of red and purple.

In fact, the island was not devoid of life; at least He He Lingchuan discovered swarms of hummingbirds sipping nectar, all much larger than their ordinary counterparts. The freshwater purified by the sunlight could not harm these small creatures.

But they were extremely vigilant, flying away long before anyone could get close.

Just then, gray mist emerged from every nook and cranny of Dragon Spine Island, heading straight for He He Lingchuan.

They were drawn by the Bone Necklace, but the sun was still in the sky, so the gray mist vaporized the moment it appeared, leaving no trace behind.

This method of purification was quite convenient.

At this moment, the sun slipped behind the clouds once again.

The hummingbirds sensed danger, immediately dropping their food and flapping their wings to take flight, though a few were slow to react. Fortunately, the passing gray mist ignored them entirely, focused solely on finding He He Lingchuan.

This human-shaped black hole, like a whale inhaling water, rapidly sucked up all the yin-evil in the vicinity, then pointed to the southwest and said, "The mist-evil is drifting from there."

The source of the thick fog was indeed the southwest corner of the island. Lu Xun had not lied to him.

He had originally worried that the Great Square Pot would stop absorbing once full, leaving them stranded in the thick fog. But as it appeared now, the Great Square Pot was not picky at all; it would eat as much as it was given.

Then what was there to be afraid of? Let's go and investigate.

With this divine object by his side, He He Lingchuan led the group, striding toward the southwest.

The journey was rugged and difficult, requiring them to cross natural bridges and squeeze through water-curtain caves, but fortunately, everyone in the team was agile, crossing mountains and ridges as if walking on flat ground.

Even so, it took them over an hour, with several detours, to reach the southwest end of Dragon Spine Island.

Compared to forest explorers elsewhere, they enjoyed a rare blessing: no mosquitoes or gadflies!

But there were still some strange, small insects on the ground; they were inconspicuous, wingless, had no interest in humans, and seemed unafraid of the yin-evil.

The ability of living things to adapt to their environment is truly remarkable.

This was a low valley within the mountain range; from afar, the group could see a massive hollow collapsed into the dense forest.

Tao Ran muttered, "Damn, it's that big?"

He He Lingchuan immediately concluded that this giant hole was the "sinkhole" Lu Xun had mentioned; it even had a specific name:

Bai Yuan.

The opening was an irregular, flattened circle with a diameter of a hundred zhang. Standing here, the group could gaze at the jagged, hard rocks inside.

It was like the wide-open mouth of a monster.

He He Lingchuan stood on the mountainside, about a li away from the sinkhole, watching the gray mist rolling out from the forest below and the sinkhole, rushing toward him, only to vanish into nothingness under the sunlight.

The mist here was so thick it was almost black.

Moreover, the forest around the sinkhole was likely so dense that it blocked out the light, providing the gray mist with space to hide.

The supply of gray mist in the sinkhole was exceptionally abundant, surging outward for a quarter of an hour before gradually fading.

Just then, strange howls erupted from the forest, like the cries of crows at night or the wailing of infants, one after another.

Qiu Hu also saw the large trees in the forest moving without wind, rustling loudly, as if something were rushing toward them.

And there were quite a lot of them.

"Are those yin-serpents?"

The group gripped their weapons, standing in battle formation.

Before long, many swaying figures emerged from the shadows of the woods.

Some were black, some gray, and others had black and white patterns.

He He Lingchuan initially thought they were large snakes, but upon closer inspection, holy cow!

These ghostly things were shaped like snakes, legless, slender, and scaled, and they even moved like snakes, twisting and turning.

But they had four arms!

Furthermore, when they moved, their upper halves were upright like a human torso, with slightly protruding shoulder bones.

And their necks were round and flat, like a cobra's.

These monsters were at least a zhang long, with some reaching three zhang, their torsos thicker than water barrels.

They crowded at the edge of the forest, under the shade of the trees, glaring viciously at He He Lingchuan and his group, but they wouldn't take another step forward.

Ahead lay the sun-drenched ground.

One or two, overly agitated, accidentally touched a beam of light.

With a hiss, the group watched with their own eyes as smoke rose from their bodies.

These two things shrank back rapidly, as if scalded.

"These things are like the gray mist; they fear the sunlight!" Ling Guang understood. "Serpents naturally love cold, shady places. These yin-serpents have lived on Dragon Spine Island for years and have grown accustomed to the presence of yin-evil. Now that we've suddenly drained the yin-evil away, they are uncomfortable instead."

But no matter how uncomfortable they were, they couldn't charge across the sunlit zone to settle scores with He He Lingchuan and the others.

The gray mist emerging from the forest was becoming thinner, clearly nearing exhaustion.

The yin-serpents crowded in the shade became more and more dense, all of them restless, their cries growing increasingly shrill, reminding He He Lingchuan of a tightly packed school of sardines.

Qiu Hu looked up at the sky, worried: "My lord, it will be dark in another hour and a half."

If they were still on the island by then, without the sunlight to block their path, these yin-serpents would almost certainly charge over to eat them.

The enemy was too numerous, and the night was their home turf; his side had absolutely no advantage.

It was one thing for the treasure on Young Master He to absorb the yin-evil, but could it absorb the yin-serpents too?

Before He He Lingchuan could speak, a sharp hiss suddenly erupted from the sinkhole.

It was loud and piercing, drowning out the voices of all the other yin-serpents.

He He Lingchuan waved his hand: "Let's observe a bit longer."

The gray mist in the forest had likely dissipated, and the sunlight was very cooperative, not slipping behind the clouds again. Otherwise, the four of them would have to turn and flee right now.

The yin-serpents in the shade were anxious and restless; dozens were shaking their heads and tails, looking quite manic, as if in great pain.

Finally, they even jumped out of the forest, charging toward He He Lingchuan and the others!

The sunlight in the sky shone upon them, and like quicklime meeting water, they hissed as large amounts of white steam rose.

Their originally smooth scales peeled off rapidly, and the flesh exposed to the sunlight quickly turned black and burned...

In just seven or eight breaths, the massive red serpent was burned to a crisp, falling to the ground to twitch a few times before moving no more.

Sunlight was simply their nemesis.

But they still charged out one after another; was it because they were driven by the roar from the sinkhole, or because they were in too much pain to endure it?

"I was wrong." Seeing this scene, Ling Guang said, "The relationship between the yin-serpents and the gray mist is probably like fish and water. You drained all the gray mist, and they became fish out of water, suffering unbearable agony."

Death was certain either way, so attempting to attack He He Lingchuan and the others was better than continuing to suffer the torture of suffocation.

But as soon as the words left its mouth, another long howl came from the sinkhole. The yin-serpents looked up at the sky, stopped charging, and retreated back into the shadows.

They truly followed orders.

Zhu Zhu Xiuer suddenly said: "A patch of dark clouds is drifting in from the east; I'm afraid we don't have an hour and a half left."

So these monsters were waiting for an overcast day. Once the dark clouds blocked the sun, they could pursue them.

He He Lingchuan immediately turned around: "Let's go."

Two fists are no match for four hands; these ghostly things indeed had an extra pair of hands compared to them.

The group gathered their true qi and turned to run.

They were extremely agile, able to move as if on flat ground even in this wilderness.

The howling behind them grew more distant. Ling Guang lay on He He Lingchuan's shoulder: "What's inside the sinkhole?"

Everyone else was running for their lives, only it was at its most leisurely.

He He Lingchuan glanced at Zhu Zhu Xiuer upon hearing this: "Probably the King of the Yin-serpents?"

It would be strange if such a gregarious monster didn't have one or two leaders. Zhu Zhu Xiuer was a case in point.

Zhu Zhu Xiuer snorted: "Next time, I'll call my sister to bring her army of spider demons, and we'll see who has the numbers!"

He He Lingchuan asked curiously: "Why don't you build an army?"

"Don't like it!" It was a spider that roamed freely, how crisp and clean; unlike its sister, who dragged her family along, making a huge fuss just to move house? Tao Ran reminded them: "The clouds in the sky are almost here!"

And they still had half the journey left.

Zhu Zhu Xiuer was dissatisfied: "You are too slow; all of you get on my back."

He He Lingchuan and the others were already considered very agile among cultivators, yet they were still being looked down upon by her, so they had to jump onto the giant spider, carefully avoiding its sharp spikes.

Being pricked by these spikes was probably more painful than being bitten by a yin-serpent, right?

"Hold on tight!" Just as they passed a cliff, Zhu Zhu Xiuer said casually, and then took a leap with its three passengers—

It had the power of a jumping spider, leaping over thirty zhang in a single bound, as if riding the clouds and mist.

But once the leap was done, it still had to fall.

The wind whistled in their ears; Tao Ran and Qiu Hu both changed color.

Falling freely like this, even with Zhu Zhu Xiuer cushioning them, the three of them would struggle to survive.

However, Zhu Zhu Xiuer then shot out several strands of spider silk with a *whoosh*, attaching them to several large trees.

It swung past, almost brushing the ground.

Jumping and swinging like this, it raced toward the shore, its speed more than three times that of He He Lingchuan and the others! Wasn't this the very skill Zhu Zhu Xiuer used to help He He Lingchuan escape Xushan? Now, the pursuers behind were merely yin-serpents, not gods from the Heavenly Palace, so it felt perfectly calm.

He He Lingchuan used the eyeball spider to contact the sea ship, which had been circling the island in sync with them. At this moment, He He Lingchuan directed them to stop beneath the cliff at the southwest end of Dragon Spine Island.

In less than two quarters of an hour, Zhu Zhu Xiuer carried the three of them to the cliff and jumped back onto the ship in one high swing.

"Go!"

Without needing an order from He He Lingchuan, everyone pulled up the ropes and lifted their oars, rowing swiftly.

Tao Ran hoisted the canvas sail, and Zhu Zhu Xiuer recited a Wind-Summoning Art.

A great gust of wind blew in, dragging the boat toward the north at a truly rapid speed.

After sailing two hundred zhang, Ling Guang pointed behind them and said, "The Yin-Serpents have entered the water!"

At this moment, dark clouds obscured the sun.

He He Lingchuan looked back and saw countless tiny black dots leaping into the water from the beach of Dragon Spine Island.

Needless to say, the pursuers had arrived.

It appeared that these Yin-Serpents were also expert swimmers.

(End of chapter)