Chapter 48

On the east side of Tashan, Xia Hong kept groping along the mountain wall, looking up at the middle of the mountain from time to time, a flash of impatience in his eyes.

Soon, Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng each brought two people, running over from the north and south sides.

"Didn't find an entrance on the south side."

"Can't find one on the north side either."

Xia Hong's expression sank; he had also searched the east side, and there was no entrance to the Great Stone camp. Now only the west side remained.

Before long, Watching Yue Feng also brought Lu Yang and Qiu Peng over.

"Can't find it on the west side, there are no traces either, it shouldn't be over there."

Xia Hong's brows furrowed tightly; it was impossible that they couldn't find the entrance to the Great Stone camp in any of the four cardinal directions.

"That makes no sense. The Great Stone camp's settlement must be here on Tashan. I heard my father mention it before, how could we not find it?"

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, Yuan Cheng nodded and said: "I also heard my father mention it; it must be here on Tashan. We've searched the walls in all four directions and still can't find it—can they fly?"

Hearing the words "fly," Xia Hong was stunned for a moment, then looked up, suddenly realizing.

"So that's it!"

Tashan was not pyramid-shaped like other mountains, but a straight, upright small mountain, with the top only slightly narrower than the very bottom.

Xia Hong's gaze also made the others react.

Everyone looked upward, and the sharp-eyed Watching Yue Feng was the first to make a discovery:

"Leader, there's a rattan here, it seems to be connected to the top."

Xia Hong hurriedly walked over, took the rattan from Watching Yue Feng's hand, and just gave it a light tug, which shook a few pieces of snow down from above.

"It's here. Follow me up, be careful."

Testing the sturdiness of the rattan and finding no problems, Xia Hong immediately climbed up, and the nine people including Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng also followed behind him.

That five-meter-wide wooden board was too conspicuous on the snow-covered mountaintop. Xia Hong just scanned it casually and discovered it; he hurriedly walked to the top of the cover.

"Ah..."

As soon as he got close and heard the faint screams coming from inside, Xia Hong's expression changed, and he hurriedly took a black ink block the size of a fist from his bosom.

"Everyone come over, take out your stone axes!"

Seeing the nine people take out their stone axes, Xia Hong hurriedly used the black ink block to constantly smear the axe blades.

The ink block was magical; it looked hard, but as soon as it touched the axe blade, it seemed to turn into liquid. By the time he finished smearing the nine axes, only a marble-sized piece remained.

The black ink block was naturally the Condensing Fire Oil that would ignite upon touching a monster.

Xia Hong drew his small dagger, smeared the last bit on it, then turned to look at the crowd and ordered: "Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, you two come down with me to check the situation first. The rest of you stay above. If I need your help, I will shout immediately. No matter what comes up, use your axes to greet it, no matter who it is!"

Everyone nodded.

Xia Hong took a deep breath; he didn't know the situation inside, so he could only arrange it this way. He stepped forward and flipped the wooden board open.

"Ah..."

"Shi Dong, have you gone crazy? Don't kill me."

"Spare me, Shi Dong, don't kill anymore, don't kill anymore."

…………

The three-meter-wide opening was revealed, and the continuous screams became clear.

Sure enough, he hadn't guessed wrong; Shi Dong was truly controlled by the monster.

Xia Hong jumped directly into the opening, with Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng following closely behind.

Entering the interior of the cave, a thick bloody scent instantly rushed into his nose and straight to his brain, and the three of them felt nauseous.

"Woo, woo, woo, woo..."

Hearing whimpering sounds by his ear, Xia Hong endured the discomfort and looked down. It was actually Shi Qing lying on the ground, struggling frantically and aiming his eyes toward the campfire, clearly signaling for him to hurry and save people.

His mouth was sealed by something, and his body was wrapped in countless white threads. Those white threads weren't even binding him from the outside, but were piercing through his flesh to bind him tightly.

"You two untie Leader Shi, I'll go save people!"

The moment he entered the cave, Xia Hong had already seen the slaughter happening by the campfire. Now that he had received Shi Qing's signal, he naturally didn't drag his feet, rushing straight toward the monster that was killing with great pleasure.

Perhaps because it was too excited from killing, the monster didn't seem to notice Xia Hong's arrival, still constantly slaughtering those ordinary people.

It wasn't until Xia Hong rushed to its side that it threw away a head it had just plucked, turned its head violently, and glared fiercely at Xia Hong.

"It's you little bastard again, ruining my good deeds time and time again."

Xia Hong scanned the surroundings roughly, his brows sinking violently, and the anger in his heart rose instantly.

His anger, of course, did not stem from the monster's cursing.

His anger stemmed from the people, the corpses, the countless severed limbs around the campfire, and those ordinary humans who had suffered heavy casualties and were struggling and wailing on the ground in pain.

Just from a rough scan, Xia Hong estimated that at least nearly a hundred people had died.

Among the dead were men and women, adults and children.

There were even infants who were still nursing.

Many people who had suffered fatal wounds were still wailing on the ground, clearly waiting to die. Xia Hong even noticed one person who had been cut in two from the waist, their face full of fear and pain, still struggling constantly on the ground.

Those who were killed instantly with one blow seemed lucky by comparison.

Xia Hong clenched his fists, the anger in his chest rising constantly.

Although this was the second time he had seen a monster commit evil, this scene was far bloodier, more terrifying, and more ruthless than what the Great Xia camp had experienced last time.

These monsters that attacked humans indiscriminately had no emotions, let alone conscience.

Their existence was simply a challenge to the bottom line of biological life.

The previous deaths of Xia Ding and the woodcutting team, the seventy-two lives lost when the camp was first slaughtered by monsters, plus the terrifying scene before his eyes now.

With all these new and old grudges combined, Xia Hong's anger soared to the heavens. Looking at the Shi Dong controlled by the monster, he spoke almost through gritted teeth:

"You evil beast, I know you like to hide behind the scenes. You'd better pray not to be caught by me. Once I catch you, I will definitely put you on a torch day and night to burn you until you are reduced to slag!"

Xia Hong knew that the Shi Dong before him was not the monster's true form.

So after saying this, he didn't bother with more nonsense, drew the small dagger from his waist, and approached the monster in the blink of an eye.

Hearing Xia Hong's words, the monster's face, which was already sinister, became even more furious. Seeing Xia Hong rush over, it shot several transparent white threads directly at him with both hands.

The moment Xia Hong saw the white threads, he remembered that Shi Qing had just been bound by them. Knowing he couldn't be careless, he dodged a few, then immediately held his dagger upright and slashed at a white thread closest to him.

Sizzle...

To his pleasant surprise, the moment the dagger touched the white thread, sparks flew everywhere.

Xia Hong immediately realized that this white thread also had monster attributes.

With this, he no longer had any burdens. He held his dagger horizontally, stopped dodging, and constantly slashed at the white threads rushing toward him. In just three or four breaths, he reached the front of the monster.

"Collect some interest first, you evil beast. Just wait, you will die by my hands sooner or later!"

Xia Hong's eyes widened in anger, and his dagger slashed through the air.

Although he had just broken through to the Earth-Digging Realm and his base strength was only a little over ten thousand jin, the Tai Zhan Fist technique combined with the weapon allowed Xia Hong to unleash a terrifying force that exceeded his base strength by twenty percent.

This strike was like a hot knife through butter.

The monster, which had hurriedly raised its arms to block, had its arms and head slashed open directly. Because the force was so great, even after the head flew off, the rest of the body parts had not yet fallen.

It took a full four or five breaths before the neck area, which had been stained with Condensing Fire Oil, slowly ignited a small flame.

The small flame gradually spread, burning brighter and brighter, looking just like the soaring anger in Xia Hong's heart at this moment.

Still asking for follow-up reading, trying to push the second round as high as possible; it's almost at a thousand. Thank you to the brothers who have accompanied me during this time. I know that everyone isn't enjoying the new book period, but thank you for your patience in coming in every day. As I said before, after this period passes, I will explode with updates. I only ask for support during the new book period, hoping to continue advancing in the second round and push upward. Thank you!!!

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(End of chapter)