Chapter 34: Chapter 34: The Black Shadow Appears Again

The group kept moving forward; the cave gradually changed from flat to descending, getting steeper the farther they went, and after turning a corner, suddenly the view opened up, the narrow tunnel ended, and ahead was a huge cavern. Even with the Torch's light they could not see the far wall; the ground below was bottomless, and a long wooden ladder ran down the stone wall from the edge of the platform.

Qian Feng's troops also emerged from the other side of the cave, saw the light here, and shouted, "Brother, do you have any ants over there?"

Li Bucai shook his head.

"Damn, it's really cursed; I have none here either, not even a single hair on a corpse. Could they be down below?"

Li Bucai took the Torch from Xianghong, hurled it forcefully; the Torch spun as it fell, taking a long time to reach the bottom, splashing a massive spray of sparks. The flame illuminated a wide area, faintly revealing many uneven shapes below that, by their outline, resembled ants. Suddenly a gust blew the Torch out, and darkness returned below.

"Down there, it looks like there are many," Li Bucai shouted, "We'll go down and look, watch your step."

The two groups then each descended slowly from the stairs in front of their respective cave mouths. The cavern was like a huge bowl, the walls sloping at 70 degrees, the zigzag stairs leading down, with a resting platform every 100 steps.

After about half an hour, Li Bucai and his companions finally reached the bottom; where the torchlight fell, countless ant soldiers lay motionless on the ground, the place a mess of corpses, as if a battle had just taken place.

Qian Feng and his men came from the other side and said, "The blood hasn't dried yet; could it have been done by people outside our Sixteenth Division?"

On the ground, within sight alone, there were tens of thousands of corpses; with so many ant soldiers, even if the entire Sixteenth Division were deployed, they could not eliminate them quickly. The bloodstains show these ant soldiers died only recently. If they were from other Territories, although the cavern is riddled with countless passages to the outside, it would be impossible for them to withdraw silently in such a short time. Moreover, other forces are camped dozens of li away from Sand Spring, while this mountain is only a few li from Sand Spring.

Li Bucai suddenly recalled the gust that had blown out the Torch; the cavern is sealed tightly, making it hard for any airflow to enter and generate such a fierce wind.

"It's the black‑clad ones, everyone be careful." Li Bucai waved his hand, signaling everyone to spread out.

Qian Feng said, "Is it the ones you mentioned outside the cave just now?"

Li Bucai answered confidently, "It must be them."

It does seem to be black‑clad people, Qian Feng said, "Brother, we should retreat. Think about it—if they are indeed them, they arrived only minutes before us, and this Thousand Armies ten thousand horses would be wiped out completely. If they're enemies, we'd be in danger."

The more dangerous the situation, the more thrilling it became, and the more thrilling it was, the more Li Bucai's interest was aroused; he truly wanted to see their real faces, but the opponent's power was far too great. If it were just him, he would have to keep pressing on regardless, yet there were a few delicate beauties beside him—if he fell, at most he'd be knocked out, and if they died, that would be several lives.

"Alright, we've been out here so long, the Torch is almost out, let's go back." Qian Feng was sent to lead the way, the others in the middle; when Li Bucai and the others all stepped onto the stairs, they took the rear of the group to act as rear guard.

As Li Bucai's foot just set on the stairs, a fierce gale suddenly blew in, laden with sand and mud, forcing everyone to cover their faces with their hands, making it hard to open their eyes.

It was only a gust; after it passed the group, it stopped. When they lowered their hands, the Torch had been blown out, darkness filled everything, even the ground beneath was hard to see, and they could not move forward while standing there.

Li Bucai drew his Spear, held it horizontally before him and said, "Looks like they want to buy us a drink. No need to distinguish between the central army or Qian Feng, everyone come down." After speaking, he leapt down, sweeping the Spear, pushing aside corpses, clearing a space.

Everyone readied their weapons and leapt down.

"I'll leave the rear to you; Zhuoran guard the left, Mu Nan watch the right, Blade Badge Warrior on the outside, the rest stay inside and light the Torch."

Footsteps sounded as the group took their positions. Archers in the inner circle drew their bows to full tension, ready to fire, and Junyi Wan'er, Xianghong and others hurried to pull out flint to make fire.

The flints struck, sparking a few embers; in the weak light, a black shadow suddenly swooped down from directly above Li Bucai.

"Cover my opening!" Li Bucai shouted. Blade Badge Warrior Fang Ling'er moved over as ordered, Li Bucai lightly tapped one foot, activated the light‑step technique "Drill Cloud Leap" and chased the black shadow, firing his Spear at the same time.

At this moment the sparks went out, and darkness returned. Li Bucai thrust his Spear into empty air, still unaware of the shadow's whereabouts. He felt the spear shaft tremble, as if the shadow was using his spear for leverage, apparently heading toward the top of his head. So he flipped in the air, sweeping the Spear upward; with a crisp "clang", the weapons clashed, scattering a few sparks. As the Spear was set aside, he saw the black shadow descending from above, its head thrust toward his own head; from the slender cold gleam it was clear it was a sword.

Li Bucai's feet hit the ground, and he rolled forward, evading the sword; he heard the clatter of weapons striking the ground behind him, assuming the black shadow would not stop there. He hurriedly used the Qinglong Tail Sweep, creating a lotus‑shaped spear halo around his body. Sure enough, as soon as he executed the move, a crisp sound rang in his ears; after leveraging the ground, the black shadow still plunged down, spinning and slashing at his waist, all of which was blocked by the spear blossoms.

The two tangled together, the archer could not draw an arrow. At that moment Xianghong had already ignited the Torch; the torchlight revealed a figure clad in black cloth and a hooded robe, covering the head, with a skull mask on the face. When the light illuminated him, they locked eyes, then he suddenly leapt high upward and vanished into the darkness.

"Who are you, divine being? Li Bucai, acting on orders from Sky City, has come to aid the Thirteen King. If you are a friend, show yourself; if you are an enemy, dare to step out for an open, honorable duel?"

The voice echoed in the cavern for a long while, then a middle‑aged man's voice came from the darkness: "Enemy or not, friend or not; sometimes enemy, sometimes friend; neither enemy nor friend."

Suddenly another, slightly coarse voice said, "You're trembling, what are you saying? Coming after the Thirteen King makes you our enemy."

Qian Feng said, "Since you're an enemy, come out. We'll fight three hundred rounds; don't hide and crawl like a turtle."

"Three hundred rounds? Just you lot?"