Chapter 357: Dragon Eater?!

Su Ming noticed everyone's gaze and gave no explanation.

In his palm, the surface of the Bronze Fragment sprouted several new cracks.

Wear visible to the naked eye.

Under these conditions, this thing can't hold up for long.

Worry!

"Stop dawdling, let's go."

Time drags on second by second.

Even with the Bronze Fragment's aid, the environment keeps worsening.

Like a candle that shortens as it burns.

The flame hasn't gone out, but the candle body is almost gone.

"Huh—"

Fifty meters ahead.

The gray mist churning with black‑red murky vapor suddenly tore a gap right in the middle.

A bone‑chilling cold, colder than the polar ice fields, slammed down headlong.

"Hm?!"

The group's steps halted, and a sense of danger surged wildly.

This is different from the 【Death Gate】 we encountered before.

The cold of the 【Death Gate】 is the cold of inanimate things.

Stifling, solidified, like stepping into a morgue.

But this time—

It's alive.

Bearing murderous intent.

Bearing hunger!

【Lao Gou】's hair stood on end as he reached his right hand into his trouser pocket.

"There's something—"

"And, there are many of them!"

Even Zhao Xinghe, gripping Su Ming's hand, tightened his grip a bit.

This time, even she sensed some danger!

Deep within the mist.

Footsteps arise.

Step.

Step.

Step.

A line of 【Black Shadow】 emerged from the gray mist in formation.

【Detonator】 and 【Zha Yao】 instinctively reached for the waist's blasting trigger.

Coming forward was an army.

But definitely not a human army.

The one at the front stood nearly three meters tall.

A set of broken copper‑rusted Bronze Fragment armor wasn't worn on the body.

It was nailed with iron spikes straight into flesh.

The skin around the nails flared outward, turning black‑purple, like pus‑filled nodules protruding from the meat.

What made the scalp tingle most was everything above its neck.

No face.

No features.

Dense fangs formed concentric rings, spiraling into the throat's depths, each trembling slightly.

Like a seven‑gill eel magnified ten thousand times.

Behind it, hundreds of its kind.

Some had both arms sprout symmetrical bone blades, white and eerie.

Some had their chests split down the middle, the cavity inside filled with eyeballs.

They turned one by one, each looking in its own direction.

The style was odd.

Yet their pace was unified, formation orderly.

Monster army?!

A horde of monsters trained by the Great Qin military law?!

"Yin Soldier... request passage..."

【Lao Gou】 swallowed, his voice trembling.

The leading seven‑gill eel tilted its head toward Su Ming, and its circular mouth gaped open violently.

Its fangs scraped, producing a hissing sound, and a clump of foul, black vapor spewed from deep within.

Hundreds of deformed 【Yin Soldier】 halted simultaneously.

They all turned their heads in unison.

Facing Su Ming and his party.

Murderous intent poured down like a tipped dirty water bucket, slamming onto them.

The group instantly felt even their breath tinged with blood, their knees uncontrollably going weak.

Su Ming's complexion didn't change.

No retreat.

He still steps forward heavily.

Buzz!

"Roar!"

The Bronze Fragment's temperature spikes instantly to the limit, and a tiger's roar belonging to the Kingly Way erupts in the void.

The massive body of the Seven-Gilled Eel leader, just about to lunge, freezes abruptly.

On its faceless visage, one strangely perceives entanglement and pain.

It's as if a deep-seated obedience instinct encoded in its genes and a newly implanted mad killing command are violently clashing in its mind.

It stalled for several seconds.

The leader lets out a low growl.

Unwilling.

But it still concedes.

It suddenly twists aside.

Hundreds of malformed shadow soldiers, as if struck by a heavy whip, simultaneously clear a path and stiffly retreat into the gray mist on both sides.

Yield!

Behind Su Ming, Zhi He's mouth gapes, but not a single word emerges.

Damn...

Zha Yao loosens a finger and mutters a curse under his breath.

The unreasonable living formation retreats.

Death Gate retreats.

Now, even this abyssal army that would drop one's sanity just by a glance has retreated.

What exactly is the little gadget in Mr. Su's hand?!

A passage credential?!

With this thing, would their journey be a smooth ascent to the clouds?!

However.

Su Ming doesn't smile.

He sees it crystal clear—

When the leader retreated, the fangs in its circular mouth still protruded outward.

It's not submission.

It's the lingering pressure of a tiger tally, temporarily suppressing the contamination within it.

But...

How long can it hold?!

Hard to say!

Throughout the ages, the thing never lacking is...

Power grabs and usurpations!

But who would be so bold?!

This is a once-in-a-millennium emperor!

"Go."

Nine kilometers.

Approaching the First Emperor's Tomb, getting closer.

The ground's color has completely changed.

No longer the previous black‑red, but a deeper cyan.

Like copper oxidized for two thousand years.

Each step taken is brittle.

Fine cracks spread from the soles, as if stepping on a thin sheet of ice.

Beneath the ice, something moves.

It's not a blood vessel.

Not a network.

It's a shadow!

A gray, indistinct humanoid shadow.

Gliding silently beneath their feet.

One.

Two.

A multitude.

All moving in the same direction.

Everyone moved toward the core area of Lishan.

Like schools of fish swimming in the deep sea.

"Those are……"

【Zhi He】's throat tightened.

"Don't look."

【Lao Gou】's voice dropped two tones.

"They're also yin soldiers."

"And even stronger!"

No one in the unit spoke again.

Only footsteps.

And beneath the footsteps, another layer of almost inaudible rustling.

Neat.

Uniform.

Those shadows were walking too.

In the same direction as them.

But faster.

Su Ming narrowed his eyes, staring at those gray humanoid outlines for a few seconds.

Their builds were uniform.

The spacing was even.

They marched in formation.

They'd been dead for two thousand years.

Military formation discipline—not a bit loosened.

The quality of these clay figurines leaves the Huangquan Theater's miscellaneous troops behind by who knows how many streets.

"Huh?!"

Suddenly, a small hand suddenly gripped Su Ming's sleeve.

Su Ming turned his head.

Zhao Xinghe's gaze didn't drop to the ground.

He stared straight ahead, fixing his gaze on a certain direction deep underground.

She……

Or perhaps the companion Red Ling saw something?!

"Little girl."

Su Ming crouched, bringing his eyes level with Zhao Xinghe's.

"What did you see?"

Zhao Xinghe blinked.

The small hand gripping Su Ming's sleeve loosened.

She tilted her head, then looked ahead again.

"Nothing……"

Her voice was soft and sweet.

Her expression was also normal.

Su Ming stared at her eyes.

Her pupils were clear.

No blood color.

No abnormality.

But in his perception, the companion spirit's position had shifted.

It hovered directly above her head.

Like a bird guarding its nest.

Wings spread.

Facing downward.

Toward the ground.

"It's fine."

Su Ming rubbed her head, didn't press further, and prepared to move on.

"Brother."

"Hmm?"

"Those shadows underground……"

Su Ming once again turned his gaze to Zhao Xinghe.

The little girl's tone was still soft.

But her voice was deeper, steadier, more resolute!

The Red Ling had taken over consciousness!

"They're not walking."

Zhao Xinghe stared at the ground, his gaze unfocused on any solid object.

They are running.

They are running very, very anxiously.

It's not the kind of running to go to war.

She paused.

They are hiding.

Below, it's a very, very deep place.

There is a very, very big thing.

It is eating another thing.

It is eating with great effort.

The one being eaten... wants to call out.

The little girl's right hand unconsciously gripped her own hem.

But... cannot make a sound.

Because the mouth is blocked.

All around, the air is silent.

On Su Ming's back, every hair stood on end.

It seems... we've matched!

At that time in the dream, there was such a sentence——

【The Dragon Eater Will Awaken】!

So...

What Zhao Xinghe is saying now......

Is that the so-called 【Dragon Eater】?!

And the 【Dragon】......

Is it the golden dragon of the nation's fate, cracked and entwined with the grayish aura of defeat and death?

Or......

Is it the ancestral dragon of the First Emperor?!

If it is the latter.

And what exactly is it?

What could force this true dragon Son of Heaven to this point?!