Chapter 84: Collapse

"Jade Tablet, what Jade Tablet?"

Xu Chen was stunned for a moment before suddenly realizing; he wiped his hand across his Storage Bag, and a cold, pitch-black Jade Piece instantly appeared. Without a second thought, he poured his Divine Sense and a large amount of Yuan Qi into it.

The Jade Piece suddenly erupted with a black light visible only to Divine Sense, accompanied by a blue starlight vortex exploding above his head. With a shrill, piercing screech, a two-headed bat wreathed in Black Mist sprayed out from the vortex.

Almost the moment the Two-Headed Demon Bat appeared, it opened its mouth and spat out a gust of Black Wind, blowing the black spiderwebs falling from the sky into disarray. Then, it screeched again and lunged toward the cave entrance.

"Roar~~"

The Soul Beast hiding within the cave was finally thoroughly enraged, and it came rushing out with a roar.

This was a terrifying giant spider at least ten zhang in size. Its entire body was pitch-black and emitted a luster like metal, and its four huge red compound eyes radiated a horrifying light within the cave.

Its eight giant legs were like saw blades; wherever it crawled, the fissures and tunnels were shredded like tofu, accompanied by bursts of black light exploding into dust, which were then swept into the rotating Black Wind vortex.

The two giant beasts collided in the blink of an eye, erupting into a heaven-shaking battle.

A sharp aura swept across the entire cave, and a large number of spiders and hanging spider eggs were shredded to pieces by the aura of the battle.

Under the violent tremors, the entire Black Wind Ridge followed with a slight shudder. The terrifying sound, like muffled thunder, traveled out of the fissures along with the howling Black Wind, causing the four cultivators including Song Qingshi, who were guarding outside, to turn pale and tremble. They hurriedly steered their Flying Swords to flee to a further distance.

Meanwhile, a large number of beasts and Demon Beasts gathered in the Black Wind Ridge area also shrieked in terror and fled in all directions.

Deep in the mountain cave, several hundred zhang away from the cave where Xu Chen and the woman were, a man in green robes was locked in a fierce battle with a powerful Soul Beast.

At this moment, he no longer possessed the pride and handsomeness he had when he first arrived at Wild Wolf Valley. Not only were his clothes tattered, but his body was also covered in crisscrossing wounds, his face was pale, his aura was chaotic, and he was almost at the point of being unable to hold on.

And when the shockwaves of this terrifying battle reached him, the Soul Beast he was fighting suddenly became violently restless and launched a frantic attack against the man in green. After suffering two heavy blows in succession, the man's Protective Array Disk shattered, and after his Divine Sense suffered a severe blow, he had no choice but to flee in a sorry state.

If he continued to stay, let alone finding his junior sister, whether he could survive himself was a question.

At this time, he had no heart to care about the wager with Xu Chen, but instead used his remaining Divine Sense—no more than two zhang—to find a way out among the crisscrossing fissure tunnels.

From entering the fissure to the present, less than three hours had passed in total.

Inside the spider nest deep in the fissure.

At this moment, the two giant beasts had entered the white-hot stage of battle.

The Two-Headed Demon Bat, having been sucked into the Jade Bottle and then released, looked larger than the spider, but its strength appeared much weaker, and it was clearly at a disadvantage in the melee.

However, because the bat could fly, its attacks were more flexible in this vast, huge cave. Moreover, it was adept at unleashing powerful Soul attacks. Thus, amidst the violent rolling and fighting, the two giant beasts rampaged through the cave. Wherever they passed, the fissures crumbled, and the thunderous impacts and explosions caused the entire cave to tremble and shake without pause, while a large number of spider eggs and small spiders were crushed and swept into the red light vortex.

The woman in black had already lost consciousness again, her aura so weak that even Xu Chen could barely feel it.

But Xu Chen had no time to pay attention to this at the moment; he could only hide and dodge amidst the falling debris and the churning, howling Black Wind.

Escaping this cave was now impossible; the impact of the two giant beasts' battle was everywhere, a large number of tunnels and fissures had collapsed, and a large number of spiders had fled into the surrounding fissures. However, they had not fled far, still surrounding the two of them in the middle. No matter which direction they tried to escape, they would inevitably fall into a sea of spiders.

The only hope he held now was that the Two-Headed Demon Bat could eventually finish off the giant spider, and then he could borrow its power to kill his way out.

Boom, boom, boom...

The two giant beasts fought more and more brutally. In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed. While dodging and fleeing, Xu Chen slowly recovered a fair amount of Yuan Qi, and his emotions gradually stabilized.

As time passed, both giant beasts were covered in wounds, looking tattered and torn.

The giant spider had been stripped of two legs, its movements were no longer as agile as at the beginning, the intervals between spitting spider silk were getting longer, and its roaring sounds gradually carried a hint of exhaustion.

The Two-Headed Demon Bat's injuries were even more severe; its two fleshy wings were shredded to ribbons, one head was missing half, and its body was spraying Black Mist, making it almost unable to fly.

The two giant beasts had begun to entangle with each other like brawling brutes, attacking each other with mouths and claws. Large chunks of limbs were torn off and dissipated into Black Mist. In Xu Chen's Divine Sense, he could only see the phantoms of two giant beasts wrapped in thick black fog, rolling and roaring.

"Boom~"

Accompanied by an explosion of black light, the Two-Headed Demon Bat fell with a scream. One of its heads was nowhere to be found, and its tattered body stumbled and rolled among the shattered rocks and fissures, screaming.

And the giant spider, which had fallen from the cave ceiling hanging by spider silk, was just as miserable. Not only was it missing another leg, but the back of its abdomen was missing half, and clumps of Black Mist rose up like thick smoke.

Xu Chen had never understood why such strange creatures existed.

This kind of Soul Beast seemed to be condensed from this Black Mist; once injured, it would turn back into Black Mist and dissipate, leaving nothing behind except a Soul Bead.

But as long as they were not injured, these Soul Beasts were no different from ordinary Demon Beasts made of flesh and blood, with incredibly tough bodies.

Although he was deeply puzzled, he could only link the strange constitution of the Soul Beasts to this Black Wind of unknown origin. Perhaps this special environment created the Soul Beasts, these incomprehensible and strange demon creatures.

At this moment, the two giant beasts had harmed each other to the most tragic extent.

But Xu Chen still had no way to kill the giant spider, because his Flying Sword could not even pierce the giant spider's shell, which was like black iron.

The only thing that could kill this giant spider was perhaps still the Two-Headed Demon Bat.

But unfortunately, it looked like the Two-Headed Demon Bat was more severely injured, almost to the point of being unable to fight.

The two giant beasts landed, glaring at each other with giant eyes flickering with red light.

Hissing, roaring, and crawling, they soon entangled again like mortal enemies, tearing and brawling, rolling everywhere, though their momentum was much smaller than before.

A large number of small and medium-sized spiders crawled out from the rubble and fissure tunnels, surging toward Xu Chen and the woman like a tide.

Xu Chen continuously used his Flying Sword to kill some small spiders, then looked for places to retreat and hide. Slowly, the two of them were forced to the edge of the central Black Wind vortex. At this moment, hundreds of spiders of all sizes had already surrounded them densely.

"Roar~~"

At this moment, the battle between the two giant beasts had also reached a conclusion.

The giant spider used its long legs, which were like giant scythes, to completely tear the Two-Headed Demon Bat apart, which soon turned into rolling black smoke and dissipated.

Of course, the giant spider's victory was also very tragic; it had lost another leg, and its abdomen had been torn open by the bat, leaving a large hole.

Watching the giant spider, emitting rolling black smoke and dragging its tattered, huge body with its remaining three legs, close in, Xu Chen had nowhere left to retreat.

At this moment, just a few zhang behind him was the bottomless abyss emitting a faint red light.

The terrifying aura emitted from below caused the Blue Light Treasure Bottle in Xu Chen's Sea of Consciousness to tremble incessantly. Inside, a pitch-black lotus flower was tossing and turning like a demon, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, while simultaneously releasing bursts of low roars. Under the desperate impact, the starlight of the treasure bottle flashed violently, appearing as if it could not hold on much longer.

While Xu Chen's Divine Sense was focused on the surrounding situation, he was still constantly communicating with the Jade Bead, hoping to release the treasure bottle again to absorb all these spiders of all sizes.

However, the consciousness fed back by the Jade Bead this time was very strong; it seemed to be very resistant.

Perhaps the treasure bottle had also reached the point where it could no longer continue to absorb and suppress these spiders.

Xu Chen was helpless. Remembering the warning from the woman in black just now, he used his Divine Sense to break open her Storage Bag again, found two Spirit Talismans inside, took them out, and then gritted his teeth and crushed both Jade Talismans at the same time.

With two loud booms, accompanied by the explosion of a cyan and a red light, Xu Chen felt the Yuan Qi he had managed to gather in his dantian being instantly drained again, and his Meridians began to collapse rapidly. He had no choice but to take the Jade Bottle containing the Spirit Liquid from the hands of the unconscious woman in black, crush it in his hand, and swallow a gulp of the green liquid.

The violent Spirit Qi rushed into his internal organs like a flood, subsequently turning into rolling Yuan Qi and pouring into his dantian.

Supported by the violent primordial Qi, the two Spirit Talismans were finally fully activated.

A ball of flame over a zhang in size suddenly exploded in the gloomy cavern, transforming into a giant flaming bird that lunged at the giant spider, while another stream of cyan light condensed into countless cyan Wind Blades, sweeping out in all directions like a violent storm.

The entire cavern shook violently, the swirling Black Wind vortex was torn apart by the Wind Blades, cyan and red spiritual light illuminated the entire space, and a large number of spiders were slashed into pieces amidst the flames and Wind Blades, then burned to ashes.

The giant spider rolled and hissed frantically in the flames, finally leaping into the Black Wind vortex wrapped in a ball of fire, and was swallowed in the blink of an eye.

Xu Chen seized this rare opportunity and sprinted toward the nearest fissure with the Woman in black on his back.

"Hum~~"

A sound like muffled thunder came from deep underground, followed by a terrifying aura that could shatter one's Soul surging into the sky.

Xu Chen's face was pale and twisted as he fled for his life, completely ignoring the spiders of all sizes lunging at him along the way; his Flying Sword whistled and rolled ahead to clear the path, unleashing power crazily as if it cost nothing, fueled by the terrifying primordial Qi of the Spirit Liquid.

He had no energy to look back, and not even the courage to scan with his senses.

This aura was even more terrifying than the pressure when True Monarch Taiwu descended upon the Taiyuan Sect.

The vortex had completely collapsed.

A black tentacle as thick as a water bucket shot out from the ground, scattering red light like magma across the sky, then whistled as it swept across the surroundings.

"Boom, boom, boom~"

Wherever the tentacle passed, everything in the cavern was crushed into powder as if it were tofu.

The entire cavern began to collapse, and a massive amount of rock fell like an avalanche.

(End of this chapter)