Chapter 487: Blocking the Way (5/10, Autumn Subscription)

What's going on?!

Fang Yue froze in place for a moment.

In just this short time, the cries of battle had already spread this way.

Far off, he could see a Ning Mansion servant sprinting toward him on all fours, frequently glancing back, face twisted in terror, as if fearing something.

As Fang Yue puzzled over it, a dark shadow suddenly shot out from behind the corner, moving with blinding speed, leaving a trail of afterimages as it slashed past the man.

The head flew into the air; the headless corpse stumbled forward two steps from momentum, then thudded to the ground, motionless.

Fang Yue frowned as he watched the dark shadow lock onto him and race forward at high speed.

Whoosh!

The Fire Blade appeared—Fang Yue didn't retreat, he charged forward and slashed!

Beneath the blazing flames, the black shadow clinging to the outside scattered like a creature facing its natural enemy, revealing the grotesque form within: a wolf-headed humanoid, its belly split open in a gaping maw, writhing tentacles spilling out from the wound.

"Roar!!"

As it roared, Fang Yue's blade plunged into its split belly and ripped open a massive gash.

Amid the flames, the grotesque let out a mournful wailing—"Wu-wu-wu!"—as it tumbled past Fang Yue, rolling helplessly on the ground. Before it could regain its footing, Fang Yue's figure was already back beside it, a flash of fire.

The wolf's head rolled to the ground.

Fang Yue glanced at the system prompt and frowned slightly.

No rewards at all—apparently, it was just a Third-rate Realm grotesque.

Thump-thump-thump.

The ground trembled faintly.

Fang Yue turned back and his pupils shrank.

Nearly a hundred Ning Mansion servants were sprinting toward him.

Behind those servants stretched an endless horde of grotesques!

A dark, oppressive mass that made Fang Yue's scalp prickle.

If all these grotesques were as strong as the wolf-headed one he'd just killed, Fang Yue wouldn't be worried at all.

But the problem was… right in the midst of that dark, crushing horde, there was one grotesque with a faint red glow on its forehead, embedded with a blood-red stone!

Blood Stone exposed!

This thing was a Blood-level grotesque, just recently upgraded!

Fang Yue instantly felt panic.

Blood-level grotesques correspond to the Xiantian Realm.

But despite being the same level, a Blood-level grotesque and a Xiantian Realm grotesque were two entirely different concepts of power!

Under normal circumstances, humans at the same level couldn't kill a grotesque of their own rank! Fang Yue was an exception among exceptions.

That meant the newly upgraded Blood-level grotesque in the horde was stronger and more troublesome than Liao Guanjia!

Add to that the entire grotesque horde, and Fang Yue had completely abandoned the idea of a direct confrontation.

At this moment, the arriving Ning Mansion servants noticed the corpses on the ground, the chaotic scene, and the lone living figure standing in the midst of it all.

Instantly, they slowed, visibly terrified.

"H-How is this possible?! That's Liao Guanjia?!"

"Liao Guanjia is dead? Killed by that guy?!"

"We're done! Without Liao Guanjia, and with Niu Guanjia and Ma Guanjia both away from the mansion, we're finished! No one can stand against that horde behind us!"

"No! We still have the Underground Secret Chamber! That door is specially made—ordinary grotesques can't break through!"

"Right… right! Let's go! We escape to the Underground Secret Chamber!"

With Fang Yue ahead and the grotesque horde behind, in their panic, they discussed their plan without even considering he might hear them.

This was an unexpected windfall!

Fang Yue immediately felt a surge of joy.

Watching the group change direction and flee, Fang Yue leapt onto the wall, observing their path from above while avoiding the grotesques as much as possible.

But when Fang Yue, clinging to the heights and following them from behind, reached the final courtyard of the Ning Mansion, he found the area already packed with people!

Everyone was leaping down into the gaping hole on the ground, like dumplings being dropped into boiling water.

But Fang Yue saw clearly: there was a staircase leading down, only it was completely jammed with people—far less convenient than jumping straight down.

"Get out of my way, all of you!"

With a roar, Fang Yue leapt down, heading straight for the entrance—only to see two iron doors extending from either side, slowly closing together; above them, disguised as a rock formation, the fake mountain split in two, and only when these two iron doors merged perfectly did the disguise become flawless.

Fang Yue saw the pattern and realized—something was wrong!

He still had some distance to cover, but judging by the speed of the iron doors closing, he was barely going to make it.

Just as misfortune piled upon misfortune, while he was still rushing forward, the grotesque horde beside him suddenly halted its pursuit of the fleeing servants, paused for an instant, then all turned in unison and charged straight toward Fang Yue—as if he carried something precious.

Fang Yue:???

Do these grotesques only go after the toughest targets?

His expression darkened; Fang Yue pushed his speed to its limit—only for a dark shadow to catch up to him even faster!

Fang Yue turned back—sure enough, it was the Blood-level grotesque with the red stone on its forehead, its body resembling a centipede!

Ahead, the secret chamber door was about to shut; behind, the Blood-level grotesque was chasing him.

Fang Yue gritted his teeth and pushed his speed to the absolute maximum.

"Charge! Charge! Charge!!"

Give it everything—charge through!!

Whether grotesques or people blocked his path ahead, Fang Yue did only one thing: he slashed.

Any obstacle before Fang Yue was severed in two by his Fire Blade!

Without pausing his speed, Fang Yue drew closer and closer to the entrance.

While others were still shoving and screaming, Fang Yue had already reached the entrance and leapt upward.

Yet, from the distance and time, the shrinking entrance below meant he might not make it in time to reach the Underground Secret Chamber.

"Roar!!"

At that moment, the centipede-shaped Blood-level anomaly, though starting later, overtook Fang Yue from behind and slammed into him.

A thought struck him, and Fang Yue's face lit up with joy.

"Perfect!"

He spun midair and blocked it.

Thud!

His arms felt as if weighed down by a thousand jin; his palms went numb, and at the same time, his entire body was flung backward—just before the iron door fully closed, he was slammed directly into the Underground Secret Chamber below!

The centipede-shaped Blood-level anomaly clearly hesitated, watching helplessly as Fang Yue fell into the Underground Secret Chamber, then the iron door slammed shut with a heavy thud.

Those left outside wailed and cried out in despair.

Those who entered the Underground Secret Chamber silently rejoiced, having narrowly saved their lives.

The Blood-level anomaly snapped back to its senses and immediately roared as it battered the iron door.

Yet the iron door, though seemingly flimsy, was as if fortified by an array—no matter how fiercely the Blood-level anomaly struck, it did not budge an inch!

At this moment, if viewed from above, Ning Mansion would reveal that all anomalies invading it were converging toward this very gate.

They used their lives, their abilities, roaring and howling, trying to break open this "iron can."

Yet, aside from the thudding sounds, they achieved nothing.

Those two ordinary-looking iron doors at the entrance of the Underground Secret Chamber had truly held back the army of anomalies!

Let me make some instant noodles, then come back and continue.

(End of Chapter)