Chapter 34: Snake Demon!

After quickly dealing with the corpses that were presumably victims of the Demon-Suppressing Sect, everyone wasted no time and continued to push ahead with all their might.

Miss Vilyric shared some information about the Demon-Suppressing Sect with a few others who were also in the dark. It seemed that both Murong Yun and Du Zhe from Guiyuan Sect had heard of this infamous sect, and their expressions turned solemn upon learning more.

Ultimately, it was clear that the Demon-Suppressing Sect had gone to great lengths to eliminate members of similar exploration teams without a shred of mercy, and their intentions were almost painfully obvious.

If they were indeed after the Qilin, it was certain that they came prepared. To be honest, Miss Vilyric was quite curious about how these people planned to deal with the obviously formidable Sacred Beast.

However, since Ling Feng indicated that there was a massive seal against demons here that was starting to loosen, perhaps the Demon-Suppressing Sect was counting on that as well.

Heh heh… It felt like things were about to get lively.

While hastening their pace, Murong Yun used some strange paper doll method to report the situation to the Prefect outside. Perhaps this was something they had anticipated all along.

But honestly, Miss Vilyric didn’t believe that anyone sent from outside could be quicker than those Demon-Suppressing Sect members. Yet, that wasn’t something Priestess needed to worry about. Maybe Wen Fu and the others actually had a way to send reinforcements, or perhaps the situation here remained too unclear for the time being.

So, Miss Vilyric decided to wait and see.

An hour later, they arrived at their destination.

“It seems… we are the first ones here.”

As Murong Yun observed the surroundings and made this somber assessment, a steep canyon wall appeared before Miss Vilyric and the others.

It might sound unbelievable, but there are canyons underground, and indeed, that was the only way to describe this strange sight.

The walls of the rock formation, shaped by tidal deep valleys, miraculously fused into a narrow passage just over a meter wide that spanned dozens of meters long, which could not be avoided no matter how one tried to take another route.

The stone walls on both sides rose sharply into the pitch-black expanse of the canyon above. If not for the torches in everyone’s hands, a regular person might see nothing in this dark environment.

According to Murong Yun, while there were over a hundred varying-sized entrances at the top, each connected to different spaces, no matter where one descended from, to venture deeper into the canyon, they must pass through this narrow passage.

Thus, the exploration teams agreed to meet here.

Murong Yun had initially discovered the Sacred Beast Qilin on the side of a wall somewhere in this underground canyon, where a two or three-meter-wide sinkhole had mysteriously opened, allowing him to enter.

“…”

Standing at the entrance of the passage, Miss Vilyric gazed at the faintly visible exit in the distance and the narrow corridor on both sides, raising an eyebrow slightly.

As a member of the Divine Race, she naturally wouldn’t be blinded by this level of darkness, but she couldn’t see any so-called sinkhole on this path; the narrow passage was completely one-way.

In other words, if Murong Yun wasn’t lying, the tidal stone he described indeed still blocked the entrance to the sinkhole, and the miraculous scene of the Seven Stars Aligning couldn’t possibly manifest again so soon.

Hmm… this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, if they can’t get in here, those certain guys would likely be blocked as well. At least here, everyone started on the same starting line.

“Pat, pat…”

Before long, the sound of hurried footsteps began to gradually reach the ears of the Priestess.

She turned her head, and though the few people around her didn’t possess the acute perception of the girl, they were also drawn to this sudden movement and instinctively cast their gazes toward the direction Miss Vilyric was observing.

About half a minute later, a new presence emerged from the shadow cast by the torchlight held by the others.

One, two, three… nine, eleven.

A total of eleven people, looking to be a fully-staffed team, arrived at the entrance of the canyon, led by a man dressed as a fortune-teller.

“Brother Chengye…? Is that you, Brother Chengye?! I’m glad you’re okay. Did you encounter any attacks on the way?”

Murong Yun immediately recognized the identity of the other person, his face lighting up with joy as he greeted the man who looked like he could predict fortunes for others.

“Haha… As expected, Brother Yun arrived first! Thank you for your concern; although we met some evil spirits, overall it was smooth sailing, um… what about your team…?”

The fortune-teller casually glanced over Murong Yun’s team members, smiled, cupped his fists in greeting, and led his teammates forward.

“We had some minor hiccups, temporarily splitting up from some members. They can take care of themselves, don’t worry about them, Brother Chengye.”

Wow, what a casual remark!

But saying that doesn’t seem wrong; after all, they couldn’t exactly say that a big argument broke out, and a certain particularly cranky princess and her little follower ran off.

As for the leading fortune-teller, Miss Vilyric had a bit of an impression of him too.

Zhu Chengye was indeed one of the ten powerful individuals who had evaluated the applicants earlier. Unlike Murong Yun, who was a martial artist, he, like Ling Feng and Du Zhe from Guiyuan Sect, specialized in mysterious arts… a Mage?

In any case, he and Murong Yun represented the two strongest among those ten.

Among the strong individuals Miss Vilyric had seen so far, aside from Ling Feng and Lord Qin Xuan from Yangyuan County, Zhu Chengye was perhaps the one with the deepest cultivation, though he hadn’t quite reached the realm of seeking immortality yet.

Murong Yun and Zhu Chengye seemed to share a good rapport, and after regrouping, they quickly huddled together in low whispers.

They spoke in hushed tones, but Miss Vilyric could still hear them discussing topics like “Xu Lian,” “Black Python,” and “Demon-Suppressing Sect,” while the fortune-teller’s expression gradually grew serious.

After that, everyone waited a whole half an hour for two more teams that had suffered losses under the evil demons but were still relatively intact, gathering to about thirty people.

However, after that, no new teams arrived to join them. Although they were mentally prepared, Murong Yun and Zhu Chengye, along with the captains from the other two teams, clearly had somewhat grim expressions.

Though ten small teams had acted separately, the distance to this reunion point was roughly the same. Since they still hadn’t arrived by now, the outcome was already clear.

Just like Xu Lian’s group, they… probably wouldn’t be showing up anymore.

The captains conferred briefly and seemed to have made a decision.

“We can’t wait any longer. We’ll head into the canyon now and figure out a way to open the tidal stone sealing the entrance…”

However, before the White-clad Middle-aged Man could finish speaking, a more urgent cry suddenly echoed in this dimly lit space illuminated by the torches.

“Snakes! There are snakes!!”

“Hiss… hssss…”

The chilling sound of tongues flicking sent shivers down everyone’s spines, and the sound of weapons being drawn rang out, growing clearer around them.

Murong Yun decisively threw his torch forward without hesitation, the orange-red light immediately illuminating at least a dozen black figures slithering on the ground that almost blended into the similarly colored earth.

“Everyone be careful! It’s the Black Python, don’t get bitten!”

With the captain’s loud warning, Miss Vilyric cast her gaze around.

Finally, they were on the move…

With her exceptional vision, she saw more clearly than anyone else that the Black Pythons weren’t just crawling from the ground; similar creatures were also emerging from the top of this underground space, from the pockmarked walls and cracks in the rocks, making their way towards this side.

However, aside from a peculiar hidden aura, earlier, Miss Vilyric hadn’t sensed so many lives lurking nearby.

—And it’s the same now.

This was probably a unique ability of the Ancient Spirit Realm she hadn’t encountered before, akin to a summoning technique that turned beans into soldiers.

So-called “Demon Arts”? This was quite similar to Murong Yun’s “Heaven Opening Palm,” indeed a fascinating concept.

   

---