It would not be a coincidence.
When Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog looked at each other, they somehow guessed the answer.
‘Has the Land of Inheritance become the Black Magic Crawlers’ nest? If that’s really the case, the consequence is unbearable.’
Ou Yangming gritted his teeth and tossed the gem to the big yellow dog. “Keep it first, we have to try and see if we can sneak inside.”
The big yellow dog swallowed the gem, then nodded obediently after a moment of hesitation.
Since they had to go through one way or the other, they had to give it a go no matter the danger that lay ahead. If they did not have the guts to try, how could they find the solution?
They would not delay the matter further since they had decided.
Inside the cave, some paths were narrow, some were wide, while some had glowing mosses on the wall, which were brighter. There were also some paths that were truly pitch-black.
Countless Black Magic Crawlers lived inside the cave, but they seemed to yearn for light and avoided complete darkness. As such, a dark path happened to be the only passage that Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog could sneak through.
They curled their bodies and curbed their aura as much as they could to not give out a scent.
Through the big yellow dog’s nose and Ou Yangming’s improved vision, they could always spot the fearsome crawlers in advance. Each time they did, they would hide in places without mosses to get out of the Black Magic Crawlers’ sight.
Hmm, that was if the crawlers actually had sight.
However, as Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog went deeper, they began to shudder with fear.
The number of Black Magic Crawlers kept increasing, to the extent that they mostly traveled in groups, hence it was difficult for the human and the dog to completely avoid them. Nonetheless, since they had already gone quite far, they could not retreat, so they could only bite the bullet and continue moving forward.
When they arrived at an empty area, they could not advance any further.
This was because hundreds of Black Magic Crawlers were scattered around the giant empty area, which had a radius of roughly 35 meters.
Although there were plenty of them, they were insignificant as compared to the entire empty ground.
Ou Yangming looked around and noticed the situation beforehand through his improved vision.
The hundreds of Black Magic Crawlers were gathered in one spot, which was a rather big cave. Outside the cave, stones of different sizes were seen distributed unevenly.
Some crawlers entered the cave while some lay on the stones outside. They kept gnawing on the stones, but Ou Yangming, who had the Vision +1 attribute saw them clearly.
While the Black Magic Crawlers had extremely sharp mouthparts, they could not do harm to the stones.
Only after munching on the same spot for a long time, an unnoticeable mark was seen on the stone. This meant that the crawler could only gain a trivial amount of stone powder.
Even then, the Black Magic Crawler crawled down from the stone as though it found treasure, then transferred the stone powder to a shallow pit.
Ou Yangming was startled. ‘What does that mean?
“The stone powders are probably food for the Black Magic Crawlers, and the higher the powder’s rank, the more useful it is for the crawlers.
‘Theoretically, the crawlers should eat the stone powder after acquiring them through hard work, why are they piling it up in the shallow pit?’
When Ou Yangming fixed his gaze on the shallow pit, he noticed something undulating inside.
It was then when a pair of dark eyes surfaced from the pit.
There was actually a Black Magic Crawler inside, and Ou Yangming was frightened to his wits because those eyes locked on to where he and the big yellow dog were hiding.
‘Oh no, we’re exposed!’
A thought crossed Ou Yangming’s mind at that instant, and the big yellow dog sensed it too. They retreated without thinking because they had gone into a tiger’s den and would probably be dead if they could not escape a distance away. Nevertheless, just as they ran a few steps away, they quickly halted.
This was because the scattered Black Magic Crawlers had somehow run crazily in different directions like startled hares, and had blocked the way of escape in the blink of an eye.
“Charge!” Ou Yangming gritted his teeth and turned to charge into the hall.
The hall was spacious, but there were only more than a hundred Black Magic Crawlers inside, whereas there were more than ten thousand crawlers behind them.
Since Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog would certainly die if they went through the path behind, they might as well try to charge forward. Even if they were meant to die, they were determined to perish with the Black Magic Crawler inside the shallow pit.
When Ou Yangming’s essential Qi circulated and his hot Qi boiled, his consciousness rose.
In the crucial moment of life or death, he could not hide his ability anymore. His mental power and the purple light rose almost at the same time, and the state of the integration of Heaven and man seemed to have been stimulated to a greater height due to the huge crisis.
Everything in the enormous space seemed to have slowed down at that moment such that the Black Magic Crawlers, which were throwing stones away, and Ou Yangming himself were moving in slow motion.
Thoroughly meticulous!
During the moment when Ou Yangming only had a narrow chance to escape, he suddenly advanced to a higher state than the integration of Heaven and man.
Chapter 126 - Survive In The Midst Of Death
“Swoosh…”
A flash of saber-light was seen when Ou Yangming’s military saber drew a wonderful yet strange path in the void. The instant the saber dropped, six Black Magic Crawlers were killed.
The timing of the slash, the path that was drawn by the blade, as well as the swaying movement of Ou Yangming’s body, corresponded with each other seamlessly. From an outsider’s point of view, it would seem like the Black Magic Crawlers had been killed because they threw their bodies onto the saber’s blade.
Ou Yangming charged forward courageously with his saber-lights.
When he entered the thoroughly meticulous state, he somehow came up with an idea to survive, and it was the only way out of the situation.
“Big Yellow, stop them, and buy time!”
Ou Yangming roared and increased his speed to the maximum, then charged into the deep and dark cave before the Black Magic Crawlers in the hall could gather on him. The cave was not massive, but it was more than enough to fit roughly ten people. Different stones were piled up inside, and over thirty crawlers were seen matching their strengths with the tough stones.
Nonetheless, the Black Magic Crawlers quickly abandoned the stones below their mouthparts when they saw Ou Yangming, and they jumped on him while baring their teeth.
The crawlers were not only fast in crawling, but their jump was also more powerful than normal creatures. If they suddenly jumped within a certain distance from a person, it was unlikely that the person could escape.
Nevertheless, Ou Yangming was well-prepared as he had witnessed their strengths before. He swayed his body and unexpectedly dodged all the Black Magic Crawlers by a few millimeters. At the same time, he continuously killed them with his military saber without showing any weakness. Each time Ou Yangming attacked, one or more crawlers were slaughtered. All the Black Magic Crawlers in the cave were killed after a brief moment, and Ou Yangming had only spent a couple of breaths to deal with them.
Once the crawlers in the cave were taken care of, Ou Yangming quickly flashed out.
At that moment, the big yellow dog’s body had expanded to roughly twice its original size, and it looked unusually funny, as if air had been pumped into its body. However, the funny-looking big yellow dog had actually blocked the cave’s mouth and killed as many Black Magic Crawlers as it could. A layer of light kept flickering on its su
rface as though the light contained certain lethal energy. Once the crawlers contacted the dog’s body, before they could bite it, their body quivered and they bounced away hard.
Some lucky Black Magic Crawlers crashed into leaves or moss, and they crawled up again after shaking their body; some unlucky ones crashed into stones instead.
Although their mouthparts were incredibly tough, they could munch stones that were comparable with feature steel, their body was weak. Once they were hit by force and crashed into solid stones, they would break and die.
With that, the big yellow dog was like a lion in the lower realm that guarded the cave so that nothing could enter.
Despite that, Ou Yangming and the dog itself knew that this was its last resort.
“Big Yellow, come inside!”
Ou Yangming roared at the big yellow dog, then flipped his body to the side of a big rock and pushed it with his palm.
His palm contained surging energy that instantly pushed the exceptionally heavy rock toward the cave’s mouth.
The big yellow dog’s eyes lit up. Even though it knew that Ou Yangming’s action was the same as trapping them inside the cave, they could at least survive longer inside instead of being killed right away by the crawlers outside.
After exhaling deeply, the big yellow dog’s body deflated, and it went back to its normal size.
Following that, it jumped nimbly to avoid the big rock.
“Boom…” The big rock blocked the cave’s entrance, and was stuck there. Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog could neither advance nor retreat. Ou Yangming had obviously planned this. He had only managed to come up with a plan to survive in the midst of death and quickly picked a rock to block the hole because he was under the thoroughly meticulous state.
Flashes of saber-lights were seen once more as Ou Yangming killed a few more Black Magic Crawlers and kicked some smaller stones to the cave’s mouth.
Almost in a split second, stones of different sizes piled up in front of the only cave in the hall, and the hole would soon be fully covered.
“Screech…”
Suddenly, a weird and chilly scream was heard coming from behind Ou Yangming. It sounded like a steel saber had stabbed deep inside Ou Yangming’s mind.
“Humph…” Ou Yangming was instantly stunned by the unforeseen attack.
He never imagined such a strange power would exist in the world, and the power was attacking his mental state instead of his body.
Feeling weak at the knees, Ou Yangming collapsed to the ground.
He immediately understood that it was the doing of the Black Magic Crawler inside the shallow pit because it was stranger than others of its kind. Though he was already on guard, he could not escape the attack.
When Ou Yangming fell, a few Black Magic Crawlers crawled up his body and bit him with their mouthparts.
Ou Yangming was appalled. He tried his best to struggle, but found that his spiritual world was in chaos, and he could not move his limbs.
Cracks were heard coming from his body. Fortunately, he was fully armored with greaves and arm guards. On top of that, he was terribly lucky that the Black Magic Crawlers bit his equipment first.
If one of the crawlers had been smart enough to bite his face first, he would have died already.
That said, Ou Yangming had just been bitten once. Since he could not move, more Black Magic Crawlers crawled toward him, and he would soon be completely buried under a sea of crawlers.
Ou Yangming felt like an ant on fire. He gritted his teeth, but a black shadow kept suppressing his power in his spiritual world, hence his consciousness could not directly connect with his body.
Soon, a new Black Magic Crawler pounced on him and widened its mouth at his face.
A thought crossed Ou Yangming’s mind at that moment.
‘Am I really going to die here?’ Even then, the last thought he had was, ‘Old man, I can’t save you, I’ll be leaving first…’
However, just as the widely opened mouthparts were about to touch Ou Yangming’s face, he heard an earth-shaking roar. “Roar…”
Subsequently, a series of “crack” sounds were heard around him.
Tens of stalagmites emerged from the ground, each one piercing through a Black Magic Crawler with its tip. The crawlers kept twitching and struggling on the tip, but their efforts were in vain because they could not get free no matter what.
As a result, the black shadow that lingered in Ou Yangming’s mind vanished too. Once the power that suppressed him left, he quickly regained control over his body.
Ou Yangming got up without any hesitation and saw the biggest stalagmite that emerged from the shallow pit.
There was also a Black Magic Crawler on the tip of the stalagmite, but it was thrice the size of a normal crawler, and could be compared with a toddler who was around 6 years old.
Its body hung high in the air, but it had not died. Instead, it slowly crawled up and broke free.
Almost simultaneously, Ou Yangming heard the big yellow dog’s mournful shriek.
Ou Yangming exerted force through his toes and flew toward the dog speedily. Saber-lights flashed when he killed the five Black Magic Crawlers on the big yellow dog’s body, but the dog was already covered in blood and was trembling due to the pain. Any living creature would be in immense pain after being bitten by the crawlers.
Nevertheless, Ou Yangming did not waste time. He snapped his wrist to throw the big yellow dog into the cave.
Afterward, he moved swiftly and kicked tens of Black Magic Crawlers’ dead bodies inside as well.
The rock outside the cave had basically covered more than half of the cave’s mouth at the moment, leaving a gap that could only fit a person. Therefore, Ou Yangming zoomed inside without hesitation after everything was done.
As soon as he found his footing, he proceeded to kick the smaller stones inside the cave to seal the entrance.
Next, he shook his wrist to release the Military Fire and burn the stones.
It was Ou Yangming’s first time using the Military Fire on such a large scale. While he knew that the move was inevitably a huge burden for his body, so much so that he would be hurt, he was left with no choice.
“Swoosh…” The surface of the tough stones melted quickly due to the mighty Military Fire, and the stones merged together. When Ou Yangming curbed the fire after a short while, the stones of different sizes had already blocked the cave’s mouth. There were some tiny gaps in between, but the Black Magic Crawlers could not get through, and the gaps were enough for Ou Yangming and the big yellow to breathe. “Pow…”
Ou Yangming fell butt first on the ground once he was done.
His Military Fire did not burn for a long time, but he felt like he had just fought a battle for three days and three nights. The mental power consumed could not be mentioned in the same breath as the amount usually used for smithing.
“Huff, huff…” Ou Yangming breathed heavily while forcefully shifting his body to the big yellow dog. Although the crawlers on the dog had died, their mouthparts were deeply rooted inside its body, hence it could not help but shudder due to the pain.
Ou Yangming looked at the big yellow dog with mixed feelings, then stomped his feet and handed his military saber to the dog. “Hold this!”
The big yellow dog stopped shivering, but it widened its eyes at its paws, then at the military saber in front of it, and finally, at Ou Yangming
It furiously denounced Ou Yangming through its eyes.
If it was not because the big yellow dog was in so much pain that it could not stand up, it would definitely have bitten him.
Chapter 127 - The Yellow Dog Fawns
Ou Yangming came to a sudden realization when he noticed the bitter and furious looks in the big yellow dog’s eyes.
He slapped his forehead and blamed himself for the mistake. Earlier on, he was muddle-headed after being mentally attacked by the powerful Black Magic Crawler through a strange method, hence he forgot about the big yellow
dog’s identity. ‘The fella’s valiant and has mighty combat power, but it’s not a human. It’s just a big yellow dog.
‘No matter how nimble it is, it is born with paws that aren’t able to hold weapons used by humans.’
“Endure it,” Ou Yangming uttered and gritted his teeth when he saw the big yellow dog being covered in blood. Following that, the Military Fire flashed in his hand as he withdrew the Devouring attributes from his military saber, then he stabbed the big yellow dog with the saber.
The big yellow dog turned a blind eye to the saber, but it was already clenching its teeth.
When Ou Yangming turned his saber slightly, part of the dog’s flesh and blood flew out with a mouthpart that was rooted inside.
Ou Yangming worked at the speed of light and dug out all the mouthparts in the big yellow dog’s body in a flash. Nonetheless, the dog was already powerless due to the immense pain, so much so that it could only roll its eyes.
After looking at the mouthparts, Ou Yangming immediately realized that something was odd about them, or the big yellow dog-a half-spirit beast-would not seem so weak.
The more he understood, the more grateful he was toward the yellow dog.
Ou Yangming retrieved the Incised Wound Medicine that he brought to bandage the big yellow dog’s wounds.
He said to the dog, which looked distraught due to the pain and seemed like it would pass out at any time, “Big Yellow, don’t worry, I’ll definitely return you a perfect body, but you mustn’t sleep now or I can’t go on.”
All of a sudden, intense gnawing sounds were heard outside the cave. The big yellow dog’s face changed, and it tried its best to crane its neck to look outside.
Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725 Page 75
