Chapter 43: Charging into the Demon Cave (Part 2)

  Ding Lingxiu swallowed a mouthful of saliva, staring blankly at the giant bear crawling on the ground, then looked towards Guo Mohan.

  It wasn't until after a long while that he asked:

  "Are you talking to it?"

  Guo Mohan shook his head and pointed to the pouch in his arms.

  "No, it wasn't my words that made the bear fall down, it was what it did."

  Only to see Xiao Nang's two eyes flashing with icy blue light, the drooping hair stood up again, and the small hand stretched towards the giant bear.

  Ding Lingxiu only then realized that the giant bear was not knocked down by Guo Mohan's shout, but was struck down by Xun Fang's demonic power. At this time, the giant bear had completely fainted and passed out, with dark red bear blood flowing from its mouth, reflecting in the cold moonlight.

  He hastily ran to the front of the giant bear, only to see that the flames on its back had turned a pale blue color and were making a sharp hissing sound. The smell of burning flesh spread through the air, and upon closer inspection, Ding Ling saw that the giant bear's back had been pierced by the eerie fire.

  "This little thing's demonic power is actually so strong, even more exaggerated than the records in the demon history!" Ding Lingxiu stroked the giant bear's fur, looking at the unassuming creature in Guo Mohan's arms with incredulity.

  "Thank you, little friend." Ding Lingxiu bowed his hands towards Xiao Nang.

  "Hmph..." The young master glared at him and turned his head to hide in his blanket.

  "Don't be distracted, let's move forward quickly, or these two monsters will escape," Guo Mohan said.

  The two of them began to look around and found that this spacious area had a structure similar to an amphitheater, with layers of rock stacked upwards in a staggered manner. The stone pillars on the cliff wall, which should have been conical in shape, seemed to have been snapped off by some force, looking somewhat neat. This space was about three stories high, and such a large open area appeared inside the Chessboard Mountain, making people feel that it didn't seem to be formed naturally, but rather like an intentionally excavated arena for beast fighting.

  They walked in the direction of the wind, but smelled a pungent and foul odor.

  "It smells so bad." Guo Mohan covered his mouth with his sleeve.

  "It smells like a rotting corpse." Ding Lingxiu frowned and said.

  "The flavor seems to be coming from that direction." Guo Mohan pointed ahead.

  Ding Lingshu looked in the direction of her fingers, and saw that in the cold moonlight, there seemed to be a dark mass swaying in the northeast direction. This dark mass was like a ghostly apparition, its shape constantly changing, sometimes seeming to be near, sometimes far away. It appeared to have no substantial physical body, yet it continuously emitted an indescribable mournful cry, similar to the hum of bees, and also like the howling of wind.

  Ding Lingxu took out the demon-seeking compass, thinking that this dark and eerie shadow would be some kind of demon, but the demon-seeking compass had been unresponsive all day, as if it were on strike.

  "It shouldn't be a monster," Ding Lingxiu said.

  Guo Mohan didn't answer, she was about to turn on her flashlight to take a closer look, but Ding Lingxiu stopped her:

  "The flashlight's battery won't last much longer, although it's bright here, we can't be sure if the situation ahead is still pitch black. And doing this will definitely startle that strange shadow. Let's just move forward little by little."

  Guo Mohan thought for a moment, covering his mouth and nose with both hands, and walked forward with difficulty.

  Ding Lingxiu took out his own black mask from his backpack and handed it to Guo Mohan, who glared at him and pushed it away.

  "Hey, you're still being superstitious about this? If you won't wear it, I will." After saying that, Ding Lingyu prepared to put it on.

  At this time, Guo Mohan had already been dizzy and nauseous from the strong stench of corpses. Taking a deep breath, as if making a huge decision, he snatched the mask from Ding Lingxiu's hand and put it on.

  But after she put it on, she found that the mask was very clean, without any sour smell produced by breathing, and there was a faint fragrance, which smelled refreshing and invigorating. The strong stench of corpses outside was completely blocked out.

  "Didn't expect this mask to be so effective?" Guo Mohan was surprised, but still had a straight face and an icy tone.

  "That's for sure, this was soaked in the talisman water of the driving evil symbol." Ding Ling Xiu looked at her helplessly, "Miss Guo, you really are a person who doesn't drink when offered wine but grabs it when not given, ah..."

  "Less nonsense, you go take a look first." Guo Mohan pinched Ding Lingxiu and nodded his head to signal him to walk towards the black shadow.

  "Hey... easy does it, sister. You snatched my mask and made me scout ahead, that's just too much." Ding Lingyu pouted, lit a cigarette, and slowly approached the dark figure.

  The closer they got, the clearer the strange noise in the dark shadow became, and the stench of corpses also grew stronger. Ding Lingxiu took a big drag on his cigarette, dulling the foul smell in his nostrils.

  When he came face to face with the dark mass, he discovered that it was composed of many small black dots that were constantly moving irregularly. He wanted to get closer, but the dark mass suddenly dispersed and turned into countless particles. Only then did Ding Lingyu see clearly that the dark shadow was actually a large swarm of flies. However, the number of flies was too great, and Ding Lingyu's intrusion caused them to scatter in all directions, hitting his face and body like a violent rainstorm. A dense swarm of flies emitted a heart-pounding buzzing sound as they swirled around him in unison, seemingly reluctant to leave due to some delicious food.

  Flies are indeed obsessed with food, and if they set their sights on something edible, no matter how hard you shoo them away, they will persistently fly back until you swat them dead.

  Ding Lingxiu couldn't help but feel a little curious, what thing could attract so many flies?

  He took two steps forward, but felt that the terrain had become somewhat wrong. His feet seemed to have stepped on the edge of somewhere, so he turned on his flashlight and shone it down at the position where the flies were circling, only to discover that he was standing at the edge of a deep pit.

  As Ding Lingxiu saw all this clearly with the help of his flashlight, he only felt a strong visual impact and a foul smell that made him feel dizzy, his blood rushing to his head, his stomach churning, and the cigarette in his mouth fell into the deep pit.

  Originally, this roughly twenty cubic meters deep pit was filled with rotting corpses and bear dung. The animals' corpses were almost all crushed, only the skulls were relatively intact. Bones, internal organs, flesh, blood, and many filthy things were all piled together, covered with a layer of gray film, forming a large cavity inside, countless maggots crawling back and forth in the cavity between the dung and the corpses, some white maggots as thick as thumbs, wriggling their fat bodies in the light.

  "Ugh..." Ding Lingyu retched once, struggling to control his urge to vomit.

  Guo Mohan found that after the black shadow dispersed, it turned into flies and also flew over.

  And she, because she ran too fast, actually jumped directly into the pit. Ding Lingxiu's eyes were quick and her hands were swift, instinctively embracing her and holding her in his arms, using the momentum to swing her behind him.

  "What's wrong with you?" Guo Mohan pushed Ding Lingxiu, his face flushed.

  Ding Lingshu turned on his flashlight and shone it at the deep pit just one step away from Guo Mohan.

  "You figure it out yourself."

  Guo Mohan stared at him, slowly moving his gaze towards the deep pit.