Chapter 22: Dark River Floating White Skull

  The fog in front was very dense, and from a distance, it looked like a huge white wall that connected the water surface with the top of the cave, majestically and powerfully standing before everyone's eyes.

  The closer they get to the thick fog, the colder it gets. They can keep their bodies warm, but not their faces.

  When a great chill struck him in the face, the wooden boat had already sailed happily into the thick fog.

  Behind them you can see that the wooden boat was swallowed up by a white devil in one mouth, and disappeared instantly.

  Inside the dense fog, visibility was extremely low, and the searchlight couldn't penetrate more than two meters away. Their field of vision was limited to a tiny range of only about two meters in diameter. The feeling of oppression that had disappeared due to the heat of battle rose again, and this time it was even more intense than before, with an inexplicable sense of horror.

  "We didn't check the almanac before leaving, and the road is long and treacherous!" Ma Liu's voice also lowered.

  Liu Yi's eyebrows were tightly furrowed: "Have you noticed that this place is so quiet? It's as if there isn't even the sound of fish swimming."

  As he said this, everyone felt this strange phenomenon, as if except for the slight sound of the wooden boat breaking through the water on the surface, only the rapid heartbeat of the crowd remained.

  Deathly stillness; deathlike silence; a silence devoid of any sign of life.

  This is a desperate dead water, with a calm surface that is suffocating.

  At this time, Liu Yi thought of the old man's fish ancestor's strange and suspicious behavior when he fled in disarray, and slowly said: "If what Kexi said is true, then this should be the so-called most dangerous place!"

  The crowd remained vigilant, drifting with the water.

  They walked in the thick fog for about a quarter of an hour, and they felt a warm air current coming from somewhere, which slightly reduced the chill on their bodies. It was probably this warm air that reached the surface of the icy dark river water, forming a mist over the dark river due to the temperature difference.

  The dense fog gradually thins out and visibility increases.

  They saw that the water surface about fifty or sixty meters away was as calm as before, and there were no "ancestors of old fish" predators appearing. Malacca temporarily let out a breath and said, "I think it's not as dangerous as rumored!"

  But Liu Yi and Lu Zonghan, who had adventure experience, did not relax their vigilance, but instead moved forward with increasing caution. They both understood that sometimes "dead silence" was a precursor to great danger.

  Anyone with a bit of common sense would understand that an experienced hunter will generally sneak up quietly, hold their breath and wait for the perfect moment to strike, aiming for a one-hit kill.

  But little did they know what strange creatures they would encounter?

  They drifted forward for a while, and suddenly found that the surface of the water in the distance was floating with many white skeletons, large pieces on the left and small roots on the right, densely packed, covering the entire surface.

  Liu Yi reached out and picked up a skeleton, examining it carefully. The inside of the skeleton was empty, with no bone marrow left, as if some animal had eaten it away.

  The crowd struggled forward with difficulty, pulling and hauling a large white skeleton. Suddenly, an even larger white skeleton floated in from the front.

  The shape should be the remains of the "old fish ancestor" that was encountered before, with all the meat on its body eaten away, and it seems that even the bone marrow has been eaten. The huge "white skeletal old man's face" appears to be telling a sad story from the past.

  Liu Yi was greatly shocked and thought: "This place indeed has something more terrifying than Lao Tou Yu's ancestors."

  Everyone was on tenterhooks, like a startled rabbit, looking around nervously, fearing that some unknown creature would suddenly jump out of the water. However, it seemed that everyone's worries were unnecessary. Although walking through the white bony area was a bit difficult and delayed for a long time, they finally crossed the river surface lined with dense white bones safely.

  Professor Zhou turned around and looked at the white bones on the river surface, letting out a long sigh: "It's really scary!"

  But then there was another change.

  The beam of the searchlight hit the thin mist fifty meters away, and in the middle of the mist, a huge skull pattern about one meter in diameter suddenly appeared.

  The skull pattern was extremely similar to the "ancestral ghost face of the old fish head" I saw earlier, and the white mist around it seemed to be alive, constantly swirling around the "white skull".

  "My goodness! What is this thing!" Liu Yi excitedly stood up.

  "Nima, it's true! This must be the ghost of that old dead fish ancestor! Let's get out of here!" Ma Liuji screamed, and everyone quickly rowed the boat to one side, trying to avoid the approaching "White Skull!"

  Professor Zhou's face also changed greatly, and during the process of drifting in the dark river, he discovered many things that science cannot explain. At the same time, he felt the smallness of human beings, and the unknown life and miracles nurtured by nature are so shocking!

  The muzzle of Lu Zonghan's gun had already burst into flames, frantically firing at the white skull, as if he wanted to finish all the bullets in one second. Countless bullets angrily shot into the white skull, piercing through it and shooting towards the distance. After this round of shooting, the white skull appeared with countless small holes, looking even more terrifying than before.

  In their vision, the injured white skull, with countless bullet holes, seemed to be slowly flowing down like white blood.

  Koksi, holding the little Tibetan antelope, had not let go of it since they fell from the underground waterfall. Now he suddenly stood up and took out a round bullet from his body and threw it at the white skull pattern.

  All that was seen was the black bullet, making a "whooshing" sound as it broke through the air and hit the white skull pattern. It seemed that Korksi's strength was not small.

  The black bullet disappeared into the white skull pattern, as if swallowed by the skull, and was gone without a trace.

  Just as Liu Yi was about to ask what that thing was, Kexi shouted loudly: "Open!"

  He had already crushed the other black pellet in his hand, and after he pinched it, the entire pellet turned into a powdery state. He raised his hand and sprinkled the black powder over the wooden boat. The powder fell down, and everyone smelled a pungent and nauseating smell.

  "Behold, this is our tribe's secret 'Ghost-Expelling Pill'! If that white skull is a vengeful spirit, it will surely not escape the fate of being incinerated and having its soul extinguished!"

  Everyone looked at the white skull pattern, and a dull "plop" sound was heard. The black bullet that Korky threw into the white skull pattern also burst open, flowing in the white fog.

  White fog mixed with flowing black powder, making it even more eerie.

  The Koksei driving ghost powder was made from a secret recipe using "yin-yang insects". As long as one of the insect in one bullet died, the other insect in the other bullet would self-destruct.

  Such an incredible thing, Liu Yi and others living in modern cities can only be amazed with their mouths open.

  Another bursting bullet, releasing a thick black smoke, like ink seeping into white cotton, began to spread. The white skull also seemed to feel something was wrong, the entire pattern twisted, as if suffering from immense pain.

  Everyone's heart was filled with joy, thinking: "There is a way!"

  It seemed as if it was verifying everyone's idea, the white skull pattern suddenly burst open, and countless small white dots shot out in all directions!

  "Hurray! I've succeeded!" Malacca exclaimed loudly.

  But the rest of the people were not as happy as him, because they all had a doubt: this white skull pattern was neither formed by white fog nor transformed from a resentful spirit.

  The fog and the vengeful spirits both have a light and airy quality, dispersing and opening up to create an ethereal floating sensation, absolutely not as substantial as what is seen now. They think those scattered white dots should be some kind of unknown white insect.

  Kai Kexi's face changed greatly, and he cried out: "This is the 'Soul-Devouring Bug' that swallows human souls!"

  Everyone was busy asking what had happened, and Kexi said: "Father once said that this underground dark river was not a river in the distant past, but an underground dark passage. It was a passage for criminals from the exile tribe to go to the Death Valley prison. However, some tribal warriors thought it was troublesome to escort prisoners, so they killed the prisoners in the dark passage and then returned to report. Over time, this place became a gathering place for the dead, with very heavy resentment, so that even the warriors who escorted prisoners did not dare to pass through here. At that time, the great release of the tribe used the "insect cup technique" to train a pair of insect children, specifically used to swallow the resentful spirits in the air, which is now the insect spirit worm. The magic of controlling the insect spirit worm was extremely difficult to practice, and only a few people knew about it. Later, someone carried the insect spirit worm through the dark passage, and when they released the insect spirit worm to swallow the evil spirit, due to insufficient magical power, they were counter-attacked, and the insect spirit worm also escaped."

  "Are those two insects male and female?" Liu Yi asked.

  "That's right." Korksi said: "I didn't expect that after hundreds of years, this group of Soul Eaters would multiply to such an extent. I heard from my father that back then, two Soul Eaters could devour a wolf in minutes, leaving not even a speck of ash behind. They're incredibly powerful! Heaven, with so many of them... it's unbearable to imagine!"

  Everyone's face changed suddenly, no wonder the overbearing old man Fish Ancestor was eaten by them.

  Liu Yi asked hopelessly: "Didn't your father teach you the spell to control the Soul-Eating Insect?"

  "These spells are all high-level magic that only a great sage like Da Bei is qualified to practice!"

  "How many more Oni-Repellent Pills do you have on you?"

  Kekesi pulled out a handful of about ten or so, saying: "This Soul-Eating Bug must have swallowed the souls of humans or animals, and its body has more or less yin energy, naturally it will be afraid of this Exorcism Pill. However, it can't subdue them, this Exorcism Pill only serves as a defensive measure to keep them at bay!"

  Liu Yi didn't care about what Kexi said about souls and spirits, as long as the pills had some effect. So he pinched open all the pills, turned them into powder, and sprinkled it all over the wooden boat, also putting a lot on each person's body. Then he ordered everyone to zip up their "waterproof and lightning-proof suits". At this point, except for a small hole near their noses to breathe, they were all wrapped in protective gear like people in a spacesuit.

  ……

  The wooden boat was getting closer and closer to the sphere of influence of the floating Soul-Eating Insect, and everyone became anxious.

  "Quickly escape, retreat first and talk later!" Liu Yi stood up and ordered the helmsman Ma Liuka at the back of the boat.

  The crowd had no way out, so they could only row the boat with all their might. The stern became the bow, and they went upstream, struggling to retreat backwards along the right side of the cave wall.

  However, the distant Soul Eater Worms had apparently discovered the emergence of this group of unknown creatures and suddenly flew towards them like flies seeing blood. They made excited "squeaking" sounds in mid-air, as if inviting their companions to come and dine!