Lan SiZhui exclaimed, “Young Master Jin, why are you here too?”
When Jin Ling saw that all of the people around his age had rushed over, he couldn’t hold himself back either. When Jiang Cheng was unaware, he stuffed Zidian’s ring back into his hand and sprinted toward the crowd, all the way up to the most dangerous area before the mouth of the cave. Jiang Cheng was about to chase after him when he managed to slice a few corpses, staggering. He felt that Sandu was no lighter than hundreds of pounds. Two female corpses threw themselves at him from both directions.
Jiang Cheng cursed. As he lifted his sword again, another pair of hands tore the two corpses into pieces, “Sect Leader…”
Jiang Cheng lost his temper as soon as he heard the voice. He kicked Wen Ning away and cursed, “Get the fuck away from me!” He immediately roared, “Jin Ling!!!”
Lan JingYi felt chills go down his spine, “I think you should go back! Your uncle is gonna eat someone.”
Jin Ling ignored Jiang Cheng’s roar, scarier than even the corpses before him, “You can go back!”
OuYang ZiZhen disappeared for a while after being caught by his father, but he rushed over nonetheless, “Wow, this is the first time I knew that Mr. Lan QiRen knows the sword and his swordsmanship is so good!”
Lan JingYi’s voice was as loud as always, “Of course, who did you think was HanGuang-Jun and ZeWu-Jun’s teacher of swordsmanship before they reached sixteen?!”
Sect Leader brandished his sword with all the courage he could muster, shouting to the rest of the people in the Cave who were still blank-faced, “What are you waiting for?! It’s death awaiting if you don’t kill them. Even these juniors are fighting—how come you’re still sitting around?”
Under the influence of these boys passionately slashing around, more and more people unsheathed their swords, joining in the fight with their almost nonexistent stamina and spiritual powers.
When Lan WangJi sliced the last corpse, that threw itself over, into two halves, mountains of corpses and rivers of blood had already formed within the Demon-Slaughtering Cave.
Everyone was clad in black, hardened blood, their chests filled with the pungent scent of blood. After the long and hard battle, many people had already collapsed on the ground, unable to get themselves up just like the corpses lying around. Only a few sect leaders and the boys full of stamina were still able to stand, leaning against their swords.
Lan JingYi’s pupils seemed dilated, his complexion pale, “I… I have never killed so many corpses before… I, alone, killed at least thirty, no, forty of them…”
OuYang ZiZhen, “Me… too…”
After this, as if the boys made an agreement beforehand, they fell toward the ground with a plop, never wanting to get up again.
Jiang Cheng forced himself to walk over to Jin Ling, grabbing him at once, “Did you get hurt?!”
Jin Ling’s breaths even smelled like rust, “I didn’t. I…”
Jiang Cheng immediately slapped him onto the ground, scolding, “You didn’t?! Then I’ll make you get hurt and teach you the lesson! You damn brat turning a deaf ear to my words?!”
However, after his slap, he couldn’t stand up any longer either. He sat down, catching his breath as his eyes turned to the two sitting at the side of the Demon-Slaughtering Cave closest to the outside.
Both Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi were a mess. Wei WuXian wore black, so he didn’t look as terrible, but Lan WangJi’s white robes had already been dyed into different shades of black and red, making them almost hideous. On his entire body, only his forehead ribbon could be considered clean, given how meaningful it was. Bichen was gripped in his hand, still steadily maintaining its flow of spiritual energy.
It was the first time that anyone had seen HanGuang-Jun with such an untidy look, but nobody could care less about someone other than themselves. One of the people spoke, “Is it… over…?”
Hearing this voice, the crowd commented in silence. That Nie HuaiSang managed to live through such a battle and speak in such an energetic tone was indeed a mystery. Nobody had the strength to respond to him. Nie HuaiSang seemed so ecstatic that he was about to cry, “Thank Heavens, these corpses are finally all killed! Seems like we managed to escape death this time—our ancestors really are protecting us, aren’t they?”
Influenced by his emotions, a few of the boys cheered as well. One after another, more and more people joined. Among the cheers, someone from the GusuLan Sect’s side exclaimed in a low voice, “Sir!”
Lan QiRen’s voice immediately sounded, “No need to help me.”
Lan WangJi looked over only to see Lan QiRen cough up another few mouthfuls of blood. He waved his hand, crossed his legs, and began to meditate.
Lan WangJi immediately went forth to feel Lan QiRen’s pause. Just as he was about to pass spiritual energy to him, Lan QiRen stopped him, “There is no need! Our spiritual powers have not recovered yet. Doing so is absolutely futile.”
Lan WangJi put his hand back. A few guest cultivators asked out of habit, “HanGuang-Jun, what should we do now?”
They only realized after they asked that the act was somewhat inappropriate. However, Lan QiRen continued to rest, showing no sign that he was going to care. Lan WangJi, “Rest for awhile and examine the casualties. No delay is permitted in assisting the wounded.”
He’d always been quite an impressive figure in the GusuLan Sect. The disciples seemed as if their hearts could finally settle down a bit, answering in unison, “Yes!” Even their tone seemed somewhat steadier.
Yet, before they had the chance to do anything, Wei WuXian interrupted, “Quiet.”
His expression was serious, and everyone was quiet at once. The few who had been cheering simmered down as well, one after another. Everyone stared at him anxiously. Within the entire Demon-Slaughtering Cave, all was silent apart from the people’s faint breaths.
In comparison to the silence, another sound could be heard with more and more clarity.
It was the sound of feet stepping on dry leaves, coming from outside of the Cave. And it wasn’t one person’s feet. Those were dense, endless footsteps.
This time, the people within the Demon-Slaughtering Cave didn’t even dare let out a single breath. Countless petrified eyes looked outside the Cave. They could see that within the dark forests, something was moving and writhing slowly. It was a dark, blurry fog, unable to distinguish, but as the sluggish footsteps became clearer, so did the moving objects, until their ashen cheeks, bony hands, and jagged fangs could be seen in full view.
It was a new wave of corpses.
And it was greater than the previous one!
The people in the Demon-Slaughtering Cave had just seen a ray of hope before the next moment, when a suffocating dread washed over the entire Cave, shadowing everyone. Even Jin Ling, Lan SiZhui, and the other boys felt as though they were drowning in the spine-chilling dread, limbs growing numb. Some of the people seemed as if they couldn’t accept the dread following the hope and passed out directly. Others also broke into tears, whimpering weakly. Nonetheless, not a single person was able to pick up their sword and continue fighting any longer.
Even if Wen Ning, yet again, blocked the mouth of the cave, how long could just one person last?