Chapter 188 : Blood Bat
Chapter 188: Blood Bat
Letting Chen Ming go first—sounding pleasant, but in truth, it meant making him test the waters for danger.
Chen Ming naturally understood this. He immediately let go of Yu Haitang’s hand and drew the “Mingfeng Sword”. The moment he gripped the sword, he felt it trembling slightly.
Clearly, this environment had excited it as well, making it grow active.
The moment he unsheathed the sword, it drew quite a few curious gazes.
It wasn’t obvious while still in its scabbard, but once unsheathed, its brilliance was revealed—this was actually a Peerless Divine Weapon!
Most of those able to enter this place were above Third Grade in cultivation, and not everyone carried a divine weapon, let alone a Peerless Divine Weapon.
Chen Ming slashed out a wave of Sword Qi, knocking down that egg-sized “Fire Origin Pearl”. After returning the sword to its scabbard, he reached out and caught the falling “Fire Origin Pearl”.
The moment it touched his palm, he felt an immense, pure fire-attributed Yuan Qi within it. Just by absorbing the Qi it emitted, it merged into his Gang Qi in an instant, slightly strengthening it.
“No wonder that family was willing to guard this cave residence for generations—so this was the benefit.”
Chen Ming suddenly understood. The “Fire Origin Pearls” produced in this cave residence were supreme treasures for those cultivating the 《Primordial Fire True Art》, capable of directly boosting one's cultivation.
“Roar!”
Suddenly, a beastly roar came from deep within the cave, echoing through the caverns.
Many people’s expressions changed slightly.
“Could that be the sacred beast guarding the key?”
“Lord Jin, you can tell us now, right? What exactly is the sacred beast guarding the key?”
Standing beside Chen Ming, Lord Jin said, “It doesn’t hurt to tell you—it’s a Fire Flood Dragon.”
As soon as he said this, everyone was in uproar.
“Are you kidding? A Fire Flood Dragon that has lived for thousands of years? How powerful must it be? Even if we all attacked together, we wouldn’t be its match…”
“This is sending us to our deaths, isn’t it?”
“Tell us, is this the Six Doors Authority’s scheme? Trying to weaken the strength of our aristocratic families and sects—what a clever ploy…”
“……”
For a moment, the crowd grew noisy.
Yet the two Golden-robed Inspectors weren’t flustered at all. After the others had vented their emotions, they calmly said, “If you’re scared, you can leave now.”
No one moved.
Having come this far, how could they give up halfway?
Especially since they hadn’t encountered real danger yet—not even a glimpse of that Fire Flood Dragon.
Seeing that no one left, Lord Jin continued, “That Fire Flood Dragon may have lived for thousands of years, but it’s trapped here and has its power drained daily. Its strength remains only at the Half-Step Divine Repository Realm. With the strength of those present, killing it may be difficult, but breaking through the gate it guards and obtaining the key isn’t impossible.”
“That’s all I’ll say. If you don’t believe me, then don’t follow.”
With that, he headed deeper into the cave, still letting Chen Ming lead the way.
……
In the end, only five groups followed. The Blood Demon Sect members didn’t come along.
This was understandable—once a real fight broke out, the other six factions would definitely team up to eliminate the Blood Demon Sect members first.
After all, they were an evil cult—naturally the focus of hatred.
After traveling about another li, they arrived at a second cave chamber, where two “Fire Origin Pearls” were growing above.
These two “Fire Origin Pearls” were taken by members of two different factions.
Then, they moved onward.
Not far ahead, everyone came to a halt.
Two passages appeared ahead.
After some discussion among the five groups, they decided to split up.
……
Then came the third cave chamber, where three “Fire Origin Pearls” were growing above—perfectly matching the three factions. One for each.
Just as they finished picking the “Fire Origin Pearls”, a sudden change occurred. A loud fluttering sound came from above, and a swarm of unknown flying creatures came crashing down, wings flapping wildly as they launched a lightning-fast assault.
“What the hell are these things?”
“Not good—they actually possess True Yuan!”
“They’re demon beasts!”
“……”
The dozen or so people present instantly fell into chaos, many of them shouting in shock.
Though most were above Third Grade, they found it difficult to fend off the assault of this flying horde.
Chen Ming crouched immediately, gripping the “Mingfeng Sword” tightly. Only when the flying creatures drew near did he see clearly—they were giant bats. Each had a wingspan of nearly a meter and blood-red eyes.
Just as one bat was about to pounce on him, a flash of Sword Intent flew in from the side and sliced through one of its fleshy wings. Losing balance, it crashed to the ground.
The one who had saved him was Lord Jin.
Before Chen Ming could thank him, the one-winged bat had already risen and lunged at him again.
He shoved Yu Haitang away and thrust out with his sword like lightning, piercing the bat’s head. Almost simultaneously, he felt a terrifying force crash into him, sending him flying.
“Careful! That’s a Fire Bat—it likely has over a hundred years of cultivation. Its demonic power carries fire poison. Don’t let it wound you!”
Chen Ming’s head buzzed. Through the haze, he heard Lord Jin’s warning in his ear.
Looking down, he saw a patch of charred flesh on his chest, burning painfully.
At that moment, a whooshing sound came from above—a dark shadow pounced on him.
Having sustained such a serious wound, he no longer had the strength to swing his sword. He gave a bitter laugh, a thought flashing through his mind, “I knew I shouldn’t have tempted fate…”
Whoosh!
A longsword flew in from the side, pinning the pouncing Fire Bat to the ground, the sword still trembling.
The Fire Bat didn’t die instantly and thrashed violently.
Chen Ming used his last ounce of strength to hurl the “Mingfeng Sword”, nailing it into the bat’s skull, killing it completely.
【You killed a Level 69 Fire Bat. Gained 50,000 experience points.】
Seeing the notification, his heart leapt—“I got it!”
When he had killed the first Fire Bat, he’d seen an identical notification and been stunned—leading to him getting hit.
He had tried killing chickens, pigs, even cattle and sheep before, but none gave him experience. He had given up hope.
Turns out, those animals weren’t considered monsters. Only demon beasts like Fire Bats gave experience when slain.
At that moment, Yu Haitang walked over, pulled out both swords from the ground, then picked him up and sped off in a certain direction.
Not far away, the two Golden-robed Inspectors from the Six Doors Authority were protecting Princess Mingyu and couldn’t spare the effort to save Chen Ming. Seeing him struck by a Fire Bat’s demon fire, they gave up the idea entirely.
Without Defensive Gang Qi, anyone hit by demon fire would soon die from the fire poison invading the heart.
There was no point saving someone doomed to die.
……
Yu Haitang quickly escaped the battlefield with Chen Ming in her arms, fleeing back the way they came.
Only when they had fled far from the cave and could no longer hear anything did she stop and set him down.
She pulled out the Fire Origin Pearl, using its faint glow to examine his charred chest. Then she took out a dagger and placed its scabbard at his mouth. “Bite down.”
What was she going to do?
Chen Ming already felt the terror of the fire poison—a vicious flame steadily corroding his Gang Qi and rational mind.
He converted his entire Gang Qi to the water attribute, barely holding off the poisonous flame’s spread.
Instinctively, he bit down on the scabbard—and then a wave of searing pain struck his chest.
Yu Haitang was using the dagger to dig out the charred flesh on his chest—one cut at a time—blood spraying everywhere.
Chen Ming nearly passed out from the pain. He almost bit through the scabbard.
“Bear with it.”
Sweat the size of beans dotted Yu Haitang’s forehead. Before long, she had finally scraped all the charred flesh clean. She quickly tossed the dagger aside, pulled out a bottle from her bosom, popped the cork, and poured the medicinal powder onto the wound.
Almost instantly, the bleeding stopped.
Chen Ming felt a sharp decrease in pain, his wound cooling, followed by a tingling itch.
This was clearly a miraculous medicine for stopping bleeding and regenerating flesh.
Then Yu Haitang took out a white porcelain bottle, poured out a white jade-like pill, and fed it to him. “Swallow.”
Chen Ming swallowed with effort. Moments later, a cooling medicinal force spread through him, and his mind cleared.
After finishing, Yu Haitang collapsed to the ground like she had run out of strength, panting.
After a while, she said faintly, “Why did you put me down just now? If you hadn’t let go of me, I could have taken that hit for you.”
Right now, Chen Ming just wanted a cigarette. Since transmigrating here, this was the worst injury he had ever suffered.
He licked his dry lips and said weakly, “You’d just get in the way. You’d only slow down my sword draw.”
Just then, a voice spoke beside their ears.
“Young man, are you stupid or just pretending? In moments like this, if you just said one touching line, she’d throw herself into your arms.”
“Who?”
Yu Haitang immediately gripped both swords, shouting sharply.
From the dark passage ahead, a plain-looking middle-aged man emerged, staring at her with a strange expression and sighing, “What a breathtaking beauty. Originally, I only wanted the Peerless Divine Weapon in your hands. Now, I’ve changed my mind. I want you too.”
Yu Haitang’s gaze turned cold. “You’re Devotee Gao Chen of Jin Yutang?”
The man didn’t attack right away but smiled and said, “So the young lady recognizes me—what an honor for Gao. If I’m not mistaken, you’re Yu Haitang, ranked third on the Absolute Beauty Ranking?”
“Since you know who I am, leave now. My aunt will be here soon.”
“Hahaha…”
Gao Chen laughed heartily. “Your aunt and uncle are struggling to protect themselves. I doubt they’ll get here anytime soon. Miss Yu, I’m not a lustful man, yet for some reason, the moment I saw you, I felt if I can’t have you, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life…”
Yu Haitang shouted, “Shut up!”
Gao Chen narrowed his eyes. “Seems you care quite a bit for that brat. Let me kill him first—cut off your hopes!”
“You dare?”