Red-Armored Bat Fox

"Fine. Let them test the waters first and wear themselves down a little."

His eyes shifted.

A cunning look, unlike anything he'd shown before, crept into Mao Ba's eyes. He deliberately slowed his pace, planning to sit back and reap the benefits.

But he wasn't the only one with that idea.

Rustle, rustle—

Branches and leaves shook, bursting into a chorus of noise.

Beyond the valley,

lay a vast stretch of marshland. Dead branches and fallen leaves rotted beneath the ground, while mist billowed into the air. The stench was unbearable.

Wu Dao didn't take the lead.

Instead, he trailed lazily behind Meng Qingshan, keeping a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

A five-hundred-year-old monster.

It was no minor threat. Even ordinary Cocoon-Breaking Realm fighters couldn't handle it.

If something fierce suddenly sprang out,

the one leading the way would be the first to suffer.

Wu Dao wasn't worried that Meng Qingshan would get furious and throw in the towel.

After all, the two of them had been the first to discover it.

If they didn't want to lose track of it, they had no choice but to keep following and serve as the vanguard.

"Heh. You think you can pick up the scraps? Dream on!"

Meng Qingshan had clearly noticed Wu Dao and the others' intentions.

But he didn't give it a second thought.

In the face of overwhelming strength, all schemes were a joke!

His Divine Strength was perfected, and he had mastered Hard Qigong. Uncle Ya was a Cocoon-Breaking Realm expert, too.

No matter how carefully the others plotted,

in the end, they would still have to face them in a straight-up fight. He had nothing to fear.

Beneath the silver moon,

one fled, the other pursued; one chased, the other ran.

The Flesh Tai Sui seemed to be toying with everyone. Or perhaps, being an incomplete creation, its mind was like a child's, and it simply loved to play.

Whenever it put some distance between itself and Uncle Ya, who was leading the charge, it would pull faces and wiggle its butt, taunting him to its heart's content.

But the moment Uncle Ya was about to catch up, it would turn into a streak of blood-red light and reappear farther ahead.

After being put through this again and again,

even the most patient of them were boiling with anger, their fury nearly at its limit.

Until...

"Tweet!!"

They crossed a stretch of low-lying ground, and the deep forest appeared once more.

At last, the Flesh Tai Sui stopped. It sat cheerfully on a branch of a towering tree and whistled triumphantly.

A trap?!

At the sound of its whistle, the others' anger vanished in an instant. They looked around, wary and uncertain.

All they could see were thick woods and jagged rocks. The area was pitch-black, with only the light of the stars and moon illuminating the round patch of gravel beneath their feet.

"Uncle Ya, stop!"

Even Meng Qingshan, bold and skilled as he was, hurriedly called out to Uncle Ya, who was about to press on.

He knew his own people well.

The Five Sharks of Black Shark Hall

each possessed the strength of the Cocoon-Breaking Realm, but they were incomplete creations, brought about by Meng Huaishan through demonic methods.

They had no minds of their own.

They knew only how to obey orders.

If he didn't call Uncle Ya back and there was a trap ahead, Yingsha would charge straight into it.

"Eek, eek, eek... squeak, squeak..."

The silence didn't last long. Strange cries, half bat and half fox, rang out from all directions, mingling with the rapid fluttering of wings.

"Do... you like... playing games?"

The Flesh Tai Sui sat on the branch, swinging its short legs. It had the appearance of an old man, yet its manner was childlike. "The ones who lose... get eaten."

Rustle, rustle—

As soon as it finished speaking,

the flapping of wings grew louder from every direction. A choking, foul stench rushed toward them, and one after another, little green lanterns lit up in the darkness!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!

Rapidly beating wings drove the air forward, carrying a stench as overpowering as a chemical weapon. Amid the strange cries, the first "monsters" to charge revealed themselves!

"Eek!"

Wu Dao's thick right arm shot out like lightning, swift and precise. Like a pair of iron pincers, his hand clamped around the neck of the unknown creature lunging at him. It struggled wildly, like a mad dog caught in his grasp.

"What's this?"

Wu Dao took a closer look in the moonlight, his expression turning slightly surprised. The creature looked far too strange.

Its body resembled that of a giant fruit bat.

It was about as long as an adult house cat, and its body was covered in a layer of red armor. Blood-red wings, like an insect's, were hidden beneath the shell, while its hind legs were thick as a locust's.

The strangest part was its head.

It looked like a fox's, long and pointed, but its features were hairless and humanlike. It was as though a human face had been forcibly squeezed into a narrow space. The sight was horrifying.

Most terrifying of all were its claws and fangs. They were long and sharp, its teeth like a vampire's and its claws like sickles, glinting with a cold, keen light beneath the moon.

"What sharp claws and fangs!"

Wu Dao frowned. The monster struggled, its claws and fangs scratching lines across the back of his hand and his arm. A little deeper, and they would have reached flesh!

It had to be said,

his skin's defenses still weren't on par with Copper Skin and Iron Bones.

But he was still covered in a layer of yellow-jade keratin, like a turtle's shell. Beneath it, his muscles were twisted together like copper wire. An ordinary person could slash at him with all their might and a blade, and still not leave a mark.

Yet this monster had broken his skin after only a few struggles. Its ferocity was plain to see!

"Red-Armored Bat Fox!!"

Zhao Wei seemed to recognize the monster. He cried out, "Brother Wu, watch out! These monsters can eat copper and iron. Their claws and fangs are exceptionally fierce, and they have venom glands in their mouths. Once you're poisoned, your bones go soft and your muscles turn to jelly..."

Whoosh, whoosh!!

But before Zhao Wei could finish, more Red-Armored Bat Foxes came flying in from every direction, too many to count.

The biggest ones were as large as calves. Their wings spread wide, blotting out the sky, and they attacked the group like maddened beasts.

Splat!

The Red-Armored Bat Fox struggling in Wu Dao's hand suddenly burst into a puddle of blood.

A Chang Ghost?

Wu Dao's gaze passed over the wings blotting out the sky. He glanced at the Flesh Tai Sui, who was laughing and giggling on the tree branch, and understood.

Since the Flesh Tai Sui could enslave strange monsters,

it was no surprise that it could also control these savage, mindless creatures.

But

could a newly transformed monster really command so many Red-Armored Bat Foxes—hundreds, even thousands of them?

A swarm had its king!

This group of Red-Armored Bat Foxes must have one, too—and the Flesh Tai Sui had it under its control!

In the blink of an eye,

Wu Dao's thoughts raced. As he dodged the attacks of the Bat Foxes, he searched for their king.

But it was difficult!

There were too many!

They swarmed in thick masses, like locusts crossing the land.

They said that enough ants could kill an elephant. These monsters could even gnaw through iron and stone. No matter how strong Wu Dao and the others were, they could hardly move as they struggled to fend them off.

And more of them swarmed around the perimeter, forming a black iron barrel that sealed off the entire area and blocked every escape route!

Still,

Wu Dao wasn't worried.

They had two "capable" people with them. This predicament couldn't possibly hold them for long.

Bang!

At the thought, Wu Dao punched a Bat Fox's head apart. He exchanged a glance with Zhao Wei, and without realizing it, the two of them edged toward Mao Ba, who was closest.

Who knew what talisman or trick that bull-nosed priest was using?

A faint green light enveloped him. Any Bat Fox that came within three feet of him seemed to go weak at the knees, losing half its strength. He dispatched them with ease.

This guy...

Mao Ba swung the Tianpeng Ruler nonstop. The Bat Fox corpses beneath his feet had piled into a small hill. When he noticed Wu Dao hanging back behind him and doing nothing, his face twitched.

He'd thought Wu Dao was the reckless sort, charging headlong into the fray, shouting for blood and battle, and losing his head the moment a fight began. He hadn't expected that, after spending some time with him, he'd turn out to be as sly as a fox.

If he could avoid lifting a finger, he would.

If he could pick up the scraps, he'd never let himself become the fall guy.

By comparison,

Yun Tianliu was much more "straightforward."

His sword was drawn and his whole body was drenched in blood. He was nearly seeing red, and hadn't held back for even a moment.

He had no idea

that Yun Tianliu had his own bitter reasons.

His position was the problem.

The moment the Red-Armored Bat Foxes appeared, he'd run headlong into the largest swarm. He couldn't even shift an inch to retreat. Did they really think he was stupid?

Cocoon-Breaking Realm really is something else.

Even while hanging back,

Wu Dao kept an eye on Uncle Ya, the Yingsha.

Compared to how hard they were struggling to cope, Yingsha was a meat grinder. No matter how large the Red-Armored Bat Fox, one sweep of his claws was enough to tear it apart!

Meng Qingshan was no pushover, either!

Who knew what cultivation technique he'd practiced?

His clothes were torn, revealing a broad, dark physique like a black stone tower. The Red-Armored Bat Foxes' bites and scratches were no more than tickles to him. He charged ahead like a green giant, unstoppable.

Still,

Meng Qingshan wasn't about to play the fall guy, either. He kept his head down and killed, refusing to be the first to break the deadlock. Instead, he kept glancing toward Mao Ba.

What he was thinking was obvious.

And so, the stalemate continued.

The Flesh Tai Sui didn't join the fight, apparently intent on playing them all to death. It scampered up and down the tree trunk, clapping and giggling like a naughty country child watching a street performance.

This was probably one of the drawbacks of its incomplete transformation. Its intelligence was barely above a child's, and its naturally mischievous nature had taken over.

If it had its full wits,

it would take advantage of the Bat Foxes pinning everyone down and pick them off one by one. Nothing could stand in its way.