Red-Armored Bat Fox

"Fine, I'll let you test the waters first and wear it down a bit."

His eyes rolled.

A cunning look, never seen before, appeared in the eyes of Mao Ba as he deliberately slowed his pace, preparing to reap the rewards of the conflict between others.

But he was not the only one with this idea.

Swish, swish—

Branches and leaves shook, erupting in a chorus of rustling sounds.

Beyond the valley.

Lay a vast expanse of marshland, where rotten branches and decaying leaves steamed with foul-smelling mist.

Wu Dao did not take the lead.

Instead, he hung back leisurely behind Meng Qingshan, keeping a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

A five-hundred-year-old spirit monster.

It was no minor role; even ordinary humans in the Cocoon-Breaking Realm couldn't easily handle it.

If it were to suddenly launch a vicious attack.

The one leading the charge would undoubtedly suffer.

Wu Dao wasn't afraid that Meng Qingshan would get angry and quit in a huff.

After all, they were the ones who had discovered it first.

If they didn't want to lose the trail, they would have to keep acting as the pathfinding scouts.

"Heh, wanting to pick up a bargain? Keep dreaming!"

Up ahead, Meng Qingshan had clearly sensed the intentions of Wu Dao and the others.

But he didn't take it to heart.

In the face of absolute strength, schemes were nothing but a joke!

His Divine Strength was consummate, his Hard Qigong had achieved success, and Uncle Ya was a master of the Cocoon-Breaking Realm.

No matter how much the others plotted.

In the end, they would still have to face him in a real fight, and he had no fear of that.

Under the silver moon.

They chased and were chased, one after another.

The Flesh Tai Sui seemed to be toying with them, or perhaps because it was a semi-finished product, its temperament was like that of a child who loved to play.

Whenever it put some distance between itself and the leading Yingsha and Uncle Ya, it would make faces and wiggle its rear, mocking them thoroughly.

Just as Uncle Ya was about to catch up, it would instantly turn into a bloody shadow and reappear further ahead.

After being toyed with like this.

No matter how good their tempers were, everyone was seething with rage, their anger levels nearly maxed out.

Until...

"Chirp!!"

Crossing a lowland, a deep, dense forest appeared once more.

The Flesh Tai Sui finally stopped, sitting happily on the branch of a towering tree, whistling triumphantly.

A trap?!

Hearing the whistle of the Flesh Tai Sui, everyone's anger was instantly suppressed, and they looked around with suspicion and unease.

They saw that the surrounding forest was deep and dense, with jagged, strange rocks and pitch-black shadows; the light of the stars and moon only illuminated the circular gravel area where they stood.

"Uncle Ya, stop!"

Even the bold and skilled Meng Qingshan hurriedly called for Uncle Ya to stop, as he had been intent on continuing the pursuit.

He knew his own affairs best.

The Five Sharks of Black Shark Hall.

Although each possessed the Cocoon-Breaking Realm, they were semi-finished products cultivated by Meng Huaishan using demonic arts.

They lacked true intellect.

They only knew how to obey orders.

If he didn't stop him, the moment there was a trap ahead, Yingsha would surely dive headfirst into it.

"Squeak, squeak... yip, yip..."

The dead silence did not last long before strange cries, sounding like a mix of bats and foxes, erupted from all directions, accompanied by the sound of rapidly flapping wings.

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

The Flesh Tai Sui sat on the tree branch, swinging its short legs; though it had the appearance of an old man, it acted with childish gestures: "The losers... will be eaten, you know."

Swish, swish—

The words had barely left his lips!

The sound of flapping wings drew closer from all directions, accompanied by a suffocating, putrid stench, as green lanterns flickered to life in the darkness!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!

The turbulent air currents from the rapid wingbeats carried a stench comparable to chemical weapons. Amidst the shrill screeches, the first wave of "monsters" leading the charge revealed their true forms!

"Kree-ee!!"

Wu Dao's thick right arm shot out like lightning. Quick, accurate, and ruthless, he clamped his hand around the neck of the incoming unknown creature, holding it like a rabid, struggling mad dog.

"What is this?"

By the moonlight, Wu Dao's expression shifted slightly; the creature's appearance was truly bizarre.

It looked like a giant fruit bat.

About the size of an adult house cat, its body was covered in a layer of red chitinous armor. Blood-red wings, similar to those of an insect, were tucked beneath the shell, while its hind legs were thick and powerful like a grasshopper's.

The most unsettling part was its head.

It resembled a fox—pointed and long—but its facial features were hairless and human-like, as if a human face had been forcibly compressed into a narrow space, making it utterly terrifying.

Most critical were its claws and teeth; sharp and elongated, the teeth resembled a vampire's, and the claws were like sickles, glinting with a cold, sharp light under the moon.

"Such sharp claws and teeth!!"

Wu Dao frowned. During its struggle, the monster had raked his hand and arm, leaving behind a series of marks; had it gone any deeper, it would have reached the flesh!

One had to understand.

His current skin defense, while not yet reaching the level of Copper Skin and Iron Bones, was still layered with a yellow, horn-like cuticle, much like that of a turtle. The muscles beneath this cuticle were coiled like copper wire; ordinary people couldn't hope to harm him in the slightest, even with a full-force strike from a sword.

Yet this monster had broken his skin just by thrashing about—its ferocity was evident.

"Red-Armored Bat Fox!!"

Zhao Wei, standing to the side, seemed to recognize the creature and exclaimed, "Brother Wu, be careful! These monsters can consume copper and iron. Their claws and teeth are exceptionally formidable, and they have poison glands in their mouths. Once poisoned, one's bones turn soft and tendons limp..."

Whoosh, whoosh!!

But before Zhao Wei could finish, even more Red-Armored Bat Foxes emerged from every direction, countless in number.

The largest ones were as big as a calf, their wings spread wide to blot out the sky as they attacked the group like madmen.

Splat!

The head of the Red-Armored Bat Fox in his hand suddenly exploded into a puddle of gore.

Chang Ghost?

Wu Dao's gaze swept past the sky-darkening wings and landed on the Flesh Tai Sui, which was giggling on the tree trunk, and he understood.

Since the Flesh Tai Sui could enslave strange monsters, these mindless, ferocious, and low-intelligence creatures were naturally under its command as well.

However.

Could a newly formed spirit creature really have the ability to drive so many—hundreds or thousands—of Red-Armored Bat Foxes?

A swarm has a king!

This group of Red-Armored Bat Foxes must have one too, and it was being controlled by the Flesh Tai Sui!

In a flash of thought.

Wu Dao's mind raced as he dodged the attacks of the bat-fox swarm, searching for the Bat King.

But it was difficult!

The numbers were too great!

They were as dense as a plague of locusts.

As the saying goes, even an elephant can be killed by a swarm of ants, let alone by these monsters capable of chewing through iron and stone. No matter how much raw strength Wu Dao and the others possessed, they were struggling to move and were exhausted by the effort of fending them off.

Furthermore, there were even more on the perimeter, forming a black iron barrel that sealed off this area and cut off all retreat!

However.

Wu Dao was not anxious.

Because there were two "capable men" among them, and the current situation couldn't possibly trap them.

Bang!

With this thought in mind.

Wu Dao punched the head off a Bat Fox and exchanged a glance with Zhao Wei, their footsteps instinctively moving toward the nearby Mao Ba.

He didn't know what kind of talisman or technique this Taoist Priest was using.

He was shrouded in a faint green light, and any Bat Fox that came within a yard of him acted like a weakling, losing half its strength and being easily dispatched by him.

This guy...

Mao Ba swung the Tianpeng Ruler incessantly, the pile of Red-Armored Bat Fox corpses beneath his feet growing into a small hill. Glancing back to see Wu Dao hiding behind him and slacking off, his face couldn't help but twitch.

He had originally assumed Wu Dao was a reckless hothead who only knew how to charge in headfirst, shouting about killing and fighting without a single brain cell. He hadn't expected that after a few interactions, he would turn out to be as cunning as a ghost.

If he could slack off, he would never put in the effort.

If he could take advantage of a situation, he would never be the one to foot the bill.

In comparison.

Yun Tianliu was much more "straightforward."

His sword was already drawn, his body bathed in blood, and he was fighting until his eyes were almost red, never slacking off in the slightest.

Little did he know.

Yun Tianliu also had his own unspeakable bitterness.

It was a matter of positioning.

The moment the Red-Armored Bat Fox swarm appeared, he had run head-on into the largest group. He couldn't move a single inch even if he wanted to retreat; otherwise, did people really think he was stupid?

The Cocoon-Breaking Realm is truly extraordinary.

While slacking off.

Wu Dao also noticed the Yingsha Uncle Ya.

Compared to their own desperate struggle, Yingsha was a complete meat grinder. No matter how large the Red-Armored Bat Fox, a single sweep of his claws would instantly dismember it!

Meng Qingshan was no simpleton either!

No one knew what kind of cultivation technique he had practiced.

After his clothes were shredded, he revealed a dark, towering physique that looked like a tower of black iron. To him, the scratching and biting of the Red-Armored Bat Foxes were nothing more than an itch. He was as unstoppable as a dyed version of the Hulk.

However.

Meng Qingshan was no sucker either. He just kept his head down and killed fiercely, refusing to be the one to stick his neck out and break the deadlock, instead casting his gaze toward Mao Ba from time to time.

What he was thinking was self-evident.

And so, the stalemate continued.

The Flesh Tai Sui did not join the fray either, seemingly intent on toying with everyone until they died. It jumped up and down on the tree trunk, clapping and giggling like a mischievous child watching a play in the countryside.

It was likely that this was the drawback of an incomplete transformation; its intelligence was only that of a child, and its innate mischievous nature had gained the upper hand.

If its intelligence were complete.

It could have taken advantage of the fact that everyone was trapped by the Red-Armored Bat Foxes to pick them off one by one, which would have been absolutely foolproof.