Everything about Arthas seems to be getting more and more mysterious, and Qi Ling can't tell whether his explanation of his identity is true or false. However, from the fact that he can control these scarecrows, it can be seen that he should have a significant connection with the Howling Abyss.
With utmost caution, Qi Ling and her companions, led by Arthas, continued forward. In this mist, it seemed as if even the passage of time was imperceptible.
Suddenly, Arthas stopped, his scythe slowly moving horizontally to block the three of them.
Just as Qi Ling was about to ask a question, she saw a huge monster crawl out of the thick fog in front of her. Its body seemed to be made of mud, and behind it was a dark trail.
Faced with such a disgusting monster, both Bei Na and Jian Lan involuntarily took a step back. For girls like them, this was probably the last thing they wanted to deal with.
Qi Ling also showed a solemn expression, because in his vision, this thing also had a green skull on its body, just like Arthas in front of him.
"What is this?" Qi Ling couldn't help but ask.
"This is the law here, we call it the Qu Huo'," Arthas said. "Don't even think of challenging it, for it is an existence beyond your imagination, indestructible in itself, and contains power beyond comprehension."
"As for its job, it's simply responsible for cleaning up the corrupt souls here and keeping this place clean. You could say it's the cleaner of this place. Without it, I would be in a lot of trouble."
"How can this thing capture a soul when it's so slow? It should have been caught by its prey before it even got close, right?" Qi Ling asked.
"No, the Qu Huo is incredibly fast. Right now, it's just sleeping," Arthas. "It will begin to move once it smells the scent of corrupted souls."
Sure enough, right after Arthas finished speaking, the slowly moving Qu Huo suddenly stopped. The nose-like thing at the front of its body sniffed the air and then locked onto a direction.
Immediately afterwards, the massive body of the Qu Huo suddenly surged forward in that direction like a ferocious train, its speed astonishing.
At that speed, a few people might not be able to dodge it, but with its enormous size, it became incredibly difficult. This giant Qu Huo had now transformed into a ferocious predator, completely different from before.
After the Qu Huo disappeared, Arthas chuckled again, "Hehehe, alright, distinguished guests, let's continue. A friendly reminder: if the Qu Huo has chosen you as its target, it's best to give up the struggle."
The three of them fell silent, but their expressions turned serious. Qi Ling finally realized that this was a more dangerous place than she had imagined.
After an unknown amount of time, the three, led by Arthas, arrived at the entrance of a cave. From inside the cave, various kinds of weeping sounds kept coming, making them feel their scalps tingle.
"We've arrived, distinguished guests," Arthas said to the three. "This is where you've come from, the Wailing Cave! What you're looking for is at the very back of this cave."
"From now on, I won't be sending you any more. I'll leave the exploration to you yourselves. Good luck, and please don't let me receive your souls too soon! Hehehe~"
After saying this, Arthas's figure gradually disappeared into the air, finally vanishing completely into the thick fog, just as mysteriously as when he appeared.
"Is... are we really going in, Qi Ling?" Bei Na looked at the howling cave and said hesitantly, "It doesn't look fun at all in here!"
Qi Ling then said, "We absolutely must go in. Our purpose in coming here is to enter this place, so how can we give up halfway? Come on, let me prepare you first. We may face battles soon, so we can't choose our opponents blindly."
Then, Qi Ling smeared her own blood on the eyes of the two women, giving them the ability to discern the strength of their enemies, so that they could at least know whether or not they could defeat their opponents.
After entering the cave, Qi Ling did not rush to activate her domain to scout the enemy's situation, because doing so would be tantamount to alerting the enemy and could potentially reveal their location.
The cave was spacious enough for the three of them to walk side by side. Qi Ling, holding the Xuanyuan Sword, led the way, ready to deal with any situation that might arise.
Before long, a large number of skulls appeared on the roadside, arranged in several piles, which sent chills down people's spines. They wondered where all these skulls came from.
"These skeletons must have been left behind by those who came before. It seems this place is no benevolent place after all," Qi Ling said. " Bei Na, be careful. If these ghostly things come back to life, they'll be difficult to deal with."
"Huh? No way, Qi Ling, these things are just a pile of bones, how could they come back to life? That's too unbelievable!" Bei Na said.
"Did you ever think the scarecrow would come to life before you came here?" Qi Ling asked.
Upon hearing this, Bei Na fell silent. However, her silence did not mean that the group could escape this predicament. There was only one path in the cave, and to get through, it was impossible to avoid this route.
As the three of them passed by, the ground suddenly began to shake, and the countless skulls miraculously converged together, forming a giant humanoid skull.
"Roar--!" The giant skeleton roared and charged towards Qi Ling. Qi Ling swung her sword to block, but the sharp Xuanyuan Sword could not break the skeleton, which surprised Qi Ling.
Qi Ling then leaped away, dodging the giant skeleton's attack, and landed on its head. He gathered his Soul Power in his right hand and punched it down.
"Since a knife can't get you, then try my fist, what's wrong with that!"
With a single punch, the giant skeleton shattered into countless scattered skeletons. But before Qi Ling could even land, these skeletons had already reassembled themselves into a single entity.
To Qi Ling's dismay, each of these skeletons was incredibly hard and protected by a force, so even if he scattered them, he couldn't completely defeat them.
"This is troublesome. How can we solve these problems?" Qi Ling pondered. "How about we try to achieve a miracle through brute force?"
"Huh? Qi Ling, what do you mean?" Bei Na asked, puzzled, while a bad feeling seemed to creep into her heart.
"It's nothing, Bei Na, Jian Lan, get ready. When I say 'run,' you run!" Qi Ling said, her Divine Dragon Emperor Martial Soul activating, and her Fourth Soul Ring lighting up, " Gaia Energy Cannon!"
With a deafening roar, Jian Lan and Bei Na had no choice but to run, because Qi Ling wasn't aiming at the pile of skeletons at all; he was aiming at the top of the cave!
The cave collapsed immediately due to the massive impact, burying the skeletons. Qi Ling and the other two managed to escape before the collapse occurred.