Everyone Surrounded

Not far away, the enormous head of the second-tier rat demon had rolled to a stop beneath the stone wall. Its tiny scarlet eyes had remained open even in death.

Although Zhou Si had already prepared herself, her heart still gave an involuntary thump when she saw it with her own eyes.

She turned back and gave Lu Feng a long look.

She had already tried to overestimate him before.

At Mid Nei Jin, he could kill a second-tier demonic beast on his own. His saber arts and saber techniques were at the perfected level, and his combat awareness was frighteningly precise.

She had thought she had seen his limit.

Only now did she realize that was no limit at all. It was just the part he had let others see.

Without a word, she walked over to the rat head, bent down, and put it into her storage bag.

Then she brushed the dust from her hands and straightened up. Just as she was about to walk back, she saw that Lu Feng was still standing where he had been.

His gaze was fixed on a rat demon's corpse at his feet, and his brow was slightly furrowed.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Zhou Si walked over to him.

"Look at these corpses," Lu Feng said without looking up.

Zhou Si looked down, puzzled. Lu Feng had killed these rat demons himself, so what was there to look at?

But she asked no further questions. She crouched down and leaned close to the nearest rat demon's corpse.

Then her expression changed.

The rat demon's corpse was shriveled.

It was as though something had drained the moisture from within it. Its hide hung loosely over its skeleton, its eye sockets were sunken, and its skin was a strange grayish white.

She reached out and touched it. It felt cold and stiff beneath her fingertips, nothing like a corpse that had only just died.

She sprang to her feet, hurried over to another corpse, and crouched to examine it.

The same shriveled form. The same grayish white. The same withered appearance.

A third corpse. A fourth. A fifth.

They all looked the same.

She looked up, her voice a little strained. "What... what happened here?"

"When I killed them, every one of them was normal," Lu Feng said.

"Blood spurted from their wounds, and their bodies were full. They looked as they should have just after dying."

He paused.

"But in the space of a few moments, all the blood in these corpses disappeared."

His gaze swept over the dried corpses covering the ground.

"There's something strange about this cave. Under normal circumstances, blood couldn't dry this quickly."

Zhou Si abruptly stood up, her face several shades paler than when she had been poisoned.

"Let's go. We'll find the others and regroup first, then leave this place."

With that, Lu Feng seized Zhou Si by the wrist and sent Carefree Steps into full motion, speeding toward the cave's exit.

As he pulled her along, Zhou Si felt the heat from his hand against her wrist, leaving her a little uncomfortable.

She looked down at his hand, her cheeks reddening slightly, but said nothing.

A short while later, they reached a fork in the passage. Lu Feng released her and stopped.

"Lu Feng?" Zhou Si looked at him in confusion.

"Senior sister Zhou." Lu Feng turned around, his tone serious. "In your current condition, it's too dangerous for you to go deeper into the cave with me."

Zhou Si opened her mouth to object, but Lu Feng raised a hand to stop her.

"Go out first. Once you're back on the surface, do two things!"

"First, investigate whether any formations or mechanisms have been set up in the Fire Saber Sect."

"Second, the blood of the demonic beasts in this underground cave wouldn't disappear for no reason. If someone really is controlling this from behind the scenes, the most likely entrance is in Fragrant Virtue Hall."

He paused, his tone growing heavier. "You're injured and poisoned. If you stay with me now, you won't be able to help. You'll only distract me."

Zhou Si bit her lip. She knew Lu Feng was right.

In her current condition, she couldn't even use her qinggong at full strength, let alone fight. If she followed Lu Feng deeper, she would only be a burden.

"It's too dangerous for you to go alone," she said in a very low voice.

Lu Feng was about to say something when he suddenly raised his eyes toward the passage ahead.

A figure was running toward them, drawing closer and closer.

His gaze sharpened slightly, and his right hand instinctively settled on his saber hilt.

"Gan Ping," he said, a note of scrutiny in his voice. "Why are you here?"

Gan Ping stopped, carrying an enormous demonic beast head in each hand. Panting, he said, "My lords, you're both here!"

He raised the two heads.

"These are the heads of the second-tier bull demon and monkey demon. I've brought them, as ordered."

Lu Feng's gaze fell on the two heads.

They were the heads of the bull demon and the monkey demon. But what caught his attention was that their surfaces were perfectly clean, without a trace of blood. The flesh at the severed necks was an abnormal grayish white, as though it had been soaked in water for a long time and then dried.

"When you went to fetch these heads, was there any blood left in the demonic beasts' corpses?" Lu Feng asked.

Gan Ping froze for a moment, then shook his head. "No. When I got there, all the corpses in the bull demon's cave and the monkey demon's cave had shriveled up. There wasn't a drop of blood left. I thought..."

He gave Lu Feng a cautious glance and said no more.

"What did you think?" Zhou Si pressed.

"I thought... Lord Lu had used some special method." Gan Ping's voice grew quieter as he spoke.

Lu Feng offered no explanation.

He walked over to Zhou Si, bent down, and murmured a few words in her ear.

As Lu Feng spoke, the faint blush on Zhou Si's cheeks gradually gave way to a serious expression.

When he finished, she raised her head. There was no trace of hesitation left in her eyes.

"All right. I understand. Be careful."

She took the two demonic beast heads from Gan Ping and put them in her storage bag, then turned to him. "Come with me."

Gan Ping looked at Lu Feng, then at Zhou Si. Without asking any questions, he bowed and followed Zhou Si, hurrying back the way they had come.

The two figures soon vanished at the end of the passage.

Only then did Lu Feng turn and look toward the other branch.

He had not gone far when the sounds of fierce fighting reached him from the passage ahead.

Lu Feng stopped, concealed his presence, and crept forward silently along the stone wall.

He rounded a bend, and the space before him suddenly opened up. A vast, square cavern came into view.

In the center of the cavern, three figures were struggling to hold out against the assault of four second-tier demonic beasts.

Several tears had been ripped in Zhu Lin's fitted clothes, and a claw wound on her left arm was deep enough to expose the bone.

Luo Fang's hair had come loose from its bun, hanging in disarray against her face, and a thread of blood clung to the corner of her mouth.

Most of the inner armor over Liu Yong's chest had shattered, and blood was seeping from a wound that ran diagonally from his shoulder to his waist and abdomen.

All three were injured to varying degrees, but they were still gritting their teeth and fighting to the death.

Demonic beast corpses lay sprawled in every direction at their feet.

The corpse of a second-tier rabbit demon stood out most of all. Its enormous head had rolled into a corner, shriveled until nothing remained but skin and fur wrapped around bone.

Lu Feng's gaze swept quickly across the cavern.

Four second-tier demonic beasts-a wolf demon, a pig demon, a snake demon, and a tiger demon-occupied four positions, taking turns attacking the three.

They were injured too, but nowhere near enough to affect their fighting.

Seeing this, Lu Feng stopped hiding. He drew the Six Harmonies Saber and flashed into the cavern.