Inside the tunnel.
Lin Xin held a torch in one hand and his longsword in the other, slowly exploring the path ahead, stopping now and then to listen carefully for any sounds in front.
Xiao Lingling followed closely behind him, cautiously using her unique perception secret technique to sense any dangers in the surrounding environment.
"Lin... Big Brother Lin," she suddenly whispered, moving closer to Lin Xin.
"What’s the matter?" Lin Xin replied softly.
"Do you feel like someone has been following us all along?" Xiao Lingling said, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
In this quiet atmosphere, though her voice was low, Lin Xin could hear her clearly due to their proximity.
"You can sense that?" Lin Xin hadn’t expected Xiao Lingling to actually detect the trace of the person lurking in the shadows; he had been contemplating how to lure that person out since their encounter with the giant rooster. Now, with Xiao Lingling’s remark, he suddenly had an idea.
"Yes, I can sense it a little," Xiao Lingling nodded. "I suspect it’s the same person who deliberately threw the flare to provoke that rooster monster earlier."
Lin Xin pondered for a while.
"Don’t rush... we’ll find an opportunity."
Xiao Lingling didn’t say more.
The two of them continued on, stopping every few hours to rest, eat something, and drink some water. Then they would resume their journey. It was basically impossible to distinguish day from night inside the cave, so they could only judge by their fatigue whether it was time to sleep and rest.
The black cave tunnel kept extending diagonally downward and after about a day’s travel, the temperature became lower and lower, with the walls and floor gradually showing thin layers of ice and frost.
But the tunnel also began to show some broken branches and dry wood, as well as many blood-red talismans on the walls, which seemed somewhat eerie.
"We should be nearing the gathering area of the blood beasts," Lin Xin said as he squatted down in front of a pile of extinguished firewood, touching the ashes to feel their remaining warmth.
"It’s been cold for some time."
"Can we still use it to make a fire? It’s getting colder here," Xiao Lingling said, hugging her arms, her complexion turning somewhat pale.
"Let’s find a suitable place to make a fire and rest." Lin Xin looked around the tunnel. "There are still some unburnt pieces of wood."
The entire tunnel was about ten meters wide and ten meters high, with pockmarked walls, and many areas recessed, almost like shallow caves.
Surveying the area, and using the light from the torch, he quickly located a recess in the wall.
"This way."
The two gathered all the wood they could find in the vicinity and stacked it inside the recess. Then, using the angle of the recess to shelter from the wind, they struck flint to ignite some dry branches and leaves.
Suddenly, the firelight began to glow in the recess.
The orange-yellow halo flickered gently, accompanied by billows of thick smoke that quickly spread along the tunnel in both directions.
Lin Xin stood at the entrance of the recess with his sword drawn, his gaze focused and alert.
"This kind of smoke will definitely attract nearby creatures, I’ll stand guard first."
"Then I’ll prepare some hot water and something to eat," Xiao Lingling quickly said.
Lin Xin responded, about to say more, when he suddenly fell silent, intently looking down the tunnel in front of him.
He saw a black-furred centaur wielding a sickle, slowly walking in their direction, step by step, while making hissing snuffling sounds, seemingly following the smell of the smoke and fire.
Lin Xin coldly advanced with his sword at the ready.
"A good chance to test the strength of this blood beast."
He drew his ordinary longsword and, taking advantage of the blood beast’s delayed reaction, he swiftly lunged in several steps and used the Pine Sun Needle technique, expertly thrusting his hand forth.
The sss-sss-sss of six points of white light darted toward the centaur. He took advantage of its slow reaction and firmly landed them on its sickle-bearing arms.
As the Pine Sun Needle made contact, Lin Xin felt only slight resistance with the sword’s blade, as if puncturing a thick layer of leather or gelatin.
It didn’t penetrate deeply. Then he heard the centaur roar.
’Mother!’
With a great exertion of force, its arms swung the sickle, which sliced through the air towards Lin Xin’s neck.
The enormous black sickle moved like a shadowy python, bringing gusts of evil wind with it.
"Yuan Yang Inner Qi!" Lin Xin didn’t falter, unleashing the most powerful sword technique of the Flameless Swordsmanship. His sword enveloped in a surge of scorching airflow, he met the attack head-on.
The blade and the sickle clashed.
Bang!
The scorching air burst forth at the moment of impact, sweeping over the centaur, causing it to howl in pain as its black fur immediately seemed scorched, curling and sticking to its body. The arms holding the sickle were also blistered from the burns, aggravating the wounds already inflicted.
As its arms flared with pain, the centaur dropped the sickle with a clang.
The colossal force also forced Lin Xin to stagger back more than ten steps before he could steady himself and dissipate the massive force.
A hint of flush crossed his face,
"Such great strength."
By then, blisters from the scalding heat covered the centaur’s arms completely. It turned to flee but had not taken a few steps before Lin Xin caught up and thrust his sword into its nape.
The first thrust didn’t kill it; the sword entered only halfway. Lin Xin then unleashed a burst of Inner Qi and pushed harder with force.
Hiss.
The sharp sword pierced through the centaur’s neck, and its large body instantly stiffened, motionless. Seconds later, black blood gushed down from the wound.
Lin Xin forcefully withdrew the blade, flinging off the black blood that clung to it.
With a thud, the centaur finally fell.
"It took two ultimate moves to kill it, and even with my innate fourth layer of inner qi it was somewhat difficult, not to mention the ordinary disciples at the second or third layer," he walked to the front of the centaur, kicked the big fellow to make sure it was no longer moving, then he slashed at the centaur’s head with his sword.
Hiss...
Just then, the centaur on the ground suddenly melted away, rapidly turning into a black liquid and evaporating; the streams of black smoke that rose dissipated into the air and vanished within moments.
Nothing remained but a small piece of blood-red bone on the ground.
Lin Xin’s sword had struck empty space.
He looked curiously at the piece of bone on the ground.
The bone fragment was blood-red, shaped like a crescent, smooth and shiny throughout, similar to crystal. It was only about the size of a thumbnail.
Lin Xin picked up the bone fragment and inspected it closely.
"Is this the so-called Blood Beast skull?"
"Brother Lin, are you okay?"
Xiao Lingling called from behind, her voice tinged with fear.
"I’m fine," Lin Xin replied. He felt his inner qi and silently calculated, "Still half of my inner qi left. Using this ultimate move really can’t be taken lightly; twice was enough to take down the centaur, but the consumption is also severe. Innate seems only to increase the innate qi, but the total amount of inner qi is still insufficient."
He waited in the passage for a while, sensing no movement, then returned to the cave and sat down, bending at the waist.
The fire had grown larger, the warm heat instantly driving away the chill in the nearby air.
Xiao Lingling was taking out prepared metal utensils, pouring water and dried meat into them, and hanging them over the fire to roast and boil into soup.
Before long, when the water in the pot boiled and the dried meat started rolling about, tossing to and fro.
Xiao Lingling took out a stack of white dried cakes and gave one to Lin Xin.
"Brother Lin, these are specially made ration cakes, one can suffice for a meal," she said.
Lin Xin took it, squeezing it, noting how dense and somewhat hard the cake was, as if it had been tightly compressed.
Breaking off a piece, he placed it in his mouth. It was much like dry, hard steamed buns, somewhat sweet, with a hint of sourness.
Xiao Lingling ladled a bowl of meat soup for herself and then took out her black chocolate beans to eat with the cake.
"The Satiation Pill can be eaten with hot soup; the effect will be slightly better," she suggested.
Lin Xin also took out his chocolate beans—the Satiation Pill as Xiao Lingling called it.
The two quickly dealt with their food and drink, tidied up the leftovers, and gathered around the fire to warm up and rest.
"Brother Lin, do you think those from the Poison Gang will catch up from behind?" Xiao Lingling’s demeanor was no longer that of her usual seductive self, but rather like someone who had removed a mask, sitting beside the fire, hugging her knees, and staring blankly into the flames, seemingly unconcerned with her dirty clothes.
"I don’t know..." Lin Xin shook his head slightly. "I’m not sure if the plaza we came from is the only passage, if there are other passages, they might not come this way."
"Just the two of us..." Xiao Lingling’s voice grew softer, "Actually, Brother Lin..." She opened her mouth as if wanting to say something, but then paused.
Lin Xin waited for her to continue speaking; after a while though, he noticed she was just staring blankly at the fire, lost in thought.
"What do you want to say?" he inquired, slowly regulating his inner qi, converting the food he had eaten into inner qi to replenish his reserves while also quickly recovering his physical strength.
Xiao Lingling looked a bit desolate.
"It’s nothing..." She reached out and twirled a strand of her hanging hair around her finger.
"I thought I could use others well, manipulate those lecherous men to steadily raise my cultivation, to protect myself. Only by entering the cave this time did I realize how naïve I was..." A bitter smile crossed her face.
Not knowing what to say, Lin Xin regarded her as someone he could trust. He chose to remain silent, just listening.
It seemed Xiao Lingling had been holding back for a long time and finally found an opportunity to pour out her thoughts.
"Brother Lin, you don’t know... before you saw me, I was chased by another monster that could disguise itself as others. I encountered Brother Guang and another person, one who usually dotes on me every day."
She paused for a moment, then couldn’t help but let out a light laugh.
"Relying on my small range Qinggong and strong perception ability, I narrowly avoided being assassinated several times and pleaded with Brother Guang to save me. But it seemed he was too scared by that monster that could disguise itself as others, fearing I was also a disguise. No matter what I said, he wouldn’t let me get close, nor would he save me."
"Isn’t that quite normal?" Lin Xin softly interjected. "You shouldn’t mind it too much, after all, they couldn’t tell if you were real or fake in the heat of the moment either."
"But you could, Brother Lin!" Xiao Lingling suddenly looked up, her eyes gleaming as she stared straight into his. "They’ve been around me all the time, yet they couldn’t tell if I was real or fake, but you recognized me at a glance."
There was more to her words, as if there was something deeper she hadn’t spoken.
Lin Xin found it difficult to continue the conversation and simply lowered his head, avoiding her gaze.
"You’re overthinking it."
Xiao Lingling also lowered her head, her cheeks seeming to warm from the fire’s heat.
The two sat in silence; Lin Xin meditated quietly to restore his inner qi, while Xiao Lingling focused on sensing the safety of their surroundings.
The passage was quiet, with only the soft sounds of the fire burning.