The sharp stones on the inside of the tunnel scraped across the Ink Silk Armor, emitting a grating noise.
Li Ang squinted slightly, released his Spiritual Power, and altered the distribution of Mo Si, making its surface smooth and oval, further increasing the speed of his descent.
Seeing he was about to plunge out of the tunnel, he used the Mountain Rat Claw once more, melting rock towards the direction where the fluctuations of the Mutated Objects were most intense. With a fierce kick at the last second, he broke free.
The heavy stone tablet was sent flying with a powerful kick, and like a cannonball, Li Ang plummeted out of the tunnel.
At this moment, Ya Jiu and Wu Huo had already retreated from the cavern. The people of the Demon Sect used Blast Talismans as cover to flee behind Wu Huo. For a quicker escape, they even flung the Shixing Monk’s detached left arm far away to distract the Buddha Shedding Monsters.
Now, only the Buddha Shedding Monsters and the Shixing Monk they shielded were left in the cavern.
Li Ang stomped heavily on the ground to dissipate his inertia, his brows deeply furrowing beneath his mask.
Those Buddha Shedding Monsters placed the Shixing Monk’s upper body back onto its pedestal and even re-attached the fallen left arm and shattered skull to their original places.
Like a restored statue, the Shixing Monk slowly opened his remaining right eye. He formed a Lotus Handprint with his hands in front of him, a smile at the corners of his lips, and softly chanted, "Namah Parvati Pataye..."
His chanting seemed to hold some kind of magical power; all the Buddha Shedding Monsters began to hum in unison, and the entire cavern trembled slightly.
There was no time to ponder. The monsters in the front noticed Li Ang’s presence, ceased their chanting, and pounced towards him.
Each of these Buddha Shedding Monsters was comparable to a Postnatal Martial Artist. They were vast in number, impervious to pain, and fearless of death. If one were to be entangled with them, even a Cloud Patrol Monk would meet their demise on the spot.
Luckily, Li Ang still had a hidden tactic up his sleeve.
"Karmic Fire—" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ N(o)vᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt
A dazzling blue flame ignited on the surface of Mo Si. Li Ang spread his arms, blasting the Karmic Fire onto the ground, and it spread outwards like a flow of water in all directions.
His greatest gain from the Ghost Market was not seeing many Mutated Objects unrecorded in books, but absorbing a massive amount of negative emotions. Deep underground in the Ghost Market, hundreds of thousands of sin-laden individuals lived their lives without seeing the light of day. Even a tiny portion of all their negative emotions was enough to fill Mo Si’s Karma Fire Tank.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The blue Karmic Fire spread all around.
The unprotected Buddha Shedding Monsters, once touched by the blue flames, immediately caught fire. They howled and rolled on the ground, further spreading more Karmic Fire.
The cavern’s original ’peaceful and serene’ atmosphere was instantly shattered. The Shixing Monk turned his gaze towards Li Ang, who was dashing towards him from one side of the cavern.
The Shixing Monk, or rather the being that once was the Shixing Monk, slightly changed the Lotus Handprint. The surrounding Buddha Shedding Monsters, as if receiving an order, charged and crashed towards Li Ang, willing to be consumed by the Karmic Fire just to stop him.
Faced with so many monsters throwing themselves to their deaths, Li Ang activated the Constant Light Body Technique in his boots, bent his knees, and leaped high into the air. In midair, he drew the Short Staff concealed beneath Mo Si, channeling Spiritual Power into it and transforming it into a Triangular Spear. He thrust it through the skull of a leaping Buddha Shedding Monster, sweeping its corpse to collide with another charging one.
His own body used the reaction force to glide over the Shixing Monk’s head.
Now is the moment, Li Ang thought.
A gleam flashed in Li Ang’s eyes. His left hand swung forward, and the Ink Silk Armor on his arm automatically lifted, revealing the hook concealed beneath.
The hook shot out and hit the stone pedestal below the Shixing Monk, grasping the object that had continuously attracted Mo Si—a Dark Lotus growing within the stone tablet.
Inside the mechanized box, the steel cable wound and contracted, pulling the hook back, bringing the Dark Lotus and the stone tablet beneath it into Li Ang’s hands.
He had it. Li Ang didn’t even look, wrapping the Dark Lotus and stone tablet with Mo Si, then fired the hook again. It hit the dome of the cavern, allowing him to swing forward a distance and land on the rock wall.
He held the Mountain Rat Claw and stabbed it into the rock face. The tough rock melted away instantaneously under the influence of the Mutated Object, creating a tunnel.
Li Ang flashed into the tunnel, straining to channel his Spiritual Power to melt the earth ahead.
However, with the Black Lotus stolen, the Buddha Shedding Monsters in the cavern rushed towards the rock wall like mad. Even though Li Ang had resealed the tunnel entrance with the Mountain Rat Claw, they clawed and bit at it, digging open the rock again.
Hundreds of Buddha Shedding Monsters working together, their combined rumbling excavation sounds were incredibly loud, audible even far above in the Ghost Market.
Li Ang dared not delay. He continued digging further upwards with the Mountain Rat Claw while scanning the tunnel walls, searching for signs of moisture.
He found it! At last, a stream of murky, muddy water poured down from above the tunnel. This was water from an underground Dark River.
Li Ang’s eyes brightened. He increased the efficacy of the Mountain Rat Claw, excavating a Y-shaped notch, while simultaneously transforming the shape of Mo Si to cover his entire body, leaving no blind spots, and preserving a breathing space around his head.
As the tunnel breached the thick rock layer, the mighty waters of the Dark River surged into the passage.
Li Ang pressed himself tightly against the inner side of the Y-shaped notch. Breathing the remaining air in his mask, he watched the water rush towards the countless Buddha Shedding Monsters climbing up the tunnel.
The Buddha Shedding Monsters screamed and howled. Despite their vast numbers and fearless nature, they could not withstand the force of the torrential river water. They were all swept down the tunnel, plunging back into the cavern.
Why does this feel like flushing a toilet...
Li Ang shook his head, clearing the bizarre thought from his mind, and continued to use the Mountain Rat Claw to circumvent the riverbed and dig upwards.
Underground, it was dim and lightless. Thankfully, he could use gravity to orient himself and his pulse to gauge time.
By the time Li Ang emerged to the surface, dawn was already breaking. Trees shaded the surroundings, birds chirped continuously, clouds and the morning glow adorned the sky, and a gentle breeze blew.
Finally out, Li Ang thought, exhaling a breath of stale air. He retracted Mo Si, resealed the tunnel entrance with the Mountain Rat Claw, tidied up his appearance and clothes a bit, and stepped out of the woods onto a rural road.
Roads, signs of human habitation, caravans.
Li Ang quickly figured out his location, but he did not rush back to Chang’an City. Instead, he first found a secluded spot in the woods and took out the Dark Lotus that grew on the stone tablet.
He had risked returning to the cavern, stealing this Dark Lotus from right under the noses of the strangely-behaving, possibly reawakening Shixing Monk and a host of Buddha Shedding Monsters. The Dark Lotus’s attraction for Mo Si was tenfold that of the Green-black stone statue.
After consuming the Green-black stone statue, Mo Si had gained the ability to absorb negative emotions and release Karmic Fire.
Li Ang furrowed his brows slightly. His fingertips gently twirled the stone tablet, flipping it over.
On its back, a lengthy passage of text was engraved.