Chapter 687: Chapter 687. Zombie Beasts

Huang Er didn’t stop moving despite the impossible situation. The blade of her sword split, and they became a long whip. Her sword-whip whirled around her, slicing the spirit beast carcasses that came at her. She couldn’t sense the power of these dead beasts, but she could judge that they had different power levels from how her weapon affected them.

Some were sliced cleanly. Others displayed resistance but still received deep cuts. Thankfully, none of the dead beasts exhibited a power stronger than hers. Even so, their number was concerning. This number became a hindrance to her in escaping the area.

While fighting the dead beasts, her Spirit Sense remained locked onto the Soul Flayer. If it attacked her while she was busy fighting these dead beasts, she would be in trouble. Strangely, the Soul Flayer remained in its spot. She sensed a strange aura emanating from it, though. After she paid attention long enough, she noticed that its aura was linked to the dead beasts that were swarming her.

It was the Soul Flayer that reanimated these carcasses and turned them into its army. She understood then. This cavern, filled with spirit beast carcasses, was the Soul Flayer’s lair. The carcasses might not even be the cavern’s original occupants. They could be the Soul Flayer’s prey, which it dragged back to this lair to serve as its minions when needed.

Huang Er cursed her luck. Out of all the others, why did it have to be her who stumbled into this spirit beast?

“Princess! I will hold them. You hurry and escape!”

Countless flashing lights crisscrossed around Huang Er. Once the flashes stopped, the living carcasses nearest to her dropped to the floor in pieces. A man stood before the princess.

“Xa Li!” Huang Er called.

Xa Li was her secret bodyguard. With his perfect concealment art, he followed and protected her from the shadows. He only showed himself during an emergency, like now.

Some of the carcasses Xa Li had cut still moved. But since they were in small pieces, they couldn’t do much but wriggled on the floor.

“Go!!” Xa Li urged. He was a Peak Spirit Stage cultivator. In terms of battle capability, he was stronger than Huang Er. However, the foe they faced was a spirit beast with a power rivalling that of a Beginning Lord Stage cultivator. He was not confident he could fulfil his duty if Huang Er insisted on staying.

Fortunately, Huang Er was reasonable. He dashed toward a tunnel that contained fewer zombie beasts. Her sword whip lashed forward before she arrived and cleared the path for her.

“Xa Li, don’t insist on staying. You flee as well once you have the chance!” Huang Er called.

Seeing one of the intruders about to escape, the Soul Flayer uttered a soul-screeching howl. Following the howl, the zombie beasts were as if receiving adrenaline boosts. Their movement speed increased. They also acted much more ferociously.

The Soul Flayer’s mouth, which was at the base of its four tentacles, started glowing. Xa Li sensed enormous energy in the light gathering in that mouth. The light disappeared into the mouth, but soon came out again in the form of a thin laser beam.

“Princess, look out!” Xa Li warned. He slashed his sword. A thick crescent light manifested from that slash. This crescent light came in the laser beam’s path.

The crescent light shattered upon contact, but it managed to deflect the laser beam by a slight angle.

Thanks to Xa Li’s warning, Huang Er was aware of the incoming attack. She swung her sword whip back, which clashed with the laser beam. A clanking sound was heard, and her sword broke. Despite losing her weapon, she stopped the beam long enough to adjust her body. The beam shot past her and struck the cave wall ahead.

“Go…!!” Xa Li called again.

The call snapped Huang Er out of a momentary pause due to the shock from nearly being struck by a deadly assault. She used her movement art, which left phantom images as she dashed away.

Xa Li heaved a relieved sigh. He was still in a predicament, but he didn’t mind as long as the princess was safe. He looked at his longsword. It had a deep crack along its blade. It would most likely break with the next impact. He threw the sword and replaced it with another sword from his space ring.

The zombie beasts ran toward the tunnel Huang Er had fled. Xa Li didn’t let them. His sword swirled around him while his body spun. He turned into a hurricane that cut everything around him. He hovered before the tunnel Huang Er used to escape, preventing the zombie beasts from giving chase.

The Soul Flayer growled. It was displeased that its dead minions failed to do their job. It stepped forward. As it did, the zombie beasts closer to it turned into dust. The dust was sucked into the Soul Flayer’s mouth. It took a deep breath. When it exhaled, the dust particles emitted eerie lights. This glowing dust swirled into a torrent that headed for Xa Li.

Xa Li was still using his hurricane martial art. The flashes of his sword light followed the hurricane and collided with the incoming torrent of light dust. The light dust wasn’t affected by Xa Li’s art. It seeped in between the sword lights. Even the wind caused by the art couldn’t blow the light dust away.

Before Xa Li realized the enemy’s attack had broken through his defense, the light dust had already stuck onto his body. He felt the dust burned through his clothes and dug into his skin. The pain forced him to stop his martial arts. The light dust didn’t relent. More continued to stick to Xa Li’s body. In a short time, the dust completely covered him, burying even his scream. He had now turned into a glowing cocoon.

*

Oblivious of her bodyguard’s fate, Huang Er continued to run. She heard some of the zombie beasts chasing her from behind. Those were the ones who had entered the tunnel before Xa Li blocked it. Additionally, there were also spirit beast carcasses in this tunnel. These carcasses slowly animated as she ran past them.

Her sword whip had broken. She was now using an inferior sword stored in her space ring. She slashed her sword while running past the carcasses. She targeted the carcasses’ legs. Even if her slashes couldn’t kill the already dead beasts, she could slow them down by removing their legs.

While she was out of immediate danger, she was still in trouble because she didn’t know where to go. She remained lost in this underground maze.

She looked to the cave ceiling and decided to make a desperate attempt. She used the drilling rock art and sent her art to the ceiling. The rock drills converged and bored into the ceiling. Cracks spread across the ceiling. She hurriedly moved away just before the ceiling collapsed.

She barely missed the cave-in. She looked back and saw that the path behind her had been covered by dirt and rock. They were too deep underground. Any attempt to drill her way out would end up burying her instead.

Although she failed to escape from this maze, the cave-in she caused blocked her pursuers. It also blocked the Soul Flayer’s aura. There were still spirit beast carcasses on the floor, but these carcasses didn’t come to life.

Now that she could catch her breath, she could think again. She had somehow found the Soul Flayer. Should she send Amon a message? But Sima Fang’s suspicion kept her from doing so. She was still unsure if she should trust Sima Fang’s warning or not. Maybe Sim Fang was only being unnecessarily paranoid.

After pondering, she decided to take the risk. They came here to capture the Soul Flayer. If they failed to do so, their allies would be in trouble. It was fine to leave if she hadn’t happened upon the Soul Flayer, but since she did, she had the responsibility to ensure that this information didn’t go to waste.

She didn’t know where she was, so it was pointless to send someone a message. She, however, had a beacon talisman. She activated the talisman. The beacon talisman acted like a message talisman. It was always paired. But instead of sending a message, the beacon talisman projected its aura to the talisman it was paired with, allowing the person who held the paired talisman to know her position. In the case of the current mission, everyone’s beacon aura was paired to Amon’s.

While waiting for Amon to arrive, Huang Er looked at the blocked path. Although they couldn’t reach the Soul Flayer from here, she knew its general direction. That information should be enough to find the spirit beast again.

Huang Er walked around, trying to find another path to where the Soul Flayer was without venturing too far from her initial position. She finally sensed someone approaching. Not long after, she heard footsteps. Before the person arrived, she already knew who the person was from his aura.

“Echos Princess, why are you here?” Xan Chi asked. “I thought we went in different directions.”

“I got lost but somehow found the Soul Flayer. I’m waiting for Amon to arrive,” Huang Er answered.

“You found it? Good! Show me where it is,” Xan Chi said as he walked closer.

“It is in that direction. I’m still looking for–” She stopped abruptly because the approaching Xan Chi suddenly lunged at her with a dagger in his hand.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep