“Yu Shi…” Chen Wan looked at the young man being held by the Xiao King, her beautiful eyes widened. Before she could even call out, Yuan Ming covered her mouth.

Her voice abruptly stopped, fortunately the Xiao King didn’t notice.

After he landed steadily, the other Xiao creatures all lowered their heads stiffly, showing a submissive posture.

As for the senior brother from the Fire Refining Hall, he was being held by the Xiao King with one arm, raised in front of him.

The senior brother’s cheek twitched, his expression filled with pain. His eyes were tightly shut, clearly not unconscious, but he didn’t even have the courage to open them. His muscles were tense, his body trembling uncontrollably, obviously terrified to the extreme.

Chen Wan stared fixedly at the fellow disciple, her mind in chaos, but ultimately she didn’t have the courage to risk saving him.

At this moment, she suddenly saw the Xiao King pointing a finger at the unfortunate senior brother’s forehead.

“Pu!” His skull was pierced as easily as tofu, leaving a bloody hole.

A scream of agony rang out, echoing in the cave.

The Xiao King’s gaze was cold as he held the struggling senior brother in pain, bringing him to his mouth.

His mouth opened, revealing a mouthful of sharp fangs. As he bit down on the senior brother’s forehead, he also sucked at the bloody hole.

In the next instant, a blood-red glow surged out from the hole in his forehead, completely drained by the Xiao King.

The senior brother’s screams abruptly stopped, his body withered, slowly slipping from the Xiao King’s hand and falling to the ground.

At the same time, the Xiao King opened his hands, tilted his head slightly back, as if he was enjoying a sumptuous feast, immersed in a wonderful feeling.

At the same time, a green light radiated from his body, with specks of light dust flying within.

The other Xiao creatures bathed in this green light, all raising their heads as if they had obtained some kind of sublimation.

Yuan Ming was shocked by the scene before him, stunned for a while. Chen Wan beside him also became unusually silent, her pretty face pale.

Not to mention the other Xiao creatures, if they fell into the hands of this Xiao King, they would definitely have no chance of survival. They would only become the other party’s food, with a fate worse than that of the senior brother.

“Boom!”

Just then, a wave of energy suddenly rushed down from the opening above the cave, carrying a scorching aura along with a large amount of sand and leaves.

The entire underground cave also shook violently, as if someone was attacking.

The Xiao King looked up at the sky, suddenly let out a roar of anger, and leaped towards the exit above.

The other Xiao creatures immediately moved, like a swarm of bees following their queen. One by one, they climbed along the steep cave walls and rushed out.

“We can leave now…” Yuan Ming saw this scene and was instantly delighted.

He turned his head and glanced at Chen Wan, telling her to be prepared. When all the Xiao creatures had left, he would take her and escape from here.

However, after waiting for a while, one Xiao creature after another crawled out of the underground cave, but there was one in the corner that remained motionless, not following the others.

“What’s wrong with this guy? Why isn’t he moving?” Yuan Ming felt anxious.

Chen Wan also looked nervous. If the other Xiao creatures returned to the cave, they would have no chance to escape.

She patted Yuan Ming’s shoulder and when he turned to look, she made a motion of slitting her throat. Only by killing this Xiao creature as soon as possible could they escape safely.

Yuan Ming hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

He turned his head, intending to go down from this side of the cave entrance, but suddenly saw the Xiao creature move.

He saw it shake its head left and right, as if observing the surroundings. After seeing that there was no one around, its body suddenly turned and went to the left, disappearing from Yuan Ming and Chen Wan’s sight.

Yuan Ming was stunned when he saw this scene.

“That Xiao creature seems a bit unusual. It seems to have some intelligence,” he whispered to Chen Wan.

Chen Wan heard his words and peeked out again, only to find that the Xiao creature had indeed disappeared.

“This…this can’t be possible. Even if a king is born among the Xiao creatures, there can only be one. It’s absolutely impossible for two kings to appear at the same time. Otherwise, they would definitely erupt in a life-and-death battle, and there’s no way they could coexist peacefully,” Chen Wan was also a little confused for a while.

“Never mind, let’s escape first and then figure it out,” Yuan Ming said.

After speaking, he immediately leaned out, his hands gripping the cave wall, and quickly climbed up towards the cave entrance.

But just as he had climbed halfway up, there suddenly came a roar from outside the cave.

Immediately after, a figure fell from the cave entrance, narrowly missing Yuan Ming and falling to the ground.Yuan Ming quickly dodged, pressing his body against the wall. Looking down, he noticed an additional half-body corpse at Chen Wan’s feet.

The corpse was soaked in blood, its face obscured by coagulated blood. From the clothing, it seemed to be a disciple of the Beast Taming Hall.

Yuan Ming’s heart tightened as the sounds of battle from above grew closer, causing his face to change.

He quickly rolled down and said to Chen Wan, “There’s a fight going on above, the situation is unclear.”

Before he could finish speaking, the light from the hole above was suddenly blocked by a shadow.

Yuan Ming and Chen Wan simultaneously looked up, only to see the back of the Human Ghost King.

Instinctively, they dodged to the side. Seeing the Human Ghost about to return, it was too late to climb back to the original hole.

“Go this way.”

Chen Wan called out and ran into a hidden hole on the left.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming had no choice but to follow.

They ran for a while, the cave tunnel winding and becoming narrower.

Before long, they reached a dead end.

“How can there be no way out?” Chen Wan asked in confusion.

They had not found any forks in the road, nor had they seen the Human Ghost return. They had walked to the end of the dead end without seeing the strange Human Ghost.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming stepped forward to investigate and found a crevice near the ground, just wide enough for a person to pass through.

“Maybe it went through here,” Yuan Ming said.

“That Human Ghost knows how to bend down and crawl through holes. It’s not as simple as it seems. How did it manage to coexist peacefully with the Human Ghost King?” Chen Wan bent down to take a look, her confusion deepening.

“Let’s not worry about that for now. We need to get out of here quickly. Those Human Ghosts might be here soon,” Yuan Ming urged.

Hearing this, Chen Wan didn’t hesitate and crawled through the crevice first.

Yuan Ming followed closely behind.

Behind the crevice was another narrow winding tunnel. Yuan Ming and Chen Wan carefully walked through it for about a quarter of an hour before finally exiting the narrow tunnel.

The exit of the tunnel was also a narrow crevice, leading to a cave the size of two rooms.

The light in the cave was dim, but not pitch black. The stone walls were covered with a faintly glowing powder, providing a weak light.

As Yuan Ming and Chen Wan entered the cave, they saw a six-foot-tall ancient stone tablet.

Below the rectangular tablet was a stone base shaped like a fierce tiger. The carving was not particularly exquisite, but it had an indescribable spirit, giving a sense of oppression.

Yuan Ming took a closer look and found that one side of the tablet was carved with complex runes, while the other side was engraved with the characters “Hu Ao” in Southern Border script.

“What is this?” Yuan Ming asked.

Chen Wan was also observing closely. After a moment of thought, she shook her head and said, “I’m not sure. It looks like some kind of suppressive object or boundary marker.”

Hearing this, Yuan Ming didn’t ask further and began to carefully inspect the rest of the cave.

However, to his surprise, apart from the crevice they had entered through, there were no other exits.

“We’ve really reached the end this time. There are no other exits,” Yuan Ming said with a frown.

“That’s strange. Not only did we not find an exit, but we also didn’t see that Human Ghost,” Chen Wan said, her face full of confusion.

“Let’s search carefully again. This doesn’t make sense,” Yuan Ming sighed.

Hearing this, Chen Wan turned her wrist and released three fireball spells, illuminating the entire cave.

With the help of the light, they searched the cave again, but still found nothing.

“Could there have been a fork in the road that we didn’t notice?” Chen Wan wondered.

“Let’s go back the way we came and look again. Even if we don’t find a fork, maybe those Human Ghosts have left and we can get out,” Yuan Ming suggested.

“Alright.”

After discussing, they retraced their steps and hurried back through the narrow tunnel.

By the time they finally returned to the cave, they heard voices coming from inside before they had a chance to leave.

“Anyway, we need to see the body if he’s dead,” a man’s voice came.

“He must be dead. There’s no way he could have survived in that situation…” a woman’s voice sounded with certainty.

…

The voices sounded familiar, and Yuan Ming was taken aback.

“Could something have gone wrong?” At this moment, a somewhat timid voice sounded.

Hearing this voice, Yuan Ming suddenly realized what was happening. Just as he was about to stop Chen Wan, she had already rushed out.

“Are you fellow disciples from Bi Luo Cave?” Chen Wan called out anxiously.

“Don’t…”

Before Yuan Ming could finish saying “don’t”, the three people on the other side of the cave had already run over upon hearing the sound.

It was indeed Kun Tu, Yang Chan, and Ba Da.