Chapter 15: Go Below

Chapter 15 Take the Lower Path

On the other side.

Four Golden Scale Beasts were chasing a group of Qi Refining Cultivators as they fled outward.

Zhang Yan and his companions reacted the quickest; the cultivators who hesitated even for a split second found the narrow exit already jammed up.

“Get out of the way!”

Those behind shouted, but no one would yield. In this situation, even a sixth-layer cultivator wouldn't give way to a ninth-layer one.

After the mother beast nuzzled the small Golden Scale Beast that had collapsed from poisoning, she led the other three cubs in pursuit—leaping, pouncing, running.

The narrow terrain restricted the cultivators’ Sword Flight altitude, and the passage trapped them in an extremely disadvantageous environment. Here, the pursuing Golden Scale Beasts were faster and jumped higher than cultivators at the Qi Refining stage.

They flew for their lives on their swords, but the Golden Scale Beasts were getting closer. Yet the cave passage seemed endless, with no light in sight no matter how far they flew.

Was it really that long?

“Ah!” The Golden Scale Beasts caught up; the cultivator in the back was tackled and bitten.

Those ahead flew faster, while those falling behind had to cast Spells and hurl artifacts behind them as they ran.

This was no time to be stingy with their artifacts. Even the ones they couldn't bear to part with, as long as they could block for just a moment, they might escape alive!

But they never got the chance.

When they saw the sealed cave entrance, despair struck everyone.

“No way!”

“Who the hell did this!”

“Let us out of here!”

The desperate cultivators roared and wailed. Those who hadn't lost it yet immediately started helping Shang Yunduo—chopping, hacking, casting spells. However, at the Qi Refining stage, they couldn’t easily break apart the sealed stones. It was too late.

Shang Yunduo could already smell the reek of the Golden Scale Beasts.

When he saw the Golden Scale Beast blocking most of the passage, Shang Yunduo was stunned.

Where did that come from?!

Was it from the same nest as the last one?!

Was Niu Chengdian out of his mind, trying to hunt an entire nest?!

Wait!

Shang Yunduo frantically scanned the crowd for Niu Chengdian.

He wasn't there.

He'd vanished!

“Where’s Niu Chengdian?”

Who was thinking about him when they were running!

Daoist Yuqiu jammed his vine staff into a crack in the stone, barely managing to move it slightly. He kept trying, and Zhang Yan also attempted to blast the stones open.

Bai Li’s face was pale: “I don’t know.”

The approaching Golden Scale Beasts cornered them in the narrow passage—one end was the sealed exit, the other was one large and three small Golden Scale Beasts. They struggled in extremely limited space, more trapped than the earlier Golden Scale Beast.

“It’s too late.” Bai Li looked at the tiny gap Yuqiu had made. “Old Tang is probably dead already.”

Yuqiu didn’t respond.

Bai Li: “The three of us really are going to die on the same day. What a pity we couldn’t die together.”

Screams came one after another. Shang Yunduo gave up using spells to blast the stones. If he had a day or two, he could definitely break through, but in this situation, a day or two would be enough for the Golden Scale Beasts to digest him.

He felt dazed and tired.

“Bai Li, we can’t die here.” Yuqiu suddenly spoke.

Bai Li looked up.

Yuqiu: “We haven’t had the plum wine we brewed last year yet.”

Bai Li paused, then laughed: “Ha, haha, right, we haven’t. Old Tang must still be waiting for us. Hoo—blockhead, we need to go back into the cave.”

“Hmm?”

Right, we can’t stay here.

Shang Yunduo also mustered his spirits. He had been reborn, endured over half a year of hardship, lived in fear, and even killed someone—not to become food for Golden Scale Beasts.

But where to run?

With no way forward or back, the path back into the cave was blocked by the Golden Scale Beasts.

Above?

No, that wouldn’t work either. The space was too low; the Golden Scale Beasts could jump and reach the ceiling.

In their panic, the cultivators, accustomed to sword flight, thought of the same thing. Many, without thinking, raised their flying swords, trying to fly over the Golden Scale Beasts’ heads. But then the beasts looked up, so…

Take the lower path!

Go for it!

Seizing the moment when the Golden Scale Beasts jumped, Shang Yunduo slapped two Haste Talismans on himself, dove his sword sharply downward, crouched, and used a grab-rail move like skateboarding—shwoosh—and shot back under the Golden Scale Beast’s belly.

The rogue cultivators who were still hesitating were all dumbfounded—what kind of move was that? Did the Sword Flight Art have such a technique?

But they quickly caught on. If the upper path didn’t work, there was still the lower path. If they couldn’t get out, they might as well go back. At least the space inside the cave was larger, and the Golden Scale Beasts couldn’t fly, so they still had a chance to maneuver.

“Back! Charge back!”

Shang Yunduo used the sword flight technique he had practiced for half a year to its fullest, weaving between the sides and legs of the four Golden Scale Beasts. But not everyone had his luck—some had bad timing, insufficient speed, or just pure bad luck, colliding head-on with a landing or about-to-jump beast.

They were at most Qi Refining Ninth Layer. They could fly swords, but not for extended periods like Foundation Establishment stage cultivators. Many usually didn’t practice flying long for the sake of conserving spiritual power. At this life-or-death moment, some could tap into their potential, but more made mistakes in panic.

Ordinarily, a mistake might mean falling off the sword and getting hurt, with a chance to try again. This time, there was no chance to climb back onto the sword.

At the cave entrance, Zhang Yan had used all his artifacts to their limit but still couldn’t blast open the blocked rubble. After swallowing three Qi Recovery Pills, he pulled Zhang Yu, who was still struggling but nearly berserk, and flew back: “Go!”

But the four Golden Scale Beasts now knew that the siblings were trying to go back, waiting in the passage like cats waiting to pounce on butterflies.

The only gap passable was barely enough for one person.

Having grown up as heaven’s favored children with a smooth path, they’d only ever bullied others, never been bullied themselves, the Zhang siblings finally realized they had truly reached a dead end.

Foundation Establishment, Core Formation—the dream of raising the clan had become nothing but a fleeting illusion.

They were going to die here.

Zhang Yu: “Brother! Let’s stop running. Let's go to the cave entrance. If heaven won’t let us live, might as well let these beasts eat us.”

Zhang Yan: “Don’t be stupid!”

It took everything to get a Heavenly Spirit Root, the entire clan’s hopes rested on them—they couldn’t die here in vain.

Zhang Yan looked hard at his sister. If they couldn’t both make it, at least one had to.

“Don’t make a sound.” He pushed his sister toward the only passage that could fit one person, while he himself rushed toward the space directly above the Golden Scale Beasts.

He was too big; maybe he wouldn’t fit through that passage. His sister was smaller, and her Sword Flight practice was more precise—she should be able to make it.

The first beast, the second—they came through, then the third…

“Hngh…” Zhang Yan grabbed the sharp horn that pierced his armor, used the last Binding Talisman he had to immobilize the beast in front of him, and poured all his spiritual power into the wooden bead. Fireballs burst with a bang, forming a ring of flames that engulfed the Golden Scale Beast’s head.

Zhang Yan’s vision turned to a blaze of red. He tried to look for Zhang Yu’s figure to see if she had escaped, but it was too late.

His consciousness and sight faded into darkness. He would never see Zhang Yu again, never see the clan rise through their efforts.

“Don’t make a sound.”

Zhang Yu covered her mouth, tears in her eyes, flying past a startled Golden Scale Beast. It was the last one. She had succeeded.

Only one made it.