177: Chapter 177 Tianlu Saves the Day

The Pterosaur let out a satisfied screech.

The sound was full of triumph, as if declaring the victor of this chase.

With a flap of its wings, it carved an arc in the air, its dark red eyes locking onto the two falling figures: the blood-soaked Qingluan and the human who had been thrown from its back.

It was going to deliver the final blow.

The Pterosaur folded its wings, preparing to dive.

Residual golden light from the previous collision still clung to its bone blades—the lingering energy from when Qingluan's Wind Blade had shattered beneath its claws.

It licked the corners of its mouth, its dark red tongue passing over its sharp teeth as if savoring the prey it was about to claim.

However, at that very instant.

A fireball flew in from the direction of the southern ridge.

The fireball was small, no larger than a human head, and its power was pitifully weak.

It wobbled through the air for hundreds of meters before accurately slamming into the Pterosaur's face.

Bang!

The fireball exploded, sending sparks flying in all directions.

The Pterosaur didn't even blink.

Those flames hadn't even warmed its scales, let alone caused any damage.

But the expression on its face shifted from triumph to confusion, and then to rage.

It wasn't because the fireball had hurt it, but because as it exploded, a small plastic bottle wrapped in the flames had slammed hard into its face.

The bottle shattered, and a thin, almost invisible layer of powder burst from within, spraying all over its face.

That scent.

The scent it knew to its very bones, carved into the depths of its soul, the scent that drove it mad.

The Pterosaur's eyes instantly turned blood-red.

Not the dark red from before, but a true, burning scarlet, as if soaked in fresh blood.

Its nostrils flared wildly, and a low sound, like a mix of weeping and roaring, emanated from its throat.

It whipped its head around, looking toward the direction the fireball had come from.

On the southern ridge, a small purple-gold lion was crouching on a rock.

Its little face was full of tension, its golden eyes wide, and all four legs were trembling.

That was Tianlu.

Behind Tianlu, Sun Lie was riding on the back of the Ice-Armored Blazing Rhino. The Silver Rank Pet Beast, having just recovered from severe injuries, was still shivering, but the residual heat of a Lava Bomb still lingered deep in its throat.

That fireball from just now had been commanded by Sun Lie—it had used up all of the Ice-Armored Blazing Rhino's remaining energy.

The moment the Pterosaur's eyes swept over, Tianlu's tail clamped down tightly.

It didn't hesitate; it turned and ran.

Its four short legs scrambled desperately, its little paws making faint pattering sounds against the rocks as it ran faster than ever before.

Sun Lie moved too.

He patted the Ice-Armored Blazing Rhino on the neck, and the Silver Rank Pet Beast let out a low growl, turning to sprint after Tianlu.

Its injuries hadn't fully healed, making it limp as it ran, but its speed was not slow.

The Pterosaur let out a screech of extreme anguish.

There was no anger or murderous intent in that sound, only a near-collapsing, heart-wrenching sorrow.

It could smell it.

It was the scent of its child, a scent it had lost long ago, one it thought it would never smell again.

And now, that scent had been in a plastic bottle, detonated on its face by a small lion and a human.

It went mad.

The Pterosaur flapped its wings violently, lunging toward the ridge.

It was so fast that it left a gray afterimage in the air. The bone blades at the tips of its wings extended, and meter-long golden light blades carved two blinding arcs through the twilight.

Tianlu ran in the lead; it dared not look back, dared not stop, and dared not even think.

It only knew to run, to run as fast as possible, to reach the place it had found earlier.

A narrow mountain crevice.

On the ridge, the members of the Seventh Squad were waiting at the entrance of the crevice.

"It's here," Lei Gang said in a low voice.

Everyone held their breath simultaneously.

Tianlu was the first to dash into the crevice, its small body sprinting through the gap and disappearing into the depths in the blink of an eye.

Sun Lie and the Ice-Armored Blazing Rhino followed closely. The Ice-Armored Blazing Rhino was too large and got stuck when entering the crevice; Jiang Mo and Lei Gang had to push from behind to shove it inside.

Then came Feng Bao; his Chi Tiger Beast wasn't heavily injured and ran quickly.

Then the others followed, one after another, pouring into the narrow crevice like a flowing stream.

The last one was Jiang Mo. He stood at the entrance of the crevice, watching the gray figure drawing closer and closer, gritted his teeth, and then turned and squeezed inside.

He had just gotten inside when the Pterosaur arrived.

Boom—!!!

The Pterosaur's bone blades slashed into the rock at the entrance of the crevice; the granite was sliced open like tofu under the Gold Rank attack. Gravel flew, dust filled the air, and the entire mountain trembled.

Inside the crevice, the people were shaken off balance.

Outside, the Pterosaur was frantically clawing at the rock.

Its bone blades were like two giant shovels, digging into the mountain side claw by claw, gouging out the granite chunk by chunk.

Gravel tumbled from the crevice entrance, and the dust was so choking that people couldn't open their eyes.

But it couldn't dig fast.

The crevice was too narrow, and its wingspan was too wide. Although the bone blades were sharp, it could only dig a small area at a time. It tried to stick its head inside, but its head was too large and got stuck at the entrance, unable to enter.

Phew, everyone let out a sigh of relief; they were safe for the moment.

Qin Ce had also been rescued.

But, how did they manage it?

Time to rewind half an hour ago.

Previously, just at the moment the man in the leather jacket was about to scatter the powder.

Tianlu's stomach suddenly gave a loud rumble.

Tianlu hesitated for a moment, then turned and ran away from the battlefield, running until it was behind a large rock far from the fray.

Then, ten minutes after the man in the leather jacket scattered the powder.

When a shrill, mournful cry exploded from the distance.

The man in the leather jacket jerked his head up and saw, on the southern horizon, a gray behemoth with a thirty-meter wingspan flying toward them.

It was moving so fast that it left a white sonic boom cloud in the air, its dark red eyes locked firmly on the direction of the battlefield.

The man in the leather jacket's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

He only knew the Wang family had told him to scatter the powder, but he didn't know what the powder was.

Now he knew; it was the bone powder of a Pterosaur hatchling. The scent of the powder would attract the adult Pterosaur, and that Pterosaur would think the people on the battlefield were the murderers of its child.

He had been used as a pawn by the Wang family.

The man in the leather jacket's hands began to tremble.

He hurriedly pulled out the empty bottle from his embrace, fumbling through his backpack to dig out plastic bags, rubber gloves, and sealable bags, wrapping the empty bottle layer by layer.

Until the small bottle was tightly wrapped, looking like a bloated cocoon.

Then he stood up and threw that "cocoon" hard toward the other side of the ridge.

The empty bottle traced a parabola in the air, caught by the mountain wind, and drifted for quite a while.

Then.

Plop.

It landed on the head of Tianlu, who was currently using the bathroom.

Tianlu was crouching behind a rock, fully focused on taking care of its physiological needs.

Suddenly something hit its forehead; it jumped in fright, its tail clamped down hard, and the poop that was halfway out was abruptly cut off.

The urge was completely gone.

Tianlu's ears pricked up, its eyes went wide, and its fur stood on end.

It whipped its head around, opening its mouth to unleash the fiercest roar at the guy who dared to disturb its bathroom break.

Then it saw the "cocoon."

A bloated thing, wrapped layer by layer in plastic bags, rubber gloves, and sealable bags, emitting a strange odor, was lying quietly beside it.

Tianlu's nose twitched twice.

It caught a scent.

Not the bloody smell from the battlefield, not the smell of Earth Lizard body fluids, but a stranger, fainter, more elusive scent with a sour, astringent quality. It felt like it had smelled that scent somewhere before.

Tianlu tilted its head and thought about it, but couldn't recall.

Just then, Qin Ce's roar came from the distance: "Scatter! Forget the supplies, run first!"

Tianlu's ears snapped toward that direction.

It could hear the anxiety and tension in Qin Ce's voice—it wasn't the calmness of commanding a battle, but the urgency of facing real danger.

Tianlu picked up the "cocoon" in its mouth, its four short legs began to scramble, and it ran toward Qin Ce's direction.

It wanted to find Qin Ce, to tell him that someone had thrown something at its head, to tattle.

It ran over gravel, over withered grass, over clods of earth overturned by shockwaves, and plunged into the mountain hollow at the edge of the battlefield.

Then it saw Qin Ce.

Qin Ce was standing in the center of the battlefield, saying: "Everyone listen up, take your teammates and retreat to the camp! I'll hold it off!"

Tianlu followed Qin Ce's gaze to the sky.

Then its body froze.

A gray behemoth with a thirty-meter wingspan was hovering in the sky, its dark red eyes locked firmly on Qin Ce.

Its body exuded an aura that made Tianlu's legs go weak—it was Gold Rank, a true apex predator countless times stronger than the Earth Lizard King.

The "cocoon" in Tianlu's mouth almost fell to the ground.

Afterward, Qin Ce and the Pterosaur fought.

Qin Ce used Tethering Wind Blade to harass the Pterosaur, used Shadow Sight to dodge lethal attacks, and the Phoenix Flow behind Qingluan increased one by one.

Tianlu didn't understand those tactics, but it understood Qin Ce's situation—he was fighting for his life, Qingluan was fighting for its life, and they were about to collapse.

Tianlu turned its head and looked toward the southern ridge.

There, the members of the Seventh Squad were climbing toward the summit.

Jiang Mo was in the lead, Lei Gang followed behind, then Sun Lie, Feng Bao; everyone was climbing up.

On Tianlu's antlers, a nine-colored light flickered slightly.

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck it, and an idea popped into its mind.

It picked up the "cocoon" and turned to chase after the Seventh Squad members.

However, on the way to the summit, Tianlu suddenly missed a step and almost fell into a fissure.

It was a mountain crevice.

It extended from the summit deep into the mountain's belly, nearly a hundred meters long, the widest point no more than a meter, and the narrowest point so tight that even a person had to turn sideways to squeeze through.

Tianlu took only one look before continuing the chase.

When it caught up to the group.

It placed the "cocoon" in its mouth on the ground, patted it with its paw, and then used the nine-colored light on its antlers to convey a vague message to them.

"There is a crevice over there, it's safe, you can hide."

Then, as the members came over one by one.

Tianlu's nose twitched.

Then it noticed something.

The scent on the "cocoon" was the same as the scent on the members.

Not exactly the same, but similar—that sour, astringent, rust-like, and moldy odor was on the members' clothes, skin, and hair.

Tianlu was stunned for a moment, then understood.

The powder hadn't just been scattered on the battlefield.

It had been blown away by the wind, drifted to the ridge, and landed on the members.

The Pterosaur wasn't chasing because of the scent on the battlefield; it was chasing because of the scent on the members.

Tianlu's tail clamped down.

It placed the "cocoon" on the ground, patted it with its paw, and then used the nine-colored light on its antlers to convey a clearer message to the members.

"This thing can attract the Pterosaur."

Jiang Mo looked down at the "cocoon" wrapped in layers, then looked at Tianlu.

He didn't understand what Tianlu was saying, but he understood the look in Tianlu's eyes.

It was saying, "Use this to fight the Pterosaur."

Thus, the previous scene happened.

...

Boom—!!!

The granite was sliced open like tofu under the Gold Rank attack. Gravel flew, dust filled the air, and the entire mountain trembled.

Deep inside the crevice, Tianlu crouched on that protruding rock, its ears pricked straight up.

The Pterosaur's bone blades were still clawing outside.

One claw, two claws, three claws—each impact was like someone slamming the mountain with a thousand-pound giant hammer, shaking the gravel at the top of the crevice so that it fell in rustles.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The sound reverberated back and forth in the crevice, like a giant drum beating beside their ears, making their ears buzz and their chests tremble.

Jiang Mo leaned against the mountain wall, clutching that standard long blade in his hand, the tip of the blade resting on the ground.

His face was so smeared with dust and bloodstains that his expression was unclear, but his eyes were bright, fixed intently on the direction of the crevice entrance.

There was a grayish light there—the daylight from outside, which was growing larger bit by bit.

The Pterosaur had already dug its way in.

Not digging through, but widening.

The entrance of the crevice had originally been less than half a meter wide, so narrow that even a person had to turn sideways to squeeze in.

Now it had been forcibly gouged open by the Pterosaur's bone blades, the width increasing from half a meter to two meters.

Lei Gang crouched beside Jiang Mo, the Black Iron War Ape crouching behind him, its silver-gray fur covered in dust. His fists were clenched so tightly they creaked, his knuckles white. "How deep has it dug?"

Jiang Mo didn't answer.

He silently calculated the distance in his mind—the total length of the crevice was less than a hundred meters; they were at the deepest point, about eighty-plus meters from the entrance. The Pterosaur had started digging from the entrance and had now dug at least fifteen meters in.

Fifteen meters.

Less than twenty minutes.

At this rate, in another hour, it would be able to dig to their location.

Meanwhile.

Southern mountain hollow.

Qin Ce gritted his teeth, supporting himself on the ground with his right hand, crawling bit by bit toward Qingluan.

He crawled over gravel, over withered grass, over clods of earth overturned by shockwaves.

Finally, his hand touched Qingluan's body.

Qin Ce's fingers gently stroked Qingluan's feathers, then he pressed his whole hand onto Qingluan's body.

He closed his eyes, and the little remaining energy in his body began to circulate.

That energy surged from his Soul Talisman, flowing along his meridians to his arm, from his arm to his palm, and from his palm into Qingluan's body.

Qingluan's energy was activated; the remaining wind-type energy in its body, which was about to dissipate, surged out like ignited gunpowder.

The two energies met, collided, and merged within Qin Ce's body.

Qin Ce's body shuddered violently.

Reborn, activated.