142: Chapter 141 The Ragged Robe Ran Away! The Bamboo Army Arrives
The black mass was grazed by the light sword, let out a shriek, and shrank into a ball.
It shrank from three meters tall to the size of a washbasin, then from the size of a washbasin to the size of a basketball, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
It floated in mid-air, trembling all over, emitting black smoke, like a freshly roasted sweet potato.
"You... what kind of light is this?!" Its voice was no longer hoarse and deep; it became sharp, like a chicken with its neck squeezed.
Lin Feng looked at it and raised his dragon slaying sword.
The golden patterns on the sword were still glowing, exactly like the light of the light sword from just now.
"Light. You don't recognize it?"
The black mass floated back another meter.
It was scared.
Lin Feng could feel it trembling, retreating, and debating whether to run.
"Light Element... How can you be Light Element?" It muttered to itself, its voice sharp and thin.
"Radiant Corona... You have the Radiance Sun Crown Physique? Impossible... How could someone with the Radiance Sun Crown Physique come to a place like this? How could they enter my Immortal Cave?"
Lin Feng took a step forward.
The black mass retreated another meter.
It stopped trembling and stopped muttering.
It just floated there in mid-air, like a solidified blob of ink.
Lin Feng looked at it, waiting for it to speak.
He waited for several seconds, but it didn't speak.
It just floated there, motionless.
Then, it moved.
It didn't float towards him; it drilled downwards into the ground.
Its speed was astonishing, like a drop of water falling into sand, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Lin Feng rushed forward and thrust his sword into the ground.
"Trying to run?!"
The sword blade plunged into the sand and soil, half a foot deep.
There was nothing.
The black mass had already drilled underground, to an unknown depth.
Lin Feng pulled out his sword and squatted down to look at the ground.
The ground was grayish-white sand and soil, cracked and parched.
There was nothing in the crack left by the sword blade.
No black smoke, no traces, as if nothing had happened.
He stood up and looked around.
The desert was still the same desert, dusty and lifeless.
The withered tree was still there, its branches reaching towards the sky like a dry hand.
The scattered bones were still there, skull, ribs, spine, and limbs, strewn across the ground.
The rusty sword was still there, its blade and hilt fused together.
Lin Feng walked to the withered tree and looked at the scattered bones.
The skull faced him, its two dark eye sockets seeming to stare at him.
He squatted down and looked at the skull.
The skull was grayish-white, with fine cracks on its surface, like weathered stone.
He watched for a few seconds, then stood up.
That black mass claimed to be the owner of this place, having lived for a hundred thousand years.
A hundred thousand years ago, there was something like this?
He didn't believe it.
That thing spoke incoherently, sometimes saying it was the owner here, sometimes saying it wanted to borrow his body for reconstruction, and sometimes calling him useless.
Would an ancient mighty figure speak like that?
Would an ancient mighty figure be scared into drilling underground by a single sword strike?
He shook his head and turned to leave.
The ground beneath his feet suddenly vibrated.
Very lightly, as if someone had pushed it from below.
He stopped and looked down at the ground.
The ground was still, grayish-white sand and soil, cracked and parched.
He waited for a few seconds; there was no second vibration.
He took a step, ready to go.
The ground cracked open.
It wasn't the crack he had made with his sword earlier, but a new one.
Half a meter in front of his feet, a fissure suddenly opened.
The crack was a finger-width wide, winding and extending in both directions.
From the crack, a wisp of black smoke emerged.
The black smoke was very thick and viscous, like ink, like asphalt, like solidified blood.
The black smoke emerged from the crack, more and more, faster and faster, instantly gathering into a ball and floating in mid-air.
It wasn't the black mass from before; it was much smaller, only fist-sized.
But the aura it emitted was exactly the same as the previous thing.
Lin Feng gripped his dragon slaying sword and stared at the black smoke.
The black smoke floated, slowly rotating.
Then, it burst open.
Not an explosion, but a dispersion, like a flower blooming.
The black smoke scattered into countless fine threads, shooting in all directions and plunging into the ground.
The ground began to vibrate, not once, but continuously.
Rumbling, rumbling, as if something was turning over underground.
Cracks spread from under Lin Feng's feet, extending outwards.
One, two, four, eight, more and more, denser and denser, like a spiderweb, like cracked patterns, like patterns on a dry riverbed.
From those cracks, countless wisps of black smoke emerged.
Wisp after wisp, plume after plume, column after column, dense and overwhelming.
The black smoke rose into mid-air, gathering into balls, like dark clouds, like thick fog, like black cotton candy.
Then, the black smoke began to descend, not floating down, but smashing down, like black cannonballs, hitting the ground.
The ground exploded.
Not cracked, but exploded.
With a bang,gravel and sand flew up, like a fountain, like a volcanic eruption.
From the exploded spot, something emerged.
It was a bamboo.
No, not an ordinary bamboo.
It was three meters tall, as thick as an arm, entirely black, as if irrigated with ink.
The bamboo nodes were very dense, segment by segment, like compressed springs.
The bamboo leaves were dark red, like dried blood, with edges as sharp as blades.
Most eerily, black smoke emanated from the bamboo's surface, wisp by wisp, seeping from the gaps in the nodes, as if it were sweating, as if it were breathing.
Lin Feng stared at the bamboo, a bad premonition rising in his heart.
One bamboo wasn't scary, but there were dozens of cracks and dozens of black smoke masses.
If each mass of black smoke turned into a bamboo...
The ground exploded again.
The second bamboo emerged, identical to the first, three meters tall, arm-thick, entirely black, emitting black smoke.
Then came the third, fourth, fifth...
More and more cracks appeared, and more and more bamboos emerged, in the blink of an eye, dozens, hundreds of them drilled out.
They formed a circle, surrounding Lin Feng.
The bamboos were growing, not in place, but towards him.
Those bamboos emerged from the ground, bent down, and reached out towards him.
The bamboo tips were sharp, like spears, like arrows, like the tongues of venomous snakes.
The bamboo leaves trembled, making a rustling sound, as if whispering, as if mocking.
Lin Feng gripped his dragon slaying sword and looked at the bamboos.
He couldn't count how many there were; too many, dense and overwhelming, like a black bamboo forest.
The bamboos surged towards him from all directions, their tips aimed at him, their leaves spread open like mouths waiting for prey.
[Nether Bamboo - Restriction Puppet (elite) ×N]
[Rank: 45]
[health points: 80,000-100,000]
[attack power: 4000-5000 (piercing + corrosive)]
[Skills: Pierce, Entangle, Poison Mist, Self-Destruct]
[Description: A Puppet nurtured by an ancient Restriction, condensed from Nether Force. Numerous, fearless of death, skilled in group encirclement. The bamboo body is hard, difficult to cut with ordinary swords, but fears Fire Element and Light Element attacks.]
Lin Feng scanned the attributes and felt a sense of certainty.
Afraid of fire, afraid of light.
What he lacked least was fire and light.
Those bamboos didn't care what he was thinking.
They moved simultaneously, like a pack of hungry wolves, pouncing on Lin Feng.
Bamboo tips thrust out with astonishing speed; dozens of tips pierced from different directions, blocking all his escape routes.
Lin Feng did not retreat.
He raised his left hand, and crimson flames gathered in his palm.
"Firestorm!"
Boom—
A sea of fire spread outwards from him, the crimson flames engulfing the nearest dozen bamboos.
The bamboos, scorched by the flames, hissed, like someone screaming in agony.
Black smoke billowed from the bamboos, thicker and more viscous, but the sea of fire did not recede; the flames burned, roasted, and devoured.
The bamboos twisted, deformed, and contracted in the flames, then exploded.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
One after another, like firecrackers, like landmines.
Bamboo fragments scattered everywhere, black smoke filled the air, and the smell of charring and an indescribable stench permeated the atmosphere.
[Killed Nether Bamboo ×17, experience points +136000]
Lin Feng withdrew his hand, looking at the remaining bamboos.
They didn't retreat, didn't show fear, like emotionless machines, they continued to surge towards him.
This time, it wasn't a stab, but an Entangle.
The bamboos bent down, their tips intertwining to form a net.
The net was huge, covering the sky and earth, descending upon him.
Lin Feng looked up at the net.
He didn't dodge, raising his right hand, golden light gathering in his palm.
"Judgment of Light!"
A golden light sword condensed above his head and struck the net.
The light sword slashed through, and the net tore apart like paper.
The bamboos struck by the light sword broke into two halves, fell from mid-air, bounced a few times on the ground, and then stopped moving.
Black smoke billowed from the severed ends, hissing.
[Killed Nether Bamboo ×9, experience points +72000]
Lin Feng landed, catching his breath.
He looked around; the bamboo forest was still there, dense and endless.
With those two moves, he had killed fewer than thirty bamboos; there were still hundreds left.
The bamboos were no longer in a hurry to attack; they circled him slowly, like a pack of wolves hunting prey.
They were looking for his weakness.
Lin Feng took a deep breath and sheathed his dragon slaying sword at his waist.
He raised both hands, left hand with flames, right hand with golden light.
"Since you want to play, let's play big."
He brought his hands together in front of his chest, and the flames and golden light began to fuse.
Crimson and gold intertwined, like two snakes coiling, like two rivers merging, like two lightning bolts colliding.
Those bamboos sensed danger.
They stopped circling, stopped probing.
They pounced simultaneously, hundreds of bamboos, from all directions, like a tide, like a downpour, like a locust plague.
Lin Feng didn't look at them.
He just stared at the ball of light in his palm.
The flames and golden light had fused, becoming a golden-red orb of light, fist-sized, with flickering flames and flashing electric arcs on its surface.
He pushed the orb of light out.
"Light-Fire Burst Bomb."
The orb flew out, very slowly, like a falling leaf.
But along its path, the air burned, the ground melted, and the bamboos blocking its way vaporized the instant they were touched.
Not exploding, not burning away, but directly turning into gas, leaving no ash behind.
The orb flew to the center of the bamboo forest and stopped.
Then, it exploded.
Boom—!
A deafening roar, earth-shattering.
Golden-red light illuminated the entire desert.
The shockwave spread outwards, uprooting the bamboos, tearing them to shreds, and burning them to ashes.
The fragments danced in the air, like snowflakes, like butterflies, like dead stars.
Lin Feng stood still, looking at the light.
His hair was blown back, his clothes flapped wildly, but he didn't move.
He stood there, like a rooted tree.
The light lasted for about five seconds, then dimmed.
The desert returned to calm.
There was no bamboo forest, not a single one.
Only a large pit remained on the ground, at least five meters deep, its bottom sand burned into glass, sparkling brightly, standing out in the dusty desert.
[Killed Nether Bamboo ×127, experience points +1016000]
[Rank Up! Level 49!]
A golden light flashed, and a warm current surged through his body.
Lin Feng opened his attribute panel.
[Rank: 49. spirit: 2020. Spell Attack: 10100. health points: 2.47 million. mana: 2.31 million. Source of Life: Recovers 49,400 per second.]
He closed the panel, looking at the large pit.
Aside from the glassy sand, there was nothing in the pit.
That black mass, who knew where it had gone.
He waited for a few seconds; there was no movement in the pit.
He waited a few more seconds; still nothing.
He turned around, ready to leave.
"Do you think you've won?"
The voice sounded again.
It wasn't coming from the pit, but from all directions, like the wind, like the sand, like the air itself was speaking.
Lin Feng stopped, looking around.
The desert was empty; no bamboos, no withered trees, no bones, even the rusty sword was gone.
Only the dusty ground, the dusty sky, and the dusty wind.
"You can't defeat me." The voice sounded again, closer this time.
"This is my territory, my Immortal Cave. Every grain of sand, every stone, every wisp of wind here is mine. What do you have to fight me with?"
Lin Feng didn't speak.
He just stood there, listening.
The voice thought he was scared and became smug again.
"It's still not too late to regret. Give me your body, and I'll spare your life. I can pretend that what just happened never occurred. How about it?"
Lin Feng smiled.
"You talk too much nonsense."
The voice paused. "What did you say?"
Lin Feng drew his dragon slaying sword. "I said you talk too much nonsense."
He raised his sword, and the golden patterns on the blade began to glow.
"If you want to fight, fight. If you want to run, run. Why are you so wishy-washy? Isn't it annoying?"
The voice trembled with anger, and the entire desert shook.
The ground vibrated, the sand jumped, and the wind howled.
"You're courting death!" The voice shrieked, like a whistle, like a siren, like someone screaming in his ear.
"Since you want to die, I'll grant your wish!"
The ground cracked open.
Not the small cracks from before, but large fissures, one meter wide, a hundred meters long, and bottomless.
From the cracks, countless black smoke surged, ten times more, ten times denser, ten times thicker than before.
The black smoke gathered together, forming a gigantic, black, constantly writhing ball.
The ball was huge, at least ten meters in diameter, floating in mid-air, like a black sun.
The ball expanded, contracted, expanded, contracted, like a beating heart.
With each beat, it grew larger; with each beat, it grew brighter.
Not brighter, but blacker, a shining black, a dazzling black.
Lin Feng stared at the ball, gripping his dragon slaying sword.
He knew that this thing was more powerful than all the previous bamboos combined.
The ball stopped.
No longer beating, no longer moving, it just floated there.
Then, it exploded.
It didn't shatter into fragments, but transformed into countless black tentacles, surging towards him.
The tentacles were overwhelming, like a tsunami, like an avalanche, like the entire sky collapsing.
Lin Feng took a deep breath and raised his dragon slaying sword.
"Come!"