240: Chapter 240 Cave Exploration, Demonic Aura Assaults Us

Just as the wind stopped, that purplish-gray Demonic Qi suddenly thickened significantly.

Chen Wuwang stood at the edge of the collapsed entrance. As the gravel beneath his feet slid, he raised his hand to brace against the rock wall. His palm felt a sticky sensation—as if the moss were oozing fluid.

He didn't shake his hand off; instead, he scraped his fingertips, rubbed them together, and brought them to his nose.

"It's fishy," he said in a low voice. "It's not dead matter; it's a living secretion."

Bai Ling stood five steps behind, her hands folded and pressed against her chest, her eyelashes trembling slightly.

"It knows we've come in."

Her voice was so light, as if she were afraid of waking something up. "From the moment the probe disconnected... it has been waiting."

Chen Xiaodao had already drawn his sword.

Three inches of the blade left the scabbard, its cold light reflecting against the gloom of the cave entrance, and the tip rested lightly on a crack in the ground.

He crouched down halfway, his ear pressed close to the rock layer, his fingers tracing along the crack.

"There's a vibration," he suddenly said. "It's not a heartbeat, nor is it breathing. It's... writhing. Like intestines crawling."

Chen Wuwang nodded, his right Mechanical Prosthetic Eye automatically switching to low-frequency scan mode.

The data flickering on the screen was covered by a layer of purple mist, the signal intermittent.

He manually activated the filtering algorithm, forcibly stripping away the Demonic Qi interference, and managed to outline the interior contour of the cave—

A downward-sloping passage, about four meters wide, with the rock walls on both sides covered in egg-sac-like protrusions, and a massive, motionless heat source at the deepest point.

"There are no trap markers within thirty steps," he said. "But that doesn't mean it's safe."

"Should we retreat?" Bai Ling asked.

"No." Chen Xiaodao stood up and drew his sword completely. "Since we're already here, we can't go back empty-handed."

Chen Wuwang glanced at him, the corner of his mouth twitching. "You're still the same temperament, not afraid of death at all."

"Those who are afraid of death wouldn't have lived until now."

Chen Xiaodao took a step forward, the tip of his sword three inches off the ground, lightly grazing the rock surface. "I'll only ask one thing—is that big guy inside coming for you, or for the entire Chen family?"

"I don't know." Chen Wuwang followed. "But the place it chose is too coincidental. It's closest to the Main Peak's defensive Array Core and stuck at a turning point of the ley lines. This isn't hiding; it's setting a trap."

The three walked side by side and stepped into the cave.

Just after crossing the cave entrance, the air suddenly became heavy. Breathing became difficult, as if their lungs were filled with paste.

Chen Xiaodao let out a muffled grunt, his shoulders swaying, and immediately used his sword to brace against the ground to steady himself.

"Demonic Qi has entered my body," he gritted his teeth. "It's suppressing my Divine Sense a bit."

"Holding your breath is useless." Bai Ling closed her eyes, trailing at the back. "This is an erosion on the spiritual level; the more you resist, the easier it is to be targeted. Flow with it, but don't let it enter your heart-sea."

Chen Wuwang pressed his left hand against the hilt of his dagger, raised his right hand, and swiped in front of his eyes, turning off the automatic analysis and switching to manual targeting of the terrain ahead.

The screen of his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye constantly refreshed data, clearing the newly incoming noise every second.

"Maintain formation," he said in a low voice. "Xiao Dao in front, control the distance; Bai Ling at the rear, sweep the path behind; I'll be in the middle, overseeing the whole situation. If you discover anything unusual, call out immediately."

"Understood." Chen Xiaodao slowed his pace, the tip of his sword no longer touching the ground but suspended and pointing forward, ready to lunge at any moment.

The passage became narrower as they walked, and the egg sacs on the rock walls became denser. The layer of purplish-gray moss on the surface pulsed slightly, as if something living were breathing within them.

Chen Wuwang reached out and touched the wall; his fingertips felt warmth—completely different from the coldness outside.

"The temperature has risen by seven degrees." He withdrew his hand. "This place has been heated."

"It's not a natural temperature rise." Bai Ling suddenly spoke up. "It's a magical reflux. Some kind of ritualistic energy is circulating, like... feeding."

"Feeding what?" Chen Xiaodao didn't even turn his head.

"What do you think is in those egg sacs?" Bai Ling retorted.

No one answered.

Thirty steps ahead, the passage branched off.

The left path extended downward, the heat source signal stronger; the right path was slightly higher but covered in charred claw marks, the rock layers twisted and deformed as if torn by immense force.

"Which way?" Chen Xiaodao stopped.

Chen Wuwang stared at the image on his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye, his brows furrowed tightly.

"The left side is the main nest area, the right side... is an excretion passage or a combat exit. A normal Yao Beast would choose the right side for entry and exit, for easier escape or combat. But it hasn't moved."

"Which means it's not afraid of us coming in," Bai Ling said.

"Or," Chen Wuwang sneered, "it's dying for us to come in."

He took a step forward, stepping into the center of the fork. "I'm going left."

"I'll go right," Chen Xiaodao said immediately.

"No." Bai Ling opened her eyes. "Splitting up is suicide. This is the moment it's waiting for—to pick us off one by one."

Chen Xiaodao turned back to glare at her. "What do you know? What if the right side is its weakness? If we blow up its retreat path, it will have no choice but to fight head-on."

"Then have you ever thought," Bai Ling's voice turned cold, "that it doesn't need a retreat path at all? It's not afraid of death, nor is it afraid of being surrounded. The purpose of its existence might just be to drag us in."

The three fell silent.

The cave was so quiet that one could hear the faint sound of the moss on the surface of the egg sacs writhing.

Chen Wuwang suddenly laughed.

"Hahahaha—!"

The laughter bounced between the cave walls, startling Chen Xiaodao so much that his shoulders shuddered.

"Are you crazy?" Chen Xiaodao cursed.

"I'm not crazy." Chen Wuwang stopped laughing, but his eyes were even brighter. "I just wanted to test if it would react."

Several seconds passed, and nothing happened.

No roar, no vibration, not even the heat source deep inside fluctuated.

"It's holding back," Chen Wuwang said. "It's watching to see how far we can go."

"Then let's not disappoint it." Chen Xiaodao gripped his sword hilt tight. "We'll go left together. Drag it out of its nest."

Bai Ling closed her eyes and gathered her perception once more.

This time, she didn't perform a wide-range scan; instead, she compressed her magic into a single line, extending it forward slowly like a probe.

Her face quickly turned pale, and beads of sweat seeped from her temples.

"Within thirty steps... there are three living entities."

Her voice was weak. "Two small ones, one big one. The small ones are moving, the big one... is waiting. They aren't hiding, nor are they dodging. It's just like... they're queuing up."

"Queuing up?" Chen Xiaodao sneered. "Queuing for what? To invite us to dinner?"

"Queuing for attack order." Chen Wuwang stared into the darkness ahead. "The first is cannon fodder, the second is a probe, the third... is the killing blow."

He walked forward, his steps firm.

"Since it wants to coordinate, we'll play along with its performance."

The three reformed their formation: Chen Xiaodao in front, Bai Ling at the back, and Chen Wuwang in the middle, advancing slowly.

The closer they got to the depths, the thicker the Demonic Qi became, and the air was filled with a scent of rust mixed with rotting leaves.

The tip of Chen Xiaodao's sword began to vibrate slightly—not because his hand was shaking, but because the sword itself was resonating—some kind of synchronized killing intent was approaching.

"There's wind ahead," Chen Xiaodao suddenly said.

"Impossible." Bai Ling closed her eyes. "This place is enclosed; there are no ventilation shafts."

"But I can feel it." Chen Xiaodao narrowed his eyes. "It comes in bursts, like breathing."

Chen Wuwang immediately raised his hand, signaling to pause.

He crouched down, pulled a miniature psionic detector from his robes, pressed the switch, and placed it gently on the ground.

The detector unfolded six thin legs and crawled slowly toward a patch of shadow ten steps ahead.

The screen transmitted an image: in a depression on the rock wall, a membrane the size of a human face was slowly opening and closing—like a mouth, and also like a nostril.

"Exhaust vent," Chen Wuwang said in a low voice. "It is breathing."

"That's not it," Bai Ling's voice tightened. "That is... its skin."

The detector continued to move forward, and just as it passed three steps beyond the membrane, the image jolted violently and then went black.

"It's cut off." Chen Wuwang put away the device. "But it let us see something."

"It was intentional," Chen Xiaodao sneered. "It's showing off its power."

"No." Chen Wuwang shook his head. "It's showing off 'control'."

He stood up, his gaze piercing through the darkness.

"It's not afraid of us knowing where it is, nor is it afraid of us getting close. Because it has already calculated—what we will do in the next step, and how we will move in the next second."

"Then let's not follow its script." Chen Xiaodao flipped his wrist, his sword stance changing slightly. "I'll strike first."

"No!" Bai Ling shouted sharply. "The moment you move, it will move! The entire cave will come alive!"

"Then what do you suggest?" Chen Xiaodao glared at her.

"Wait," Chen Wuwang said calmly. "Wait for it to make the first move."

"Wait?" Chen Xiaodao widened his eyes.

"Yes." Chen Wuwang slowly raised his right hand, pressing it against the three claw marks on his left cheek, applying light pressure. "It wants us to panic, wants us to charge. The calmer we are, the more anxious it gets. Once it gets anxious, it will reveal a flaw."

The cave fell into dead silence once again.

Only that Demonic Qi kept rushing toward them in waves, like a tide, like whispers, like countless pairs of eyes opening in the darkness.

The tip of Chen Xiaodao's sword dropped three inches.

Bai Ling's hands were folded across her chest, a faint green light glowing from her fingertips, maintaining the last thread of her perception.

Chen Wuwang stood in the middle, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye constantly refreshing data, his left hand remaining pressed on the dagger hilt, his knuckles white from the force.

None of them moved.

One second.

Ten seconds.

Thirty seconds.

Suddenly, Bai Ling opened her eyes wide.

"It's moving!"