Chapter 1: When the father suffers humiliation, the son will surely avenge him

  At this moment, a shocking scene suddenly appeared. A yellowish-brown creature resembling a giant snake suddenly popped up from the thick leaves in front of me, its huge mouth open revealing several ferocious teeth, instantly biting down on the strange bird. The dense and sharp claws, like sickles, quickly tore it to shreds, and after a moment, swallowed it whole.

  After swallowing the strange bird, this terrifying monster with a body color similar to dry leaves slowly subsided, its body shook violently, and after restoring the place to its original state, it fell into silence again.

  Xiao Chen and the others exchanged a glance, swallowed their saliva in unison, and saw the color of fear in each other's hearts. If they had walked past just now, thinking about the consequences, several people couldn't help but feel a chill on the back of their heads.

  Just now, although the speed of the multi-legged monster was extremely fast, Xiao Chen still saw its appearance clearly. Its body length exceeded 10 zhang, with a uniform brown-yellow color, and its abdomen had countless fine legs that shone with sharp light like sickles, about three feet long, all over a dark blue color, at a glance it was clear that it possessed extreme toxicity.

  Thinking of the demon beast's speed when it pounced on the strange bird earlier, Xiao Chen's heart trembled and he knew that he had no chance of survival.

  Seeing the gaze of the crowd, Chu Kuang forced himself to remain calm and said: "This demon beast is extremely fast, highly toxic, and has a very strong strength. However, it was born with insufficient five senses, and can only rely on hearing to judge the target of prey, so as long as we don't make any noise, it won't detect us. Moreover, this creature is not highly intelligent, and after each meal is enough, it will leave this place and return to its den to hibernate, and we can take advantage of that time to pass through here."

  Everyone nodded at his words, Xiao Chen's eyes flashed, but he didn't speak.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, two hours later, the terrifying monster savagely devoured two other monsters that had mistakenly entered its territory, and then moved its massive body away into the distance. Only after making sure it was gone did Xiao Chen and the others cautiously make their way over.

  Later on the road, they would occasionally encounter some terrifying monsters, but under Chu Kuang's leadership, everyone managed to pass through safely. There was only one time when passing through the territory of a three-striped cracked flower leopard, Di Qiu encountered some minor problems, fortunately, the injury was not too serious, and finally escaped from the pursuit of the three-striped cracked flower leopard.

  "Alright, we're finally here. This is the entrance to that ancient hermit's cave." Looking at the unimpressive stone cave in front of him, Chu Kuang's face showed a few shades of relief. Xiao Chen watched with a thoughtful expression on his face.

  Di Qiu and Di Shuai, the two brothers, had a look of celebration on their faces, apparently unaware of this point. As for Wu Wanli, he didn't say a word and followed behind Chu Kuang, making it impossible to tell what was going through his mind.

  "Chu Kuang, you little brother, this road is so dangerous, why didn't you tell us in advance? I almost lost my life just now." Di Qiu's face was gloomy, the wound on his left arm had been bandaged, but blood was still seeping out. If he hadn't reacted quickly enough earlier, he would have become the three-striped leopard's prey by now.

  Chu Kuang's face also turned gloomy, and he said coldly: "Although this road is fraught with danger, as long as you do what I say, there will be no risk. The three-striped cracked flower leopard was startled earlier because of your greed for the fallen spiritual instrument, which was a self-inflicted wound, so how can you blame me? I'm telling you, the further back we go, the greater the danger, and if you don't listen to my command, you will eventually lose your life!"

  "You..." Di Qiu's face turned bright red, with a flash of mixed shame and anger in her eyes. "I'm leaving immediately, Di Shuai, are you coming with me or staying here?"

  "Leave this place without me as your guide and you won't be able to get out of here, or else you'll become a monster's meal." Chu Kuang said calmly with an indifferent expression.

  Di Qiu's face suddenly turned pale, and his momentum unconsciously weakened. Xiao Chen's expression also changed, his eyes coldly staring at Chu Kuang.

  "Heh heh, fellow Taoist friends, what's going on here? We've finally made it this far and haven't even seen the treasure yet, but instead we're already infighting. Alright, let's all take a step back, and continue cooperating to explore this ancient cultivator's cave." Wu Wanli suddenly spoke up with a smile, giving both sides an opportunity to retreat.

  Di Shuai held back his brother and whispered something in his ear. The two of them finally put aside their argument for the time being.

  Chu Kuang knew he had misspoken, so he bowed his hands to Xiao Chen and said: "Brother Liu Yun, please don't mind, I have no ill intentions in my heart. Today I came here just to find treasure, once the treasure is in hand, we will naturally leave this place together."

  Xiao Chen did not confirm or deny it, and the cold intent in his eyes gradually dissipated. He said lightly, "It's best if things are as you say."

  On the surface, the five of them seemed to have reconciled, with Chu Kuang leading the way in front, followed by Wu Wanli and the Di brothers, while Xiao Chen trailed behind. However, what each person was thinking in their heart remained unknown.

  Inside the cave, it was pitch black, but fortunately everyone had prepared beforehand and each held a moonstone in their hand, advancing slowly in the darkness. After walking about a hundred or so yards, what appeared before everyone's eyes was a slightly spacious cavern with seven dark passageways leading to unknown destinations.

  "Of these seven channels, only one is correct. When I first came to this place, I had to grope around for dozens of times, and nearly lost my life several times before finding the entrance to the next place. However, after passing through here, we will have to rely on ourselves to slowly explore further." Chu Kuangyan said, striding towards one of the cave entrances, while Xiao Chen and others hastily followed behind him.

  Nothing unusual happened along the way, and the five of them arrived safely at a large hall that was over ten zhang in size. The hall was empty, with three blood-red doors on the opposite wall emitting a faint bloody glow, but it was unknown where they led to. However, the ground was covered with shattered bones, as if someone had forcibly crushed them into powder.

  "This hall is the deepest place I've entered, and according to my guess, only one of these three doors should be safe. If I choose the wrong door, I'm afraid I'll end up like the white bones on the ground." Chu Kuang said cautiously.

  Xiao Chen nodded, and his spiritual energy flowed to his eyes, instantly enhancing his vision in the darkness. He clearly saw the slightly blurry text on the door, which was twisted and curved like a tadpole, mixed with the natural world, exactly the same as the strange tadpole script that appeared on the golden seal.

  Die! Cut off! Absolutely!

  Three blood-colored runes seemed to be emitting some kind of eerie power, and Xiao Chen merely took a glance, yet somehow a violent and brutal aura arose in his heart, wanting to destroy everything he saw.

  Xiao Chen suddenly closed his eyes and silently recited the "Hunyuan Divine Classics", half a breath later, he finally calmed down the negative thoughts in his heart.

  "Liuyun Daoist friend, what has happened?" Chu Kuang and others asked with slightly tense faces.

  They only felt the sudden explosion of murderous aura from Xiao Chen's body, but they didn't know what it was for.

  "Beware of the three characters on that door, don't go and look, it can affect your mind." Xiao Chen said in a low voice, if he hadn't cultivated the "Hunyuan Divine Scripture" his divine sense far surpassed that of his peers, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to get through this crisis so easily. The many white bones on this ground were probably all driven mad and killed by the strange power of the talismans.

  "These three gates are respectively written with the words 'death', 'cut off' and 'extinction'. I don't know which one to choose."

  "A dead end, since there's a dead word, it means this road is impassable. Let's rule it out first and we're left with two options: dead road or absolute road. As the saying goes, 'place oneself in death ground and then live', I think we should take the dead road, what do you say?" Chu Kuang said calmly, his eyes shining brightly.

  "The...". The Di brothers were clearly hesitant and didn't know how to choose.

  Wu Wanli still didn't say a word, apart from earlier when he eased the tension between the two sides, he hadn't spoken another sentence.

  Xiao Chen looked at Chu Kuang with a flicker in his eyes, but he was hidden under the black robe, and wasn't afraid of being seen.

  "Since Chu Kuang Dao friend is so confident, then let's take a detour and walk on the road of death."

  "Alright." The Di brothers nodded in agreement.

  Chu Kuang's eyes gleamed with a hint of joy deep within, although he hid it extremely well, but couldn't escape Xiao Chen's gaze. At this moment, his heart grew even more cautious.

  Crack! Crack!

  The crowd moved slowly along the hall, and as they stepped on the bones, a chilling cracking sound was emitted. Chu Kuang led the way, waving his hand to cast a spell, and the tightly closed door of the dead end suddenly opened silently.

  What appeared before everyone was a raised walkway, on which were placed night pearls and glowing stones, forming a striking contrast with the dark hallway.

  No spells or traps came forth to bar their way, and with a slight sense of relief, the crowd stepped inside.

  Inside the tunnel was eerily quiet, but after walking forward for a distance, a half-decomposed corpse appeared before everyone.

  This skeleton was cut off at the waist, maintaining a posture of crawling outward. On the ground behind it, there were shallow finger marks left one after another, which were actually carved on the ground with his fingertips. It was clear that he wanted to escape from this place. The crowd looked up and saw that the finger marks continued for at least hundreds of meters. This person could persist for so long under such injuries, and his cultivation must be extremely high. He was probably at least a foundation-building cultivator.

  Next to the skeleton lay a broken sword, Chu Kuang picked it up and said after a moment: "A spiritual artifact, and its grade is not low, this person was at least a mid-stage foundation building cultivator."

  The sudden appearance of a half-exposed skeleton cast a gloomy shadow over everyone's hearts, and the atmosphere on the road ahead became noticeably more oppressive.

  Another 200 meters ahead, another half skeleton appeared. This half skeleton is below the waist, apparently a whole with the first one. But what's most chilling is the dense pit marks in the tunnel at this point, which obviously experienced an extremely intense struggle.

  The crowd's hearts grew heavier, and they continued on their way. After passing dozens of meters, two stone carvings appeared on both sides of the path. The stone carvings were stone armored warriors holding giant swords, with slight damage from years of erosion, standing at a height of over ten feet, with fierce facial expressions and empty eyes that sent chills down people's spines. Several people carefully examined them, but didn't notice anything unusual before stopping.

  Hundreds of meters later, the number of skeletons left on the road increased, and the signs of struggle became more obvious. The carvings on both sides of the path also became denser, changing from stone armor guards to silver armor guards now, but no one knew what it meant. However, what made everyone's hair stand on end was that they still hadn't found the murderer who killed these people, and except for some broken stones on the ground, there were no clues left behind.