Chapter 461: Cat and Mouse

Jiao Yu shook his head, while General Antelope leaned in for a sniff, and even gave it a lick. “Seems to be some kind of mineral.”

Hee Lingchuan glanced at him. ‘This guy really isn’t afraid of being poisoned.’

General Antelope seemed to notice his confusion and replied, “Poisons from soil, metal, and herbs aren’t very effective against us.”

‘Damn, the Wind-Drilling Beast’s innate ability is incredible.’ Hee Lingchuan used the tip of his saber to scrape away a good amount of powder.

Red… stone powder? The color was a deep, liverish red.

‘Where have I seen this before?’

He beckoned Zhao Big Mouth over. “What is this?”

Zhao Big Mouth looked just as clueless.

Finding random minerals in a den like this was perfectly normal, wasn’t it?

Hee Lingchuan then took a small vial from his robes, poured out a bit of a mixture of mud and red powder, and said to Jiao Yu, “Sniff this powder.”

Fortunately, Jiao Yu didn’t know the origin of the sample. He leaned in, sniffed carefully, and nodded. “It’s the same as the stuff you just scraped off the rock. Where did you get it?”

“Right after Fushan Yue and I entered the Chiyan Realm, we killed a sheep thief. He had this powder on him.”

Jiao Yu understood. “He’s been in this area?”

“Very likely.” Hee Lingchuan scraped more powder from the rock, collecting it. “Let’s figure out what this stuff is first when we get back.”

He felt a surge of satisfaction.

After so many days, he had finally found a usable clue.

Just then, the WHINNYING cry of the Rock Sheep traveled down through the fissure in the ground.

Having spent so much time with this Spirit Rider, Hee Lingchuan could now distinguish its emotions. He immediately detected the panic in its cry.

“Damn it, something’s wrong up there!”

The Soul-Catching Mirror automatically translated for him: “Quick, get up here! There’s something down there, right behind you!”

Hee Lingchuan felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

‘The killer knows we’re here?’

Zhao Big Mouth, of course, couldn’t hear the Soul-Catching Mirror, but he was startled all the same. “W-we have to go back! Quick!” he stammered, turning to leave.

Jiao Yu and General Antelope prepared to follow, but Hee Lingchuan shook his head. “Why take the long way around?”

Daylight was streaming down from above; they were only separated from the surface by a single fissure.

The only problem was that the fissure was very narrow, and mostly obstructed by a collapse of huge boulders.

Hee Lingchuan had prepared a large hammer for today’s excursion. He now retrieved it from his Storage Ring and gave the blockage a couple of test swings. A pile of rocks came CRASHING down, nearly burying him in dust and debris.

Zhao Big Mouth couldn’t help but say, “My lord, you can’t get out this way.”

It wasn’t that he was gloating, but…’This lord really has no common sense. Those are rocks of all sizes that have collapsed from above. If we dig from down here, we could easily be crushed to death.’

‘These pampered elites have less sense than a common quarry worker!’

Still, the space above them had at least widened a bit.

As Zhao Big Mouth spoke, Hee Lingchuan tossed a palm-sized doll at the rockfall.

With a light POP, the doll transformed into a ten-foot-tall Giant.

The Golden Armor Copper Man had made its entrance.

Of course, in this tight space, it had to stoop over, its posture identical to Hee Lingchuan’s when he first entered the den.

At its master’s command, it began digging with reckless abandon, ignoring the stones that rained down from above.

As long as the damage was superficial, it could heal quickly.

Partway through, Hee Lingchuan had to maneuver it to dodge two massive boulders that nearly smashed it in the face.

Amid a CLANG and a CRASH, the falling rocks and dust nearly painted it grayish-white, but the daylight flooding into the den suddenly intensified.

It broke through!

“Go.” Hee Lingchuan leaped, tapping his toes on the Golden Armor Copper Man’s shoulder, and shot through the large opening to the surface.

The tiger and the Wind-Drilling Beast followed suit.

Zhao Big Mouth was dumbfounded, left with no choice but to climb up carefully.

Hee Lingchuan didn’t pause after landing, sprinting toward the Rock Sheep.

He saw the Spirit Beast had found a fissure in the ground and was pawing at it furiously, as if trying to dig a hole.

But the fissure was too small for it to enter, and it bleated in frustration.

“What’s going on?”

The Soul-Catching Mirror translated: “There’s something down there. It’s probably the source of that stench.”

That was it. The last time the Rock Sheep was attacked, it had likely caught the killer’s scent as well.

Hee Lingchuan leaned in for a closer look at the fissure and saw something writhing inside. He could even see a faint, dark brown reflection.

‘Well now, so it’s here!’

Hee Lingchuan drew his great hammer, channeled his strength into his arms, and with three mighty swings—WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!—he smashed down on the spot.

Faced with such a torrential assault, the rock crust cracked on impact.

He first tossed in a bundle of Fluorescent Grass to illuminate his surroundings before jumping in himself.

Something had slithered into another den.

Hee Lingchuan lunged forward.

But the creature had already sunk into the stone floor, leaving only the very tip of its tail exposed.

General Antelope shot past him, fast as a gust of wind.

He had also spotted the tail tip. Without hesitation, he lowered his head, jabbed, and flicked upward!

The power of a Wind-Drilling Beast’s head toss was immense—enough to easily flip and throw a Giant Rhino. He did indeed manage to wrench a long section of the subterranean creature free, but its full body remained hidden.

SPLAT. The long tail landed on the ground and began twisting on its own, completely detached from the body.

It had a gecko’s ability to shed its tail to escape!

Hee Lingchuan subconsciously glanced at General Antelope.

The old goat’s charge had been absurdly fast, like a javelin hurled at a target, almost like a teleport. Combined with those sharp horns, he was truly a devastating weapon for battlefield ambushes.

This was, in fact, the Wind-Drilling Beast’s innate ability, known as “Barging.” Once it locked onto a target within eighty feet, it could reach it almost instantaneously—provided, of course, there were no obstacles in its path.

‘If this were our first fight, I’m not sure I could dodge that,’ Hee Lingchuan mused.

Demons, unlike humans, didn’t need overly complex techniques; they only had to master their innate abilities. General Antelope had already trained his “Barging” ability to the third level, meaning he could execute three consecutive charges, each one faster and more powerful than the last.

The third charge was nearly impossible to follow with the naked eye.

…

By the time the tiger Jiao Yu arrived, Hee Lingchuan and General Antelope were both observing the long, severed tail.

It was a muddy brown color, hairless, and made of pure flesh. It was still writhing on the ground.

Jiao Yu extended a paw to nudge it, then quickly pulled it back. “It’s covered in slime!”

“This just came off that thing,” Hee Lingchuan said. “It must be the tip of its tail.”

There were two holes in the tip of the tail, pierced by General Antelope’s horns.

“Why isn’t it bleeding?”

“There is, it’s just mixed in with the slime.” Hee Lingchuan said pensively, “Like when you chop an earthworm into pieces.”

“So this thing is an earthworm?”

Hee Lingchuan shook his head. “I saw a reflection through the fissure. Its surface must be hard and smooth.”

Jiao Yu looked back at their path. “There’s a trail of slime all along the ground.”

“It leaves a trail wherever it goes.”

“Slime trail, hard exterior, hairless, soft-bodied…” Jiao Yu thought for a moment, arriving at a conclusion with little effort. “Could it be a snail that’s become a Demon?”

“Sounds plausible.” Hee Lingchuan collected the trophy. “But what’s its connection to the dead sheep thief?”

No one had an answer to that question.

Hee Lingchuan traced the slime trail backward and found that the monster had been heading toward the Porcupine Demon’s den—in other words, right where they had just been.

“This thing was coming for us,” he said coldly. “It was planning to ambush us.”

But the Rock Sheep cried out, and when the creature saw its opportunity was lost, it fled.

Jiao Yu hesitated. “Is it possible it was just a coincidence?”

“Judging from Wangg Mazi’s description, this thing’s method is to ambush its prey on rainy nights, waiting for them to come to it. The night my mount was attacked, it was also pouring rain,” Hee Lingchuan mused. “But today is clear and sunny, and it’s quite dry underground here. That doesn’t fit its usual pattern. Therefore, it’s highly likely it came specifically for us.”

General Antelope sneered. “Let it come! I’ll make sure it never leaves!”

Jiao Yu said seriously, “We can’t be careless. It must have some kind of advantage to dare to come here.”

The man and the tiger leaped back to the surface. The Rock Sheep trotted over, lowering its head to gently nudge Hee Lingchuan.

“Thank you.” Hee Lingchuan stroked its large, curved horns, his gratitude genuine. “That monster was probably already lying in ambush underground, waiting for us to retrace our steps. You’re the one who foiled its plan.”

Even though Jiao Yu possessed Primordial Power, Hee Lingchuan wasn’t arrogant enough to assume they were immune to being ambushed. This monster had a string of successful attacks; it was clearly exceptional in some way. For starters, were over a hundred Porcupine Demons that easy to deal with?

If Hee Lingchuan had to face a hundred enraged Porcupine Demons by himself, without any tricks or superior numbers, he’d have no choice but to turn tail and run for his life.

He was hunting the killer, only for the killer to turn the tables and set an ambush along their return path, waiting for them to walk right into its trap using its preferred method. The thought alone was chilling.

That was a close call; they had nearly fallen for its scheme. The danger had come without any warning whatsoever.

The Rock Sheep nuzzled his hand, as if to say it was nothing.

The other Wind-Drilling Beasts had originally looked down on the Rock Sheep, considering it too weak and only fit to be a human’s mount. But now, they too came over and nudged heads with it in a gesture of thanks.

Just then, Zhao Big Mouth finally scrambled up, rushing over breathlessly. “What happened?”

“The killer was planning to ambush us.”

“What?!”

Hee Lingchuan ignored him and went to retrieve his Golden Armor Copper Man. “Lead the way. We’re returning to Youtian Town.”

…

The journey back was smooth and uneventful.

Along the way, Hee Lingchuan, Jiao Yu, and General Antelope discussed their findings.

The creature had appeared in the Porcupine Den. This meant one of two things: either that was its natural habitat, or it had come specifically to ambush the Crown Prince Envoy.

Considering the Porcupine Den was relatively dry, and a creature like that would likely prefer a dark, damp, and decaying environment, the man, the tiger, and the antelope all agreed the latter was more probable.

Which raised the next question.

How did it know they would be at the Porcupine Den today?

If it wasn’t tracking them, then someone must have leaked the Crown Prince Envoy’s itinerary.

The only people who knew Hee Lingchuan’s schedule for the day were the few individuals at last night’s banquet.

Investigating them one by one was bound to yield results.

The investigation was finally making progress. Jiao Yu grew eager, his whip-like tail thumping against the carriage walls.

Investigating a case was actually tedious work. Clues would either fail to connect or lead to dead ends. Trying to find the reason for a Flying Bird’s disappearance, in particular, was like looking for a needle in a haystack.