Chapter 568 - 564: Eerie Encounter in the Tunnel

Chapter 568: Chapter 564: Eerie Encounter in the Tunnel

The Hong Alliance had Yeban selecting their team, and everything was proceeding in full swing.

Profound Celestial Capital and Hong Yu remained in their tent the entire time, their eyes closed as they conserved their energy. Knowing that crisis and opportunity alike lay hidden beneath the vein, they had to maintain their peak condition.

After all, the two of them represented the pinnacle of the Hong Alliance’s power.

They could not afford any mistakes.

「Meanwhile...」

The Divine Venerable City and the City of Sorrow had gathered once again.

They had previously been unable to agree on a plan to divide the mineral vein, which led to the four factions each guarding a different direction to prevent anyone from sneaking in.

However, their camps were not far from each other.

Emperor Xiahuang Wudi’s face was swollen like a pig’s head. With most of his teeth broken, his words came out as a whistle, so he simply kept his mouth shut and said nothing.

Xiao Shilang’s face was livid. "This Hong Yu is too arrogant."

"Hmph. I’ve long said we can’t let that guy live," Long Qingfeng said viciously. "My only regret is that we failed to kill him last time. As it stands, unless the First Prince himself takes action, he’ll be truly difficult to deal with!"

Bai Luoxue, who had been sitting silently in the seat of honor, slowly opened his eyes.

His cold gaze swept over Long Qingfeng.

He was clearly displeased with what had just been said.

Bai Luoxue had always been arrogant, considering himself the only one capable of challenging the overlord status of Venerable Xiahuang and Xiahuang Shang.

But now...

Hong Yu’s meteoric rise had already surpassed him, making Hong Yu the strongest individual after Venerable Xiahuang and Xiahuang Ba.

How could he possibly endure that?

Normally, people didn’t dare compare him to Hong Yu for fear of angering Bai Luoxue.

Realizing his slip of the tongue, Long Qingfeng immediately lowered his head and fell silent.

Bai Luoxue snorted and said coolly, "Since they want to explore the Blazing Flame Pure Gold Vein together, we have no reason to refuse. However..."

A cold glint appeared in Bai Luoxue’s eyes. "If Hong Yu isn’t eliminated, he will remain a huge threat. But he is normally under the City of Dawn’s Shelter, so we can’t touch him. This expedition into the Blazing Flame Pure Gold Vein is a perfect opportunity to get rid of him once and for all!"

"You mean ally with the War Race?" As expected of their top strategist, Xiao Shilang instantly saw through Bai Luoxue’s plan.

Bai Luoxue nodded. "The War Race’s Udorong also died by his hand. My spies report that the Wu Snake Tribe is already in an uproar, eager to kill Hong Yu. I’m sure if we promise them some benefits, they won’t mind joining forces with us!"

"But don’t forget the old saying: ’Those of a different race cannot be trusted.’ The True Dragon War God himself once said the War Race are also our enemies."

Xiao Shilang frowned slightly. After some careful thought, he offered his perspective. "We may be at peace with the War Race now, but that’s only because the combined presence of the Divine Venerable City, the City of Sorrow, and the Hong Alliance deters the War Race Tribe. If we clash with the Hong Alliance and suffer any losses, the War Race will definitely not pass up the opportunity to strike."

"That’s right. That old fellow Mang Kun gives me a very sinister feeling," Long Qinfeng added.

Emperor Xiahuang Wudi nodded.

But Bai Luoxue just smiled coldly. "So what? You’ve seen the men from their major tribes. While there are a few decent experts, once the First Prince emerges from seclusion, he can sweep them all aside. The War Race Tribe will have to obediently submit!"

"The Fifth Prince is no pushover either!" Emperor Xiahuang Wudi snorted.

He was fiercely loyal to Xiahuang Shang and had to defend his master’s honor no matter what.

Bai Luoxue sneered but didn’t say anything.

The two sides then deliberated further and finally settled on the plan to ally with the War Race Tribe.

The matter was carried out in secret.

The specific terms of their cooperation remained unknown. All anyone knew was that Long Qingfeng, who had entered the War Race Tribe in disguise, returned with a smile on his face.

...

「High Noon.」

The scorching sun hung in the sky, the heat was oppressive, and all was quiet.

At the entrance to the Blazing Flame Pure Gold Vein, all four factions had dispatched their powerful experts.

Each faction sent ten experts to explore the vein, while their trusted subordinates led no fewer than a hundred men to guard the entrance.

Hong Yu had specially set up an eighteen-layer Prohibition Grand Array in the Hong Alliance’s area. It possessed defensive, offensive, and Illusion capabilities, as a precaution in case the other factions decided to attack them all at once.

With this eighteen-layer Prohibition and Yeban in command, the safety of their one hundred people was more or less guaranteed.

The other three factions had naturally made their own preparations as well.

Then, the ten chosen experts from each of the four factions stepped forward. All fighters of the Unparalleled Genius Level were among them, as no side would permit another’s strongest expert to remain outside.

For the Hong Alliance, Hong Yu and Profound Celestial Capital led the team.

Among their eight subordinates, three were experts of the Ultimate True Dragon Level, while the remaining five were slightly weaker.

The Divine Venerable City’s lineup was impressive; besides the two Unparalleled Geniuses, Bai Luoxue and Long Qingfeng, the remaining eight were all Unparalleled True Dragon masters.

From the City of Sorrow, the Unparalleled Geniuses were Emperor Xiahuang Wudi and Xiao Shilang.

Although Xiao Shilang was unassuming, no one dared to underestimate him. He was Xiahuang Shang’s top strategist and the most mysterious of his three confidants.

It was said that his methods were uncanny and unpredictable.

Even the arrogant Emperor Xiahuang Wudi deferred to him.

Besides them, the other eight members were also experts of the Ultimate True Dragon Level.

The War Race dispatched eight War General experts and two War King Powerhouses.

Hong Yu knew a little about them. The War Race experts were divided into three tiers: War Generals, comparable to geniuses of the Primordial Embryo Realm; War Kings, comparable to geniuses of the Primordial Spirit Realm; and War Emperors, comparable to existences at the Yin Yang Realm.

Furthermore, War Race experts were extremely bloodthirsty and belligerent. Even the weakest War General possessed combat strength comparable to an Unparalleled True Dragon ranked among the top one hundred.

Therefore...

When comparing the Martial Force of the four factions, the War Race was actually the strongest.

The Hong Alliance was the weakest.

But with Hong Yu leading them, no other faction dared to underestimate the Hong Alliance.

"Since everyone is ready, let’s set out," Hong Yu said calmly.

"Alright!"

Everyone nodded, and the group of forty stepped into the enormous cavern.

"VMMMM!"

The moment they entered the cavern, a howling, cold wind rushed to meet them. Inside the tunnel, the wind shrieked like the crying of cranes, emitting a mournful "WOOOO" that sounded like the wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves, sending a chill to their very core.

"This tunnel is a good fifty kilometers long," Profound Celestial Capital explained. "One of the Hong Alliance’s experts stumbled upon the entrance while searching for medicinal herbs. He walked for over fifty kilometers before finally discovering the vein!"

Walking through the damp tunnel was uncomfortable for his large frame, and he scratched himself from time to time.

Hong Yu nodded, surveying their surroundings.

The tunnel seemed to be a natural formation and was quite wide, broad enough for ten adults to walk abreast without feeling crowded. However, the cave was damp and dark. Even for powerful cultivators like Hong Yu and the others, whose eyesight was extraordinary, their vision was still blurry.

"Everyone, be careful. There are many strange things underground; we don’t know if some monster might suddenly appear," Hong Yu warned.

As he walked through the tunnel, he couldn’t shake a feeling of unease.

"Tch, what a coward!"

Someone sneered in the darkness.

They seemed to think that in the Darkness, Hong Yu wouldn’t be able to find them.

But the words had barely left his lips when a black shadow flashed before his eyes, accompanied by a gust of wind.

"What was that?"

The man was terrified and tried to retreat, but it was too late.

"BAM!"

An Iron Fist slammed viciously into his chest, shattering more than half of his sternum. The impact directly ruptured his heart and lungs. He sprayed a mouthful of blood as his body smashed against the rock wall, dead beyond a doubt.

In the gloom, a faint cyan glow emanated from Hong Yu’s body.

He scanned the astonished crowd with a cold, indifferent expression and said coolly, "We agreed to cooperate. Don’t try any more petty tricks."

"Isn’t that too ruthless? You’re going to kill him just because he called you a coward?"

Someone from the Divine Venerable City erupted in anger.

He thought Hong Yu’s methods were too vicious.

The man who died was, after all, an expert from the Divine Venerable City.

Hong Yu merely sneered and continued walking.

The man was about to say more but was stopped by another expert, who whispered, "Didn’t you notice that none of the leaders said a word? They’re clearly giving tacit approval for what Hong Yu just did. We should just shut up and be careful what we say, lest disaster follows!"

"Uh... fine."

The man was resentful, but there was nothing he could do.

The group continued onward.

They failed to notice that not long after they had left, strands of shadow as thin as hair crept out from the rock wall behind the dead expert and slowly crawled onto his body.

In the blink of an eye, the expert’s body completely shriveled. A gust of wind blew, and he disintegrated into a pile of fine dust.

The hair-like shadow, however, had grown slightly thicker.

It raised a small head as sharp as a steel needle, swaying it left and right in the air before locking onto the direction Hong Yu and his group had taken. Then, it slowly crawled after them.

"This damned place is so damp, it’s making me unbearably itchy!" someone suddenly grumbled.

"Anan, you’re not having a syphilis flare-up, are you?"

"Hahaha, serves you right for fooling around all the time!"

The crowd jeered.

The man named Anan retorted unhappily, "Piss off! I’m always very careful when I do ’that sort of thing’."

The group bantered for a moment and thought nothing more of it.

A little while later...

"Huh? Where did Anan go?" someone suddenly cried out in alarm.

"What?"

Hong Yu and the others were all stunned.

"Everyone, be careful. Don’t spread out," Hong Yu said.

A ball of cyan light then appeared in his palm. Everyone had been trying to conserve their strength, preferring to walk in the dark rather than expend energy on illumination.

As for torches?

In an environment like this underground tunnel, a flame wouldn’t even stay lit!

"Anan was right beside you. Did none of you notice anything unusual?" Xiao Shilang asked in a grave tone.

Anan was an expert from the City of Sorrow. For him to vanish so suddenly made Xiao Shilang’s expression turn ugly.

"No. He just said he was unbearably itchy, but we didn’t think anything of it."

"He was talking to me just a moment ago. Then he went quiet. I just thought he was busy scratching and didn’t pay it any mind. When I turned back, he was gone."

Under the cyan light, the man’s face was pale.

The fact that someone could vanish so bizarrely, without any of the powerful experts present even noticing, was utterly terrifying.

"Could this place be haunted?" someone asked nervously.

"Nonsense! Ghosts are just Lost Souls. Unless one has a Primordial Spirit, they can’t survive long in the physical world. How could a ghost be haunting us?" Xiao Shilang snapped, glaring.

No one dared to speak further.

But a shadow had already been cast over their hearts.

Hong Yu remained expressionless, but he was secretly observing everyone with his Spiritual Power. He noticed one of the War Race experts wore a strange, cold smile.

But when Mang Kun glanced over, the man quickly wiped the expression from his face, adopting a bewildered look.

’Do they know something?’ Hong Yu thought, frowning.

"Should we go back and look?" Profound Celestial Capital asked.

Hong Yu shook his head. "This is too strange. I doubt we’d find any clues even if we went back. From now on, nobody hold back."

Everyone understood he was referring to them conserving their energy.

They immediately summoned their Primordial Gang, which began to emit a radiant light.

However, after the group had advanced another few dozen meters, someone else suddenly disappeared.

At that moment, an endless panic filled everyone’s hearts.

But they did not know that a great terror was silently approaching from the shadows...