Chapter 159 - The Tide of Beasts
“What bad luck! A tide of beasts!” Shi Mu was started as he quickly scanned the environment. At his left side was a high mountain sloping sharply into the sky. His eyes turned gold again, shining briefly, before he turned decidedly to seek shelter in the mountain.
The beasts would not let go of their prey easily, of course. They followed Shi Mu in the new direction like torrential waves rolling to sabotage a solitary boat in the sea.
Something swished through the air and ear-splitting noises reverberated. Twenty to thirty grey foxes pounced upon Shi Mu like sharp arrows from all directions; their claws thrusted out at Shi Mu, glinting coldly. Without slowing down his pace, Shi Mu brandished his black blade and among the glow of red flames the blade, spiralled like a giant red viper. For a period of time, anguished cries were heard from all around, and mutilated bodies piled all over the place.
Therefore, in the face of danger, Shi Mu took his courage in both hands and carved a way out, leaving blood all the way as he rushed to the mountain. With the extra help of the Body-Lifting Charm, he soon outran the foxes and dropped them far behind.
However, though disadvantaged in speed, the foxes kept increasing in number. By the time Shi Mu reached the foot of the mountain, at least five hundred foxes had gathered behind him like a mighty torrent in hot pursuit.
While being enveloped by the green light of the charm, Shi Mu found his body being supremely lightweight and supple, enabling him to move up the cliff and arrived at a terrace near the top in a short time. Standing there, he caught sight of a dim cave a short distance ahead, giving him a reason to relax a bit. The narrow opening of the cave - at most three meters in width - would at best, allow two or three people to come through at one time.
Within the time of a few breaths, Shi Mu had reached the cave. Without the slightest hesitation, he flashed into it, not being surprised when he saw that the interior view conformed exactly to what he had already seen on the foot of the mountain with his outstanding eyesight.
The cave turned out to have a sealed space, about thirty meters in length, and was much wider inside. Aside from a boulder that was slightly taller than himself at the entrance, there was nothing more except for some rubble scattered freely on the floor in the cave. The whole place felt cold and empty.
Without a warning, Shi Mu turned around to face the entrance. In the next second, he put his hands on the boulder and gave it a full-strength push with his real qi surging torrentially in his body.
Boom! A huge noise resounded in the cave as the boulder half-closed the entrance, now allowing only one person in. Whiz! Suddenly, a grey shape flitted up, and Shi Mu swung his black blade unhesitatingly to hack the coming fox into halves as it leaped into midair. Before its blood and insides scattered down, three more grey shapes sprang up and made their attack, baring fangs and brandishing claws.
Shi Mu his real qi once more and caused thirteen black shadows emerged in the air, blocking the narrow opening completely. Next, the three grey shapes were chopped to pieces amid the glint and flash of the black blade.
However, these creatures took up the positions of the fallen and rose to fight one after another, quite undaunted; their blood-thirsty eyes glowed red. Fortunately, the narrowness of the opening kept most of the beasts howling outside of the cave, and each time at most, three or four foxes could force their way in, greatly relieving Shi Mu’s burden.
Inside the cave, Shi Mu dared not to relax his vigilance for a single moment and constantly adjusted and guided his real qi. Meanwhile, he had found a stable tempo of fighting the beasts, wielding his blade methodically. According to shaman Yanya’s teaching, this tide of beasts must have been caused by the blood fog, and would usually last from several hours to a day, a period of when one had to do everything he could to come through.
Suddenly, sounds of fierce fighting were heard not far outside the cave. Shi Mu looked in the direction of the sounds with much interest and curiosity and found two figures in a fierce battle with the foxes, fighting their way to the cave. One of them was the black-amoured sea guy with fishtail and scales whereas the other was the blue-dressed holy girl. In her hand was a piece of coral about thirty centimeter in length. Both of them were covered by a sheen of blue light.
Among the foxes that they were fighting with were over ten powerful porcupines, of which the strongest had obviously reached the late stage of Houtian level. The porcupines paused now and then during their pursuit of the two sea dwellers to shake their body to shoot a storm of countless quills towards the two.
Nevertheless, every time the bombardment of quills came, it was easily repelled by the black-armoured sea guy whose blue trident wheeled like a windmill amid dazzling shadows that overlaid each other. Thus the blue-dressed girl was perfectly protected. Even though some quills escaped from the net of trident shadows, the blue light screen around the sea guy’s armour would always defend against them. After a regular interval, the sheen of the screen would fade and then the blue-dressed girl would raise her left hand gently to release a blue water bubble from the coral, immediately being absorbed by the sea guy’s armour. Hence, the sheen would be renewed. In observing this process, Shi Mu also found that this blue sheen could also magically keep the blood fog out.
Just as the two sea dwellers were within a hundred meters from the cave, all of the porcupines suddenly stopped in unison and began to shake their bodies. Countless quills shot up towards the two like heavy raindrops.
The black-armoured guy let out an angry shout, and then the trident in his hand suddenly glared. The next moment, myriad trident shadows formed a blue screen as a shield against the quills which clashed as they hit the screen. The quills then evidently lost their momentum, falling down to the ground as the black-armoured guy also slackened his movement.
As it turned out, the large number of foxes had seized the moment to launch a raid, springing up and pouncing down upon the two onto their backs. Though the trident, a superb weapon, could manage to ward off the foxes, its wielder was certainly approaching his limits. His face was furrowed with anxiety, and the physical exertion had made him pant for breath.
At this critical moment, the coral in the girl’s hand suddenly shone brightly and glowing rays shined in all directions. Gradually, the colorful rays joined into a ribbon. In a flash, the rays reached the biggest one of the porcupines.
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