Translator: CinderTL
A surge of blood-colored evil spirit gushed from Xue Cangqiong's mouth.
As the evil spirit churned, it transformed into a ten-zhang-long blood tiger, pouncing towards the Three-Corpse Dog.
The middle head of the Three-Corpse Dog opened its mouth and spat out a bolt of lightning.
"Boom!" A deafening explosion rang out.
The lightning struck the blood tiger.
The might of the lightning was overwhelming, like a red-hot iron piercing through snow, effortlessly penetrating the massive body of the blood tiger.
In an instant, the evil spirit on the blood tiger surged and dissipated.
The blood tiger's form also became blurry, its ferocity greatly diminished.
Seizing the opportunity, the Three-Corpse Dog pounced on the blood tiger.
The blood tiger, unable to fight back, was completely penetrated by the Three-Corpse Dog.
The blood tiger instantly disintegrated, turning into a cloud of blood-colored evil spirit that drifted in the air.
The Three-Corpse Dog, its momentum undiminished, continued to charge towards Xue Cangqiong.
Suddenly, ghost energy filled the air, and a late-stage fourth-rank Ghost Emperor appeared.
The Ghost Emperor stood three zhang tall, holding a massive executioner's blade in its hand.
The blade was raised high, and with a howl of ghost energy, it slashed down towards the Three-Corpse Dog.
The middle head of the Three-Corpse Dog spat out another bolt of lightning.
The Ghost Emperor's blade fell, striking the lightning.
"Boom!"
The blade shattered, turning into a torrent of ghost energy.
The Ghost Emperor, using the force of the recoil, swiftly retreated, narrowly avoiding the greatly weakened lightning.
"This puppet can summon lightning, which greatly counters our methods. We can't fight it head-on," Gui Ni said.
Xue Cangqiong glanced at the corridor where Song Wen and Xue Mei had fled.
"Lure it towards Yin Shuo and Xue Mei."
After saying this, Xue Cangqiong turned and fled towards the corridor.
Gui Ni didn't hesitate either. Under his control, the Ghost Emperor opened its mouth and spewed out a large amount of ghost energy.
The ghost energy transformed into a furious dragon, charging towards the Three-Corpse Dog.
Gui Ni, along with the Ghost Emperor, took the opportunity to escape.
The Three-Corpse Dog spat out another bolt of lightning, dispersing the ghost energy dragon, and then chased into the corridor.
At the same time, it continuously released lightning to disrupt Gui Ni's escape.
Meanwhile, Xue Cangqiong, relying on his speed advantage, gradually caught up to Xue Mei, who was ahead.
A few zhang ahead of Xue Mei was Song Wen.
Xue Cangqiong held a Corpse Infant in his hand.
The Corpse Infant let out a strange, cackling laughter.
The laughter was sharp and piercing, akin to the wailing of ghosts.
This laughter wasn't directed at the Three-Corpse Dog behind them, but at Xue Mei ahead.
In fact, the Corpse Infant could only attack living beings, not inanimate objects.
After all, it relied on causing the target's blood and qi to reverse, and inanimate objects had no essence or blood to speak of.
"A mere Crying Blood Infant! How dare you show off in front of me," Xue Mei said softly.
Her tone carried a clear sense of disdain.
It was as if she had complete knowledge of the Corpse Infant.
Xue Mei formed a magic seal with her hands, and in an instant, a peculiar barrier formed around her.
The all-pervasive laughter of the Corpse Infant, which no one in the entire Immortal Cultivation World could currently break, was unable to penetrate this barrier.
The laughter had almost no effect on Xue Mei.
Seeing this, Xue Cangqiong's expression turned cold.
It was one thing for the Crying Blood Infant's laughter to be ineffective against the Three-Corpse Dog, but now it was also helpless against Xue Mei, who was only at the early Nascent Soul stage.
This filled Xue Cangqiong with anger, and his killing intent began to rise.
He absolutely could not let Xue Mei leave alive.
The Crying Blood Infant was his strongest weapon. If Xue Mei revealed the method to counter its laughter, it would lead to endless trouble.
Previously, Xue Cangqiong had only intended to use Xue Mei and Song Wen to divert the Three-Corpse Dog. Now, however, he had developed a murderous intent towards Xue Mei.
If Xue Mei did not die, his heart would never be at ease.
Xue Cangqiong raised his hand and pointed, and a crimson flying sword shot out, directly slashing towards Xue Mei ahead.
This strike was not meant to kill Xue Mei but rather to keep her in place, using her to block the Three-Corpse Dog.
In this way, he could both delay the Three-Corpse Dog, allowing him and Gui Ni to escape smoothly, and take the opportunity to eliminate Xue Mei—a win-win situation.
Xue Mei's expression immediately turned grave.
Her hands quickly formed several magic seals, and in an instant, her figure transformed, splitting into nine illusionary clones.
Ten identical Xue Meis appeared simultaneously in the corridor, making it difficult to distinguish the real one from the fakes.
However, the narrow corridor greatly limited the effectiveness of the illusionary clones.
Unable to determine which of the ten figures was real, Xue Cangqiong simply stopped trying to discern and instead controlled his flying sword to slash at each of the ten Xue Meis in turn.
"Puff, puff, puff..."
One after another, the Xue Meis vanished into nothingness.
Xue Mei urgently shouted, "Yin Shuo, help me!"
Song Wen, who was running at the front, had already noticed that the corridor they were in was vastly different from the two they had passed through earlier.
He had already run nearly a hundred miles, yet the corridor showed no sign of ending.
The previous corridors had only been about ten miles long.
Just as Song Wen heard Xue Mei's voice, he finally saw the end of the corridor.
However, his heart sank.
The end of the corridor was still a cavernous hall, spanning about a mile in width.
But this hall had no connecting corridors.
It was a dead end.
They had nowhere left to run.
Song Wen raised his hand and swung it, sending the Void Breaking Blade flying towards the crimson flying sword.
"Clang!"
A crisp sound rang out as the Void Breaking Blade was easily knocked away.
But the crimson flying sword was also slightly delayed for a moment.
At this time, Song Wen's voice rang out.
"Xue Cangqiong, stop. Ahead is a dead end, and we have nowhere to escape. If you harm Xue Mei and me, you and Gui Ni won't be able to escape either. Why don't the four of us join forces and work together to resist that puppet?"
Xue Cangqiong and Gui Ni were still unaware of the name "Three-Corpse Dog," so Song Wen referred to it as a "puppet."
"This puppet is called the 'Three-Corpse Dog.' Its strength is comparable to a peak Nascent Soul cultivator, and its body is incredibly tough, difficult to damage even with Mystic Treasures. Its three heads can each cast a different type of spell. Only I know its weakness. Killing me and Yin Shuo will do you no good."
Seeing that only two of her illusionary clones remained, Xue Mei urgently spoke up.
Gui Ni, who was running at the back, said, "Xue Cangqiong, listen to them. Don't harm them for now."
Hearing this, Xue Cangqiong stopped attacking Xue Mei.
"What is its weakness? Speak quickly!" Gui Ni shouted.
At this moment, Song Wen and Xue Mei entered the cavernous hall one after the other.
Song Wen summoned the Dark Scale Shield, placing it in front of him for protection.
Xue Mei activated a bronze bell, enveloping herself within it.
Both of them stared intently at the corridor.
"The Three-Corpse Dog's duty is to guard this prison. It will kill anything that moves. As long as any moving object—preferably a living being—attacks the Three-Corpse Dog, it will draw its attention and lure it away," Xue Mei explained.
Xue Mei's method seemed simple, but in practice, it would not be easy to execute.
Ordinary individuals were no match for the Three-Corpse Dog and could not divert its attention.
"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Xue Cangqiong roared in anger.
At this moment, they were trapped in a dead end by the Three-Corpse Dog, like fish in a barrel.
If Xue Mei had warned them when the Three-Corpse Dog first appeared, they might have had a chance to lure it into another corridor.
(End of the Chapter)
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