Translator: CinderTL
The thick mist enveloped an area of several miles, close to the path, almost clinging to it, with parts of the mist even spilling onto the path.
A section of the path, about two to three hundred zhang in length, was swallowed by the mist.
Song Wen's figure flashed past, following the path and directly plunging into the mist.
The fog was like a heavy curtain, making everything before his eyes hazy and indistinct.
Suddenly, a figure about two chi in size burst through the mist, pouncing towards the blood-colored tentacles extending from Song Wen's body.
It was a half-human half-insect monster.
It had the body of a beetle but was topped with the head of a child.
It was as if the head of a human child had been forcibly attached to the body of a beetle.
The monster's head had two half-chi long fangs in its mouth, looking extremely disproportionate.
Its eyes were only a grayish-white, with no pupils.
The shell on its back slightly opened, revealing a pair of transparent wings.
As the wings flapped, it moved as swiftly as lightning.
The monster pounced on one of the blood-colored tentacles.
Its fangs easily pierced through the tentacle, and with a forceful shake of its head, it tore the tentacle apart.
Just as the monster was about to feast, it found that the tentacle it had bitten off suddenly turned into Blood Qi.
It raised its grayish-white eyes to look at Song Wen.
Song Wen's expression turned serious. In the monster's eyes, he saw anger.
"This monster is very ferocious, but it seems to lack much intelligence."
This was Song Wen's assessment of the monster.
Song Wen suddenly remembered that he had seen a similar monster before.
In the Primordial Origin Cave, when he had lured Resentful Spirits to besiege Gou Jun, there was a fourth-tier Resentful Spirit that looked very similar to the monster before him.
This was not the first time Song Wen had seen a Resentful Spirit formed from the combination of several creatures.
Back in the Nether Shrine secret realm on Fangzhu Island of the Xing family, Song Wen had also encountered similar Resentful Spirits.
Song Wen had originally thought that the reason these Resentful Spirits appeared as hybrids of two or several creatures was due to the Ghost Mist causing mutations in the Resentful Spirits.
Now, it seemed that was not the case.
They had already been in this state before they died.
Moreover, it seemed to be man-made.
Just like the Human Serpents of the Beastmaster Sect.
Song Wen's thoughts were racing, but his actions were not slow.
More than ten tentacles, like venomous snakes hunting, suddenly sprang up from various directions, directly pouncing on the half-human half-insect monster.
To Song Wen's surprise, the monster was extremely agile. Its pair of thin wings kept flapping, and as it twisted and turned, it easily avoided the tentacles that were continuously thrusting at it.
Moreover, it was constantly closing the distance between itself and Song Wen.
Song Wen was slightly startled.
This monster was too fast.
Just as Song Wen was about to summon the Blood Sea to use a wide-range attack to block the monster, he suddenly remembered his earlier assessment of the monster.
Low intelligence!
With a thought, a Blood Shadow Clone appeared on the tentacle closest to the monster.
Seeing the Blood Shadow Clone that looked exactly like Song Wen, the monster was immediately attracted.
Its wings flashed, slightly changing direction, and it pounced on the Blood Shadow Clone.
The clone's strength was too weak, and it was easily defeated by the monster, turning into Blood Mist.
The monster became even more enraged, its eyes turning to search for Song Wen's figure.
Only to find that before it appeared more than a dozen identical Song Wens.
Dozens of Song Wens, without exception, all sprinted down the mountain.
The monster, like a starving wolf, chased after the numerous Blood Shadow Clones.
The monster's speed was extreme, its figure flickering in the air. With each change of direction, a Blood Shadow Clone disintegrated.
However, after it had destroyed all the Blood Shadow Clones, it found that it had not consumed a single piece of flesh.
Earlier, it had clearly smelled the scent of fresh blood and flesh, but now that scent seemed to have vanished.
The monster kept sniffing, searching for the location of the blood and flesh.
After a moment, it looked down the mountain along the path.
In that direction, it smelled more of the scent of blood and flesh.
The monster flapped its wings and flew down the mountain.
Several dozen feet behind it, behind a large boulder by the path, Song Wen stood with his body pressed tightly against the rock.
After using the Blood Shadow Clones to attract the monster's attention, he activated the Two-Faced Buddha to disrupt his own aura, thus escaping the monster.
After waiting for a couple of breaths and seeing that the monster did not appear, Song Wen prepared to continue climbing the mountain.
At that moment, a crisp 'clip-clop' sound suddenly came from the mountain, like the sound of a horse walking on stone.
Song Wen immediately suppressed his aura, moved to the other side of the boulder, and hid.
After a moment, the sound grew closer.
When it reached a spot not far from the boulder, the sound suddenly stopped.
The monster that had made the 'clip-clop' sound had clearly come to a halt.
Just as Song Wen thought he was about to be exposed, intense sounds of fighting suddenly came from below.
The 'clip-clop' sound resumed, and its frequency was noticeably faster, quickly moving down the mountain.
Song Wen peeked out from behind the boulder and glanced in the direction of the sound.
It was another bizarre-looking monster.
The monster had a dog's head and a human body.
Its lower half was not legs, but the body of a goat.
Its four hooves were thick and powerful, walking on rugged rocks as if they were flat ground.
Before long, the sounds of fighting below were mixed with the barking of dogs.
Song Wen did not pay attention to the battle between Gou Jun and the other five against the two monsters. He continued up the path, quickly distancing himself.
The battle below was intense, and if there were other monsters nearby, they would surely be drawn to it.
This was the perfect opportunity to escape.
After traveling another several dozen miles, the mist finally disappeared, revealing a square that covered several miles.
In the center of the square stood a small palace.
Above the palace's gate hung a plaque with the words 'Corpse King Hall' written on it.
After enduring numerous dangers, he had finally arrived before the Corpse King Hall, and the long-sought Corpse King's Rebirth Art was within reach. Yet, Song Wen frowned.
Because standing in front of the palace was a person.
Xi Ling!
Song Wen remembered that Mi Hai had once said that when they were at Corpse Blood Mountain, Xi Ling had missed the teleportation and was stranded there.
Mi Hai speculated that Xi Ling had already died on Corpse Blood Mountain.
However, Xi Ling had appeared outside the Corpse King Hall.
Judging by her appearance, she had been here for some time.
Xi Ling also noticed Song Wen's arrival.
After a brief moment of surprise, a look of joy appeared on her face, the kind of joy one feels when seeing a glimmer of hope.
But that joy was quickly concealed, and her expression turned extremely cold.
"It's you!" Xi Ling's gaze was fixed intently, her voice cold as she spoke, "How did you get here? Where is Junior Brother Tai He? Wasn't he with you at the foot of Thunder Mountain?"
Song Wen replied, "Greetings, Fellow Daoist Xi Ling. At Thunder Mountain, Fellow Daoist Tai He and I parted ways. I don't know where he is now."
As he spoke, Song Wen glanced back at the path he had come from.
The path was eerily quiet, with no sound to be heard.
He wondered if the battle between Gou Jun and the others against the monster had ended yet.
If the battle was already over, then Gou Jun and the others would soon be coming up.
If the battle was still ongoing, then he still had time to eliminate Xi Ling, this hidden threat.
Song Wen slowly flew towards Xi Ling.
(End of the Chapter)
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