"Squeak!"
The Rat King let out a cry and, instead of taking a normal path, it smashed through the wall on the second floor, transforming into a black and red blur as it charged straight toward Lin Li, who was in the midst of slaughtering demonized rats!
In an instant, Lin Li felt his hair stand on end.
"Not good! Danger!"
He didn't even have time to look back and instinctively dodged to the side.
Boom!
A loud crash followed!
The ground was smashed into a massive pit, with rubble scattering everywhere.
Lin Li, who had leaped to the side, glanced back, swallowing hard as he took a sharp breath.
"Hiss!"
There stood the Rat King, nearly as tall as Lin Li and over three meters long. Its blood-red eyes were filled with hostility as it snarled at Lin Li from within the crater it had created.
At the same time, three Rat Generals blocked Lin Li's escape route from behind!
And to make matters worse...
The demonized rats, which had lost their fighting spirit moments ago, were now energized at the sight of the Rat King. As if injected with adrenaline, they rushed at Lin Li once again!
Lin Li swung his sword wildly, cutting down the demonized rats that came at him like a relentless tide.
Meanwhile, countless system notifications flooded Ye Fan's interface.
[Killed demonized rat, gained 6 evolution points]
[Absorbed demonized rat's blood, gained 0.3 energy points]
[Killed demonized rat, gained 6 evolution points]
[Absorbed demonized rat's blood, gained 0.3 energy points]
...
"Squeak!!"
Finally, as Lin Li struggled to cope with the onslaught, the Rat King let out a loud screech and slammed its four claws into the ground.
The ground caved in even further, revealing deep claw marks, as the Rat King lunged at Lin Li!
At this point, Lin Li had no time to counterattack and could only slightly dodge.
Bang!
It felt as if he had been struck by a giant hammer!
A tremendous force hit him!
Lin Li was sent flying backward by the Rat King's charge, his internal organs violently shaking. Blood, thick with the taste of iron, surged up his throat.
But he couldn't afford to relax!
Behind him, the three Rat Generals also launched their attacks at the same time!
"I can't hold back anymore!"
Gritting his teeth, Lin Li swung his sword, cutting off the tail of one of the Rat Generals.
But at the same time, the other two managed to rake their claws across his body, leaving deep gashes.
Meanwhile, the Rat King, after landing, immediately pounced again, jaws wide open, ready to tear Lin Li apart!
With no time to react, Lin Li could only raise his sword horizontally in front of him as the Rat King lunged at him!
Luckily, the sword managed to stop the Rat King from biting down.
However, the Rat King's sharp claws slashed into Lin Li's shoulder and upper arm, leaving several deep, bone-exposing wounds!
"Ah!"
Lin Li cried out in pain.
The black-robed man stood by the gaping hole in the wall, watching with amusement as this unfolded.
"Now you're seriously injured! Surrender, or you'll die for sure!"
The black-robed man shouted gleefully.
"Surrender?"
Lin Li, after landing, now had deep, bleeding claw marks running down his back.
His internal organs were rattled from the earlier collision, causing him to cough up blood.
The most severe injury was on his right shoulder and upper arm, where the blood wouldn't stop flowing, and his white bones were faintly visible.
Lin Li could already feel the dizziness from blood loss setting in.
"This is bad!"
His mind raced: "If this keeps up, I won't last a few more rounds before being overwhelmed by the swarm of demonized rats, the Rat King, and the three Rat Generals!"
"I surrender! I surrender!"
Biting his lip, Lin Li stabbed his sword into the ground and knelt on one knee, shouting loudly.
"Hmm???"
The black-robed man looked surprised. "Surrendering so soon?"
Curious, he leaped down, landing in front of Lin Li in a few swift movements.
"What's this? Weren't you fighting so fiercely just now? Scared now? Surrendering?"
"Yes! I'm scared!"
Lin Li said, "Better to live a coward than die in vain! I surrender!"
"Hahaha!"
The black-robed man threw his head back in laughter. "I never thought a so-called righteous sect disciple would turn out to be a coward afraid of death!"
"What's so bad about fearing death?"
Lin Li said, "If I die here, what value does that bring?"
"But after killing so many of my subordinates, what now?"
The black-robed man asked.
"I'm a disciple of Xuantian Sect! At worst, I'll teach you some of Xuantian Sect's secret techniques and compensate you with some spirit stones."
Lin Li stood up as he spoke, "You must know the value of spirit stones far outweighs these worthless demonized rats."
As he spoke, Lin Li suddenly sensed a strange force rapidly absorbing his spiritual energy!
"Huh?! What's happening?!"
Lin Li was shocked!
He soon realized that this strange force, after absorbing his spiritual energy, was quickly nourishing his internal organs!
The internal injuries caused by the Rat King's earlier attack were healed in an instant!
At the same time...
That mysterious force continued working!
Lin Li could feel the wounds on his back, shoulder, and arm slowly stopping their bleeding.
The most crucial thing was...
His head no longer felt dizzy from blood loss!
"This is..."
Lin Li's eyes lit up. "This is the same as when I was seriously injured by the Golden Leopard King during the trial at the back mountain!"
"You have spirit stones?!"
As Lin Li was quietly rejoicing, the black-robed man exclaimed in surprise, "You actually have spirit stones?!"
"Of course! I'm a disciple of Xuantian Sect! And not just any disciple—I'm one of the most renowned outer disciples of Xuantian Sect in recent years!"
Lin Li had already made up his mind to strike back.
For now, he just needed to buy time and lower the black-robed man's guard.
"How many spirit stones do you have?"
"How many do you want?"
"... Twenty spirit stones!"
The black-robed man hesitated for a moment before quickly changing his mind. "No, no, that's too much. You couldn't possibly have that many. Then… fifteen spirit stones!"
"Low-grade spirit stones?"
Lin Li found it amusing: Twenty? Fifteen? Ha! I have eighty-eight low-grade spirit stones! And with my middle-grade spirit stones, I have a total of five hundred and eighty-eight! If you knew how many I had, you'd be scared to death!
"Of course! Or are you telling me you have middle-grade spirit stones?"
The black-robed man scoffed, "Middle-grade spirit stones are incredibly rare. Even the leaders of our sacred cult have only glimpsed a few..."
Just then, Lin Li's eyes widened!
"You wretched rat! Time to die!"