Chapter 157: Battle in the Bat Cave (5)

Rescuing the infants in the Bat Cave was a race against time, leaving no room for the slightest negligence. Even a moment's delay would surely mean the infants falling prey to the zombies, and every single one of them represented a vibrant, precious life.

Though they were all practitioners of the Dao, everyone was now gasping for breath with fatigue, yet no one dared to stop. They picked the infants up from the ground and delivered them directly to the Bat King, who then directed his subordinate bats to transport the children away. Where the Bat King was taking the infants aside, one thing was certain: the bats would not harm them. Of this, Zhou Yi was entirely confident.

Within moments, over eighty of the ninety-nine infants had been rescued, while a dozen or so had already perished in the bellies of the zombies. There was no time for grief, for the transformation of the zombies had not yet ceased, and the zombies themselves remained the most urgent problem to be resolved.

The two novice monks of the Shaolin Jie generation, along with Muyang, Muchen, Mufeng, and Zhou Yi—a total of six people—were completely at a loss as to how to deal with the zombies' transformation. Every conceivable method had been tried, yet none of them proved effective.

As mentioned earlier, for a corpse to transform into a Fierce Drought Demon (Jiangshi), a massive amount of nourishment was required. By this time, there were no more infants left in the cave, yet the zombie's transformation was still incomplete.

The Miao tribesmen were still chanting their unintelligible incantations. Finding the nourishment for its transformation insufficient, the zombie turned its attention to the Miao people. It leaped forward and bit directly into the neck of one of the tribesmen.

Unlike others who had been bitten by zombies and succumbed to terror, a smile of liberation spread across this tribesman's face. It was as though dying for Chiyou was his supreme glory and his ultimate mission.

In an instant, the Miao tribesman was reduced to a desiccated corpse. The others were completely helpless, having already exhausted every possible method they could think of.

Gongyang Lingfeng, Mingyu, and Jiechen were still locked in fierce combat, and the situation had reached a critical juncture. While Jiechen held Gongyang Lingfeng at bay, Mingyu was gathering the spiritual energy within his body, silently chanting Buddhist incantations. As the chant concluded, Mingyu's entire body shone with a brilliant Buddhist light. Sensing the radiance, the zombie instinctively emitted rolling black qi to block it.

Regardless of how the zombie resisted the Buddhist light, Mingyu continued chanting the Buddhist scriptures for a few moments, after which his figure began to fade and become translucent.

"Jiechen, fall back!" Having mobilized his spiritual energy, Mingyu shouted an order for Jiechen to withdraw. Seeing Jiechen retreat, Mingyu shifted his body at will and shot like an arrow toward Gongyang Lingfeng.

Seeing this, Gongyang Lingfeng was greatly startled. "To think that the Buddhist sect's Formless Divine Skill, when cultivated to the utmost realm, could possess such divine might! I truly underestimated the Chan sect!"

With that, Gongyang Lingfeng also channeled the spiritual energy through his meridians, intending to meet Mingyu's attack head-on. This was a genuine clash of pure cultivation; the loser would undoubtedly suffer severe injury or death.

Their four palms met, and instantly, the entire Bat Cave lit up with a mingling of purple and golden radiance. The light was not dazzling; on the contrary, it was exceedingly gentle.

Of course, while the light was gentle to human eyes, to the incompletely transformed zombie, it was the light of death. The zombie let out yet another miserable howl and bolted blindly toward the cave entrance, desperate to escape.

"You still want to run!" Seeing the zombie attempt to flee, Zhou Yi gritted his teeth with a stern shout and gave chase. This zombie had slaughtered over a dozen infants; there was no way he would let it escape.

Turning back to the duel between the two masters, their spiritual energy surged violently. The blood in the blood pool was instantly stirred into a frenzy by the shockwaves, and the very walls of the cave began to shake violently. If they did not stop soon, the collapse of the Bat Cave was only a matter of time.

"Master, hurry and leave! This Bat Cave is going to collapse!" Jiechen shouted anxiously, immediately dodging as huge boulders began to plummet from the cave ceiling.

"You go first, don't mind me!" Mingyu was already speaking with some difficulty. In a spiritual energy contest like this, the side with weaker energy was bound to lose; it was merely a question of time.

Gongyang Lingfeng was a reincarnated disciple of the截教 (Jiejiao / Church of Interception), so how could Mingyu possibly be a match for him? Mingyu's distraction in speaking directly led to a depletion of his spiritual energy. Seizing the opportunity, Gongyang Lingfeng pushed both palms forward, and the purple qi instantly overwhelmed the golden Buddhist light.

Mingyu was sent flying backward, spewing a mouthful of stagnant blood mid-air before closing his eyes and fainting. Jiechen hurriedly rushed forward, caught Mingyu in his arms, and fled toward the cave entrance. If they didn't escape now, the Bat Cave would truly cave in upon them.

Seeing Mingyu escape, Gongyang Lingfeng threw his head back and laughed loudly. "They always say that the Lesser Formless Skill achieves immortality at its peak—complete nonsense!" With that, he burst into another round of loud laughter.

By now, the tremors in the Bat Cave had grown even more violent. The four great elders of the Miao tribe were still chanting their incantations, while Zhou Yi and the others had already fled outside the mountain cave.

With a deafening crash, the Bat Cave finally collapsed. The Miao people, embracing death as a return home, were instantly buried beneath the falling boulders. Even if a heavenly deity had descended, surviving this would have been exceedingly difficult.

Gongyang Lingfeng raised a hand and blasted a massive boulder aside, expecting to see the blue sky beyond. To his surprise, what lay behind the boulder was a torrent of boundless floodwater.

The massive boulder and the roaring floodwaters crashed down together, burying Gongyang Lingfeng beneath them. Moments later, as the flood subsided, Gongyang Lingfeng shoved away a heavy stone and stood up, coughing, only for an unidentified object to smash heavily down upon him.

No, it wasn't an unidentified object. The moment Gongyang Lingfeng touched it, he realized the thing felt somewhat soft and possessed a very realistic, fleshy texture.

Brushing the sludge from his head and opening his eyes, he saw that it was clearly a person. Gongyang Lingfeng flipped the person over and looked closely, but he did not recognize him. Though Gongyang Lingfeng didn't know him, we certainly did—who else could this person be but Baozi?

Gongyang Lingfeng had no benevolence in him; thinking to himself that the fellow could die for all he cared, as it had nothing to do with him, he turned to leave. However, he suddenly felt a sharp discomfort in his body. It turned out that he hadn't escaped unscathed from his earlier duel with Mingyu; he, too, was injured.

"Cough, cough!" With a fit of coughing, Baozi spewed out a mouthful of dirty water and slowly regained consciousness. Looking around, he had no idea where he was. Turning his head, he saw Gongyang Lingfeng still spitting blood and asked weakly, "Where is this?"

"This is the Bat Cave! How did you get here?" Gongyang Lingfeng spat out the stagnant blood in his chest and demanded.

"The Bat Cave? Why has the Bat Cave collapsed? And why are you here too?" Baozi asked in return.

Gongyang Lingfeng curled his lips in disdain and did not answer Baozi's question. Instead, forcing his spiritual energy to rise, he leaped straight out of the pit. The first thing that met his eyes was the old Miao woman peering down from the edge.

"Xiaoling, I have done my best," Gongyang Lingfeng said, looking up at the elderly woman of Miao territory.

"I stopped blaming you long ago. Go drag that little brat up here; I want to use him for the sacrificial altar!" the old Miao woman pointed down at Baozi at the bottom of the pit and ordered.

"Very well, I'll do whatever you say!" Gongyang Lingfeng turned back, dropped down into the pit once more, and came to seize Baozi!

Lying at the bottom of the pit, Baozi finally understood the situation after overhearing their exchange. He thought to himself, 'Ah! So you were all in cahoots from the start! Well, don't blame your grandpa for being ruthless!' With that, he continued to lie limply on the ground pretending to be weak, but his hand had already drifted to the hilt of his mace, waiting to give Gongyang Lingfeng a nice little surprise the moment he let his guard down...