Chapter Seventy-Three: Slaughter

The collapsed underground lair had become a wasteland, with rubble burying the cave and an eerie silence enveloping the darkness within. Overhead, the mushroom-shaped mountain dome had been smashed open, leaving a massive gaping hole through which sunlight filtered, shining through the dense webs into the nest below.

Near the dome, an unsettling hissing and gnawing sound could be heard, enough to make one’s skin crawl.

“Cough, cough...” A hand emerged from the pile of debris, followed by several heads. Miffy from the Sixth Divine Temple, her face smeared with dirt and ash, crawled out from beneath the rubble.

Soon, more muffled sounds echoed as Samobiqiu, Yu Bo, Du Yu, and others followed, pulling themselves free. Thanks to the earthen wall’s protection, the teams from Redleaf Academy and the temple had survived relatively intact. Though all bore wounds of varying severity, their lives were not in immediate danger.

Wiping the blood from her face, Miffy muttered irritably, “Those from Hidden Dragon are so unreliable. The so-called strongest in Torrent City...”

She had not finished when she suddenly felt a cold drop on her forehead. Looking up, her eyes widened in shock, her scalp tingling with terror.

Suspended in the thick web overhead, a burly man was tightly cocooned at the center, his body being devoured by several giant spiders. His eyes remained open, yet his lower half was reduced to bare white bone, and his upper body was a mess of torn entrails and ravaged flesh. The black blood that dripped down onto her had come from him.

“Zhang... Zhang Mu...” she stammered, stumbling back and collapsing onto the ground. Samobiqiu and the others were equally aghast. They had all witnessed Zhang Mu, the warrior from the Power Palace, subdue even the green giant lizard with ease. Who could have imagined that he would meet such a gruesome end in the blink of an eye?

Only Du Yu, hardened by countless battles, remained composed. Hoisting the unconscious Wang Aoran onto his back, he said, “He’s beyond saving. The Gatekeeper and the giant monster have vanished as well. For now, it should still be safe here...”

A sinister laugh cut him off.

Two figures emerged from the darkness. After only a couple of steps, one of them vanished in a flicker, a chill suddenly manifesting behind a student from Redleaf Academy.

Rabbit ears, red-tinged eyes, a handsome face, a black suit… and a blood-dripping blade.

“Liu Kai, look out!” Du Yu warned, but it was too late. The rabbitkin youth’s short knife traced a slow arc across Liu Kai’s throat. In stunned horror, Du Yu and the others watched their classmate clutch his neck and collapse, lifeless, before them.

The shadow of death loomed, but it only kindled their fury.

“Miffy, take care of Old Eight,” Du Yu ordered coldly. Setting Wang Aoran gently down, he gripped his dagger and charged. But two short blades whistled through the air towards him. In the darkness, the rabbitkin girl stood poised—petite but exuding a lethal aura. Four knives gleamed between her fingers, shooting out with deadly precision.

Du Yu crossed his daggers to deflect the blades, but in that fleeting moment, the rabbitkin youth had already slain two more, their throats slit in silence, not even a scream escaping.

“Fools courting death,” Samobiqiu growled, hefting his shield in one hand and his spear in the other. He exchanged a glance with Yu Bo, and together they charged.

The rabbitkin girl’s lips curled into a chilling smile. She retreated silently into the passage. As Samobiqiu rushed into the darkness, he abruptly stopped—before him, the pitch-black passage yawned like the maw of some devouring beast, the girl’s murderous intent lingering like a vengeful spirit. Even with his strength, he dared not charge in recklessly.

He hesitated, but the rabbitkin siblings were merciless. Their speed was like shifting shadows, and even with Du Yu wielding the ancient Black Thorn, he felt powerless against the rabbitkin youth.

Knives continued to fly from the passage, the girl’s blades seeming inexhaustible.

“Samobiqiu, we need to fall back!” Du Yu decided, seeing their formation collapse under the girl’s onslaught, their wounded unable to regroup. He ordered the retreat.

Samobiqiu raised his shield, blocking the incoming blades as he slowly withdrew, rejoining Yu Bo. At this point, there was no choice but to leave the underground lair—if they stayed, the rabbitkin siblings would bleed them dry.

Samobiqiu and Yu Bo led the retreat, Du Yu and Miffy covering the rear, the group huddling together. For a moment, they managed to keep the elusive rabbitkin youth at bay.

“Samobi, look!” Yu Bo called out as they neared the exit. He had spotted two faint glimmers rising from the rubble—one silver-white, one soft red.

Samobiqiu saw it too. Both men recognized each other’s realization and nodded silently.

They remembered: Ye Ran’s team had slain two giant mutant beasts in the lair and claimed two ancient weapons. One was the silver-white Flowing Radiance Bow, the other a red axe.

“Du Yu, Miffy, you go first—we’ll catch up,” Samobiqiu said without waiting for a reply. He dashed ahead, Yu Bo following close behind.

Twin knives shot toward them, but Samobiqiu swung his shield, deflecting them with a clang. They reached the red glow, where Samobiqiu drove his spear into the rubble. With a twist and a shove, the stones scattered, and after two more forceful digs, the red axe emerged.

It was indeed the axe.

Relief flickered across Yu Bo’s face as he knelt to retrieve it. The axe, barely half the length of a forearm, was keen-edged and shrouded in a soft red glow, every bit the equal of Du Yu’s ancient Black Thorn.

This was why Samobiqiu and Yu Bo had risked the lair in the first place. Until now, they had left empty-handed—how could they abandon the weapon now?

“Let’s go,” Yu Bo said, gripping the axe. But as he turned to leave, he stumbled, nearly falling.

A hand reached out from the rubble, clamping onto his ankle.

Yu Bo looked back to see a pale, young, and stubborn face.

“That’s... Brother Xin’s...”

Meng Qi’s hand grasped Yu Bo’s ankle with desperate strength. Without the cover of the earthen wall, his back was soaked in blood, and it seemed he was clinging to life by the thinnest thread. Yu Bo had no idea where he found the strength to hold on.

“Let go!” Yu Bo snarled, shaking his foot, but Meng Qi’s grip remained unyielding.

“Yu Bo, stop wasting time—hurry!” Samobiqiu called, straining to hold off the rabbitkin youth’s blade and the girl’s flying knives with his thunder-infused power.

In a direct fight, not even the rabbitkin siblings could cow him. But their one-two assault, attacking from light and shadow, was sapping his strength. If they were delayed here, they might never leave alive.

Yu Bo knew they could not linger. Growing anxious, he stomped hard on Meng Qi’s hand. Yet Meng Qi gritted his teeth and refused to let go. In desperation, Yu Bo drew a knife from his sleeve, crouched down, and with a savage stroke, severed Meng Qi’s wrist.

A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the lair...