Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 713 Fossil Golden Toad

The statue's eyes suddenly darted around, focusing on Shao Hongzhang.

Instantly, immense fear surged into his heart, making Shao Hongzhang feel suffocated. He didn't even have time to call out to Xiao Ran before the statue's pupils constricted and it suddenly raised its palm to strike down on Shao Hongzhang.

A huge hand, like Mount Tai pressing down, covered Shao Hongzhang's head and slammed down heavily.

"Roar!!"

Just as the statue made its move, a low roar came from outside the shrine, followed by a black wind rushing in from the outside.

"Ok??"

This sudden turn of events caught Xiao Ran off guard, but with her rich experience, she made a judgment in an instant.

Raising his long staff, he leaped backward, forcefully gathering his spiritual energy into a wave of energy and unleashing it, shoving Shao Hongzhang away from the giant hand.

He swung the long staff in his hand, which shimmered with a silvery light.

Just as Xiao Ran was about to strike, a figure leaped out from the shadows, causing Xiao Ran's pupils to constrict. He quickly withdrew his hand, turned around, and smashed the long staff at the statue behind him.

"boom!!"

The long staff shimmered with energy, and with Xiao Ran's swing, it transformed into a dazzling beam of light, slamming heavily into the face of the statue.

The blow exploded on the statue's cheek, causing it to sway and lose its balance, falling backward.

The dark figure that rushed in from outside pounced on Xiao Ran's side, but did not linger there. It revealed its sharp claws and slapped at Xiao Ran's chest.

"Kakaka..."

The claws and stones emitted a burst of scorching sparks and a piercing tearing sound.

The dark shadow pounced on the statue, its sharp claws scratching at the statue's chest, causing rocks to fly everywhere, and soon a hole was dug out.

Only then did Shao Hongzhang, who was lying on the ground, see the full appearance of the dark figure, which turned out to be a huge tiger.

The tiger was twice the size of an ox. The seemingly indestructible stone was as soft as tofu under its claws. In a short while, the hole in the statue's chest grew larger and larger, revealing the dark red heart inside.

The tiger opened its mouth and swallowed the heart, which was as big as a millstone, chewing it to pieces.

"Old...old...tiger!!!"

When Shao Hongzhang saw this scene, he was so shocked that he couldn't speak. Fortunately, Xiao Ran had already walked over at this moment.

"Don't worry! It's a domesticated animal!"

Xiao Ran patted Shao Hongzhang on the shoulder and looked back at the big tiger lying on the chest of the statue.

The tiger in front of them was the tiger demon that was under Jin Chanzi's buttocks. Xiao Ran stepped forward and slapped the tiger's head in annoyance: "You've been following me all this way, and you didn't even make a sound."

The tiger shook its head and whimpered twice, looking aggrieved.

Actually, you can't really blame it; Xiao Ran's mental power was severely suppressed here.

The tiger demon was no different; it could only rely on its sense of smell to track Xiao Ran. As a result, when Xiao Ran sensed its approach, it ran faster than a rabbit.

The tiger demon was also confused and could only slowly follow behind. He finally caught up to this place, but he didn't know where Xiao Ran was, so how could he dare to shout?

Xiao Ran didn't really blame it. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the tiger demon was noticeably thinner than before, and its belly was flat.

Although his strength seemed to have improved a lot, he also had a lot more scars on his body. His fur, which used to be shiny from being fed by Wu Man, was now all twisted into a tangled mess. It looked like he had suffered a lot during this time.

He patted the tiger demon's head and asked, "Is the Golden Toad here too?"

The tiger demon nodded.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran breathed a sigh of relief. In any case, at least Jin Chanzi should be safe here.

He waved to Shao Hongzhang, who was too scared to move, and called him over.

"You sit up there."

"what??"

Upon hearing this, Shao Hongzhang glanced sideways at the tiger demon in front of him, which was twice the size of an ox, and couldn't help but swallow.

He had tried riding oxen, horses, and donkeys, but riding a tiger was a first for him.

Besides, it was such a big tiger, its mouth alone was bigger than my head. If the tiger got angry and took a bite, I wouldn't even have a chance to call for help.

"Don't worry, it won't eat you."

Xiao Ran comforted Shao Hongzhang, and then patted the tiger demon: "This guy is an ordinary person. You take him slowly, I'll follow behind you."

The tiger demon nodded, lay down, and gestured for Shao Hongzhang to go up.

Seeing how intelligent the tiger was, Shao Hongzhang no longer hesitated and cautiously lay down on the tiger demon's back.

Xiao Ran casually slung the corpses of the Tan brothers onto the tiger demon's back, then patted the tiger demon's rear end: "Let's go."

"Ow!"

The tiger demon stood up and leaped out of the shrine.

Xiao Ran followed behind at a leisurely pace.

On the way, Xiao Ran suddenly remembered something and looked at Shao Hongzhang: "What did you want to say when you woke up just now?"

"Oh...ah, yes, yes, yes!"

Xiao Ran's reminder made Shao Hongzhang suddenly remember what he originally wanted to say to Xiao Ran.

After patting his head and reorganizing his thoughts, he said to Xiao Ran, "I know how Huang Chao did it."

He pointed around and said, “I was wondering before how he could have made so many, such large shrines in Chang’an. I finally figured it out. It’s not that this place is too big, but that we are too small.”

"Too small?"

Xiao Ran's heart stirred upon hearing this, and she seemed to understand the meaning behind Shao Hongzhang's words.

He nodded, signaling Shao Hongzhang to continue. Encouraged by Xiao Ran, Shao Hongzhang continued, "Look, these shrines range in size from as large as mountains to as small as the palm of a hand. This is beyond human capability. Even before the world was in chaos, the entire nation could not have achieved this."

But if we think about it the other way around, what if Huang Chao used some method to shrink us down and put us into this world, which is like a sandbox? Wouldn't things be much simpler?

Shao Hongzhang's words immediately gave Xiao Ran a lot of inspiration.

As the Plum Blossom Taoist said, all sorts of arts and techniques are ultimately just illusions.

If what Shao Hongzhang said is true, then they might be under Huang Chao's spell right now.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran couldn't help but recall the curse techniques mentioned in the [Suppressing Scripture].

There is indeed a type of sorcery called Mustard Seed Universe.

However, the conditions for this curse technique are extremely demanding, and he was certain that Huang Chao could not possibly know this technique.

"Perhaps it's a similar method."

Xiao Ran didn't think much about it; finding the Golden Toad was the priority right now.

"call!!!"

The mountain wind howled at night, and from time to time, pitiful screams could be heard from afar.

As they walked, the tiger demon slowed its pace, crouched down, and adopted a wary posture.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Ran immediately became alert, gripping the long staff in her hand and following behind the tiger demon.

A man and a tiger peeked out from behind a shrine and saw strange lights flashing inside several shrines not far away.

Beneath the light lay severed limbs and broken bodies.

The statue inside the shrine now resembled a demon, its gaping maw devouring the corpses on the ground.

With each bite, the muscles and bones crackled and popped, making your heart skip a beat.

"what!!!"

A deafening roar came from afar, followed by a tremor that shook the entire ground.

Immediately afterwards, an eight- or nine-meter-tall statue emerged from another shrine and then rushed into other shrines to plunder the flesh and blood inside.

This action naturally caused a commotion, and some of the statues began to attack it in protest.

However, the difference in size rendered their punches ineffective, and instead, they were smashed to pieces by the opponent's counter-punch.

Upon seeing this, the tiger demon immediately changed direction and led Xiao Ran away from the other side.

The statues in this area have gone completely berserk, each one resembling a shark that has smelled blood.

Even tiger demons wouldn't dare to approach rashly.

However, Xiao Ran also noticed that there seemed to be some strange precious light in these shrines.

These precious lights shimmered, rippling through the air in dazzling waves, as eye-catching as neon lights in the darkness.

"Could that be the so-called opportunity?"

However, the demon tiger was even more cautious about these shrines that emitted a precious light.

Sometimes, the tiger demon would rather lead Xiao Ran on a long detour than easily approach these shrines that shimmered with precious light.

After following the tiger demon through a maze of twists and turns, they finally arrived at a spacious valley.

The valley is not large, but the stone walls on both sides have been polished clean. Even the outlines of some shrines have been destroyed.

Upon entering the valley, the tiger demon immediately relaxed.

With a "whoosh," it quickened its pace and rushed inside.

"They're back! They're back!!!"

At the end of the valley, the gate of a fortified village appeared before them, guarded by several people. Upon seeing the tiger demon, they immediately began to dance and shout with joy.

"There are still living people here?!"

This surprised Xiao Ran. Her gaze swept over these people and she found that they had not been demonized like the other candidates. Their bodies were no different from normal people, except that their skin was darker, making them look like uncivilized natives or mountain people.

"Click! Click click click..."

The gate was a huge stone, which was slowly lowered to a flat position by the pull of chains.

The tiger demon gestured for Xiao Ran to follow him, then leaped into the village gate. Xiao Ran followed closely behind, entered the village, and looked up.

This circular valley is actually a sizable village.

The houses, built of stone, were stacked one on top of another around the valley.

The appearance of Xiao Ran and Shao Hongzhang undoubtedly attracted the attention of many people.

They looked at Xiao Ran with curiosity, their eyes filled with awe and wariness, but the tiger demon didn't care about that. He led Xiao Ran straight to the shrine at the back of the village and stopped there.

This is also the only shrine in the entire village.

The shrine was not large, probably about the size of a house where an ordinary person lives.

"Golden Toad!" Seeing the tiger demon stop, Xiao Ran couldn't wait to go inside.

It's been a long time since I've seen him. I wonder how he's doing now.

However, after he shouted, he received no response. Before he could think any further, one foot had already stepped into the shrine.

But the shrine was empty; there was nothing inside.

Just as Xiao Ran was wondering, she looked up and her eyes widened in shock. The stone statue sitting on the altar in front of her was looking down at her, and it looked exactly like Jin Chanzi...

(End of this chapter)