Fairy, don't be afraid, I, Wang Daqi, am truly an honest man.

As everyone rushed into the cave entrance, Cheng Man and Wang Daqi sensed the location of the Ironclad Centipede King almost simultaneously.

"You beast, do not harm my sect's disciples!"

Cheng Man gave a cold shout, and the pressure of a Golden Core cultivator surged like a great river.

Although she is a formation master specializing in formations, she is not good at combat.

However, the old-school Golden Core cultivator possessed an incredibly profound foundation. With a flick of her jade hand, several array plates gleaming with clear light flew out of her grasp, transforming into a Water Curtain Heavenly Splendor Array at the right-hand cave entrance in the blink of an eye.

The water curtain, though seemingly soft, effectively blocked the Ironclad Centipede King's hooked legs, which resembled giant scythes.

If he had been a step slower, that hooked foot would probably have killed one of the disciples in front of him.

"BOOM!!!!"

The cave trembled violently as the armored centipede king's hundred-foot-long body twisted and turned, its black scales colliding and rubbing against each other, producing a tooth-grinding metallic clang.

Faced with Cheng Man's provocation, the demon king, who possessed the strength of a Golden Core cultivator, let out a deep and violent roar, and a cloud of dark green poisonous mist instantly enveloped the area.

"I'm going there to rescue them. You all follow Wang Daqi into the cave and do your best to rescue my disciple!!!!"

"yes!"

Before she finished speaking, Cheng Man had already transformed into a streak of light and plunged into the poisonous fog. Soon after, the sounds of intense combat and the booming of exploding formations came from the other side.

Wang Daqi withdrew his gaze, his expression grave.

He knew that although Cheng Man was powerful, the centipede king had the advantage of terrain and amazing defense, so it would be difficult to determine a winner in a short time.

In the depths of this mine, every moment wasted could cost the lives of several disciples.

"Senior Sister Jiang, fellow disciples, follow me!! The third fork in the road on the left used to be a rich area of ​​spirit stones, where most disciples usually gather!!!"

Wang Daqi let out a low shout and, with lightning speed, rushed into the dark mine tunnel first.

Although his cultivation level wasn't the highest among the group, his familiarity with the place and his exceptionally keen intuition about spiritual energy fluctuations allowed him to always avoid the most severely affected areas.

"Stay close to him and protect the flanks!" a pretty female array cultivator shouted coldly.

This is Cheng Man's eldest disciple, named Xia Chunlian, a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Behind him, more than ten capable female cultivators immediately changed their forms.

Three Foundation Establishment female cultivators and a late-stage Qi Refining disciple stood on either side, their spiritual energy linked together to form a faint red glow, effectively isolating the surrounding foul and poisonous fumes from the outside.

"Hiss!! Hiss!!"

In the darkness, countless pairs of scarlet compound eyes lit up.

The millstone-sized armored centipedes sensed the scent of fresh flesh and blood and surged out frantically from the cracks in the rock wall.

"cut!!!"

A female Foundation Establishment cultivator wielded her longsword, unleashing a flurry of sword shadows that sliced ​​several centipedes into pieces.

But these monsters have hard shells and are extremely resilient; even when broken in two, they continue to writhe wildly.

"Stop fighting, use fire talismans to clear a path! These beasts are afraid of light and fire!!"

Xia Chunlian shouted without turning her head.

At the same time, a specially made fluorescent stone rod appeared in his hand without him noticing, and he vigorously rubbed it against the rock wall.

The moment the bright light appeared, the swarm of centipedes in front indeed retreated for a moment.

"Junior Brother Wang Daqi, you brought us here, where is everyone else?"

Xia Chunlian suddenly looked at Wang Daqi, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes!

In fact, she had doubts about Wang Daqi, this outer disciple.

She couldn't understand why her master valued this person so much.

Wang Daqi frowned and said, "There has been a collapse in this area, and the environment has changed."

"So, you don't know the way?" a male cultivator with curly hair said unhappily. "Then why did you lead us this far?"

"What's the rush? There are so many collapsed areas here, it's normal for the environment to have been altered," Jiang Xuerou said to the male cultivator.

Xia Chunlian shook her head: "The spiritual energy in this mine is blocked; our spiritual energy cannot penetrate the rock walls. It seems we will have to split up!"

Then, she walked forward and said, "Over there... it sounds like someone is calling for help!"

"Senior sister has sharp ears, I heard it too. And it seems there's more than one person!" The curly-haired cultivator's expression brightened, and he was about to go over.

"Wait a minute." Wang Daqi suddenly grabbed the other person.

"What's wrong?" The curly-haired cultivator, who was at the Foundation Establishment stage, looked down at Wang Daqi.

"Senior brother, that place seems... deserted, and this path is blocked."

Wang Daqi frowned and looked towards the direction from which the sound came, saying...

"Hmm? It's blocked?" The curly-haired cultivator frowned, displeased. "It's just some rocks blocking the way, isn't it? Just break through them."

"No, there's no one there."

"Nonsense, the sound clearly came from there, and it sounded like there were at least four or five people."

Xia Chunlian nodded, then cast a questioning look at Wang Daqi: "Are you deaf?"

Wang Daqi: "…………"

Xu Yan quickly stepped forward and said, "My husband mines here, so he knows this place well. He must have his reasons for saying that."

"Just a miner, get out of the way."

The curly-haired monk snorted coldly.

Wang Daqi didn't know what to say anymore.

He did indeed hear someone calling for help from that direction.

The problem is, the purple aura within him didn't detect anyone there!

Instead, there were countless eerie auras there, seemingly... centipedes!

There are so many centipedes.

"There are many armored centipedes there, you..."

The curly-haired monk immediately interrupted Wang Daqi: "Get out of my way!!"

boom!!

An aura of Foundation Establishment surged forth, forcefully pushing Wang Daqi back several steps.

"Let's talk this out. Why are you hitting me?" Xu Yan quickly helped Wang Daqi, who had taken a step back.

Jiang Xuerou quickly said, "Senior brother, Junior Brother Daqi was only trying to help, please don't take offense. Then please break through the stone wall."

After saying that, Jiang Xuerou quickly gave Wang Daqi a look, then transmitted her voice: "Daqi, this man's name is Xu Taibing. He's arrogant and domineering. Don't go against him, just let him go!!"

Wang Daqi took a deep breath and nodded silently.

At that moment, he remembered what his parents had told him back home.

You can't learn something just by being taught it; you can learn it after just one demonstration!

Since they won't listen to advice, that's none of his business!

"Understood, Xue Rou, Yan Yan, be careful, there might be something behind that stone wall!" Wang Daqi transmitted his voice as he retreated.

Seeing Wang Daqi retreating, Xu Taibing snorted and his contempt was almost tangible.

Xia Chunlian chuckled and shook her head, seemingly mocking Jiang Xuerou's poor judgment in choosing her people.

"Senior sister, I'm going to break through the stone wall to save people now!!!" Xu Taibing said.

"Alright, let's finish this quickly and not keep Master waiting." Xia Chunlian took a step back, arrogantly protecting her flank.

Xu Taibing strode to the blood-soaked stone wall, quickly forming hand seals. His Foundation Establishment stage spiritual power surged wildly within him, gathering on his right fist, emitting a thick, earthy-yellow light.

"open!!!"

He roared and slammed his fist hard against the stone wall.

"BOOM!!!"

The stone wall, which was already teetering on the brink of collapse from the previous tremors, crumbled and collapsed instantly upon this heavy blow, sending up clouds of dust.

Just as Xu Taibing was smiling and preparing to receive the gratitude of his fellow disciples who had come to his aid, a sudden change occurred!

"Help...help...hiss hiss hiss!!!!!!!!!"

The originally pitiful cries for help, in the instant the stone wall shattered, strangely overlapped and distorted.

Finally, it turned into an extremely piercing hiss, like metal sheets scraping against each other!

"Whoosh whoosh!"

Three dark red afterimages, like arrows released from a bow, pierced through the dust and mist, rushing towards Xu Taibing's face with lightning speed.

"What is that?!"

Xu Taibing's pupils contracted sharply, and upon closer inspection, he was so shocked that the hairs on his body stood on end.

It turned out to be a three-headed, strangely shaped centipede, about the thickness of an arm, with a dark red shell on its back.

Most chillingly, their heads and mouthparts have a thin layer of human skin folds that tremble violently with each breath.

The incredibly lifelike cry for help just now came from the unique folds of these centipedes' mouthparts!

We've fallen for their trap!

"ah!!!"

Little did Xu Taibing know that there was no living person behind the stone wall.

Or is it the lair of such cunning demonic beasts? They deliberately make noise to attract rescuers, then lie in wait to ambush and kill cultivators!

He couldn't dodge in time, and coupled with his previous arrogance, his protective aura was extremely weak.

With a few crisp "snap" sounds, the amulet he wore on his chest was as brittle as paper in front of the centipedes' mouthparts and was instantly bitten through.

Those specialized needle-like mouthparts were not only sharp, but also contained some kind of magical toxin.

Xu Taibing felt a chill in his chest, followed by excruciating pain!

The three-headed centipede pierced through his breastplate, leaving three gaping, bloody holes in his chest!

Wang Daqi's pupils contracted; sure enough, there was a problem.

"This is what happens when you don't listen to advice." Xu Yan murmured softly as she looked at the tragic scene before her.