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

"Get out of here!! Get out of here!!"

Despite the excruciating pain in his chest, Xu Taibing frantically swung his heavy sword, swatting the centipede in front of his chest away. But the sweet, pungent smell of blood instantly ignited the entire nest.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."

More screeching sounds followed.

Hundreds and thousands of onomatopoeic centipedes of all sizes surged out from the cracks in the broken rocks, like a black and red torrent, rushing straight towards Xu Taibing.

"Junior brother!!!!"

Xia Chunlian then realized what was happening and turned pale with fright.

Ultimately, she wasn't a professional combat cultivator.

What I do most on a daily basis is simply designing and maintaining formations, etc.

It is equivalent to the role of "engineer".

Only then did she realize that Wang Daqi's warning was no exaggeration.

I couldn't help but feel both regret and worry.

But saving lives was the priority at this moment. She screamed and flicked her fingers, quickly and without regard for cost, slapping out two valuable Tier 1 High-level Flame Talismans.

"Boom! Boom!!!"

Two bursts of flame exploded inside the cave, temporarily halting the swarm's advance.

But it also illuminated the despairing scene that followed.

Behind that stone wall lay several miners' corpses, which had long since been sucked dry.

These centipedes were wriggling among the corpses, mimicking the final screams of the dead, waiting for their next prey to take the bait.

As the fire talisman exploded, all the onomatopoeic centipedes hid.

At this point, Wang Daqi understood.

These mimicry centipedes primarily rely on surprise attacks and have weak defensive capabilities.

Even a slightly hot temperature can scald a large number of people to death.

As the centipede swarm retreated, Xu Taibing lay on the ground, barely alive.

"Senior Brother Xu..."

Several disciples rushed over to help Xu Taibing.

Unfortunately, his injuries were too severe!

Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would have no chance of survival with three bloody holes in his chest.

At this point, it was merely a final, fleeting moment of brilliance.

"Junior brother, I'm the one who's caused you so much trouble. Just now... I should have listened to Junior Brother Wang's advice."

Xia Chunlian knelt on the ground, her face full of remorse.

Xu Taibing, his face also filled with pain and regret, suddenly grabbed Xia Chunlian's hand.

"Senior sister, I... I have something I've always been too shy to say: I... I like you..."

After saying that, Xu Taibing looked at Wang Daqi and murmured, "Junior brother, I was too arrogant just now!!"

"Sigh..." Wang Daqi sighed.

He was indeed quite angry just now.

However, as the saying goes, "a dying man's words are good," and the other party has already paid the price for his arrogance.

Then I don't need to criticize him anymore.

"Junior Brother Wang, I hope you can put aside past grievances and lead everyone... out of here..."

After uttering his last words, Xu Taibing's head lolled to the side, and he breathed his last.

"Junior Brother Xu..."

Xia Chunlian's eyes immediately welled up with tears.

Jiang Xuerou said, "Senior Sister Xia, now is not the time to be sad. Please cheer up and leave this place."

"Yes, Senior Sister Xia, we will bring Senior Brother Xu's body back."

A senior female student took the initiative to put Xu Taibing's body into her storage bag.

However, Xu Taibing could not put the contents into his own storage bag, so he entrusted it to Xia Chunlian for safekeeping.

"Let's go."

Xia Chunlian gritted her teeth and looked at Wang Daqi: "Junior Brother Wang, you really know this place well. How do we proceed from here?"

At this moment, she shed her previous arrogance and became incredibly humble.

"There it is!!!"

Wang Daqi had just sensed that there seemed to be a human presence in that place!

"Walk!"

Xia Chunlian walked ahead.

She turned a huge corner, and the view suddenly opened up before everyone, but they also gasped in surprise.

In a mine hall ahead, a dozen or so disciples, covered in dust and dirt, were huddled back to back inside a broken defensive magic shield.

The light shield was already teetering on the brink of collapse.

The outer perimeter was densely surrounded by no fewer than a hundred armored centipedes.

There were even several crimson armored centipedes among them, frantically devouring the light screen.

One of them, the iron armor resembling red iron ore, is the mark of a Foundation Establishment level demon beast!

"It's Senior Sister Xia and Senior Sister Jiang! They've come to rescue us!!!"

Upon seeing Wang Daqi and the others, the disciples who had been hiding inside the light barrier cheered with joy at having escaped from a desperate situation.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle..." The centipede swarm noticed the group and pounced on them frantically.

"Do it!!!"

Jiang Xuerou's eyes turned cold, and the flying sword in her hand pierced through the head of a crimson centipede like a rainbow piercing the sun.

Wang Daqi did not rush in to fight directly.

Instead, they quickly observed their surroundings.

He discovered that the top of the mine hall had cracked, a result of the aftershocks from the impact of the Ironclad Centipede King.

"Wait! Don't all rush over there! Stabilize the top layer of rock first!" Wang Daqi shouted. "If this place collapses, no one will be able to escape!!!"

Hearing Wang Daqi's roar, Xia Chunlian, who was about to rush into the swarm of insects to fight, suddenly felt a tremor in her heart.

This time, she listened to Wang Daqi's advice!

Therefore, she subconsciously looked up.

Using the faint light of the aura spell, they could indeed see several jagged cracks rapidly spreading along the impact marks left by the Ironclad Centipede King on the precarious dome above.

Fine powder of spirit stones fell like raindrops.

"This guy... his cultivation level is low, but his eyesight is incredibly sharp!!!!"

A look of surprise flashed in Xia Chunlian's beautiful eyes, and she couldn't help but take another look at Wang Daqi.

Seeing that the mine hall could collapse at any moment, she dared not hesitate for a moment.

With a flick of his wrist, a bronze-colored array plate flew out of his storage bag: "Mountain-Stabilizing Plate, suppress!!!"

The yellowish-brown halo spread instantly, like several invisible giant pillars supporting the sky, forcefully holding back the crumbling rock layers.

"kill!!!!"

With no worries about the future, Jiang Xuerou and the group of inner sect female cultivators were like tigers with wings.

Sword light flashed like a rainbow, and talismans transformed into a sky full of thunder and fire, weaving a dense web of death within the narrow mine hall.

Jiang Xuerou's flying sword was the most ferocious, each slash through the void leaving a trail of foul-smelling blood.

The female cultivators at the late stage of Qi Refining worked in groups of three, advancing and retreating in an orderly fashion, their hand seals perfectly coordinated, crushing the swarm of centipedes that pounced on them.

Wang Daqi, on the other hand, remained on the fringes of the battle.

The purple energy within his body had reached its peak.

Whenever a centipede lurking in the shadows launches a sneak attack, he can always get a warning in advance and use his spiritual energy to kill the centipede and fill any gaps in his defenses.

Jiang Xuerou was not to be outdone; with her bright blue eyes, she always managed to kill the centipedes that pounced on her first.

Comparatively speaking, Xu Yan's combat strength is lower, and she hasn't made any significant achievements.

With everyone's combined efforts, the originally surging black and red tide quickly dried up, leaving the ground covered with the remains of centipedes and sticky fluids, emitting a pungent stench.

In the end, only the elite centipede with the strength of the Foundation Establishment stage remained in the arena, roaring madly.

"You beast, give me back my junior brother's life!!!!"

Upon seeing this monster, Xia Chunlian was reminded of the tragic death of Xu Taibing. Her eyes instantly turned red, and her pretty face became frosty.

She recklessly channeled her spiritual power, and a crimson umbrella in her hand suddenly opened, transforming into a blazing inferno.

Although the centipede that had built its foundation had a hard shell.

However, they were repeatedly defeated by Xia Chunlian's almost suicidal and ferocious attacks.

As Xia Chunlian pierced its compound eye with her sword mid-air, the arrogant demonic insect let out a mournful scream. Its huge body writhed wildly in the flames before finally turning into a charred corpse.

"good!!!"

"I'm rescued! Thank you so much, senior sisters, for saving my life!"

The dozen or so disciples hiding inside the light barrier cheered with joy at the sight of the demons being wiped out.

Next.

Because of her previous painful lessons, Xia Chunlian was now almost blindly obedient to Wang Daqi.

Throughout the entire breakout and search and rescue operation, she stayed by Wang Daqi's side almost every step of the way.

Wang Daqi pointed east, and she would never go west.

If Wang Daqi frowned even slightly, she would immediately grip the hilt of her sword warily.

This contrast, though somewhat comical to Jiang Xuerou and Xu Yan, greatly improved the efficiency of their search and rescue efforts.

In just half an hour.

Under Wang Daqi's precise guidance and risk avoidance skills, the team managed to rescue no fewer than forty disciples in the winding mine tunnels.

Although most people sustained some injuries, thankfully their lives were not in danger.

"We're almost done shopping..."

Wang Daqi sensed the flow of purple energy within his body as he spoke in a deep voice.

Just then.

Wang Daqi's ears twitched slightly as a familiar yet repulsive aura appeared on the edge of his senses.

"This guy... is still alive?" Wang Daqi glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw a very inconspicuous rock depression in the corner of the mine hall.

"Help...help me...is someone coming? I heard a noise...help me, I'm here, I'm Yao Wu, an outer disciple!"