novelraw Chapter 98 : Let's Have a Disco!
Chapter 98 : Let's Have a Disco!
Yan Xiu gave them a cold look and waved to the demon cultivators behind him. "...Fall back for now."
"To ensure you don't go back on your word and attack us from behind, we'll be taking this Little Junior Sister with us."
Chu Sang completely ignored the murderous looks from the demon cultivators, grabbed the captive, and quickly rushed to the next level of the Demon Caves with her senior brothers and sister.
Though called a captive, Chu Sang didn't bother tying up Zhu Xin'er. It was too much trouble.
Zhu Xin'er had been fed a poison pill and would meet a miserable end if she didn't get the antidote, so there was no need to tie her up. She scurried after the four, afraid they might accidentally forget about her.
The seventh level of the Demon Caves was set up like an underground palace, with stone steps leading downwards. The five followed these steps down, walking for a very long time, seemingly without end.
At each level, countless treasures were displayed before them. At first, it was ordinary gold, silver, and jewels, but as they went deeper, the quality increased. Even spiritual pills, magical herbs, and magical tools appeared—all precious items hard to obtain in the outside world.
Zhu Xin'er's eyes lit up at the sight of wealth. At each level, she frantically stuffed treasures into her storage bag, showing no awareness of being a captive.
Chu Sang glanced at her, then looked away, continuing forward without a sideways glance.
Tang Yanling and the other two followed, not particularly interested in these demon race items.
As they continued downwards, a nauseating stench gradually appeared.
"Hold your breath," Mu Chihuai gave everyone a Breath-Holding Pill, which finally allowed them to breathe.
"What is this? It stinks!" The smell was almost unbearable for Tantai Ming, nearly making him vomit.
Without realizing it, the five arrived at the bottom of a cliff.
A cliff in an underground palace? It was extremely strange.
Below the cliff, a river flowed endlessly, churning like lava, occasionally splashing water... Most surprisingly, the river water was black—a thick, bottomless ink-black. The foul stench they had smelled earlier most likely came from this river.
Chu Sang kicked a stone into the river. It instantly disappeared.
"...Everyone be careful, this river water is corrosive," she said, having seen clearly that the stone hadn't been submerged by the rapid water, but had been corroded into gas the moment it touched the water.
"What kind of hellish place is this? I want to leave!" Zhu Xin'er was so frightened by this that she almost fell in. Her face turned deathly pale, and she cried out wanting to go home to her mother. But she found that the entrance to the underground palace had been closed at some point, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't open it even slightly.
"Tch, are all demon cultivators this cowardly?" Tantai Ming said, his hands on his sword.
Zhu Xin'er looked at him defiantly. "You despicable lot, if you hadn't kidnapped me, I wouldn't be in this ghostly place!"
"If you weren't following us, do you think your bunch of small fry could have successfully entered the seventh level?" Mu Chihuai sneered, curling his lip.
"Alright, you two, settle down. Don't bully the young lady," Tang Yanling gently intervened. "Some things are better left unsaid. It's too hurtful to one's pride."
"......"
Unable to fight back or argue, and with her weak point exposed, Zhu Xin'er was completely defeated, almost wanting to jump down.
"Rumble!"
Suddenly, everything began to spin. Rocks tumbled down from above, and the five almost lost their footing and fell.
Zhu Xin'er scratched her head, at her wit's end. "What the hell is this? Why is the underground spinning?"
A cold light flashed in Chu Sang's eyes, her small face tense. She finally understood where that ominous feeling she had upon entering the seventh level came from. "This isn't an underground palace at all, but the esophagus of a stone beast... The black river below isn't ordinary water either. The reason it's so corrosive is that it's the gastric juices of the stone beast, used specifically for digesting food."
And as for the food...
Naturally, it was these intruders.
Upon hearing this, the other four were shocked. They had unknowingly entered the esophagus of a stone beast??
The most outrageous part was that they had no idea when they had been tricked into entering.
It seemed that the rare treasures they had encountered earlier were all traps set by the stone beast to lure them further down. They had truly walked right into its stomach.
They had never seen anything like this before.
As time passed, the five noticed the "river" rising higher and higher... In at most half an hour, they would be submerged in the "river" and corroded until not even their bones remained.
"We need to get out quickly!"
The entrance had already been sealed. Tantai Ming unleashed a fierce sword intent, but it only knocked down a few stone fragments, unable to break through the hard, thick layers of stone walls.
"Damn, why are these stone blocks so sturdy? They're even tougher than dark iron."
Chu Sang stroked her chin and replied, "Stone beasts, as their name suggests, are stones that have gained sentience. While other demon beasts cultivate to increase their attack power, these guys do the opposite, putting all their points into defense."
"In a one-on-one fight, even a Golden Core cultivator couldn't do anything to it, so they usually hide themselves and lure cultivators to become their food voluntarily." Just like these unfortunate fools today who had walked right into the trap.
"Once you fall into the trap, it's very difficult to get out," Chu Sang crossed her arms and scanned their surroundings. "The stone beast's entire body is made of thousand-year-old giant rocks. The interior is even more defensive than the exterior, specifically to prevent food from escaping midway."
"Unless you have Nascent Soul level strength, it's impossible to break through."
Among these five people, they had Golden Core and Foundation Establishment cultivators, but what they lacked was a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Zhu Xin'er sat down heavily, her face ashen. "If only Senior Brother were here..."
As she spoke, her expression changed again, and she glared viciously at the others. "You useless lot can't even handle this small matter and are dragging me down to die with you. When my Senior Brother comes, he'll kill you all!"
Oh ho, what a young miss attitude.
Chu Sang felt it necessary to remind her of her esteemed captive status.
She grabbed Zhu Xin'er's collar and lifted her, walking to the edge of the cliff. Her tone was sincere, "Since you're going to die sooner or later anyway, why don't I send you to meet your ancestors early?"
"Sister, you're my only sister. I spoke out of turn earlier, wuwu, please don't throw me down!" Zhu Xin'er clung tightly to her arm. As she spoke, she gave herself two hard slaps on the face, crying bitterly and regretting her actions.
"......" Chu Sang tugged at the corner of her mouth. Drama queens were really not to be trifled with.
After a back-and-forth, Zhu Xin'er finally quieted down. Tantai Ming's arm was sore from swinging his sword, but the stone wall hadn't budged an inch. The young man was a bit dejected. "It's no use, we still can't get out."
"If we can't get out, then we'll break it," Chu Sang wasn't very panicked. She stepped forward and reached for the storage bag at her waist. "Everyone, stand back. It's time to bring out the big guns!"
A massive object appeared before everyone.
The four present were dumbfounded. In their ten-plus years of life, they had never seen such a strange thing.
Tang Yanling put her hand to her chest, embarrassed. "What kind of magical tool is this? It looks so strange."
"It may look weird, but it's very useful," Chu Sang patted the cannon, smiling. "I've named this divine tool the Heaven-Destroying Earth-Shattering Super Invincible Lightning Spiritual Power Penetration Cannon!"
Although Tantai Ming and the other two didn't understand what this thing was, they knew that anything Little Junior Sister produced must be amazing!
"You should all stand back. Don't get caught in the blast."
Hearing her words, the three almost instinctively shuddered and took a step back in unison.
Zhu Xin'er, being a bit slow, hadn't grasped the situation. She wasn't intimidated at all and even wanted to mock these foolish human cultivators for being so declined that they couldn't even produce a decent magical tool, making themselves a laughingstock.
But when the cannon fired, the powerful blast nearly blew her away.
The giant rocks that even sword intent couldn't break were directly blasted through for tens of meters.
After a few shots, the stone beast was left with a perforated stomach.
"Boom!"
"Rumble—"
Earth-shaking explosions echoed through the seventh level of the Demon Caves. The five successfully broke out of the beast's belly. After a miserable cry, the stone beast completely turned into a pile of rubble.
Zhu Xin'er face-planted on the ground, her "shamate" big braid blown into an explosion hairstyle. She struggled to get up from the ground, exhaling a smoke ring, her life beliefs seemingly rewritten.
She had realized the four weren't demon cultivators when she saw Tantai Ming use sword intent, but were cultivators disguised to infiltrate the demon realm... However, what shocked her wasn't this fact, but the killing machine Chu Sang had pulled out.
Wasn't the cultivation world supposed to be full of old-fashioned, conservative things? What was that killing machine?
Why had she never seen such an awesome magical tool before?
Human cultivators... were actually this terrifying!!
She had heard her Senior Brother say that the elders were planning to attack the cultivation world. No, no, she must go back and persuade them. If even a few scattered cultivators were this frightening, let alone attacking the cultivation world, their demon race would be completely annihilated!!
Zhu Xin'er quickly checked her storage bag, only to find that the bag full of treasures was all gone.
"Those things were just illusions set by the stone beast to lure in food," Tang Yanling reminded her. "I didn't expect someone would actually fall for it."
Second Senior Sister's words were too gentle and subtle. Chu Sang was more direct: "Stupid."
Zhu Xin'er was severely struck down. She snorted angrily and turned to rush forward with her head down.
Ahead was a three-story pavilion containing many good items.
However, this time Zhu Xin'er had learned her lesson. She absolutely wouldn't let herself be the one to lose face again, so all the way down, she didn't even glance at anything, walking forward coolly with her eyes straight ahead.
"Force-Boosting Pills can greatly increase a cultivator's strength and speed for a short time, but once half an hour passes, the person who took the pill will instantly become powerless," Mu Chihuai casually picked up a bottle of pills, opened it and sniffed, saying in a low voice. "These pills have mixed reviews, neither good nor bad. It mainly depends on how they're used. In dangerous situations like escaping, they might save your life, but if you can't defeat your opponent within half an hour, you'll be killed in retaliation."
He casually put the bottle of pills into his storage bag, thinking about trying to improve the pills when he got back.
Tantai Ming also saw several handy weapons, but they were all swords and blades used by demon cultivators, with too much killing intent and difficult to control. He weighed them in his hand and put them down, catching up with Tang Yanling and Chu Sang in front.
Tang Yanling saw a piece of high-quality agarwood that could be carved into a zither body and would be very compatible with ice silkworm silk strings.
Although she already had dozens of zithers in her pavilion, her collector mentality said the more, the better.
Compared to the three's picking and choosing, Chu Sang was the type to take everything. Whether good or bad, as long as she laid eyes on it, it couldn't escape the fate of being completely looted.
Zhu Xin'er turned back to frown at the three, her hands on her hips, sneering sarcastically, trying to regain face, "You foolish human cultivators, my Senior Brother said that the deeper you go into the Demon Caves, the more realistic the illusions become... These things are all fake, meant to trick people!"
However, when they reached the ninth level of the Demon Caves, her face that she hadn't yet managed to save was slapped hard again. Zhu Xin'er found that the treasures taken by Chu Sang and the others hadn't disappeared.
In other words, all these treasures were real, and she hadn't taken a single one.
Regret.
If asked, she would say she regretted it so much she wanted to die.
This time, Zhu Xin'er had truly learned her lesson. For the rest of the way, she kept her eyes fixed on Chu Sang, doing whatever she did.
The ninth level was like a primeval forest. As soon as they entered the woods, countless demon vines burst from the ground, frantically attacking them.
The attacks were chaotic, catching them off guard and leaving them overwhelmed.
"This won't do, there are too many. We need to calm them down," Chu Sang retreated to Tang Yanling's side and looked up. "Second Senior Sister, if I remember correctly, most sound cultivators also study illusion techniques as a means to enhance their attacks. Your zither music should have an illusory effect, right?"
Tang Yanling nodded, not understanding where this was going.
Chu Sang swung her hand to cut down a few demon vines trying to sneak attack, then asked, "How strong is the illusory effect? Does it work on plants?"
Tang Yanling thought for a moment, then said pursing her lips, "It works on any living thing that can move. It's most effective on those with spiritual awareness."
"That's great!"
Chu Sang casually took out several Enhancement Talismans and Sound Amplification Talismans, sticking them on her zither. She said cheerfully, "Second Senior Sister, follow my lead. Let's play them a Disco!"
Huh?
What's a Disco?
"8-5-7—8-5-7—8-5-7—"
The moment the ear-piercing demonic sound rang out, the entire atmosphere changed. Tantai Ming's hands and feet were no longer under his control. "...What kind of music is this??"
Suddenly, he really wanted to hold hands and dance.
Tang Yanling couldn't help but tug at her lip. She had never... never played such unorthodox music before. However, she had to admit that this demonic sound was indeed energetic and brainwashing, more directly impacting the mind than her usual zither music, causing direct mental damage.
The demon vines all twitched as if possessed, momentarily forgetting to attack the intruders, and began to sway and dance wildly. Some even started to dance so frenziedly that they began to kill each other.
"Now's our chance, Seventh Senior Brother, let's go!"
Chu Sang was a woman of few words but decisive action. She threw out dozens of Explosive Talismans, while Tantai Ming seized the opportunity to unleash over a dozen sword intents. Hundreds of demon vines were cut into pieces, falling to the ground and revealing the entrance to the next level of the Demon Caves.
The five quickly rushed to enter the next level before the next wave of demon vines could burst from the ground.
The tenth level of the Demon Caves was already part of the inner area of the Twelve Demon Caves.
In thousands of years, few demon cultivators had successfully entered the inner area of the Demon Caves. Who would have thought that these few human cultivators would break in?
If the demon race ancestors knew about this, they would probably climb out of their coffins in anger to berate their useless demon race descendants.