Seeing this, Fan Debiao felt a bit embarrassed and dared not even glance at Liu Dashao.
Da Guoguo exclaimed, “Damn it! So this corpse wasn’t a burial offering at all—it was meant to feed these monsters!”
As soon as Da Guoguo finished speaking, several Yinglong creatures seemed to notice the group. They stared at them for a moment, let out a loud cry, and charged forward.
The Yinglong’s mouths were as sharp as blades. A single stab could either seriously injure or kill outright. With several Yinglong charging toward them, there was no time to hesitate. Da Guoguo, Fan Debiao, and Liu Dashao opened fire with pistols. Although their marksmanship wasn’t perfect, the large size of the Yinglong made them easy targets. All three shots hit, and the three Yinglong shrieked and fell off the cliff.
Liu Dashao had lost all his gear while fighting the merman earlier, but he still had the Taoist Master sword. As two Yinglong attacked from either side, Liu Dashao swung his sword left and right, slicing both their heads clean in half.
Da Guoguo, unimpressed with using just a pistol, grabbed a Thompson submachine gun in one hand and held onto a protruding rock on the cliff with the other. He aimed the gun at the Yinglong and unleashed a barrage. Once the gunfire stopped, several Yinglong dropped lifelessly from the sky.
The attacking Yinglong were dealt with, and Fan Debiao muttered, “Why the hell are these damn Yinglong always after us?”
Liu Dashao replied, “Fan Debiao, don’t you remember? Just moments ago we all worked together to kill one of their brothers up there. Now they’re here for revenge!”
Spitting, Fan Debiao joked, “Brother, how do we know for sure it was a male we killed? What if it was a female?”
As the two bantered, Da Guoguo interrupted, “You two really have the time to chat like this at a moment like this?”
He then turned to Caiqingchong and said, “Hey, Chongzi, didn’t you notice how suddenly these Yinglong appeared—and in such large numbers?”
Caiqingchong shook his head, equally puzzled.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew toward the group, nearly knocking Liu Dashao off the cliff. Fan Debiao cursed, “What the hell kind of place is this? Out of nowhere, a wind this strong nearly blows my bones apart!”
They turned their flashlights toward the wind source and saw a massive Yinglong flapping its wings. This one was as large as the carvings on the stone gate they had seen earlier. Liu Dashao thought to himself, “Wow, so those carvings were actually life-sized!”
Da Guoguo exclaimed, “This is an Yinglong? Judging by its size, I’d say it’s over ten thousand years old!”
Liu Dashao replied in disbelief, “No way! Ten thousand years old? If these creatures live that long, how did they become extinct?”
Fan Debiao interrupted, “Now’s not the time to be discussing this! Look at that Yinglong—it clearly has ill intentions toward us. We should take it out first!”
Before anyone could attack, the giant Yinglong charged toward them. At the same time, everyone opened fire. The bullets struck its body, producing a metallic clinking sound. It was clear their attacks had little effect.
As the Yinglong drew closer, it suddenly lunged forward, stabbing the cliff. Luckily, no one was hurt. But the impact caused the cliff to tremble violently. Liu Dashao’s hand went numb, and he fell off the cliff.
He thought, “I’m done for. If I’d known this would happen, I’d never have come here in the first place!”
Just as Liu Dashao braced for death, a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist. He shined his flashlight and saw it was Caiqingchong. Caiqingchong was half-crouched on the cliff’s edge, holding tightly onto Liu Dashao, with Fan Debiao, Da Guoguo, and Su Yougui beside him. With one strong pull, he hauled Liu Dashao back up.
Back on solid ground, Liu Dashao discovered they had landed in a man-made cave carved into the cliffside. It was deep and sloped sharply to the left. He muttered, “Thank god for this cave. Otherwise, all five of us would’ve been done for.”
Suddenly, the cave trembled. The Yinglong was attacking again, ramming its head repeatedly into the cave entrance.
With a crash, the Yinglong’s head smashed into the cave, its eyes glaring menacingly at the group below—it had become stuck.
Seeing the Yinglong trapped, Liu Dashao leapt onto its head, raised the Taoist Master sword, and plunged it deep into the creature’s skull. A stream of white liquid immediately oozed out, oddly similar to the liquid found inside the terracotta warriors.
With one final twitch, the Yinglong closed its eyes—dead.
Liu Dashao yanked the sword free, and a surge of white liquid burst out. He quickly dodged and jumped back to the group.
Seeing the Yinglong finally defeated, everyone let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground. But just as they caught their breath, a white worm-like creature emerged from the coagulating liquid pouring from the Yinglong’s skull.
Seeing it, Da Guoguo frowned and said, “That’s not a centipede. That thing is called a Chu.”
“A Chu? No way!” Fan Debiao gasped.
Liu Dashao asked, “Fan Debiao, do you know what this thing is?”
Wiping sweat from his brow, Fan Debiao replied, “Back when I was tearing down the old stuff during the Cultural Revolution, I once saw an article about the Chu on a piece of toilet paper someone had used to paste up a wall. It said the Chu is the messenger of demons and the bringer of death. Of course, that’s just to emphasize how terrifying it is. The Chu is extremely aggressive. There was an ancient sorcerer who could summon them, but after his death, the Chu vanished from Chinese history. No one knows where they came from. Looks like now we have our answer.”
Liu Dashao was skeptical. Fan Debiao was usually so clueless—how did he know so much about the Chu? He turned to Da Guoguo, who nodded in agreement.
Just then, the Chu seemed to notice them and launched itself toward Fan Debiao. He swung his pistol’s handle and smashed it against the creature, slamming it into the wall with a loud crack. The Chu twitched once and died.
Tapping the dead Chu with his gun, Fan Debiao chuckled, “Looks like it’s aggressive, but not very tough. One hit and it’s done.”
Before Fan Debiao’s words had even faded, Caiqingchong raised a finger to his lips—signaling silence. Everyone immediately quieted down.
Suddenly, a strange noise echoed through the cave, like thousands upon thousands of insects stampeding. Listening closely, it seemed to be coming from inside the Yinglong’s corpse. Everyone realized what it was and grabbed their weapons, aiming toward the sound.
Suddenly, the Yinglong’s mouth flew open, and a flood of Chus poured out like a wave, rushing toward the group.
Seeing the swarm, Da Guoguo opened fire. With a *tak-tak-tak*, the ground was littered with dead Chus.
But instead of scaring them off, the gunfire only seemed to enrage the Chus further. More and more poured from every orifice of the Yinglong’s head, until finally the pressure exploded the creature’s skull. A massive wave of Chus surged toward the group.
The group didn’t dare hesitate. They opened fire wildly. With their firepower concentrated, it was incredibly intense. The Chus were blown apart mid-air, splattering white liquid everywhere. Despite their firepower, the sheer number of Chus was overwhelming.
The Chus moved with terrifying speed, quickly reaching their feet. Da Guoguo shouted, “Run!” and they fired off a couple more rounds before turning tail and fleeing like birds scattering in all directions.
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