Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
With the sudden heat wave, the air was unbearably dry.
Gao Peng couldn’t help but lick his lips.
The fighting also quieted down. Now that there was a common enemy, a ceasefire was only logical. Even so, they were still in an extremely precarious situation.
The mountain spirit wasn’t done evolving, so there was no way to tell what kind of abilities it had.
However…
The puddles of water beneath his feet were evaporating at an alarming rate. Even the few lucky plants in the surrounding that had survived the inferno before were wilting quickly.
Stripey couldn’t tear his gaze away from the cavern, which loomed closer and closer…
The acrid smell of sulphur permeated the air.
Stripey suddenly started fidgeting with anxiety.
The Winged Thunder Ape who had been silently observing from the side exploded in a blur of movement. Glowing with purple lightning, he delivered a mighty blow to the rock wall.
Boom…
Nothing happened.
A couple of large rocks were jarred loose and came tumbling down from above.
How hard was this thing? This was a Commander-tier familiar, for crying out loud! Would a Lord-tier familiar even be able to put a dent in it?
After seeing this, Gao Peng gave up on the idea of breaking through the wall.
The Mountain Spirit King wasn’t a fool. There was no way it would let its prey tunnel out from under his nose. They couldn’t break down the walls any faster than the Mountain Spirit King could create them.
As the cavern drew closer and closer, rock, stones and even dirt were swallowed whole by the Mountain Spirit King. As the cavern flared a blinding crimson, it rumbled for a bit before unleashing a scorching wave of heat.
Behind Gao Peng, Flamy was furiously pecking away at Goldie.
Goldie flashed with purple light at odd intervals, and his body kept growing and growing…
Because Flamy stood on two feet, it couldn’t grow much even after being attacked.
Flamy unleashed a flurry of punches against the wall to no avail. Every time it seemed like it had made a breakthrough, it was still greeted by a dark wall of granite.
The cavern was almost upon them. The waves of heat felt like the Devil was fanning them himself.
The Wooden Peacock didn’t feel so good. Its crown transformed into a giant tree and backed as far away from the heat as it could, but to no avail. The withering tree cut a sad sight that was exacerbated by the plaintive cries of the Wooden Peacock. It was barely recognizable as the magnificent figure it had been in combat before.
The Winged Thunder Ape continued unleashing a rain of frenzied blows at the wall. The closer the Mountain Spirit King drew, the faster his punches seemed to be.
Stripey closed his eyes and laid silently on the ground. His jet-black shell glowed faintly red in the light.
Huang Ya was terrified. Why wasn’t Director Ji there yet…?
Any longer and Director Ji would be picking up their corpses… or their ashes.
“Young master Gao, let’s go all the way to the back. We might stand a chance there.” Huang Ya’s teeth were chattering as he spoke.
Stripey looked up at Gao Peng and Huang Ya as if he was about to say something before lowering his head quietly.
At the very back of the cave, Jia Lu and her men were standing. Seeing the both of them come over, mischief glinted in some of the men’s eyes, but Jia Lu held a hand up. “Keep your guard up.”
Turning around, she spoke to Gao Peng in fluent Mandarin. “We need to work together. If we have our familiars attack the wall at the same time, we might have a chance.”
In the face of death, Jia Lu chose the path of cooperation. There was no point in beating Gao Peng if they all ended up dead.
“What we need is time.” Jia Lu’s tone was grave.
“I know that, but how can we buy more time?” This whole mess was her fault to begin with, so she might have actually had a useful idea. However, she was still an enemy. They might have agreed on a truce, but the moment they resolved the situation, they would start fighting again.
“A sacrifice.” Her voice brooked no argument.
“A sacrifice?” Gao Peng looked at her suspiciously. Was she trying to pull a fast one?
“Now that the Mountain Spirit King is evolving, it needs an insane amount of energy. That’s why it’s been after us this whole time. We’re a damn feast for it!”
“Where are we going to find a sacrifice—” Gao Peng paused and eyed her warily.
“Relax. We can’t afford to fight among ourselves right now.” She said hurriedly.
“How about this? We’ll take turns sending in our familiars as a sacrifice to buy us some time. How does that sound?”
“I refuse.”
He would rather die than agree to those terms.
Jia Lu smiled. “As proof of my sincerity, let me go first.” A familiar stood out from behind her and charged right into the cavern.
After consuming it, the Mountain Spirit King slowed down a little.
“I have proven myself.” Jia Lu shot Gao Peng an intense look.
“I’m sorry. They’re all my friends. I would never sell them out just so that I could live a little longer.” Gao Peng turned his back on her.
Suddenly, a dark shadow slipped out from their midst and shot straight at the cavern like a bullet before anyone could react in time.
“Stripey, what are you doing?!” Gao Peng was furious once he identified the shadow.
“Gao peng, let me slow down this big chunk of rock… I’ll be back in a sec.”
Swallowed by the black mist, Stripey gradually disappeared into the inky darkness of the cavern.
The girl with wine-red hair snorted derisively. “You Huaxia people are really something else. Acting like you care so much when you were actually planning to sacrifice that crab all along.”
Trembling slightly, he turned around to face her, his eyes bloodshot. “It wasn’t a crab… It was a spider.”
“I don’t give a sh*t whether it’s a crab or a spider…” Thud!
As quick as lightning, an enraged Gao Peng unleashed a vicious right hook on the girl.
The girl collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut with a loud wail. Her right cheek swelled to the size of an apple and mottled an ugly shade of purplish-black. Blood ran down her face in tiny rivulets.
“Another word out of your mouth and I will kill you.” His voice was pure ice.
He turned towards the cavern entrance. It was still belching out clouds of thick smoke.
The only solace Gao Peng could find was the fact that Stripey was still alive. He could still feel Stripey’s strong and steady heartbeat through their Blood Contract.
