The others could only sigh deeply.
In the next moment, those behind surged forward, the formation changing from a single line to an oval, with Baili Bing precisely in the center, making her the safest.
Suddenly, with a deafening roar, a long figure erupted from the ground, like a stream of black water flowing endlessly outward, its body still spreading after a few breaths.
Everyone gasped, including Mo Qi, and involuntarily took a few steps back. It was a giant centipede, its size suggesting it had likely achieved sentience.
Moments later, half of the centipede's body was still buried in the earth, while its upper half lunged towards them. Its dark maw revealed a pair of scissor-like mandibles.
Surrounding it were segmented, hardened exoskeletons, with sharp antennae protruding from the joints, like countless sharp daggers.
As the centipede moved, these antennae severed the trees it touched.
While the others pondered how to deal with the approaching mandibles, the centipede spat a black mist from its mouth, which spread rapidly.
"Everyone hold your breath, that black mist is poisonous," Shen Xiao immediately warned, then held his breath. The others followed suit.
Amidst the spreading black fog, the gleaming mandibles whistled forward, directly at Mo Qi's face.
Mo Qi instinctively extended his hands, grasping the mandibles, intending to use the same method he used on the Sword Bull.
But the next moment, he realized he had miscalculated. The centipede, using the half of its body still underground, unleashed a tremendous force, pushing towards Mo Qi like a mountain.
Mo Qi's body was pushed back, his feet slowly sinking into the earth.
Concurrently, Jin Dan, Baili Bing, He Zhongming, and a few others leaped onto the centipede's back, their daggers and sabers striking its body. However, its hardened exoskeleton rendered these attacks utterly ineffective.
Yet, these attacks still angered it. Its body trembled, throwing the attackers to the ground.
"Aim for its joints, that's its weak point," Shen Xiao shouted from the ground. He then shot an arrow towards a joint, but missed, hitting the centipede's hard shell. With a clang, the arrow fell to the ground.
Mo Qi in front was also struggling. The centipede's forward momentum intensified with each passing moment, and the two mandibles he held in his hands were closing like scissors.
If they closed, Mo Qi's hands would be severed.
Therefore, to resist this force, Mo Qi couldn't free a hand to deliver a fatal blow like he did to the Sword Bull.
At this precise moment, the centipede spat another cloud of black mist at Mo Qi.
Everyone cried out in unison, especially Jin Dan, who roared and, as if in retaliation, leaped onto the centipede's back again, fiercely stabbing at its joints.
The centipede's joints were its weak point. It let out pained screeches and its body contorted and trembled violently, once again throwing Jin Dan to the ground.
A wisp of black mist entered Mo Qi's body with his breath. He felt a wave of dizziness, his mind seeming to empty, gradually replaced by a void.
He felt his consciousness slowly fading, but before losing it entirely, he did not relax his resistance against the centipede, desperately holding onto the mandibles. Gradually, he felt the strength in his hands also waning.
At this moment, a long-absent warm current within him gradually awakened, flowing through his meridians, carrying a powerful force that coursed through his body, engulfing and dissolving the black mist.
It then continued forward, filling the void that had been created in Mo Qi.
Mo Qi's pupils suddenly dilated. He forced the rapidly closing mandibles apart again. Then, with a series of grinding sounds, the mandibles showed signs of being pried loose.
The centipede shrieked and spat another cloud of black mist at Mo Qi, but it could no longer affect him.
Jin Dan struggled to get up from the ground, while the others had already retreated in fear. When a few people had fallen from the centipede's back, they had been injured by its antennae.
One of them had his abdomen split open, his entrails spilling out, and had died on the spot. The others, though only grazed, were already traumatized.
Meanwhile, Baili Bing did not retreat. She leaped onto the centipede's back again, her dagger repeatedly stabbing at its joints, causing the centipede to cry out, but it still couldn't inflict a fatal wound.
During this time, Shen Xiao also shot several arrows into the centipede's joints, but they seemed unable to cause fatal damage.
Baili Bing immediately shouted to He Zhongming, who was stunned beside her, "Throw me your saber."
He Zhongming snapped back to reality and immediately threw his saber. Baili Bing grabbed one of the centipede's antennae to steady herself, and with her other hand, she snatched the saber. Without hesitation, she plunged it into a joint with a fierce slash, and dark green liquid gushed out.
The blow sank three inches deep, and the centipede let out a piercing shriek.
But it wasn't over. Baili Bing continued to hack at the same spot, dark green liquid constantly pouring out, splashing all over her.
The centipede thrashed violently, but it couldn't shake off Baili Bing, whose hand was still gripping its antenna. The joint was now only half connected by flesh.
The centipede whipped its tail, and the half of its body still in the ground burst forth, kicking up sand and stones.
Having half its body buried in the ground had its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that it could leverage the ground for immense impact;
However, the disadvantage was that with its head pinned by Mo Qi, and its body being attacked at specific points by others, it was difficult to shake them off simply by wriggling.
So, it swung its tail out and, using the immense force of the whipping motion and its violent tremors, finally knocked Baili Bing to the ground.
Mo Qi, who had intended to wrench the centipede's mandibles off, clearly felt its forward momentum weaken significantly. One mandible was already severely dislodged and could no longer interlock.
He knew his chance had come. He freed one hand, clenched it into a fist, and with a gust of wind and momentum, seemingly carrying thunder and fire, he punched the centipede's head.
The head immediately underwent a shattering transformation, twisting into a lump, its brain matter and flesh mashed together. By all appearances, it was definitively dead.
However, the centipede was not yet completely still. Its body continued to writhe and twist violently, nearly injuring Baili Bing on the ground.
Mo Qi's other hand still held the other mandible, which had detached from its body. The centipede rolled on the ground, seemingly attempting to escape. It was truly tenacious, still trying to live without a head.
Mo Qi strode forward and punched its body. Sand flew, dirt scattered, and the centipede's body sank into the earth.
It wasn't over. He landed another punch, then a third, countless punches rained down on the centipede's body, rendering it unrecognizable and merging it with the soil.
It seemed to be over. Everyone let out a long sigh of relief.
Jin Dan looked at Mo Qi with lingering fear, "Weren't you hit by that poisonous gas earlier? Are you okay?"
Mo Qi gave him an annoyed glance, "Do you want me to be in trouble?"
Jin Dan raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and indicated it didn't matter.
Mo Qi looked at Baili Bing, giving her a grateful look. If she hadn't remained calm in that critical moment, disregarding her own safety, and launched a series of destructive attacks on the centipede, he might not have had the opportunity to deliver his devastating blows.
At the same time, he couldn't help but admire the woman's decisiveness and fortitude.
However, Baili Bing misunderstood. She knew she was in a sorry state, and Mo Qi was staring at her, which she took as mockery.
"What are you looking at? Doesn't everyone have moments of disarray?" Baili Bing glared at him.
"No, no, you look quite beautiful," Mo Qi corrected himself immediately.
But the moment the words left his mouth, he realized he had spoken incorrectly. It could easily be perceived as frivolous. He himself had suffered from being frivolous in the past, having been beaten into the water, and still carried an unhealed wound from it.
As expected, his remark drew astonished, then enlightened glances from the crowd: "Ah? Oh!"
Baili Bing also looked at Mo Qi with a startled expression, then shyly lowered her head.
Mo Qi felt extremely embarrassed, wishing he could disappear into the ground.
"Well, it's getting late, we should get moving." He turned and walked ahead. Baili Bing, as if in tacit understanding, continued to follow closely behind.
Jin Dan also seemed to understand, showing a mischievous smile, and no longer walked alongside Mo Qi, but instead behind Baili Bing. The others followed in order, and the single-line formation was restored.
After walking a short distance, in an open area, they saw more corpses, or rather, a pile of flesh almost reduced to dust and a pool of blood that had almost formed a pond.
This time, there were no monster corpses lying around. Or rather, among the pile of minced flesh, there were the remains of some kind of monster.
An unprecedented atmosphere of terror and a bloody scent permeated the air.
What had the people ahead experienced? The crowd dared not imagine. A shadow fell over everyone's hearts.
But they had to continue. After exchanging glances, they resumed their journey.
Not long after, a sound like a howl, or a groan, or a murmur, reached them from ahead. The group felt dizzy, almost losing their footing, as if their souls were being grasped and dragged away.
Shen Xiao's face changed drastically, fear and despair contorting his features into an extremely twisted expression: "It's a Soul-Shrieker! We're doomed, we're doomed! This kind of monster is rarely seen, appearing only once a century. How could it be here?
We're finished, we definitely won't make it. Let's just turn back. After all, being alive is more important than anything."
Without waiting for anyone's response, he immediately turned and fled.
Two other people, after a moment of hesitation, followed him.
Although he felt a sense of contempt for them, Mo Qi's heart was also pounding. He had been the main force against the centipede monster, but without everyone's concerted effort, they likely wouldn't have won. Now, the team was disintegrating, and the monster ahead seemed even more formidable.
He scanned the scene. Only Jin Dan, Baili Bing, He Zhongming, and two other unnamed individuals remained. The gazes of the two unnamed individuals flickered, suggesting they were also ready to leave at any moment.
He suddenly realized that as he looked at them, the remaining people were all looking at him. Clearly, their decision to stay or leave rested on Mo Qi's judgment.
Since that was the case, Mo Qi hardened his resolve and continued forward.
Moments later, the terrifying monster mentioned by Shen Xiao appeared before them. It resembled a giant toad, as large as a water buffalo.
Its entire body was covered in warts the size of fists, and its pair of crimson eyes were as large as bronze bells.
As its lower jaw pulsed, it emitted a sound that was both a groan and a murmur. The souls of the group were instantly stripped away, and they lost consciousness for a moment, only to regain it immediately.
But the giant toad let out another murmur, and their souls were instantly stripped away again.
And its abilities were not yet exhausted. The instant the group lost consciousness, the toad opened its mouth and spat out a ripple, which expanded outwards with a roar, instantly striking He Zhongming and one of the unnamed individuals.
Their bodies instantly collapsed and exploded, turning into minced flesh and bloody mist that dispersed in the air.
As soon as Mo Qi's divine sense recovered, he realized the opponent was too powerful. Their mortal bodies had no chance of fighting back, let alone winning. It was simply impossible.
It was no wonder Shen Xiao had fled at the mere sound of its voice.
"Run!" Mo Qi yelled, turning and fleeing.
In fact, before he could speak, Baili Bing, Jin Dan, and the remaining unnamed individual had already started to flee, and they were even ahead of Mo Qi.
The toad (Soul-Shrieker) pursued them with unhurried hops, covering several yards with each leap. The distance between it and the fleeing Mo Qi was rapidly closing.
Mo Qi's heart was pounding with fear. He knew that if the toad spat out another ripple in the next moment, he would be instantly pulverized.
As expected, what was inevitable did happen. After a brief loss of consciousness, he felt a tremendous force strike his back.
Even from a distance, he could feel a destructive power. His hair was blown back, and his body was contorted into swirling vortices due to the indentations. Before it even touched him, he felt a searing and tearing sensation, as if his body would collapse upon contact.
However, the might of this force seemed to awaken a long-dormant power within Mo Qi. Even though Mo Qi didn't know how to deal with it, that instinctual power responded.
A ripple erupted from his body, expanding infinitely and covering the sky and earth. Within that ripple were countless streaks of white light.
Each streak of white light had barbs at its tip, clearly shaped like sharp arrows. Each arrow was distinct yet connected, forming an impenetrable whole. Together, they formed a colossal arrow that blotted out the sky, radiating a light that rivaled the sun and moon. It seemed to instantly engulf the entire world, intensely brilliant and blindingly dazzling, impossible to gaze upon directly.
The moment the arrow collided with the ripple emitted by the toad, the toad's ripple was like a small stream meeting the ocean, instantly swallowed. The arrow continued forward, engulfing the toad and a large swathe of forest behind it.
With a deafening roar, the light expanded instantaneously, as if collapsing, then vanished.
Following that, a fierce gust of wind swept through. The large forest area behind, without even time to ignite, instantly turned into smoke and ash, spreading wildly in all directions.
Countless birds in the distance were startled, their flapping sounds continuous. From near to far, they flew into the sky, which was instantly filled with a dense mass of birds circling and covering the sky. The air was filled with the smell of burning.
Han Yang, far away by the Sanggan River, suddenly saw a blinding light erupt from the direction of Silver Dragon Snow Mountain, and then disappear.
His eyes showed surprise, which then turned into a hint of joy: "Among this group, there is someone so powerful?"
Atop Silver Dragon Mountain, a handsome young man revealed his usual disdainful expression: "Interesting."
The people in the rear echelon of the dense forest heard the loud noise and, not knowing what had happened, all looked in the direction of the sound. They saw dust billowing and birds circling, and without understanding, remarked, "Are the monsters ahead that powerful?"