Chapter 125 - Thoroughly Meticulous
“Big Yellow, this can’t go on…” Ou Yangming stopped and complained anxiously, “I must find that damn place as soon as possible, or Old Man won’t be able to hold on any longer!”
In actual fact, the human and the dog did not really get along in the beginning, so much so that they competed with and disliked each other.
However, due to their common goal, the big yellow dog passed on its mental power cultivation method to Ou Yangming, then used a mysterious art from its Blood Meridian Legacy to build a spiritual connection with him.
It was also the big yellow dog’s way of protecting itself because if it was accidentally separated from Ou Yangming, without the integration of Heaven and man, it would be stuck in the Chaos Cave forever. With the spiritual connection, at the very least, they could find each other even if they lost each other.
Nonetheless, they did not expect to be able to sense one another’s thoughts through the wonderful spiritual connection. Therefore, not only did they cooperate with a deeper connection from then on, but most importantly, they became closer to each other.
The feeling did not merely come from their personal preferences but was born from the connection produced through the mystery art.
That said, the big yellow dog was not aware of the outcome at all.
Throughout the journey, they had only spent half a day progressing from being forced to cooperate with each other to actually having a mutual understanding.
Besides, although they had both given their all to flee on their own earlier when they encountered a big group of Black Magic Crawlers, the conflict was easily resolved when the big yellow dog expressed its guilt and Ou Yangming accepted its apology. With that, the relationship between them became more harmonious.
The big yellow dog wagged its tail as though it was asking Ou Yangming what to do.
“They said that my mental power is helpful in finding the Land of Inheritance, but how am I supposed to utilize it?” Ou Yangming pondered and said. He was not a fool, so he had already used his mental power when they searched without an aim before this, but he did not gain anything The big yellow dog suddenly stopped. It hesitated for a while before opening its mouth to spit out the mysterious gem.
Two days ago, the big yellow dog would not present the gem to Ou Yangming even if it was beaten to death. On the opposite, it only considered for a while at the moment before deciding to show it to him.
Ou Yangming’s eyes lit up because he immediately understood that the gem was related to the Land of Inheritance.
He picked up the gem and inhaled deeply. The precious stone was his final hope.
Driven by his consciousness, Ou Yangming released a hint of mental power into the precious stone. Next, a peculiar thing happened as the gem actually emitted a beautiful yellow ray. It was even more unbelievable that the yellow light was actually directed in a certain direction far away as though it was an arrow that was guiding them.
Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog could not help but cheer internally when they exchanged glances. He supposed that the Ni Xuetian and the other elders were actually unaware of this, or they would not have kept it a secret if they were so eager to find the Land of Inheritance.
If Ou Yangming knew that the gem had such a wonderful effect, why would he have wasted so much time?
Nevertheless, he did not find out too late.
Following that, Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog headed in the direction pointed by the arrow.
After walking for a long time, they backed away again sulkily because the big yellow dog picked up a rich and weird smell halfway through. Even though they could not identify based on the richness of the smell the exact number of Black Magic Crawlers ahead, they were sure that there were way more crawlers than before. Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog did not want to die meaninglessly in the cave, thus they quickly decided to back away.
“It’s okay, we’ll find another path if this one doesn’t work,” Ou Yangming comforted while patting the dog’s head.
The big yellow dog wagged its tail and barked softly to express that it agreed with his suggestion. Therefore, they drove the power on the precious stone from time to time and began going around the area. Despite that, after a considerable amount of time, the faces of Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog took on a ghastly expression. This was because they came to a shocking realization that regardless of the direction they entered from, countless Black Magic Crawlers were stationed. In other words, if they wanted to advance forward according to the path guided by the gem, they would be obstructed by numerous crawlers.
It would not be a coincidence.
When Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog looked at each other, they somehow guessed the answer.
‘Has the Land of Inheritance become the Black Magic Crawlers’ nest? If that’s really the case, the consequence is unbearable.’
Ou Yangming gritted his teeth and tossed the gem to the big yellow dog. “Keep it first, we have to try and see if we can sneak inside.”
The big yellow dog swallowed the gem, then nodded obediently after a moment of hesitation.
Since they had to go through one way or the other, they had to give it a go no matter the danger that lay ahead. If they did not have the guts to try, how could they find the solution?
They would not delay the matter further since they had decided.
Inside the cave, some paths were narrow, some were wide, while some had glowing mosses on the wall, which were brighter. There were also some paths that were truly pitch-black.
Countless Black Magic Crawlers lived inside the cave, but they seemed to yearn for light and avoided complete darkness. As such, a dark path happened to be the only passage that Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog could sneak through.
They curled their bodies and curbed their aura as much as they could to not give out a scent.
Through the big yellow dog’s nose and Ou Yangming’s improved vision, they could always spot the fearsome crawlers in advance. Each time they did, they would hide in places without mosses to get out of the Black Magic Crawlers’ sight.
Hmm, that was if the crawlers actually had sight.
However, as Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog went deeper, they began to shudder with fear.
The number of Black Magic Crawlers kept increasing, to the extent that they mostly traveled in groups, hence it was difficult for the human and the dog to completely avoid them. Nonetheless, since they had already gone quite far, they could not retreat, so they could only bite the bullet and continue moving forward.
When they arrived at an empty area, they could not advance any further.
This was because hundreds of Black Magic Crawlers were scattered around the giant empty area, which had a radius of roughly 35 meters.
Although there were plenty of them, they were insignificant as compared to the entire empty ground.
Ou Yangming looked around and noticed the situation beforehand through his improved vision.
The hundreds of Black Magic Crawlers were gathered in one spot, which was a rather big cave. Outside the cave, stones of different sizes were seen distributed unevenly.
Some crawlers entered the cave while some lay on the stones outside. They kept gnawing on the stones, but Ou Yangming, who had the Vision +1 attribute saw them clearly.
While the Black Magic Crawlers had extremely sharp mouthparts, they could not do harm to the stones.
Only after munching on the same spot for a long time, an unnoticeable mark was seen on the stone. This meant that the crawler could only gain a trivial amount of stone powder.
Even then, the Black Magic Crawler crawled down from the stone as though it found treasure, then transferred the stone powder to a shallow pit.
Ou Yangming was startled. ‘What does that mean?
“The stone powders are probably food for the Black Magic Crawlers, and the higher the powder’s rank, the more useful it is for the crawlers.
‘Theoretically, the crawlers should eat the stone powder after acquiring them through hard work, why are they piling it up in the shallow pit?’
When Ou Yangming fixed his gaze on the shallow pit, he noticed something undulating inside.
It was then when a pair of dark eyes surfaced from the pit.
There was actually a Black Magic Crawler inside, and Ou Yangming was frightened to his wits because those eyes locked on to where he and the big yellow dog were hiding.
‘Oh no, we’re exposed!’
A thought crossed Ou Yangming’s mind at that instant, and the big yellow dog sensed it too. They retreated without thinking because they had gone into a tiger’s den and would probably be dead if they could not escape a distance away. Nevertheless, just as they ran a few steps away, they quickly halted.
This was because the scattered Black Magic Crawlers had somehow run crazily in different directions like startled hares, and had blocked the way of escape in the blink of an eye.
“Charge!” Ou Yangming gritted his teeth and turned to charge into the hall.
The hall was spacious, but there were only more than a hundred Black Magic Crawlers inside, whereas there were more than ten thousand crawlers behind them.
Since Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog would certainly die if they went through the path behind, they might as well try to charge forward. Even if they were meant to die, they were determined to perish with the Black Magic Crawler inside the shallow pit.
When Ou Yangming’s essential Qi circulated and his hot Qi boiled, his consciousness rose.
In the crucial moment of life or death, he could not hide his ability anymore. His mental power and the purple light rose almost at the same time, and the state of the integration of Heaven and man seemed to have been stimulated to a greater height due to the huge crisis.
Everything in the enormous space seemed to have slowed down at that moment such that the Black Magic Crawlers, which were throwing stones away, and Ou Yangming himself were moving in slow motion.
Thoroughly meticulous!
During the moment when Ou Yangming only had a narrow chance to escape, he suddenly advanced to a higher state than the integration of Heaven and man.