Chapter 52 — The Fire Dragon
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 7
Zhang Qingyue, situated in the darkness, felt the temperature around him growing hotter and hotter, with the occasional beast's eye fixed upon him—it truly felt as though he had returned to the Dead Spirit Abyss.
The caves around them grew larger and larger; by now most of the openings were as tall as a man and a half, even two men, and the creatures within were fiercer and more enormous still. But the empty caves were also growing more numerous. And the smell of blood in the air seemed to grow ever stronger.
He even faintly heard, during the descent, a soft chewing sound from some unknown place—as if some unknown giant beast were tearing and swallowing its food. It made one's hair stand on end.
It was at this tense moment, when everyone's muscles were taut and they could almost hear their own heartbeats, that suddenly, from the darkness below, Zhang Qingyue felt a violent gust of wind sweep past beneath his feet.
Almost by instinct, his mind moved with his will, and in the instant the wind touched his body, the Dark Iron Staff swiftly shifted three feet to the side.
"Crack!"
With a tremendous crash, illuminated by the faint light, something in the depths of the darkness—something immeasurably huge, like a tentacle—lashed past Zhang Qingyue like a whip and struck the pitch-black cliff wall with tremendous force.
The entire precipice seemed to shudder. Dust flew everywhere with a clatter, and stones large and small came tumbling down. A moment later, a shrill cry suddenly rose from the abyss, from the cliff wall, wailing without cease. Zhang Qingyue and the others were greatly startled. Looking back, they saw that the enormous tentacle, ghastly as a demon, had plunged into a huge cave in the cliff wall; after a few convulsive, twitching movements, it withdrew.
Zhang Qingyue drew a sharp breath as a gust of bloody wind struck his face. A massive five-eyed saber-toothed tiger had been seized by that enormous tentacle and dragged bodily from its cave. Though the beast bared its fangs and claws and roared without end, its body—twice the size of an ordinary man—was, compared to that inconceivable giant tentacle, as tiny and helpless as an infant.
Once the tentacle had seized the tiger, it immediately retracted swiftly toward the darkness below, vanishing in an instant, leaving behind only the tiger's shrill, despairing roars.
The three of them halted in midair, exchanging pale glances—especially Bili, whose face had gone even whiter.
The darkness beneath their feet was deep and bottomless. Who knew how many more horrors lurked within?
After a moment, Shi Tou coughed and was about to speak, when Bili, sharp-eyed, suddenly cried out in alarm: "Below—look out!"
Zhang Qingyue and Shi Tou were startled again and hastily looked down. In the darkness beneath their feet, a firelight suddenly flashed; in an instant the temperature in the surrounding space surged, and the firelight rapidly expanded, rushing toward them with a howling gale of heat. As it drew near, the three saw it clearly, and their expressions all changed at once: a fire dragon, rearing its head and roaring, came charging and bellowing straight up from the abyss below.
In appearance, the fire dragon was much like the one the three-tailed demon fox had summoned with the Mystic Fire Mirror, but for some reason, this fire dragon now far surpassed the earlier one in both size and might.
Though the three wondered at this, now was hardly the time for reflection. Seeing the fire dragon's ferocity and the sky filled with heat waves, it was upon them in an instant, irresistible. The three hastily scattered, driving their artifacts to evade its charge.