boyutpedia Chapter 356 Warning? Trap?
Chapter 356 Warning? Trap?
Nie Lingfeng's expression suddenly changed.
An intense sense of crisis washed over him like ice water being poured over his head! It didn't come from any one direction, but from his feet, from above, and from all sides simultaneously, as if something unseen was reaching out its claws from the darkness. The hairs on the back of his head stood on end, and his temples throbbed.
He was about to speak and remind everyone—
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The entire cave suddenly began to shake violently!
It wasn't a slight tremor—the kind that at most makes you lose your balance—it was a violent, earth-shaking shaking! It felt as if someone had grabbed the entire cave and was shaking it violently like a sieve. The ground undulated beneath your feet like waves, swaying up, down, left, and right simultaneously, making it impossible to tell which way was which.
The overhead rock face groaned under the weight, creaking and groaning as if something enormous was being crushed. Large chunks of rock and stalactites rained down like a storm! Some rocks were only the size of a fist, hitting the ground with a loud thud; others were larger than a person, crashing down with a deafening roar, kicking up clouds of dust and debris, and creating a large crater.
The wet, slippery ground beneath my feet undulated and cracked like waves! The cracks spread rapidly from my feet outwards like a spider web, some so wide that a person could fall in.
The rusted iron gate emitted a grating, metallic creaking sound, "creak—creak—", before collapsing with a crash, the heavy door panel slamming onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and rust.
"An earthquake?! No! It's down below!"
Master Wang's face turned deathly pale. The Qimen formation beneath his feet spun wildly, the Bagua phantom rapidly rotating as he tried to stabilize himself and sense the earth's energy. But his expression grew increasingly grim, veins bulging on his forehead—the feedback wasn't chaos, but a violent, overwhelming force, as if some colossal creature was awakening and turning over deep underground!
"Holy crap! An earthquake?! This place is going to collapse! Run!"
Zhang Chulan let out a strange cry, and golden light instantly shone from his body. The Golden Light Spell enveloped him in a pale golden light shield, protecting him. At the same time, lightning crackled beneath his feet, and with a loud "crack," white arcs of electricity exploded on the ground, trying to rush towards the passage he had entered.
"Don't move!"
Nie Lingfeng shouted sharply.
His voice wasn't loud, but amidst the violent shaking and the sound of falling rocks, it remained as clear as a knife, each word piercing the ears of everyone present like a nail.
"Stay close to the rock face! Find a stable depression!"
Almost as soon as he finished speaking—
The ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed!
It wasn't a small-scale collapse. Rather, the ground within a radius of tens of meters centered on their cave seemed to have had its support removed, causing entire sections to fall downwards!
The collapse wasn't a gradual sinking; rather, it was as if someone had suddenly pulled from below—the ground shattered into countless large and small slabs in an instant, plummeting downwards. Broken experimental equipment, corpses, rubble, and the unsuspecting crowd all fell together into the bottomless dark abyss below!
"Aaaaaahh ...
Bald Bear let out a bloodcurdling scream. His voice echoed through the empty underground space, reflected countless times by the rock walls, becoming layers upon layers of distorted echoes, sounding like many people screaming at the same time.
"Brother Nie!"
Zhang Chulan only had time to shout before he felt weightlessness wash over him, and his body began to fall uncontrollably! The wind whistled past his ears, making his hair stand on end. He quickly activated the Golden Light Mantra to its maximum, doubling the thickness of the golden light shield, while frantically mobilizing the lightning energy within his body to form a violent ball of electricity beneath his feet, attempting to slow his descent.
As he fell, Master Wang pressed his hands down sharply, chanting urgently, "Kun character - Earth Dragon Soars! Xun character - Wind Rope!"
A cloud of yellowish-brown energy surged from beneath his feet, attempting to form a buffer zone between him and the ground. Simultaneously, several cyan wind ropes shot from his hands, trying to entangle something. However, the downward momentum was too strong and the area too large, limiting their effectiveness. The wind ropes only managed to entangle a piece of falling rock, pulling him down with them.
Chen Duo clung tightly to a relatively large rock that had fallen with her, trying to steady herself. She clung to the rock like a gecko, releasing more Gu worms that formed a thin, sticky, and elastic web around her as a cushion. Beneath her, the worms wove a silvery-white, silky net, like a miniature trampoline.
Black energy surged around Zhang Lingyu, and the Yin Five Thunders transformed into a viscous swamp, enveloping him like a black jelly. At the same time, he tried to use the thunder energy to absorb the surrounding rock walls, but the rocks were also collapsing, making it impossible to find a stable foothold.
Feng Baobao reacted the fastest.
In that instant of weightlessness, she stabbed out the katana she had snatched from the ninja with lightning speed. The blade flashed in the darkness, then with a "clang," the tip plunged deep into a massive stalactite that had fallen with it! The blade was mostly embedded in the rock, with only a small section of the hilt sticking out.
She hung on the stalactite like a monkey, falling with it, yet miraculously regained her balance. She even grabbed Zhang Lingyu, who was closest to her, by the collar and lifted him up like a chick.
And Nie Lingfeng—
His reaction was incredibly fast the instant the ground beneath his feet collapsed!
He held Xiaoyun, who was pale with fright and had her eyes tightly shut, tightly in his arms with one hand, while his other hand shot out like lightning. His five fingers formed a claw, with condensed cloud energy and icy coldness swirling around the fingertips, and he fiercely grabbed at the rock wall beside him!
"Cloud-Dispelling Palm - Tear Through the Sky and Dispel the Clouds!"
"laugh--!!!"
A piercing scraping sound rang out, like metal scraping against glass. Nie Lingfeng's fingers, like five steel hooks, were deeply embedded in the hard rock! The icy air from his fingertips condensed into a layer of white frost on the rock wall, while the cloud energy formed a buffer between his fingers and the rock, protecting his fingers from being scratched.
It managed to stop the fall!
He was suspended in mid-air, his arms bearing the immense impact of the two falling figures, his muscles bulging and veins standing out. Yet his body remained as steady as a rock, completely still.
He looked down at Xiaoyun, who was trembling in his arms but trying not to cry, and said softly, "Don't be afraid, hold me tight."
Xiaoyun nodded vigorously, her little hands tightly wrapped around his neck, her face pressed against his shoulder, not daring to look at the darkness below.
The descent actually only lasted a few seconds, but it felt incredibly long to everyone.
The wind howled in my ears—not from outside, but the sharp, piercing sound of air rushing past as I plummeted. The deafening crash of rocks shattering—large and small stones collided in mid-air, breaking into even smaller fragments, like a silent explosion. And the bald bear's incessant screams—the screams that started high-pitched, grew hoarse, then raspy, and finally became an unconscious, intermittent groan.
finally--
"Boom! Bang! Crash—!"
One after another, everyone fell heavily onto the ground some unknown depths below, or crashed into the icy, bone-chilling underground river!
It stirred up huge splashes of water and dust. The water splashed several meters high, and the dust billowed like a thick fog, making it impossible to see anything.
"Cough cough cough... Ptooey ptooey ptooey! Oh my god, I almost fell and killed myself..."
Zhang Chulan was the first to crawl out from a pile of rubble and mud.
He was soaked to the bone, water dripping from head to toe. The Golden Light Mantra flickered dimly, like a light bulb about to go out. He grimaced as he rubbed his sore back and buttocks, spitting out muddy water.
He was lucky; he fell into a shallow pool, which cushioned the impact considerably—but he also swallowed several mouthfuls of icy water with a strong fishy and rusty taste. The water was both fishy and astringent, like drinking water soaked with rusty iron nails, making him so nauseous that he vomited repeatedly, dry heaving several times.
Master Wang Ye is slightly better.
Using his esoteric arts, he managed to adjust his landing point at the last moment, slamming into a relatively soft mudflat covered with strange, fluorescent moss. The moss acted like a thick carpet, absorbing much of the impact. Although he was quite disoriented from the fall, his Taoist robe was covered in mud, and his hair was adorned with fragments of green moss, he wasn't seriously injured.
His face was a little pale, clearly indicating that forcibly activating the Qimen Dunjia technique had taken a toll. He sat cross-legged in the mud, closed his eyes to regulate his breathing for a few seconds, and then slowly opened them, the hexagram in his pupils stabilizing again.
Chen Duo and Zhang Lingyu landed a little further away.
Chen Duo was cushioned by the insect web formed by the Gu worms. The worms wove a thick, elastic net beneath her, bouncing her around like a trampoline before stopping. Although she staggered when she landed, she quickly regained her balance and immediately checked on Xiao Yun in her arms—Xiao Yun was still in Nie Lingfeng's arms. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhang Lingyu was pulled back by Feng Baobao, and his landing was relatively stable. The mud from Yin Wulei formed a thick cushion beneath him, so although his back ached from the fall, none of his bones were broken.
Feng Baobao was the most relaxed. She "sat" down while holding the stalactite. The stalactite landed first and crashed into a deep pit. She was just bounced around a bit while sitting on it and was perfectly fine. She also smoothly put Zhang Lingyu, who was hanging on it, down as well.
The worst off is Bald Bear.
He crashed into a sharp, protruding rock without any cushioning. The rock was like a knife stuck upside down in the ground, its sharp tip pressing against his waist.
Although he was tough and had external martial arts skills protecting him, he still fell and coughed up blood—not from the corner of his mouth, but from his throat, which he spat out onto the ground with a "plop," forming a large, dark red puddle. One of his legs was twisted at an odd angle, the knee pointing in a direction it shouldn't have; it was clearly broken, and the bone might have protruded from the skin.
He lay there groaning, face down, too weak to even turn over. Blood was still oozing from the corner of his mouth, and each breath he took was a wheezing, bellows-like sound; he couldn't even get up.
Nie Lingfeng carried Xiaoyun and finally landed steadily.
Throughout his descent, he used Cloud Qi and Ice Force to slow his speed—Cloud Qi formed a floating cushion beneath him, while Ice Force condensed into a thin layer of ice under his feet to cushion the impact of the landing. He landed precisely on a relatively flat and dry rock, one of the few dry surfaces in this underground space that was free of water and silt.
Upon landing, he immediately checked on Xiaoyun's condition.
The little girl was pale with fright, her eyes tightly shut, her eyelashes still trembling slightly. But apart from some mud on her body, she seemed unharmed. The blanket was still wrapped around her properly, only a wet corner was damp.
Nie Lingfeng breathed a sigh of relief, gently patted her back, and said in a voice as gentle as if he were coaxing a frightened kitten: "It's alright, Xiaoyun, open your eyes."
Xiaoyun then timidly opened her eyes.
She glanced at Nie Lingfeng's face first, confirming he was still there. Only then did she dare to move her eyes to look at the unfamiliar, eerily glowing surroundings.
The green, white, and dark red glowing lights flickered eerily in the darkness, like countless blinking eyes. The rock walls overhead were immeasurably high, pitch black, with no top in sight. The surrounding water reflected the glowing lights, shimmering, but nothing beneath the surface was visible.
She burst into tears with a "waaaaa".
She clung tightly to Nie Lingfeng, burying her face in the crook of his neck, sobbing uncontrollably, "Papa! Yunyun is scared! There's something bad down there! It's so big! So scary!"