Chapter 335
Why did Chapter 335 stop?
Next up is Flanders.
Flander unfurled his enormous cat-owl wings, which, while preventing him from fully flying through the dense forest, greatly enhanced his gliding and leverage abilities.
Flander brought Oscar and Ma Hongjun with him.
Oscar was pale and his soul power was greatly depleted, but he was still gritting his teeth and persevering, constantly creating new mushroom sausages for later use.
Ma Hongjun gripped Flander's arm nervously, his chubby face covered in sweat.
Dragon Lord Meng Shu and Snake Lady Chao Tianxiang were on the other side with Meng Yiran.
Meng Shu Soul Douluo's strength was on full display. He carried two people, and his speed was not much slower than Flander and the others. His figure was elusive, as if he were riding the wind.
Meng Yiran had just obtained her third spirit ring and was full of spirit power. She stayed close to her grandparents, her face showing a mix of nervousness and excitement.
And charging ahead, almost tailing Lin Xia and the other two, was Tang San!
His eyes were bloodshot, like burning flames, filled with nothing but madness, anxiety, and a desperate resolve.
He had already swallowed the first mushroom sausage, and the illusory phoenix-tailed crested snake wings that sprouted from his back flapped wildly, propelling him to fly at an astonishing speed in the low sky.
He completely disregarded the intense consumption of his soul power and the pain caused by the branches scraping against him during high-speed flight. His eyes were only on the direction Lin Xia was pointing, and he had only one thought in his mind.
Xiao Wu!
"Faster! Faster!"
Tang San roared inwardly, activating his Purple Demon Eye to its limit, trying to pierce through the darkness and see that familiar figure.
He could feel the terrifying pressure lingering in the air, belonging to the Titan Ape. This pressure chilled him to the bone, yet it also lashed at him like a whip, causing him to unleash speeds beyond his limits.
He clutched the other mushroom sausage Oscar had just given him tightly in his hand, ready to take over at any moment.
However, as the original text states, the Titan Ape was simply too fast.
Even with the aid of the flying mushroom sausage, the distance between Tang San and Er Ming was relentlessly widening.
Moreover, Erming did not move in a straight line; it constantly changed direction in the complex forest, searching for the most convenient path.
Tang San could only rely on Lin Xia's tracking of his aura and the huge traces of destruction left in the forest to barely keep up with the general direction. His hope of catching up was as slim as a firefly in the dark.
Just as despair was slowly engulfing Tang San's heart, Lin Xia, who was flying at the forefront, suddenly stopped!
He stopped beside a huge ancient tree that had been snapped in half, squatted down, and gently brushed his slender fingers over the faint but pure trace of soul power remaining at the broken edge.
The mark carried a faint pink halo, and although it was about to dissipate, it was filled with Xiao Wu's unique aura.
Lin Xia raised her head, her scarlet Sharingan gleaming eerily in the darkness, piercing through layers of shadows and gazing in a certain direction deep within the forest.
A cold, playful smile slowly curved the corners of his mouth.
'Found it…and it's already started?'
He clearly sensed that in that direction, several kilometers away, a powerful energy fluctuation belonging to the formation of a spirit ring was gathering and erupting!
Although most of its aura was cleverly concealed by a more powerful force, the unique rhythm originating from the essence of life and the familiar soul power characteristics could not escape his perception.
However, Lin Xia had no intention of going up to expose Xiao Wu.
Instead, after confirming that Oscar didn't have much soul power, he directly said:
"Everyone, stop and rest for a while before continuing!"
Upon hearing this, everyone's tense nerves instantly relaxed. Only Tang San ignored Lin Xia's words and continued to move forward as if he were doing something else.
Seeing this, Flander wanted to try to persuade her, but Lin Xia stopped him directly.
"Alright, Flander, Tang San has his own choice. If it really doesn't work out, we can find someone else after we've rested enough." Although Flander didn't understand what Lin Xia meant, he reluctantly agreed since Lin Xia was the strongest person there.
Tang San's panting was particularly clear in the silent darkness, and his clothes were soaked with sweat mixed with the cold moisture in the forest.
Leaning against a towering ancient tree that takes three people to encircle, the rough bark pressed against his back, providing a negligible sense of support.
He tilted his head back and gulped down the last mouthful of water, letting the icy liquid slide down his neck, trying to extinguish the burning fire in his heart caused by Xiao Wu's abduction, a fire that was almost burning away his reason.
"Lin Xia... Lin Xia!"
Tang San slammed his fist into the tree trunk, his knuckles turning white instantly and leaving faint bloodstains.
Those scarlet eyes gleamed with an eerie and painful light in the darkness. The operation of the Purple Demon Eyes made his vision a deep blue, but it could not dispel the image of Xiao Wu's last look back, full of worry and apology, when she was captured by the giant ape.
"Why did you stop? Why did you stop the dean? He could have caught up... He must have a way!"
Despair and anger clung to his heart like poisonous vines, each beat bringing a sharp, stinging pain.
He couldn't understand Lin Xia's order to rest; to him, that cold calm was tantamount to abandoning Xiao Wu.
He shook his head sharply, forcing himself to calm down.
"We can't wait, not even for a moment!"
He leaned against the tree trunk to stand up, his legs trembling slightly from the previous frantic running and the exhaustion of his soul power.
A flash of light appeared on the Twenty-Four Bridges Under the Bright Moon, and a mushroom sausage with pale red, transparent wings appeared in his hand.
This was the last thing Oscar gave him before he ran out of soul power, and it was his only hope at this moment.
Just as Tang San was about to swallow the mushroom sausage and rush headlong into the suffocating depths of the forest again—
"Shh...rustle..."
A faint yet remarkably clear friction sound, like a venomous snake crawling on withered leaves, pierced the deathly silence of the area without warning.
Tang San's movements froze instantly, and all the muscles in his body tensed up like iron in a flash.
The Purple Demon Eyes' deep blue light surged, piercing through the layers of bushes and vines in front of them, precisely locking onto the source of the sound.
Darkness is moving.
It was a pure, deep darkness that seemed to absorb all light, which was silently emerging from behind a huge clump of decaying ferns in a chilling manner.
Its appearance carried a cold, viscous, and malicious aura, instantly covering the air around Tang San, making him feel as if he were being soaked in icy venom.
This was a kind of disgust and fear that stemmed from the instinct for survival, completely different from the overwhelming sense of oppression felt when facing the Titan Ape, yet equally deadly.
The main body, with a diameter of over 1.5 meters, resembles an inverted, huge, and filthy black millstone.
The carapace covering it was not simply black, but a deep, metallic, cold black that reflected a chilling sheen under the sparse, pale moonlight.
The shell looked thick and sturdy, yet it possessed a strange, living quality, undulating slightly as it moved, as if it were breathing.
Supporting this terrifying body are eight spear-like legs, each over three meters long!
The long legs had unusually slender and sharp tips, like the finest poisoned steel needles, with a chilling dark glint at the end. (End of Chapter)