Chapter Sixty-Eight: All Hands Digging at the Sandy Cliff

"Xu Wenshan, look at me, quickly..."

Xu Wenshan froze, unable to move. At the same time, he noticed that everyone around him had stopped in their tracks.

"Someone... someone is calling my name from behind..." a bailiff stammered, trembling. "Did any of you hear her calling my name?"

Another bailiff beside him replied, "I didn't hear her call your name—I only heard her calling mine."

"Remember, do not turn back," Lu Wuji emphasized once more. "Keep moving forward."

This time, every step felt especially difficult. They all heard that lingering, spectral woman's voice following closely behind their necks.

Xu Wenshan pressed on in silence, the strange words whispered behind him stirring both fear and curiosity, tempting him to turn and see what was happening. Yet he muttered under his breath, "Stop calling—my name now is Xu Cong..."

Just as Xu Wenshan felt he could endure no longer, a bailiff beside him suddenly cried out, "I can't take it anymore! No matter what kind of monster you are, today I will—"

No one heard what he intended to do. A wild, boastful cackle echoed through the air.

A sharp splatter!

From the corner of his eye, Xu Wenshan saw the bailiff's head vanish, and a pillar of blood spurted from his neck, rising nearly three feet.

"Demon!" A flash of swordlight suddenly illuminated everything, dazzling their eyes. In the blink of an eye, half a serpent's tail fell to the ground, twisting furiously and kicking up clouds of dust. The bailiffs recoiled in terror.

Lu Wuji sheathed his sword, and only then did the corpse beside Xu Wenshan collapse with a thud.

"Serpent-man," Lu Wuji said grimly, "just a minor demon. As long as you don't turn back, nothing will happen. Let me repeat: this demon hunt is not child's play. If you don't want to die, you must obey my commands."

The death of one man weighed heavily on everyone's hearts, dampening their spirits. Fortunately, their path ahead was free of further monsters. At last, Lu Wuji announced, "We've arrived."

They faced a mountain cave, pitch-black within and impossible to see anything.

Lu Wuji said, "The demonic aura here matches what I saw on Song San. This must be the place."

The county constable's voice quivered. "Do we have to go inside the cave?"

Lu Wuji picked up a paper lantern and peered within. "The cave is too narrow. If too many enter, it'll hinder my abilities. Only half should go inside."

Hearing this, all the bailiffs grew tense, fearful of being chosen.

Lu Wuji swept his gaze across the group, selecting seven or eight people, including Xu Wenshan and Xu Jing.

"The rest, led by the constable, will guard the entrance. Do not leave your post. If anyone emerges from the cave—no matter who—they must be slain!"

With that, Lu Wuji waved his hand. A gentle force pushed the chosen ones into the cave.

Those entering wore anxious faces, envious of those left outside. The ones outside kept watch, but soon, distant wolf howls and a chilling breeze unnerved them. Faced with such fear, they almost wished they had gone in as well.

Inside, the cave offered no branching paths, just a single straight passage that grew ever narrower. Occasional cries and grunts echoed—some pushed by others, some having their feet stepped on.

Lu Wuji advanced, noticing the demonic aura thickening. Glimpses of venomous bugs burrowing through the earth confirmed his suspicion: this was the lair of the venomous scorpion-beast.

The scorpion-beast, resembling a giant scorpion, was highly toxic.

Yet, only the lowest grade scorpion-beasts could not ascend to become third-tier monsters. The presence of so many meant there must be a scorpion-mother behind them.

The scorpion-mother was the true danger. She was a high-level occult monster, born with demonic power. All scorpion-beasts served as her offspring, tools for reproduction. As long as there was enough oil, she could spawn them endlessly.

Lu Wuji now understood why the young woman had gone into town to buy oil.

It was rather absurd—the nest of scorpion-beasts had been fed by oil from the county's oil shop.

The scorpion-mother molted seven times in her life, and with each molt, her rank increased. By the seventh molt, it was said her offspring would be born with power to rival cultivators at the Foundation level.

Yet her greatest power was not her fertility, but her illusions.

The scorpion-mother was not strong in physical combat, but was adept at beguiling others with illusions.

Lu Wuji feared no illusions; Shadow Linglong’s basic function was to pierce through falsehood. If earlier he doubted his ability to kill a "Core Formation" level monster, now he was almost certain of victory.

Soon, however, the cave reached its end. Before them stood a solid stone wall.

"Is that all?" a bailiff exclaimed. "Where's the monster?"

Another chimed in, "Seeing us coming, it ran away!"

Lu Wuji stepped forward, feeling the wall. "This isn't the end. The wall was built by the scorpion-beasts."

Like termites, scorpion-beasts used their saliva to bind soil particles, forming a hardened stone wall.

Lu Wuji pounded the wall with his fist, which sent a numbing ache through his hand.

This was both good news and bad. Good, because the scorpion-mother only sealed the cave with stone when close to molting, a time when she was extremely weak and easy to kill. Bad, because the wall was so hard, he had no effective way to break through. Using his flying sword would damage its blade, putting him at a disadvantage for the coming battle. If mortals dug slowly, and the process dragged on, the scorpion-mother might complete her molt and become a monster on par with a "Nascent Soul" stage—then he would stand no chance alone.

The only consolation was that the scorpion-mother had appeared in town just yesterday. Molting takes at least seven days, so he still had time.

He pondered for a moment and said, "Dig! Break through this wall!"

The bailiffs’ faces froze. With the wall so hard, wouldn’t they ruin their hands digging?

"If you break through this stone wall, I’ll give each of you a Life-Nourishing Pill!"

Their eyes lit up at this promise. One bailiff spat twice into his palm and declared, "Master, whatever you say, we’ll do—no need to ask!"

The others echoed him, making Xu Wenshan stifle a laugh.

The priest drew out numerous pickaxes and shovels from his magical pouch, letting the bailiffs pick up tools and start digging. The scorpion-beast saliva mixed with sand and soil was as hard as iron. The group broke seventeen or eighteen pickaxes before finally opening a hole just big enough for one person to crawl through.

The priest was the first to enter, only to discover that behind this stone wall lay another, identical wall.