Volume One, Chapter 58: The Awakening of the Kui Ox.

"What?" Chu Xixi doubted her own ears, wondering if she'd finally begun to hallucinate after resisting the mental assault for so long.

"Senior Sister... have you forgotten how, when I was little, I loved sticking to you the most?" Jiang Chen's voice was no longer disguised; instead, he feigned a pitiful tone.

Chu Xixi trembled all over. Incredulous, she reached out to touch Jiang Chen's face. Even through the mask, she couldn't help but want to pinch the cheek of her little junior brother.

"You brat, you’re finally here! Why didn’t you show yourself earlier? I was so upset just now—I thought you hadn’t found the spiritual mark I left behind." Her delicate body was wrapped in Jiang Chen’s arms, her tone laced with reproach.

Jiang Chen hurried to explain, "Senior Sister, you can’t blame me for that. I missed you, of course, but you know how cautious we have to be out here. I had to make sure you were really you."

Given what happened with the clay man before, Jiang Chen wasn’t about to risk holding a fake in his arms.

Chu Xixi’s brows furrowed. She sensed something off in Jiang Chen’s words. "There’s something in there that isn’t human?"

Jiang Chen nodded lightly, and Chu Xixi immediately understood. Hesitating, she asked, "Should we go in and try to save them?"

"No need. There’s nothing worth saving. Let them fend for themselves," Jiang Chen said flatly. He had no intention of playing the hero. Death was death—fate decided who lived and who died. If luck wasn’t on their side, that was their own misfortune.

Bang—

Deep within the cave, a wave of searing heat surged forth. Jiang Chen pulled his senior sister back several steps as the sounds of fighting echoed from inside.

From the noise, it seemed the fight was moving closer, as if those inside were retreating as they battled.

Taking advantage of the brief respite, Jiang Chen asked, "Senior Sister, how did you manage to hold out so long in there?"

Chu Xixi replied, "There were a bunch of clay people inside. Out of curiosity, I didn’t go deeper; I just observed from the edges. Later, when I tried to leave, I found the entrance had sealed itself."

The entrance could close?

Jiang Chen guided his senior sister further back. When he saw the entrance had vanished, leaving only solid stone, he realized this Kui Ox was one of those traps that let you in but never out.

From the outside, it appeared you could enter at will, but once you crossed the threshold, there was only a dead end.

"Jiang Wan! Damn you, get out here! Hurry up and get in there to save them!" Wang Tu’s voice drew rapidly closer. Oddly, Jiang Chen only heard two sets of footsteps.

Wang Tu and Xiang Cai emerged, both caked in mud as if they’d barely escaped a fierce struggle.

Xiang Cai shouted, "The clay man! Holt was a clay man!"

Jiang Chen replied calmly, "Oh? And then?"

Wang Tu, having just been stabbed in the back by Holt, was on the verge of a breakdown. He roared, "You—go in and save them! Da Lei is still inside!"

"He went in on his own. Did I force him in?" Jiang Chen spread his hands, unwilling to argue with this madman.

What concerned him now was how to get out. There was no way they could simply kill the Kui Ox, was there?

Wang Tu glared at Jiang Chen with bloodshot eyes. "Then you can go down and meet King Yama with Da Lei!"

With the situation laid bare, Wang Tu drew his dagger and lunged at Jiang Chen. Xiang Cai was the first to notice, but it was too late to stop him.

Chu Xixi, still keeping some distance from Jiang Chen, also failed to react in time.

"No!"

But unexpectedly, in the next instant, the dagger snapped in two, and so did Wang Tu—his body split like his weapon, hot blood spraying across the stone wall.

It was effortless, almost artistic in its casualness.

Xiang Cai knew well that Wang Tu, though greedy, was a formidable fighter—at the very peak of the True Qi stage, stronger even than herself.

Yet even so, Jiang Wan had killed him with a single blow.

It made her wonder just how terrifying Jiang Wan’s true strength was.

Blood splattered the cave, yet not a drop touched Chu Xixi or Jiang Chen.

As long as he didn’t take action, all was negotiable; but once a hand was raised, there could only be death.

Mercy was for saints—he was no saint.

Xiang Cai hadn’t even seen how Jiang Chen struck before watching the two halves of Wang Tu’s corpse slam into the wall.

Stunned, she noticed something even stranger—the stone wall was no longer pretending to be inert; it pulsed rhythmically, as if it were a living thing.

The massive body of the Kui Ox began to feed. Wang Tu’s broken remains shriveled rapidly, as if all their moisture had been sucked out in an instant.

"His life force was absorbed? What’s happening?" Xiang Cai, frightened but still curious, asked, convinced that if Jiang Wan had wanted her dead, she’d already be lying as dry and lifeless as Wang Tu.

Jiang Chen ignored her, deep in thought about how to escape.

He patted the Kui Ox’s body, discovering that it fed passively; its true form was still in slumber.

"Sorry, little ox, but you’ll have to wake up now," Jiang Chen murmured, stroking the creature. Then he turned to his senior sister. "Senior Sister, I’m sending you two out. Stay far away—no matter what happens here, do not come back. Wait for me."

Chu Xixi didn’t fully understand, but sensing the urgency, she didn’t question it. "Be careful. I’ll wait for you."

Jiang Chen removed his mask, revealing his true face. "Xiang Cai, take care of my senior sister. No matter what happens—heaven and earth crumbling—do not come back."

Xiang Cai wanted to protest, but fear kept her silent.

"Heaven and earth, heed my command. Sun and moon, gather in wonder—restore my clarity!" Before Jiang Chen, a door of golden light appeared.

It wasn’t large—only wide enough for one person at a time.

This door would lead to the outside, provided nothing blocked its way. But for that, he needed the Kui Ox to open its mouth.

Jiang Chen returned to the spot where they’d entered, pressing his fist against the stone wall.

Clang—

"Go, now!" Jiang Chen shouted.

Without hesitation, Chu Xixi pulled Xiang Cai through the door. As soon as they’d both vanished, the golden door disappeared as well.

The two of them were transported twenty li away.

Even at such a distance, they could still sense a powerful and terrifying presence—a shiver of dread rose in both their hearts.

"What… what is that?! It’s enormous! Is it going to break through the sky?!"

Never in her life had Xiang Cai seen such a massive and terrifying creature.

Sensing something amiss in its body, the Kui Ox, who knew how long it had slept, finally awakened.

With a shake, it cast off the dust and caked mud that had accumulated over countless years.

The overwhelming, indescribable sense of oppression made the two girls scramble behind a mound of earth, desperate to hide themselves.

The Kui Ox opened its left eye, blazing like the sun, and its right eye, radiant and pure as the moon.

With both eyes open, the flow of time in heaven and earth seemed to continue as always, yet it felt as though the sun and moon of this world were nothing more than its own eyes.