Chapter Fifteen: The Six-Winged Centipede

“Damn it... There’s hardly anything worth taking in this underground palace. Wasn’t it said that the old emperor was the most extravagant, that even a single hair from his leg would be thicker than most men’s waist?”

After a moment, Old Luo scratched his chin and returned grumbling.

“This place must have been searched before, otherwise it wouldn’t be so empty,” Li Yang replied absentmindedly to Old Luo’s complaints.

“Searched before... That explains it. Damn rotten luck...”

“Ah... Help!”

“What’s happening up ahead...”

Hearing the commotion ahead, Li Yang immediately suspected the six-winged centipede had appeared. No longer interested in explaining to Old Luo, he dashed toward the depths of the main hall.

“What’s going on...” Seeing Zhigushou squatting on the ground by a passageway, Li Yang hurried over.

“Brother Li, look, these must be the centipede eggs.” Pointing to the glowing green eggs on the ceiling, Zhigushou spoke with a grave expression.

Seeing these insect eggs, Li Yang immediately understood—the passage likely led to the rear hall where the six-winged centipede resided. The time was so long ago, some plot details had slipped his mind, but seeing these eggs brought it all back.

“Brother Li, a few of my men have been parasitized by these eggs. Is there any way you can save them?” At that moment, Chen Yulou came over, carrying several mountain movers whose bodies had turned pitch black, his face full of anxiety as he asked.

“The centipede’s venom is fierce. To detoxify it, a specially prepared antidote pill is needed. But looking at them now, I’m afraid they won’t last that long.” After a moment’s silence, Li Yang’s face darkened.

“Brothers, burn all these eggs!” It was a while before Chen Yulou regained his composure. Staring at the centipede eggs in the passage, his expression was bleak as he shouted.

“This passage must connect to the rear hall. Everyone, stay alert.” Watching those on the ground moaning in pain, Li Yang patted Chen Yulou’s shoulder, saying, “Give them a quick end.”

With that, he silently stepped aside, his heart a tumultuous blend of emotions. The fragility of life—sometimes it disappears in an instant. Though Li Yang understood this truth well, the influence of modern education made it harder for him to accept such things with the calm indifference of people from this era, for whom tragedy had become routine.

“Looks like this tunnel connects to the rear hall of the Pill Palace. Everyone, be careful.” As the leader of the Unloading Ridge Sect, Chen Yulou was already accustomed, or perhaps numb, to the casualties among his men. In their trade, as they said, fate is what it is—grave robbing is a profession where one bets with their life. The men of Unloading Ridge were prepared for this; while saddened, they quickly regained their composure.

Once the passage was cleared, Li Yang and Chen Yulou led the way, and the group set off toward the rear hall of the Pill Palace. After the losses they had just suffered, everyone proceeded with extreme caution, nerves taut, the jubilant mood from when they first entered now replaced by a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.

“Coo coo coo!!”

As soon as they entered the rear hall, the Angry Sunny Chicken leapt uncontrollably from Li Yang’s sleeve, as if confronted by a mortal enemy. It stretched its neck and cried out, its voice as powerful as the rising sun, grand and majestic. In the gloom, its crimson crest bloomed like a fiery lotus, radiating brilliant red light.

“What’s happening!!” Staring at the Angry Sunny Chicken, everyone turned to Li Yang, their eyes full of questions.

“Everyone, be careful. The air here is thick with demonic energy. There’s likely something monstrous at work.” Sensing the warning from the Angry Sunny Chicken in his mind, Li Yang immediately spoke up, cautioning everyone to stay vigilant.

“It really is a divine chicken! Boss, look, the chicken’s crest is ablaze...” Old Luo stared at the fiery lotus atop the Angry Sunny Chicken’s head and the heat that poured forth, his eyes brimming with wonder.

“Stop talking. Tell the men to stay alert. Something’s wrong here.” Having traveled this far with Li Yang, Chen Yulou had a sense of his character. If Li Yang thought the situation warranted a warning, there was almost certainly something powerful and evil lurking nearby.

“Hiss hiss~”

Accompanied by the Angry Sunny Chicken’s cries, a sudden tremor shook the air. Beneath the arch bridge in the rear hall, black fog billowed, swirling up dust and sand. The entire hall quaked. With a strange, eerie sound, a shadow shot up from the abyss beneath the bridge, shrouded in thick mist.

Following the sound, Li Yang quickly focused his gaze, catching a glimpse of a massive dark shape streaking through the fog, leaving only fleeting afterimages.

“The six-winged centipede!”

“Everyone, be careful—the black miasma is poisonous...”

Faced with the approaching poisonous haze, Li Yang shouted at once. With a thought, two pictographic characters—“Evilbreaker”—flashed in his mind. From the Angry Sunny Chicken’s crest, a golden-red surge of vital energy rippled outward like waves, sweeping the poisonous air clean in an instant.

“Stay vigilant, everyone. This monster won’t be easy to deal with.” Once the poison had cleared, Li Yang scanned the area, but the shadow was nowhere to be seen.

In his memories, the six-winged centipede never created poisonous miasma, and though it was fast, it wasn’t nearly as swift as what he’d just witnessed. Clearly, memories from his previous life were insufficient—this was reality, and many things couldn’t be captured by the filming techniques of the past. Realizing this, Li Yang’s expression grew grim.

“What... what was that thing?”

“Boss, this place is dangerous. Maybe we should retreat...” At this moment, Red Lady stepped forward, tugging at Chen Yulou’s sleeve.

“If I’m not mistaken, that shadow was a giant centipede.” Chen Yulou was born with night vision, his eyesight extraordinary. Others couldn’t see clearly, but he caught a few details.

“Brother Li, are you confident you can handle it? If not, we should leave. This centipede is no ordinary creature—I don’t want my men to die in vain...”

“That fiend is indeed a variant six-winged centipede, not easy to deal with. But as long as we stand united, we still have a chance.” As everyone turned to him, Li Yang remained calm, a look of quiet confidence on his face.

Having come this far, retreat was out of the question. One doesn’t enter a mountain of treasure only to leave empty-handed. Secretly, he felt fortunate he hadn’t acted alone but waited for Chen Yulou and the others.

If he had faced the six-winged centipede alone, Li Yang would have had scant confidence. The Angry Sunny Chicken was certainly its nemesis, but its cultivation was still shallow, its bloodline barely awakened. In the original story, before its bloodline was activated, the Angry Sunny Chicken was fierce but lasted only a few rounds before falling to the beast’s jaws. Even after awakening its bloodline, and with the Golden Toad as well, it would still be a hard fight. Yet Li Yang himself remained the greatest weakness—the family’s inherited technique was most vulnerable in its early stages. Ultimately, he was still flesh and blood; if the centipede saw through the secret, things could turn dire.

But now, with Chen Yulou and the others as allies, unless the creature possessed exceptional intelligence, Li Yang was at least seventy percent confident he could subdue it.