Creak~
"Hm?"
Feeling the rock that they were now both standing on starting to sink downwards, Chu Yang took a few seconds to comprehend what was happening before he quickly grabbed Qing Yi and carried her deeper into the mole demon beast's tunnel without saying anything. Understanding that the longer they ended up staying on the rock, the faster it would dislodge itself and fall to the ground. Alerting any nearby demon beast below about something falling down from the hole… And in the worst-case scenario, alerting the mole demon beast to the fact that something happened inside its tunnel.
"W-what happened!?" Unaware of this, Qing Yi could only patiently wait before Chu Yang came to a stop before asking with a confused expression on her face. Not understanding why her junior brother had suddenly picked her up before carrying her deeper into the tunnel to a place where they could stand freely without the support of something hanging out from the side of the tunnel.
"Senior sister… Didn't you notice that the rock you flew into earlier was about to fall down into the cave?"
"Ah… This… I didn't notice… Sorry…"
Hearing what Chu Yang said and looking down towards the rock that was slowly starting to free itself from the tunnel wall, Qing Yi quickly realized what had happened, as a small blush made its way to her face. Understanding that she might have caused trouble for both of them once again.
"No problem. Let's just get out of here before the rock alerts the demon beasts below and the mole demon beast shows up to investigate the matter…" Knowing that it would be best for them to get going as fast as possible due to the risk of the rock falling alerting the mole demon beast hunting for prey somewhere in the cave below, Chu Yang didn't blame Qing Yi for her blunder of smashing head first into the rock and instead focused on them leaving and finding a way out of the underground world and back to surface again.
In the first place, he understood that it was just an accident that she had smashed headfirst into the rock. Not to mention, the rock was positioned in a rather odd way that made it hard to see from the small roots. Making it easy to not see and accidentally hit when entering the tunnel of the mole demon beast.
"Yes…" Understanding that they should indeed be moving instead of just standing around, Qing Yi nodded her head with a still somewhat embarrassed expression on her face before following Chu Yang deeper into the tunnel of the mole demon beast.
Although the tunnel itself was rather large and should have been easy for them to traverse, its steep incline upwards ended up making it harder for them to travel at their normal speed.
However, this steep incline upwards did not discourage them in the slightest. On the contrary, it made them even more excited, as they understood this meant that they were getting closer to the surface!
Even if they had no idea how far underground, they were at the moment. At least they now had a feeling that they were making progress in getting back up to the surface again, where they would once again have a chance to start exploring the mystic realm.
This time without having to worry about the massive swarm of spiders and a horde of powerful demon beasts chasing after them-
ROOOOOAR-!
Just at this moment as they felt like they had managed to enter the tunnel and wouldn't have to worry about anything for the next few hours or days if they were lucky, a loud roar strengthened by a powerful cultivation base suddenly echoed out behind them.
Rumble~!
Generating a shockwave of sound that caused the entire tunnel and cave beneath them to start shaking violently as a result.
"Did the mole demon beast already return!?"
"Maybe… I can't make out what kind of demon beast the roar came from… "
ROAR!?
As Chu Yang and Qing Yi were nervously looking in the direction of the entrance to the tunnel that had already disappeared from view, another roar filled with pain suddenly came following the loud roar filled with killing intent from earlier.
"This… Maybe the mole demon beast encountered another powerful demon beast and is currently fighting beneath the tunnel entrance…?" Hearing the two roars that sounded like they had come from different demon beasts, Qing Yi could not help drawing her own conclusion from what she had heard.
"Indeed, that would make sense… But if the mole demon beast really is fighting down there, we have to get out of here as fast as possible before the fight ends, and it returns to the tunnel!" Nodding his head as he felt what Qing Yi said made sense, Chu Yang also didn't forget to remind Qing Yi about their current dangerous situation.
"Ah, of course!" Agreeing with what Chu Yang said, both of them soon resumed their journey up the steep tunnel of the mole demon beast, this time moving a little faster than before with the extra motivation from the fight that was taking place below them.
…
Unknown to both Chu Yang and Qing Yi, the mole demon beast that they had been worrying about, just so happened to show up beneath the entrance to the tunnel a few seconds after they had left the rock and began following the tunnel upwards towards the surface.
Roar?
Coming to a stop just as it was about to head back up into the tunnel above, it came to a stop before starting to sniff the air around it. Slowly a distinct killing intent spread out from around the mole demon beast, as it picked up the scent trail left behind by Chu Yang and Qing Yi leading directly into its tunnel!
If it had been a normal demon beast that had reached the limits of the Nascent Soul Realm, it might not have been able to pick up the faint scent left behind by Chu Yang and Qing Yi, but it was a mole demon beast with a far more sensitive nose compared to ordinary demon beast!
ROOOOOOOAR-!
Letting out roar filled with all of the anger that had been building up after it first noticed that someone had entered its tunnel, part of the mole demon beast's cultivation base ended up amplifying the loud beastial roar even further-
RUMBLE-!
Making the entire cave around it shake violently and causing all of the nearby demon beasts to escape in fear.
Crack~
Whoosh-!
However, unexpectedly, the roar of the mole demon beast also ended up causing the already loose rock in the side of the tunnel entrance to fully free itself before coming hurtling down towards the angrily roaring mole demon beast below.
Roar?
Noticing the rock falling down towards it the moment it was dislodged; the mole demon beast didn't worry about it. After all, what was a normal rock going to do to a demon beast like itself? It had already experienced its own tunnel collapsing on top of it several times in the past and had come out just fine. For this reason, it felt more than confident in its own strength to resist a small rock.
BANG!
However, the moment the rock landed on its body, an unimaginable pain began spreading throughout its entire body without showing any signs of stopping.
ROAR!?
It was only at this moment that the mole demon beast realized that the rock was not an ordinary rock but was instead a special kind of rock made from a toxic spiritual metal that would poison everything around it the moment it was broken.
Back when it had dug out its tunnel, it had specifically dug around it to ensure that it wouldn't come into contact with the toxic spiritual metal, as the poison released by the spiritual metal when broken, was more than strong enough to kill an existence at the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Even if its physical body had already managed to surpass the Nascent Soul Realm and step into the Domain Lord Realm, it would still be difficult for it to suppress the poison spreading throughout its body in the short term. Not to mention, it would also have to worry about the other Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts in the underground world during this time.
For now, it no longer had the ability to arrogantly walk wherever it pleased in the underground world-
Rumble~
And without wasting a second, the mole demon beast dug into the ground to hide away from any potential demon beasts looking for a chance to devour it in an attempt to increase their own strength. No longer having any energy left to chase after Chu Yang and Qing Yi who had entered its tunnel.
At least until it managed to recover again and fully get rid of the poison that was spreading throughout its entire body at a breakneck speed, Chu Yang and Qing Yi would be able to safely traverse its tunnels without any threats outside of a few earth worms that would accidently dig into its tunnel from time to time…