After taking just a few steps, Zhong Xiang’s footsteps halted, and he turned his head in the darkness to look at Zhang Chen.
"Go on! Why are you standing there?" Zhang Chen looked at Zhong Xiang and reprimanded him irritably.
In the darkness, Zhong Xiang remained silent for a moment before speaking in a voice full of grievance, "I’m afraid of the dark..."
"You’re a grown man, and you’re afraid of the dark?" Zhang Chen was speechless.
Zhong Xiang stood silent in the darkness, and Zhang Chen, feeling helpless, instructed the Fox Spirit to bring a Luminous Pearl from outside. Zhang Chen rolled the Luminous Pearl across the ground, and Zhong Xiang eagerly picked it up and held it in his arms, with the corners of his mouth lifting in a smile as he strode through the dark corridor.
Zhong Xiang walked in front while Zhang Chen quietly followed behind him. The two of them walked in the corridor for a moment, without any major threats, only to be blocked by another large bronze gate.
Zhong Xiang stopped in front of the bronze gate and turned to look at Zhang Chen, who stepped forward and took the Luminous Pearl back from Zhong Xiang. He then gathered an icy knife in his hand: "Do you know what to do?"
Seeing Zhang Chen’s icy knife, Zhong Xiang felt a sharp pain in his rear: "I say, can’t you... can’t you damn well do it another way?"
Even though Zhong Xiang wasn’t prone to cursing, being constantly poked in the butt was getting on his nerves.
The response to Zhong Xiang was Zhang Chen’s relentless icy blade, stabbing directly into Zhong Xiang’s behind, and at once, red-hot magma poured out from Zhong Xiang’s rear.
"You heartless beast!" Zhong Xiang cursed, but still lunged forward at the bronze gate.
Zhang Chen retreated a safe distance. This time, the bronze gate didn’t act up; instead, it smoothly melted a hole that resembled a dog door. Without hesitation, Zhong Xiang went through it first.
"That brat’s trying to run!"
Seeing Zhong Xiang’s move, Zhang Chen quickly stepped behind him. Watching half of Zhong Xiang’s body squeeze through, with his rear still exposed, Zhang Chen patted Zhong Xiang’s behind: "If I were you, I wouldn’t do something so stupid. How could your speed crawling through compare to my speed chasing you?"
Zhang Chen took out a Sealing Rune, ready to stick it onto Zhong Xiang, but Zhong Xiang, like a startled rabbit, scrambled back out of the bronze dog hole.
"Why are you running back out? Get in there!"
Zhang Chen stuck the Sealing Rune on Zhong Xiang and pushed him by the rear to force him in.
"Run! Run! There’s something terrifying in here!" Zhong Xiang’s panicked voice rang from behind the bronze door, desperately retreating.
But it was too late; the next moment Zhong Xiang burst into flames, and his Qilin’s Heart was unexpectedly triggered. Then came a chorus of miserable squeaks from behind the bronze stone door, as Zhong Xiang quickly retreated, stood up, and took off running.
"Why are you running? You think you can escape?" Zhang Chen saw Zhong Xiang trying to flee and promptly gave chase. As soon as Zhong Xiang’s flames were gone, Zhang Chen stuck the Sealing Rune back onto him.
Even as they hadn’t run far, the next moment made Zhang Chen’s scalp tingle with fear. From behind the bronze stone door burst a swarm of fist-sized, blood-red rats.
The large bronze door was nibbled to nothing in an instant by the rats, and they poured out like a tidal wave from the corridor, surging straight toward the two of them. The rats moved swiftly as if smelling Qi Blood, going straight for Zhang Chen and Zhong Xiang.
"Third-rank! A whole swarm of third-rank rats!" Zhang Chen gazed at them, countless in number, filling the corridor like some scene from a disaster movie.
"Why are you running! It’s just a bunch of third-rank rats, go burn them for me!" Zhang Chen caught up to Zhong Xiang, who had reverted to a suppressed state after the flames disappeared.
"Ninth-rank! There’s a ninth-rank presence in there. Running is the only option if we don’t want to die!" Zhong Xiang sprinted madly.