"Swoosh…"

A flash of saber-light was seen when Ou Yangming's military saber drew a wonderful yet strange path in the void. The instant the saber dropped, six Black Magic Crawlers were killed.

The timing of the slash, the path that was drawn by the blade, as well as the swaying movement of Ou Yangming's body, corresponded with each other seamlessly. From an outsider's point of view, it would seem like the Black Magic Crawlers had been killed because they threw their bodies onto the saber's blade.

Ou Yangming charged forward courageously with his saber-lights.

When he entered the thoroughly meticulous state, he somehow came up with an idea to survive, and it was the only way out of the situation.

"Big Yellow, stop them, and buy time!"

Ou Yangming roared and increased his speed to the maximum, then charged into the deep and dark cave before the Black Magic Crawlers in the hall could gather on him. The cave was not massive, but it was more than enough to fit roughly ten people. Different stones were piled up inside, and over thirty crawlers were seen matching their strengths with the tough stones.

Nonetheless, the Black Magic Crawlers quickly abandoned the stones below their mouthparts when they saw Ou Yangming, and they jumped on him while baring their teeth.

The crawlers were not only fast in crawling, but their jump was also more powerful than normal creatures. If they suddenly jumped within a certain distance from a person, it was unlikely that the person could escape.

Nevertheless, Ou Yangming was well-prepared as he had witnessed their strengths before. He swayed his body and unexpectedly dodged all the Black Magic Crawlers by a few millimeters. At the same time, he continuously killed them with his military saber without showing any weakness. Each time Ou Yangming attacked, one or more crawlers were slaughtered.

All the Black Magic Crawlers in the cave were killed after a brief moment, and Ou Yangming had only spent a couple of breaths to deal with them.

Once the crawlers in the cave were taken care of, Ou Yangming quickly flashed out.

At that moment, the big yellow dog's body had expanded to roughly twice its original size, and it looked unusually funny, as if air had been pumped into its body.

However, the funny-looking big yellow dog had actually blocked the cave's mouth and killed as many Black Magic Crawlers as it could. A layer of light kept flickering on its surface as though the light contained certain lethal energy. Once the crawlers contacted the dog's body, before they could bite it, their body quivered and they bounced away hard.

Some lucky Black Magic Crawlers crashed into leaves or moss, and they crawled up again after shaking their body; some unlucky ones crashed into stones instead.

Although their mouthparts were incredibly tough, they could munch stones that were comparable with feature steel, their body was weak. Once they were hit by force and crashed into solid stones, they would break and die.

With that, the big yellow dog was like a lion in the lower realm that guarded the cave so that nothing could enter.

Despite that, Ou Yangming and the dog itself knew that this was its last resort.

"Big Yellow, come inside!"

Ou Yangming roared at the big yellow dog, then flipped his body to the side of a big rock and pushed it with his palm.

His palm contained surging energy that instantly pushed the exceptionally heavy rock toward the cave's mouth.

The big yellow dog's eyes lit up. Even though it knew that Ou Yangming's action was the same as trapping them inside the cave, they could at least survive longer inside instead of being killed right away by the crawlers outside.

After exhaling deeply, the big yellow dog's body deflated, and it went back to its normal size.

Following that, it jumped nimbly to avoid the big rock.

"Boom…" The big rock blocked the cave's entrance, and was stuck there. Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog could neither advance nor retreat.

Ou Yangming had obviously planned this. He had only managed to come up with a plan to survive in the midst of death and quickly picked a rock to block the hole because he was under the thoroughly meticulous state.

Flashes of saber-lights were seen once more as Ou Yangming killed a few more Black Magic Crawlers and kicked some smaller stones to the cave's mouth.

Almost in a split second, stones of different sizes piled up in front of the only cave in the hall, and the hole would soon be fully covered.

"Screech…"

Suddenly, a weird and chilly scream was heard coming from behind Ou Yangming.

It sounded like a steel saber had stabbed deep inside Ou Yangming's mind.

"Humph…" Ou Yangming was instantly stunned by the unforeseen attack.

He never imagined such a strange power would exist in the world, and the power was attacking his mental state instead of his body.

Feeling weak at the knees, Ou Yangming collapsed to the ground.

He immediately understood that it was the doing of the Black Magic Crawler inside the shallow pit because it was stranger than others of its kind. Though he was already on guard, he could not escape the attack.

When Ou Yangming fell, a few Black Magic Crawlers crawled up his body and bit him with their mouthparts.

Ou Yangming was appalled. He tried his best to struggle, but found that his spiritual world was in chaos, and he could not move his limbs.

Cracks were heard coming from his body. Fortunately, he was fully armored with greaves and arm guards. On top of that, he was terribly lucky that the Black Magic Crawlers bit his equipment first.

If one of the crawlers had been smart enough to bite his face first, he would have died already.

That said, Ou Yangming had just been bitten once. Since he could not move, more Black Magic Crawlers crawled toward him, and he would soon be completely buried under a sea of crawlers.

Ou Yangming felt like an ant on fire. He gritted his teeth, but a black shadow kept suppressing his power in his spiritual world, hence his consciousness could not directly connect with his body.

Soon, a new Black Magic Crawler pounced on him and widened its mouth at his face.

A thought crossed Ou Yangming's mind at that moment.

'Am I really going to die here?' Even then, the last thought he had was, 'Old man, I can't save you, I'll be leaving first…'

However, just as the widely opened mouthparts were about to touch Ou Yangming's face, he heard an earth-shaking roar.

"Roar…"

Subsequently, a series of "crack" sounds were heard around him.

Tens of stalagmites emerged from the ground, each one piercing through a Black Magic Crawler with its tip. The crawlers kept twitching and struggling on the tip, but their efforts were in vain because they could not get free no matter what.

As a result, the black shadow that lingered in Ou Yangming's mind vanished too. Once the power that suppressed him left, he quickly regained control over his body.

Ou Yangming got up without any hesitation and saw the biggest stalagmite that emerged from the shallow pit.

There was also a Black Magic Crawler on the tip of the stalagmite, but it was thrice the size of a normal crawler, and could be compared with a toddler who was around 6 years old.

Its body hung high in the air, but it had not died. Instead, it slowly crawled up and broke free.

Almost simultaneously, Ou Yangming heard the big yellow dog's mournful shriek.

Ou Yangming exerted force through his toes and flew toward the dog speedily. Saber-lights flashed when he killed the five Black Magic Crawlers on the big yellow dog's body, but the dog was already covered in blood and was trembling due to the pain.

Any living creature would be in immense pain after being bitten by the crawlers.

Nevertheless, Ou Yangming did not waste time. He snapped his wrist to throw the big yellow dog into the cave.

Afterward, he moved swiftly and kicked tens of Black Magic Crawlers' dead bodies inside as well.

The rock outside the cave had basically covered more than half of the cave's mouth at the moment, leaving a gap that could only fit a person. Therefore, Ou Yangming zoomed inside without hesitation after everything was done.

As soon as he found his footing, he proceeded to kick the smaller stones inside the cave to seal the entrance.

Next, he shook his wrist to release the Military Fire and burn the stones.

It was Ou Yangming's first time using the Military Fire on such a large scale. While he knew that the move was inevitably a huge burden for his body, so much so that he would be hurt, he was left with no choice.

"Swoosh…"

The surface of the tough stones melted quickly due to the mighty Military Fire, and the stones merged together. When Ou Yangming curbed the fire after a short while, the stones of different sizes had already blocked the cave's mouth. There were some tiny gaps in between, but the Black Magic Crawlers could not get through, and the gaps were enough for Ou Yangming and the big yellow to breathe.

"Pow…"

Ou Yangming fell butt first on the ground once he was done.

His Military Fire did not burn for a long time, but he felt like he had just fought a battle for three days and three nights. The mental power consumed could not be mentioned in the same breath as the amount usually used for smithing.

"Huff, huff…" Ou Yangming breathed heavily while forcefully shifting his body to the big yellow dog.

Although the crawlers on the dog had died, their mouthparts were deeply rooted inside its body, hence it could not help but shudder due to the pain.

Ou Yangming looked at the big yellow dog with mixed feelings, then stomped his feet and handed his military saber to the dog. "Hold this!"

The big yellow dog stopped shivering, but it widened its eyes at its paws, then at the military saber in front of it, and finally, at Ou Yangming.

It furiously denounced Ou Yangming through its eyes.

If it was not because the big yellow dog was in so much pain that it could not stand up, it would definitely have bitten him.