Chapter 51

"Yu Shi...” Chen Wan stared at the young man being held by the Human Demon King, her beautiful eyes wide open. Before she could call out, Yuan Ming quickly covered her mouth.

Her voice was abruptly cut off, fortunately, the Human Demon King did not notice.

After landing steadily, the other Human Demons all lowered their heads in unison, their movements stiff, showing a posture of submission.

And that Yu Shi from the Fire Refining Hall was held by the Human Demon King's arm, his neck gripped and lifted in front of him.

The latter's face twitched, his expression painful, his eyes tightly shut. Though clearly not unconscious, he lacked the courage to even open his eyes. His muscles were tense, his body trembling, clearly in extreme fear.

Chen Wan's gaze was fixed on the fellow disciple, her mind in chaos, ultimately lacking the courage to risk saving him.

At this moment, the Human Demon King suddenly pointed a finger at Yu Shi's forehead.

With a "pu" sound, his skull, as if made of tofu, was easily pierced, creating a bloody hole.

A piercing scream echoed through the cave.

The Human Demon King's gaze was stern as he held the struggling Yu Shi and brought him to his mouth.

His mouth opened, revealing a mouthful of sharp fangs, which he pressed against Yu Shi's forehead, biting down and sucking at the bloody hole.

In the next instant, a blood-red glow surged from the hole in Yu Shi's forehead, completely consumed by the Human Demon King.

Yu Shi's scream abruptly stopped, his body withered, and he slowly slipped from the Human Demon King's hand, falling to the ground.

The Human Demon King then spread his arms, his head tilted back slightly, as if enjoying a sumptuous feast, immersed in a wonderful sensation.

At the same time, a green light emanated from his body, with specks of light scattering.

The other Human Demons, bathed in this green light, also raised their heads, as if experiencing some kind of elevation.

Yuan Ming was shocked by this scene, stunned for a moment, while Chen Wan fell into an unusual silence, her face pale.

Regardless of the other Human Demons, if they fell into the hands of the Human Demon King, they would have no chance of survival, only to become his blood meal, with a fate no better than Yu Shi's.

"Boom"

At this moment, a wave of air suddenly rushed down from the gap above the cave, carrying a scorching heat and a large amount of sand and leaves.

The entire underground cave shook violently, as if someone was attacking.

The Human Demon King looked up and suddenly let out a roar, leaping up and rushing straight toward the exit above.

The other Human Demons immediately moved, like a swarm of bees following their queen, climbing up the steep cave walls on all fours, and rushing out.

"We can get out..." Yuan Ming's heart leaped with joy at this sight.

He turned to look at Chen Wan, signaling her to get ready. Once all the Human Demons had left, he would take her and escape.

However, after waiting for a while, one by one, the Human Demons climbed out of the underground cave, but one remained standing in a corner, not following the others.

"What's wrong with this guy? Why isn't he moving?" Yuan Ming was anxious.

Chen Wan was also tense, knowing that if the other Human Demons returned to the cave, they would have no chance to escape.

She patted Yuan Ming's shoulder, and when he turned to look, she made a gesture of cutting her throat, indicating that they needed to kill this Human Demon quickly to escape safely.

Yuan Ming hesitated for a moment but then nodded.

He turned to climb down from the cave entrance when he suddenly saw the Human Demon move.

It shook its head from side to side, as if observing the surroundings. Seeing no one around, it suddenly turned and moved to the left, out of Yuan Ming's and Chen Wan's sight.

Yuan Ming was taken aback by this.

"That Human Demon seems a bit off. It looks like it has some intelligence," he whispered to Chen Wan.

Chen Wan, hearing this, poked her head out to look and found that the Human Demon was indeed gone.

"This... It's impossible. Even if a king is born among the Human Demons, there can only be one. Two kings cannot coexist peacefully; they would fight to the death," Chen Wan was also puzzled.

"Let's just escape first," Yuan Ming said.

With that, he immediately leaned out, grabbed the cave wall, and quickly climbed down.

Chen Wan also quickly climbed out.

When they reached the cave entrance where the Human Demons had rushed out, they noticed a hidden entrance on the left side, leading in another direction.

Chen Wan looked at the hidden entrance with curiosity.

"Don't get sidetracked. We need to escape as soon as possible," Yuan Ming reminded her.

Chen Wan softly "hmm"ed and withdrew her gaze.

"I'll go up and check the situation," Yuan Ming said, and began to climb up the cave entrance.

Just as he was halfway up, a series of roars came from outside the cave.

Then, a shadow fell from the cave entrance, almost hitting Yuan Ming and landing on the ground.

Yuan Ming quickly dodged, pressing his body against the wall and looking down to see that Chen Wan's feet were now next to a half-body corpse.

The corpse was covered in blood, its face obscured by blood, but from the clothing, it seemed to be a disciple of the Beast Taming Hall.

Yuan Ming's heart tightened, and as the sounds of battle above grew closer, his face changed.

He quickly flipped down and said to Chen Wan, "There's a battle going on above, the situation is unclear."

Before he could finish speaking, the light from the cave entrance was suddenly blocked by a shadow.

Yuan Ming and Chen Wan looked up to see the back of the Human Demon King.

They instinctively dodged to the side, seeing that the Human Demon was about to return, and it was too late to climb back to the original entrance.

"Let's go this way."

Chen Wan called out and turned to run into the hidden entrance on the left.

Yuan Ming had no choice but to follow.

The two ran for about half an hour, the cave passage winding and becoming increasingly narrow.

Before long, they reached a dead end.

"How can there be no way out?" Chen Wan asked in confusion.

They had not encountered any forks or seen the strange Human Demon return, yet they had reached a dead end without seeing it again.

Yuan Ming, hearing this, felt around and suddenly found a crack near the ground, less than half a person's height, just wide enough for one person to pass through.

"It might have gone through here," Yuan Ming said.

"That Human Demon can bend and crawl through tunnels. Its intelligence is not just newly awakened. How did it coexist peacefully with the Human Demon King?" Chen Wan, after checking, was even more puzzled.

"Let's not worry about that now. We need to get out quickly. The other Human Demons might come this way soon," Yuan Ming urged.

Chen Wan, hearing this, did not hesitate and crawled through the crack first.

Yuan Ming followed closely behind.

Behind the crack, there was still a narrow, winding passage. Yuan Ming and Chen Wan carefully walked through it for about fifteen minutes before finally emerging from the narrow passage.

The exit of the passage was a narrow crack leading to a cave about the size of two rooms.

The cave was dimly lit, but not pitch black. The walls were covered with a faintly phosphorescent powder, providing some weak light.

Yuan Ming and Chen Wan entered the cave and immediately saw a six-foot-tall ancient stone stele.

The rectangular stele stood on a base shaped like a fierce tiger, the carving not particularly exquisite but exuding a sense of vitality and power, giving a feeling of oppression.

Yuan Ming carefully examined it and found that one side of the stele was engraved with complex runes, while the other side was inscribed with the characters "Hu Lei" in the Southern Border script.

"What is this?" Yuan Ming asked.

Chen Wan also observed it carefully, thought for a moment, and then shook her head, saying, "I'm not sure. It looks like some kind of suppression object or boundary marker."

Hearing this, Yuan Ming did not ask further and began to carefully examine the rest of the cave.

After a thorough search, he was surprised to find that, apart from the crack they had entered through, there were no other exits.

"This is really the end. There are no other exits," Yuan Ming said, frowning.

"That's strange. Not only did we not find an exit, but we also didn't see that Human Demon," Chen Wan said, puzzled.

"Let's search again. It shouldn't be like this," Yuan Ming sighed.

Chen Wan, hearing this, turned her wrist and cast three fireball spells, illuminating the entire cave.

With the light, they searched the cave again but found nothing.

"Could there be a fork in the path we missed?" Chen Wan asked hesitantly.

"Let's go back the way we came and search again. Even if we don't find a fork, the other Human Demons might have left, and we can escape," Yuan Ming said.

"Okay."

After discussing, they returned the way they came, retracing their steps through the narrow, cramped passage.

When they finally returned to the cave, they had not yet gone out when they heard voices inside.

"Whatever happens, we need to see a body, dead or alive," a man's voice said.

"He must be dead. In that situation, there's no way he could have survived," a woman's voice said firmly.

...

The voices sounded familiar, and Yuan Ming was taken aback.

"What if something unexpected happened?" a timid voice asked.

Hearing this voice, Yuan Ming suddenly realized what was happening. Just as he was about to stop Chen Wan, she had already rushed out.

"Is it a fellow disciple from the Bi Luo Cave?" Chen Wan called out anxiously.

"Don't..."

Before Yuan Ming could finish his warning, the three people on the other side of the cave had already run over.

They were Kun Tu, Yang Chan, and Ba Da.