Dragon Vein Storyteller

Chapter 20 Desperate Situation

"Sizzle..."

Suddenly, a crack appeared at the top of the cocoon closest to the Nuwa statue. Transparent mucus mixed with silvery-gray blood gushed out from the crack, forming a viscous waterfall that cascaded to the ground. A hand emerged from the crack... not a human hand... with six fingers, nails long and black, and it gripped the edge of the cocoon, tearing it open from top to bottom as if ripping a piece of wet paper.

"Run!" I roared, pointing the torch towards the pit. "That way! That cave... the cave the earth dragon went into!"

We trod through broken cocoons and silvery-gray pus, disregarding any formation, running forward on sheer willpower. Behind us, the ripping and crackling sounds of cocoons breaking open echoed one after another, like someone slashing my back with a knife.

The second one. The third one.

Without a word, Sanjin braced himself with his shovel, his massive, mountain-like body now blocking our path. He casually grabbed half a broken claw from the pile of bones at his feet and tucked it into his belt… laborers always know to grab a weapon on the spot. He held the shovel horizontally in front of him, shovel side outwards, his feet slightly apart, the soles of his feet firmly planted on the ground, forming a wall of flesh that protected the four of us behind him. Feng the Cripple slammed his cane into the ground, took a half-step to the left, glanced back at the Nuwa statue before running, and lightly tapped the end of his cane three times on the ground… the old earthen laborer's ritual of worshipping the gods, even in his desperate escape, he didn't forget to seek a way to survive.

Baldy Liao pulled out an iron shovel from his waist, guarded the gap on the right, grabbed the little chick and held it to his side, and kept talking: "You little brat, hold on tight to my clothes, if you fall I won't save you, I'll have to seal your soul and put mud on you later, what a hassle."

I pulled the little chick behind me, its little hands gripping the hem of my clothes tightly, while its other hand reached for the carving knife at its waist. As we ran, half a piece of wet mud left over from sealing Cui Dake's soul fell out of his pocket. Without hesitation, he reached out, picked it up, and stuffed it back into his pocket, not caring that his hand was covered in silvery-gray slime.

We rushed to the pit's edge and looked down. By the torchlight, all we could see was a pit filled with carcasses. Scales, broken bones, and chewed skulls of the earth dragons lay scattered everywhere, coated in a viscous, silvery-gray liquid that gleamed stickily. In the center of the pile of remains, a gigantic earth dragon was coiled at the very bottom. It was at least three times larger than the smaller earth dragons we had seen in the pit, over ten feet long from head to tail, its scales bristling, each one gleaming with a cold, steely light. It was gnawing on the neck of the last of its twitching brethren. With a snap of its jaws, the neck was torn in two. It held the half-corpse in its mouth, tilted its head back, and swallowed it. A large bulge appeared in its throat, sliding down its neck into its abdomen. Then it let out a burp, exhaling a cloud of foul air that billowed out of the pit, smelling like a corpse that had rotted for eight hundred years.

Gu. Cui Dake was right, the deep pit was a breeding ground for Gu. If you put dozens of earthworms in the same pit and let them devour each other, the one that survives will be the Gu King.

Behind the Gu King, on the opposite side of the deep pit, there was a hole in the stone wall. The entrance was small, only allowing one person to pass through. The walls were covered with a silvery-gray slime, and there were deep claw marks on the stone walls, all leading towards the entrance. The cave led to an unknown place, but it was at least a glimmer of hope compared to the desperate situation of having the Gu King in front and the flesh cocoon behind.

I glanced back and saw that the fourth cocoon on the stone steps had just cracked open, and the head of a triangular earth dragon had just emerged, its vertical pupils pointing directly in our direction.

"Sanjin, you lead the way!" I yelled, pushing Sanjin towards the edge of the ditch. "Lame one, bring up the rear, Baldy, watch the chicks..."

Before he could finish speaking, the breathing of the Gu King at the bottom of the pit suddenly changed. It was no longer the slow, muffled breathing of thunder, but stopped… that deep breathing abruptly ceased. The entire pit fell into an absolute silence, even the sound of rubble rolling down the bottom disappeared. Then, the rubble at the edge of the pit began to fall, not shaken off, but sliding down on its own.

The Gu King has awakened.

Ahead, the Gu King was writhing at the bottom of the pit, and behind, more than twenty newly molted earth dragons were sniffing our way. The five of us were caught in the middle; moving forward or backward meant certain death.

"Half-immortal, wanna gamble?" Feng the Cripple's voice suddenly cut through the noise. He was at the rear; I had been guarding the front, and now he was guarding the back. He glanced back at me, his face showing neither fear nor haste, only a slight furrow in his brow, as if waiting for my reply.

"How do we gamble?"

"I'm betting it'll be full and won't chase us. I'm betting on that!" Sanjin shoveled the ground and pointed to the hole behind the Gu King. "I'll clear the way...you guys follow."

Behind us, the first earth dragon to emerge had already taken a step towards us. Its tail swept across the stone steps, knocking down a still-unopened cocoon. The cocoon crashed to the ground, cracking open and releasing a pool of silvery-gray mucus. The creature inside writhed violently, as if eager to hatch. But the earth dragon didn't look at it; it stared at us, its vertical pupils reflecting five living people.

The densely packed cocoon on the left began to crack open one after another, like a row of insect eggs being torn apart in sequence. The ear-piercing sound of sharp claws tearing through the membrane rose and fell, and with each tearing sound, a newly molted earthworm tumbled out of the cocoon, its body covered in slime, leaving a wet trail on the stone steps. Then it stood up, turned its head, and looked at us with its vertical pupils.

There were still six cocoons on the right, not yet fully formed. They had swelled a little later than the others, their shells trembling slightly, as if the contents inside hadn't fully developed. That was our only window of opportunity... We had to rush over before they all emerged.

"Go!" I kicked Sanjin in the back, and he stumbled, almost falling into the pit. He braced himself against the edge with his shovel and then scrambled down to the bottom. Little Chick followed closely behind Sanjin, its short legs hopping and tumbling across the broken bone ground as it scrambled down. I was in the middle, running and holding a torch to light the way. Baldy Liao protected Little Chick on either side, his iron shovel held across his chest, his bald head gleaming in the torchlight. Crippled Feng brought up the rear, his cane clicking and rattling on the rocks.

A sharp roar came from behind us, and the first earth dragon that had molted was already charging towards us... Its claws dug into the stone steps, leaving deep craters with each claw, and it was much faster than a person could run.

We slipped and tumbled into the pit. Our feet were treading on broken bones and scales, the thick, silvery-gray blood reaching above our ankles. With each step, we could hear the crunching of crushed bones. The air was thick with a stench, so thick it felt like you could scoop it up with your hands… It was the foul breath spewed from the earth dragon's mouth, a mixture of corpse fluid, rotting flesh, and a cold, metallic stench; inhaling it felt like your lungs were coated in oil.

The Gu King coiled in the very center of the pit, less than five zhang away from us. Its vertical pupils, yellow like amber, with a black line running through them, coldly stared at us. The slime on its scales gleamed coldly in the torchlight, each scale opening and closing slightly with its breath, revealing dark red tender flesh beneath… that tender flesh was still oozing blood, fresh wounds left from the tearing and fighting with its own kind. Its belly was swollen, and we could vaguely see the limbs of its swallowed kin still twitching slightly. Blood, torn from the throats of its kin, dripped from its chin, hissing as it hit the broken bones, emitting a wisp of white smoke.