Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 426 - 289: Mortal Transcendence Ghost

Chapter 426: Chapter 289: Mortal Transcendence Ghost

"Crack...."

"Crack...."

As the three of them continued to delve deeper into the Blood Demon Cave, the initially constricting passageway that was about a zhang in diameter gradually became more spacious.

The activities of some large specters made the diameter of the tunnel even more spacious than the mountain tunnels on the highways Xu Yuan remembered from his previous life.

The distance to the location where the Barbarian King encountered the specter that had achieved Mortal Transcendence should still be quite far, but even the remnants of their battle had caused innumerable pieces of the tunnel’s inner wall to collapse and fall.

The debris varied in size, some as small as the palm of one’s hand, while others were as large as a zhang, chaotically piled atop the Black Death Mycelial Mat.

In the flickering firelight, the sound of boots crushing the broken stones seemed eerily hollow.

The three advanced several miles further before they finally reached the jumbled boulders that completely blocked the passageway.

This cavernous tunnel nearly ten zhang in diameter could almost be deemed a grotto.

The collapsed massive rocks had entirely obstructed this vast tunnel, and the spilling debris almost covered the ground.

The firelight cast their shadows upon them, making them appear exceptionally small.

Upon seeing this scene, Li Qingyan crossed her arms, her voice smooth as glass, "This palace already said this place was completely blocked. You insisted on coming here, what exactly did you want to see?"

"...."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan did not immediately respond. He paced back and forth in the grand tunnel, inspecting something, occasionally using Origin Qi to move some of the large stones to check the mycelial mat beneath them.

Under the puzzled gazes of the two women, Xu Yuan continued to wander in this spacious tunnel.

Eventually, he abruptly stopped in a corner, his pupils suddenly constricting at the sight of a small pool of blue slime below.

After a long while,

Xu Yuan slowly approached the two women again and looked at Li Qingyan, hesitating to speak.

Li Qingyan nodded, indicating he should speak freely.

Xu Yuan took a deep breath, carefully considering his words, "Well, we might have encountered a little problem."

Bai Muxi pondered for a moment before replying softly, "Young Master, although this path is blocked, Mu Xi has other routes in her mind that lead deeper into the Blood Demon Cave, we just need to take a slight detour."

"That’s not what I mean."

Xu Yuan shook his head and pointed at the ground, tugging at the corner of his mouth, "You should first take a look at these stones on the ground."

"Is this what you went to inspect just now?"

Li Qingyan asked, a hint of confusion in her voice, but her eyes scanned the giant rocks on the ground of the massive tunnel.

After a few moments,

Li Qingyan’s eyes suddenly sharpened, turning back to the tunnel blocked by the collapsed boulders, she hesitated, "Looking at the trajectory of these stones, it seems that many of them came from the collapse over there?"

"Right."

Xu Yuan nodded.

Because the ground was covered in a layer of the Black Death Mycelial Mat, these stones weighing several tons left traces whether they fell or rolled over it.

Bai Muxi stepped closer to Xu Yuan, asking softly, "So Young Master, you mean to say that a high-ranking specter crawled out from this buried tunnel?"

Just as Xu Yuan was about to speak, Li Qingyan preempted him, her tone slightly odd, "Judging by your expression, is the specter that emerged from the collapse a Mortal Transcendence one?"

Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment before nodding seriously, "Most likely."

Li Qingyan dropped her crossed arms, her brows slightly knit, "The specter strong enough to force the Barbarian King to use his full power should only be one of the four Mortal Transcendence specters you mentioned. But do you think that specter could have survived the Barbarian King’s punch?"

Without hesitation, Xu Yuan answered directly, "Most likely not."

The punch from the Barbarian King was clearly a powerful move, the aftershock had collapsed several miles of terrain, even causing tremors that could be felt in the outermost grottos of the Underground Palace.

A world line BOSS like the Barbarian King, although not in his complete form, was not something an elite boss of a dungeon could withstand.

After a pause, Xu Yuan added, "But high-ranking specters can regenerate by using the mycelial mat. And as you’ve seen along the way, if there’s a great disparity in strength, these high-ranking specters will flee."

"...."

Suddenly, the tunnel fell silent.

Several moments later,

Li Qingyan pondered briefly and asked softly,

"Changtian, although this palace is willing to believe your intelligence and judgement, why would that Mortal Transcendence ghost choose to dig through several miles of collapsed area to come to our side?"

The already severely injured Barbarian King could not possibly expend a great amount of strength to "fight the air", and Li Qingyan found it even harder to believe that, facing a spiritless ghost, the Barbarian King would punch into empty space.

In other words, the "killed" Mortal Transcendence ghost should have been on the other side of this collapsed tunnel.

While crossing several miles of collapsed territory was not difficult, it was not easy either.

"......"

Xu Yuan smacked his lips and hesitated before saying,

"Perhaps... the ghost was scared off by the Barbarian King?"

"...." Li Qingyan looked at him as if he were a fool.

After thinking it through, Xu Yuan decided not to hide anymore and led the two women to a corner, pointing at the blue slime below and whispering,

"Alright, we’re not clear about the specific circumstances on the Barbarian King’s side, but that remnant soul once told me about the defining characteristics of the four Mortal Transcendence ghosts in this Underground Palace."

Li Qingyan furrowed her brows and tried to sense with her Will-spirit, only to find that she couldn’t detect this thing at all and asked,

"Changtian, what is this?"

"Blood."

Xu Yuan didn’t think twice and directly said, "The blood of a Mortal Transcendence ghost."

"Blood?"

Li Qingyan’s brows knit slightly, her phoenix eyes staring at Xu Yuan, "Ghosts have blood?"

Having delved into the Blood Demon Lair for so long, slaying ghosts all along the way, not one or two but dozens, yet neither the high-ranked nor the low-ranked had any blood within them.

Once you cut open the body of a ghost, tendrils of flesh would immediately reach out to try and sew the wound back together.

Bai Muxi did not speak beside them; this information was already far beyond her knowledge.

Under the watchful eyes of the two women, Xu Yuan shamelessly spread his hands,

"I don’t know why the ghost has blood either, but that’s what Old Man Luo told me—a ghost transformed from a snake demon."

"Snake demon?"

Li Qingyan accepted this piece of intelligence matter-of-factly and then asked,

"Since there’s blood, can this palace assume that this Mortal Transcendence ghost is injured?"

Xu Yuan vaguely recalled the snake-like monster from Cangyuan Chronicles,

"It is injured."

"It is?" Li Qingyan was somewhat dissatisfied with this uncertain answer.

"...."

Xu Yuan hesitated on how to explain to Li Qingyan, and after a long while, he whispered,

"In short, the more this ghost is injured, the stronger its abilities become."

"Ah?" Li Qingyan’s red lips parted slightly, her eyes growing even stranger, "The greater the injury, the stronger it is?"

"....."

Xu Yuan shifted his gaze away, "That’s what Old Man Luo said, I don’t know the principle behind it."

He certainly couldn’t tell Li Qingyan directly that this was because the Black Serpent BOSS had entered its third phase, could he?

In Cangyuan Chronicles, the Black Serpent ghost had three lives, each life revealing different attack modes.

Of course, this information was not important for now.

What was important was that when the Black Serpent entered its third phase, every time a player struck it, its blue blood would splatter everywhere, providing a direct feedback of the hit sensation.

This was a detail Xu Yuan had particularly enjoyed in his past life, though he had not anticipated that it would come in handy here.

With this thought, Xu Yuan glanced back at the giant tunnel that had been sealed.

He guessed what had happened that day.

After encountering the unwelcome Barbarian King, the Mortal Transcendence ghost BOSS, driven by instinct, had attacked the Barbarian King.

Unfortunately, the disparity in strength was too great.

That muscle-bound brute from the Barbarian Tribes nearly sent the Black Serpent to meet its great grandma with one punch.

A single punch had wiped out two of its lives, forcing it to flee into the third phase immediately.

What he did not know was how much vitality this Black Serpent had left after the Barbarian King’s punch in the third phase.

At this thought,

Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes and glanced at Li Qingyan, whose face was filled with gravity.

If the serpent’s vitality was not much left, perhaps with his intelligence and Li Qingyan’s strength, they could attempt to lure it out using the corpses of high-ranked ghosts and then pick up the slack...