Dragon Vein Storyteller

Chapter 4 Earth Dragon

Fortunately, the group of men in black armor who kidnapped us didn't search us.

Seeing this, the cripple Feng quickly took out a phosphorus flask from his pocket, snapped it open, and threw it into the pit. This kind of flask was dazzlingly bright, but it couldn't burn for long.

The flame fell and instantly illuminated the bottom of the pit.

The shadows, like frightened demons, scattered and sprang apart, their fingernails digging into the stone wall with a sharp "squeak," as if the fingernails were scraping bones.

In that instant, I saw it clearly.

He froze on the spot and plopped down on the cold stone.

"No...it's impossible..."

I desperately tried to convince myself that I was seeing things, that the firelight was blinding me, or that I was just confused from fear.

"Is that a zongzi?" The little chick's voice floated over, trembling.

"It doesn't seem like it..." Feng the Cripple continued.

"Have you ever seen a zongzi?" Baldy Liao asked.

"No……"

The three sentences of dialogue felt like three stones hitting my heart. I knew from their tone...

What I just saw was not an illusion, it was real.

"Master, what's wrong?" The little chick reached out and touched me.

I grabbed his arm, stared intently into his eyes, and said in a hoarse voice, "What did you see? Tell me! Explain yourself clearly, word by word!"

"I...I saw...it was humanoid, but three hard horns were sticking out of its forehead, not from the scalp, but piercing through the bone..." The little chick stammered in fright, "The legs...the legs were backwards! The knees bent backwards, and when it crawled, it looked like a praying mantis, or a swarm of wriggling maggots..."

Feng the Cripple's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice trembling: "The skin isn't human skin, it's layers of scales that gleam coldly in the firelight, and it has six fingers, claws so sharp they can dig into stone..."

"What exactly is a 'half-immortal'?" Sanjin asked in a deep voice.

I swallowed hard; my throat felt like it was stuffed with charcoal.

"It's an earth dragon."

"dragon?"

"It's not a dragon from the sky, it's an earth dragon." A chill ran down my spine. "The books described it as an ancient evil creature, and based on just those four words, I always thought it was made up... I never imagined it actually existed."

The handwriting in that tattered family heirloom book was now branding me like a hot iron:

The earth dragon has a triangular head with bony spurs protruding from it; a tongue like a snake's tongue; a mouth full of sharp teeth; a body covered in scales; and a human-like shape; its knees bend backwards; and its fingers have six claws, capable of splitting mountains and rocks; it likes to eat people, and eats them...

I used to think it was just ancient people bluffing.

Now I believe it.

"Let's go back." I pushed myself up, my voice as cold as ice. "There's only one way out, and we have to take it."

As soon as I returned to the cave where I had fallen, I picked up a rock and smashed it hard on the shoulder of the middle-aged man who had been leading the group to grab water.

"Bang!"

He was about to curse, but when he saw it was us, he swallowed the rest of his words.

The expressions of the group of people behind him changed drastically.

Some were afraid, some hated, some were numb, and some still held onto a pitiful glimmer of hope.

Especially those who had just been robbed, their eyes lit up for a moment, like drowning people seeing a piece of driftwood floating by.

But the light went out quickly.

They remember that we didn't save them.

"Is that the only hole in the back?" I kicked him to the ground, my face ashen. "Tell the truth!"

"No, no... There are three stone pillars on the rock wall at the edge of the pit... but they're too far away for us to get across..."

"Take us there."

I grabbed his collar and pulled him up.

After taking a couple of steps, I suddenly stopped, turned around, and yelled at everyone. My voice echoed against the stone wall:

"Listen up, all of you! Strip the clothes off the dead man and twist them into a rope! Twist it tight if you don't want to die!"

"Each of you carry a corpse and follow me!"

The crowd erupted.

Some panicked, some were afraid, some felt nauseous, but no one dared to move.

The girl who had glared at me with such resentment stood frozen in place, her eyes wide with astonishment.

She didn't expect us to come back.

I never expected that I would give such an order.

I glanced at her, expressionless, and kicked the middle-aged man in the backside: "Lead the way."

Upon reaching the edge of the pit, following his pointing finger, three stone pillars were indeed embedded in the rock wall, spaced more than 1.5 meters apart. The bottom of the pit was pitch black, and normally no one would dare to jump in.

"Throw all the bodies down there," I said calmly.

At a command, one corpse after another was thrown into the darkness.

"Thump...thump...thump..."

The thud was terrifyingly heavy, like hitting rotten flesh.

Not long after, a rustling sound came from the bottom of the pit.

It was a wet, sucking sound, like someone was drinking thick porridge close to your ear, accompanied by the crunching sound of chewing on crunchy bones.

That's an earthworm eating.

I stood at the edge of the pit, expressionless.

Some people around them were trembling, some were dry heaving, and some were watching their dead relatives being thrown down, their lips trembling as they wanted to cry, shout, and fight back, but their legs were too weak to stand.

I felt no emotion whatsoever.

In this world, a human life is worth less than a rope.

If we're too slow in throwing them away, we'll be the next ones dragged down and devoured.

"Give."

The girl walked over, holding the twisted cloth rope in both hands, her fingertips still trembling. The resentment in her eyes had faded, replaced by a hint of fear and a desperate plea for survival.

I didn't take it. Instead, I stepped directly on the end of the rope, looked into her eyes, and spoke in a voice devoid of any warmth:

"If you want to live, shut up and keep working."

Her face turned pale, her hands gripping the rope trembled, and she lowered her head, no longer daring to look at me.

I bent down, picked up the rope, and tossed it to Sanjin: "Jump over and secure the rope to the stone pillar."

Without a word, Sanjin leaped and landed steadily on the first stone pillar, then jumped to the second and the third. His movements were nimble, like a wild ape. After a few rounds, the rope net was erected over the deep pit.

"Feng the Cripple, go first."

With a limp, Feng the Crippled pushed off, his movements more steady than an ordinary person's, and he crossed in a few steps.

The little chick was small but brave; it gritted its teeth and crawled over.

The remaining people gripped the rope and moved forward one by one. Some were fast, while others trembled like leaves in the autumn wind, freezing halfway up the rope, crying and too afraid to move.

I stood on the opposite bank, looking at their desperate faces, but my heart remained completely unmoved.

The chick sidled up and whispered, "Master, why did you make them dispose of the corpse?"

"Are you really stupid?" I glanced at him sideways. "The things down there want to eat people. With them already full, they won't have time to bite us."

The chick paused for a moment, then nodded and glanced down into the pit.

The hissing and gnawing continued.

They eat their food, we go ours.

For the time being, we will not interfere with each other.

I looked back and saw that nearly half of the people were still trapped on the other side of the river. The firelight made their faces flicker, their fear mixed with a faint glimmer of hope.

They didn't know what lay ahead; they only knew that if they followed us, they might survive.

I just felt that if these people were with us, they would be there to protect us if anything happened.

But what they didn't know was that only one in a hundred could survive on this path.

"Half-immortal, which way to go?" asked the cripple Feng.

I looked up.

In the depths of darkness, a glimmer of light shines.

It wasn't the warm light of a torch, but a cold, bluish light that flickered slightly, like a giant eye staring at us from the shadows.

My heart skipped a beat.

The color of that light was exactly the same as the color of the earth dragon's eyes that had been illuminated by the firelight.

Vertical pupils.

It's as yellow as amber.

The unfinished sentence in the book suddenly exploded in my mind:

Earth dragons guard their burrows, using light as bait...

My scalp tingled instantly, and I roared:

"Don't look at that light! Everyone, keep up! Keep moving forward!"

The wind blew up from the bottom of the pit, carrying the stench of decay, blood, and that cloyingly sweet smell.

The earth dragon hissed from below.

I grabbed the chick and rushed into the darkness. Behind me, I heard cries and scrambling, but I didn't turn back. In that cold, bluish light, whoever was a step slower would be the next bait.

No one knows whether what awaits them is a path to survival or an even greater hell.

I only know one thing...

There was no way out behind us; the only way to escape was to keep moving forward.

What to take?

Human life!