Nine Heavens Martial Emperor

The two rested for a good few hours before setting out again.

This was, of course, to accommodate Ling Xiao.

After they started moving again, Lin Hao didn’t charge ahead but chose to walk side-by-side with Ling Xiao.

Lin Hao had never been a selfish person, nor had he ever truly considered Ling Xiao a rival, even though Ling Xiao’s past actions had greatly displeased him.

So, seeing Ling Xiao so disheartened after entering the Demon Suppression Cave, Lin Hao chose to lend a hand rather than kick him while he was down.

A moment ago, Lin Hao had saved Ling Xiao’s body. Now, he decided to help him reclaim his former confidence.

"Brother Ling, I have a feeling this passage is more dangerous than the last one. You watch the right, I’ll watch the left. Let’s proceed with caution," Lin Hao said as he moved forward.

"Alright!" Ling Xiao answered with a single word, his tone carrying a hint of heroic spirit.

Lin Hao smiled. This was exactly the effect he’d been hoping for.

The two advanced side by side, one on the left and one on the right. After they had gone no more than a few dozen meters, Lin Hao’s eyelid twitched.

He was about to speak, but he opened his mouth and then closed it again without a word.

After taking two more steps, Ling Xiao finally noticed something was amiss as well. He pulled Lin Hao back and said, "Senior Brother, I feel like there’s something strange up ahead. Let’s stop."

"Ah? Alright." Lin Hao sounded a little surprised before nodding in agreement.

The moment they stopped, the ground ahead began to change.

The solid ground seemed to turn into soft sand, constantly undulating. The ripples grew larger, and the sound grew louder.

SWOOSH!

In the next instant, something shot out from beneath the ground, lunging straight for the two of them with incredible speed.

Without thinking, Ling Xiao threw a punch.

Ling Xiao was, after all, a Martial Artist at the Blood Coagulation Realm Peak. His punch was swift, fast, and packed with astonishing power.

"Don’t!" Lin Hao shouted, then casually reached out and caught Ling Xiao’s fist.

Then, Lin Hao pulled Ling Xiao aside, causing the attacking Devil Beast to lunge at empty air.

"Senior Brother..." Ling Xiao was confused.

"You saw it before. As soon as we kill the Devil Beasts in this passage, their blood drains away for no reason. The same thing happens to our True Essence. So, we can’t kill them," Lin Hao explained.

Ling Xiao was a sharp person and understood immediately. His expression changed drastically. "Senior Brother, are you saying that deep within the Demon Suppression Cave, there’s some entity beyond our imagination feeding on the Devil Beasts’ blood essence and our True Essence?"

Lin Hao nodded.

Ling Xiao knew exactly what this implied, and his expression became extremely grim.

"Then what do we do?" Ling Xiao asked.

"The giant rats and giant cats were natural enemies, and spiders can fight snakes. If my guess is correct, all the Devil Beasts in this Demon Suppression Cave are part of a complete food chain. We shouldn’t disrupt it. Let them fight amongst themselves," Lin Hao said with a slight smile.

"But..." Ling Xiao wasn’t as optimistic as Lin Hao, because he saw the Devil Beasts that had attacked them.

It wasn’t just one, but a whole group.

Their bodies were long and slender, covered in scales, and each was about two meters long. Their eyes stared covetously at the two of them.

They clung to the rock walls, their color blending in perfectly. If one didn’t look closely, they would be impossible to spot.

Ling Xiao had never seen such Devil Beasts before.

"Senior Brother, what are these things?" Ling Xiao asked.

"Chameleons," Lin Hao answered with a single word.

Seeing them, the ominous premonition in Lin Hao’s heart grew stronger.

While the giant rats and cats from the previous passage were rare, they had at least existed on the Celestial Yang Continent. These chameleons, however, were clearly a product of the Carefree Divine Monarch’s past life on Earth, yet here they were.

It gave Lin Hao the feeling that his deepest secrets were being watched.

But then, Lin Hao shook his head.

He remembered Ling Xiao saying that every Martial Artist who entered the Demon Suppression Cave encountered different Devil Beasts.

’If that’s the case, then the Devil Beasts here are all born from the Martial Artists’ own minds.’

Having figured this out, Lin Hao felt a sense of relief.

But at that moment, Ling Xiao shook his head and said, "Senior Brother, their eyes are vicious. If we don’t act, forget about getting out of the Demon Suppression Cave, we won’t even make it past this spot."

Lin Hao’s eyes narrowed.

These chameleons were much, much larger than the ones in the Carefree Divine Monarch’s memories. As they went deeper, their combat power would surely surpass that of the Devil Beasts they had encountered earlier.

Even fighting their way through would be a monumental effort, let alone getting by without bloodshed. Just as Ling Xiao had said, if they didn’t draw blood, getting past this point would be harder than ascending to the heavens.

"Their natural enemy must be up ahead..." As he said this, Lin Hao’s voice abruptly stopped.

The natural enemy of a chameleon was obviously a large python, but he had just dealt with two of them.

In an instant, Lin Hao’s expression turned ugly.

This Demon Suppression Cave was too bizarre and strange. A single misstep and you’d fall into its trap. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Moreover, Lin Hao hated this feeling of being led by the nose.

"We’ll fight our way through! I’d like to see what you can do to me!" Lin Hao’s face twisted into a fierce snarl. With those words, he strode forward.

Ling Xiao was stunned for a moment, then his face flushed red as he too charged forward without hesitation.

As the two of them moved, so did the chameleons ahead.

SWISH! SWISH!

Their speed was incredible. With just a flash on the rock walls, countless of them rushed over.

One on the left, one on the right, they punched out.

With every punch, a mist of blood would dissipate.

Especially Lin Hao. When he landed a punch, a frigid gale would tear through the entire passage.

The nearest chameleons were instantly turned into a bloody mist, while the ones behind them dug their claws into the rock wall, leaving deep gashes.

The sheer force of Lin Hao’s punch was too astonishing.

The chameleons had to grip the walls with their claws to avoid being blown away by the gale.

A sinister smile played on Lin Hao’s lips as he punched relentlessly.

Ling Xiao’s expression was the same, a smile of pure pleasure on his face. He seemed to be reveling in the thrill of wanton slaughter.

The scene was utterly bizarre.

Especially for Lin Hao. This was completely out of character for him.

"AH!"

Finally, a pained scream shattered the atmosphere.

A huge chameleon had bitten into Ling Xiao’s right arm, tearing off a large chunk of flesh.

The chameleon was in a crazed frenzy.

Ling Xiao only had time to cry out once before he collapsed.

Seeing countless chameleons swarm toward Ling Xiao, Lin Hao, who was up ahead, stopped in his tracks. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he abruptly turned and flicked his sleeve.

Though it was just a flick of his sleeve, a violent gust of wind raged out, sending all the chameleons attacking Ling Xiao flying.

In the next moment, Lin Hao pulled Ling Xiao to his feet.

With just a single glance, Lin Hao knew how serious the situation was.

Not only was Ling Xiao’s body convulsing nonstop, but a black aura was also spreading across his face.

It was a sign of poisoning.

Without any hesitation, Lin Hao activated his Cultivation Technique again.

As the Cultivation Technique began to circulate, all the covetously watching chameleons retreated, their eyes filled with fear.

But at the same time, they all raised their heads in unison, staring greedily at Lin Hao.

Lin Hao’s True Essence gushed uncontrollably into the air.

But at this moment, Lin Hao couldn’t care about anything else.

The Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill was supremely domineering; the poison in Ling Xiao’s body was completely neutralized in just a few moments.

"Thank you, Senior Brother. You’ve saved my life again." Ling Xiao recovered, his expression incredibly complicated.

Outside, he was the number one genius. He never imagined that in this Demon Suppression Cave, he would be a complete burden.

"Don’t thank me. Did you notice? Our mental states were off just now." Circulating the imperial art had cleared Lin Hao’s mind. Seeing the scene in the passage, he could imagine what had just happened.

But that had not been his original intention.

"Just now, I only had one thought in my head: kill all these beasts." Ling Xiao came to his senses. Recalling the situation, he felt a lingering fear.

"This Demon Suppression Cave is too strange. It can manipulate our emotions and release our negative feelings. It’s releasing the demons in our hearts," Lin Hao said, his face dark.

He had already raised his guard, but he’d still fallen for its tricks in the end, and more than once.

He was always the one playing tricks on others, but in the Demon Suppression Cave, he had been the one getting played from the very beginning.

This was, without a doubt, the most frustrating moment of Lin Hao’s entire life.

"Demon Suppression Cave, Demon Suppression Cave... could it be that a real demon lives in the depths of the Demon Suppression Cave?" Lin Hao gazed ahead, his eyes burning.

Ling Xiao shook his head and said, "How could that be? Even if there was one, it would have been beaten to smithereens by a Great Emperor. Why else would it be called the Demon Suppression Cave?"

"By feeding on the True Essence of Martial Artists and the blood essence of Devil Beasts, the demon is re-forming its physical body to return to the mortal world," Lin Hao said, taking a deep breath.

As soon as he said this, the color drained from Ling Xiao’s face.

It was obvious that what Lin Hao said was, in all likelihood, true.

"Can you circulate your Cultivation Technique?" Lin Hao asked Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao shook his head with a bitter smile.

Lin Hao said no more, instead infusing a wisp of True Essence into him.

When he had healed Ling Xiao the first time, Lin Hao had already discovered that his True Essence could be absorbed into Ling Xiao’s body.

And for Ling Xiao, the sensation was even more intense.

When this wisp of Lin Hao’s True Essence entered his body, it was instantly converted into his own True Essence, surging powerfully.

This horrified Ling Xiao.

’What kind of Cultivation Technique does Lin Hao practice? For his True Essence to be so domineering...’

"Don’t use your True Essence recklessly. Circulate it to protect your Spirit Platform and keep your mind clear," Lin Hao instructed, ignoring Ling Xiao’s thoughts.

Having been fooled once, he wouldn’t be fooled a second time.

If they continued this slaughter, the danger would increase with every drop of blood spilled.

At this point, Lin Hao finally understood why every Martial Artist who entered the Demon Suppression Cave encountered different Devil Beasts.

’It’s trying to gather the blood of ten thousand beasts.’

"Control your strength. Absolutely no more killing," Lin Hao said, realizing the gravity of the situation, and warned Ling Xiao solemnly.

Ling Xiao nodded.

In the time it took him to nod, the waiting chameleons attacked again.

BOOM!

Ling Xiao threw a punch. The chameleon he hit simply tumbled a few times before lunging at him again.

"Senior Brother, a force of five thousand isn’t enough to faze them," Ling Xiao called out, punching again.

The result was the same.

"Six thousand still isn’t enough."

And so it went, until Ling Xiao used eighty percent of his strength. Only then did the chameleon finally stop moving, knocked unconscious.

On the other side, Lin Hao carefully controlled his strength, ultimately using only fifteen percent of his power.

The difference in their physical strength was like heaven and earth.

Lin Hao’s physical prowess left Ling Xiao in the dust.