chsdbacks Chapter 241 Sudden Change
Chapter 241 Sudden Change
Just as Nie Lingfeng estimated that there was still about an hour until dawn, a time when the night was darkest, the chill was deepest, and people's will was most likely to weaken—
The change occurred without warning.
It didn't come from the ground, nor from the river, but... from above their heads, from that dark, seemingly frozen void hidden by rock niches and protruding boulders!
"Whoosh—!"
A faint, almost imperceptible sound, like the whistling of a very thin steel wire being pulled rapidly, suddenly rang out! The source of the sound was none other than the deepest part of the rock niche, that visual "blind spot" completely swallowed by shadows and untouched even by the light of the embers of the campfire!
Immediately afterwards, a black shadow as fast as lightning, yet silent and seemingly without any substance, leaving only a faint, distorted trajectory, shot down from that dark corner in a bizarre, zigzag trajectory that completely defied the laws of physics, toward the sleeping Chen Duo below!
This shadowy figure had no fixed form, like flowing, concentrated ink, leaving extremely faint afterimages in the air, imbued with a cold, deathly aura. It emitted no energy fluctuations, nor any life force; it seemed merely a pure, shadowy creation manipulated by some will, used for "assassination"! Its speed, the cunning of its angle, and the precision of its timing far surpassed the previous "Corpse Serpent Vine," even exceeding the mental attacks of the Bewitching Flowers in the "Misty Mother Forest"—more concealed and more deadly! Its target was clear—directly aimed at Chen Duo's exposed, delicate, white neck!
Clearly, this lurking attacker possesses exceptional intelligence and patience. It had been waiting—waiting for the night watchman (Nie Lingfeng) to be most exhausted and for his vigilance to falter in the latter half of the night, waiting for the campfire to be dimmer and the light to be weakest—before launching this fatal attack! Its target seems to be Chen Duo, this "Phoenix Seed"!
In the blink of an eye!
Just as the dark shadow was about to touch Chen Duo's neck—
Nie Lingfeng, who had been sitting motionless like a stone statue, suddenly opened his eyes! In his eyes, two clusters of dark golden flames erupted like dormant volcanoes, burning fiercely! He didn't even look up, as if the deadly sneak attack had already been detected by his "mind's eye"!
"court death!"
A deep, cold shout, imbued with the fury of a Qilin, resounded like muffled thunder in the silent valley!
His right hand, which was resting on his knee, suddenly spread its five fingers and clenched them tightly in the air towards the black shadow that shot down like lightning!
"Buzz—!!!"
It is not a physical grasp, but an invisible, force field-like confinement!
Centered on Nie Lingfeng's palm, a heavy, viscous, and supremely suppressive dark golden force field instantly formed, like an invisible, rapidly shrinking cage, precisely imprisoning the lightning-fast black shadow, along with the space within a few feet around it, in mid-air!
Caught off guard, the dark shadow seemed to have crashed into an invisible, incredibly flexible yet indestructible wall. Its forward momentum abruptly halted, revealing its true form—not a physical entity, but a mass of pure, concentrated dark energy that constantly writhes, shifts, and struggles to break free! At the core of this energy, a tiny, flickering, cold red rune, like the compound eye of an insect, flickered in and out of focus! The aura emanating from this rune was cold, deathly still, and filled with mechanical precision and malice, completely different from the chaotic and evil pollution of the "Malaria Forest" and the "Nammu Cave"—more refined, more inhuman!
Is it a creation of the "Council"?! Some kind of "Shadow Puppet" used for assassination, reconnaissance, or marking?
However, this dark figure was clearly no pushover. The instant it was imprisoned by the Qilin Force Field, the red rune at its core suddenly erupted with blinding light! A sharp, icy mental shock, carrying a powerful penetrating and tearing will, pierced fiercely towards Nie Lingfeng's spiritual consciousness like an invisible drill! At the same time, its imprisoned dark energy body began to expand violently, twist, and attempt to self-destruct, or release some even more dangerous attack!
"Hmph! A mere trick!" Nie Lingfeng's eyes were icy cold. He pointed his left hand, fingers pointing like a sword, at the black shadow that was trapped in mid-air and struggling wildly.
"Qilin True Fire - Vanquishing Evil!"
A tiny, rice-grain-sized, yet perfectly condensed, dark golden light, seemingly capable of burning away all evil and filth in the world, shot out from his fingertip and struck the core of the shadow, the frantically flashing red rune, with unparalleled precision!
"laugh--!"
Like a red-hot iron piercing ice and snow! The moment the dark golden light touched the red rune, it emitted an extremely faint yet soul-soothing purifying sound! The light of the red rune suddenly dimmed and distorted, then, like shattered glass, it was covered with fine cracks! Immediately afterwards, the dark golden flame, as if finding the perfect fuel, erupted from the point of impact, instantly engulfing the entire mass of writhing dark energy!
"hiss--!!!"
A piercing, inhuman mental scream, filled with resentment and malice, like countless metal shards scraping against each other, erupted from the shadow engulfed in flames, violently assaulting Nie Lingfeng's mind! But the scream lasted for less than half a second before abruptly stopping.
The dark golden flames burned quietly. The ball of dark energy, along with the red runes at its core, was like dew under the blazing sun before this pure, yang, and majestic fire containing the majesty of the Qilin. It quickly vaporized and annihilated without leaving any residue. Only a faint, nauseating burnt smell, a mixture of molten metal and some strange, acrid fragrance, remained in the air, proving that it had once existed.
From the sneak attack by the shadowy figure to being imprisoned and purified by Nie Lingfeng, the entire process took only two or three seconds. It was so fast that it didn't even wake the sleeping Chen Duo. She just unconsciously smacked her lips, hugged the doll in her arms tighter, turned over, and continued to sleep.
Nie Lingfeng slowly withdrew his hand, the dark golden flame in his palm extinguishing. His face was slightly pale, and his chest heaved a little faster. That attack, seemingly effortless, was actually dangerous. Imprisoning that lightning-fast, silent shadow attack required incredibly precise perception and control of power; and that final touch of "Exorcising Evil" True Fire was the purest Qilin purification power he could currently mobilize, consuming a considerable amount of mental and physical strength. This "Shadow Puppet" was far more troublesome than the previous snake vine; if he hadn't been prepared and activated his full senses, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
The "Council"... truly a persistent ghost! And their methods are even more bizarre and harder to defend against! This "Shadow Puppet" clearly possesses extremely high stealth and assassination abilities, and can also unleash mental shocks. Its core runes seem to even have some kind of "marking" or "communication" function? Did they send this thing to confirm Chen Duo's "Phoenix Fire Seed" identity? Or to... silence her? Or perhaps both?
Nie Lingfeng's cold gaze swept over the dark grotto above him, which had returned to calm but seemed to conceal even greater malice. He knew that the attack would not be a one-off. Now that the "Council" had discovered their whereabouts and even dispatched assassination puppets of this caliber, what awaited them on the road to the altar would be even denser and more deadly ambushes and obstacles.
Without further hesitation, he immediately got up, walked to Chen Duo's side, and gently shook her awake.
"Duoduo, wake up, we can't stay here tonight." Nie Lingfeng's voice was soft, but it carried an undeniable seriousness.
Chen Duo groggily opened her eyes, her emerald green pupils still heavy with sleep, and looked blankly at Nie Lingfeng: "Nie Lingfeng... is it dawn?"
"Not yet, but something 'stinky' has attacked us." Nie Lingfeng quickly and simply explained what had just happened. "It's no longer safe here. We must leave immediately and, before dawn, create as much distance as possible to find a more secluded place."
Hearing "the stinky thing attacked," Chen Duo's sleepiness vanished instantly, her little face showing alertness and lingering fear. She immediately sat up and quickly packed her small backpack and toys. "Okay! Let's go!"
The two quickly extinguished the embers of the campfire and cleaned up all obvious traces. Nie Lingfeng shouldered the main pack, pulled Chen Duo along, and stepped once again into the deep night and the roaring river.
This time, they moved with even greater caution and silence. Nie Lingfeng pushed his senses to the limit, not missing a single sound. Chen Duo followed his example, diligently engaging her newly recovered spiritual awareness. Her emerald eyes darted warily in the darkness, a golden flame flickering between her fingertips—serving as both illumination and a deterrent.
They trudged along the riverbank for about an hour during the darkest hours before dawn. The sky remained pitch black, but in the direction of the eastern horizon, the inky darkness seemed to peek through with an extremely faint, almost imperceptible gray-white.
Just as they rounded a particularly narrow and treacherous bend where the river water pounded against the rock walls as if in a fit of rage, stirring up a cloud of mist, Nie Lingfeng, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped in his tracks!
"etc!"
He pulled Chen Duo along and quickly slipped behind a huge, smooth black rock, polished smooth by the river, where they held their breath and focused intently.
Chen Duo immediately stopped, covered her mouth with her small hand, and looked ahead with her emerald green eyes following Nie Lingfeng's gaze.
Ahead, the river suddenly widened. On the opposite bank was a steeper, almost vertical black cliff, riddled with huge cracks and hanging vines. On their side, the riverbank became relatively flat, and a small, relatively dry sandy area appeared, surrounded by several oddly shaped, twisted, claw-like dead trees.
What alerted Nie Lingfeng was not the sandy area itself, but the pile of campfire ashes in the center of the sand, which, although deliberately covered up, still retained a faint warmth and extremely faint traces of human presence and smoke under his keen perception!
The ashes were very fresh, no more than half a day old! Moreover, next to the ashes were several carelessly discarded compressed food packaging bags with foreign letters printed on them, and... several messy footprints deeply embedded in the sand, clearly not belonging to the two of them! The footprints varied in size, belonging to at least three or four people, and the strides were far apart, suggesting they were in a hurry, or even... somewhat disheveled?
There's someone here! And someone who just passed through here not long ago! Judging from the direction of the footprints, they're also heading upstream (westward) along the riverbank!
Are they members of the "Council"? Or some other force, also drawn by that mysterious signal or altar? Or perhaps... an explorer or stowaway who has strayed into this place?
Nie Lingfeng's expression turned serious. He gestured for Chen Duo to stay behind the rocks, while he, like the most agile cheetah, silently approached the sandy area to examine it carefully.
Besides the ashes, packaging bags, and footprints, he found something else—a few drops of dried, dark brown bloodstains splattered on the sand! And, at the edge of the sand, under a dead tree, were several fragments of strange vines, cut by a sharp weapon, dark green in color, with charred edges, as if scorched by flames or strong acid! The aura of these vine fragments was somewhat similar to the "Corpse Serpent Vine" that attacked them last night, but more resilient, and containing a heavier, more sinister deathly aura!
It seems that the group that passed through here also encountered an attack and a battle ensued, with some people injured. The compressed food packaging bags they discarded were standard military or high-end outdoor brands, indicating they were well-equipped and not ordinary mountain people or illegal immigrants.