Urban Martial Saint

The pitch-black object, over three meters long, from a distance really looked like a piece of wood.

Ye Qing stood quite far away, so he couldn’t see clearly, but he didn’t dare to actually consider this thing as wood. After all, how could such a piece of wood appear in the water? Moreover, Ye Qing vaguely saw that the part of it soaked in water was somewhat whitish, which was completely different from wood.

With doubts in his mind, Ye Qing didn’t dare to be careless. He gripped the Metamorphic Iron Dagger tightly and cautiously approached the object. When he was about seven or eight meters away, Ye Qing finally saw clearly that the thing was actually a crocodile!

Seeing this, Ye Qing’s scalp tingled. He was well aware of the outcome of encountering a crocodile in such a confined space, especially in the water. Even a tiger or a lion dropped into such water would undoubtedly die when they met a crocodile, let alone a human.

Being too close to the crocodile, Ye Qing had no time to escape. He could only grip the Metamorphic Iron Dagger tightly, ready to act. If the crocodile lunged, he would use the dagger to kill it. If he couldn’t kill the crocodile, the beast would never let him go.

Yet, Ye Qing stood there gripping the dagger for almost five minutes, but the crocodile remained motionless. It just floated in the water, staying in the same place the entire time, not even moving an inch, as if it was a fake crocodile. Who knew what was going on?

Feeling something was off, Ye Qing, holding the dagger, mustered some courage and slowly approached the crocodile, finding it still unresponsive. Surprised, Ye Qing tentatively reached out and patted the crocodile, but it still showed no reaction, as if it were dead.

”Could it really be dead?” Ye Qing muttered to himself, looking at the crocodile. He gritted his teeth and flipped the crocodile over.

The entire time, the crocodile remained motionless as Ye Qing turned it over, its back down and belly up, floating on the water’s surface. Ye Qing saw clearly, the crocodile’s belly had three deep knife wounds. Its blood had drained, and the wounds had coagulated, indicating it had been dead for quite some time.

Seeing the crocodile dead, Ye Qing let out a long sigh of relief but also grew more astonished.

Such an underground river having crocodiles like this indicated someone must have intentionally released them here. But how could crocodiles survive under such conditions? In such caves, without even seeing light, even with enough food, crocodiles couldn’t live long. Could there be another passage in the underground river allowing the crocodiles to occasionally go out to see the light?

And why did the crocodile die here? Judging by the wounds on its belly, it seemed to have been slashed open by someone, meaning it was killed. But who killed this crocodile?

Judging from the degree of decay on the crocodile’s body, Ye Qing could deduce it had been dead for less than ten days. That is, it was killed within ten days. This means someone had entered here within ten days. But what did they discover inside?

With doubts, Ye Qing continued forward, wanting to see what was in this cave. Walking forward for roughly over three hundred meters, it was the same watery path all the way. Ye Qing saw four more crocodile carcasses, all killed in exactly the same way as before. Clearly, it was done by those previous people. It’s apparent that there were some skilled individuals among them because, in such water, just having weapons isn’t enough to kill crocodiles.

Reaching this point, a stone path finally appeared on the left of the waterway, allowing a person to jump out of the water. Ye Qing, upon arriving here, naturally jumped up as soon as possible. Who knows when he might get attacked in the water? These crocodiles might not all be dead.

Ye Qing reached out to press down on the edge of the Stone Platform, intending to leap up, when his body inadvertently brushed against something on the edge, which felt soft and quite peculiar.

”What’s this?” Ye Qing turned his head to look, and at once, he was startled. At the edge of the Stone Platform submerged in water, there was a large leg soaking in the water, completely severed at the thigh. Meaning, only the leg remained here. After soaking in the water for so long, the leg had begun to decay, an utterly nauseating sight.

No matter how strong-willed Ye Qing was, seeing these things, he couldn’t help but feel a bit queasy. He quickly jumped onto the shore and then turned back to take a closer look. He noticed that the flesh at the severed end of the thigh was clearly bitten and torn apart, not cut by a sharp tool. This could be deduced that someone was climbing up here, bitten by a crocodile, which snapped off the leg, leaving just the thigh.

Seeing all this, Ye Qing couldn’t help but ponder what might be inside the cave. Those who entered here truly risked everything. One already died outside, and inside, someone else lost a leg and probably wouldn’t survive for long. Was it really worth risking life and limb for whatever was inside the cave?

Sighing, Ye Qing didn’t linger here. He continued walking along the stone corridor for about one hundred meters when he suddenly spotted a person lying by the roadside. Looking closely, Ye Qing saw that this person was still in a crawling position, but had only one leg remaining. The other leg seemed to have been torn off by something. Without a doubt, this person was the owner of that thigh he had seen earlier.

Ye Qing turned the person over for a closer look. The person’s complexion was ashen, indicating that he had been dead for a few days. It seemed like he had been bitten by a crocodile, lost a leg, and then abandoned by his companions, ultimately dying here from excessive blood loss.

Gazing at the deceased, Ye Qing couldn’t help but feel that this group of people had no human kindness. They killed one outside, and here, they abandoned an injured person. It seemed none of these people were good-natured.

Rummaging through the deceased’s belongings, Ye Qing suddenly found a badge. He had seen this badge before; it was the mark of the South Ridge Sect.

Seeing the badge, Ye Qing’s heart skipped a beat. It seemed this deceased person was a member of the South Ridge Sect. So, the ones who came in were indeed people from the South Ridge Sect?

Last time, outside the secret chamber where Patriarch Bodhidharma passed, Shen Qianyue led those necromancers against Ye Qing, but the Eight Great Sect Masters of the South Ridge Sect helped Ye Qing hold them off for a while, allowing him to escape. After that, the Eight Great Sect Masters were never seen again, but Grand Sect Master’s daughter, Wen’er, went with Ye Qing to Shenchuan City.

During that time, Ye Qing even specifically had people inquire about their whereabouts, but there was no news of the Eight Great Sect Masters. In truth, Ye Qing had somewhat given up hope about their situation, but without finding their bodies, he was unwilling to admit that they were dead.

And now, seeing members of the South Ridge Sect here, Ye Qing couldn’t help but connect them to the Eight Great Sect Masters. Could it be that these Eight Great Sect Masters came here for tomb-robbing with their subordinates?

Thinking of this, Ye Qing felt a sense of joy. If it really was the Eight Great Sect Masters, then things would be better. Although there were past grievances with Ye Qing, they had risked their lives to save him last time, which Ye Qing was very grateful for. Moreover, Wen’er was in Shenchuan City, and Ye Qing looked after her well. At least for Wen’er’s sake, the Eight Great Sect Masters wouldn’t trouble him, and they might even help him out of Mount Duwang.

Feeling excited, Ye Qing was about to move forward when he suddenly heard a soft sound coming from ahead in the stone corridor.

Ye Qing listened closely. The sound grew louder; it was heavy footsteps slowly approaching, as if someone was coming.

Ye Qing’s first thought was that the South Ridge Sect had returned, but as the footsteps grew nearer, he felt less sure. The steps were too heavy, not like those of someone trained in martial arts, more like a fat person walking. How could there be such a person in the South Ridge Sect?

This cave exuded an eerie atmosphere, so Ye Qing didn’t dare be careless. He quickly stepped back, hiding behind a bend to watch, wanting to see clearly who or what was coming. If it was someone from the South Ridge Sect, that would be fine, but if it wasn’t a person, then he would need to be cautious.

The footsteps came closer, and finally, a dark figure emerged from the corridor’s end. Ye Qing saw clearly that this was a figure over two meters tall, extremely large and strong, whose sheer size exerted enormous pressure.

Among the Eight Great Sect Masters of the South Ridge Sect, there was no one with such a physique.

Ye Qing didn’t dare go out and continued hiding in the shadows, wanting to observe more intently. At this moment, the figure had reached the corpse he had seen before. It lowered its head to examine the body before suddenly reaching out to lift it onto its shoulder, slowly turning around to walk back the way it came.

As the figure turned, Ye Qing finally saw its body clearly. It was covered in dense hair, like a gorilla, but the hair was even longer than a gorilla’s, looking like a hairy person rather than a normal human, more like a monster.

Ye Qing never imagined encountering such a strange person in this cave. He felt lucky that he hadn’t waited for this strange person to reach him; otherwise, if it had discovered him, it would have been dangerous.