Chapter 510: Dying Moments

"Gouwu Mountain, its summit abounds in jade, and its base in copper. There is a beast there, whose form is like a sheep with a human face. Its eyes are under its armpits, it has tiger's teeth and human claws, and its sound is like that of a baby. Its name is Pao Xiao, and it devours humans."

This is a record from the ancient Chinese text "Classic of Mountains and Seas," and it's practically a perfect match for the monster before them.

Incidentally, Pao Xiao also has a more commonly known name: Tao Tie!

What kind of luck was this? First encountering a pile of strange snakes, then an ancient fierce beast—it was truly the epitome of bad luck.

Wait, according to the law of conserved luck, shouldn't I be able to draw something incredibly rare from the lottery now?

Of course, that was just a fleeting thought; he wouldn't dare distract himself with the lottery now.

Pei Mianman tightened her grip on his arm. Clearly, the creature below terrified her; people naturally reacted that way to the unknown.

"Do you think it will discover us?" Pei Mianman, having recovered slightly, used qi-transmission to ask Zu An. She was clearly worried that even the slightest sound would be heard by the monster.

Zu An was also somewhat uncertain: "We shouldn't be that unlucky, right?"

No sooner had he spoken than he wanted to slap himself. He'd been in this world for too long, and his vigilance had clearly dropped. Why was he casually setting up such "flags" here?

Fortunately, the Tao Tie did not look up at them. Instead, it continued its search for the strange snakes, relentlessly sifting through the bones for any trace of them.

Each time its tongue shot out, the skull bones would shatter completely, and then it would hook out several strange snakes from within, devouring them with gusto.

Zu An realized why he had seen so many shattered bones earlier. At the time, they hadn't looked like they were caused by weapons; he'd thought they were merely weathered by time. He hadn't expected them to be a byproduct of this creature's feeding.

At the same time, he secretly scorned the strange snakes. They showed no resistance whatsoever. "Just charge it!" he thought. "Even ants, if numerous enough, can bite an elephant to death!"

They had been so aggressive towards the two of them just moments ago, but now, seeing a formidable opponent, they were timid and submissive?

Despite his complaints, he secretly reminded Pei Mianman: "This is a good opportunity. Let's use the time it's eating to escape through that passage."

He was actually somewhat relieved. If this Tao Tie monster hadn't appeared, the two of them might have been driven to their deaths by the strange snakes. Now, not only was the threat of the snakes gone, but they didn't even need to search for an exit. The only thing they needed to be careful about was not being discovered by the Tao Tie.

Currently, it seemed the creature was happily eating over there, evidently oblivious to their presence.

Pei Mianman nodded, a hint of joy appearing in her eyes. She didn't want to stay in this cursed place for another second.

The two quietly moved towards the nearby cave entrance. As anticipated, the entrance was indeed near where they had fallen, about five or six meters from the bottom of the pit.

This height made it difficult for ordinary people to climb, and the walls had been specially treated, so once someone fell, even cultivators would find it hard to ascend, naturally preventing them from discovering its secrets.

Zu An alternately wedged the Tai'e Sword and the Death-Certain Dagger into the wall, continuously climbing and moving until he finally reached the cave entrance.

At the entrance, there was still some viscous fluid left by the Tao Tie, which felt incredibly disgusting to step on. There seemed to be quite a lot more of it inside the passage.

However, seeing the sloping upward passage, the joy of imminent escape made them disregard their surroundings.

Pei Mianman smiled, wondering what to say to him. After all, she had only dared to kiss him because she mistakenly believed they were certain to die. Now that they had escaped, recalling it felt a bit awkward. Even though he had divorced Chu Chuyan, taking her best friend's man still felt somewhat embarrassing.

Just then, a blossoming of blood suddenly appeared on her shoulder. Her smile froze instantly, and she looked down in stunned disbelief, realizing that a grotesque tongue had pierced directly through her body.

Immediately, before she had a chance to think, a powerful force came from behind her. She was already severely wounded and weakened; although she had recovered some of her vital energy, her shoulder bone was pierced, and her remaining internal energy instantly dissipated. She no longer had the strength to hold onto Zu An and was directly pulled backward, flying through the air.

From Zu An's perspective, he saw Pei Mianman's shoulder being pierced by the Tao Tie's suddenly darting tongue, which then pulled her flying towards its mouth.

With the two rows of formidable sharp teeth in the Tao Tie's mouth, it was easy to imagine that a gentle snap would be enough to slice a human body into several pieces, then chew it into a pulpy mess.

Seeing Pei Mianman's desperate eyes as she was pulled away, and her hand desperately reaching out, trying to grasp him, Zu An's eyes instantly reddened. He let out a roar and chased after her.

The creature's speed in retracting its tongue was simply too fast; his normal speed clearly wouldn't be enough. So, he hastily summoned Great Wind.

After so long, his Great Wind was now barely usable, and the distance he could teleport was significantly shorter than usual. The only fortunate thing was that the creature's tongue was far from a hundred meters long.

Pei Mianman had been utterly despairing. She had never imagined such a tragic death for herself. If she had known, she would have rather died among those strange snakes earlier; at least there wouldn't have been this pain.

But the next second, she suddenly saw Zu An appear by her side as if a divine warrior had descended from the sky. It was all too dreamlike, making her wonder if it was just her own hallucination.

Zu An had no time to explain. He held her with one arm, and with the Death-Certain Dagger in his other hand, he directly hacked at the section of tongue impaling her back.

At the same time, his heart was filled with worry. After all, the Tao Tie's tongue didn't look like an ordinary tongue; it was more like a spear—straight, rigid, and covered in barbs. He worried he wouldn't be able to cut through it with one blow, which would prevent him from stopping the creature from swallowing Pei Mianman.

Fortunately, the Death-Certain Dagger truly cut through iron like mud, cleanly severing a section of its tongue.

A piercing shriek rang out. Clearly, losing a section of its tongue was extremely painful for the Tao Tie.

Zu An, holding Pei Mianman, fell from mid-air. He quickly asked, "Manman, are you okay?"

"It's really you, am I not dreaming?" Pei Mianman wept tears of joy, looking at Zu An as if she had a million things to say. But suddenly, her brow furrowed, and she groaned in pain.

Zu An quickly pulled out the section of tongue embedded in her shoulder. In that instant, he felt a stinging pain from his own hand. He hastily threw the tongue aside, then looked at his hand; it was charred. Clearly, the creature's blood was highly corrosive, likely a result of its long-term diet of those strange snakes.

Zu An cursed under his breath. This setup was as annoying as something from *Alien*.

He quickly checked Pei Mianman's injuries, seeing a gaping bloody hole in her shoulder, smoking and sizzling around the edges. Clearly, the highly corrosive nature of the creature's blood was still ravaging her body.

Zu An immediately panicked. He quickly took out the antidotes Ji Dengtu had given him, but unfortunately, they had no effect when applied. Clearly, since Ji Dengtu had never encountered a Tao Tie, how could he possibly have developed a cure for its venom?

Zu An then hastily took out the Tai'e Sword, intending to scrape away the corroding flesh. However, the wound was too large for him to even begin; if he were to truly scrape the flesh, she would likely lose her entire shoulder and die even faster.

His eyes reddened, and his fingernails nearly dug into his own flesh.

Pei Mianman, on the contrary, revealed a look of relief: "Ah Zu, you don't need to trouble yourself trying to save me. I know my current injuries are fatal... Do you know how happy I was when I saw you appear beside me just as I was about to be dragged into that monster's mouth... At that moment, I was thinking, why didn't I get together with you sooner... Chu Chuyan, family missions, I don't care about any of it..."

Tears streamed from her beautiful peach-blossom eyes. Her sentences were quite disorganized as she spoke, clearly indicating she was on the verge of death.

Zu An felt as if his heart had been pierced by a knife; the pain in that moment was inexplicable. He quickly said, "No, I will never let you die!"

As he racked his brain for a way to save her, Pei Mianman said in terror, "Quick... run... don't mind me!"

Heavy footsteps sounded from behind. Zu An turned around and saw the massive Tao Tie beast approaching them, its face filled with fury.

Zu An was greatly alarmed. Hadn't this creature been wounded by his Death-Certain Dagger? Why was it still alive?