145. The Black Rat Swarm (Second update, please subscribe)

"Found it." Chen Fengyun felt a surge of joy and immediately informed Ma Dingdang, then led her quickly toward the destination.

Twenty minutes later, after crossing the highest peak, they discovered that the area ahead was indeed shrouded in thick, dark fog. At a glance, it was clearly no ordinary place.

"Let’s go check it out. The Divine Dragon loves to devour this kind of malevolent energy."

Through their deep conversations, Chen Fengyun had learned that the Divine Dragon Ma Dingdang summoned was not cultivated through techniques, but rather a Dragon Spirit left behind by her ancestors.

Soon, the pair stepped into the region of black fog. The surrounding air became bone-chilling, and from within the dense mist, intermittent hisses echoed. The fog seemed to possess a life of its own, constantly winding itself around them.

"We cannot let this malevolent fog enter our bodies, or it will cause grave harm," Ma Dingdang warned. A golden glow from the Divine Dragon already radiated from her skin, and any fog that drew near was promptly devoured.

Chen Fengyun was naturally unafraid. Just last night, he had elevated his Indestructible Vajra Body to the middle stage of the Yellow rank. However, he had already consumed 30 attribute points gathered from the university’s collection and the capital's antique markets, leaving only 14 points—not enough to upgrade any other skills.

Seeing a golden radiance emerge on Chen Fengyun’s skin as well, Ma Dingdang felt relieved. Although he could not devour the fog, it was unable to penetrate his defenses.

Since the black fog lacked true life, Chen Fengyun could not use the Sutra of Salvation or the Six-Syllable Mantra to deal with it. Fortunately, Ma Dingdang’s Divine Dragon was acting like a leviathan, sweeping up and consuming the fog in massive quantities.

After crossing several low hills, a massive valley finally appeared. The small mountains surrounding it had become barren, their rocks turning dark and cold.

"We are about to enter the valley. Be careful and don't stray too far from me," Chen Fengyun cautioned as he led the way.

"Don't worry, I will be careful," Ma Dingdang replied, giving him a radiant smile that made her heart feel sweet.

As they reached the valley entrance, Chen Fengyun detected the presence of a formation. A massive array was indeed shrouding the entire valley, imprisoning an evil entity within. However, it was unable to prevent the creature's aura from leaking out to influence the surroundings, though such an effect required a very long time.

"It’s the Eight-Gate Demon Imprisonment Array. It seems there is a wicked demon inside. But it couldn’t possibly be alive; otherwise, it would have broken out long ago. Besides, with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth so thin, even an ancient demon would have little power left."

After observing for a moment and understanding the formation, Chen Fengyun decided not to destroy it yet, intending to wait until after the evil entity was dealt with, hoping there would still be some spirit stones left in the formation’s base.

Stepping inside, the world turned gray and dim, similar to the underground palace in Changbai Mountain. Sunlight could barely reach inside, and the temperature difference between the interior and exterior was over ten degrees.

Upon entering, they immediately discovered piles of remains at the entrance—some were human skeletons, while others belonged to small animals that had wandered in. As they ventured deeper, the bones became more numerous, arranged almost neatly along the sides of the valley. The hollow eye sockets of the skulls seemed to watch them, making their hair stand on end.

*Snap...*

Suddenly, a skull rolled toward them. Ma Dingdang screamed in fright and instinctively hid behind Chen Fengyun. A moment later, she jumped out and waved her hand, casting a beam of golden light upon the skull. A sharp squeak followed as a black rat scurried out from within.

"Watch out!" The black rat did not flee after emerging; it stopped and stared at them. Chen Fengyun noticed its eyes were blood-red and shouted a warning.

At that very moment, the black rat darted toward them like a bolt of black lightning, squeaking and baring its sharp teeth as it lunged at Ma Dingdang.

"Divine Dragon, Slay the Evil!"

At the critical moment, the Divine Dragon shielding Ma Dingdang let out a roar. It erupted in golden light, swept up the black rat, instantly devoured its essence and spirit, and reduced it to scattered gray ash.

*Squeak, squeak, squeak...*

*Squeak, squeak, squeak...*

As the rat was destroyed, a chorus of squeaks erupted from all around. Chen Fengyun scanned the area with his spiritual sense. Although his perception was suppressed, it still covered a radius of about one kilometer, and he was horrified to find thousands upon thousands of black rats pouring out from various holes.

Every single rat had blood-red eyes and a bloodthirsty demeanor, surrounding them from all directions as if they were the most delicious prey.

"It seems the evil entity in the valley has controlled the underground rat colony and is using them as its guardians. We must eliminate them all first," Chen Fengyun said to Ma Dingdang.

"No fear. We’ll wipe them out as they come. The Divine Dragon loves this," Ma Dingdang replied, looking completely unconcerned.

"If I left the rat-killing to you alone, who knows how long it would take. I’d better help."

Standing back-to-back, Chen Fengyun and Ma Dingdang began their assault. Ma Dingdang unleashed the Divine Dragon’s golden light, sweeping through the swarms, while Chen Fengyun used his spiritual power to stun groups of rats with the Sutra of Salvation, piling them up for the dragon to devour.

"Roar..."

The Divine Dragon roared with excitement as it feasted, and Ma Dingdang felt her cultivation slowly growing as the dragon fed energy back to her.

However, the swarm was vast. Chen Fengyun had to summon his flying sword for a massacre while simultaneously using the Profound Yin Mirror to freeze large swathes of the rats.

An hour later, the swarm was mostly decimated. Ma Dingdang’s Divine Dragon had grown by nearly a third, pushing her cultivation to the peak of a Grandmaster of Martial Arts.

Chen Fengyun had expended a significant amount of spiritual energy, but he took out a soybean-sized spirit stone and absorbed it to replenish his reserves. After all, he still had no idea what lay ahead.