After walking tens of meters, he felt the light getting darker and darker. Finally, the whole tunnel was in pitch black. Although Qin Hao had eyesight beyond ordinary people, he could not see clearly what was in front of him. Fortunately, he still had his Spirit Sense, and it could help he move forward within a ten-meter radius. Of course, it would be better if he had brought the lighting tools.
"Crack, crack …"
In front of him, there was a strange sound, like the gnawing sound that people make when they eat. Was someone eating there?
With surprise, Qin Hao walked closer, step by step. The thick smell of blood assaulted his nose, bringing a pungent smell. Finally, within the scope of his Spirit Sense, he discovered what it was.
A dead body lay on the ground. Dozens of rats were gnawing at the flesh of the body, and a large hole was gouged out in the stomach. Inside, all kinds of internal organs, mixed with blood and undigested excrement were scattered all over the ground.
"Wa!" He couldn't stand the disgusting scene and the thick smell of blood any more. He started to vomit.
"Squeak, squeak …"
Qin Hao's vomiting alarmed the rats. A few of them looked up from the blood with their mouths full of blood. One of them even had a piece of meat in its mouth. It was terrifying, disgusting and creepy.
However, Qin Hao didn't have time to feel disgusting. He realized something, so he turned and ran frantically back.
"Squeak, squeak." Some rats abandoned the corpses on the ground and chased after Qin Hao with a strange sound. These rats were the same as those he killed outside the Ghost Valley last night. The only difference was that they were bigger and more terrifying. They were abnormal rats that had been affected by the Evil Yin Pearl.
"Puff puff puff …" The rats launched their attacks from behind. They opened their mouths and spat out masses of black smoke. Each mass of black smoke was filled with dense Yin Energy. Instantaneously, Qin Hao was enveloped by the dense black smoke.
If you are an ordinary person, no matter how high your cultivation is, it will be extremely dangerous to be surrounded by or invaded by the Yin Energy. Fortunately, Qin Hao had cultivated the Yin Wind Bone Eroding Palm, so he was able to absorb and refine the Baleful Yin Force. Therefore, instead of harming him, the Yin Energy could provide him with nutrients. If he hadn't been busy running away, he could have absorbed all the Yin Energy.
After running all the way back to the basement, Qin Hao stopped. He found that the rats could only spit out black smoke and had no other means of attack. But this kind of attack had already made him run like a dog. It would be humiliating to talk about this experience in the future.
A few rats saw that Qin Hao had stopped running and stood there staring at them. Suddenly, they stopped attacking and chasing, and stood in a row, with eyes open wide, releasing the sounds of "squeak, squeak" harshly.
Maybe these rats realized that their poison smoke was useless to Qin Hao, so they changed their strategy. After a short standoff, a mouse squeaked and jumped, as fast as lightning, revealing its sharp teeth as it pounced on Qin Hao.
Qin Hao had been prepared for this. Seeing it rush towards him, he slapped it with his palm. "Peng!" The rat did not even make a sound, rolling in the air and then falling to the ground. It struggled before all the bones in its body were corroded and it turned into a pile of boneless, rotten meat.
These beasts were not afraid. After they saw that the first one had died, their vicious natures were aroused. "Squeak，squeak", the remaining rats all rushed towards Qin Hao.
Qin Hao was flustered. He had little practical experience, and in the face of their all-round attack, he soon exposed his weakness. In the first round, three rats were killed by him, but the rest bit off a few pieces of meat from his body. His clothes were also torn apart, which made him clench his teeth in pain with rage.
"Bastard, you dare to bite me? All of you, go to hell!" Qin Hao crazily rushed towards the remaining rats, and they started to fight.
The rats were just animals. Their attacks were mechanical and simple, but Qin Hao was different. He had strategies. After fighting for a while, he figured out some tricks, and the more he killed, the braver he became, and the more experience he gained from it.
Not long later, the remaining rats were all killed by him, but his condition was not good either. With scratches and wounds all over the body, he looked terrible. But these were just skin injuries, not serious. His clothes were torn to pieces and could not cover his body.
After killing these rats, Qin Hao rested for a while and meditated to circulate Eternity Spell to recuperate. At the same time, he absorbed the Yin Energy and raised the Yin Wind Bone Erosion Palm to the peak of the first stage.
After the rest, Qin Hao immediately rushed into the tunnel. Facing those rats again, he was no longer afraid. When he got to the place where the rats had been found, they were gone, with the body they had been eating. There was only blood and some pieces of clothes on the ground. Maybe the rats had run away after eating.
Looking at the things on the ground and smelling the strange stench of blood, Qin Hao felt his stomach churning. He could not take it anymore and ran away quickly.
On the way, he found more corpses that had already been eaten. He suppressed the nausea and rushed over.
"Dang, dang, dang."
Not knowing how far he had run in the dark, he heard fighting ahead of him. Qin Hao stopped and extended his Spirit Sense outwards. He was shocked to discover that the bodies of rats were lying all over the tunnel, and most of them had been cut into two pieces at the waist. There had to be a ruthless man in front of him. His Spirit Sense was unable to detect the fight, otherwise he would have known this situation. In order not to be found, he explored his way forward quietly.
In front of him, he could see a glimmer of light. It seemed to be another basement with light source inside. When Qin Hao was about to reach the entrance of the basement, with a "sou" sound, a figure quickly scuttled out. The tunnel was so narrow that it could barely accommodate one person. So, when the man rushed out, he bumped into Qin Hao. He showed up so suddenly that Qin Hao had no time to react, so Qin Hao gave him an instinctive blow.
That man didn't expect the sudden punch. He received the solid blow and was punched back into the basement with a scream.
"Who are you?"
Just as Qin Hao reacted from what happened, the man was already at the entrance of the basement, blocking the light shot from it. Qin Hao raised his head hastily and saw a tall figure dressed in black, with a ghost mask. He was wearing the same clothes as the Ghost-Masked Man who saved Shi Bingying before. Maybe he was from the Ghost Sect, too.
The only difference was that this man had an even stronger aura. As he stared at Qin Hao, Qin Hao felt a strange chill from the bottom of his heart. This person's strength was extremely strong, far stronger than that of the Ghost-Masked Man.
He looked at Qin Hao as if he was looking at a dead man.
"I am …" Qin Hao opened his mouth, but he did not know how to introduce himself.
"Forget it, there's no need for that. It makes no difference to a dead man whether he has a name or not. " The Ghost-Masked Man's voice was completely lifeless. "Come in." He turned around and gave way to let him in. That meant he would send Qin Hao to death.
Knowing that he could not run away anyhow, he entered the basement.
This basement was twice as large as the previous one. There were eight corpses on the ground, as well as rat corpses, human skeletons and skulls.
What surprised and shocked Qin Hao was that there were no special light sources here. The light was emitted by three rows of Skeleton Men standing orderly by the side.
They didn't have flesh, only bones. Huge glowing beads were embedded in their eye sockets.
There were at least twenty Skeleton Men. Qin Hao was frightened. Once he entered the basement, he retreated to the side, looking at the Skeleton Men and the Ghost-Masked Man with vigilance and nervousness.
The Ghost-Masked Man looked at Qin Hao and said in disappointment, "Middle stage of the Beginning Stage. You are lucky to be here with such a poor strength. But I can also say, you're not lucky enough. Maybe in other places you can live, but once you get here, you are a dead man. " His tone was certain. From the moment Qin Hao entered the tunnel, he was a dead man.
"Who are you?" Qin Hao stabilized his emotions and asked. Since he had already entered the basement, it was useless to be scared. He should be braver.
"It makes no sense for the dead to know who I am." The Ghost-Masked Man waved his hand towards the Skeleton Men, who seemed to understand his order. They moved towards Qin Hao and soon surrounded him. The "crack, crack" sounds made by the collision of their joints were horrifying.
Seeing the Skeleton Men coming, he began to think how to deal with them. They were moving slowly, and that seemed to be their weak point. However, when a Skeleton Man suddenly erupted and grabbed towards Qin Hao's face with its sharp claws as fast as lightning, his expectations were completely overturned. They were fast, shockingly fast.
Qin Hao had already prepared for its attack, so he dodged it. But cold sweat poured down his back when that white bone claw swiped across his face.
The Ghost-Masked Man, who was watching the fight with cold eyes, was stunned to see that Qin Hao had escaped the attack. The strength that Qin Hao displayed did not seem to be just Middle of the Beginning Stage. Just as he was confused, there was a "bang" sound as Qin Hao's palm unexpectedly struck one of the Skeleton Men. This punch gathered all his strength and the Skeleton Man flew out immediately.
The Ghost-Masked Man remained calm. He had full confidence in these Skeleton Men. Not to mention a single slap, even a dozen slaps were useless to them. Qin Hao could not escape the fate of being torn to pieces by them.
However, he was completely shocked by what happened next.