"Aargh..." The Cyclops shook its massive limbs, tearing loose a stalactite from the top of the cliff face. It brandished the stone spike and charged furiously toward Ye Xiu and Old Liu.

Ye Xiu leaped down from the cliff wall, driving his sword deep into the giant's back. The creature shrieked in agony, convulsing in a desperate attempt to throw Ye Xiu off, but the Tian Zhi Que lodged within its body would not be easily dislodged. "One sword strike isn't enough to finish this thing. Old Liu, hurry up and think of something else!"

"What else is there? Freeze it solid?" Old Liu raised his hand, instantly weaving a crystalline ice formation that clamped down over the Cyclops' head, trapping it. "Move, Ye Xiu, move!"

Shush... The Cyclops seemed to sense the deadly danger emanating from the shimmering white matter surrounding it. Its body suddenly ruptured, spraying forth a viscous green ichor that instantly transformed the ground into a writhing mass of crawling worms.

Ye Xiu twisted away, narrowly avoiding the disgusting fluid. He casually stabbed at the nearest worm with his sword, only to watch it instantly fragment into even smaller creatures. "Can this thing not be killed?"

Old Liu pulled out the long-unused five-pointed ice crystal and tossed it onto the ground. He grabbed Ye Xiu and bolted toward the pathway carved into the cliff face. "If we can't kill it, we'll control it with ice crystals. Let's go!"

As they froze, the tiny worms were immediately swept into the icy layers. However, their forms were unstable; some paired up, morphing once more into the wildcats they had been before. These jungle cats lunged forward, claws extended, ready to break through the ice to attack the pair.

"Black Flame Nine Dragons Emerge..." Ye Xiu moved sideways while running, and the wildcats immediately retreated upon encountering the flames. Yet, they seemed completely unharmed. "No use, we have to run. I bet this thing is unkillable no matter what we do."

Old Liu nodded, already sprinting ahead to the front of the narrow walkway. But this path twisted and turned, becoming steeper the further down they went. Jagged outcroppings on the cliff face kept throwing their center of gravity off balance into the open air. As he ran, he surveyed the entire chasm. It turned out the cavern descended in a spiral around a gigantic stone figure. "Ye Xiu, stop worrying about those beasts behind us for a moment, look at the adjacent cliff wall."

Ye Xiu, trailing behind, noticed that the wildcats were not tenacious fighters; after continuous blasts from the Black Flame, they seemed to lose the will to pursue. Ye Xiu finally managed to grab the railing of the walkway and leap over to Old Liu's side before paying attention to the wall. Indeed, a massive head was right beside his eye line. "I have a terrible premonition. We need to flee this walkway even faster."

Old Liu pointed down the winding path. The abyss beneath, dark as a black hole, evoked an inexplicable terror. "If my guess is correct, this walkway circles around this stone giant as it descends. I truly hope this thing doesn't resurrect to chase us."

The spiral walkway plunged straight toward the earth's core. Moss clung to the surrounding stone walls, and water trickled down. Those worms encased in green slime were everywhere. The entire space felt oppressive and saturated with the unknown.

"Hush..." Suddenly, the sound of falling grains echoed, and the spiral walkway shook violently. Ye Xiu and Old Liu instinctively gripped the railing, narrowly avoiding being thrown off into the bottomless pit.

"Whoa... what was that?" Old Liu looked up. The head that had been right beside them seemed to have quietly shifted its position. He swallowed hard and whispered, "I knew there was nothing good down here. That thing looks like it's about to move. Be careful."

"What do you mean, looks like it's moving?" Ye Xiu felt a chill grip his heart as he gestured. "I just noticed its eyes were on the other side a moment ago. Look now—doesn't it seem like it's watching us?"

Below them, the immense head suddenly opened its eyes. It tilted down, staring, and though it possessed no visible mouth, the fury radiating from its breath was palpable. It seemed the pair’s unauthorized intrusion had enraged it.

"Rumble..." Suddenly, the giant head violently detached from the mountain wall behind it. It thrashed wildly, shaking its body. At that instant, the entire walkway broke free from the cliff face and began to collapse downward.

"Go!" Old Liu stepped onto Gui Zhu and leaped down. However, the entire cavern was shaking now. Endless streams of sand and rock plummeted, obscuring the path below. "Ye Xiu, hurry up and get down here!"

"No problem!" Stones rained from above. Ye Xiu activated the full power of the Bai Chong Zhi Hun, leaping from the cliff face, rebounding off another falling stone back onto the wall, and repeating the motion with almost casual grace. But now, it wasn't just the giant's head; its two massive arms had also ripped free from the wall, directly blocking the path of their descent. "This thing is slow; we need to get down faster."

Chhh... Old Liu's flight space was limited. Seeing himself about to collide with the giant's arm, he plunged Gui Zhu into the surrounding stone to slow his descent. Countless shards of flying rock exploded around him, leaving him battered and bruised. "How much further to the bottom? Yaaahhh..."

"Black Flame Nine Dragons Emerge!" Ye Xiu entered a forbidden zone, unleashing the full power of his Death God abilities. The nine dragons soared out, shattering mountains of rock into fine dust. With both swords in hand, held horizontally, he plunged straight down like a sharp sword toward the bottom of the black pit. "Let me see what's down there."

Thump-thump! Another dull impact echoed from the depths. A colossal leg suddenly appeared, blocking Ye Xiu's path. The leg was entangled with endless vines that snaked out from every direction, attempting to coil around Ye Xiu tightly.

"Profound Ice Dao Charm!" Old Liu rapidly descended, spinning around to conjure an ice layer in mid-air. This thick barrier instantly divided the cavern into two separate spaces, and the barrage of massive stones ceased to exist in his vicinity.

"Heavenly Scrutiny Divine Sense!" Ye Xiu, wielding the Tian Miao sword, executed his ultimate move. His figure flickered, slicing the surrounding vines into countless fragments. But the vines instantly regenerated; ordinary attacks were useless against them. "This thing is unkillable either! Use another one of your incantations!"

"Yowch!" Old Liu had long since lost his balance and was plummeting. He landed on the giant's leg and quickly ran toward Ye Xiu, who was carving a path with Gui Zhu. "What can we do? This thing has layer after layer; we need a way to reach the bottom quickly."

Jiya... A screeching, heart-rending howl followed. The vines chasing them suddenly split open into massive mouths. These mouths were attached along the entire length of the vines, resembling a cluster of man-eating flowers growing on a single root system.

"Black Flame!" Ye Xiu, seeing the monstrous blooms lunging at Old Liu, immediately countered with Black Flame. But the vine, adorned with numerous carnivorous heads, moved with surprising speed, looping around the Black Flame's trajectory to envelop Old Liu. "Old Liu, freeze yourself with the ice crystal!"

"Got it!" The situation was critical. Old Liu nodded and instantly formed a layer of ice around himself. The frost rapidly spread, absorbing the impact of the man-eating flowers. With sounds of cracking bone echoing, the vines wrapped around the globe of ice, lifting it up.

"Heavenly Scrutiny Shadow Fall!" Ye Xiu, positioned below and having already laid down his Tian Miao sword array, attacked. His eyes glowed with emerald light. In that confined space, his form multiplied into a dense swarm of figures that surged toward the ice ball. When Ye Xiu reappeared, there was a single, massive explosion. All the vines ignited and plummeted into the abyss.

Seeing his chance, Old Liu quickly dissolved the ice shell and rushed toward the ground. He was surprised to find that even his ice crystal spell had some integrity, yet Ye Xiu’s attack had pierced the barrier and grazed his own body. "Your attacks need a little more focus, kid. You almost blew me up along with them."

"Less nonsense, let's get down now." Ye Xiu straightened and shot downward. That last attack had not only shattered the vines but nearly collapsed the giant's leg still attached to the cliff wall. He pulled Old Liu, and they plummeted together, finally plunging into the deep pool at the cavern's base with a splash. "Quickly, freeze the entire cave entrance, or those things will follow us down!"

"Seal a hole this vast? How?" Before Old Liu could finish his protest, he sank into the water. He held his breath, struggling to swim toward the shore, but noticed Ye Xiu already holding his dual swords in a bizarre posture, spinning wildly at the bottom of the pool.

Boom-crack... The bottom of the deep pool erupted as Ye Xiu spun his swords furiously, generating a vortex. The whirlwind rushed over, whipping Old Liu to the surface. Looking up, he saw that the rising mist was already sealing the cavern opening above them. "I get it now. You intend to use this pool to block the entrance."

"If you get it, then hurry up and get out!" Ye Xiu shot his dual swords out of the pool, flipped, and retreated to the bank. "Seal it!"

"Ten Thousand Swastika Transforms to Ice." Old Liu flicked his fingers, drawing a five-pointed star in the air. A white mist of chilling energy erupted from his hand. This cold breath, shaped like a monstrous dragon, merged with the swirling column of water. As they spread upward to the entire entrance, ice shards flew, forming a colossal ice pillar that rigidly blocked the cavern mouth.

"Hoo... I truly don't know how that Ghost Mask fellow managed all this alone," Ye Xiu gasped, lying on the bank and taking a deep breath. He pointed at Old Liu sitting atop the ice pillar and grinned. "Hey, aren't you cold up there?"

"Cold!" Old Liu tumbled down, landing softly beside Ye Xiu. He brushed the ice fragments off his body with a sigh. "That takes care of the vine problem, I suppose. But what I want to know is, how do we get out of here?"

Ye Xiu shook his head and stood up. How to exit was not a matter for immediate debate, because the current space was filled with narrow, slanted stone slabs pressing down overhead. Interspersed among these slabs were thousands of needle-like stalactites, resembling ten thousand swords hanging from the wall, any of which could drop at any second.

Boom-thrust... A sudden, loud noise occurred as a sword-like stalactite crashed down. It impaled the ground, surprisingly triggering a localized collapse where surrounding stalactites rained down. That section of the floor sank considerably.

"Great. First, rocks falling from below, and now we have to get through a field of falling swords overhead," Old Liu pointed at the sword array of stalactites hanging above them, cold sweat beading on his forehead. "Look at the path ahead. I can't see the end of it with my eyes. Do we really have to rush through that?"

Ye Xiu stared coldly at the path ahead. The sword-like stalactites hung obliquely above their heads. Their retreat was sealed by the ice pillar, and only one path lay forward. This must be the first level of the Demon Quelling Pavilion; who knew what divine beasts lay ahead. "One hit from those spikes would turn us into dust. It seems we'll have to cover each other's backs to rush through."

Old Liu and Ye Xiu had developed exceptional teamwork. He pointed ahead and grinned wryly. "Alright then. You go first, or should I?"