Chapter 117: DEMONIC LIZARD(5)

Just as Li Yan was about to attack the female lizard, it suddenly raised its head and released a loud screech.

"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

The sound was so high-pitched that the entire cave began to rumble, Li Yan instinctively took a step backward as the vibration spread through the ground beneath his feet.

Even after the female lizard stopped screeching, the cave continued to shake for several moments, causing dust and small pieces of stone to fall from the ceiling.

Li Yan was about to turn his attention back toward the female lizard when he heard several more screeches coming from the back of the cave.

The sounds were getting closer, and the sheer number of them made him frown as he turned around to see what was happening. When he saw dozens upon dozens of small lizards rushing toward him through the passage, he immediately increased his speed and headed toward the cave entrance.

The sight of the young lizards reminded Li Yan of something he had overlooked earlier. Knowing that the eggs took five years to hatch did not mean that each egg contained only one lizard.

He had simply assumed that the enormous egg inside the nest would produce a single offspring, but there was no reason for that assumption to be correct. There could have been hundreds of young lizards inside that one egg, judging from the creatures now rushing toward him, there could even be thousands.

Li Yan knew that remaining inside the cave was no longer an option. Even if the young lizards were weaker than the adult, their numbers were enough to overwhelm him, especially when his body was already struggling to control the enormous amount of Qi that had entered it.

He used his lightness technique to increase his speed while raising Fan Jian whenever a young lizard came too close. His sword technique pushed the creatures away from him and gave him enough room to continue toward the entrance without allowing them to surround him.

By the time Li Yan rushed out of the cave, the other disciples had already noticed the commotion. Li Hanye and Meng Jiali were still fighting the adult male lizard, but the disciples who had remained farther away now found themselves dealing with the young lizards that were pouring out of the cave.

There were so many of them that the mountain seemed to have been covered by their bodies, several of the disciples immediately realized the situation had become far more troublesome than the original mission had suggested.

The young lizards were already about the size of lions, although their scales were not nearly as strong as those of the adult. The disciples could kill them without using their strongest techniques, but their numbers made it much harder to fend off. Whenever one was killed, another emerged from the cave and took its place. Before long, some of the disciples were fighting two creatures at once, while others had three attacking them from different directions.

Li Yan moved among them while using Fan Jian to keep the young lizards away from his body. He could kill them, but doing so repeatedly was consuming his spiritual Qi faster than he wanted. The chaotic energy inside his body also continued moving through his meridians, making it increasingly difficult for him to maintain control.

Li Hanye and Meng Jiali were still dealing with the adult lizard, but even their battle had become more difficult because the young lizards had begun protecting their parent. The adult no longer needed to expose itself by chasing the disciples. It could remain near the cave while its offspring attacked anyone who attempted to approach.

"We cannot continue like this," one of the inner disciples said after cutting down another young lizard. "There are too many of them, and killing them one by one will only exhaust our spiritual Qi."

The others understood the problem immediately. They needed to separate a large number of the young lizards from the main battlefield so that Li Hanye and Meng Jiali could focus on the adult while the remaining disciples dealt with the creatures that stayed behind.

There was no time for them to spend arguing about who should take the risk, and after looking around at the group, their attention eventually settled on Li Yan. Despite his cultivation was the weakest among them, they decided he should be the one to lure the young lizards away while the others continued fighting.

Li Yan understood their reasoning, although he was not particularly pleased that his weaker cultivation had made him the obvious choice. However, the young lizards continued pouring out of the cave, and if they delayed any longer, there would soon be too many of them for anyone to control.

"I will draw them away," Li Yan said while looking toward the mountain slope. "You should focus on the adult lizard and keep the others from coming after me."

Li Yan quickly considered how he could attract such a large group without allowing them to catch him. The young lizards had only recently hatched, so their spiritual intellect was still low. They were curious about unfamiliar things and would investigate anything that seemed edible, even if it was not something they normally depended on for food.

His attention fell on the fresh corpses left behind by the previous battles.

Li Yan picked up one of the corpses and moved away from the group. The scent immediately caught the attention of several young lizards, and they began following him. When the others noticed the movement, they also turned toward him and followed the scent of the corpse.

Li Yan continued walking down the mountain while keeping a safe distance between himself and the creatures. He needed to make them curious enough to follow it, and the young lizards proved much easier to deceive than he had expected.

When Li Yan reached a suitable place, he threw the corpse down the mountain.

The young lizards immediately rushed after it.

More of them followed once they saw the others moving down the slope, and within a short time, a large portion of the young lizards had left the main battlefield. Li Yan watched them continue downward before turning his attention toward Fan Jian.

The Qi inside his body had become increasingly chaotic after he absorbed the spiritual energy from the corpses and skeletons inside the cave. He had already understood that he could not continue holding all of it inside his body, and the opportunity to release a large portion of it had now appeared.

There were at least one hundred and fifty young lizards gathered farther down the mountain.

Li Yan raised Fan Jian and began directing the overflowing Qi through the sword. The enormous amount of energy surged through his meridians and entered the blade, causing the spiritual pressure surrounding Fan Jian to increase rapidly.

"Scorching Heaven, Falling Sun!"

A powerful wave of sword energy descended toward the young lizards and spread across the mountain slope. The attack covered the entire area where the creatures had gathered, and the force of the technique destroyed them before they could escape.

When the sword energy disappeared, the young lizards had all been reduced to dust. Not one of the roughly one hundred and fifty creatures remained alive.

Li Yan lowered Fan Jian and tried to stabilize the Qi inside his body, but the technique had consumed far more of his strength than he had expected. The chaotic energy continued surging through his meridians, and he suddenly felt something warm running from his nose.

He raised his hand and wiped his nose, only to see blood covering his fingers. Li Yan stared at it for a moment before realizing that this was the first sign that his body was beginning to suffer from the amount of Qi he had forced through his meridians.