Chapter 163: Enemies Often Cross Paths

"Isn't that Guangqi? Is he trapped in the stone tunnel too?"

Though in a dangerous predicament, Ye Dong could not resist gloating. "I thought you'd be able to escape after tripping me earlier, but who would have thought you're trapped here just the same?"

"I have my master and grand-uncle backing me up, whereas you are fighting a lone battle!"

The more Ye Dong thought about it, the happier he became. "Sturdy as your body may be, it is still ultimately a mortal vessel. If Huang Wuchang finds you first, let's see where you can scurry off to!"

With a cold chuckle, he fished out a flashbang and hurled it fiercely into the stone tunnel where Guangqi was located!

"BOOM!!!"

The flashbang detonated right on cue, and a dazzling glare instantly startled Guangqi. "Damn it! Who threw a flashbang above my head?!"

Huang Wuchang, who was still painstakingly searching for people, saw the flash not far away and his heart suddenly leaped with joy. "No one has entered the stone tunnels leading here; the person over there must be either Guangqi or He Wentian! Let me go over and devour your soul!"

"Oh no, someone must have discovered my whereabouts and deliberately tossed a flashbang into my labyrinthine stone tunnel just to lure Huang Wuchang over!"

Guangqi quickly figured it out. "Damn it, it must be Ye Dong. No one else could come up with such a malicious trick!"

"Hehe, you ambushed me just now, so isn't it fair that I return the favor?"

Concealing his body, Ye Dong felt a secret thrill of pleasure as he stared straight ahead at the panic-stricken Guangqi in the distance. "I want to see how you plan to shake off Huang Wuchang!"

"You're clever, but I'm no fool!"

A thought flashed through Guangqi's mind. He pulled out every single flashbang he had, tossing one in each direction—east, south, west, and north—and even threw two in some spots!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Dazzling flashes of light erupted high up in all directions, leaving both Huang Wuchang and Ye Dong stunned.

Huang Wuchang, who had been rushing toward Guangqi's location, abruptly halted his steps. "So many flashbangs! Which one is the real person actually at?"

This brief hesitation played right into Guangqi's hands.

"Oh come on, this Guangqi is really sharp! He actually knows how to mix fish eyes with pearls!"

Seeing Guangqi skillfully neutralize his scheme, Ye Dong frowned, just about to think of a way to lead Huang Wuchang toward Guangqi, when the scenery in the stone mountain began to shift once more!

"Rumble..."

The stone mountain continuously shifted downward, emitting a series of roars as soil tumbled and rolled, coating Ye Dong in a layer of yellowish dust.

"Cough, cough!"

Before Ye Dong could even utter a few words of complaint, a wisp of pungent gas instantly began to seep out from the stony ground!

"Hisss..."

Hearing the sound of the rapidly surging rush and catching that unusual scent, Ye Dong instantly understood what these things were!

"Damn it, it's going to blow!!!"

Without looking back, Ye Dong turned on his heel and sprinted for his life!

This mysterious gas originated from mysterious subterranean holes, and before Ye Dong had run very far, he found himself completely surrounded by it!

"Divine Dragon Armor, activate!! Thicken it, thicken it more!!"

At the most critical split-second, Ye Dong not only activated the Divine Dragon Armor but abruptly thickened it by several layers!

Simultaneously, those mysterious gases detonated with the speed of lightning and the suddenness of thunder!

"Ah!!!"

Although Ye Dong was protected by the Divine Dragon Armor, he had no way to control or withstand the shockwave generated by the gas explosion. Blown away by the gale-force pressure, his entire body was sent flying toward another section of the stone tunnel!

The moment he soared upward, he caught sight of Huang Wuchang staring right at him with famished, ecstatic eyes!

"He Wentian, this old man has finally found you!"

In the distance, Huang Wuchang let out a wild laugh, leaping and bounding as he rapidly sprang toward the spot where Ye Dong was about to land!

"Oh my god, this madman looks like he's about to drool just seeing me!"

Just as Ye Dong managed to prop himself up, he spotted another figure he equally detested rushing over—none other than Guangqi!

"Ye Dong???"

Seeing Ye Dong actually appear in his cross-shaped stone tunnel, Guangqi was exceptionally astonished. "What are you doing here?"

As Guangqi asked this deliberately, Ye Dong instinctively opened his mouth to reply, only to see Guangqi pull out a handgun and fire two shots at him without the slightest hesitation!

"When it comes to cunning, there is only one person in this world I truly admire, and that's Guangqi!"

Suppressing his anger, Ye Dong used the Divine Dragon Armor to tightly wrap around the incoming bullets, then roared, "Guangqi, go to hell!"

He was just about to use the Samadhi True Fire to scorch Guangqi to a crisp when he saw Guangqi run past him with a look of utter shock and terror!

"What the—he shot at me and now he's just ignoring me?!"

Furious and exasperated, a sudden jolt of alarm went through Ye Dong's heart. "With Guangqi running that fast, could something be chasing him?!"

Right at that moment, several ferocious beasts as tall as elephants emerged around the corner. They possessed razor-sharp fangs, wore battle armor upon their bodies, and came barreling furiously in his direction!

"Oh, come on!"

Seeing this, Ye Dong naturally took to his heels and ran. Having activated his transcendent physique, it took him no time at all to catch up with Guangqi ahead. Steeling his heart, he grabbed Guangqi by the arm and yanked him backward, forcing him to crash heavily onto the ground!

"Hehe, they say a gentleman takes revenge ten years later, but I don't need ten years—I'm taking mine right now!"

Laughing heartily and caring nothing for Guangqi's fate, Ye Dong sprinted onward.

"You—how dare you!"

Before Guangqi could even break into a curse, his body was struck and sent flying by the armored beasts, slamming violently against the stone wall!

"Crack!"

Guangqi felt a stabbing, excruciating pain in his lower leg. Without even needing to guess, he knew that sound came from his own shin bone snapping.

Although those armored beasts had sent Guangqi flying, they showed no signs of halting their assault; instead, they accelerated once more and charged straight toward him!

"I haven't had my revenge yet, I can't go down here!"

Enduring the agonizing pain, Guangqi pulled out a grappling hook gun, aimed it at the high stone wall above, and slammed the launch button. With a mechanism that reeled the rope in and out, he hoisted himself upward just as his broken leg dangled.

"Finally escaped by the skin of my teeth!"

Watching the furious, rampaging armored beasts down below, Guangqi felt a slight wave of relief, only to notice the wall emitting a "boom, boom" sound of impact!

"No way, are you guys really going to hunt me down to the bitter end?"

It turned out that the armored behemoths were continuously ramming their bodies against the stone wall where Guangqi was perched, attempting to fracture the wall and knock him down!

"Hahaha!"

Seeing Guangqi struggling on the verge of death, Ye Dong could not help bursting into laughter. "With ferocious beasts below and Huang Wuchang behind, let's see how you avoid dying this time!"

Just as he was feeling immensely pleased, a series of rumbling crashes of collapsing stone walls startled him. He realized that the behemoths had finally smashed the stone wall down!

A collapsed wall was one thing, but Ye Dong never anticipated that the destruction of the wall would trigger a chain reaction within the labyrinthine stone tunnels. At that moment, the very stone tunnel he was standing on began to undergo strange alterations; the stone ground instantly transformed into sand, swallowing his feet whole in a split second!

In a panic, he looked around and saw that the surrounding stone tunnels were experiencing similar phenomena. What infuriated him even more was that Guangqi, who had been on the verge of being trampled to death by the beasts, was suddenly spared when the ground beneath the beasts' feet turned into sand. Losing their footing, the beasts crashed heavily into the dirt and sand with a resounding thud!

The sand and mud began to continuously shift toward a specific funnel-shaped center. In other words, whether it was Ye Dong, Guangqi, or Huang Wuchang, their positions had undergone dramatic changes, and their shared plight was that they all seemed to be sliding in a single direction along with the shifting sands.