Chapter 93: The Stone Platform

With two thumping sounds and a flash of movement, Zuo Zhicheng appeared in front of Tang Xianghui. His fists shot out like two furious dragons. Accompanied by cracking explosive noises, two monsters were sent flying. Their bodies twisted and deformed in mid-air, finally splashing into the water with a loud plop.

However, after Zuo Zhicheng threw these two punches, the entire boat let out a loud creak. It sank more than ten centimeters into the water, as if about to submerge.

Zuo Zhicheng frowned. The boat was really not suitable for him to fight on. After all, when a human wants to use more strength, they rely on power from the waist, thighs, and calves, borrowing counterforce from the ground to drive the upper body’s strength.

With Zuo Zhicheng’s current level of power, the great force generated under his feet from those two punches immediately made the boat sink lower.

At the same time, as Zuo Zhicheng and Tang Xianghui stopped moving, more monsters charged towards the group. They made strange screeching sounds, some pouncing forward, others using vines on their bodies to lash out.

Seeing that everyone was about to rise and fight back, Zuo Zhicheng coldly shouted, “You keep rowing the boat. Qingyue Qiu and I will handle these monsters.”

As he spoke, he walked to the middle of the boat and said to Qingyue Qiu, “I’ll defend the top. You guard the back.”

Just as he gave the order, three more monsters dove down from above. This time, Zuo Zhicheng did not use his fists. Instead, he directly pulled out a black Dagger from his boot. A blade shadow too fast for the eye to see slashed through the air; one could even faintly see shockwaves rippling through the air. Two of the three monsters were cut in half.

The remaining one was grabbed by the neck by Zuo Zhicheng, who flung it backward. It collided with another monster in mid-air, and both fell into the water.

During this series of drawing and swinging the Dagger, Zuo Zhicheng only moved his arms and chest. He did not use the slightest bit of force from his legs. That is to say, he relied solely on the strength of his upper limbs and arms to cut the monsters in half, thus ensuring his legs exerted no additional pressure on the small boat.

Although Tang Xianghui and the others were rowing desperately, seeing this still made them gasp inwardly. They had enough discernment to be astonished by the other party’s strength, speed, and that mysterious, completely black Dagger.

‘He can achieve such an effect using only the strength of his arms themselves. This level of control…’ Tang Yuan looked at Ghost Fist; the other’s pale mask seemed to become even more unfathomable.

Tang Xianghui was also extremely surprised. She couldn’t help but think, ‘When humans exert force, borrowing force from the ground is almost instinctive. Even when we are lying down, making the slightest movement with our hands, our buttocks and waist spontaneously push against the ground. Has this guy overcome even his own instincts?’

They would never know that all of Zuo Zhicheng’s skills were honed in life-or-death situations.

Failure meant death. It was precisely because he survived until the end in his previous life that he had mastered so many unimaginable skills.

On the other side, the small pot at Qingyue Qiu’s waist had also been opened. This time, three white, hazy human figures shot straight out from it. As soon as they emerged, they pounced towards the monsters on the rock wall behind the boat.

The white figures were like ghosts, passing directly through the bodies of these monsters. The strong alkali caused irreversible damage to their bodies, not only decomposing proteins and fats. When this strong alkali came into contact with the water inside their bodies, it released intense heat, causing severe burns both inside and out.

Every monster passed through by a white shadow screamed and fell into the water. With three white shadows acting simultaneously, they repelled all the monsters approaching the boat from behind. One could say that, in terms of killing efficiency, Qingyue Qiu’s Dao Arts were much more effective than Zuo Zhicheng’s Martial Arts.

However, although Qingyue Qiu’s Shadow Guard Dao Art was highly lethal, it lacked physical pushing force. So, it could scorch and corrode opponents but could not push or move them away.

Zuo Zhicheng had precisely noticed this point, which is why he assigned Qingyue Qiu to defend the rear. Because if she were to defend against the monsters charging from above, although she could kill them, it would be difficult to prevent the monsters from falling onto the boat.

And so, they saw Zuo Zhicheng and Qingyue Qiu defending together, barely managing to keep the continuously charging monsters outside the boat. But after Zuo Zhicheng killed over twenty monsters in a row, the Dagger in his hand had become somewhat blunt. It could no longer smoothly cut through the monsters’ skin, flesh, and bones as easily as before.

On the other side, although Qingyue Qiu had also killed nearly thirty monsters relying on her Shadow Guard Dao Art, the three white, hazy figures had clearly shrunk by several sizes. This was perfectly normal because no matter how strong the corrosive power of the strong alkali was, it needed to react with other substances and release heat, all of which consumed the strong alkali substance itself.

One could say that with each scorching and corrosion, the Shadow Guard’s human figures would shrink until they completely disappeared.

Above them and behind them, hundreds of monsters not only showed no signs of retreating but, facing the deaths of their own kind, became even more frenzied. With roaring cries, they continuously rushed forward one after another towards Zuo Zhicheng and the others.

“Hold on a little longer! We’re almost there!” Seeing monster corpses starting to fall onto the boat, Tang Yuan rowed harder while shouting vigorously.

But the number of those monsters kept increasing. If they were on land, relying on his own agility and fighting while moving, Zuo Zhicheng would still be confident of defeating these monsters. But now, stuck standing on the boat, they were just fixed targets in the enemies’ eyes.

With a scream of “Ah!”, a member of the Shadow Corps was pounced into the water by a monster. The monsters that had fallen into the water around them quickly swam over. Amidst a chorus of miserable cries, the water where he had been was stained red with blood.

Zuo Zhicheng felt the Dagger in his hand getting duller. To kill an opponent with one strike, he needed to increase the force, but that would cause the boat to rock and affect its speed. However, if he didn’t increase the force, it was easy to fail to kill the opponent with one cut. These monsters were wrapped in vines and a layer of pale gray substance, tough like old tree bark. If they didn’t die and struggled, it would be even more troublesome.

Suddenly, two monsters actually climbed onto the boat from the water and began dragging on the boat, slowing its speed.

“Darn it, they’re under the boat!”

“We must stop them!”

At this moment, Tang Xianghui pointed at a dark shape in the distance and said, “There! The Stone Platform!”

About ten meters away, dimly illuminated by the firelight, a huge stone platform appeared on one side of the river channel. Just as Tang Xianghui spoke, the sound of wind whistled above her head. It was Zuo Zhicheng, who had directly leaped out.

They saw him stepping rapidly back and forth on the mountain wall, like an ape in the mountains, charging towards that stone platform. He dashed more than ten meters in one go. Just before he was about to fall into the water, he finally set one foot on the Stone Platform.