Chapter 172: Strange Stone Forest
Chapter 172: Strange Stone Forest
“Wow!”
Looking at that Stone Forest composed of Giant Boulders before him, Tang Jinbiao couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement.
It was a dense Stone Forest, or rather, it consisted of countless tall stone pillars.
Each stone pillar was about two meters square and over ten zhang tall. Though their surfaces were pitted by the rainwash, they still seemed quite smooth when viewed from a distance, like fresh bamboo shoots.
The gaps between the pillars were just right, about one meter apart. Standing at the edge, it looked like they formed over a hundred meter-square doorways, leading deep into the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Still, Tang Jinbiao couldn’t determine how wide or large this Stone Forest was.
“Never mind! I’ll just pick any entrance and make a run for it!”
Tang Jinbiao couldn’t be bothered to think about what secrets the Stone Forest held; he randomly chose an outlet and charged inside.
…
“Damn it! It’s another dead end!”
After less than half a ke, Tang Jinbiao reached the Stone Forest’s end and saw the blocked path, his eyes filled with rage.
“Screw it! Turn back and find another way!”
This was already his second time hitting such a dead end. Outside the Stone Forest, he couldn’t see inside clearly at all. For some unknown reason, once he entered, his already weak Divine Sense couldn’t extend even a fraction outside his body.
Luckily, he didn’t rely much on using Divine Sense, so he wasn’t completely in the dark.
Cursing, Tang Jinbiao turned back along the same path and ran toward the exit.
“Heh heh! Maybe I can use this terrain to pull off a major underdog comeback!”
After discovering the Stone Forest’s strangeness, Tang Jinbiao’s urge to escape faded a lot, and an evil thought popped into his mind.
“No! I’d better test how tough these rocks are first!”
With that evil idea fixed in his mind, Tang Jinbiao immediately gathered Qi Energy within his body and struck a nearby Giant Boulder.
“Boom!”
Although Tang Jinbiao’s yellowish Qi Energy seemed mighty, hitting the stone wall produced no reaction at all, like a muffled fart.
“What? No way? That hard?”
Seeing his Qi Energy do nothing to the wall, Tang Jinbiao was briefly stunned.
“Hehe! Since it’s like this, my plan might just work. I’ll try the power of Frost Qi!”
Confirming the walls weren’t ordinary stone, Tang Jinbiao’s evil grin widened. Then he converted his Qi Energy into Frost Qi and punched the wall.
“Pfft!”
The usually unstoppable Frost Qi also failed for the first time; it had no impact on impact, only forming a thin layer of frost on the surface.
“Holy crap! This thing’s heaven-defying!”
Finding Frost Qi still couldn’t damage the walls, Tang Jinbiao cursed loudly.
He looked up at the sky and saw they could still make it out from here.
“Damn! Are these pits on the walls really from rainwater erosion?”
Stretching his hand out to touch the pitted stone surface, Tang Jinbiao couldn’t believe that rain could erode such hard rock into this state.
“Frost Silver Spear, come out!”
With a thought from Tang Jinbiao, the Frost Silver Spear hidden in his ear flew out instantly. It swelled with the wind, growing to a length of about three meters.
“Taste my spear!”
Gripping the Frost Silver Spear, Tang Jinbiao felt like a legendary spear king. Without hesitation, he thrust it toward the stone wall before him.
Clang!
Thwack!
“Fck me!”
The result stunned Tang Jinbiao. The spear didn’t pierce the rock either, rebounding instead and sending him flying backward to crash against the wall behind him.
The sharp ridges formed by the intersections of the pits in the wall pressed painfully into his back, causing numbness and pain. Fortunately, his Body Refining Third Tier physique was strong enough. An ordinary person would likely have been left a bloody mess by that rebound force.
“Good. I love this place! It’s practically tailor-made for me! Wei Wuya, today this will be your grave!”
Discovering the extraordinary hardness of these stone walls, the darker side hidden within Tang Jinbiao finally surfaced.
Although stealing Wei Wuya’s Storage Pouch during that crisis had been satisfying enough, this new opportunity made Tang Jinbiao crave more.
Once he had hardened his heart, he decided to go big and bid farewell to his past.
“Wei Wuya, Jia Longwu, Young Master Ma! Hmph! Since you plotted against me, I shall plot against you today!”
A wicked grin spread across Tang Jinbiao’s face. His eyes darting, he turned and sprinted away.
Once outside, he turned back to appraise the Stone Forest once more.
“Divine Sense can’t extend beyond the body within these Stone Forests. You can only rely on eyesight. The passageways are narrow, each only about one-third meter wide. If I can engage in close combat, taking down the other two shouldn’t be a problem, apart from Wei Wuya. But this cuts both ways. If they spot me first, I won’t be able to dodge their attacks either!”
Standing outside and carefully observing the network of meter-wide gaps, Tang Jinbiao silently formulated his plan in his mind.
“The key point is that these narrow passages all seem to be single paths. There are no open spaces in the middle for maneuvering. As long as those three don’t stick to the same path, this place becomes perfect for dividing and isolating them. Pros and cons exist, but for me… the pros outweigh the cons!”
“There must be more than one exit here. But how do I ensure they enter dead ends and not the exits?”
Tang Jinbiao had always been clever. His childish tendencies should have faded long ago, but spending so much time with Tang Bi and the others had brought it back.
It’s contagious!
“Right! Another crucial problem! If this doesn’t work out, all my effort goes to waste!”
Staring at the towering tops of the Stone Forest pillars, Tang Jinbiao suddenly recalled a vital issue. He immediately started scrambling up a stone pillar.
After a short while, Tang Jinbiao returned to the ground, his eyes sparkling as he surveyed the Stone Forest with immense satisfaction.
“Hah! This place really is designed for me! It seems the protagonist halo around me, Tang Jinbiao the Demon King, is finally starting to shine!”
Tang Jinbiao was utterly pleased with the Stone Forest’s layout. It felt like it was genuinely crafted just for him.
These stone pillars were incredibly hard. Breaking through the walls for support? Impossible.
It blocked Divine Sense inside, preventing others from easily locating him.
Most importantly, while the Stone Forest looked like separate pillars from ground level, a view from above would reveal the astonishing truth: it wasn’t a forest of stones at all, but part of one immense Giant Boulder.
Conversely, looking up from inside the Narrow Passages, one could still see the sky – but that was all. Because if anyone ascended roughly thirty meters above the ground within the Stone Forest, they’d discover an invisible layer covering everything overhead. Seeing the sky didn’t mean reaching it.
“Hahaha, hahaha, this is so satisfying, truly so satisfying! No—wait—this is simply perfect! What flawless terrain, absolutely impeccable for my needs!”
Gazing at the massive Stone Forest ahead, Tang Jinbiao felt a surge of bold ambition. Right now, he was itching to undertake something truly massive.
From the moment he saw Jia Longwu’s true nature, he was no longer the numskull Tang Jinbiao of the past.
Those dark aspects he had previously concealed began to emerge from that very instant.
“What I need to do now is create confusion to mask the truth!”
Instead of dashing straight into any of the Narrow Passages, Tang Jinbiao began frantically dashing back and forth at speed across all the entrances.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
After just a short while, he had dashed back and forth here at least ten times.
“Heh heh, let’s see where you decide to enter now?”
Looking at the densely packed footprints around the cave openings, a smirk of satisfaction touched Tang Jinbiao’s lips. Since he had taken two specific paths earlier, leaving distinctive tracks, he had deliberately broken those clear trails to obscure them by overlaying numerous others.
“To be safe, I’ll set up an Illusion Array right here at this first entrance. If things get really bad, I can always duck deeper inside for shelter.”
Dashing to the location of the first entrance, Tang Jinbiao patted his Storage Pouch. A Compass Disk and a small bundle of tiny flags flew out.
Setting up such a Formation was second nature to Tang Jinbiao by now. Slapping out a few Spirit Stones, he had it quickly in place.
Hum!
As the Formation activated, the original first entrance vanished, its appearance blending seamlessly with the surrounding stone. Unless someone physically walked into it, they would never suspect an entrance existed there. Of course, it wasn’t an exit, merely a dead end.
“Mmm, done. Now I’ll just hide in here and wait for them to arrive!”
Satisfied everything was in order, Tang Jinbiao slipped inside the first entrance. However, mere moments later, he rushed back out again.
“No, if they arrive and immediately sense something off here, wouldn’t I just be causing trouble for myself? To be safe, I’d better wait outside. Good thing this Stealth Talisman still packs some punch!”
After emerging, Tang Jinbiao concealed himself within the Dense Forest. He applied the Stealth Talisman to his body and silently melted into the shadows.
Hidden amidst the trees, Tang Jinbiao’s eyes fixed sharply on the open ground before the Stone Forest. He was waiting.
There were roughly two to three hundred entrances to the Stone Forest. If the three were to try searching them one by one, it would undoubtedly give them a massive headache. Furthermore, because of the strange nature of the Stone Forest itself, with their level of intelligence, they likely wouldn’t believe Tang Jinbiao had fled deeper into the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Therefore, Tang Jinbiao was placing a wager. He wagered they would search here. He needed to wait for Wei Wuya and the others to become impatient, wait for them to separate to hunt for a way out; only then would he make his move.
Even if they ignored this Stone Forest altogether and chased deeper into the Hundred Thousand Mountains, well, he could simply turn around and slip away easily. At worst, he could return to the Divine Wind Academy. Right now, he held absolute initiative.
This was a life-and-death contest of wits and courage. This was the battle where he became a man!
Of course, this was also his first step deeper into the abyss…
Perhaps, many years from now, on some distant day, he would suddenly recall: sometimes, a person truly does grow up overnight.
Sadly, hidden behind that overnight maturation were layers upon layers of heartache and bitterness.
Half an hour later.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The sound of violent tearing through air echoed from the distance, rapidly approaching before landing directly in front of the Stone Forest.
“They’re here!”
Seeing who had arrived, a cruel smile crept onto Tang Jinbiao’s lips…