Fang Hao wrapped his arm around the waist of the young princess, Mu Zhenqing, and leaped straight into the pitch-black cave!

The feeling was just like jumping off a cliff, and his heart instantly jumped into his throat!

The sound of rushing wind was in his ears, and before his eyes was pitch-black darkness where he couldn’t even see his own fingers; he could only feel his body falling rapidly!

"Ahhh!" The young princess screamed in fright, her hands tightly clutching Fang Hao’s neck, her entire body almost hanging off him.

The Nanny behind them also jumped down; her expression was likely no better.

There was no telling how deep this cave was; they had been falling for several breaths’ time and still hadn’t reached the bottom!

Fang Hao also felt a bit uneasy; if they kept falling like this, they would be smashed into meat paste upon impact!

He hurriedly circulated his spiritual power to slow their descent, while simultaneously activating his Clear Spring Spirit Eyes with all his might, striving to see the situation below.

After falling for a while longer, a faint glimmer finally appeared beneath their feet; it seemed they were nearing the bottom of the cave.

Fang Hao adjusted his posture, preparing to land.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The three of them landed one after another onto a pile of soft, somewhat damp matter. They didn’t fall hard, but a foul, pungent stench rushed straight into their noses, almost making Fang Hao vomit.

The young princess began to retch immediately.

Fang Hao quickly scrambled up, pulled the young princess up as well, and vigilantly surveyed their surroundings.

By the faint light filtering down from the cave entrance above, as well as some moss on the cave walls emitting a ghostly phosphorescence, he could barely make out that this was a massive underground cavern. The space was quite large, like a grand hall.

The spot where they had just landed was piled high with various animal bones and fur, all sticky and slimy; it was clearly the "dining room" and restroom of that Purple-Scaled Cloud Lizard, absolutely disgusting.

"Th-this... what kind of hellish place is this?" The young princess asked with a tearful, trembling voice, clutching Fang Hao’s arm tightly and refusing to let go.

The Nanny was also deathly pale, shivering as she huddled closer.

"It should be the lair of that Demon Beast," Fang Hao said in a low voice, his brows tightly locked.

He swept his Divine Sense out and discovered that this cave extended in all directions, with several dark tunnels leading to unknown places.

The air was filled with heavy Demonic Qi and an indescribable musty odor.

Most critically, he could sense that from deep within the cave, several not-so-weak auras were faintly emanating; it seemed there were other living creatures!

Could it be that they had broken into a nest of Demon Beasts?

"We must hurry and find a way out of here!" Fang Hao felt anxious.

The people above were likely still fighting to the death, but that Purple-Scaled Cloud Lizard was not stupid. It would definitely remember that its nest had been raided (even if only by three little snacks jumping in), and it might return at any moment!

If they got trapped in this cave when it returned, they would truly be like turtles in a jar—a dead end!

Just as he was pondering which tunnel to take, a deafening roar suddenly erupted from above!

Immediately following that, a massive dark shadow, carrying a foul wind, crashed down with a loud boom! Who else could it be but that Purple-Scaled Cloud Lizard?!

The beast had indeed chased them down! It likely saw its "snacks" escape, and being annoyed from being attacked, it simply abandoned the group above and returned directly to its lair!

"Not good! It’s back!" Fang Hao’s expression changed drastically as he grabbed the young princess and the Nanny, rushing into the nearest tunnel! "Run!"

As soon as the Purple-Scaled Cloud Lizard landed, it smelled the scent of living humans. Its cold, vertical pupils immediately locked onto the direction in which the three of them were fleeing, and it let out a roar of excitement (or was it anger?), dug its four claws into the ground, and came thundering after them!

Its speed seemed even faster than it had been above! After all, this was its home turf!

Fang Hao felt bitter inside; the tunnel was also pitch black and rugged, making it difficult to run without stumbling.

The young princess had low cultivation and couldn’t run fast, so she was almost being dragged along by Fang Hao. The Nanny was older and was panting heavily.

The roaring and heavy footsteps behind them were getting closer and closer, and the foul, rancid stench was almost spraying onto the back of their necks! Fang Hao could even feel the hot breath expelled by the beast!

"We’re done for! We’re going to be caught!" The young princess was so scared that tears came out.

Seeing they were about to be overtaken, Fang Hao gritted his teeth, suddenly pushed the young princess into the Nanny’s arms, and roared: "You two run ahead first! Don’t look back!"

After saying this, he suddenly turned around, drew his yitian sword, and the blade erupted with brilliant light! Starfall Sword Art—Meteor Strike!

Holding nothing back, he poured all his spiritual power into it, and a sword beam, condensed to the extreme, surged upward like a meteor, piercing straight toward the Purple-Scaled Cloud Lizard’s gaping, bloodthirsty maw!

He didn’t dare to fight it head-on; he only wanted to delay it for a moment!

Boom!

The sword beam struck the upper jaw of the Purple-Scaled Cloud Lizard, exploding into a burst of sparks! The beast felt the pain, let out an angry roar, and its momentum did indeed slow for a moment!

But during that brief moment of delay, Fang Hao already felt a huge consumption of spiritual power within his body, and his throat tasted sweet.

He didn’t dare to linger in battle and turned to run! Catching up with the young princess and the Nanny, they continued their desperate flight!

The Purple-Scaled Cloud Lizard was enraged and pursued them even more frantically! From time to time, it would spew poison mist or use its tail to sweep the cave walls, attempting to block their path or crush them to death.

The tunnel was in chaos, with gravel flying everywhere and poison mist filling the air. As he ran, Fang Hao also had to swing his sword to deflect falling rocks, use spiritual power to disperse the poison mist, and protect the young princess and the Nanny, looking utterly disheveled.

He didn’t know how long they had been running or how many turns they had taken, but suddenly a fork in the road appeared ahead!

One path continued downward, bottomless and chillingly cold. The other path seemed to slope upward, and a faint glimmer of light could vaguely be seen!

"Go up!" Fang Hao didn’t hesitate, grabbed the two of them, and rushed into the upward tunnel! Where there was light, there might be an exit!

Hope was right before their eyes! The three of them used their last remaining strength, sprinting toward that light!

However, just as they were about to reach the end of the tunnel, Fang Hao’s heart suddenly sank!

There was indeed light at the end of the tunnel, but it wasn’t the daylight of an exit; it was a strange, greenish, oily glow!

Moreover, that light was moving! It was accompanied by a hair-raising "rustling" sound!

When they reached the front and saw the scene before them clearly, the young princess collapsed to the ground in terror, and even the Nanny sat down on her rear, her face drained of color.

They saw that at the end of the tunnel was a slightly more spacious cave. Inside the cave, crawling densely and stacked layer upon layer, were countless fist-sized, entirely emerald-green, hideous-mouthed—Carrion Beetles!

These low-level Yao insects were not strong individually, but they numbered in the thousands, and gathered together, the Demonic Qi they emitted was also quite terrifying!

That greenish, oily light was emitted from their carapaces!

Ahead was a sea of insects blocking the way, and behind were the lizard pursuers!

Now they were truly in a dilemma, trapped in a desperate situation.

Looking at this desperate scene before him, a bitter smile appeared at the corner of Fang Hao’s mouth. This time, they had really poked a hornet’s nest or rather, a lizard’s nest plus an insect’s nest.