Even though Li Chonglou's shadow steps surprised him, he still didn't take it seriously.
His expression was grim because they had clearly heard fighting sounds earlier. With no one else around, Li Chonglou's ability to stand here meant his subordinates could only be dead.
Li Chonglou didn't waste words and directly threw a punch.
"Overestimating yourself!"
The middle-aged man's eyes flashed with killing intent, and he raised his hand.
The next second, Li Chonglou's figure erupted with an unprecedented surge of internal energy. The middle-aged man had no time to react before his heart was pierced by a solid fist.
"This is impossible!"
Only then did a strong sense of mortal danger surge into his heart, but it was too late.
Li Chonglou directly pushed aside the middle-aged man's corpse and quickly arrived in front of the stunned members of the Dagger Squad.
"Captain, from now on, it's up to you all."
The internal energy within him rapidly dissipated, a result of his signal to Old An. Not only the people present but even Old An in his mind hadn't expected the battle to end so quickly.
By the time he returned to the bottle space to prompt Old Lin and the others, Old Lin and the other souls were still looking astonished.
"What's going on? Didn't you encounter a strong enemy?"
From the time they transmitted energy to Old An's return prompt, the entire process took less than two seconds, so fast that Old Lin almost felt like Li Chonglou was joking with them.
"Uh, it seems this young Li is a natural combatant. I didn't expect it to be this fast either."
Outside, the captain of the Dagger Squad was the first to react.
"Hold off the mother beast! The rest of you, follow me and kill!"
Damn it, this newcomer is too fierce!
The captain exclaimed inwardly and then, along with three others, charged towards the remaining few stunned Blackies.
For the Blackies, only the middle-aged man had put pressure on them. The other Six Layer captains were confident in fighting two opponents. Moreover, they were leaderless now, and their morale was already at a disadvantage. After the four charged, they ended the fight in less than a minute with a crushing victory.
Of course, such speed came at a price. The four of them sustained injuries, which were not fatal but visibly weakened them.
However, when the captain returned to the other battlefield, he found that Li Chonglou was even weaker than them.
Li Chonglou, with a pale face, clutched his chest and leaned against the side, the color in his eyes dimming considerably.
"Are you alright?"
The other three had gone ahead to help围杀 the mother beast, while the captain approached Li Chonglou.
Li Chonglou waved his hand and said softly, "Just some after-effects. I'll be fine after resting."
The captain was silent.
His eyes flickered several times before he finally patted Li Chonglou's shoulder and said, "You should go rest."
"Alright."
Li Chonglou sat down directly, and the captain said no more, rushing towards the mother beast.
Without the Blackies' interference, the Six Layer mother beast was no match for the Dagger Squad. Even though its body had a significant advantage, they had numbers, and their cultivation levels were not much inferior. In the blink of an eye, the once arrogant mother beast was cornered against the wall of the inner space.
As if telepathically connected, they didn't deliver the killing blow. After entering, they slowly approached while scanning their surroundings.
"Captain, why can't I see the Heavenly Soul Grass?"
"It must be hidden somewhere. It's not too late to find it after we deal with the mother beast. The Heavenly Soul Grass still has some time before it ripens, and the mother beast won't touch it."
The few nodded in silence.
Then, a teammate whispered, "What about young Li? Should we proceed as planned?"
A complex expression flickered across the captain's face, and he didn't answer for a moment.
It was the strong man who spoke first, "Captain, indecisiveness leads to chaos. Being soft-hearted at such a time will have consequences. If this gets out, our reputation will be ruined."
The captain remained silent, and the others didn't speak either, but they all slowed down their actions in tacit agreement.
The mother beast could not be killed until a decision was made.
Just then, the strong man who had brought Li Chonglou into the room suddenly exclaimed, "Captain, Li is gone!"
The few turned around in shock and saw that Li Chonglou's original position was now empty.
The captain, Lie Dao,'s expression changed drastically, and the last trace of hesitation in his eyes vanished. He said coldly, "Huang, go chase him! We can't let him escape!"
The strong man nodded, said nothing more, and rushed towards the exit.
Lie Dao then said coldly to the remaining few, "Kill the mother beast first!"
On the other side, Li Chonglou had taken advantage of the Dagger Squad's inattention and returned upstairs first.
Lie Dao had made a very basic mistake, or perhaps Li Chonglou's acting was too good. The weak appearance he put on successfully fooled Lie Dao, causing him to relax his guard.
If there were no ulterior motives, why wouldn't someone thank him after he saved them?
The moment Lie Dao told him to rest, Li Chonglou knew his suspicions were correct. This Dagger Squad had ulterior motives for recruiting him!
Facing a team with their strength largely intact, a direct confrontation was out of the question. Even though Li Chonglou didn't want to miss the Heavenly Soul Grass, he had to find another way and seize the opportunity.
"It's best if they come one by one."
Li Chonglou, having left the cave, did not walk away but ambushed at the cave entrance, completely concealing his aura.
The energy of Old Lin and the others was limited. Even a few seconds of use each time would result in a constant consumption. After all, this method could not be used and deactivated at will.
Therefore, unless necessary, Li Chonglou had to use it sparingly.
At this moment, he was completely hidden in the grass. Unless they conducted a carpet search of the surroundings immediately upon entering, it would be impossible to discover his location.
"If only one comes out, I can kill them. But if there are two or more, I can only look for an opportunity to snatch the Heavenly Soul Grass."
With a sneak attack, if someone like the Six Layer came out to pursue him, Li Chonglou was confident he could kill them with his current strength. But if it wasn't one, it wouldn't work. He would have to rely on Old Lin and the others to output energy in a real fight.
And his goal was not to annihilate the Dagger Squad but to snatch the Heavenly Soul Grass. Therefore, wasting energy to kill others would be unnecessary for Li Chonglou. It would be better to save it for key individuals.
A moment later, the strong man's figure appeared within Li Chonglou's sight.
"Where is he?"
Huang, who had come out to chase, was full of confusion. They had all seen how weak Li Chonglou was earlier. In that state, he shouldn't have been able to run far, perhaps not even leave the beast's den.
But as he chased all the way here, he couldn't see any trace of Li Chonglou.