Chapter 1 The Deep Underground水道

At that moment, deep brown mist surged from the distant underground tunnel, accompanied by an earsplitting rustling sound.

Whether it was the flowing sewage or the stone tunnel, everything was enveloped in this layer of light mist that had appeared at some unknown time. The mist carried a sweet, fishy smell, like the fragrance of flowers, yet also like the scent of blood. Along with the mist, a dampness seemed to seep into the very bones, ready to take root in the human body.

Turning his head to look in the direction the mist was coming from, Su Zhou calmly tightened his grip on the shaft of his spear. A semi-transparent spear blade emerged from the front end of the two-and-a-half-meter-long hardwood shaft. The 'Bixie' (evil-warding) formation flowed with a dangerous spiritual light, illuminating the darkness.

He could hear it.

The rustling of insects and ants crawling about, the sound of numerous venomous insects fleeing in a panic.

He could see it.

The black moss clinging to the walls of the tunnel began to spew out a light brown powder. It obscured the light of the small flashlight, plunging the already dark underground waterway into a forbidden zone where the eyes could not see.

Something huge was rapidly approaching along the concrete path, its shadow swirling, two reddish-brown lights glowing in the dark mist.

Then, the mist churned, and a black centipede as thick as an adult suddenly lunged out of the darkness, carrying with it gusts of foul wind, eager to devour a human!

"Ha!"

With a sharp shout, filled with anger, Su Zhou, who had been prepared for this, twisted his hands and took a step forward with his spear!

Facing the giant centipede's mandibles, which were sharper than swords, Su Zhou showed no fear—he knew how much strength he possessed. If it were the him of ten days ago, he might have only been able to dodge, but now he could handle it! This spear thrust was aimed squarely at the central mouthparts of the giant centipede's mandibles, intending to use that as a breakthrough point to pierce its head straight through.

But in the next instant, his expression changed. Instead of thrusting forward, he retracted his spear and forcefully thrust it behind him!

At that very moment, a black, armored tail suddenly shot out of the water behind Su Zhou, lunging towards his back!

This giant centipede was actually using a trick, submerging its tail in the water to flank him with a surprise attack, while at the same time, its head in front opened its mandibles, biting down from above!

—He could see that the tip of the insect's tail had two sharp poisonous barbs, flashing with a deep purple light. If he were struck by them, it would surely be a terrible outcome!

Bang!

But Su Zhou's reaction was very timely. The rear end of the choumu (Vitex negundo) spear shaft, swung backward, solidly collided with the centipede's tail, and the huge impact, condensed from hundreds of kilograms of force, sent the giant centipede staggering backward, rolling into the waterway between the two concrete paths. But Su Zhou was also knocked forward, narrowly avoiding the mandibles closing in, and tumbled awkwardly on the ground, flying out more than ten meters before regaining his balance.

"Cough, cough!"

The shockwave from the brief exchange temporarily dispersed the mist. Su Zhou, kneeling on one knee and leaning on his spear, coughed. He looked up and saw that the monster thrashing in the water was extremely large—a black giant centipede nearly half a meter wide, thirty to forty centimeters tall, and almost ten meters long, including its legs!

Its entire body was covered in bluish-green, tree-root-like veins that pulsed as it moved. The roots were covered with slippery black moss, forming a dark carapace like tree bark, with faint runes flowing and flickering on it.

He could see that the reddish-brown compound eyes at the front of the giant centipede were hidden in the mist, and the tips of its tree-branch-like legs were as sharp as knives. These limbs scraped against the concrete surface of the sewer, leaving inch-deep scratches.

"Good heavens, is that a worm or a dragon?!"

Seeing this scene, Su Zhou's expression changed slightly. He could tell at a glance that this long worm weighed at least two or three tons, and yet it moved so agilely, truly a extraordinary demonic entity. But soon, the youth smiled wryly: "But it's not much bigger than I expected."

"Now that I'm here, a Zheng country (China) man can't return empty-handed."

Without even a moment's pause, Su Zhou rose to his feet again. The muscles in his legs bulged, and his more developed and stronger-than-average muscle groups gathered strength, then exploded—the inscriptions on the spear flashed with light, and the semi-transparent spiritual blade brought an arc of light in the darkness, like a shooting star.

The giant centipede also shook its head and stood up. Although the force of Su Zhou's previous blow was indeed great, even bursting out with a nearly ton-level impact, it was nothing to a giant centipede weighing three tons.

Facing the charging human, the delicious prey shimmering with spiritual light, the giant centipede greedily and fiercely raised its body, like a venomous dragon raising its head.

It lunged down from above, its mandibles, capable of cutting through steel, dancing, as if to shear both the spear shaft and Su Zhou himself into pieces, and then crush them into fragments with its weight and legs.

But even a clever demon that can use its tail to attack, is still, in the end, just an insect.

"Rise!"

Facing the giant centipede that was rushing towards him like a small mountain, Su Zhou, who had taken a step forward and was about to thrust, shouted loudly. He arched his spine and lowered his body, putting all the weight and strength of his entire body behind the spear shaft. The immense strength, far beyond that of ordinary people, exploded at one end of the lever, and then the other end turned into a heavy punch, slamming into the giant centipede's jaw!

How much strength did Su Zhou have? Heaven knows, but he could lift hundreds of kilograms, and there was no doubt that he could lift more than half a ton. And that strength was now turned into leverage at one end of the lever, directly lifting the head of the giant centipede, which was about to pounce, obliquely upward, and pinning it against the top of the sewer!

Boom!

The black giant centipede felt like it had been hit by a powerful rising dragon fist, and the entire front end of its three-ton body floated up!

It could feel that the carapace of its jaw was almost shattered by the hardwood spear shaft, and the violent impact, mixed with the 'Bixie' formation's damage to spirituality, was shaking and tearing apart the demonic centipede's not-so-complex, but certainly not simple, nerve bundles and spirituality!

The unprecedented pain and dizziness caused it to unconsciously let out a silent roar, then it curled up its body, violently flailing its body and tail, repelling everything around it.

"Tsk!"

How powerful was a giant centipede weighing tons when it thrashed its body wildly? Su Zhou didn't want to know. He had originally wanted to take advantage of the situation and strike again to shatter the carapace of its lower jaw, pinning the giant centipede's head to the concrete ceiling of the sewer, but now he could only sigh regretfully and leap backward with his spear, avoiding the sweep of the poisonous tail.

The force of the wind and waves generated by the giant centipede's tail alone almost blew Su Zhou entirely into the water... If he had been greedy for another strike just now, his spine would probably have been broken.

But this didn't mean that Su Zhou would slow down his attack—the red choumu spear shaft was made of hardwood that had been dried, with force running through the front and back, not shaking or swaying, and the Bixie formation added to its sturdiness, making it as strong as iron.

'Thrusting' and 'stabbing' were indeed the most powerful attack methods for this type of hard spear, but without a spearhead, he was not without other methods of attack.

"Eat this!"

With a low shout, facing the giant centipede rolling and stirring up huge waves in the water, Su Zhou switched the position of his hands, and immediately resembled a fisherman on the seashore holding a long spear upside down—he leaped high, his entire body and the spear shaft transformed into a 'fishing spear'.

Then, aiming at the giant centipede's iridescent compound eye, he 'stabbed' down hard!

Boom!

The huge tremor caused the ground to churn, and the reverberation of the shattered concrete slabs was extremely loud, transmitting through the rock at a speed of three thousand meters per second.

If it were an ordinary person, even if they lived nearby, they might not be able to sense this vibration nearly ten meters underground. Even those with extraordinary abilities, in this noisy world, would find it difficult to distinguish the small vibration from the vibration of a low-frequency subwoofer.

But on the surface of the Fu River, Professor Zhang Fucheng, who had been concentrating on searching for traces of spiritual energy, suddenly stood up from the police speedboat. He looked in astonishment at the location where the spiritual energy had erupted in the distance, and a bluish-brown wood qi violently rose from the ground, creating a fountain that was extremely conspicuous in the spirit world!

"It's there!"

Although this fountain only appeared for a moment, the professor from the Zheng Yi Academy had clearly seen it. Without any hesitation, he immediately pointed in that direction and stated firmly, "The demon is here!"

On the dark river at night, the sound of motors immediately rang out, and as the order spread, more fully armed modern armed forces personnel drove inconspicuous black cars, speeding towards the area where the spiritual energy fountain had appeared.

At the same time, Su Zhou, who had blown out the giant centipede's compound eye with a single stab, was flung away by the creature's angry swipe, and with a "thwack," plastered against the arched ceiling of the sewer.