The "Stone Island" quickly moved towards the shore.

The approach of this unknown monster brought an invisible sense of oppression. Except for Lan Wangji, Jin Zixuan, Jiang Cheng, Wen Zhuliu and a few others, the rest of them kept retreating. Just when everyone thought that the thing under the water would suddenly rise up, it stopped.

Because he jumped onto its back, he awakened the sleeping monster. Now Wei Wuxian could not act rashly. He just stayed where he was and waited and watched what happened.

On the dark water surface surrounding the "Stone Island", a few unusually bright red maple leaves were floating slowly by.

Under these maple leaves, deep in the black pool, there is a pair of shining brass mirror-like objects.

The pair of brass mirrors were getting bigger and closer. Wei Wuxian felt something was wrong and dragged Wen Chao back two steps. His feet suddenly shook and rose up. The "stone island" was suspended in the air. A huge black beast head, holding up those maple leaves, broke through the water!

Amidst screams of varying pitch, the monster slowly turned its neck and stared at the two people standing on its back with its huge eyes.

This round animal head is very strange, resembling a turtle and a snake. Looking at the animal head alone, it looks more like a giant snake, but looking at its body that has been out of the water for most of the time, it looks more like...

Wei WuXian said: “…What a big…turtle…”

This is no ordinary turtle.

If this turtle crashed into the training ground of Lotus Pier, I'm afraid that its shell alone would fill the entire training ground. Three strong men couldn't hold its black turtle head. Ordinary turtles wouldn't have an extremely long, coiled snake head sticking out of their shells, with a mouthful of yellow fangs protruding and interlaced, nor would they have four clawed, flexible-looking animal feet.

Wei Wuxian stared into the pair of golden eyes. Its pupils were straight and changing from thick to thin, as if the line of sight was sometimes focused and sometimes scattered, and he couldn't see clearly what were the two things on his back.

It seems that this monster's eyesight is not very good, just like the snake. As long as I don't move, maybe it won't be able to detect me.

Suddenly, two streams of water vapor spurted out from the monster's two dark nostrils.

The maple leaves floating on the water were just near its nose, and it sprayed air because it was tickled by the little thing. Wei Wuxian remained motionless, standing like a sculpture, but this little action frightened Wen Chao.

Wen Chao knew that the monster was bloodthirsty by nature. When he saw it suddenly snort, he thought it was about to attack. He ignored the sword at his neck and struggled madly, screaming at Wen Zhuliu who was standing by the table: "Save me! Save me! What are you still standing there for!"

Jiang Cheng gritted his teeth and cursed, "Idiot!"

Suddenly, one of the two strange things in front of him began to twist like a bug, making a harsh sound, which immediately stimulated the monster. The snake-like beast head suddenly shrank back, then bounced up, and the yellow and black fangs opened wide, biting towards his back!

Wei Wuxian raised his hand and threw Wen Chao's sword like an arrow shot from a bow, flying towards the vital point of the beast's head.

However, the black scales covering the beast's head were as hard as iron armor, and the sword seemed to hit a steel plate. With a clang, a spark flew, and the sword fell into the water. The monster seemed to be stunned, and its huge eyes turned downward, looking at the thin, long, and glowing thing that sank into the water. Taking this opportunity, Wei Wuxian lifted Wen Chao, stepped on the sole of his foot, and jumped into the air, landing on another stone island, thinking to himself: "Don't tell me that this is also a big turtle!"

Suddenly, Jiang Cheng shouted, "Watch out behind you! The Danhua Hand is coming!"

Wei Wuxian turned back suddenly, and saw a pair of huge hands attacking silently. He subconsciously slapped out with his palm, fighting against Wen Zhuliu, and felt an unusually strong and gloomy force coming, as if something was being sucked out of his arm. Wei Wuxian instinctively withdrew his hand, and Wen Zhuliu took the opportunity to capture Wen Chao and fell back to the shore. Wei Wuxian cursed and jumped onto the shore. All the disciples of the Wen family took off their bows and arrows, retreated while aiming at the monster, and the arrows flew like rain, hitting the monster's black scales and tortoise shells, sparks flew everywhere, and it seemed that the battle was very fierce, but in fact it was useless, and no arrows hit the vital points, and it was basically tickling the monster. The huge beast's head swayed from side to side, and the skin outside the scales was like black stubborn stone, with pits and holes, and the arrows could not penetrate deeply.

Wei Wuxian saw a student beside him panting and pulling the bow, but the bow was half-opened. He couldn't bear it any longer, so he snatched the bow and kicked the student aside. There were still three feather arrows left in the quiver, and he pulled them all in one breath, pulled them to the full, and concentrated on aiming. The bowstring made a squeaking sound beside his ear, and just as he was about to let go, he suddenly heard a scream from behind.

The scream was terrified. Wei Wuxian turned around and saw Wang Lingjiao directing three servants. Two of them held Mianmian roughly and twisted her face up, while the other one raised the iron brand in his hand and burned her face with it!

The tip of the iron was already glowing red and making a sizzling sound. Wei WuXian was at a distance and immediately turned the arrow and let go of the string.

Three arrows were fired at the same time, hitting three people, who fell on their backs without a sound. Unexpectedly, the bowstring was still trembling, but Wang Lingjiao suddenly grabbed the iron brand that fell to the ground, grabbed Mianmian's hair, and pressed it against her face again!

Wang Lingjiao's cultivation was very poor, but this attack was fast and poisonous. If she stabbed it, even if Mianmian didn't go blind in one eye, she would be disfigured for life. This woman was in such a critical moment when she had to be ready to escape at any time, but she still persisted and kept thinking about harming people!

The other children from noble families were picking up arrows and drawing their bows, concentrating on dealing with the monsters. There was no one around the two of them. Wei Wuxian had no arrows left, and it was too late to grab arrows from others. In a hurry, he rushed over, chopped off Wang Lingjiao's hand that was grabbing her hair, and hit her hard on the chest with the other palm.

Wang Lingjiao was hit head-on by his palm, and she spat out blood and flew backwards.

However, the front end of the iron brand had already pressed against Wei Wuxian's chest.

Wei Wuxian smelled the odor of burnt clothes and skin, as well as the horrible smell of cooked meat. He felt an excruciating pain near his heart, just below his collarbone.

He gritted his teeth hard, but still failed to stifle the painful roar, allowing it to burst out of his throat.

The force of his palm was so strong that Wang Lingjiao flew away, bleeding profusely. She fell to the ground and burst into tears. Jiang Cheng raised his hand and chopped at Wang Lingjiao's head. Wen Chao shouted wildly, "Jiaojiao! Jiaojiao! Hurry up and save Jiaojiao!"

Wen Zhuliu frowned slightly, and without saying much, he flew forward, repelled Jiang Cheng, picked up Wang Lingjiao, and threw her at Wen Chao's feet. Wang Lingjiao threw herself into his arms, spitting blood and crying loudly. Jiang Cheng chased up and fought with Wen Zhuliu. Wen Chao saw that his eyes were bloodshot and his expression was terrifying. In addition, the other children of the noble families were also very excited. There was also a giant monster in the pool, and its left front paw had stepped on the shore. Finally, he became afraid and shouted, "Retreat, retreat, retreat immediately!"

The people under his command had been holding on for a long time, waiting for him to give the order to retreat. Upon hearing this, they immediately flew on their swords. Wen Chao's sword was thrown into the water by Wei Wuxian, so he grabbed someone else's, hugged Wang Lingjiao and jumped onto the sword, and rushed out of sight in a whoosh. A group of servants followed him closely, and Jin Zixuan shouted, "Stop fighting! Go!"

The nobles had no intention of continuing to fight this monster that was like a mountain of stone. But when they ran all the way back to the cave, they saw the vine they had climbed down coiled on the ground like a pile of dead snakes.

Jin Zixuan was furious: "Shameless bastards! They cut the vines!"

Without this vine, they would not have been able to climb the steep earth wall. The cave was more than thirty feet above their heads, and the white light was dazzling. After a while, the white light was half annihilated, like a dog eating the moon.

Someone else screamed, "They are blocking the entrance to the cave!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the remaining half of the white light was blocked.

Deep underground, only a few burning torches were left, illuminating several bewildered and speechless young faces.

After a while, Jin Zixuan's curse broke the silence: "This couple is really capable of doing this!"

A young man murmured, "It doesn't matter if I can't go up... My father and mother will come looking for me. Once they hear about this, they will definitely find their way here."

A few people echoed this, and someone else immediately said in a trembling voice: "They thought we were receiving instruction in Qishan, so why would they come looking for us... Besides, after the Wen family escapes, they will definitely not tell the truth and will definitely make up some excuse... We can only stay here..."

"We can only stay in this cave...without food...with a monster..."

At this time, Jiang Cheng slowly walked over with Wei Wuxian. Just when he heard the words "no food", Wei Wuxian said, "Jiang Cheng, here is a piece of cooked meat, do you want to eat it?"

Jiang Cheng said, "Get lost! That iron brand won't kill you. It's already this late, I really want to sew your mouth shut."

Lan Wangji's light-colored eyes fell on them, and then on Mianmian who followed them at a loss. Her face was red from tears, she sobbed, twisted her skirt with her hands, and kept saying "I'm sorry, sorry, sorry". Wei Wuxian blocked his ears and said, "Hey, stop crying, okay? I got burned, not you. Do you want me to comfort you? Can you comfort me? Okay, Jiang Cheng, stop fighting, it's not like my legs are broken."

Several girls gathered around Mianmian and started sobbing.

Lan Wangji withdrew his gaze and turned back.

Jiang Cheng said, "Second Master Lan, where are you going? The monster is still guarding the black pool."

Lan Wangji said, "Go back to the pond. There is a way to leave."

When she heard there was a way to leave, even her crying stopped. Wei WuXian asked, “What is the way?”

Lan Wangji said, “There are maple leaves in the pond.”

These words made no sense at first, but Wei WuXian immediately understood.

There were indeed a few maple leaves floating in the black pool where the monster was lurking. But there were no maple trees in the cave, no human traces, and only banyan trees near the cave entrance. These maple leaves were bright red like fire, and very fresh. When they went up the mountain, they also saw maple leaves floating in the water in a stream.

Jiang Cheng also understood and said, "There is probably a hole at the bottom of the black pool that connects to the water source outside, which brought the maple leaves from the mountain stream in."

One person said timidly: "But...how do we know if this hole is big enough for people to get out? What if it's very small? What if it's just a crack?"

Jin Zixuan frowned and said, "And the monster is still guarding the black pool and refuses to come out."

Wei WuXian pulled up his shirt and fanned the wound under his clothes with one hand, saying, “If there is a little hope, take action. It is better than just sitting there and waiting for parents to rescue you. So what if it is guarding the black pool? Just lure it out.”

After some discussion, half an hour later, a group of children from noble families returned along the same route.

They hid in the cave and secretly watched the monster.

Most of its body was still in the black pool. A long snake body stretched out from its shell, approached the shore, opened and closed its fangs, gently bit the corpse, then retracted its neck and dragged it into its fortress-like black shell, as if to enjoy it carefully inside.

Wei WuXian threw a torch and it hit a corner of the cave.

This movement was particularly exaggerated in the dead silence of the underground. The monster's head immediately emerged from its shell. Its pupils were narrow, reflecting the leaping and burning torch. It was instinctively attracted to things that glowed and heated, and it slowly stretched its neck towards it.

Behind it, Jiang Cheng dived into the water silently.

The Yunmeng Jiang Clan lived by the water, and the family members were all excellent swimmers. When Jiang Cheng entered the water, the ripples disappeared, and even a few waves could be seen. Everyone stared at the water surface, looking at the monster from time to time. They saw that the huge black snake head was hesitantly circling around the torch, as if it was about to get closer, which made people more nervous.

Suddenly, it seemed to have made up its mind to experience this thing, so it put its nose close to it, but was slightly burned by the hot flame.

The monster's neck immediately snapped back, and two streams of angry vapor blew out of its nostrils, extinguishing the torch.

At this moment, Jiang Cheng floated to the surface and took a deep breath. The monster sensed that its territory was being invaded, so it shook its head and turned to look towards Jiang Cheng.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Wei Wuxian bit his finger, quickly drew a few lines on his palm, rushed out of the cave, and slapped the ground. As his palm left the ground, a ball of fire that was taller than a person suddenly jumped up!

The monster was startled and turned back to look over here. Jiang Cheng took the opportunity to go ashore and shouted, "There is a hole at the bottom of the pool, it's quite big!"

Wei WuXian asked, “How small is not small?”

Jiang Cheng said: "I can get through five or six at a time!"

Wei WuXian shouted, “Everyone listen up, follow Jiang Cheng closely, and get out of the cave. The uninjured ones should take care of the injured ones, and the injured ones who can swim should take care of the uninjured ones. Only five or six people can get through at a time, and no one should fight over them! Now, get in the water!”

After he finished speaking, the flame that shot up into the sky gradually died down. He retreated a dozen steps in the other direction, and struck the ground with his palm again, causing another burst of fire. The monster's golden eyes were reflected red by the flames, and it burned madly. It moved its four claws, dragged its heavy body like a mountain, and crawled towards this side.

Jiang Cheng angrily asked: "What are you doing?!"

Wei WuXian said: “What did you do?! Leading people into the water!”

He had successfully led the monster out of the water and onto the shore. If he didn't leave now, when would he leave? Jiang Cheng gritted his teeth and said, "Everyone come here. Those who can swim stand on the left, and those who can't stand on the right!"

Wei Wuxian was observing the terrain while drawing fire and retreating. Suddenly, he felt a pain in his arm, and when he looked down, he found that he had been hit by an arrow. It turned out that the Lan family disciple who had been glared at by Lan Wangji just now picked up a bow and arrow discarded by the Wen family and shot an arrow at the monster. But perhaps because it was ferocious and agile, he panicked and his hand was unstable, so the arrow lost its aim and hit him. Wei Wuxian had no time to pull it out, and slapped the ground again, causing the fire, and then cursed: "Back off! Don't make trouble for me!"

The student originally wanted to hit the monster's vital point with one arrow to save some face, but he didn't expect it to turn out like this. His face turned paler and he jumped into the water and fled. Jiang Cheng urged, "Come here quickly!"

Wei WuXian said, “I’ll be right there!”

Jiang Cheng was accompanied by three young men from aristocratic families who could not swim. This was almost the last batch, so he could not delay and had to go into the water first. Wei Wuxian pulled out the arrow, and after pulling it out, he suddenly thought: "Not good!"

The smell of blood greatly stimulated the monster. Its neck suddenly grew longer and its fangs opened wide!

Before Wei Wuxian could figure out a countermeasure, his body tilted and he was slapped away by someone.

Lan Wangji pushed him away.

The monster's upper and lower jaws closed and bit his right leg.

Just watching, Wei Wuxian felt a pain in his right leg. Lan Wangji was still expressionless, just frowning slightly. Then, he was immediately dragged back!

With the size of this monster and the bite force of its fangs, it would be effortless to bite a person in half. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to like to eat broken pieces. After biting a person, whether dead or alive, the person will shrink into its shell and be dragged in to be slowly eaten. Otherwise, if it only used a little force with its teeth, Lan Wangji's leg would be broken directly. This tortoise shell is extremely hard and invulnerable. Once it took Lan Wangji in, I'm afraid he would never get out again!

Wei Wuxian ran wildly, and before the beast’s head could retract, he pounced and grabbed a fang on its upper jaw.

Originally, his strength was no match for the monster, but with his life at stake, he actually erupted with an inhumanly terrifying force. He pressed his feet against the monster's shell and held the tooth tightly with both hands, like a thorn, stuck there, preventing it from retracting and giving it a chance to enjoy this delicious meal.

Lan Wangji didn't expect that he could catch up in this situation, and was extremely shocked.

Wei Wuxian was afraid that the monster would get angry and either eat them alive or bite off one of Lan Wangji's legs, so he continued to clench his upper fangs with his right hand and his lower fangs with his left hand. He exerted force in opposite directions with both hands at the same time, risking his life. The veins on his forehead were bulging and almost bursting, and his face was bloodshot.

The sharp teeth of the two factions had pierced deep into Lan Wangji's flesh and bones, and were actually forced to gradually open his teeth!

The jaws could no longer hold the prey, and Lan Wangji fell into the pool. Seeing him escape, Wei Wuxian's godlike strength suddenly disappeared, and he could no longer hold up the upper and lower jaws of the monster. He suddenly let go, and the two rows of protruding fangs suddenly bit together, making a loud noise like the cracking of metal and stone!

Wei Wuxian also fell into the water, landing next to Lan Wangji. He flipped over and adjusted his position, scooped up Lan Wangji, paddled with one hand, and instantly swam several feet away, creating a long, beautiful, huge wave in the pool, rolled onto the shore, threw Lan Wangji on his back, and ran away.

Lan Wangji blurted out: "You?"

Wei WuXian said: “It’s me! A surprise?!”

Lan Wangji crouched behind him, his tone showing a rare change: "What are you happy about?! Put me down!"

While Wei WuXian was running for his life, he was also busy talking, “If you let me go, wouldn’t that make me lose face?”

The roar of the monster behind him made their eardrums and chests hurt, and they all felt a surge of blood rushing up their throats and noses. Wei Wuxian quickly shut up and concentrated on running away. In order to prevent the monster from catching up with him in anger, he chose to run through narrow tunnels that could not fit into a turtle shell. He ran for an unknown amount of time without stopping, until he could no longer hear any sound, and then he slowed down.

His heartstrings relaxed, his speed slowed down, and Wei WuXian smelled a scent of blood. He touched his right hand with his backhand, and found it was wet and red.

Wei WuXian thought, “This is bad. Lan Zhan’s injury has doubled in severity.”