Chapter 227 - Ambitious (1/2)

Tang Ling responded decisively and quickly in the face of crisis. Withstanding the tremendous water pressure, he exerted all his strength to push himself back into the bubble wall.

After a strange gurgle, Tang Ling fell back onto the little path.

Before he could get to his feet, he saw a long, gray monster spring out like a bolt of lightning from the underwater group of rocks like a giant snake with a flat fish-like face. It swam towards the bubble wall and tried to chomp at Tang Ling.

Bzzzzt!

The bubble wall produced an irritating screech when the monster bit it. Tang Ling leaned against the wall behind him and watched the three rows of sharp teeth in the monster’s mouth as it tried to snap through the bubble wall. The monstrous face was only less than 30 cm away from him.

The monster chomped as hard as it could at the bubble wall while its small monstrous green eyes were fixed on Tang Ling. It fought vehemently and tried to burst the bubble wall with its sheer strength, but the wall was shockingly tenacious.

No matter how hard the monster tried, the bubble wall was, at most, deformed for a while, before returning to its original shape. It showed no signs of bursting.

Would it last though? Tang Ling could not tell. He wiped the water off his face and stood up to see at least 30 to 40 more long, gray monsters that had floated up from the rock formation. Every single one of them swam towards the bubble wall.

All of a sudden, a red armored fish came up from the bottom of the lake and also seemed bewitched. It swam towards the bubble wall and rammed against it with its head.

In the next moment, the first long, gray monster swept the red armored fish with its tail and constricted it tightly. The red armored fish started to struggle, but the strange, long monster made overpowering it look effortless as its tail strangled the red armored fish so strongly that the armored body started to be deformed.

Then, the red armored fish was squeezed into three as its organs and blood burst in the water, painting the area red.

“How powerful!” Tang Ling dared not hesitate anymore. He turned around and ran before more and more monsters appeared in front of the bubble wall. He suddenly realized that this place was not somewhere he could venture freely at his current strength. If he stayed back, the monsters would eventually break the bubble wall and he would have to welcome a horrible death.

Is the entire maze this scary?! Tang Ling ran as fast as he could. He spent less than 2 minutes to return to the stone door. After he reached the temple, the stone door disappeared together with the platform and the other golden halos.

Tang Ling was breathing heavily. From the start till the end, it had only been less than ten minutes. If not for his sodden clothes, it would have been difficult for him to believe all that had been real.

A tinge of acknowledgment appeared in his mind. This huge dragon maze was not someplace he could walk in and out freely. It was filled with danger like the monsters in the water back then. What level were those vicious beasts? There were no obvious traits on their bodies. He did spot two purple stripes on the red armored fish though, but they had been strangled to death and ripped apart into three by the sheer force of the monster’s tail.

The incident was also the most significant reason for Tang Ling to leave. A Level 2 vicious beast was killed almost effortlessly in a second! That indicated that the group of long, gray monsters would be at least Level 3 vicious beasts.

Even if a Purple Moon Warrior coincidentally discovered the maze under the Goddess Tear Lake, he might not be able to…

If Uncle Su Siao were here, would he be able to fight them?

Tang Ling rested while his mind pondered upon the encounter. How many more entrances to the maze such as this temple were out there?

What does all this mean?

Unfortunately, the mystery of the huge maze was not something he could answer.

Tang Ling was not overly concerned about the disappeared haloes and the lock icon. The energy key was gone, and so were the others. If he wanted to go back in, he would just have to generate another key.

Would he continue exploring the maze? His answer was a firm yes. However, generating a single key required a tremendous amount of spiritual energy and Tang Ling did not mind waiting since he still had time to spare.

…

It was four in the afternoon.

According to the usual routine, it was time for the villagers of Barbarto Village to herd the cows and sheep back to their barns. However, something unexpected happened that day, thus the villagers were blocked at the entrance to their village.

The one who had blocked the villagers was none other than Bartu’s family. There were six wandering hunters among them who were rather powerful, and behind them were two more warriors from the Uvandidi tribe.

As expected of a warrior, their intimidating aura emanated strongly even if they did nothing but stand there. Each of them wore only bloomers and a single chest piece covering their bare top. The rest of their bodies were also as hard as iron plates. No one would doubt them being the protectors of Barbarto Village against the wolves.

“Bartu, move! Barbarto Village isn’t under your family’s command!” Valencia stepped out from the crowd and shouted at Bartu.

“Tie her up and everyone in her family. They are the ones who sold Barbarto Village out.” Bartu no longer showed the passion and flattery that he used to when he tried to woo Valencia.

“How dare you!?”

Bartu chuckled. “I’m doing this for the village! If my family doesn’t stand up now, Barbarto Village will be destroyed by the wolves tomorrow. I’ll have to tie you up first, and after the wolves, I’ll apologize to Uncle Wenbu myself. I’m still going to marry you.”

Valencia wanted to argue, but two of Bartu’s brothers walked over without further ado to tie her up and gag her.

Several more men made up a dozen-strong group who supported their family and marched into the village righteously. They were determined to capture everyone in Valencia’s family.

Valencia struggled as hard as she could, but she was no match for two mighty wandering hunters. Bartu turned a blind eye to her and announced loudly to the villagers, “Today, every one of you must offer your cattle. To be exact, 300 sheep and 120 cows per family. The Uvandidi tribe will then send someone over to take the cattle away. As you can see, these two warriors will stay behind and protect our village.”

Bardu was persistent, and judging from the menacing attitude of his goons, the villagers had no options left. Their choices were to either hand over the cows and sheep and receive protection from the Uvandidi tribe, or to stay outside the village for the night! Without the village walls as protection, anything could happen outside at night.

Although the villagers were hesitant, such a forceful way was unacceptable. It was no different than daylight robbery!

“Does it mean that if we don’t hand over the cattle today, we can’t enter the village?” one of the villagers asked loudly.