The moment I escaped the cave, I felt a little relieved. After all, the passage that Da Zhuang and the others had blasted out wasn't very big. As long as we could light a fire to block the Gu creatures, we could escape.

But a sudden gunshot shattered my illusions.

To avoid the bright light of the flashlight, I immediately blocked my view with my arm.

After his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he looked ahead and breathed a slight sigh of relief: "Qu Ruilin, it's you?"

"Duan Shenxing?"

When Qu Ruilin saw me, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes. He then pressed down the arm of the young man next to him that was holding the gun.

Seeing Qu Ruilin's actions, I knew he had also been attracted by the explosions Dazhuang and the others had made earlier, so I quickly explained, "There are traps in the cave behind, and a large number of Gu creatures have been awakened. We must block the cave!"

Qu Ruilin ignored my explanation and instead fixed his gaze on the chicken head in my hand: "Give me the thing!"

I was slightly taken aback: "What did you say?"

Qu Ruilin snatched the pistol from the person next to him and pointed it at me: "Throw what you're holding over here, don't make me say it a second time!"

"Qu Ruilin, you can't be a person without any conscience, can you?"

Upon hearing Qu Ruilin's request, the monkey glared at him and said, "Have you forgotten how much we helped you back in Ping'an Village? Now you're trying to steal our things? There's a limit to how much you can take from us!"

Qu Ruilin remained unmoved: "Our cooperation ended after we left Ping'an Village. You said that! I'm already being very lenient by not hurting anyone, so don't force me to turn against you! Have I made myself clear enough?"

I know the Gu worms inside the cave are extremely ferocious. If we continue to delay, we will definitely be the first to suffer once those Gu worms escape.

Faced with the encirclement of Qu Ruilin and the others, I thought for a moment and finally threw the chicken head over: "Has Wei Shengnan woken up?"

"This is none of your concern! Let's leave!"

Qu Ruilin had someone pick up the chicken heads from the ground, then pointed his gun at us and slowly retreated. After creating some distance, he turned and left with the people around him.

As they retreated, I noticed that one of them was carrying a large travel bag, and there was clearly a sharp object inside that was causing the bag to deform slightly.

Watching the group leave, the monkey cursed angrily, "Damn it! I used to think that although Qu Ruilin was a terrible person, he was at least decent! Now it seems he's a complete bastard! If we hadn't helped them a few times, they might have lost their lives in this godforsaken place. And now this bastard is taking advantage of our misfortune to steal our things!"

"Let's not talk about that. We need to figure out how to build a barrier in the cave to thank the Gu creature. Everyone, light the flares and throw them at the cave entrance! Lin Que and Man Jing, you two go and gather some dry grass and firewood!"

I waved goodbye, then said to Jiang Man, "Can you see if there's a satellite signal here?"

Jiang Man took out the satellite phone, glanced at it, and shook her head: "There's no signal in the canyon, but there was a signal outside before we came in!"

I instructed, "Go outside now and contact the Jiang family. Tell them to send a group of people into the mountains with a large amount of gasoline, as well as some rat poison and highly toxic pesticides. The faster the better!"

Upon hearing my request, the monkey beside me looked utterly bewildered: "Young Master Duan, we finally managed to escape from the cave, why do we need to turn back?"

"I have to figure out a way to get the golden rooster's body out!"

I explained to the monkey, "When you showed me the chicken head before, I noticed that the key was spiral-shaped and had friction marks on it. This means that the chicken head and body fit together perfectly and could only be removed using some special method. You accidentally managed to remove it! If my guess is correct, as long as we can get the golden chicken's body back, we can use the lost-wax casting method to replicate a new key!"

The monkey seemed somewhat reluctant to accept this plan: "This cave is now full of Gu creatures. Without confirming whether getting the key is related to the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, isn't it too risky to go back into the cave to get it?"

"When Qu Ruilin and the others left just now, I noticed that one of the people had a very heavy backpack, and there were sharp objects propping it up inside. Judging from the size, those things were probably the sheep's head and the cow's head, two of the Three Treasures. It's likely that Qu Ruilin and the others also discovered other altars in this mountain."

I paused for a moment: "I'm not sure yet whether these things are related to the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, but we must be fully prepared for this kind of thing. At least in this matter, we can't let other teams get ahead of us! And we must also find a way to get our hands on the beast head that Qu Ruilin and his group obtained!"

"Squeak!"

While we were having our conversation, the Gu creatures inside the cave had already reached the entrance. However, stimulated by the bright light, they only screamed restlessly inside the cave.

Among these pink, hairless mice, some have grown to the size of house cats, are entirely blood red, and are constantly howling.

In the firelight, the mouths of those giant rats were wide open at an astonishing angle. Only then did I see that these disgusting creatures were covered with sharp teeth from their mouths all the way down to their throats. No wonder Dazhuang was in so much pain after being bitten by these things.

The monkey looked at the densely packed Gu creatures in the cave and got goosebumps all over his body: "Damn it, were all the people who studied these weird things back then mentally ill? They look so disgusting!"

"They're afraid of light, which is a good thing!"

I saw that Manjing and Linque had already returned with hay and branches, and I waved to them, saying, "Don't light a fire at the cave entrance. Go to the sides of the tunnel and release these Gu creatures!"

The monkey tentatively asked, "Young Master Duan, do you intend to put them all in the mountains and then go back to retrieve them after the cave is empty?"

"No, I just want to release them for others to see! These Gu creatures are very aggressive, and we don't know how long they'll live. If we let them escape from the mountains, we'll be committing a terrible sin!"

Seeing the firelight at the cave entrance gradually dimming, I waved my hands repeatedly: "These Gu creatures are about to break out. Light bonfires on both sides of the canyon and don't let them go out!"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone got busy. Monkey took the firewood that Manjing handed him and began to build a campfire on the ground: "Young Master Duan, you said these Gu creatures are for others to see. Who are you referring to as 'others'?"

I crushed the alcohol flask I used for camping and threw it into the woodpile to light it: "The noise Dazhuang and his gang made when they blew up the cave entrance was too loud, so it's definitely not just Qu Ruilin and his group that were attracted here!"

Sure enough, as soon as our fire started, flashlight beams appeared in the woods not far away.