Chapter 00132: A Deadly Stalemate
# A Deadly Stalemate
Chapter 132
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 132: A Deadly Stalemate
Using so much strength must be draining a lot of blood, because He Lingchuan could smell the scent of blood growing stronger.
He couldn’t tell if it was his own, the giant crocodile’s, or both.
He Lingchuan had always wondered why the giant crocodile didn’t just drown Wu Shaoyi by dragging him underwater.
It turned out that Wu’s spear was constantly pushing it upward, and even the crocodile couldn’t handle it.
This giant crocodile had roamed the seas and eaten everything in its path.
Who would have thought it would encounter something so troublesome here?
Judging by its state, it was clearly furious.
“Can’t you just let go and jump out?”
“No, it wants to ram me to death! I’ve tried twice already,” Wu Shaoyi said. “This thing has intelligence!”
Most importantly, Wu was too badly injured to move quickly.
Even though its mouth was stuck open, the crocodile’s massive, locomotive-like body could knock anyone unconscious, whether on land or in water.
Was the crocodile’s mouth the safest place? He Lingchuan couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at the thought of the rows of sharp teeth below.
“How can I help you?”
“Think of something, quick!” Wu Shaoyi wasn’t about to let this heaven-sent opportunity slip by. “I’ll repay you, I swear!”
How could he save him? He Lingchuan was at a loss.
Stab the crocodile to death with his broken blade? That was a joke.
The crocodile’s hide was so tough that He Lingchuan would probably be flung away before he even scratched it.
Replace the spear with a stalactite? Impossible.
The crocodile wouldn’t just sit still and let him do it.
He Lingchuan ran through a dozen ideas in his head, but none of them seemed feasible.
Meanwhile, Wu Shaoyi kept urging him from below.
Finally, He Lingchuan snapped and shouted, “Hey, Crocodile God… can you understand human speech?”
He had clearly heard Wu Shaoyi call this creature the “Crocodile God” earlier.
This crocodile was ridiculously large and had clearly cultivated into a demonic beast, but no one would call it a god without reason.
Wu Shaoyi must know its origins.
Besides, even Uncle Hao’s hawk demon could understand and speak human language.
This crocodile, with its deeper cultivation, might be able to as well.
It was worth a try.
No harm in testing it.
So he added, “How about I help you get rid of that toothpick stuck in your mouth?”
Compared to the crocodile’s massive size, Wu Shaoyi was just a small piece of meat that couldn’t even fill its enormous mouth.
Calling the spear a toothpick wasn’t far off.
As soon as he asked, the water suddenly stopped churning, with only a few faint ripples remaining.
It was pitch black below, and He Lingchuan couldn’t see anything.
He had to ask Wu Shaoyi, “What’s its reaction?”
“It nodded,” Wu Shaoyi’s voice sounded somewhat dejected. “It can understand!”
Of course, this was the Crocodile God, once worshipped by humans.
Why had he assumed from the start that it couldn’t understand human speech?
If they could negotiate, why had they fought to the point of mutual destruction? Wu Shaoyi felt like slapping himself.
At the brink of life and death, had his brain stopped working?
He Lingchuan let out a long sigh of relief.
Once they could communicate with such a monster, the difficulty of saving someone would drop significantly.
He really was a genius.
Now it was time to negotiate: “Crocodile God, how about we make a deal? I’ll remove the toothpick for you, and you let the two of us go and help us get to shore. How’s that?”
The next second, a cold voice echoed in both their minds:
“Deal.”
Demonic beasts with cultivation often communicated with humans through telepathy, as their vocal cords weren’t suited for human speech.
This giant crocodile was surprisingly straightforward.
He Lingchuan was taken aback. “You’ll keep your word?”
“The Jiaolong Clan never lies!” the crocodile declared. “I swear on my ancestral bloodline!”
He Lingchuan had heard that most demonic beasts didn’t lie, with only a few exceptions.
He thought for a moment, then took out a candle from his storage space, lit it, and tossed it to Wu Shaoyi.
Wu Shaoyi struggled to catch it.
If the crocodile had been thrashing around, even this simple action would have been impossible.
He Lingchuan instructed, “Get out of the water first!”
The giant crocodile slowly swam forward, and soon its massive head emerged from the water.
With the light from the candle, the two of them realized just how large the cave was.
Half of it was submerged, while the other half rose above the lake.
There seemed to be something deeper in the cave, but that wasn’t the focus right now.
He Lingchuan gave it a quick glance and didn’t pay it much attention.
Once they reached the rocky shore, the crocodile rested its massive head on the stone and stopped moving.
“Get out.”
Wu Shaoyi struggled but couldn’t get up.
The intense struggle with the crocodile had drained all his strength.
Now that he relaxed, he couldn’t even lift his arms.
He tried twice more but couldn’t even stand.
The crocodile tilted its head and shook him out of its mouth, tossing him onto the rocky shore.
“Pull out the spear!”
Wu Shaoyi couldn’t even stand, let alone muster the strength to pull out the spear.
He had no choice but to ask He Lingchuan for help. “Kid, come down and help!”
He Lingchuan thought to himself, *I’m safe up here.*
He really didn’t want to go down, but both Wu Shaoyi and the crocodile were urging him.
They were both fed up with each other.
Wu Shaoyi had two neat rows of bloody holes in his body, and blood was pouring out every second.
It was impossible to fake.
Considering he had been fighting the crocodile for hours with such severe injuries, He Lingchuan believed he was truly at his limit.
If He Lingchuan hadn’t shown up, Wu Shaoyi would have died, and the spear would still be stuck in the crocodile’s mouth.
So He Lingchuan let out a heavy sigh, pinched his nose, and jumped down.
*Splash!* He landed in the water.
After a quick swim, he reached the rocky shore.
He first carried Wu Shaoyi deeper into the cave and fed him a small pill.
Then he returned to the water’s edge.
The giant crocodile was waiting there with its mouth wide open, tears streaming from its eyes.
Each of its teeth was longer than the broken blade in He Lingchuan’s hand, and its gaping maw could easily fit three adults.
Standing next to it was not a pleasant experience.
He Lingchuan cautiously peered into its mouth and saw that Wu Shaoyi’s spear was lodged in a perfect spot.
The tip was deeply embedded in the crocodile’s upper jaw, while the shaft was stuck in a deep cavity in its lower jaw.
Yes, this crocodile had a cavity, and it was a deep one.
That was why the spear was causing it so much pain.
No wonder it had agreed to He Lingchuan’s terms without hesitation.
Missing out on a meal was nothing compared to the agony of a toothache.
Still, stepping into such a monstrous mouth to pull out a tooth required a lot of courage.
He Lingchuan rubbed his hands together, then gently stepped onto the crocodile’s lower jaw.
The crocodile seemed to sense his unease and even tried to comfort him. “Don’t worry, I never eat dentists.” Crocodiles often associated with birds, which would pick at the rotting flesh between their teeth, helping to keep their mouths clean.
“…” He Lingchuan glanced at the row of sharp teeth hanging above his head and thought, *That’s not very comforting.* The crocodile’s breath was foul, and he was afraid he might pass out from the stench if he stayed any longer.
He had no idea how Wu Shaoyi had endured it.
“Open your mouth wider,” He Lingchuan told it honestly. “You’ll need to bear with it a bit longer.”
He lifted the spear and pushed it further in.
(End of Chapter)