"A plan? What plan!" the cool, glamorous female instructor asked hurriedly.
After his masterful discourse on the Spirit Realm instances just now, she no longer looked down on Yuanshi Tianzun. She treated him as a true teammate—one who could voice opinions on vital decisions.
No longer just support.
"You have a way to help me escape?" The resolve in Saint of Fire's eyes turned into sudden ecstasy. Like most Fire Specialists, his mood shifted rapidly. He urged, "Spit it out, hurry!"
"Hurry, tell us!" Jiang Jingwei urged as well.
The sweet, endearing Deacon Yu opened her bright eyes, looking at Yuanshi Tianzun with anticipation.
Seeing everyone's eyes on him, Zhang Yuanqing corrected, "No, not helping you escape—taking down the bronze man."
Hearing this, the Fire Saint said in astonishment, "How can you brag without even blushing? Even when I activated my Rager skill, I couldn't beat it. That thing isn't something a Level 4 Saint can handle."
Houde Zaiwu shook his head slightly, evidently sharing the sentiment.
Yu knitted her brows, looking somewhat disappointed.
Natsuki's Love also felt it was unrealistic, but as a Swordsman, she stared into Yuanshi Tianzun's face and said in a low voice, "I'd like to hear your plan."
Zhang Yuanqing gave a slight nod. "When I rescued Saint of Fire just now, I sensed the aura of a vengeful spirit inside the bronze man. While I don't know the exact crafting method, I believe it isn't a simple puppet, but something refined from a Bewitching Demon."
At first, he had assumed the bronze sculpture fell into the category of an item because it could use skills like Bewitchment and Dense Fog, whereas when a Spirit Realm walker died, all their skills and spiritual power were reclaimed by the Spirit Realm.
Based on this habitual line of thought, he hadn't considered the possibility that the bronze sculpture was refined from an actual Bewitching Demon.
Only after that brief clash just now, when Zhang Yuanqing picked up the aura of a vengeful spirit, did he realize that ancient immortal sects didn't cultivate using character cards.
In that case, the concept of the Spirit Realm reclaiming spiritual power didn't apply; puppets and yin corpses refined from ancient cultivators could cast active skills.
"So?" Saint of Fire asked, bearing with his injuries.
"Since it's not purely an item, I have a way to 'kill' it. But I need you all to breach the bronze sculpture's armor for me," Zhang Yuanqing said.
The Demon-Subduing Pestle's demon-breaking function was the natural bane of such dark entities.
However, the Demon-Subduing Pestle had no armor-piercing function. He had noticed earlier that the Swordsman's short sword could only leave a thin slash mark, showing just how high the bronze sculpture's defense was.
Natsuki's Love pondered for a few seconds, then looked at her companions. "Judging by that brief clash earlier, while the bronze body grants it invulnerable defense, it also limits its mist-form ability. If we join forces, we should be able to breach its defenses.
"He sounds very confident. Then let's give it a try!"
Houde Zaiwu and Yu nodded. As for Saint of Fire, being dead weight at the moment, he had no say in the matter.
And so, the five Saints encircled Saint of Fire and Yu in the center. Yu cast her Self-Healing skill, conscientiously doing what a recovery specialist was supposed to do.
Guan Ya and Natsuki's Love held their breath in concentration, eyes fixed intently on the dense fog.
The thick mist could blind their senses and turn prey trapped within into blind targets, but it could not fool Swordsmen with the Insight skill.
A dozen-odd seconds later, Guan Ya and Natsuki's Love looked toward the right simultaneously.
"Over there!"
The moment the words left their mouths, Jiang Jingwei turned to the right. She conjured a fireball in her palm and hurled it out in imitation of Saint of Fire.
*Boom!*
Shockwaves carrying blazing flames raged outward in all directions, briefly scattering the thick fog.
A dozen-odd meters away, the bronze man stood sword in hand. It had already crept close and was preparing to ambush them.
Yu pulled back her hands from Saint of Fire's chest and pressed them against the ground.
The marble floor tiles beneath the bronze man's feet cracked with a *crack*. Thick vines as thick as arms burst from the ground, twisting and flailing as they bound the bronze man's wrists, ankles, and legs.
*Snap! Snap!*
The vines stretched taut and snapped one after another; the bronze man possessed terrifying, monstrous strength.
Yet more vines broke through the earth, surging forward wave upon wave.
Deacon Houde Zaiwu strode with heavy footsteps, charging toward the bronze man like a juggernaut on a battlefield. His running trajectory carved a semicircle, looping behind the bronze man and locking down its shoulders from behind.
The force of the bronze man's struggles instantly diminished.
"Jingwei!"
The Mountain God grappled with all his might, his face flushed bright red.
"Coming~!"
Jiang Jingwei let out a crisp cry. Her petite body blazed like a torch as raging flames surged upward, her fiery red hair splaying out as she bathed in fire.
Her aura climbed steadily, reaching the pinnacle of Level 4.
The next second, Jiang Jingwei shot forward like a cannonball. As she closed in on the bronze man, she drew her right arm back, clenched her slender fist, and threw a punch wrapped in blazing fire with all her strength.
The bronze man's eyes lit up with crimson, twisted, sinister runes.
*Dong!*
The fist struck the bronze man's chest unwaveringly. A dull, resounding impact echoed through the museum, and a scarlet fireball exploded across the bronze man's body. The searing heat instantly scorched a patch of deep crimson across its chest.
Jiang Jingwei's fist was a bloody mess, her knuckle bones fractured.
She was immune to the bewitchment—Zhang Yuanqing had already given his companions a dose with the Demon-Subduing Pestle beforehand.
"Jingwei, get back!"
Guan Ya raised her hand and drew a rust-covered eight-sided Han sword from the Void.
Zhang Yuanqing recognized the sword—it was Fu Qingyang's sidearm. Who would have thought that after advancing to Dominator, Money Prince would gift his signature divine weapon to his cousin?
*Why didn't he give a few top-tier items to me, his cousin-in-law...* Zhang Yuanqing felt a wave of envy.
Jiang Jingwei threw herself to the side. She heard Guan Ya charging forward and felt a sharp sword qi closing in fast, raising goosebumps on her back.
Bound by the vines and held by Houde Zaiwu, the bronze man was unable to dodge. Its crude, wooden face stared blankly at the oncoming Guan Ya as red light flared in its bronze eyes, revealing twisted runes.
Endowed with the "Steel Will" passive and the purification buff, Guan Ya ignored the bewitchment completely. Riding the momentum of her sprint, she lunged forward with her sword.
The eight-sided Han sword, humming with terrifying sword qi, plunged fiercely into the glowing-red, softened patch on its chest.
*Crack!*
Dense cracks spiderwebbed across the bronze man's chest in an instant.
Bronze was hard but lacked ductility. Under the thrust of the sword, it didn't dent, but fractured like glass.
With the strike landing true, Guan Ya immediately withdrew her sword and retreated.
A dreamlike glimmer of starlight appeared where she had stood, swiftly coalescing into Zhang Yuanqing holding the Demon-Subduing Pestle. Without hesitation, he slammed the Demon-Subduing Pestle into the fracture on the bronze man's chest.
*Pfft!*
The forearm-long bronze pestle sank in right to the hilt. A brilliant wheel of golden light burst forth. Sizzling green smoke rose from the bronze man's body, accompanied by a shrill scream that only a Night Walker could hear.
As the golden light faded, the bronze man fell stiffly to the ground with a resounding crash.
At the sight, everyone present, including Zhang Yuanqing, let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Saint of Fire shouted in praise, "You actually killed it! To think I was rescued by a youngster who just became a Saint. Haha, Yuanshi Tianzun, you're really something! You truly are a genius, nothing like other newly advanced Saints."
*Straightforward Fire Specialists are pretty endearing after all...* Zhang Yuanqing stowed away the Demon-Subduing Pestle. "It was everyone's collective effort."
The cool female instructor and the obedient girl didn't hide their joy. Hearing Saint of Fire's words, Natsuki's Love smiled. "A genius delivers exceptional performance at every stage."
In her heart, she silently apologized for her earlier disdain, having completely changed her view of this celebrity figure.
Deacon Yu, who carried the air of a sweet, good girl, looked at Yuanshi Tianzun with growing curiosity and intrigue.
The steady, solid Houde Zaiwu gave Zhang Yuanqing a slight nod before saying, "The mist will take a while to disperse, but it can no longer bewilder us. Let's head out first. It's time to report our investigation findings to the branch."
Beside them, Jiang Jingwei muttered unhappily, "Darn Yuanshi Tianzun, stealing all my spotlight. I made a huge contribution too!"
However, no one paid attention to the grumbling of a 1.5-meter-tall middle schooler.
Guan Ya squatted beside the bronze man. Peering through the hole punched by the Demon-Subduing Pestle, she saw a charred interior giving off a foul, burnt stench that was utterly revolting.
Yuanshi's guess was right: this was indeed a puppet refined from a Mist Lord.
Judging from the bronze man's combat prowess, that Mist Lord must have been at least at the Divine General level while alive.
The immortal sect that had refined him into a puppet was extraordinarily formidable, definitely overseen by Dominator-level figures. Yet the "demon" in the ancient tomb was sealed, not slain.
If it had been sealed, that meant even an immortal sect that powerful couldn't kill the demon.
Just what kind of terrifying entity was it?
She shared her thoughts with everyone.
Zhang Yuanqing pondered and said, "Ancient cultivators' methods weren't necessarily the same as ours. We can't guess the exact situation right now anyway. Once we notify the Elder, we can explore the ancient tomb together."
The group immediately left the museum and walked out toward the edge of the fog.
On the way, Zhang Yuanqing approached Guan Ya and whispered, "That sword—did Fu Qingyang give it to you, or just lend it to you?"
Guan Ya said, "After advancing to Saint, that lousy gun wasn't useful anymore, so I returned it to the clan. I didn't want to keep their things, lest they start clamoring again for me to do a political marriage. Fu Qingyang saw that I lacked a handy weapon, so he gave me the ancient sword."
*It's so great to have a younger cousin who wins people over with virtue...* Zhang Yuanqing took her soft little hand and said with a smile, "I still prefer how you handle a gun, though the way you swing that blade is quite charming too."
Guan Ya glanced at him and hummed, "The gun I handled was too long and thick; I was afraid of giving you an inferiority complex, so I switched to a sword."
If this were in the office, Zhang Yuanqing would have grabbed her little hand and shoved it right down his pants to let her feel the magnificent proportions of the Zhang family's ancestral cannon.
The group walked out of the dense fog, greeted by the sight of Little Green Tea bounding over happily.
"Brother Yuanshi, you're out!"
Seeing this from inside the car, Queen quickly made a post on the forum:
#Jinhui City dense fog incident resolved; Yuanshi Tianzun led the team out#
Putting down her phone, she pushed open the car door and hurried over to meet them.
Natsuki's Love looked at the subordinates stationed outside and said in a grave voice, "Deacon Yunmeng and the squad she led have fallen in battle. The squad that entered the mist last night has not been found yet. The bronze sculpture has been taken care of and poses no further danger. Quickly organize personnel to search for our lost colleagues, and contact the Public Security Bureau so they can prepare forces for cleanup..."
She methodically arranged the follow-up operations. When she finished, she turned to the three Saints from the Songhai branch and said, "Let's return to the hotel conference room first and wait for the Elder there."
Upon returning to the hotel conference room, Natsuki's Love personally called her supervising Elder. To save time, she highlighted the key points regarding the ancient tomb before hastily ending the call.
About twenty minutes later, while Zhang Yuanqing was browsing the forums, he saw the carpet split open in an empty space of the conference room. Immediately after, a figure condensed of silt and sand "grew" up from the floor.
The sand swiftly transformed into real flesh and blood, turning into a thin-faced, middle-aged man wearing worn hiking clothes.
He looked just like a middle-aged hiker who loved mountain trekking and whose receding hairline was a growing tragedy. His skin was tanned dark from years of sun exposure, and his temperament was steady, unpretentious, gentle, and reserved, carrying none of the intimidating majesty of an Elder.
*Is this the earth escape technique?* Zhang Yuanqing immediately recalled the summaries of various class skills he had read.
"Greetings, Elder!"
Zhang Yuanqing and Guan Ya rose immediately, only to notice that apart from Natsuki's Love stepping up to greet him, the other Deacons remained seated.
Natsuki's Love introduced, "This is Elder Gao Feng, one of the six Elders of our Hang City branch—well, of Jiangnan Province, rather. His Spirit Realm ID is 'Peak Challenger.' Hehe, Elder Gao Feng has a wonderful temper and dislikes messy formalities. He prefers being friends with his subordinates—ideally going mountain hiking together, or having someone treat him to a feast."
*I can see the easygoing temper, but what's with treating him to a feast? Hinting that I should bribe him?* Skilled at socializing, Zhang Yuanqing relaxed immediately and adopted a casual manner. "Elder Gao Feng, please, take a seat, take a seat."
Guan Ya, who hailed from the White Tiger Guards, maintained her deference toward an Elder.
—The White Tiger Guards placed the highest emphasis on hierarchy.
Elder Gao Feng gave him a slightly surprised glance, then smiled with satisfaction. "Yuanshi Tianzun? Not bad. An interesting young man."
He then turned to Natsuki's Love and sighed. "I already know about Yunmeng's sacrifice. The branch has lost an outstanding Deacon, which pains me deeply. The organization will treat her family well.
"Now is not the time for sorrow. I need to know the specific combat power of that bronze sculpture so I can assess the danger level of the ancient tomb."
Natsuki's Love nodded. "The bronze sculpture was refined from the body of a Mist Lord. Its combat prowess is equivalent to a peak Level 5..."
Hearing this, Elder Gao Feng raised a hand and frowned. "A Mist Lord approaching Level 6—how did you all make it back in one piece?"
As a Dominator-level Elder, he immediately detected something amiss. In the dense fog, running into a Mist Lord of that level, the worst-case scenario would be losing half the Deacons, while the best would be everyone returning heavily wounded.
Yet the situation before him was neither. The Deacons were all hale and hearty; only Saint of Fire looked slightly pale, as if he had suffered an injury.
Natsuki's Love looked at Yuanshi Tianzun and smiled. "Thanks to the genius from the Songhai branch. His item countered the puppet."
Upon hearing this, Elder Gao Feng showed a look of understanding and couldn't help looking at Zhang Yuanqing.
He smiled. "The Hang City branch owes you a favor. I will report this to headquarters."
With that, Elder Gao Feng reined in his smile and said gravely, "Except for Saint of Fire, the rest of you come with me to the ancient tomb."
Hearing this, Natsuki's Love, Yu, and Houde Zaiwu stood up and held one another's hands.
Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing and Guan Ya followed suit, holding hands as well.
Once everyone had formed a long chain, Elder Gao Feng placed a hand on Natsuki's Love's shoulder. The next second, Zhang Yuanqing felt his body "collapse," like a figure sculpted from yellow sand.
The scenery of the hotel conference room vanished, replaced by pitch-black darkness.
In the dark, he felt himself moving at high speed, but with no light or sound around him, he could perceive nothing.
*Is this earth escape? It can even carry people along? Being a Dominator is so convenient—it's like having no need for transportation at all...* Thoughts spun through his mind.
In less than half a minute, he felt his body begin to ascend, and then light entered his vision.
The blazing sun shone overhead in a cloudless blue sky. All around was a wasteland, and directly in front was a construction site with piles of earth stacked high, an excavator and a pickup truck parked quietly nearby.
Farther away, cordons were strung up, with numerous uniformed public security officers stationed all around to keep civilians from entering.
*These officers are completely fine, which means there's no immediate danger from the ancient tomb—at least the demon hasn't broken out.* Zhang Yuanqing withdrew his gaze, having made his assessment.
Led by Elder Gao Feng, they approached the "construction site." In a pit behind the earthen mounds, they saw a flight of earthen steps leading downward into a pitch-black cave.
Descending along the earthen steps, they reached an outer chamber of nearly eighty square meters.
The outer chamber's stone door had already been dismantled, taken away to parts unknown.
Zhang Yuanqing deliberately inspected the walls by the stone doorway and found no trace of a "three-vault three-arch" archway structure. It seemed that when the immortal sect built this demon-sealing ground back then, they hadn't bothered to give that demon a dignified design.
The outer chamber was completely empty without any furnishings; it was here that the bronze sculpture had originally been unearthed and transported away.
Following behind Elder Gao Feng, the Deacons crossed the outer chamber and arrived before a three-meter-tall stone door.
This stone door was carved with intricate, exquisite patterns, exuding an indescribable aura.
Elder Gao Feng narrowed his eyes and studied it for a moment, sighing. "This is a seal. The ancient cultivators' application of spiritual power techniques far surpassed ours. They could always develop various means based on their own abilities—well, spells, that is!
"Whereas most of us Spirit Realm walkers can only use class skills."
"Then why can we only use class skills while the ancients knew so much?" Jiang Jingwei asked frankly, never shy about what she didn't know.
"Because they had orthodox lineages!" After giving this explanation, Elder Gao Feng walked to the stone door, raised his hand, and pressed his palm against it.
In the next moment, the majestic three-meter-tall stone door weathered and deteriorated rapidly. Tiny fragments of stone pattered down, and within a dozen-odd seconds, the stone door collapsed with a rumble, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Treading over the shattered stone fragments, the group entered the main chamber.
Light could not penetrate this far, leaving the main chamber pitch-dark.
*Whoosh!*
Jiang Jingwei took the initiative to raise both hands, creating a massive fireball one meter in diameter above her head.
The flames burned brightly, rapidly consuming oxygen while providing heat and light.
Aided by the illumination cast by the fireball, everyone got a clear look at the scene inside the main tomb. It was a spacious, semicircular cavern shaped like an inverted bowl.
In the center of the main chamber stood a trapezoidal stone platform six to seven meters tall, wider at the base and tapering at the top. Atop the platform lay a stone coffin, plastered all over with talismans.
Beneath the stone platform lay a surrounding "moat." The liquid in the moat was a shiny silver, stagnant and unmoving, wafting a metallic stench that set one's teeth on edge.
"Mercury?" Zhang Yuanqing stood at the edge of the two-meter-wide moat, took a sniff, and recognized the liquid's nature.
As a student at a prestigious university, he immediately raised a question: "That shouldn't be possible. Nearly a thousand years have passed from the Song dynasty until now—how hasn't the mercury evaporated?"
Jiang Jingwei, a student at a prestigious Songhai middle school, raised her own question: "What's mercury?"
Naturally, no one paid any attention to her.
At that moment, Natsuki's Love sharply noticed a stone stele standing in the darkness off to the side, where the firelight couldn't reach.
"There's a stele over there!" she said.
The group immediately walked over and stopped before the stone stele. When Jiang Jingwei stepped close, holding high her one-meter-wide fireball, everyone smelled the stench of their own hair scorching.
Elder Gao Feng silently protected what little hair he had left.
"Shoo, shoo, get back!" Zhang Yuanqing chased her aside.
The stone stele stood one meter tall. On the far left were several large characters resembling a title, followed from the second line onward by dense regular script.
By the firelight, Guan Ya made out the inscription on the stele:
"Pure Yang Sect's Demon-Sealing Ground!"
At that moment, Zhang Yuanqing sensed waves of scalding heat emanating from the Demon-Subduing Pestle in his inventory.
Chapter 323