Faced with the peasant's exaggerated reaction, Zhang Yuanqing and his teammates exchanged glances. He said amiably, "Uncle, don't be afraid. We won't hurt you; we just want to ask about a few things."
The farmer turned a deaf ear, only kowtowing non-stop: "Milords, officers, masters, this lowly one is just a cattle herder. I beg of you, please don't take me there..."
Over the next few minutes, no matter what Zhang Yuanqing and the others asked, the farmer maintained an attitude of utter terror, doing nothing but kowtowing and begging for mercy, impossible to communicate with.
Could this NPC require a specific code phrase or slogan to trigger? Zhang Yuanqing and the others fell into thought.
"Hey, uncle!" Brother Red Chicken couldn't take it anymore. Grabbing the peasant by the collar, he hoisted him into midair and cursed, "We're asking you a question! Are you deaf or blind? Keep babbling to yourself and see if I don't burn you to a crisp!"
As he spoke, he raised the edge of his hand. With a hiss, vivid flames leaped from his hand, radiating scorching heat.
"The Mohist Sect is in those mountains! Legend says as long as you cross the dense forest ahead and reach the end, you can see the Mohist Sect where the immortals live!" Pointing at the distant mountain range, the peasant quickly spilled everything.
*He confessed just like that...?* Zhang Yuanqing's lips twitched. He had instinctively assumed that getting information in an S-rank dungeon would require methodology and intellect.
Thinking this, he glanced at World Returns to Fire and the others, discovering their micro-expressions were pretty much the same.
"It's right across this forest?" Brother Red Chicken pondered, then turned his head to his teammates behind him and warned, "My sharp senses tell me something isn't right."
"You don't need sharp senses to tell something isn't right." Staring at the peasant with a grim expression, World Returns to Fire asked, "What were you afraid of just now? 'Don't take you there'... What danger lies in the mountains?"
The scorching hand blade served as an excellent deterrent. Trembling with fear, the farmer replied, "The mountains are where immortals live, so of course they are dangerous. This forest is very dangerous too. Ever since I was a child, the elders in the village told us to stay away from it because everyone who went in died inside.
"The immortals of the Mohist Sect don't like being disturbed, so they stationed monsters in the forest to guard it.
"A few years ago, Jin soldiers came here, claiming they wanted to enter the mountains. They captured many villagers to guide them, but none ever returned. After that, more Jin people came one after another, and all of them died in there."
"Jin people..." World Returns to Fire furrowed his brows. "What is the reign title right now?"
The farmer looked utterly blank.
Xiahou Aotian sneered, "Are you out of your mind, asking an illiterate hillbilly for the reign title? Still, since he mentioned the Jin people, it should be the Southern Song dynasty."
Sun Miaomiao chimed in eagerly, "The dungeon introduction mentioned that the Mohist Sect obtained an ancient relic, and whoever gets this treasure shall gain the world. The Jin dispatching troops to the Mohist Sect has an obvious purpose."
Afterward, they inquired in detail about the legends surrounding the forest, as well as the number of Jin soldiers and how many waves entered.
Once they dismissed the peasant, the group conferred in low voices.
"The Jin soldiers came three times and were wiped out each time, but they didn't necessarily die in the forest—they could have died in Mechanist City," World Returns to Fire began. "We need cannon fodder to head into the forest and step on the landmines so we can figure out what hazards are inside."
As he spoke, he looked toward the three Star Officers.
Only Night Walkers could handle this sort of task.
"No need for all that hassle!" Brother Red Chicken thumped his chest. "I'll just burn this forest down with a fire."
Seeing no objections, Brother Red Chicken immediately raised both hands and condensed a fireball three meters in diameter. The blast of searing air forced everyone to step back.
He sprinted a few paces forward and hurled the fireball with all his might.
*Boom!*
The fireball detonated in the dense forest, sending up blinding flashes of fire and thick smoke, but it quickly died down. The flames failed to catch.
"Setting fire to the mountain won't work," Zhang Yuanqing said. "If it were that simple, the Jin soldiers would have torched these mountains long ago."
Everyone wore calm expressions, not at all surprised that the fireball failed to ignite the forest.
Brother Red Chicken's eyes went wide. "Did all of you already guess that?"
Xiahou Aotian sneered, "Isn't it obvious?"
Brother Red Chicken immediately looked displeased. "Then why didn't you warn me?"
*Because you're a Fire Master...* Zhang Yuanqing pondered a moment. "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth, after all."
Brother Red Chicken finally broke into a smile. "Kid, you sure know how to make a guy feel good."
Xiao Yuan, who had remained silent all this time, finally spoke, her voice cool: "Stop wasting time."
Zhang Yuanqing promptly took out Little Red Riding Hood and shook out two yin corpses: one was a long-haired beauty wearing light-colored jeans and a black T-shirt; the other was an emaciated, chilling middle-aged man.
The former was Commandery Princess Yinyao, while the latter was a Level 4 yin corpse obtained from the Ghost City.
—It was worth mentioning that Commandery Princess Yinyao had a fanny pack tied around her slender waist and a small loudspeaker in her hand.
The moment she appeared, she raised the loudspeaker. "Greetings, heroes of the jianghu. I am Yinyao, Commandery Princess of the Great Ming. Pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you."
"Holy crap!" Brother Red Chicken cried in surprise. "She can talk? Isn't she a yin corpse?"
Commandery Princess Yinyao turned her bizarre, crimson pupils toward Brother Red Chicken. "I have always been able to speak. Last time at Qinfeng Academy, you slandered Yuanshi Tianzun, saying he only picks beautiful yin corpses because of some sick fetish. I haven't even settled scores with you for that yet."
"Ah, well... *lei hou, lei hou*..." Brother Red Chicken froze awkwardly again.
Zhao Chenghuang and Sun Miaomiao were also stunned, wearing expressions of total disbelief. This was the first time they had ever seen a yin corpse with self-awareness.
As Yuanshi Tianzun controlled the Level 4 yin corpse to walk toward the forest ahead, Sun Miaomiao hastily called out, "Wait! Y-You're going to use a Saint-stage yin corpse to scout the way?"
"Any problem with that?" Zhang Yuanqing asked back.
*Are you some prodigal wastrel?!* Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang wore identical expressions.
Zhao Chenghuang said, "Let me scout."
Without waiting for discussion, he produced a heavy bronze box. The lid popped open with a clatter, and a spectral shadow draped in tattered robes emerged behind him.
The ghost raised its hand, and pitch-black threads extended from its fingertips into the bronze box.
A jet-black Soldier Puppet gleaming with metallic luster leaped out of the box. Under the phantom's control, it marched into the forest with stiff, thudding steps.
"The Soldier Puppet has an operating range of three hundred meters. We'll need to advance as we explore," Zhao Chenghuang said.
Taking advantage of everyone's attention being on the Soldier Puppet, Zhang Yuanqing sidled up to Commandery Princess Yinyao and whispered, "Who told you to bring that out?"
"I think it's cute." Commandery Princess Yinyao lifted Zhang Yuanqing's T-shirt and stuffed the loudspeaker against his stomach so the sound would be muffled.
"I think your face is screaming that you're out to stir up trouble," Zhang Yuanqing said in a low, furious whisper. "You didn't think it was cute when you first saw it! You nearly killed me! You should know where it came from."
"Its previous owner used it to record a barrage of filthy curses against me. A few days ago, I threatened to smash it to pieces, so it's very well-behaved now. It's an item that knows which way the wind blows," Commandery Princess Yinyao said.
While they were speaking, Zhao Chenghuang suddenly said in a heavy voice, "My connection to the Soldier Puppet has been severed."
Zhang Yuanqing looked over and saw that the pitch-black thread extending from the phantom's finger had snapped, hanging limply to the ground.
"What's the situation inside?" World Returns to Fire asked hurriedly.
"Treants," Zhao Chenghuang said. "The forest is crawling with treants. They ambushed my Soldier Puppet. Their combat strength is around Level 4, they are numerous, and their attacks are physical."
Xiahou Aotian rubbed his chin and said, "Treants, eh? Treants with high fire resistance, too. The Soldier Puppet lost connection within five minutes. Given the scale of this forest, there's probably one treant every dozen meters or so. If we try to brute-force our way through, crossing the forest would mean facing attacks from hundreds of treants. Even with healing and defensive items, we'd probably suffer casualties.
"Yuanshi, it's your turn to step up."
Now that they had identified the enemy's identity and attack methods, things were simple.
They just had to deploy Yuanshi Tianzun.
Under the watchful eyes of Xiao Yuan and the others, Zhang Yuanqing methodically stripped off his T-shirt and trousers, leaving only a pair of black boxer briefs.
Asano Ryo and Sun Miaomiao gasped, hurriedly averting their gazes.
Guan Ya and Xiao Yuan showed no reaction.
"Hold onto these for me!"
Zhang Yuanqing originally thought of tossing his clothes to Guan Ya, but after a second thought, threw them to Brother Red Chicken instead.
Then, pulling the Azure Emperor Jade Belt from his inventory, he strode into the forest.
*Rustle, rustle...*
Stepping on fallen leaves carpeting the ground, he entered the forest.
The moment he entered, the light dimmed significantly as layered canopies blocked out the sun.
Zhang Yuanqing proceeded cautiously, observing the surrounding plants.
The trees here were thick and towering; even the thinnest required a full arm span to encircle. Their trunks and boughs were pitch-black, their surfaces smooth and oily as if coated with a waterproof, fireproof metallic film.
*These trees must be a special breed. Too bad there's no Wood Monster in the team to educate us...* Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself as he slammed a straight punch into an adjacent tree trunk.
*Snap!* The trunk broke.
"Not a treant..."
He continued forward. After walking for nearly five minutes, he saw a massive tree that would take three people to encircle standing ahead.
At the base of the tree lay the jet-black Soldier Puppet, its heavy body sunk into the soft soil, mostly intact.
It must have been damaged, but the properties of the Living Soil granted it a regenerative ability.
*Come to think of it, Huang Taiji's Living Soil is still with me. That fellow hasn't even asked for it back...* Zhang Yuanqing suddenly remembered.
Approaching the Soldier Puppet, he saw broken bones scattered all over the ground—ribs, leg bones, skulls, and more.
When normal humans died, their skeletons remained intact, but these bones were scattered about, resembling leftovers on a dining table—the flesh devoured, the bones casually discarded.
Besides the bones, he also spotted damaged armor and several rusted sabers.
*These must be the remains left by the Jin soldiers. The fallen leaves show signs of being turned over—did Zhao Chenghuang inspect them?*
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Zhang Yuanqing felt his ankles tighten. Looking down, he saw two tentacle-like root tendrils wrapping around them.
Immediately afterward, rustling sounds arose as several pliable, leafy vines shot out from the layered canopy, binding him tightly.
At the same time, upon the smooth, oily trunk of the massive tree ahead, two deep, dark eyes slit open, along with a gaping maw filled with crisscrossed fangs.
The roots retracted underground while the vines dragged Zhang Yuanqing toward the opening in the trunk.
Zhang Yuanqing instantly activated his Bestialization skill. Coarse, stiff black fur sprouted over his body, his stature shot upward, his head grew large and round, and round ears popped from his crown.
In an instant, he transformed into a two-meter-tall black bear. The vines binding him snapped under the force of his ballooning frame.
"Roar!"
The black bear bared its teeth and roared, saliva dripping down its gleaming white fangs, making the entire forest tremble.
Rearing onto its hind legs, it shoved forward with its forelegs. The seemingly indestructible trunk—impervious to fire and unfazed by lightning—snapped with a crack. The eye-like slits and the fanged maw on the trunk promptly closed.
The black bear then launched a charge through the forest, toppling one giant tree after another.
Before it, the formidable treants were as weak as weeds trampled at will.
Outside the forest, Guan Ya and the others listened to the distant crashing sounds of falling trees and the roars of the black bear, feeling an overwhelming sense of security well up inside them.
"Quite the commotion! Tsk tsk, this Yuanshi Tianzun fellow... When we teamed up in the Sea of Yashan back then, he was the weakest one," Brother Red Chicken marveled. "In just two or three months, he's become stronger than all of us."
*Stronger than all of us...* The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listeners took it to heart.
Guan Ya, who had personally guided Yuanshi Tianzun into the official organization; Xiao Yuan, once a Saint-stage big shot; Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang, who had bullied Yuanshi Tianzun during the tournament; and Xiahou Aotian, who fancied himself the protagonist—all fell silent.
"Huh? Why aren't any of you saying anything?" Brother Red Chicken looked at them.
Nobody answered him.
Commandery Princess Yinyao raised her loudspeaker. "They think you have a foul mouth!"
Brother Red Chicken froze. "Did I say something wrong?"
He said indignantly, "Are you guys regionally discriminating? Looking down on people from Du?"
Still, no one paid him any mind.
Commandery Princess Yinyao brought the loudspeaker to his ear and whispered, "The one they look down on is you."
"..."
At the end of the forest stood a craggy cliff, set with a three-meter-tall stone door.
Carved onto the stone door was an Eight Trigrams bas-relief, with raised characters like Qian, Kun, Zhen, Kan, and Li.
Zhang Yuanqing sat slumped on the ground, his face deathly pale, and said, "This door won't open. It probably needs a specific key. My task is complete; I'll leave the rest to you guys."
The agony of torn muscles, broken bones, and severed tendons following the bestialization continued to torment him. Reluctant to spend the Azure Emperor Longevity Technique or Life Source Fluid, and with the self-healing skill of the Mountain God Scepter offering limited relief, he could only tough it out.
Guan Ya had likely wanted to show off their affection in front of Xiao Yuan. When she had first come over and seen Zhang Yuanqing in such a wretched state, she had rushed to pound his legs and knead his shoulders, almost pounding him straight into the afterlife on the spot.
After Zhang Yuanqing tearfully cursed her to "piss off," she had gotten angry and ignored him.
Now, she stood before the door, studying the stone gate alongside Sun Miaomiao and the others.
"The trick to opening the door should lie in the Eight Trigrams diagram. If I remember correctly, this is a Scholar's forte," Guan Ya said.
Sun Miaomiao turned her head. "Xiahou Aotian, over to you. Mohist mechanism arts should belong to an organization mainly composed of Scholars."
Xiahou Aotian knitted his brows tightly. "It is indeed a Scholar's domain, but this thing is like an electronic lock. I'm a locksmith, but I can only dismantle locks. Cracking an electronic lock's password and picking a lock are two entirely different things."
"So you just can't do it." Brother Red Chicken still hadn't learned his lesson, as outspoken as ever.
Right then, Xiahou Aotian suddenly lowered his head, intently staring at the black iron thumb ring on his thumb as if listening to some voice.
A few seconds later, he puffed out his chest, head held high, and said proudly, "Who said I can't do it? The Eight Trigrams diagram on the door is actually an Eight Trigrams Door-Sealing Formation handed down from the pre-Qin era. You just have to channel spiritual power along the correct path to unlock it. Simple!"
With that, he pressed a flurry of raised characters before finally pressing the Taiji fish at the center.
With a deep rumble, the stone door shuddered and slowly slid open to one side.
Behind the stone door was not a dark, gloomy cavern interior, but a passageway flickering with candlelight.
The passageway bore obvious marks of excavation, clearly not formed naturally, and its smooth walls were stained with dark red blood.
At the entrance of the passageway, human bones carpeted the ground.
Chapter 531