Zhang Yuanqing and the others arrived at the edge of the pool. The water was crystal clear yet bottomless, resembling a blue-black full moon embedded within the cavern. Brother Red Chicken lightly kicked a rotting waterwheel and looked around.
"What's the problem here?
"By the way, it should be mealtime right about now. Wonder if there are fish in the pool? Want me to go down and check? Maybe we could have some fresh sashimi. Mmm, delicious!"
*Please don't let there be any fish. If we finish lunch, afternoon tea won't be far behind. What if this guy wants afternoon tea halfway through fighting a boss?* Zhang Yuanqing complained inwardly.
Guan Ya remarked, "Not a single hidden passage or mechanism can be found in the entire cave. This pool is the only possibility."
Zhang Yuanqing nodded in realization. "You mean the entrance to the next stage is at the bottom of the pool?"
Guan Ya ignored him.
Commandery Princess Yinyao had a sudden thought. "The entrance is at the bottom of the pool."
Guan Ya gave a lovely smile and praised, "So smart."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Brother Red Chicken produced a coat tanned from fish skin and threw it over his shoulders. "Let's dive in. I have a Water Ghost item now too. Cost me five million!"
He said this aimed at Xiahou Aotian and Yuanshi Tianzun. Back in the Sea of Yashan, he had to borrow diving gear from Yin Ji.
"I'll send a yin corpse down first to scout the way." Zhao Chenghuang took out a bronze box. The lid popped open, and a water-attribute yin corpse leapt out, plunging headfirst into the pool.
White foam and froth churned as ripples disturbed the tranquil water. Like an agile fish, the yin corpse swung its body and darted toward the bottom.
Zhao Chenghuang closed his eyes, controlling the yin corpse with full concentration.
Zhang Yuanqing looked toward Sun Miaomiao. "Speaking of which, I haven't seen you use a yin corpse once this whole way. Didn't bring one?"
"Didn't bring one!" Sun Miaomiao replied definitively.
Zhang Yuanqing wore a look of utter shock. "I'm flattered that you have so much faith in me, but isn't that being a bit too reckless?"
Sun Miaomiao rolled her eyes at him on the spot. "My talent for controlling corpses is only average, but my compatibility with spirit servants is very high, so I specialize in training spirit servants."
Her eyes were large and round. What made them rare was that they were neither seductive nor coquettish, but filled with a childlike brightness and spirit. Even when rolling her eyes, she looked rather cute.
"Oh, I see." Zhang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I won't worry about you anymore."
Sun Miaomiao huffed in irritation. "What right do you have not to worry about me?!"
"Why should he look after you?"
More than one person spoke. Xiao Yuan and Guan Ya retorted in eerie sync.
Sun Miaomiao choked on her words. Giving a soft snort, she turned her gaze toward the pool.
In reality, she was an obedient girl who never got into arguments. If this were the internet, she would have already unleashed heavy strikes, using a single keyboard to show both women what a true master looked like.
Commandery Princess Yinyao folded up her mini megaphone, slipped it into her pocket, tugged at the hem of Zhang Yuanqing's clothes, and jerked her head, signaling for him to step aside for a private chat.
Zhang Yuanqing followed her to the side. Using the exclusive communication method of Night Walkers, Commandery Princess Yinyao whispered:
"The Elvis speaker recorded all the evidence of their guilt. With this leverage, you can command and control them. That was how my royal father controlled his faction back then."
She paused, then added, "This tactic works equally well on imperial concubines."
*Cyberbullying a grandfather, cursing a mother, slipping contraceptive pills to a father... how does any of that count as leverage?* Zhang Yuanqing said in a low voice, "Keep it safe. Just watch how I keep them under my thumb in the future."
As he spoke, he glanced at his teammates, gaining a deeper and clearer understanding of these friends.
Zhang Yuanqing was quite satisfied with this confession. Aside from Brother Red Chicken, who had run with the underworld and done plenty of bad things, everyone else was alright.
Even Brother Red Chicken had gradually stopped touching underworld business in recent years.
"Loansharking barely makes any money and leaves such a mess behind. If my granddad tosses a few projects my way, it's enough to hit a couple of hundred-million targets, and all of it is clean money."
That was what Brother Red Chicken had said.
Next was World Returns to Fire. His problem was somewhat serious; in the eyes of Heavenly King Demonic Eye, a disgrace to Fire Masters like him deserved to commit seppuku to apologize.
However, World Returns to Fire was different from Sun Miaomiao and the others. He came from a commoner background. To get ahead in life, dragging himself through the mud was inevitable.
As a high-ranking, powerful Saint, the bribes he took and paid amounted to just a few million—not even enough to buy a decent house in Songhai, at best used to improve his quality of life. Thus, Zhang Yuanqing thought it was tolerable.
Commandery Princess Yinyao's red pupils brightened. "So I can keep the speaker?"
"Sure!" Zhang Yuanqing whispered. "But both you and it must stay within my sight. You cannot carry it out of my sight."
Commandery Princess Yinyao nodded happily, then narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"You're suddenly being kind to me... We had a deal, don't expect me to warm your bed."
*You wouldn't have a chance anyway, because you're stone cold.* Zhang Yuanqing didn't waste more words on her and walked back to the edge of the pool.
Just then, Zhao Chenghuang opened his eyes and said:
"There's a passageway at the bottom of the water. The passage has no danger and connects to another pool. Outside that pool is a cavern containing a strange metal machine.
"By the edge of the pool stand two stone tablets. One reads 'Against Fate' and 'Against Music', and the other reads 'Serve the Country with Utmost Loyalty'."
Xiahou Aotian stroked his chin. "'Against Fate' means not believing in destiny—my fate is mine, not heaven's."
Brother Red Chicken had a rare flash of wit. "Then does 'Against Music' mean not believing in music?"
"Obviously not. Could you read a book sometime?" Xiahou Aotian sneered with disdain. "Music is merely the surface. The 'music' in 'Against Music' refers to the system of rites and music. The ritual music system was tedious and extravagant, wasting the people's labor and wealth, which clashed directly with the Mohist doctrines of Frugal Expenditures and Frugal Burials. That is why they advocated resisting the system of rites and music."
"Then what does 'Serve the Country with Utmost Loyalty' mean?" Brother Red Chicken countered, unconvinced.
Xiahou Aotian pondered. "Perhaps 'Beacon smoke rises as I gaze north over the land; dragons whirl, horses neigh, sword aura cold as frost'? But there's no such thing in Mohist ideology. Could it be..."
"..."
"All right, shut up!" As the guild master, Zhang Yuanqing timely cut through the pointless chatter. "Zhao Chenghuang, use your yin corpse to test it and see what kind of danger we'll run into."
Zhao Chenghuang gave a slight nod and closed his eyes again.
Half a minute later, he snapped his eyes open, his tone grave. "I've lost connection with the yin corpse."
Zhang Yuanqing knew that for a Night Walker, this meant the yin corpse had been destroyed. He hastily asked, "What did it encounter?"
Zhao Chenghuang's expression grew somewhat strange. "I only saw that machine rotate, and then my astral projection was forced back. I don't even know what happened."
*This...* Zhang Yuanqing also grew solemn. An unknown danger was the most terrifying kind.
Without knowing what it was, you couldn't mount any targeted defense. When the danger struck, you would die without even knowing how.
Guan Ya, Xiao Yuan, and the others understood this principle as well, so their expressions turned serious. Only Brother Red Chicken remained entirely fearless, his fighting spirit blazing.
"Won't we know if we just go down and take a look? Blindly guessing up here won't do any good."
Truth be told, sometimes the words of someone without a brain were surprisingly hard to refute.
Still, Zhao Chenghuang felt they should play it safe. Gritting his teeth, he said:
"I'll try one more time..."
With that, another yin corpse leapt out of the bronze storage box and dived into the pool.
Amidst dense swirling white bubbles, the yin corpse paddled its limbs somewhat clumsily, diving toward the bottom of the pool.
As everyone waited in silence, the eyes-closed Zhao Chenghuang suddenly spoke:
"I see the previous yin corpse. It was decapitated and completely destroyed."
Guan Ya said immediately, "Check the surroundings for hidden blade mechanisms. See if any knife marks or sword slashes were left at the spot where the yin corpse 'died'."
Sword slashes and blade marks worked like ballistics; one could deduce the incoming angle of attack to pinpoint the mechanism's location.
"None..." Zhao Chenghuang frowned.
"Have the yin corpse move closer. Pay close attention this time and see clearly what the threat is," World Returns to Fire instructed.
Xiao Yuan and Asano Ryo remained silent, watching intently.
Due to their professions and nationalities, the two felt somewhat out of place in this small group, so they had stayed quiet the entire journey.
Keeping his eyes closed, Zhao Chenghuang murmured an acknowledgment.
Ten-odd seconds later, he snapped his eyes open, his lips twitching slightly. "The connection broke again. I still didn't see where the danger came from, but I noticed a detail."
"What detail?" Zhang Yuanqing asked on behalf of everyone.
"The text on the metal machine seemed to change..."
"What text?"
Zhao Chenghuang's lips twitched again. "Ancient script. I couldn't read it."
Everyone turned to Xiahou Aotian, who planted his hands on his hips and lifted his chin. "Write it down."
Zhao Chenghuang took a short blade from his inventory and carved a character into the muddy ground by the pool.
Everyone looked utterly blank.
Xiahou Aotian let out an "Oh." "Bell-cauldron script. This character means 'dog'."
"Dog?"
Everyone remained utterly bewildered.
Xiahou Aotian shrugged. "In any case, that's what the character means."
"Enough! Your dawdling is driving me crazy. Down we go!" Seeing that this was all useless information, Brother Red Chicken could no longer hold back and dived straight into the pool.
Zhang Yuanqing thought for a moment and said:
"Let's head down. Guessing blindly here is pointless. Zhao Chenghuang has already lost two yin corpses; sending another as cannon fodder won't yield anything new, just another wasted corpse."
Draping the Yin-Yang Robe over himself, he plunged into the pool, following Brother Red Chicken down into the water.
The others by the pool produced their Water Ghost items one after another and jumped in with successive splashes.
The pool was cold and clear, with many specks of microscopic organisms floating inside. Past five meters deep, light disappeared entirely from the depths.
The guild members swung their waists smoothly, riding the water currents downward, reaching the bottom two to three minutes later.
From a distance, Zhang Yuanqing spotted Brother Red Chicken's figure. The brainless Fire Master was currently squeezing into a pitch-black passage.
He quickly caught up, entering the passage one after the other with Brother Red Chicken. The passage twisted upward and ended within minutes.
*Splash!*
Brother Red Chicken vaulted out of the pool, looking around warily.
Zhang Yuanqing emerged behind him, gave a light push against the pool's rim, and leapt onto dry ground.
Dark red firelight flared up, hissing as it evaporated the moisture clinging to his body. While drying himself, Zhang Yuanqing surveyed the cavern.
The cavern wasn't overly large, roughly twice the size of the caverns for "Frugal Expenditures" and "Clarifying Ghosts".
In the center of the cavern stood a three-meter-tall metal machine. It possessed a heavy, square bronze-cast base measuring one meter in length, width, and height.
Upon the base rested a crescent moon cast in brass, looking like a crescent boat floating on water.
Between the two pointed tips of the crescent hovered a brass sphere the size of a soccer ball. It was made of small square blocks, much like a Rubik's cube.
Every single block of the cube was stamped with twisted bell-cauldron script.
*Splash! Splash!*
Sounds of emerging from the water rang out in succession as Guan Ya, Xiao Yuan, and the others leapt out of the pool one by one.
World Returns to Fire pressed his hands onto Xiahou Aotian's and Zhao Chenghuang's shoulders, using his superb pyrokinesis to vaporize their moisture while taking in the cavern's layout.
"Dry this off." Zhang Yuanqing tossed the Yin-Yang Robe to Guan Ya.
"It really does say 'Serve the Country with Utmost Loyalty'!" Brother Red Chicken kicked the stone tablet, then pointed toward the distant metal machine. "Does the danger come from that thing?"
The usually quiet Xiao Yuan suddenly chimed in:
"Not necessarily. It could also come from above."
She pointed toward the ceiling.
The group looked up. The cavern's roof was riddled with dark holes the size of water vats.
"Why do you say that?" Sun Miaomiao asked while craning her neck.
"The two corpses died in different locations," Xiao Yuan explained. "The first yin corpse died right beneath one of those holes, while the second yin corpse died right beside the machine."
"Makes sense." Sun Miaomiao nodded.
Guan Ya gave a soft scoff. "Both yin corpses were decapitated by a sharp blade. If the danger came from overhead, sword marks would have been left on the ground, but there are none. Therefore, the danger originates from that metal machine."
Xiao Yuan shot her a glance. "Whatever you say."
Guan Ya offered a hollow smile. "Thanks!"
"Ahem!" Zhang Yuanqing broke up the friction at the right moment. "Zhao Chenghuang, try using your Soldier Puppet. Right now, the most urgent task is figuring out the rules of this cavern—its attack pattern, attack strength, and so on."
Zhao Chenghuang immediately retrieved the bronze box, summoned a spirit servant, and had it control a bronze Soldier Puppet to approach the machine.
Everyone fixed their eyes on the Soldier Puppet, waiting patiently. At moments like this, the advantage of having Night Walkers in the team became evident.
There was always cannon fodder to trigger the traps.
The Soldier Puppet passed the metal machine without hindrance, circled the cavern once, and didn't suffer a single attack.
This outcome left everyone both bewildered and surprised.
"Yin corpses get attacked, but the Soldier Puppet doesn't? What's the difference between the two?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
"The Soldier Puppet is an inanimate object, an item. Although a yin corpse has no life, an undead entity still counts as a living creature." Sun Miaomiao's technical knowledge was solidly grounded.
"What if we store everyone inside Little Red Riding Hood and use telekinesis to toss it across?" Zhang Yuanqing proposed a sudden inspiration.
No sooner said than done.
He immediately brought out Little Red Riding Hood, summoned Yi Chuanmei, and used the spirit servant's telekinesis to fling Little Red Riding Hood forward.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Little Red Riding Hood drifted forward. As it passed the metal machine, a buzzing vibration suddenly resonated from deep within the mechanical weapon.
Accompanying it came the grinding sound of spinning gears and shifting pushrods.
Zhao Chenghuang warned in a low, grim voice, "That's the sound. It's about to attack!"
Chapter 535