"Who is directing them? How come they're heading towards the Blazing Blood Door?" A flash of confusion pass through the black-armored flood dragon's golden eyes as it lay there. "Do they have some sort of map that let them know about the Blazing Blood Door's location?"
"Hmph." A huge black-armored flying creature sneered then spoke in a sharp voice, "You're overthinking it. Did you see their combat power? If they truly knew about the existence of the Blazing Blood Door, they would have been sure to take an alternate route. Back when we were still stage four World Deities, none of us would have dared to take the risk of approaching the Blazing Blood Door even though we knew of its existence inside of the Lake Heart Island. If they did come to take that risk, I don't think even one would be able to keep their little life. Well, even if they don't go there and are instead just passing by, they'll still have a hard time staying alive."
"The Blazing Blood Door…"
"What a terrifying place. Even with the door itself being closed, it's still incredibly dangerous. Once it opens, it will be nothing short of a nightmare." Those black-armored lifeforms were all sighing. There was not one among them who would dared pass through the Blazing Blood Door, knowing their own abilities.
"What do we do, then? If the four of them are to die there and spread the word that this region is very dangerous, I don't think another cultivator would pass through for a very long time to come. We'd have to go back to sleeping."
"Mn."
These black-armored lifeforms were feeling troubled.
Their responsibility was such that, as long as Xue Ying's group did not approach the more important regions, they would not have to act. Before that happened, however, they wished to allow the four to move around freely for a time, perhaps even letting them acquire some treasures if they were lucky enough! That would be even better. By doing so, they would hopefully see more invaders entering their region.
Even then, they could not go as far as to just send treasures out themselves, since that would be considered a breach of duty. Such a thing would turn them to ashes immediately.
"Let's go after them and force them to go in a different direction."
"Yeah. We can make them go in other directions. There's a fork in the road about fifteen million kilometers ahead. Let's force them off-course over there."
"As long as they change directions there, they won't be able to approach the Blazing Blood Door."
These black-armored lifeforms made their decisions.
...
Xue Ying's group was flying at a rapid pace of about 300,000 kilometers per second. In but a moment, they had already traversed a few million kilometers.
Hong long long~ A fierce and cruel battle was underway. Xue Ying and the others were now in the middle of their most dangerous battle since they entered the cavern. A terrifying, tall, and sturdy warrior in black-armored had stepped up to deal with them. His combat power was incredible, and he would most likely match up even to powerful existences! Xue Ying and the others were having a hard time resisting his assault.
Pu. King Fu Qiong was even force to vomit blood. At the same time, an enormous array appeared in his surroundings, followed by many black rulers which went out to attack the black-armored warrior.
In response, the sturdy warrior brandished his great axe. His every movement accompanied by a frightening destructive energy that could shatter anything in its path. Even in Lake Heart Island, where the laws were extremely suppressive, his strikes powerful enough to turn the surrounding space into void.
"Let's run. How about going through a different passage?" Monarch Armadillo Jade sent to the others. "This is too taxing. We're very close to being unable to hold on. On top of that, this black-armored creature is only blocking our path, as if he's protecting this specific passage."
"We've got to keep following this passage," Jing Qiu replied.
"Right. We must go this way," Xue Ying added. If they were to change directions, they would find themselves going in the opposite direct of the hidden True God weapon.
King Fu Qiong stepped in as well with a comment, "This black-armored monster is blocking this path. Is he trying to force us onto the other path? Who knows, he might be leading us into a trap."
"That might be," Monarch Armadillo Jade agreed.
One party had a single, very powerful member, while the other was made up of four people working together. Xue Ying displayed one his three most powerful secret skills, a domain-related secret skill he simply called Prison. Jing Qiu and King Fu Qiong were both striking using their blood-refined Deity warriors and Monarch Armadillo Jade's combat power was the most profound of all four. He would always act at the most crucial moment, allowing the group to coordinate perfectly.
After another moment of fighting, Xue Ying and the others broke free of the warrior and continued down the path.
That tall, sturdy warrior wearing black armor stopped chasing after them, putting on a cold expression as he watched them leave into the distance. Frowning, he muttered, "They're dead-set on to taking that path. I even tried helping them, tried to give them a chance to live a bit longer, but they still decided to rush down this path. Whatever, we're not allowed to truly teach them, after all. If they seek death, let them find it."
His words were reverberating throughout the surrounding area that was, however, isolated from all scouting techniques. Xue Ying and the others had not heard a word of it.
They still had their duty, and they did not dare disobey it. While selfish by nature, they had little room to wiggle within the scope of their assigned duty.
******
Hu. Hu.
Further down the passage, Xue Ying and the others were taking some time to rest .
King Fu Qiong and Jing Qiu were slightly more injured than the rest. Monarch Armadillo Jade was the most slippery and cunning of the group, and he actually seemed completely uninjured. Xue Ying's luminous sun force provided him with great power and speed which served to improve his might in close-combat, so the damage he had accrued was slightly lighter as well. Meanwhile, neither Jing Qiu nor King Fu Qiong specialized in close-quarters combat. Their specialty lay more in the usage of array diagrams.
"Fortunately, the black-armored creatures seem to be responsible for only a region each. If they were to act together, we might have been dead by now," Monarch Armadillo Jade muttered. "That creature from before was simply too strong. We've only managed to barely resist it by teaming up."
"Mn." Xue Ying had also taken on a more solemn mood. "Fortunately we had Monarch Armadillo Jade to aid us. With just the three of us, we might very well have died to that beast."
Indeed, Monarch Armadillo Jade's combat power was the highest of their group.
His confidence that allowed him to only step in during the most crucial moment of battle, as well as his combat power left Xue Ying with a good impression. Indeed, this was an expert close to a powerful existence in power, comparable to his Eldest Disciple Brother, Hui Ming. These were not empty words.
"I've merely lived a humble life for many years now." Monarch Armadillo Jade caressed his chin, feeling quite pleased.
"Let's go. We have to move further down this path," King Fu Qiong said. "Staying too long in one place might just invite unneeded dangers."
"Mn, let's continue."
Xue Ying nodded too.
The four proceeded further inward with ginger steps. The road ahead seemed safer at a glance, showing nothing more than the occasional sneak attack from a black-armored creature, but their combat power was still sufficient to resist these ambushes. It was, after all, quite rare for creatures to reach a levle comparable to powerful existences.
Gegege~ A black-armored bird's screech began spreading through the corridor, followed immediately by the bird's division into more than a thousand bodies which attacked everyone in Xue Ying's group simultaneously.
The four continued progressing down the path while blocking any incoming attacks.
Their superior coordination allowed them to resist these birds quite well.
"Mn? Be careful ahead!" Monarch Armadillo Jade suddenly transmitted a message.
Xue Ying was also paying close attention to the path ahead of them. Somewhere in front of them seemed to be a large by empty cavernous region in the mountain. Inside of this enormous region he could vaguely see a blood-red disk. With how powerful the eyes of Xue Ying and the others were, they could still see the path ahead quite clearly in spite of their vision being blocked. The disk seemed to cover an area of roughly 500,000 kilometers in total, it was red in color, and there were various patterns of blades and swords engraved on its surface.
"Is that a door?" Xue Ying didn't know what to make of it.
The huge disk looked a lot like a circular door placed right on the floor. It even had a vertical mark left right at its center, seemingly placed there to allow people to push it open.
"A door placed flat on the floor?" Xue Ying quickly noticed the blade and sword patterns on the disk, as well as various blood-vein patterns, and it was not long before he detected an endless killing intent and a bloody aura coming off of it. Every last member of this group was an expert, and they could naturally feel the unseen threat coming exuded by the disk! It was much more terrifying than the black-armored creature they had previously met.
Hua.
Xue Ying's group was traveling at great speeds, so it was not long before they arrived at the empty region. At that point, the black-armored bird previously chasing them suddenly stopped. It simply cawed at them from afar, seemingly in no rush to act.
"Everyone be careful. We need to pay attention to the ice sculptures," Monarch Armadillo Jade transmitted to the others.
Xue Ying had also noticed two rows of ice sculptures on two separate sides of this region. There was a great number of creatures similar to the ones from before—roughly one hundred of them.
"These can't also be some creatures, right?" Jing Qiu sent to Xue Ying. "There are, after all, many creatures here which take the form of ice sculptures."
"There's no need to be so scared. It might be true that many creatures spawn from ice sculptures, but that doesn't mean that every sculpture we come across will just turn into a creature." In spite of his words, a feeling of light numbness spread through Xue Ying's heart. Even one of those black-armored creatures was hard to deal with, so to see two neat rows formed from more than a hundred ice sculptures… If every last sculpture was to awaken and become a creature, how could the four of them ever hope to deal with them?
"That disk is emitting an aura of blood, as well as a pressure many times more terrifying than any of those three ancestors from your Bloodshed God Palace can put out," Monarch Armadillo Jade's eyes carefully observing his surroundings as he sent a message to his companions. "Everyone make sure not to alarm the rest. Let's step lightly and pry open the disk and then move out to rapidly cross this region. It's best not to touch anything else."
"Mn." Xue Ying, Jing Qiu and King Fu Qiong all agreed; they could feel the invisible pressure.
"Go" Monarch Armadillo Jade immediately ordered..
The four turned into four different streams of light as they tried to fly over from the side without even daring to touch the ground.
However, just as they were flying along—
Those hundred different ice sculptures forming two neat rows, saw the ice on their surface shatter to reveal many that were eyes already open. It was clear that they had all awakened in order to deal with the four people who were making their way over..
"Who is directing them? How come they're heading towards the Blazing Blood Door?" A flash of confusion pass through the black-armored flood dragon's golden eyes as it lay there. "Do they have some sort of map that let them know about the Blazing Blood Door's location?"
"Hmph." A huge black-armored flying creature sneered then spoke in a sharp voice, "You're overthinking it. Did you see their combat power? If they truly knew about the existence of the Blazing Blood Door, they would have been sure to take an alternate route. Back when we were still stage four World Deities, none of us would have dared to take the risk of approaching the Blazing Blood Door even though we knew of its existence inside of the Lake Heart Island. If they did come to take that risk, I don't think even one would be able to keep their little life. Well, even if they don't go there and are instead just passing by, they'll still have a hard time staying alive."
"The Blazing Blood Door…"
"What a terrifying place. Even with the door itself being closed, it's still incredibly dangerous. Once it opens, it will be nothing short of a nightmare." Those black-armored lifeforms were all sighing. There was not one among them who would dared pass through the Blazing Blood Door, knowing their own abilities.
"What do we do, then? If the four of them are to die there and spread the word that this region is very dangerous, I don't think another cultivator would pass through for a very long time to come. We'd have to go back to sleeping."
"Mn."
These black-armored lifeforms were feeling troubled.
Their responsibility was such that, as long as Xue Ying's group did not approach the more important regions, they would not have to act. Before that happened, however, they wished to allow the four to move around freely for a time, perhaps even letting them acquire some treasures if they were lucky enough! That would be even better. By doing so, they would hopefully see more invaders entering their region.
Even then, they could not go as far as to just send treasures out themselves, since that would be considered a breach of duty. Such a thing would turn them to ashes immediately.
"Let's go after them and force them to go in a different direction."
"Yeah. We can make them go in other directions. There's a fork in the road about fifteen million kilometers ahead. Let's force them off-course over there."
"As long as they change directions there, they won't be able to approach the Blazing Blood Door."
These black-armored lifeforms made their decisions.
...
Xue Ying's group was flying at a rapid pace of about 300,000 kilometers per second. In but a moment, they had already traversed a few million kilometers.
Hong long long~ A fierce and cruel battle was underway. Xue Ying and the others were now in the middle of their most dangerous battle since they entered the cavern. A terrifying, tall, and sturdy warrior in black-armored had stepped up to deal with them. His combat power was incredible, and he would most likely match up even to powerful existences! Xue Ying and the others were having a hard time resisting his assault.
Pu. King Fu Qiong was even force to vomit blood. At the same time, an enormous array appeared in his surroundings, followed by many black rulers which went out to attack the black-armored warrior.
In response, the sturdy warrior brandished his great axe. His every movement accompanied by a frightening destructive energy that could shatter anything in its path. Even in Lake Heart Island, where the laws were extremely suppressive, his strikes powerful enough to turn the surrounding space into void.
"Let's run. How about going through a different passage?" Monarch Armadillo Jade sent to the others. "This is too taxing. We're very close to being unable to hold on. On top of that, this black-armored creature is only blocking our path, as if he's protecting this specific passage."
"We've got to keep following this passage," Jing Qiu replied.
"Right. We must go this way," Xue Ying added. If they were to change directions, they would find themselves going in the opposite direct of the hidden True God weapon.
King Fu Qiong stepped in as well with a comment, "This black-armored monster is blocking this path. Is he trying to force us onto the other path? Who knows, he might be leading us into a trap."
"That might be," Monarch Armadillo Jade agreed.
One party had a single, very powerful member, while the other was made up of four people working together. Xue Ying displayed one his three most powerful secret skills, a domain-related secret skill he simply called Prison. Jing Qiu and King Fu Qiong were both striking using their blood-refined Deity warriors and Monarch Armadillo Jade's combat power was the most profound of all four. He would always act at the most crucial moment, allowing the group to coordinate perfectly.
After another moment of fighting, Xue Ying and the others broke free of the warrior and continued down the path.
That tall, sturdy warrior wearing black armor stopped chasing after them, putting on a cold expression as he watched them leave into the distance. Frowning, he muttered, "They're dead-set on to taking that path. I even tried helping them, tried to give them a chance to live a bit longer, but they still decided to rush down this path. Whatever, we're not allowed to truly teach them, after all. If they seek death, let them find it."
His words were reverberating throughout the surrounding area that was, however, isolated from all scouting techniques. Xue Ying and the others had not heard a word of it.
They still had their duty, and they did not dare disobey it. While selfish by nature, they had little room to wiggle within the scope of their assigned duty.
******
Hu. Hu.
Further down the passage, Xue Ying and the others were taking some time to rest .
King Fu Qiong and Jing Qiu were slightly more injured than the rest. Monarch Armadillo Jade was the most slippery and cunning of the group, and he actually seemed completely uninjured. Xue Ying's luminous sun force provided him with great power and speed which served to improve his might in close-combat, so the damage he had accrued was slightly lighter as well. Meanwhile, neither Jing Qiu nor King Fu Qiong specialized in close-quarters combat. Their specialty lay more in the usage of array diagrams.
"Fortunately, the black-armored creatures seem to be responsible for only a region each. If they were to act together, we might have been dead by now," Monarch Armadillo Jade muttered. "That creature from before was simply too strong. We've only managed to barely resist it by teaming up."
"Mn." Xue Ying had also taken on a more solemn mood. "Fortunately we had Monarch Armadillo Jade to aid us. With just the three of us, we might very well have died to that beast."
Indeed, Monarch Armadillo Jade's combat power was the highest of their group.
His confidence that allowed him to only step in during the most crucial moment of battle, as well as his combat power left Xue Ying with a good impression. Indeed, this was an expert close to a powerful existence in power, comparable to his Eldest Disciple Brother, Hui Ming. These were not empty words.
"I've merely lived a humble life for many years now." Monarch Armadillo Jade caressed his chin, feeling quite pleased.
"Let's go. We have to move further down this path," King Fu Qiong said. "Staying too long in one place might just invite unneeded dangers."
"Mn, let's continue."
Xue Ying nodded too.
The four proceeded further inward with ginger steps. The road ahead seemed safer at a glance, showing nothing more than the occasional sneak attack from a black-armored creature, but their combat power was still sufficient to resist these ambushes. It was, after all, quite rare for creatures to reach a levle comparable to powerful existences.
Gegege~ A black-armored bird's screech began spreading through the corridor, followed immediately by the bird's division into more than a thousand bodies which attacked everyone in Xue Ying's group simultaneously.
The four continued progressing down the path while blocking any incoming attacks.
Their superior coordination allowed them to resist these birds quite well.
"Mn? Be careful ahead!" Monarch Armadillo Jade suddenly transmitted a message.
Xue Ying was also paying close attention to the path ahead of them. Somewhere in front of them seemed to be a large by empty cavernous region in the mountain. Inside of this enormous region he could vaguely see a blood-red disk. With how powerful the eyes of Xue Ying and the others were, they could still see the path ahead quite clearly in spite of their vision being blocked. The disk seemed to cover an area of roughly 500,000 kilometers in total, it was red in color, and there were various patterns of blades and swords engraved on its surface.
"Is that a door?" Xue Ying didn't know what to make of it.
The huge disk looked a lot like a circular door placed right on the floor. It even had a vertical mark left right at its center, seemingly placed there to allow people to push it open.
"A door placed flat on the floor?" Xue Ying quickly noticed the blade and sword patterns on the disk, as well as various blood-vein patterns, and it was not long before he detected an endless killing intent and a bloody aura coming off of it. Every last member of this group was an expert, and they could naturally feel the unseen threat coming exuded by the disk! It was much more terrifying than the black-armored creature they had previously met.
Hua.
Xue Ying's group was traveling at great speeds, so it was not long before they arrived at the empty region. At that point, the black-armored bird previously chasing them suddenly stopped. It simply cawed at them from afar, seemingly in no rush to act.
"Everyone be careful. We need to pay attention to the ice sculptures," Monarch Armadillo Jade transmitted to the others.
Xue Ying had also noticed two rows of ice sculptures on two separate sides of this region. There was a great number of creatures similar to the ones from before—roughly one hundred of them.
"These can't also be some creatures, right?" Jing Qiu sent to Xue Ying. "There are, after all, many creatures here which take the form of ice sculptures."
"There's no need to be so scared. It might be true that many creatures spawn from ice sculptures, but that doesn't mean that every sculpture we come across will just turn into a creature." In spite of his words, a feeling of light numbness spread through Xue Ying's heart. Even one of those black-armored creatures was hard to deal with, so to see two neat rows formed from more than a hundred ice sculptures… If every last sculpture was to awaken and become a creature, how could the four of them ever hope to deal with them?
"That disk is emitting an aura of blood, as well as a pressure many times more terrifying than any of those three ancestors from your Bloodshed God Palace can put out," Monarch Armadillo Jade's eyes carefully observing his surroundings as he sent a message to his companions. "Everyone make sure not to alarm the rest. Let's step lightly and pry open the disk and then move out to rapidly cross this region. It's best not to touch anything else."
"Mn." Xue Ying, Jing Qiu and King Fu Qiong all agreed; they could feel the invisible pressure.
"Go" Monarch Armadillo Jade immediately ordered..
The four turned into four different streams of light as they tried to fly over from the side without even daring to touch the ground.
However, just as they were flying along—
Those hundred different ice sculptures forming two neat rows, saw the ice on their surface shatter to reveal many that were eyes already open. It was clear that they had all awakened in order to deal with the four people who were making their way over..
