At the end of the massive stone passageway was an enormous palace. When they stepped through the passageway, everyone stared in amazement at the sight before them.
An azure sky, a sun and a moon were suspended in front of them! A dazzling palace with glorious splendor stood beneath the sun and the moon.
“It turns out that the records were all true.” There was a fanatical glint in Researcher Qin’s eyes as she spoke. “A sea of mercury and a sun and moon made of pearls!”
Compared to the feverish Researcher Qin, Luo Yunyang was extremely calm as he gazed up at the suspended sun and moon solemnly.
While he had been cultivating the last two diagrams of the Ape-Dragon Blueprint, he had acquired an extraordinary understanding of the powers of the moon and the sun, so the two celestial bodies actually felt very intimate to him.
Luo Yunyang hesitated slightly before he faced the pearl that represented the moon. Then, he followed the Moon-Swallowing Devil Ape Move and greedily swallowed a mouthful.
A pure cold Qi entered Luo Yunyang’s belly along with this mouthful and quickly assimilated into the silver source core within his body.
The silver source core swelled up until it had doubled in size. This absorption was even greater than when Luo Yunyang had cultivated for 10 days.
The attribute of this frigid Qi seemed extremely compatible with his own source core. There simply hadn’t been any need to cultivate, so it had all been assimilated by his source core.
Luo Yunyang faced the pearl that represented the sun once again and sucked in a deep breath without hesitation. The mouthful of pure sun Qi made his source core grow as well.
If he hadn’t gone there to rescue Zhu Yan, he would probably have isolated himself, as this was a really good place for private cultivation.
“Look! What is that?” Although Lu Tiefeng sounded calm, Luo Yunyang could hear some terror in his voice.
When he followed the direction in which Lu Tiefeng was pointing, Luo Yunyang saw several corpses in all sorts of military uniforms.
They were all lying on the ground in different positions, but no traces of injuries could be detected yet.
Although everyone had initially been amazed by the huge palace, the expressions on their faces suddenly changed completely. Fear was written all over the face of each soldier of the eight armies.
“It’s mad Zhao, he… He is actually dead!” someone shouted in disbelief.
“Cousin, say something! Just talk to me already!”
The dead bodies naturally didn’t make a sound. As the soldiers looked at the corpses of their comrades, they all felt very depressed.
“This place is dangerous!” the old man standing next to Researcher Qin said, pointing at the dazzling gold and jade palace. “But I believe that the people we are searching for must probably be inside.”
Researcher Qin nodded. Her eyes swept through the public square several times before she said, “Zulong’s Tomb is full of dangers. Once we enter, we have to be really careful. If we act carelessly, we will all die here. The mission of the Alliance is on our shoulders. We cannot cower. We don’t have much time left after all.”
When she mentioned the time they had left, Researcher Qin had a sorrowful expression on her face. Her words clearly had a deeper meaning.
Lu Tiefeng, Xiong Ben and the rest of the soldiers all turned to look at Luo Yunyang.
Although Luo Yunyang hadn’t given them any orders, they all saw him as their fully qualified, deserving leader.
Luo Yunyang turned to face Researcher Qin. “Do you have any way of detecting a safe path through this public square?”
“Our most advanced instruments aren’t effective here. We can only make speculations based on the ancient human mechanisms that we have discovered.” Researcher Qin looked at Luo Yunyang as she said softly, “Based on the information we have about this public square, I calculated that there are 17 paths that could possibly be safe. However, there is only one among them that is completely safe.”
Dread was evident on a number of soldiers’ faces when they heard Researcher Qin’s words. Although they fought dire beasts every year and many of them lost their lives in the process, it was hard for them to keep their cool after seeing the corpses of their deceased comrades.
“Can’t we take our time and assess the path?” asked Luo Yunyang, who immediately understood the meaning behind Researcher Qin’s words.
“The calculating apparatus can no longer be used here. Even if it worked, I would at most be able to eliminate three paths,” Researcher Qin said in a sorrowful voice. “My abilities are still lacking compared to my father’s.”
17 paths… As it turned out, some people would still have to lose their lives in order to determine which path was the safest. Although this was a way of selecting a path, it was a simpler and way more cruel method.
“Aren’t you good at deduction, kid? How about you calculate which path is the safest right now?” the old man said coldly as he looked at Luo Yunyang.
His words were clearly a form of instigation. Plus, Luo Yunyang could sense some malice in his aggressive manner.
Luo Yunyang had relied on his mind power up until now, but this time things were different. The public square was massive, so his mind power simply had no way of covering the entire area.
“You would never consider not helping, would you?” The old man’s questioning became even more intense.
Luo Yunyang stared at the old man coldly. The man was clearly targeting him.
“Unless I’m wrong, your cultivation base must have already exceeded a second-grade martial master’s, so you must be able to form a source armor!” Luo Yunyang said out loud. “There shouldn’t be much danger that you wouldn’t be able to handle if you scouted out these 17 paths.”
The old man’s expression darkened as he snorted coldly. “Are those the Rising Dragon Army’s ways?”
Researcher Qin put her hands up. “The two of you just stop arguing. I will keep making calculations to see if I can find a proper path.”
All the soldiers turned to look at Researcher Qin solemnly. They knew very well that if the correct path couldn’t be found this way, they would have to sacrifice their lives to find it.
Even though they were very unwilling to do so, they were all crack troops of the eight armies, so they had no other choice in the matter.
They were able to enjoy the privileges the eight armies granted them, but they also had to carry out the duties assigned to them by the eight armies.
As Researcher Qin concentrated on the public square, Luo Yunyang turned his own attention to that particular area.
He immediately raised his Mind Attribute to 150. However, although his mind power was strong and his senses were sharp, he still couldn’t determine which path was the safest.
The area that his mind power was able to cover was just too limited.
However, Luo Yunyang was able to sense a few existing problems in some areas within the 50-meter radius that his mind power enveloped. He also realized that the most troubling issue was the powerful killing intent that the old man gave off.
This place was already fraught with dangers, so having a strong top-notch fighter that harbored killing intent towards him wouldn’t make his mission any easier.
“No, I still can’t make any calculations!” Researcher Qin pushed away the computer in front of her, clearly looking somewhat irritable.
“Don’t blame yourself. Who knows how much wisdom and intellect was used to build Zulong’s Tomb and this large palace. Being able to narrow this down to 17 paths is already good enough.”
As he said all this, the old man glanced gloomily at the corpses lying over at the side. “Your father also paid quite a high price to get in.”
Just as Researcher Qin was about to open her mouth to speak, the old man called out to Luo Yunyang, “Based on what I see, you are not just a mere martial master. You also have reactionary abilities that aren’t the least bit ordinary.”
“Even if you encounter some dangers, I’m sure you will be able to handle them safely. How about this? The two of us will go along Little Qin’s 17 paths and inspect them one at a time! You take eight and I’ll take nine. You can’t think that an old man like me would try to bully you!”
Luo Yunyang felt like every single word that came out of that old fellow’s mouth was a sword striking his vital points. There was no way he could hide or evade, as the plan that the old man had suggested was clearly a wise way to proceed. If Luo Yunyang didn’t agree to it, then he would seem inhumane.
The expressions on Lu Tiefeng and the other soldiers’ faces changed. Now that they knew Luo Yunyang’s identity, they also knew why those big shots thought so highly of him.
The Rising Dragon Army’s instructions were clear. They would have to sacrifice their own lives before they let Luo Yunyang get harmed in any way. If there was any mishap, they wouldn’t be able to bear the consequences.
Just as Lu Tiefeng was about to say something to prevent this, Luo Yunyang replied after hesitating a little, “Sounds good!”
Zhang Hu and the others were very experienced, so when they saw Luo Yunyang’s faint hesitation, they could immediately tell that he wasn’t very confident. He had just been forced into this situation.
The old man chuckled mischievously. “Alright, kid! This will be fun. I am Mu Xinghe from the Sangu Research Center. You better remember that!”
As he spoke, the old man sucked in a breath of air and specks of light started to converge around his body. In a flash, a set of murky yellow source armor had formed on the man’s body.
Judging by the speed at which the old man formed his source armor, he definitely wasn’t just a simple second-grade martial master. He had to be a first-grade martial master or even a top-notch martial master.
Luo Yunyang didn’t say anything as he took a handwritten diagram from Researcher Qin and flipped it open to take a look.
In 15 minutes, Luo Yunyang and the old man had split up and chosen their routes. Then, the two men stepped foot onto the massive public square that led to the huge palace.
Now that all his attribute points were concentrated in his Mind, Luo Yunyang’s mind power allowed him to quickly sense everything within a 50-meter radius of him. However, even though there weren’t any dangers in the next 50 meters, he was still extremely cautious.
What he was about to confront was no ordinary danger after all.
The old man moved just as carefully. Although his body was surrounded by the armor formed by his source power, the old man wasn’t willing to face death yet.
One step, two steps, three steps…
The old man had already moved forward about 30 meters, when he realized that the distance between him and Luo Yunyang was becoming shorter and shorter.
The old man flashed Luo Yunyang a smile as a murky yellow glow started to concentrate around his palms.
He would strike by using his source power. The old man had already resolved to leave Luo Yunyang to rot in this place.
However, just as he was about to attack, Luo Yunyang cried out in alarm and leapt into the air.
The sabre in his hand danced around swiftly as a number of spears shot out at him like arrows from beneath the ground.
The old man smiled slyly. This was the best opportunity to get rid of Luo Yunyang.
“Don’t panic!” the old man shouted. Then, he blasted a fist in Luo Yunyang’s direction. The ball of source energy was like an artillery shell headed for Luo Yunyang.
However, as his source power blasted out, he felt a sense of extreme danger in his heart. The fear he felt made his entire body tremble!
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