Perhaps there really was no trick. Lin Yun stopped thinking about it and entered the cave. He decided to push it to the back of his mind and merely took note of it. But his suspicion of Chief Leng wouldn’t be removed anytime soon.
The group traveled carefully through the cave and both parties sent out their men who were proficient in spiritual runes to scout the place. Lei Yunzi might not have been a genuine spiritualist, but the means he left behind were troublesome. They could run into danger at any moment, so Master Fu, who had been watching Lin Yun, couldn’t be bothered with Lin Yun anymore.
Master Fu was leading the Bloodwolf Clan’s party, breaking through the arrays carefully. As for the Three-Eagle Stronghold, they could only rely on Leng Xiangyun. She might only be a second grade spiritualist, but she was rapidly growing. Occasionally, when she ran into trouble, she would turn back to look at Lin Yun.
Lin Yun might not be proficient in spiritual arrays, but he had garnered plenty of experiences in the Heavenly Province Academy, especially under Mo Ling’s hellish teaching. At the very least, even Master Fu couldn’t compare to him in terms of spiritual runes. Furthermore, his soul mark, the Firefeather Rune contained a trace of the divine rune’s power. This was something that he would always be better than Master Fu in.
He wasn’t stingy with his teaching, so he would answer Leng Xiangyun whenever she asked him for help. So under Lin Yun’s help, the Three-Eagle Stronghold’s losses were a lot less than the Bloodwolf Clan’s losses. Many times, the Three-Eagle Stronghold would get past the spiritual arrays that the Bloodwolf Clan had trouble in. This caused Bloodwolf to glare at Lin Yun from time to time.
He knew that there was no way Leng Xiangyun’s attainments in spiritual runes were comparable to Master Fu. They were only cooperating for the time being, so if they suffered too many losses along the way, they would be in a disadvantageous position when they got to the treasury. Lin Yun was ruining everything.
“Stop!” Everyone was walking towards a platform and Master Fu’s face changed just when they were about to get close to it. He quickly issued a signal for the Bloodwolf Clan’s party to stop.
“Father, there’s something unusual up ahead. Be careful,” said Leng Xiangyun with her brows locked together.
Leng Xiangyun and Master Fu didn’t sense any spiritual rune fluctuations coming from the platform, but they could sense something unusual about it. But this wasn’t an intersection, so they had to carry on despite the danger.
With that, everyone raised their guards as they approached a long tunnel after going up the platform. But before they could even react, hundreds and thousands of metal beads suddenly fell onto the stage and created explosions.
Along with a lightning rumble, the metal beads exploded and released a dazzling flash. In the next second, countless small blade fragments shot out from the metal bead and flew around. The blade fragments were extremely sharp and had terrifying explosive power, so they sliced off the heads of many greater Yang stage elites.
“Let’s go!” Everyone’s faces changed as they covered themselves with their origin energy and began running. All of them used their weapons to deflect the blade fragments away.
At this critical moment, everyone’s strength was revealed. Bloodwolf and the three Yin-Yang stage experts from the Three-Eagle Stronghold managed well by easily protecting themselves and their men.
As for Lin Yun, he circulated the Azure Dragon Enneaform to cover his skin with lightning runes as he continued forward as if there was nothing. All the blade fragments that shot towards him were deflected by the lightning runes.
The metal bead ordeal came and went very quickly, so it didn’t take long for them to get past the ordeal safely. When they turned back and looked at the mutilated corpses on the ground, they wore grave expressions.
The blade fragments might be sharp, but it wasn’t dangerous for those in the greater Yang stage. It was mainly the rumbling noise and flash that caught many people by surprise.
“There’s something unusual about this brat. He might be a wildcard. It’s best for us to get rid of him as early as possible,” said Master Fu towards Bloodwolf.
Master Fu had a high status within the Bloodwolf Clan, so his words were convincing. Bloodwolf replied with a smile, “Don’t worry about it. I’ve already taken note of that brat, but there’s nothing to worry about. He’s just a piece of trash in the greater Yang stage. Later, when we turn on the Three-Eagle Stronghold, he’ll be the first to die.”
“Big brother, that brat is acting even more unusual. He’s able to maintain his composure, even now,” said one of the other chiefs of the Three-Eagle Stronghold.
“We’re unsure about him. Won’t there be a problem if he continues to stick around with us?” The two other chiefs from the Three-Eagle Stronghold looked at Lin Yun with distrust.
Chief Leng glanced at Lin Yun before he replied, “We’ll talk later. His attainment in spiritual runes seems to be stronger than Xiangyun’s attainments. We can still make use of him for now.”
No one bothered to rest as they continued their journey. Soon, they ran into another dangerous situation. The entire region was a spiritual diagram made up of mainly earth-attributed spiritual runes that formed a swamp beneath everyone’s feet. Occasionally, blood vines would shoot out of the water and anyone who got caught would have their blood fully drained.
In the blink of an eye, several elites from the Three-Eagle Stronghold yelled. Looking at this situation, Master Fu sneered. Holding a spiritual artifact in one hand and a seal in the other, the blood vines disintegrated into spiritual runes before they could even get close to him.
Under his protection, the Bloodwolf Clan didn’t suffer many losses. The spiritual diagram here had surpassed Leng Xiangyun’s understanding, so she could only protect herself. When the three chiefs saw more and more of their men being captured by the blood vines, they began to help out.
Lin Yun, who was strolling through the swamp, suddenly soared into the sky and dragged Leng Xiangyun with him. Nine blood vines shot past Leng Xiangyun’s shoulder and headed for Lin Yun.
“Don’t force yourself,” said Lin Yun as a spiritual rune enveloped with golden flames appeared in his palm. It was his soul mark, the Firefeather Rune. Waving his hand casually, the Firefeather Rune flew out and began to release spiritual runes. As time passed, the outline of a phoenix was created.
The nine blood vines that shot over were instantly disintegrated. But that wasn’t all as Lin Yun waved his hand once more and the phoenix dove into the ground. In the next second, a series of explosions rang out, destroying the spiritual diagram that Lei Yunzi had set up.
“Big Brother Lin, you saved my life again.” Leng Xiangyun smiled when they landed on the ground, not realizing that she would have died if Lin Yun didn’t save her earlier. Her entire focus was on the fact that Lin Yun had saved her again.
Chief Leng was terrified as he looked at Lin Yun. It was fortunate that they had Lin Yun around or their losses would be great.
“It’s that fellow again!” Bloodwolf’s eyes surged with a cold light and killing aura.
The group’s journey in the cave wasn’t smooth as Lei Yunzi had left behind tons of tricks that gave everyone a headache. They hadn’t even seen a shadow of a single treasure, but their casualties had already exceeded more than half of their original party. They continued losing more and more people as they proceeded.
Two hours later, a stone gate stood before everyone. Once again, there were two statues by the side. The environment was dark and before anyone could get a clear look of the stone statues, the gate was opened by Chief Leng.
The Three-Eagle Stronghold’s men didn’t even hesitate to enter, which caused the Bloodwolf Clan to start cursing before they quickly followed behind.
Just when Lin Yun was about to enter the gate, he suddenly thought of something and turned around. The two statues were two tortoises with a serpent on their backs.
But before Lin Yun could pay more attention to the details, the stone gate suddenly closed. If he wanted to get a closer look at the two statues, he would have to reopen the gate, which would undoubtedly attract everyone’s attention.
“What do those statues mean?” Lin Yun was certain that there was a trick behind the statues.
After passing through the second gate, the Bloodwolf Clan and Three-Eagle Stronghold hastened their footsteps. They could sense that they would soon reach the core of the treasury.
The party traveled another ten miles when the sound of flowing water instantly attracted everyone’s attention. When they raised their heads, they could see a hundred foot wide river that blocked their path. The river was covered in mist and emitted a stench that made everyone lock their brows together.
“Bridge!” Someone from the Bloodwolf Clan pointed in a direction and everyone saw a bridge forged with jade that appeared out of the mist. At the far end of the bridge was another stone gate.
“Let’s go!” Bloodwolf had excitement on his face as he quickly led his men over. Although Master Fu felt something unusual about the bridge, he had no choice but to follow.
On the other hand, Lin Yun wore an indifferent expression and stayed where he was. When Chief Leng noticed Lin Yun’s unusual action, he stopped everyone from heading any further. But there were still those who couldn’t resist the temptation and continued ahead.
The water in the river flowed even more quickly as armored bugs began to appear from the fog. The swarm of bugs made everyone’s scalps go numb.
“Armored Corpse Bugs!” Chief Leng sucked in a cold breath and his face changed drastically.