142 Chapter 141: Sea of Fire (1/2)

Whatever the case, I would only know what to do with the battle-automata when I returned to Wu Ling Academy. For now, I would just stick them into my bag. Or spatial device. Or whatever you called it. With over a hundred of the Castellax battle-automata, it took me some time, and they were even heavier and bulkier than the Thallax battle puppets, so once again it wasn't long before I collapsed on the floor, wheezing and panting from the effort.

”So weak,” Qi Lin commented contemptuously. I glared at him.

”Go on, why don't you try lifting over a hundred of these things instead of floating in the air?”

Qi Lin grinned. ”I'm not the one who wants them.”

”And I'm not the one asking you to float around me.” I took the golden amulet in my pocket and prepared to throw it. Qi Lin panicked when he saw what I was about to do.

”Wait! Don't do that! Don't just throw me away!”

”Why?” I sneered. ”You're not my master. There's no benefits for me to hang on, and I'm sick of hearing you insult me. Just like those haters in Royal Road, the moment they began spamming 0.5 ratings and calling me trash, I'm going to leave. There's no sense in me sticking around to endure their abuse where there's no reason or benefit in doing so.”

”You're really bitter about that, aren't you?” Qi Lin remarked. Then his eyes widened when I began to cock my arm back. ”Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, all right?! I'll shut up from now on!”

He probably thought I was petty, but being magnanimous only invited pain and suffering, especially when people did nothing but insult me over every little thing.

”Well, the question is how much they will buy the battle-automata for.” I pondered to myself. ”A battle puppet costs about five gold coins, but these are ancient treasures, so they should cost a lot more. I hope.”

They sounded pretty cheap, but that was because I hadn't included the Spirit Engravings and the cost of the artificial qi yet. If I succeeded in engraving Spirit Symbols into the battle automata, then their price would no doubt double, or even triple.

The reason why the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect was so wealthy was because of their Spirit Engraving skills. To get even an average smith like me to carve a Spirit Engraving into an artifact would net me several silver coins, at the very least.

”Well, I'll only find out once I get home.”

Taking a deep breath, I scratched my head and stretched my exhausted muscles for a bit while trying to recover from the earlier exertion. Once I felt that I had restored enough strength, I rose to my feet to continue my exploration of the tomb.

The next direction was pretty obvious, given how there was a broken door nearby. Clearly whoever had come through here had smashed through the poor door, which wasn't as sturdily built as the vault I had just plundered. Stepping out of the vault, I cautiously proceeded toward the broken door, looking for any signs of traps.

Instead, after stepping through the remains of the broken door, a scene of devastation greeted me. The broken husks of the low-level servitors that had patrolled the area earlier were strewn across the ground. Scorch marks and other signs of damage on the floor indicated that a ferocious battle had taken place earlier.

”…lightning qi?”

I reached out with my right hand and felt a slight tingle as static electricity sparked against my fingers. Recognizing the personal qi signature, I frowned.

”Seems like Lei Yong Chun was here…along with the rest.”

Lei Yong Chun's qi wasn't the only one here. I could pick up at least three other people's qi signatures with my Heaven and Earth senses. They must have grouped together to smash apart the army of servitors here.

”Oh, well…”

Treading carefully over the broken remains of the servitors, I glanced around through my hastily repaired glasses. A close scrutiny told me that the messy passageway had been thoroughly cleaned out. Whatever treasures that used to be here had already been taken by Lei Yong Chun and the rest. Those that weren't treasures, but were traps or security bots like the servitors, had been destroyed by overwhelming force.

”...whoa.”

While traversing the quiet corridor, I came across more traces of battle. The damaged husks of servitors and battle puppets continued to litter the place, but what surprised me was that the deeper I went into, the more…detailed and advanced the servitors were. Hell, there were Thallax-class battle puppets destroyed along with the servitors, remnants of the depleted security detachment that used to patrol these halls.

I wondered if I would eventually stumble over the corpses of robed cyborg warriors who had sworn their service to the Omnissiah. That was unlikely. Given the age of the tomb, despite their augmented cybernetics, their organic components would have rotted and decayed long ago, leaving their metallic frames little more than empty shells.

Not only were the servitors and battle puppets growing more powerful (from their appearance anyway), they were also increasing in number. I stopped to inspect one particularly fearsome carnage, which had blood mixed with slick oil. With their strength and numbers, even Lei Yong Chun was finding them a challenge the deeper he ventured in.

In fact, it appeared that a few of his comrades had been injured… maybe Lei Yong Chun himself had received an injury. But I couldn't sense his qi from the blood, so I guessed that it was his comrades instead.

”Doesn't look like they fought here long ago,” I observed. Qi Lin nodded.

”You're right. Whoever fought here, they were here an hour ago, at the earliest. They might still be somewhere nearby.”

”Still, they're pretty impressive…to be able to destroy entire maniples of battle-automata and battle puppets like this…”

”Well, what do you expect from practitioners from the Pure Spirit Stage?” Qi Lin replied dismissively, as if this wasn't something extraordinary. Now that I thought about it, Lei Yong Chun easily wrecked an entire army of battle puppets in Wu Ling Academy last year, so it wasn't a stretch to imagine him being able to defeat them.

”Hmm? What's that?”

When I resumed my journey and passed through another empty hall (save for the remains of the battle puppets), I suddenly caught sight of a curtain of light at the end, just a few dozen meters ahead of me.

”That's coming from the end of the passageway…is it a door?”

Pushing my broken glasses up, I began to hasten my pace and headed toward the faint glow. At the same time, I maintained my state of alertness, watching out for ambushes and traps. It wouldn't do for me to walk straight into danger.

”!!!”

I almost recoiled when something came within view, framed by the soft glow of the light. Swallowing, I focused my attention on the broken Castellax battle automata lying in front of me. Despite its sturdy frame, it had been blasted apart by many attacks – no doubt a concerted assault from several Pure Spirit Stage practitioners.

Even so, it had defiantly put up a fierce fight, judging from the extensive damage in the space around it. Ammunition casings littered the floor, holes and craters evident in the walls, ground and even ceiling, and even pools of blood where its attacks had struck home against its assailants. Its power fists were still smoking, crackling with a failing power field, and the light had gone out of its hands. There were blood on its hands, though, which meant it scored more than a few hits of its own, and punished the intruders dearly for attempting to challenge it.

In the end, however, it was still unable to stop their inexorable advance and had been brutally destroyed.

”Even a mid level battle automata with such firepower and strength was unable to stop them.”

I lowered my head and laid my fingers on the broken battle automata. These guys were no doubt the most elite martial artists of the younger generation in the Great Zhou Empire. I had to admire them grudgingly.

”Well, you did well…let's see if I can repair you.”

Struck with an idea, I placed the damaged Castellax battle automata in my spatial device. Even though it was broken into pieces, I was sure I would be able to repair it – especially since I had so many of its comrades for reference. The poor guy fought so well, it would be a waste to leave him lying here like this, dying an ignominious death. I would give him a new purpose in life, and rewrite the Spirit Engraving inside his cerebral cortex.

”Do you seriously want that broken battle automata?” Qi Lin asked skeptically as he watched me place him inside my spatial device.

”What's the worst that can happen? I can use him for spare parts…but I think he'll be up and whole if I use super glue and duct tape.”

”Do you think you're assembling a wargaming miniature or anything?! It's not as if he's made up of plastic or resin!”

I grinned. ”You'll be surprised to see what these guys are made of.”

”In any case, the Spirit Engravings on that battle-automata you just took are still present. That's probably why he was able to fight. And it's also because of that that those young elite martial artists were unable to claim him as their own.” Qi Lin mused thoughtfully as he stared at my spatial device. The Castellax battle automata was no longer visible, after all. ”Among the younger generations of the Great Zhou Empire, they are considered not bad. But they still have a long way to go, especially when compared to the Nascent Soul Stage practitioner.”

”Well, duh…even though I don't care about all these stages, you're pretty much stating the obvious when comparing people from two different stages.” I couldn't help but roll my eyes. ”But I'll be able to reprogram and reinscribe the Spirit Engraving. If I can't, then I'll ask Elder Tie for help. I'm sure we'll figure something out.”

I was so glad I joined the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. otherwise I would never have been able to make use of these battle automata that I had just acquired, or repair them.

”Maybe I should have Xiao Jiao join the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect too,” Qi Lin muttered under his breath. You've got to be kidding me! So he's going to be the streongest martial artist while being a godly alchemist/receptarier and a top Spirit Engraver/blacksmith at the same time!? Just how much more Mary Sue-ish do you want him to be?!

Trying to conceal my disgust, I rose to my feet and proceeded onward.

”Wait.”

I stopped when Qi Lin suddenly halted me, and shot him a quizzical look.

”If you go any deeper…if you enter that chamber, you'll be reaching the core of the ancient tomb. Do you still plan on entering?”

”Duh.” I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. ”Why the hell wouldn't I plan on entering the core of the ancient tomb?”

”That's because it'll be several times more dangerous inside the core than before,” Qi Lin replied. My vein twitched.

”The whole fucking expedition is dangerous to begin with! If I was afraid of danger, why would I bother crossing the forest and going inside the Heavenly Fire Mountain Range, braving demonic creatures and magical beasts? Why would I enter the ancient tomb and risk falling into traps while fighting off both monsters and murderous martial artists competing against me for its treasures? What kind of stupid question is that?!”

”…uh…yeah. You've got a point there.”

Qi Lin at least had the temerity to look embarrassed for asking such a dumb question. He coughed.

”I…was trying to be dramatic.”

”This is reality, not some xianxia novel. And I'm not the protagonist in any case. Let's not bother with dramatic foreshadowing and all that nonsense.”

Rolling my eyes, I stepped through the curtain of light. As I did so, the light rippled and shimmered violently, but I ignored it as I disappeared through it, appearing on the other side of the glowing screen.

”Wow…”

At first, I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. Even with my enchanted glasses, I found myself staring at absolute darkness. The next moment, a scarlet light flooded my vision, and my glasses didn't even darken to protect my eyes. Blinking and squinting through the fiery glow, I saw a crimson wave of extremely hot flames washed over me, assaulting my body and almost incinerating me if I didn't project an icy aura of yin qi to protect myself.

”What the hell?!”

Maintaining my icy cold qi, I glanced frantically at my surroundings, fighting to calm down my furiously beating heart. When I finally made sense of what I was seeing, I immediately recoiled from both terror and shock.

Right now, I was standing in a scarlet sea of fire, the torrent of flames burning ferociously as they sought to incinerate anyone foolish enough to walk into them with intense heat.

Yet, the fact that my glasses didn't react to them…

”…these flames are just an illusion.”

”Who knows?” Qi Lin shrugged callously. ”Even if they're an illusion, their effects on the physical body are very real. This is an excellent, top-class spirit formation. As expected of a Nascent Soul Stage practitioner.”

”Meaning that even if I know it's not real, I'll still end up being harmed by it? In other words, it might as well be real.”

I sighed and shook my head. What a troublesome formation. To get through it, I would have to expend quite a bit of qi.

”On the bright side, look over there. It seems that those few guys are also stuck in the spirit formation.”

Qi Lin sounded pretty gleeful as he pointed toward the center of the flaming sea. I turned to look in that direction.

Sure enough, there was a group of figures resisting the flames in the center of the blazing sea. Magnifying my lenses, I saw that it was Lei Yong Chun and the rest. Sui Sha Yu, Jiang Jun Hao, Nan Ke, and even Li Chun Long.

”Ho…” I tried to whistle, but failed pathetically. I could never whistle for some reason. ”What an impressive spirit formation! I can't believe that even that Lei Yong Chun and the rest got trapped within the flames.” Then I sobered up. ”I'll have to find an alternative path or I'll end up like them.”

”It looks like they decided to take the paths provided by the formation and they ended up being trapped instead.” Qi Lin thought as he observed the flaming sea. As he pointed out, there were many paths snaking across the flaming seas of fire, narrow walkways that were free from the flames and seeming to lead deeper inside.