While Yue Yang was dashing through the Gold Palace, one of the Five Elements Palace, the Li brothers guarding outside the teleportation gate noticed a group of people approaching from the distance.
They were adventurers drawn by the bright light.
At first, they didn’t approach them and simply stood from afar, discussing.
After a short while, some individuals crushed their teleportation stone, it seemed as if they had teleported away to call for their friends. The Li brothers panicked. At this rate, the secret of the teleportation gate would be exposed. They were still hesitating whether to kill all those people. The other party had a few Level 7 Overlords, which made the Li brothers fear that it was not possible to kill all of them in an instant. If some of them escaped, they might develop a deep-seated grudge against them, and it would only make the situation worse. The Li brothers, clueless about what to do, took out their weapons. They decided to forget about the other problems and defend the teleportation gate first.
With a sudden burst of clamour, a hundred Iron Blood Guards lead by Ou Gen rushed over.
“What happened here? Are Titian and that Golden Elf your teammates? Did he enter the teleportation gate?” Ou Gen had a very strong memory, he recognised that the Li brothers were Yue Yang’s teammates and immediately approached to question them.
Ou Gen didn’t come to work just now, but Elder Matthew told him that a lad named Titan and a Golden Elf had teleported to Jadeite Forest. They might have encountered the Dragon Hunters. Since Ou Gen couldn’t bear to have a promising youngster like Titan perish at such a young age, he gathered the Iron Blood Guards to assist in driving the Dragon Hunters away. However, they still couldn’t find the Dragon Hunters after searching for them for ages. Upon seeing the Li twins guarding in front of the teleportation gate, Ou Gen was able to catch a gist of what happened.
The elder one of the Li brothers nodded his head but remained alert. Even if the other party was from the Warrior Guild, he could not be trusted completely.
The leader of Iron Blood Guards furrowed his eyebrows, ”Ou Gen, this sealing circle looked very old. We never knew its existence before, but today it was suddenly activated. A beast may have been born and broke through the seal.”
Once said, gloom shadowed over Ou Gen’s face, ”If that is the case, the people inside would be in danger.”
Li Ge quickly shook his hand, ”No, this sealing circle was unsealed by us, there were no monsters nor beasts entering into the teleportation gate. According to the guild’s rules, once we discover a new space, new territory or new district, we have the right to be the first to explore and scout. We would not occupy it for a long time but we have to enjoy the first rights of exploring. I believe that this rule that is drawn up by the Innate Alliance can not be refuted. Whoever wants to get past here had to first consult the weapons in our hands first.”
The leader of Iron Blood Guards snorted coldly, “Who wants to rob you people of your treasures? We only came with good intentions to help you. If you don’t want help, then so be it!”
Ou Gen had to quickly smooth things over, “There is no need for everyone to be so agitated, perhaps danger is lurking right around us. The fact that Titan and the rest went in to scout should be considered a good thing. The Warrior Guild needs their information.”
“As long as you people do not enter, I will suggest to our party leader to share the information with the Warrior Guild later.” Li Qie nodded seriously.
“How long had Titan been in there?” Ou Gen asked.
“An hour.” The Li brothers did not speak of the truth. In reality, Fatty Hai and the rest who had been inside the longest stayed in for about three hours.
“There are monsters coming out from inside…” The advancing adventures were increasing quickly in numbers, within half an hour, more than two hundred adventures arrived. It was only because they were afraid of the Warrior Guild’s power that they didn’t start attacking. If there were only the Li brothers, they would have charged forward already. As the number of people increased, the situation got more and more dire. Suddenly, the light from the teleportation gate flickered and flashed as a Gold-ranked level 10 Flame General burst out of the teleportation gate. Blazing flames covered it from head to toe, and it started puffing out flames at the sight of the adventurers.
“Oh no!“ Ou Gen’s face paled for a second time. There were actually monsters coming out! On top of that, it was such a powerful Level 10 Gold-ranked monster. The fate of Titan and the others’ looked grim.
“Kill the Flame General before rescuing the others.” Although discontented with the Li brothers’ reason for hindering the Iron Blood Guards, the leader of the Iron Blood Guards reacted immediately, commanding his subordinates to surround the Flame General and charge into the teleportation gate to rescue the others. The Li brothers’ hearts were in great turmoil, if not for their trust in Yue Yang, they would have been crushed by despair. Monsters appeared from the teleportation gate, what could this mean? Did all those that entered suffer a total defeat? Right now, they could only hope that Yue Yang was protecting everyone and that their comrades were safe and sound.
“Look, you guys can still keep your right to explore, but let us go in to rescue them. Right now this is urgent. Money and treasure are merely external possessions, human lives are way more important!“ Ou Gen tried to persuade the Li brothers while ordering an Iron Blood Guard to return to the Warrior Guild to report and request for backup.
“Boom!”
The Level 10 Gold-ranked Flame General was strong but there were hundreds of Iron Blood Guards.
Being surrounded, the Flame General was strained and battered. In the end, it was slaughtered by Ou Gen on the spot before it could escape back into the teleportation gate.
The leader of Iron Blood Guild ordered his subordinate to enter. However, after he reconsidered it and exchanged ideas with Ou Gen, he decided to let twenty Iron Blood Guards remain behind while letting the eighty Iron Blood Guards advance. At last, he added while looking at the Li brothers, “You guys stay here, it is dangerous in there. You guys are strong but you can’t assimilate into our battle formation, so you guys won’t be helpful.”
How can the Li brothers not go? Not only are they anxious for the others’ safety, they also wanted to inform Yue Yang that a large number of people were coming in so that he could make necessary preparations.
Without a word, they charged into the teleportation gate.
The leader of the Iron Blood Guild stomped the floor angrily, “Ridiculous, those two threw their lives away in the face of wealth!”
Ou Gen on the other hand gave a quick smile, “Youngster are always like this, when you and I were at their age, even if it was just a Level 3 Irish Elk, neither of us would have given others a chance to touch it. Let them be, who hadn’t been young before? Let’s go, what we have to do now is to assist and rescue. Once those youngsters suffer a few losses, they will slowly mature.”
The Iron Blood Guards thundered towards the teleportation gate with only twenty left outside.
Although there were only a few, the Iron Blood Guards, renown for their combat power kept the two-three hundred adventurers at bay. After all, to be enemies with Iron Blood Guild would mean that they were picking a fight with the Warrior Guild, which many did not dared to do.
In the crowd, some were cursing, while some sighed in disappointment as they had no luck in finding the treasure.
The adventurers continued to gather, eventually their number exceeded five hundred. One group was clearly Dragon Hunters’ Fallen Warriors. With a hideous grin, they threw themselves at the Iron Blood Guards.
(Shiro: I seriously need a term for 堕落武者 – Fallen Warriors sound so awkward. Other names I can think of – Villain Warriors, Criminal Warriors, Outlaws Warriors. Please give me some ideas guys)
There was a Fallen Innate Ranker amongst the Dragon Hunters, the Iron Blood Guards were no match for them, and were forced back one step after another… A few hundred adventurers saw their chance and drove forward, one after another. Some joined the massacre while some sneaked through the teleportation gate. There were also some that helped to assist the Iron Blood Guards so that they could escape… The Dragon Hunters didn’t try to eradicate the Iron Blood Guards, but flocked through the gates under the lead of the Fallen Innate Ranker.
Of course, once they entered, their miserable fate was sealed.
Some of them dropped into the man-eating forest of the Wood Palace, with countless man-eating vines wriggling and twisting to welcome their arrival. Some dropped into the Fire Palace filled with lava, and the weaker adventurers fell straight into the lava river and turned into ashes. Those who made to the river bank shrieked in fear as they come face to face with thousands and millions of fire-type monsters.
Miserable cries echoed throughout the Wood and Fire Palace. It echoed from the quicksand traps of the Sand Palace, from the midst of the the huge waves by the Sirens in the Water Palace, and from the Gold Palace of the Puppet Soldiers.
Those who entered tried to fight back, however, due to the various restrictions imposed, they were doomed.
Being restricted from using elemental and strengthening-type beasts, they were unable to muster their full strength. Unique-type beasts were weakened, Fighting-type beasts’ strength were reduced by half. This resulted in the adventurers ability to fight to fall, the monsters they once knocked out easily could now easily pulverize them, leaving them with nowhere to hide. The leader of the Iron Blood Guild was on the verge of going berserk when he saw his defenceless subordinates being torn to pieces by the supposedly weak hyenas. “Go, leave, we must leave this place immediately… These damned traps… No, the rescue… Good gracious, we’re done for!” He roared.
At first he still wanted to rescue those being dragged into the quicksand by desert spiders, but later he found out that it was all futile; A swarm of desert spiders were encircling them.
Even a single second of delay could lead to a complete defeat.
The ten plus Iron Blood Guards by his side once faced thousands and millions of desert spiders and hyenas fearlessly. The Iron Blood Guards Leader who had always been bold and fearless could only choose to flee right now, because he was a specialised strengthening-type beasts user.
Ou Gen’s gaze seem to shake, there were a dozen Iron Blood Guards and hundreds of adventurers around him, defeated and scattered. The Gold-ranked level 10 Flame Beast in the lava river was practically invincible. Moreover, most of the adventurers’ beast were hardly useful. The handful of remaining beasts were overwhelmed by the numerous flame-beasts’ attack.
They couldn’t continue this fight, because it was equivalent to suicide.
Meanwhile, Yue Yang just managed to undo the Runic Circle’s seal.
Rays of light sparked and flashed.
With a tremendous boom, a strong ray of light beam shot out from the centre of the Runic Circle and onto the rock wall across the seal.
The rock wall across the seal crumbled… In the middle of the Runic Circle, a dark cylindrical cave appeared, it was deep and mysterious.
Yue Yang stopped immediately. He did not climb in, full of joy, unlike what an ordinary person would have done. Instead, he stood outside and waited. After a long time, a voice drifted out from the cave, as if the person was sleep-talking: “Smart lad, how did you know there was someone inside? Thank you for undoing the millennium seal for me, I would like to repay you with the best treasure ever. All you have to do is do me a small favour.”
“What favour?“ Deep in Yue Yang’s eyes, a flash of light gleamed, as if showing his bloodlust, mocking the owner of the voice.
“You may not know, but this place is the Five Element Palace. Go to the Water Palace and make me a vase. Once you give it to me, I will give you the best treasure I have. Or perhaps a treasure you long for.” The voice was full of enticement, bewitchingly tempting to Yue Yang. He had to will himself to break free from the enticement in the voice.
“Who are you? Why were you sealed here, and why the vase from Water Palace?”
“My name is too ancient, I’m certain you have not heard of it. As for the vase, it contains the highly valuable God’s Wine, it can help me restore my power. Bring it to me then you can exchange it for the treasure. You don’t have to worry, I won’t harm you, I swear in the name of god, if I cause you and your pals the slightest harm, I will be imprisoned here forever. You have to understand that all I long for is freedom, I just want to get out of here. Why would I hurt you? You should know that all Elemental-type and Strengthening-type beasts are useless here. All my beasts are elemental-types, so you don’t have to worry at all. Fate brought us together, why not let us be friends? We will both get what we want, you want the treasure, I want the God’s Wine.” The tempting voice was filled with emotions and persuasive, even Yue Yang himself cannot help but feel the urge to help him.
“All right, but I hope you can give me the box next to you, that is the treasure from Gold Palace. It is also my target.“ Yue Yang stated his condition.
“Why not? To me, this thing does more harm than good.” Before he finish, a small golden box flew out.
Yue Yang saw and reached out to catch it.
Suddenly, a gigantic golden hand spawn out of the box and transformed into Devil’s Claw. It clawed viciously at Yue Yang’s body with unimaginable speed. Yue Yang, who was carrying the sound asleep Bao Er, was unable to dodge quickly.
Yue Yang summoned the Grimoire, activating his protective shield to block this fatal blow.
However, the gold Devil’s Claw was slowly penetrating the protective shield and closing in, preparing to crush Yue Yang.
“I knew you couldn’t resist asking for the golden box, no one can resist their greed for treasures. I spent a thousand years transfering my soul into it, simply for this day. Did you know? Once anyone asked for it, the restrictions here will not restrict my abilities anymore. Heh heh, after I take over your body, the whole Tong Tian Tower will tremble at the sight of my return! ” The voice sneered coldly.
“Don’t be so cocky. Although you have a few tricks up your sleeve, don’t assume others are idiots.” Yue Yang’s eyes gleamed with bloodlust.
As if music from heaven, a Phoenix’s cry resonated through the air.
Nirvana’s Flames soared through the sky.