Chapter 348: Killing Intent!

Yu Sheng's heart stirred, feeling a vast, immense power, or rather a "will," surge through his mind like a gale, crossing time and space to strike directly at him. Then, a slight dizziness and a reset of perception washed over him; when he opened his eyes again, the surrounding darkness had vanished, and he found himself standing in an endless expanse of yellow sand.

Hu Lizheng was beside him, holding two tails that looked like Lamborghinis, alert to the surroundings. A heavy weight from Erin rested on his shoulder, Luna stood a short distance to the front-left, and Xuan Che had already started showing off his pill consumption.

"Wow..." Erin gazed at the vast stretch of yellow sand before them, letting out an exclamation. "This really is... if no one told me, I'd never think this is a place reachable by walking down from that mine shaft."

"This is one of the otherworldly 'illusions' reachable by walking down that slope," Xuan Che said from the side. "Everyone be extra careful. According to reports from cultivators who previously descended to scout, even for otherworldly scenes that have been confirmed, the details seen and the things that appear change to some degree every time one enters."

Erin casually agreed, then looked at Luna standing ahead, observing her for a long while before suddenly blurting out: "Hey, C-type buckle, won't you sink into the desert wearing high heels? What's the principle?"

Luna moved her limbs, seeming to try hard to explain the principle of her moving freely in the desert, but after a long while, she couldn't produce a long sentence, finally spitting out just two words: "Training."

Hearing them converse beside him, Yu Sheng increasingly felt something was wrong and finally couldn't help but speak up: "Didn't you hear any sounds when you just came in? The kind where many people shout together?"

"... Many people shouting together?" Hu Li tilted his head. "Didn't hear anything."

"You didn't hear it?" Yu Sheng immediately knew where that sense of dissonance came from—could it really be that only he heard it?

Seeing this, Xuan Che's expression instantly turned serious: "What kind of shouting was it?"

"I couldn't hear the specifics clearly; it was all a buzzing rumble of echoes. I could barely make out a few words, something like 'activate' and 'great formation'."

"Activate the great formation?!" Xuan Che's expression sharpened, and he suddenly turned to look deep into the yellow sand, as if guarding against someone setting a trap. However, after scanning the area, apart from many continuous shadows standing in the distant sand that resembled ruins, he discovered nothing and sensed no reaction of any "great formation" activating.

"There is no formation here, or the formation is so advanced it has merged with nature and cannot be detected," Xuan Che shook his head. "But since Mr. Yu definitely heard it, that means there is truly something strange."

Upon hearing this, Hu Li didn't hesitate a second, lunging forward. Amidst rising splendor, his figure directly transformed into a massive nine-tailed silver fox.

Yu Sheng casually pulled open a door at his side, took out his Tetanus Staff, then pulled open another small door and lifted a threaded-steel Erin out, equipping her onto his shoulder.

When the small doll was lifted out, she was dazed, not reacting for a long while...

"Let's go check over there first," Xuan Che drew his ice-cold, sharp treasure sword, pointing with his other hand toward the ruin-like shadows in the distance. "The exit should also be in those ruins."

Yu Sheng then jumped directly onto Hu Li's back: "Let's go!"

The group quickly rushed toward those shadows—the demon fox ran as fast as lightning, Xuan Che transformed into a light breeze, and even Luna, who was usually slow, regained her elegant, ghost-like gait when moving, aided by short-range spatial teleportation, even running at the very front of the formation the whole way.

Then, Yu Sheng finally gradually made out what those ruin-like things actually were.

"What the... hell?"

The group stopped near the "ruins." Yu Sheng tilted his head back, staring dumbfounded at a golden-armored giant before him, half-buried by yellow sand, supported by a long halberd, lying tilted on the ground.

Those shadows, indistinct from afar, turned out to be a group of giants over ten meters tall when viewed up close. All wore golden armor and golden helmets, held long halberds, and their faces were covered by heavy faceplates. They stood here like colossal statues, some fallen and buried by the yellow sand.

"This... is also one of your Tai Xu Ling Shu's 'locals'?" Yu Sheng, standing even on Hu Li's head, could only look up at those massive golden figures. After marveling for a long while, he finally turned to look at Xuan Che. "These seem even taller than Bai Xue's Lei Ting Titans!"

Xuan Che frowned, leaped forward, and jumped onto the arm of one of the golden-armored giants, seemingly examining something closely. After a moment, he jumped down: "They are automata."

Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow: "Automata?"

"Yes, the top-tier kind, the Battle-Formation Giant Divine Soldiers," Xuan Che said, his expression growing even more grave. "And..."

"What else did you find?"

Xuan Che raised his hand, tracing his fingers in the air, painting an arcane, ancient rune with spiritual light, then spoke in a deep voice: "The mark of Wo Yun Ten Halls."

"Wo Yun Ten Halls?" Yu Sheng reacted, quickly recalling. "Wait, the Wo Yun Ten Halls, one of the top five major sects on the Tai Xu Ling Shu? The one you mentioned before that specializes in forging and city-building... these 'automata' were made by them?!"

Xuan Che slowly nodded, but his voice held a hint of confusion: "But I have never heard they built this model of Giant Divine Soldier... Such a level of automaton, if truly built and used, could not have been hidden from the world."

"And don't forget this is an otherworldly realm," Erin spoke up too. "How could the automata they built be in an otherworldly realm?"

Xuan Che shook his head gravely.

Just then, Erin suddenly lifted her head again, looking at the yellow sand shadows between the Battle-Formation Giant Divine Soldiers: "There is killing intent!"

Killing intent again?

As this sarcastic thought flashed instinctively through Yu Sheng's mind, his spiritual intuition tightened. The next second, he saw shadows writhing and rising in the distance, and a series of whistling sounds suddenly broke through the air!

Several figures clad in black robes and black armor, wearing strange masks on their faces, burst from the shadows like a swift wind and thunder, rushing directly at Yu Sheng and others standing at the feet of the Giant Divine Soldiers!

"Holy crap! There really is killing intent!"

Yu Sheng only had time to shout that before he saw a cold light rushing straight at his face—a flying sword wrapped in the sound of wind and thunder. He hurriedly raised his hand to block, a massive force numbing his arm. Immediately after, Hu Li suddenly retreated two steps, helping Yu Sheng absorb the impact, while nine fox tails unfurled like blooming flowers. A sky-covering barrage of fox fire rained down on those suddenly appearing black-robed cultivators!

Erin's black spider silk and scorching beams erupted simultaneously, blocking the attacks of several enemies. Seizing this brief delay, Xuan Che quickly burned several talismans he had been holding, swallowed a few pills, then suddenly charged at one of the black-robed cultivators, delivering a simple, unadorned straight punch: "Medical Disturbance Explosion Fist!"

Yu Sheng almost fell off Hu Li's head on the spot—this honest guy actually used that name!

The next second, however, he saw that black-robed cultivator narrowly dodge Xuan Che's powerful punch, simultaneously stepping back in a flash, a long sword appearing in his hand, thrusting straight at Xuan Che's face.

Xuan Che's reaction was not slow either; swiftly dodging the sword, he simultaneously struck with a palm. This palm faintly carried the sound of thunder, instantly compressing and igniting the surrounding air with the palm wind, producing a deafening explosion: "Doctor-Patient Relationship Correction Palm!"

That black-robed cultivator's reaction was instantly half a beat slow, whether hindered by the palm wind pressure or stunned by the shocking move name, he was instantly struck. But the expected explosion of the body did not occur—strange colors suddenly rose from his black armor. Immediately, several cracking sounds were heard; a treasure hanging on the black-robed cultivator's chest shattered into pieces. The black-robed cultivator actually withstood the palm intact and quickly retreated, creating distance from Xuan Che.

With the protective treasure shattered by a single palm, a trace of heartache clearly appeared in the black-robed cultivator's eyes. However, his figure did not waver at all. After stabilizing his stance, he swung his sword out, but the killing intent within this sword strike had reached its peak!

At the same time, several other enemies focused their attention on the most conspicuous nine-tailed silver fox on the scene. Several black-robed cultivators formed a battle formation. A hazy radiance rose from them, actually withstanding a volley of fire from the Fox Carrot Machine Gun, then rushed directly at Yu Sheng standing on Hu Li's head—

For no other reason than that Yu Sheng stood on the nine-tailed silver fox's head, carrying two short-statured turrets on his shoulder that fired spider silk and lasers alternately. Such a guy who looked outrageously arrogant and had a boss-like aura—why not hit him?

But the next second, a ghost-like figure suddenly leaped from the yellow sand, disrupting the battle formation of several black-robed cultivators like a dance. Simultaneously, several sharp blades slashed down, forcing the enemy charging at the front to stop in panic and dodge aside.

Luna moved with light and elegant steps, swiftly passing between several enemies. The clashing sound of metal suddenly rang out everywhere.

In her combat state, she seemed like a completely different person, showing no trace of her usual slow pace or occasional system crashes.

The leader of the black-robed cultivators instantly sensed extreme danger from this suddenly appearing iron doll before his eyes.

It wasn't simple killing intent—he stared fixedly at Luna's tall figure standing in the yellow sand, feeling that something else was hidden around that figure, and a pure "intent of death" was brewing and condensing in the air.

Behind that smiling, pale face hid a gaze watching corpses.

"Everyone be careful!" The leader of the black-robed cultivators immediately shouted in warning. "This automaton has ancient..."

Before he finished speaking, Luna's figure vanished into thin air. The next second, she was close, ten finger-blades thrusting straight at him.

But that leader of the black-robed cultivators was obviously of extraordinary strength; even under such a surprise attack, he still reacted. His long sword danced, directly blocking all of Luna's attacks. Then he suddenly retreated, and a phantom treasure mirror rose behind him. The mirror's surface overflowed with radiance, instantly reflecting Luna's figure, actually imprisoning the latter firmly in mid-air!

"Nothing special..." The black-robed cultivator felt a surge of joy in his heart and stepped forward to take the "iron doll's" life.

However, the next second, he saw an endless wilderness rushing toward him.

The River of Styx hung inverted in the high heavens; a gray, boundless wilderness stretched endlessly. A chilling wind that could pierce the soul howled and swept through. A blonde female knight clad in holy armor stood before him.

(End of Chapter)