Chapter 192

Outside the Big Snake Cave, inside an extremely remote tunnel.

The tunnel, like a spiderweb, branched out in all directions, with big and small caves everywhere; countless water droplets hung from the damp vaulted ceiling, 'drip-drip' water droplets continually fell, and the clear sound could be heard far away along the long tunnel.

The dense 'drip-drip' sound was like rain on plantain leaves; in such an environment, one couldn't help but feel sleepy.

Thus, Shi Fei followed his instinct, gnawing off four roasted lizard legs, drinking a jug of old wine, and then comfortably lay down on a piece of giant snake skin and fell asleep.

However, this guy didn't know where he learned that skill.

He was asleep, yet he snored like a muffled thunder, but everyone could sense that his mana flowed freely within his body; although he was sleeping, he was still cultivating.

"What an enviable ability!" the Demon Chapter King stretched his body into an extremely strange posture, like a ball of thread coiled around, rolling around the stone cave while staring at Shi Fei and sighing.

As he rolled around on the ground, his limbs kept wriggling, constantly intertwining, and his ten fingers kept changing hand seals.

He was likewise cultivating the Formless Bone Demon Classic, and at the same time he was cultivating an extremely yin body-refining technique transmitted by Wu Tie.

As his cultivation deepened, this guy became boneless; even his head could stretch and writhe, looking extremely ferocious and eerie, enough at midnight to scare timid children to death.

Yan Hanlu was diligently and earnestly cultivating.

She followed a very orthodox cultivation method, sitting cross-legged in a stable manner on a dry large stone, with her five hearts facing the sky, assuming a proper cultivation posture; a circle of faint black flames surrounded her, the terrifying heat contained but not emitted, only coiling within three inches around her.

Tie Dajian sat cross-legged at the cave entrance, like a door god seated there.

A heavy broadsword lay across his knees; his whole body's skin turned pale gold, and a scorching qi flowed within him.

Tie Dajian now mainly cultivated the Six Paths Palace's Six Paths Golden Body, but he also assisted in cultivating the Formless Bone Demon Classic; unexpectedly, the Formless Bone Demon Classic had a powerful supplementary effect on the Six Paths Golden Body.

Although Wu Tie had only been out alone for a few days, Tie Dajian had already made consecutive breakthroughs; he was only a thin sheet of paper away from condensing his Life Pool and breaking through to the Life Pool realm.

If he wanted, he could break through.

Now he was merely consolidating his foundation, constantly using the nimble and profound mana cultivated by the Formless Bone Demon Classic to break as many heavenly earthly shackles as possible, and to make his foundation as solid as possible.

His skin had completely turned pale gold; purely in terms of physical strength, he was actually not much different from the Six Paths Palace's Life Pool realm body-tempering experts, differing only in realm.

With a booming sound, a puff of thick smoke spewed from a small hole in the corner of the stone cave; after a while, Lu Ji emerged from the small hole, ash-covered and panting, vomiting black smoke.

His metal puppet spider mount staggered behind him, struggling to crawl out.

Obviously, the metal spider also suffered considerable damage in the earlier explosion.

Lu Ji spat out a mouthful of blood, gasped, and collapsed to the ground: "When will Wu Tie return? I must have made a mistake in some small detour here…… but no, that's not right, after my calculations…… ah, my…… bones!"

Heavy footsteps sounded from outside the cave.

Old White, drenched in water, rushed into the stone cave; he violently shook his body, and water droplets scattered all over.

"Here, here, at last we've arrived…… now I can rest easy." Old White grinned, unable to close his mouth, saying: "At last we've arrived…… seniors, please come in, please come in, the place is a bit shabby, no choice, make do."

A burly, pale gold figure walked into the stone cave.

Tie Dajian leapt to his feet, respectfully clasping his hands and bowing to the burly man: "Martial Uncle."

The burly man responded with a muffled voice, strode into the stone cave, and then one after another, extremely burly men with pale gold skin filed in; the Eighteen Palace-Guarding Heavenly Kings of the Six Paths Palace gathered here.

"Didn't delay anything?" the Great Heavenly King of the Eighteen Palace-Guarding Heavenly Kings rubbed his bald head, hehe-laughing: "We're used to fighting and killing; we rarely do such cautious things, we took a detour all the way here…… the teleportation arrays and such made our heads spin."

All eighteen Heavenly Kings laughed together.

They hold high rank and great authority in the Six Paths Palace, and are experts of the hidden, profound level. In daily life they need not concern themselves with worldly affairs, unless there is a major invasion—for example, when the Sect Master of the Changsheng Sect leads people to slaughter into Six Paths City, only then will they leap out and fight fiercely.

Aside from such extreme situations, they remain in Six Paths City, cultivating in seclusion, with basically nothing requiring their worry.

Thus, aside from fighting, their various life skills are nearly zero.

This time, to avoid the eyes and ears of the Dark Guild, they painstakingly formed groups of two or three, scattered into small teams, and by various means borrowed the teleportation arrays of all factions, barely managing to reach the Black Serpent Domain.

Along the way they had to deal with all the major powers, while also concealing their true intentions.

The hardships of this journey were, for the Eighteen Garrison Palace Heavenly Kings, the first time in their lives.

However, they ultimately arrived safely.

Eighteen experts of the Life Pond Realm.

Moreover, they hail from the Six Paths Palace, possessing a relatively complete inheritance; their techniques and secret arts far surpass those of the bandits from the Great Serpent Cavern, making them Life Pond Realm experts of considerable strength.

This is the true confidence behind Wu Tie bringing people to the Black Serpent Domain to cause trouble for the Golden Undead.

That day, the Six Paths Palace Sect Master seemed to be taking the Eighteen Garrison Palace Heavenly Kings back, but in fact they split halfway; the Sect Master truly returned, while the eighteen Heavenly Kings dispersed directly, using every means to rush to the Black Serpent Domain.

Despite setting out several days earlier than Wu Tie, they still ended up arriving much later than Wu Tie and his party.

From this, the strength of the Dark Guild can be glimpsed.

Yan Hanlu and Mo Zhangwang rose to their feet, solemnly bowing before the assembled Heavenly Kings.

Lu Ji swallowed a few pills, then hastily bowed and paid his respects to them.

Only Shi Fei stumbled up in a daze; he had just downed a cup of old liquor, and suddenly felt dizzy and blurred vision—after a single bow, he collapsed face‑first to the ground, clutching his head and groaning, "humming and whining," about his headache.

"All right, no need for ceremony. By order of the Sect Master, we have come this time simply to help Wu Tie wipe out his enemies." The Great Heavenly King grinned, then his expression turned ferociously abnormal: "The Sect Master said we owe Wu Tie far too much; in this operation… we will not let any mistaken killings slide, and we must help Wu Tie exterminate his foes completely."

Tie Da Jian nodded firmly.

The folks of the Six Paths Palace are all straight‑shooters, with hardly any devious tricks.

He immediately shouted at Lao Bai: "Lao Bai, you've worked hard—hurry go gather intel and contact Wu Tie to see how we should proceed."

The Great Heavenly King chuckled: "Well, Lao Bai will gather intel and act as liaison; we can't just sit idle… All right, let's form a caravan and sneak into the Great Dragon Cavern to see what's going on."

The Great Heavenly King narrowed his eyes and said solemnly: "The Sect Master said we must help Wu Tie slaughter his enemies down to the last man… Therefore, after returning to Six Paths City, the Sect Master has dispatched three hundred elite disciples, and they have arrived as well."

Tie Da Jian and the others were horrified.

Wu Tie only said he had invited the Eighteen Garrison Palace Heavenly Kings, but he didn't mention that the Six Paths Palace Sect Master had also sent three hundred elites over.

They hurried out of the stone cave and saw, outside, in the winding tunnel, that each person's skin was mostly dark silver, with nearly one‑fifth of them having dark‑silver skin speckled with faint gold spots; these sturdy men stood there silently.

At the top of the tunnel, droplets of water continually fell onto the bare scalps of these sturdy men.

The droplets slid down their smooth skin, as if an internal furnace were roasting them, constantly evaporating hot steam that filled the entire tunnel with mist.

Tie Da Jian and the others' pupils constricted.

Three hundred elites, and they are the three hundred most elite of the Six Paths Palace.

Over two hundred Chonglou Realm peak cultivators, fifty or sixty half-step Life Pool Realm cultivators, with the Six Dao Palace's inheritance cultivation foundation, such a force can be called terrifying.

Everyone laughed in unison, and they immediately walked out of the winding tunnel, arriving near the main road outside. The Great Heavenly King and others took out variously shaped frames from their bracelets, on which were stacked all kinds of strange goods.

Everyone changed into various clothes, then nearby found a few beast nests, violently subdued over a hundred big lizards and dozens of big spiders, gave them a thorough beating, and forcibly harnessed them to cart after cart.

Soon, a caravan that looked somewhat presentable appeared.

The Great Heavenly King and others donned various helmets and headscarves, covering their signature bald heads, each full of enthusiasm as they followed the group, swiftly heading toward the Great Dragon Cave.

Ahead of them, Old Bai, whose fur had been groomed into a mottled gray-black and who looked much younger, was sprinting like a gust of wind.

He needed to rush to the Great Dragon Cave to gather information, and along the way send a message to Wu Tie.

The reinforcements have arrived; can we get ready to move now?

On the small mound, Old Daofeng and the Gold Silver Copper Three Ghosts narrowed their eyes at each other, then suddenly laughed coldly in unison and simultaneously unleashed massive magical fluctuations without restraint.

Old Daofeng's aura was sharp and icy, like countless steel knives wildly slashing across the sky.

The Gold Silver Copper Three Ghosts' aura was gloomy and drifting, soft and limp, floating like countless dead octopus tentacles wildly scattering across the sky, never directly opposing Old Daofeng's fierce aura.

Wu Tie sensed that the three ghosts' aura was inferior to Old Daofeng's by a level, and they seemed better at sneak attacks and ambushes, not skilled in direct combat.

No wonder the Gold Nether Spirits have three leaders, yet they've always been evenly matched with the Blood Saber; only when their three leaders join forces can they roughly contend with Old Daofeng.

Wu Tie's palm felt an itch; he vigorously rubbed the White Tiger Split, then suddenly stepped forward heavily with a big step.

With a muffled 'thud', the small mound several hundred meters in radius violently trembled once, the surrounding earth qi permeated, and the small mound, tens of meters high, was forcibly sunk several meters deep.

When Wu Tie moved, among the opposing Gold Nether Spirits' ranks, a pitch-black, tiger-headed figure over three meters tall also let out a loud roar and stepped forward fiercely. The ground likewise violently trembled, and then a wild gust burst from that tiger-headed strongman's body, forming a black tornado that shot straight into the sky.

Roar!

The tiger-headed giant's grim green eyes locked onto Wu Tie, and he slowly drew a heavy nine-ringed broadsword.

Wu Tie's move caused the Blood Saber's experts to step forward one after another, each fixing their gaze on their old rivals in the Gold Nether Spirits' ranks, baring their teeth and emitting magical fluctuations to provoke.

Among the Blood Saber's contingent of over a hundred people, fifty or so experts wore armor salvaged from the ruins.

Each of them shone with golden light all over, their jeweled brilliance bright enough to blind a dog's eyes.

The Gold Nether Spirits' experts were not to be outdone either; they likewise took out oddly shaped, ancient-looking weapons whose aura was gloomy and dangerous, clearly not ordinary items.

Old Daofeng gave a wicked grin: 'Oh… struck it rich, huh? This scrap copper and iron looks not bad.'

The Gold Ghost stared, teeth bared, at the armor on the experts behind Old Daofeng, so envious his eyes seemed ready to bleed.

They had indeed, under Duoliya's guidance, successfully entered an ancient relic and gained many benefits. But looking at the armor on these Blood Saber fellows, and then at their similarly golden, dazzling weapons, the Gold Nether Spirits' haul seemed pitiful by comparison.

The Gold Ghost gave Duoliya standing aside a hard stare.

Duoliya gave a dry laugh and said in a low voice: 'Chief, three leaders, let's talk properly, don't act rashly, don't act rashly……'

Duoliya quickly glanced at Old Daofeng again and again: 'We can cooperate, we can cooperate, don't start pointless conflicts…… If we fight, it'll surely be pain for kin and joy for foes, a loss not worth the gain……'

Old Daofeng said in a low voice: 'Cooperating together is not impossible, but in this process, whose orders are we to follow?'

The Gold Ghost sneered: 'Old Daofeng, you only know how to fight and kill, you have no brains—could you possibly listen to yourself? Besides, we have three brothers……'

The Yin Ghost said softly: 'So we still have to listen to us…… Even if we go by numbers, we still have to listen to us……'

The Copper Ghost smiled: 'How about we four join forces to command…… When we need to make a decision, we could vote by show of hands?'

Old Daofeng's face darkened at once: 'You may have three brothers, but only when you three join forces can you fight me to a draw……'

Wu Tie listened to Old Daofeng and the Gold Silver Copper Three Ghosts squabbling over there, he narrowed his eyes, glanced at Sun Zuo who was likewise facing off against an extremely weak Blood Saber Life Pool Realm expert, and gave a light cough.

He pointed at the tiger-headed giant opposite and said coldly: 'What are you looking at me for?'

The tiger-headed giant, not showing weakness, puffed out his chest and took a step forward: 'What are you looking at?'

Wu Tie sneered: 'You're looking at me again?'

He also stepped forward.

The tiger-headed giant likewise stepped forward: 'I'm just looking at you.'

Wu Tie swung the White Tiger Split and thrust forward with a spear: 'Look at me, I'll fucking kill you!'

A flash of cold light, and the White Tiger Split instantly appeared before the tiger-headed giant.