Chapter 28: First Foray into the Relics, an Unavoidable Trap!

Phew! Arrived!

With the Clear Wind Boots, Su Hao's travel speed increased greatly; what originally took half a day, he covered in just over three hours, arriving before a deserted small town.

Ninety-nine percent of the buildings in this small town suffered severe damage, turning into ruins.

However, one building was an exception: the ancient castle located at the town's center.

This castle stands three stories high, preserved extremely well; even the doors and windows on its outer walls suffered no damage.

While the whole town was destroyed, this castle sustained no damage whatsoever—not even the glass in its windows was broken—showing its extraordinariness.

This castle is precisely Su Hao's final destination for this trip—

Relics!

In his previous life, Su Hao had never come here, but through the communication bracelet he saw plenty of information about these relics.

Inside this castle lie numerous traps and powerful monsters; a major force called Other Shore Flower lost five batches of people and spent over a month before completing the exploration of these relics.

As the saying goes, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

It is said that the leader of Other Shore Flower, after finishing the exploration of this castle, obtained a method to advance to a high-rank superhuman.

In the end, it took just over a year for him to become a fifth-rank professional, the strongest person in that region at the time—however…

"This opportunity is mine!"

Su Hao grinned, gripped his serrated longsword, leaned against the wall, and slowly pushed open the castle's main gate.

After waiting about a minute and seeing nothing unusual, Su Hao finally poked his head out to look inside the castle.

What met his eyes was a long corridor with no lamps on either side, making it somewhat dim.

To be precise, the entire interior of the castle had no lamps at all.

At least, as far as Su Hao could see, there was not a single light source.

After a moment's thought, Su Hao picked up a small stone from the side, flicked his wrist slightly, and threw the stone into the corridor.

Clang—! Clang—! Clang!

Inside the corridor, aside from the sound of the stone hitting the ground, there was nothing else unusual, nor any other noise coming from within.

"As expected, it's not that simple."

Su Hao was not surprised by this result; if the traps here were so easy to test, how could the Other Shore Flower force in his previous life have suffered such heavy losses?

Since we can't test them out, there's no need to waste time outside.

When Other Shore Flower finished exploring these relics in his previous life, it was about two or three months after the Strange Descent; at that point, their strength was at most a few first-rank superhumans.

"My current strength is definitely not weaker than theirs back then; since they managed to explore these relics, I certainly won't have any problems!"

Su Hao smiled confidently, immediately flipped his left hand, took out the Awakening God Lantern, illuminated the corridor ahead, and strode inside.

"Huh?"

Just as Su Hao reached the middle of the corridor, he suddenly felt something sweep across his body.

Immediately afterward, the stone bricks on the corridor's side walls suddenly cracked open, revealing round holes one after another—so many they could not be counted.

As far as the eye could see, the side walls of the corridor from the entrance to the exit were completely covered with these round holes.

"Tsk tsk tsk! No wonder Other Shore Flower sacrificed so many people when exploring here—this gives no chance of survival!"

Looking at the dense holes in the wall, Su Hao involuntarily shook his head and smiled, stowing the Awakening God Lantern back into his Storage Bag, standing calmly in place, awaiting the attack from those holes.

His current position is exactly the middle of the corridor; trying to run out before the trap triggers is obviously impossible.

The trap's trigger point is set in the middle precisely to prevent anyone from escaping by speed.

"Huh? No reaction?"

After standing in place for about a minute with no sign of the holes attacking, Su Hao couldn't help but frown slightly.

He was certain that the holes appearing in the wall could not possibly be mere decoration.

Could it be that……

Has this trap not been fully triggered yet?

Thinking this, Su Hao stepped forward with his right foot.

Whoosh—! Whoosh—! Whoosh—!

Whoosh—! Whoosh—! Whoosh—!

……

Almost the instant Su Hao's right foot touched the ground, all the holes in the wall fired three consecutive volleys of powerful, rock-piercing arrows, launching an indiscriminate assault on everything inside the corridor.

Under this all‑around, immensely powerful attack, even a first‑rank superhuman would be turned into a hedgehog, becoming a corpse in the corridor.

Under the three consecutive volleys, Su Hao was likewise struck by over a hundred arrows, turning him into a hedgehog.

Yet he did not die from it; instead, he moved his arrow‑riddled body with interest a few times.

"It seems that after becoming a Blood‑Flesh Controller, I've gained considerable resistance to pain!"

If it were anyone else, just having an arm pierced by an arrow would likely make them roll on the ground in agony.

What's more, Su Hao had over a hundred arrows stuck in his body, one of which pierced his eyeball and entered his brain.

Yet despite such dense attacks, Su Hao felt no pain at all.

He merely sensed that those parts had been hit and needed to pull the arrows embedded in his flesh out before his wounds could heal.

After experiencing this novel sensation for a while, Su Hao then proceeded to pull out the arrows one by one.

"Huh? Poison?"

After pulling out all the arrows, a sudden trickle of fresh blood flowed from Su Hao's nose, making his body feel weak and unable to muster strength.

However, he did not panic; he immediately activated the Blood Flame Technique.

Crimson flames burst from Su Hao's pores, instantly incinerating the toxins inside his body, while the areas pierced by the arrows began to heal at a visible speed.

Having become a Blood‑Flesh Controller, Su Hao's basic recuperative ability is already strong; as his blood flows, minor injuries will heal on their own in no time.

When using the Blood Flame Technique on himself, besides being able to cleanse toxins from his blood, it also speeds up blood flow, thereby indirectly accelerating his own recovery speed.

"Looks like I don't need to consume blood."

Having sensed that his injuries had mostly healed, Su Hao put the drop of crimson blood he had just taken out back into his Storage Bag.

Afterwards, he took out the Awakening Spirit Lantern, and its bright light illuminated the surroundings.

Looking at the arrows on the ground, Su Hao's eyes flickered slightly.

【Lethally Poisoned Arrows】

Effect: The arrows are made entirely of magic metal, with hardness close to that of a First Rank extraordinary material, and the arrowheads are coated with lethal poison, capable of easily killing a cow.

……

"Great stuff, can't let it go to waste!"

Su Hao immediately collected the arrows on the ground one by one into his Storage Bag, obtaining a total of 1200 Lethally Poisoned Arrows.

After collecting all the Lethally Poisoned Arrows, Su Hao also walked out of the narrow passage and arrived at a spacious Hall.