Cultivation Kill

"You? Stronger than me?" Yuan Yingwu laughed loudly. "Bing Wuji could easily defeat you, but I am stronger than him!"

"You—" Cheng Dazhuang struggled to move his feet, and saw bloodstains above his knees. He grimaced in pain and dared not move any further!

Two ruthless individuals, witnessing Cheng Dazhuang's actions, had an idea. They immediately used their weapons to sever their own legs, then used their spiritual power to seal the bleeding sites before leaping away into the distance.

Unfortunately, a huge suction force came from below. The two ruthless people were sucked down after only jumping half a meter. This time, half of their bodies were frozen. They could not escape by cutting off half of their bodies. They would surely die!

The five chosen ones from the Great Yuan Sect walked to the inner stone door, recited an incantation, opened the door, and then slipped inside.

Only ninety-odd Spirit Condensation Disciples remained in the hall, all cursing the Great Yuan Sect.

The high-ranking cultivators of the Great Yuan Sect couldn't hear their curses. The mountain walls outside were sealed off, and it was unknown how long the ceremony would take. Shen Zige estimated that the Core Formation cultivators had already left.

The suction force below gradually increased. As the suction force penetrated Shen Zige's mind, the Star Realm Company's smart watch emitted light, resisting the suction force of the array.

"It has encountered an unknown force that is draining the host's life force. According to company rules, it can automatically activate a protective shield that lasts for five seconds."

Shen Zige and Shi Yuan were enveloped in a protective shield that resembled a transparent eggshell. They had only five seconds to react, and they quickly rushed to the inner stone gate.

The protective shield flickered twice and then shattered like a bubble.

Five seconds have passed.

A figure passed by the two of them and slipped into the open doorway.

"It's Di Zheng!"

Even from just seeing the man's back, Shen Zige recognized him.

“He’s a time traveler too!” Shi Yuan said. “I saw a glint of light from the cracking of his spiritual shield out of the corner of my eye.”

"I remember who he is!" Shen Zige said, "He's that mustachioed detective!"

As they talked, the two walked through the inner stone gate.

"Hey, you two, you've forgotten about me!"

Cheng Dazhuang shouted from behind.

"I'm sorry, our shield only lasts for five seconds, so there's no time to save others," Shi Yuan said. "Don't worry, we'll take down those five guys surnamed Yuan and avenge you."

Behind the door was a vast lava space.

Below is the magma zone, where stone pillars continuously emerge from the magma, as if they were stepping stones for people to cross over.

A man with slightly dark skin stands at the edge of the lava, observing the pattern of the stone pillars expanding and contracting.

"Little mustache, where do you think you're going?" Shen Zige drew his guiding sword.

“We don’t have any deep-seated hatred for each other,” Di Zheng said. “There’s no need to risk our lives here.”

“You tried to kill me in the Immortal Cultivation Killing Secret Realm,” Shen Zige said.

“In the Immortal Cultivation Killing Secret Realm, everyone is an opponent. Besides, I’m just doing this for money; I didn’t intentionally target you,” Di Zheng said. “The real culprit is Wu Xin; I’m just the knife in his hand. Can you blame the knife? Times have changed. Now we are both trapped. We can put aside any grudges, join hands, and escape this dangerous situation!”

"Those who achieve great things don't concern themselves with trifles; a prime minister's belly can hold a boat." Di Zheng added, "A petty person can't achieve great things!"

"I'm curious, how did you know we came to the Kingdom of Wu?" Shi Yuan observed the stone pillars in the magma, but couldn't find a pattern to their growth.

“You two caused the Wuding Business Alliance to go bankrupt, and Wu Xin has disappeared without a trace. I wanted to see where you two went, so I looked for clues, but the connection was lost at the self-service teleportation array.” Di Zheng said, “The teleportation numbers were scrambled, so I can’t know your teleportation location. Therefore, I suspect that you bribed a passerby.”

"Smart," Shi Yuan praised.

“That passerby wasn’t hard to find. It’s a very small city. Someone had an extra sum of money, and I found him after asking around for a day,” Di Zheng said. “Unfortunately, the man was old and didn’t remember the original teleportation numbers you two had. But that didn’t stump me. I took his fingerprints and used the silver nitrate method to verify them on the self-service teleportation machine. I got the numbers he had before he messed them up, and then I teleported them over.”

Shi Yuan analyzed Di Zheng's words and felt that he was not lying, but because he concealed his identity, Shi Yuan was still a little wary of him.

"Have you figured out the pattern in the stone pillars?" Shen Zige asked. "The five people ahead of us must have known the pattern to get through this lava zone."

“The five of them knew the exam answers in advance, while we needed to find and calculate,” Di Zheng said. “Give me some time. Right now, most of the information and conditions are unknown, so we can’t analyze them.”

The three of them stood together at the edge of the lava.

Scorching flames erupted, distorting the air.

"Can we fly there on a sword?" Shi Yuan asked Shen Zige.

Shen Zige took out a spirit stone, poured his strength into it, and flicked the spirit stone away with his finger.

The spirit stone flew straight through the lava field, heading forward.

boom--

Flames erupted from the center, transforming into a fiery beast that devoured the flying spirit stones. In just a few seconds, the spirit stones turned to ashes.

"There are also Flame Beasts in the lava zone; their strength is equivalent to the late Foundation Establishment stage," Shi Yuan said. "It seems we can't fly there."

“When the Yuan Dynasty designed the mechanism, they certainly wouldn’t have left such an obvious loophole,” Di Zheng said. “We still need to find the pattern of how the stone pillars emerge.”

"Five, seven, nine, four, eleven." Di Zheng assigned numbers to the stone pillars in sequence, searching for mathematical patterns.

“I believe that the ancient predecessors of the Great Yuan School were not skilled in advanced divination techniques,” Shi Yuan said to Di Zheng.

Shi Yuan rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought.

"I understand, these stone pillars correspond to the stars in the sky!" Shi Yuan said. "The first stone pillar corresponds to the location of the Horned Wood Dragon, the second to the location of the Kang Golden Dragon, and the third to the Di Earth Badger..."

"The fourth position is wrong," Shen Zige said. "Are we just supposed to guess?"

Shi Yuan and Di Zheng immediately fell silent.

Using the substitution method, Shen Zige imagined herself as a high-ranking member of the ancient Yuan Dynasty. How would she design the project?

"Substitution method!" Di Zheng and Shi Yuan exclaimed at the same time.

Both of them were very intelligent and immediately realized this.

“Yes, those should be the locations of the main cities of the Wu Kingdom. I remember the map of the Wu Kingdom,” Di Zheng said. “The first three stone pillars that appeared resemble the locations of Xuanyue City, Xuantian City, and Xuandi City in the northeastern region of the demon race!”

“The fourth one is wrong again,” Shen Zige said. “The pattern of the first three is a simple triangle. If you try to explain it, you can apply it to almost everything in the world.”

“The main city of Wu Kingdom will definitely change over the course of ten thousand years, but the various main peaks will be different and will rarely change,” Shi Yuan said. “If I were the designer, I would definitely use the locations of the various main peaks to design the mechanisms.”

No one outside dares to draw a map of all the main peaks of the Great Yuan Sect, so no one knows whether what Shi Yuan said is true or false.

"Only five stone pillars appear each time. Could it be related to the Five Elements?" Shen Zige said. "I guess we'll have to step on the fifth stone pillar before the sixth one appears!"

To get through this lava zone, Shen Zige estimated that he would have to step on about a hundred stone pillars.

“You’re right, I also feel this is an ancient Five Elements magic technique, with each set of five acupoints corresponding to a magic movement,” Shi Yuan said. “Yes, these are the acupoints on the human body!”

“There should be thirty-six stone pillars in this area, and another thirty-six beyond that!” Di Zheng said. “There’s only one truth: the five people surnamed Yuan learned a corresponding set of spells, which is why they were able to pass through so easily!”

Even if they knew the truth, the three of them were still trapped on the edge, and they didn't know that kind of magic.

"I've found a way to get through it!" Shen Zige exclaimed in a flash of inspiration.