Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

The front of the bronze bowl features a massive bronze door, adorned with ancient and simple patterns.

Chen Yuanzhi moved closer to Xu Hao and lowered his voice.

"Boss, judging from its shape, it has been submerged at the bottom of the sea for at least a thousand years."

The mud monkey poked its head out and swallowed.

"Second Master, this iron turtle is secured so tightly, what kind of ancient divine skill is inside?"

"Whatever's inside this iron turtle, the lid's been lifted today." Xu Hao's gaze swept around.

The warships of the Three Alliances and Twelve Bandits were now restless, the flags on their masts fluttering, and countless greedy eyes almost set the bronze bowl ablaze.

The leaders of the three alliances did not take immediate action.

Luo Tianheng raised his hand, and several fast ships flying multicolored flags were driven out from the edge of the combined fleet.

These were a few insignificant forces that had tried to get a piece of the pie, and now they were being used as cannon fodder to scout ahead.

"go!"

Luo Tianheng's voice was unquestionable.

The warriors on the speedboats were pale, but surrounded by the three alliances, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and move closer to the bronze bowl.

As soon as they approached the bronze gate, several martial artists at the Skin Polishing Realm jumped onto the moss-covered rocks beside it and reached out to probe the gate.

"Are we going in already?" Mud Monkey poked his head out from the black boat, his voice laced with sarcasm beneath his mask. "Boss, we're not robbing..."

Before he finished speaking, the martial artists at the forefront suddenly stopped.

There were no screams, nor the sound of weapons clashing.

With a series of soft thuds, several living people seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall of blades, their bodies instantly disintegrating in mid-air.

Flesh and bones were shredded into extremely fine pieces, turning into a mist of blood that fell heavily onto the black reefs.

The dozen or so martial artists following behind watched their companion instantly turn into a rain of blood, and were so terrified that they scrambled backward.

"There's a formation! There's a meat-grinding formation on the door!"

Someone shouted angrily and turned to jump onto the speedboat.

Before their feet even touched the deck, several arrows pierced the air from the Zhenhai Alliance's warships behind them.

With several muffled thuds, the three fastest-running warriors were pierced through the heart by steel arrows and plunged into the sea.

Luo Tianheng stood at the bow of the flagship, not even raising a hand. The pirate beside him coldly sheathed his longbow. "The Alliance Leader has ordered that anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy. Continue scouting!"

The remaining seven or eight warriors were frozen in place; advancing meant certain death, and retreating meant certain death as well.

Before long, another cloud of blood mist appeared.

A sea breeze swept through, and the strong smell of blood mixed with the stench of entrails assaulted the nostrils.

On the deck of the black ship.

Mud Monkey swallowed the rest of his sentence, his legs trembling uncontrollably inside his black robe. "My God, this isn't a bowl, this is a deadly ancestor!"

Luo Meng swallowed hard, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "Boss, this threshold is a bit too high."

Xu Hao stood with his hands behind his back at the bow of the ship, watching as the blood mist dissipated and a layer of violent blood-red light gradually appeared at the entrance of the bronze giant bowl, the array patterns exuding a chilling killing intent.

"A blood-red killing formation," Chen Yuanzhi whispered from behind. "The rumors are true."

"The Sea King's Tomb surfaces every so often, and the entrance is guarded by this formidable array. Trying to force your way in is certain death."

Xu Hao raised an eyebrow beneath his mask: "I've been wanting to ask for a long time, what kind of formation is this? Who created it? I've been practicing martial arts for so long, and I've never heard of anyone knowing this stuff. Where can I learn it?"

Chen Yuanzhi straightened his sleeves and shook his head, saying, "Boss, you don't know this. This kind of technique called formation is said to have originated from the time of the Martial Ancestor. After the Martial Ancestor shattered the void, this technique was lost and completely extinct. Nowadays, the martial artists in Daheng all practice Qi and Blood Martial Arts. Who still understands this technique?"

Luo Meng, listening from the side, scratched his head: "Second Master, if it's been lost, why is there still a killing formation at the entrance of this Iron Turtle? Why is it still spinning? It's been thousands of years, hasn't it broken down?"

"That's why it's so coveted." A glint flashed in Chen Yuanzhi's eyes. "Because this Sea King's Tomb is protected by an ancient formation, everyone is certain that it must contain unparalleled martial arts techniques from the time of the Martial Ancestor, or even fragments of the legendary Nine Supreme Divine Arts! If we can get even a tiny bit of it, it'll be enough to make us run rampant in Shengzhou."

On the flagship of the Three Alliances in the distance.

Luo Tianheng's expression darkened slightly as he looked at the blood-red light barrier.

Ao Zheng sneered, his face full of ferocity beneath the crimson beast fangs. "Luo Tianheng, trying to probe the Sea King's Tomb with a few ants? You're too petty."

He turned around and waved his hand behind him, "Bring them up!"

Behind the main ship, the bottom deck of a Blood Bone Alliance warship was pushed open, and a dozen young women, bound hand and foot, were roughly shoved onto the deck.

The women were pale, their mouths stuffed with rags, and their eyes were filled with despair.

Virgins born in a yin year and yin month.

A cruel glint flashed in Ao Zheng's eyes. The door to the Sea King's Tomb had to be opened with a blood sacrifice.

At this point, Ao Zheng glanced at Ye Piaoling out of the corner of his eye, his back teeth grinding together.

To gather this group of women born in the year of the Yin, the Blood Corpse Alliance searched every inch of Shengzhou but still couldn't find enough.

Finally, having no other choice, they had to reluctantly find Ye Piaoling and borrow the Blood-Clad Tower under the Free and Unfettered Alliance to cross the sea to Mingzhou and Chenzhou to capture people, which barely made up for the missing number.

The thought of Ye Piaoling, that smiling tiger, taking advantage of the situation and demanding not only an exorbitant price for blood crystals but also a large sum of hush money, made Ao Zheng feel a tightness in his chest.

"Alliance Leader Ye, you've really made a killing on this deal," Ao Zheng said sarcastically.

Ye Piaoling waved his folding fan, smiling like a friendly shopkeeper, "Alliance Leader Ao, what are you saying? The brothers of the Blood Robe Tower are working across states, so their travel expenses always need to be covered. It is an honor for the Free and Unfettered Alliance to help the Blood Corpse Alliance open the door to the Sea King's Tomb."

Ao Zheng snorted coldly, too lazy to look anymore.

He suddenly waved his hand, and the ship stopped in front of the Blood Slaughter Formation. Several executioners from the Blood Corpse Alliance drew their ghost-head knives, grabbed the women by the hair, and dragged them to the side of the ship.

"Do it! Use this blood from the year and month of the underworld to melt open this tomb door!"

On the deck, a dozen women were held down tightly against the ship's side, the cold glint of the ghost-head sabers blinding them.

The sobs were muffled by the rag, and tears mixed with terror fell onto the wooden board.

At the entrance to the Tomb of the Sea King, a layer of violent, blood-red killing array wriggled like a living thing, tightly enveloping the heavy, ancient bronze gate behind it.

Ao Zheng stepped onto the gunwale, pointed at Luo Tianheng under the blue flag with a gold anchor, and laughed wildly: "Alliance Leader Luo, my Ghost Head Blade is about to draw blood! Weren't you just shouting that you wanted to settle accounts with me and act on behalf of Heaven? Why are you mute now? Why don't you come over and capsize my ship right now?"

Luo Tianheng stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze passing directly over the trembling women and fixed on the ancient bronze gate.

He turned slightly to the side, flicked his sleeve, and spoke in a flat, emotionless tone: "The Sea King's Tomb concerns the eternal inheritance of Shengzhou's martial arts. Since Alliance Leader Ao is determined to commit such atrocities, then your Blood Corpse Alliance shall bear the consequences. My Zhenhai Alliance will not be tainted by such karma."

After saying this, the man, who claimed to be the leader of the righteous path in Shengzhou, actually closed his eyes and put on a compassionate and merciful appearance.

However, the way he was holding the white jade thumb ring behind his back made a cracking sound, betraying his inner urgency.

Ao Zheng was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then burst into a fit of wild laughter and spat a mouthful of phlegm directly into the sea.

"Bah! I've really seen something amazing today! I paid to arrest people, I bleed them, I bear the consequences, and you, Luo Tianheng, just sit back and reap the benefits cleanly? Your skin is probably three times thicker than the Dragon-Slaying Stone behind the door!"

Ye Piaoling, standing to the side, waved her folding fan and smiled as she tried to smooth things over: "Alliance Leader Luo is mindful of the big picture, and Alliance Leader Ao is decisive and efficient. Let's each do our part and make money together in harmony."

On the deck of the black ship, Mud Monkey was dumbfounded. His mouth, hidden beneath his mask, gaped open, and after a long pause, he finally managed to stammer, "My goodness, is the leader of the Zhenhai Alliance out of his mind? He looks so compassionate watching people bleed?"

The bald man curled his lip: "You don't know anything. This is the Sea King's Tomb! It contains ancient divine skills! If you were in his shoes, would you care about the lives of these women? This is called 'great men don't concern themselves with trifles.'"

Chen Yuanzhi stood behind, his sleeves tucked in, and let out an extremely sarcastic sneer.

"Ha, he claims to be the righteous one in Shengzhou, yet he stands there righteously watching people bleed. He probably wouldn't even consider blood splattered on his shoes dirty, but when it comes to distributing the treasures later, his reach will definitely be longer than Ao Zheng's."

Xu Hao stood with his hands behind his back at the bow of the ship, his pale, faceless mask facing the farce ahead.

He's not some kind of savior of suffering; in this cannibalistic world, more people die every day than fish in the sea.

But looking at Luo Tianheng's arrogant and hypocritical face, he felt a strange sense of nausea.

After Ao Zheng finished cursing, he was too lazy to pay any more attention to Luo Tianheng and turned to look at the bronze gate.

"What are you dawdling for? Let's bleed you out!"

The executioners no longer hesitated, and their blades fell swiftly.

Dozens of blood spurted out, crimson blood cascading down the ship's sides and landing precisely in the churning blood-red killing array below. Upon contact with this extremely yin blood, the originally violent array dissolved with a piercing, melting sound, like boiling water poured over snow.

Large swaths of red light began to distort violently and visibly dimmed.

The blood was not diluted by the seawater; instead, it penetrated the light barrier and flowed upstream along the bronze gate.

Xu Hao stood with his hands behind his back at the bow of the ship, his pale mask facing the bronze door that had undergone a strange change.

The Zhenyuan ship beneath our feet seemed to sense something, its hull emitting suppressed creaking sounds, revealing an impatient greed.

As the last pattern on the bronze gate was completely soaked with blood, a muffled rumble suddenly came from inside.

Immediately following, accompanied by a series of cracking sounds, the Blood Fiend Dragon-Slaying Stone crumbled from the inside, turning into countless dust particles that fell down.

The massive bronze gate slowly opened to both sides.

There was no underground palace as one might have imagined, nor were there any dazzling burial objects.

Behind the door, there was also a bottomless sea.

Even more strangely, the seawater inside the door is directly connected to the sea outside, yet there is no turbulence or backflow; it is as calm as a black mirror embedded in the door frame.

"What's going on here?" Luo Meng's eyes widened as he pointed inside the door. "Why is this Sea King's Tomb a water cave?"

Chen Yuanzhi's tone was somewhat solemn: "It's probably a legendary spatial formation. This door is just an entrance; the seawater behind it is probably not even in our area."