The members of the Da Xia delegation team only managed to further their tracks by a few steps before another incident occurred. From what initially appeared to be a flat harmless floor, the smooth surface simply exploded with hundreds of hair pin needles from beneath.
Thankfully this time the casualty only revolved around the alchemic beasts. Whenever one falls, Xia Hou Qi (prince) would swiftly replace it with another, allowing the paper animals to take the blow for them one after the other.
But not everyone inside the fourth cave tunnel was as fortunate to have a capable prince in their group. Take the Sky Armor Sect for example, they’ve already lost several of their disciples after accidentally activating the traps along their path. Even worse, Ling Yue’s team remains nowhere to be seen, thus rousing Zhu Ge Yi’s suspicion even further.
By all accounts, the competition should be inferior to them in terms of speed since they had the Phoenix Lord among their ranks, a boy incapable of fighting.
“Stop.”
Then just as he’s deliberating on whether or not to turn back, another frantic scream next to him had broken out again. Next thing they knew, one of the disciples had become pinned to the wall with blood dripping down the person’s chest.
A trap?
Zhu Ge Yi raises his alert level immediately, realizing he’s been careless and forgot how dangerous the Star Cave truly was. A damning mistake that could’ve costed him his life.
“Sky Armor Mouse, it’s time for you to show your magic.” Taking out a small little thing from his sleeve, the elder puts on a cheeky sneer upon activating the creature.
Based on the fact that it’s completely made out of copper, it’s obvious this item was neither an alchemic nor spirit beast. That made sense anyways since the Sky Armor Sect specializes in forging various spirit tools and armors.
So what use did this unremarkable little mouse have? Well, it’s enchanted with the special ability to locate traps and treasures within its near vicinity. A perfect tool for dungeon crawlers or treasure hunters, assuming they know how to take advantage of the effects that was in it.
And without disappointment, it didn’t take long for the copper mouse to show some results by dashing forward in a specific direction.
By following its route, the members of the Sky Armor Sect were able to encounter no issues whatsoever this time around, thus amazed the other team behind their backs in doing so.
Looks like this Zhu Ge Yi and the Sky Armor Sect does have some skills. Ling Yue muses to herself, surprised by the capability of that mouse.
“There is nothing special about this, my lordship is way better at identifying the traps and dangers up ahead and could even remove them if he wished.” After seeing how envious the girl’s face was, Dao Nu started to grumble discontentedly from one side.
Sure enough, the reminder instantly brought on a wave of recollections within the group. It’s true they’ve been tagging along the Sky Armor Sect’s tail the entire way, but that’s not enough to ensure they won’t activate any traps along their path by mistake.
“How did you know the whereabouts of the traps?” Ye Ling Yue asks, curiosity sparkling in her eyes now.
“My innate intuition. That mouse can only make it through the middle section at this rate before it becomes useless. Further ahead is a labyrinth array that’s too big for its vision to contend with.” Feng Shen may not be able to fight but his knowledge far outweighs anyone else present.
This guy is obviously a medicine pot, yet he’s surprisingly sharp at times. Somewhat skeptical of the boy’s word, Ling Yue examines him up and down in search of something she’s been missing.
“Not good, it’s a sword typhoon formation!” Another hundred steps further, Zhu Ge Yi’s voice could be heard screaming again.
Mixed within the blast of wind gushing for the shielding group’s location, numerous swords could be seen flying at them, each carrying a frosty glint due to how sharp these blades were.
For the less fortunate, mostly the disciples of the Sky Armor Sect, these individuals were the ones taking the full brunt of that force due to their inability to avoid. In fact, the elder himself was also caught off guard and could barely keep himself safe at the moment.
“This sword array is just a small one. With Zhu Ge Yi’s strength, he should be able to break it in a few minutes, three tops. However, his men aren’t so lucky though. It’s most likely half of them wouldn’t make it out alive afterwards.” Feng Shen notes, indifferent to the death of the other men.
“No, I think the Sky Armor Sect would be much more worse off than you predict.” Chuckling faintly, Ling Yue adds in her own opinion and causes a moment of confusion in the boy. “Tell me, which part of the place here has more traps and hidden weapons in place?”
Now it was the boy’s turn to grin. He knew exactly what Ling Yue intended to do by that meaning. Sweeping his gaze around the spacious cave tunnel, the boy promptly explained there’s still six traps with hidden weapons in them nearby.
“The eye of the sword array is in the northwest direction!” No matter how much of a mess Zhu Ge Yi was, he’s still an elder of a sect. After the brief panic at the beginning, he was able to quickly compose himself and issue orders to regain the upper hand by moving for the eye – he and two went for the source and the rest acted as rearguards.
Unfortunately for him though, their misfortunes don’t seem to want to end so easily. From beneath the ground, numerous metallic nails had shot upward at that moment while even more arrows had come flying over from behind at the same time.
Zhu Ge Yi was horrified at the picture. In his urgency, the senior only managed to create a barrier around himself with his spirit force, leaving the two disciples that’s with him defenseless to the onslaught.
This was infuriating. Watching his men be sliced apart, head rolling and limbs sprawling lifelessly on the floor, he had no other options left but to press on with teeth and sword. By the time it was over, every nearby was either dead or maimed to the point of near death. Well, one or two was still alive but their injuries are far too terrible to allow them to continue.
Then shifting his attention over to the ground and cave walls, he could definitely tell multiple triggers had been activated. That’s the reason why the danger levels skyrocketed near the end. But the bad news didn’t end just yet because he soon realized the Sky Armor Mouse given to him by the lord of his sect was also missing!
This was undoubtedly a double blow for Zhu Ge Yi.
The treasure of the Sky Armor Sect gone, the disciples who came with him were completely decimated, and he’s still oblivious as to who or what’s behind all this.