Chapter 247 - Stone Guardian
Onom!
A brilliant light rippled in strings over the mottled surface of the ancient stone statue. It looked as if a complicated and cryptic Spiritual Array had been engraved on its surface.
Everyone in the stone hall was startled by the changes before them, and it took them a moment to recover from the bursts of astonishment that were evident in their eyes.
The stone statue had come to life?
Mu Chen watched the ancient stone statue with a grave expression. The stone statue itself finally opened its eyes; however, there was no emotion in those pits, even though a spiritual light flickered.
The statue slowly lowered its head and looked around the crowded stone hall. An empty and emotionless voice echoed through the hall. “Death to those who agitate the Dragon Tomb!”
As the statue spoke, it reached out to take the end of one of the many toppled stone pillars and swung it with a terrifying and mountain-moving force.
Bang! Bang!
Those who stood directly in the pillar’s path were instantly ground into paste. Others who couldn’t dodge in time were sent smashing into the walls, while spewing mouthfuls of fresh blood.
The statue’s sudden explosion of energy shocked many experts and sent them retreating with wary expressions. This thing was basically a killing god.
Mu Chen was also shocked by the statue and he rapidly circulated his Spiritual Energy in response. There was something off about the situation, but right now, they had to focus on evacuating from the chaos caused by the stone statue.
Mu Chen turned to Li Qing and said, “Prepare to retreat.”
Li Qing lightly nodded.
The newly awakened stone statue had already started its ruthless massacre of the stone hall’s occupants. It marched forward, using the stone pillar in its hands like weapon. Everyone struck by the weapon was left either dead or crippled.
The Lion Tiger Regiment and Nine Blade Troop had the greatest numbers; therefore, they also suffered the greatest losses. Scores of people were turned into meat pulp with each swing of the stone pillar.
“Brother Cheng Hu, what’s going on with that stone statue?” The Nine Blade Troop’s leaders urgently asked with matching expressions. They’d only rushed here because they’d heard that there was a High Rank Spiritual Artifact. However, they hadn’t even caught a glimpse of this High Rank Spiritual Artifact before they encountered this rampaging stone guardian.
Cheng Hu sullenly pointed at Mu Chen and Li Qing. “The High Rank Spiritual Artifact has fallen into their hands. We can’t let them escape.” Their reinforcements had arrived after great difficulty, only to see such unexpected changes to the situation. They were unwilling to withdraw.
“First, we’ll have everyone withdraw. Then, the three of us can fight together!”
The Nine Blade Troop’s leaders hesitated. The stone guardian’s rampage could get troublesome if they stayed too long.
Cheng Hu ground his teeth. “That bastard nearly killed my brother and even dared to use him to threaten me. If you capture them, I can give up on the High Rank Spiritual Artifact. Just hand that bastard to me!”
The Nine Blade leaders lit up and laughed. “Alright. Since Brother Cheng Hu asked us, we’ll capture that brat.”
Cheng Hu cursed inwardly, but only waved his hand in acceptance. The members of their parties began retreating while Cheng Hu and the Nine Blade Troop’s two leaders flew forward, towards Mu Chen and Li Qing.
Li Qing was the first to sense the three experts bearing malicious intent. The stone hall was already in a state of chaos as the stone guardian continued its massacre and sent everyone fleeing in sorry states. However, not only was Cheng Hu not fleeing with them, he was running towards them. It seemed that his hatred for Mu Chen was uncontrollable.
“Hmph.”
Li Qing wasn’t frightened by their attacks in the slightest. With a tightening of her fingers, the Draconic Spirit Bracelets on her wrists burst with brilliant lights. Two colossal dragons — one scarlet and one flood dragon — roared and charged with astonishing power, engulfing the three enemies and destroying any remaining pillars in their path.
Now that the Draconic Spirit Bracelets had been united, it was clear that the power behind them was several times greater. The sheer strength of the artifact even surprised Mu Chen. It was truly worthy of the title of “High Rank Spiritual Artifact”.
“Damn it!”
Cheng Hu’s face changed when he saw the scarlet dragons rushing towards him with their baleful auras. The three figures stopped and released their Spiritual Energy without reservation. The three majestic energies whistled out from their bodies and collided with the dragons.
Bang!
Violent waves of Spiritual Energy swept out. Several unlucky experts retreated while coughing up blood.
The twin dragons roared low and deep as they stopped Cheng Hu and the other two.
A look of excitement flashed across Li Qing’s face as she observed the might of the Draconic Spirit Bracelets. With this artifact, she might even be able to hold her own against a Heavenly Transform Stage Initial Phase expert. Again, this High Rank Spiritual Artifact was befitting of its title.
Mu Chen couldn’t help clucking his tongue either. Even he might not win against Li Qing while she had those bracelets — if he didn’t pull any powerful tricks.
But now that the Draconic Spirit Bracelet belonged to Li Qing, Mu Chen no longer coveted it. Either way, Mu Chen refused to believe that there was only one High Rank Spiritual Artifact left behind in this Sovereign Spirit Treasury.
Boom!
Just as Mu Chen was sighing at its power, his mind suddenly jumped at the explosion. He shifted his gaze towards the stone guardian and noticed that it had suddenly halted its steps. It shifted its empty gaze and stopped on Li Qing, who was still controlling the Draconic Spirit Bracelets.
The Draconic Spirit Bracelets had been taken from this stone guardian, and it was clear that it could sense the familiar ripples. Even though it didn’t possess any intelligence, those ripples were enough to attract it.
Boom!
The Stone Guardian hugged the huge stone pillar and suddenly strode forward, charging in Mu Chen’s direction. It lifted its stone arms and brought the pillar down on Li Qing so quickly that an ear-piercing sonic boom echoed in the chamber.
The shadow of the pillar descended and Mu Chen’s face changed. He didn’t think twice as he pulled Li Qing into his arms and tapped his feet on the ground to retreat.
Bang!
The stone pillar smashed into the spot where they’d just been standing and cracks spiderwebbed from the ground. Mu Chen’s scalp tingled. Even he’d be heavily injured if he took that one full-on.
This stone guardian definitely wasn’t weak. Probably only a real Heavenly Transform Stage expert would be able to confront it.
“Release me.”
A cold voice sounded in Mu Chen’s ear and interrupted his thoughts. He looked down at the sexy ice queen in his arms and saw that those icy-cold eyes were filled with humiliation and anger.
“Those were pressing circumstances. Pressing circumstances.” Mu Chen dryly explained with a chuckle, but still set her down. Li Qing seemed to have something against those of the opposite sex. But there was no way Mu Chen could’ve bothered over such small details earlier.
Li Qing also knew that Mu Chen hadn’t tried to take advantage of her on purpose, so she didn’t hang on to it. She only gave him a warning glare before she turned her attention back towards the stone guardian. When its attack had landed a miss, it’d lifted the stone pillar again to slam it down on Cheng Hu and other two who were closer.
The three of them didn’t dare to take the attack and rapidly retreated. They sorrily and only narrowly dodged the guardian’s attack.
“Let’s leave now.” Mu Chen said to Li Qing. Suddenly, he furrowed his brows and a silver medal appeared in its hand. The medal had been engraved with the image of a white dragon — the one that he’d taken from the body of the King Flame-Eater back in the magma lake. For some reason, the medal was currently heating up.
“What’s going on?”
Mu Chen was temporarily confused by the changes he sensed in the silver medal. However, he only furrowed his brows and tucked it back into his sleeves. This was no time to ponder over it.
He didn’t notice that when he brought out the silver medal, the stone statue had frozen for a brief moment before it’d turned around. He only saw it running towards him, rumbling as it moved.
“Quick, run!”
Mu Chen’s expression changed as he called out to Li Qing and retreated. In just a few moments, he was already out of the ruined stone hall and moving faster with Li Qing beside him.
However, the stone guardian didn’t seem like it intended to give up, even as they moved further away. Its bloodthirsty aura surged.
Cheng Hu and the other two sighed in relief when they saw that the stone guardian had given up on them.
The two leaders of the Nine Blade Troop gasped for breath. The two of them had nearly been ground into fresh meat, and weren’t anxious to try again. “Brother Cheng Hu, that Stone Guardian was too powerful. It’d be hard for us to destroy it and won’t be easy for us to escape from it. I think we should let it go. That stone statue has its eye on that brat for some reason, so he’s already as good as dead.”
Cheng Hu hesitated as well, before he nodded helplessly. “Then we’ll let him go. We’ll reorganise our experts and head deeper into the palace. I believe there should be better treasures in there. As long as we are allies, I believe that we can even contend with the three major forces.”
“Alright!”
The two leaders of the Nine Blade Troop immediately agreed. They left the ruined stone hall as a group to gather their men, then immediately headed towards the depths of the spirit treasury.
In another location, Mu Chen’s face was ugly as he knew that the stone guardian had targeted them. It didn’t matter where they ran to, the stone guardian was always close behind.
“Mu Chen, what’s going on?” Li Qing’s face changed as well, why was the stone guardian targeting them?
Mu Chen thought for a bit, then said, “It looks like it’s coming after me. Let’s separate.”
“Alright. I’ll be right behind you.” Li Qing nodded and quickly turned towards another direction.
The stone statue simply ignored Li Qing and her Draconic Spirit Bracelets in favor of chasing after Mu Chen.
“Damn it.”
Mu Chen angrily cursed. This thing really was after him. But why? He’d never fought with it, and he didn’t have the Draconic Spirit Bracelets.
“What’s going on?”
Mu Chen furrowed his brows as ideas flickered through his mind. A moment later, those thoughts clicked into place and he clenched his fist. The silver medal with the white dragon appeared back in his hand.
A light flashed through his eyes as he looked at the heated silver medal. He seemed to have understood something.
So this silver medal was the thing attracting the stone guardian?