On the way to the central pagoda, the fifth and last of the five, Bai Zemin could not help but remember the battle that took place three days ago on this site.
Even though it was only two attacks, even though it was all over in less than ten minutes, his confrontation against King Kang Guiying was undoubtedly Bai Zemin’s toughest battle to date. Even his clash against the First Order Blazing Beetle during his time at the university compound had not come close to taking Bai Zemin to his grave, although it was significantly tighter.
The battle between Bai Zemin and Kang Guiying was a battle that literally shook the earth, illuminated the skies, and destroyed mountains. Leaving aside the first attack that nearly turned Bai Zemin into a corpse, the second clash between the two men was destructive as few would probably be for years to come.
Ironically enough, however, it was also the battle in which Bai Zemin did not have the power to choose whether he wanted to fight it or not…. As well as the battle in which he lost someone who unexpectedly ended up becoming important to him.
“We are here.”
Shangguan Bing Xue’s voice snapped Bai Zemin out of his daze, and as he looked ahead, he realized that at some moment the group had arrived before the fifth pagoda of the Five Silver Pagodas.
Bai Zemin took a deep breath and nodded before turning around and saying with a serious expression on his face, “Although in theory the trial is over and at this moment we should be claiming what rightfully belongs to us as victors, it seems that more enemies await us ahead. According to King Kang, Kang Guiying, creator of these ruins and previous owner of everything around here, the number of enemies awaiting us in the final ruin is definitely not small.”
They all listened in silence and with serious expressions on their faces. Although none of them believed that they would lose now that they had overcome so many difficult trials and hardships along the way, it was precisely because they had faced so many difficulties to get this far that they knew that underestimating what they might encounter one step ahead could be the cause of their downfall.
“During the battle to come, I want the following people to form the second front line in this assault…. Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, Zhong De, Cai Jingyi, Wu Yijun, Sun Ling, Huang Tian, Feng Hong, Feng Tian Wu, Teng Hua, Liang Jing, Nangong Lingxin, Xia Ya, Zeng Yun…..”
Bai Zemin called out the names of over forty soul evolvers who were above level 40. Among them, there were even mages like Feng Tian Wu, Feng Hong, Zeng Yun, Xia Ya, and there were also archers like Chen He and a few more.
However, surprisingly, none of the mages or archers who were called to the second front line were scared or incredulous even though the most rational thing to do would be to station them at the back of the group, just behind the melee fighters with higher defensive capacities by nature.
This was because each and every one of them, regardless of whether it was a mage like Feng Tian Wu or an archer like Chen He, possessed skills that allowed them to fight enemies at close range or that prevented their enemies from getting too close. There were also others like Chen He himself, who in addition to being proficient with ranged attacks was a great melee fighter and whose stats were high enough above average to allow him to fight against a Second Order existence.
Seeing the indifferent and confident expressions of all those who had been called out by him, Bai Zemin nodded with a slight smile of satisfaction on his face.
These people in front of him, even though they had fought by his side relatively little when compared to the colossally higher number of battles Bai Zemin had fought alongside other soul evolvers and soldiers of his Transcendent faction, were all brave warriors worthy of trust on the battlefield.
Bai Zemin really hoped that none of them would die in combat as they would definitely make good brothers and sisters to fight shoulder to shoulder in the future. However, even though he was confident in himself, that same uneasiness he felt on the first day when they went deep into the forest to reach the Five Silver Pagodas came back to him.
“Does anyone have any questions they would like to ask before heading into the ruin? Upon entering, I expect everyone to focus 100% on whatever is going to happen in there and forget about anything that doesn’t have to do with exploration, combat, and survival.” Bai Zemin said, his eyes sweeping over everyone present for the third time.
Bai Zemin did not take long to see Feng Tian Wu raising her hand gently just like a student during high school waiting for the teacher’s permission to speak so he nodded in her direction, “Go ahead.”
Feng Tian Wu lowered her hand and said with a firm expression on her face, “Even though we all probably already know the answer to this question but just to be sure, who will be the first front line?”
Bai Zemin nodded and said in a confident voice, “Of course, the first front line is composed of me and no one else but me.”
Feng Tian Wu nodded, her expression did not change upon hearing what in her heart she already knew.
In fact, everyone nodded as if it was natural after hearing Bai Zemin’s words.
“Any other questions?”
After several seconds of silence, Bai Zemin took the first step and just before his body was teleported to the final ruin he said loudly:
“Move!”
* * *
Just like well-trained machines, when the group led by Bai Zemin was teleported after stepping beyond the entry door of the fifth pagoda, all of them immediately took attack or defense positions depending on their role to play in the team while observing the surroundings very carefully.
This place was completely different from any of the other three ruins Bai Zemin had seen before.
The first ruin was a large room with several partitions where there were many pills, the second ruin was a small smithy with tools and materials destined for forging or construction, the third ruin had turned out to be a big library whose books ranged from history to recipes for preparing potions which detailed even the smallest of details necessary for the preparation to have a good chance of success in the hands of a novice.
However, regardless of whether it was the first ruin or the third ruin… Both paled to the point of no comparison when they looked at the place they had been teleported to.
This place could only be categorized as huge, so much so that wanting to compare the size of this place with the first ruin, which was probably the largest of them all so far, was no different than trying to compare the size of China with the size of Luxembourg; there was simply no scale to compare at all.
Above their heads, over 1000 meters high, were huge boulders that were probably indicative that this place might be hidden somewhere deep underground. Embedded in the rocks on the ceiling were small fist-sized emerald-colored stones that when joined together actually functioned as illumination which meant that the surroundings were not completely dark.
The smell of dampness and earth was definitely predominant, and only a breath was what everyone needed to understand that in this place, there was hardly any fresh air flowing.
Besides…
“What’s that smell?”
“It smells just like when I forgot to shower my dog for half a year.”
“Honestly, what is this shitty smell?”
“It seems to be the smell of shit though.”
“…”
More than a few soul evolves began to frown as they went further and further. The situation reached a point that most of them couldn’t help but comment and voice their complaints.
There was only one path to advance on; straight ahead!
The sides were covered by rocks and so was the back so everyone had no choice but to move forward. However, for every step forward the putrid smell that penetrated their nostrils. This reached such a high level after several minutes that had it not been for the fact that each and every one present had been bathed in the blood and internal organs of their enemies several times they all might have died vomiting.
“It really is just as I suspected.” Bai Zemin said with a slightly worried expression on his face as he moved forward leading the team a few meters behind him.
“What is it?” Shangguan Bing Xue grunted.
Her beautiful face was scowling at this moment and from the flame of anger burning in her blue eyes, she did not seem to be in any way pleased with this place.
“This smell is the excrement of an animal.” Bai Zemin said in a low voice that accompanied the echo of everyone’s footsteps. “So far, all we have met in the previous ruins were golems created by human hands, which is why we did not get any Soul Power when we defeated them. However, King Kang warned me of the danger inside this fifth ruin even though it should be empty after overcoming the final trial of the fourth pagoda.”
“Animal excrement? How much must those animals have defecated for the smell to spread everywhere? This place is huge after all!” Zhong De couldn’t help but grumble through gritted teeth.
“Shut up, Zhong De.” Nangong Lingxin frowned in a bad mood.
“No, you shut up, surnamed Nangong.” But Zhong De was in no mood to stay silent either so he also retorted.
The two seemed intent on continuing, but when they looked ahead and saw the cold gaze of Bai Zemin who was looking over his shoulder at them, they froze for a moment before closing their mouths and continuing to move forward.
Bai Zemin kept his gaze on both of them for a few seconds before turning his eyes forward and continuing his theory, “It seems that at some point in the past, some species of animal snuck into these ruins and built their nest here. Now, the number of creatures needed to impregnate this place with this foul smell must definitely be in the millions considering the size of the cave.”
“Millions?” Chen He suddenly opened his eyes in shock and said loudly, “Weaver ant!”
Hearing Chen He’s gasp everyone froze. It had been 4 days since they fought against the weaver ants but that great war was still fresh in everyone’s memory; a war in which if not for Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue, the human squad would have been annihilated down to the last man.
“Weaver Ant.” Bai Zemin nodded, confirming what everyone feared.
“Ever since we defeated that army of weaver ants I’ve been wondering why they didn’t come back for revenge. After all, it is well known that weaver ants are vengeful creatures by nature. However, strangely, even after so many days no weaver ants appeared and so far not even a single ant at the commander or general level has shown up, they were all either First Order collectors or First Order soldiers.”
A glint of cold light flashed in Bai Zemin’s black-as-night eyes as he muttered to himself:
“Now I finally understand what’s going on.”
Although those last words were not intended for anyone unlike the previous ones, in the silence that reigned inside the cave the words were clear as the water of a flowing river.
None of those present were idiots by any means, else they would not have survived for so long unless they had the goddess of luck as their lover. Therefore, it was not at all difficult for them to understand the rest without Bai Zemin explaining any more.
“… This is great, now the ruins have become the nest of weaver ants and as if that wasn’t enough we will have to fight to get what in theory should already be ours.” Shangguan Bing Xue shook her head and grumbled under her breath.
“Well… Bing Xue, look on the bright side of things.” Wu Yijun suddenly said.
“Bright side?” Shangguan Bing Xue looked at her doubtfully. Her mood really was bad as she made sure to say in a voice that only she and Wu Yijun could hear, “This cave is damp, the wind is not blowing at all, we have millions of enemies to face among which there will definitely be no shortage of First Order or Second Order existences and there might even be a Third Order queen, as if what I mentioned just now wasn’t enough, we also have to deal with this smell…. Where do you see the silver lining in this?”
Wu Yijun smiled sweetly as he looked at her with gentle and kind eyes like those of an angel, causing Shangguan Bing Xue’s eyes to shine…. But the shine in her eyes only lasted for a second as Wu Yijun’s next words were not sweet at all.
“At least, this is not a spider’s nest. Isn’t that good?”
