While the fight between the 'Guardians' and scorpion beasts continued, the Mei soldiers also took the opportunity to start their own barrage of attacks.
Fan Xinya and the other seven led their men straight towards the temple doors.
The eight leaders became the vanguards with their high cultivation and superior techniques and abilities.
All lower realmed cultivators below the Spirit realm were tasked with keeping the beasts occupied while the leaders broke through the encirclement of the few thousand scorpion beasts that were still roaming on the right side of the temple.
Because of the havoc caused by the Guardians, most of the powerful creatures went to the left side while Mei's side only had a handful of elite beasts that were at the top of the Demonic Beast Realm and they were besieged by over 8000 rogue cultivators.
Fan Xinya was the first one to break through to the temple door and step inside the new area.
It was pitch black. An extremely strong stench of decomposing remains hit Fan Xinya head-on, making him take a step back in disgust. He covered his mouth with his sleeve and waved his hand.
Several people stepped out from behind him and threw out light stones that stuck to the walls.
This wasn't the first time they had entered a dungeon like this in this competition so they were well prepared.
These 2000 or so cultivators quickly took out various masks and ointments before putting them on. With the eight leaders at the front, they carefully ventured deeper into the dungeon.
Every few meters there would be a beast or two waiting for them. The deeper they went, the stronger and more lethal the beasts became. Their cultivation levels rose and as did their variety.
Within a few minutes, they had already lost about 70 people, most of which were to the same type of beast that was able to blend in with its surroundings. Most of the cultivators didn't even know how they died.
Outside, all of these events were being broadcasted live to billions of people. Everything, even the scenes from inside the temple were clearly shown to countless citizens.
Some were cheering, while some were worried about their favorite heroes, but the question on everyone's mind was the same.
"Where are the Mei Kingdom's soldiers? Why haven't they come out yet?"
But there was no one to answer them.
The fights continued and within two hours the Guardians were able to kill or even capture most of the beasts bigger than 50 meters. The smaller ones were too many to even count and didn't present the same level of danger to them.
Jia Tu looked at his spirit band as soon as it vibrated and nodded upon reading the message. He then leaned in towards the others and told them the news.
"Alright, let's go," they all agreed.
The Guardians were called back to rest as it was the remaining 16,000 soldier's turn to shine.
All of them charged towards the Scorpion beasts as if their lives depended on it.
These 3-5 meter tall four-armed giants swung their weapons around without a care in the world as they clashed with one beast after another.
The 15 Jia leaders waited until the battle was at its peak and quickly ran towards the temple with a 100 Guardian's leading the way.
Among these thousands of soldiers and even more beasts, they maintained low profiles and managed to enter the dungeon without being noticed.
They followed in the footsteps of the Mei cultivators and managed to catch up to them within just a few minutes, but they didn't attack.
For some strange reason, they kept a distance of a hundred meters and stayed away from the Mei cultivators, letting them go deeper and deeper into the dungeon.
The temple was only about 20 kilometers in size but the pathways inside it went on for more than a hundred kilometers.
Jia Tu kept checking his Spirit Band over and again.
***
About 2 hours later the Mei cultivators finally arrived in a large open cavern with hundreds of holes along the sides. It was at least 5 kilometers in size and its ceiling was covered with bright blue crystals that were lighting up the entire place.
"Oh my god! Are all of those spirit stones?!" the red-skinned Imp girl, Arizou, shouted in disbelief.
Fan Xinya who was covered in green and purple blood looked up and his pupils shrunk in incredulity.
All of those blue crystals were indeed Spirit stones, and Mid-grade ones to boot. (Check the end of auxiliary chapter "cultivation Realms" for details).
Just from a first glance, there were several tons of them.
Fan Xinya unconsciously gulped out loud. Those Spirit stones were enough to raise an entire generation of cultivators. If someone could get a hold of them, they might even be able to start their own clan if they so desired.
He then looked back down and once again was taken aback by what he saw.
On the other side of the cavern was a golden chest. It was covered in bright purple runes that were moving around on their own and engraved with the pictures of legendary beasts. The chest itself seemed to be made out of pure gold and whatever was inside it was powerful enough to give him chills.
This chest was placed here by the Empires with their collective treasures inside. The runes were placed on it to restrict the aura of these treasures otherwise they would have wreaked havoc in the area.
Everyone including Fan Xinya and even Jia Tu and his companions that were quite a distance away were able to feel the aura coming off of the golden chest.
They even forgot about the massive quantity of Spirit stones that were literally hanging above their heads.
It was the same for everyone watching at home as well.
While most of these cultivators were busy imagining what was inside the chest, one of them raised his feet and used some kind of a technique to charge straight in.
Fan Xinya quickly woke up from his daze and his expression hardened. The rules they had decided on were simple.
Whoever could get to it first would own the contents.
"STOP HIM!" he yelled while breaking out in a sprint.
Jia Tu's companions including Wu Chin and Cia Kang looked at him with furrowed brows but he simply shook his head in return.
"Not yet."
They wanted to run in as well but Jia Tu had not been wrong yet so they stayed put and watched on.
The Ninth Stage Spirit Realm cultivator that was running towards the chest picked up speed when he saw the others closing in.
A wide grin bloomed on his face when he got within 100 meters of the chest. And as he turned around to gloat, he was stupified by what he saw.
The 1900 or so cultivators that should have been following him had stopped quite a while back and instead were staring at his direction with mouths agape.
"Did they just give up?" he thought to himself until he noticed that they weren't looking at him, but above him.
He slowly lifted his head and noticed a green humanoid figure floating in mid-air.
"What is.."
Before he could even finish the thought, his legs that were mid-sprint cleanly separated from his body. And then the same happened to the rest of him over and over again until all that was left of him were little, inch long pieces.
Jia Tu's heart skipped a beat when he saw the floating figure.
"It was true…they left a Profound Realm beast to guard the chest…."
And he was right. This "creature" was left here to protect the Gold chest. A beast that was specifically captured by the Saint Lord's of the two Empires both as a gift, and a test.
A creature so wicked that even they had to send several cultivators that were an entire realm higher to capture it alive.
An Abrasive Jadeblood Scorpion King!
****
Authors Notes:
Scorpion King: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/05/10/27/0510276161473788cbcab2d1b5e97d4d.jpg
Short link: https://urlzs.com/p1WpK
