"Hey what are you doing…"
"Oh… Don't mind me, I'm just looking for the toilet…"
"The toilet?"
"Yeah…"
"..."
Zhang Dong showed a bright smile to the large mermaid in the throne room while moving to the side. She had been busy talking to herself and apparently while she was in that state the soldiers gathered here remained in a passive state. There was certainly something ingrained in the clone programming that made them freeze whenever their Empress was talking. This fact was used by him to begin his plan of sneaking away.
"Well then… I'll be right back!"
"What!?"
He quickly shifted into his shadowy form that allowed him to pass through so many troublesome trials. While in it he could traverse through this room while evading the guards that were unable to pinpoint his position. This of course didn't sit well with their leader that started thrashing about.
"What are you waiting for, CATCH HIM AND BRING HIM TO ME!"
"Yes, Empress!"
The group of mermaids that were in this room scattered to the side. They didn't seem to have been made for combat. Their bodies seemed to be close to the levels of core formation but it didn't seem that they had been tonight much. Perhaps their mother that had created them to act as vessels wanted to keep their bodies without any blemishes like scars. Instead, the cloned warriors with tridents tossed themselves his way as he sunk into the ground.
'Are you sure you can't limit it to the right one, Bob?'
'Requires more data'
'Any way to input more data? I'm not sure what we are looking for Bob.'
'User must get closer to one of the locations to gather more data.'
'I see…'
Bob gave him more than ten locations in this place that could have the power source for the grand formation outside. If he wanted to have a fighting chance he needed to let his people inside. Teleporting wasn't an option and it also didn't seem that this Empress wanted to talk. She had mumbled some obscenities while alluding to wanting his child making juices.
Apparently, she wanted to enhance her cloned troops from his DNA. For all he knew these men here had been cloned from some other system holder. There was a possibility that this was the way of going around this disaster but he was not Zhang Jin, his loyalties lay with his wife. Until he had exhausted all his options it was better to not go with her.
'What if she sticks me into a test tube or starts draining my blood to make more clones? Yeah, not worth the hassle at all.'
The whole glorious palace which was even larger than his flying fortress was in an uproar. All of the soldiers that were stationed here were out looking for him. They had seen him dive into the shadows which had been a mistake. While they were cloned soldiers they did have reasoning, figuring out that they needed to turn on the lights to remove the shadowy spots was one of the first things that they decided to do.
'Shit, they are turning on the lights everywhere…'
The biggest weakness of this traversing technique was light and soon enough there weren't that many places for him to hide. This area that he arrived in was one of the rooms that contained a strange spiritual energy signature. It was a copy of the large kitchen he saved his sect members from and all the energy was radiating from the food that was gathered here.
"There he is, stop him!"
"I didn't think that you'd be cannibals too, have some fish!"
One of the generals stormed into the area he was occupying. Just as he pushed through the door a large amount of fish flew his way. They were all quickly deflected by his weapon but while he was busy with the food fight, Zhang Dong began his escape. Sinking below the door frame where there was some shade was still possible but when he came outside there was too much light to keep his formless form.
'Okay Bob, do your work, that was one of the spots you pointed out…'
When outside he witnessed a group of fishy people ruining his way. They were quick to toss themselves at him without seemingly caring for their wellbeing. Without much trouble, Zhang Dong sent them flying to the sides. The difference in power was substantial but they persisted. Even when their bones were shattered and blood was coming out of their orifices they kept crawling his way.
"Are you zombies or something?"
Bob removed two locations from his map while he continued running. Behind him, a conga line of angry fish people was quickly forming. Even when he turned around and blasted them with some spirit energy balls, they just ignored them. It was clear that they were forced to carry out the order that their leader gave them. The brainwashing was strong and even seeing some of their allies getting decapitated didn't stop them for even one second.
After the kitchen, he punched his way through a closed door. Inside he spotted a lot of the same type of weapons. On the left there were tridents and on the right, there were also more tridents. There was no time to process why these people liked to use this type of weapon as he needed to continue running.
'Another room down… there aren't that many more left… I can do it!'
He pumped himself up while dodging all the attacks and groups of monster fishmen that were tossing themselves in his direction. Following the weapon chamber he arrived at one that was filled with precious metals and crystals. It was a large haul the size of a hill covered in spirit stones. If this was any other time then he would have just sucked them into his spatial ring yet with so many people behind him, even a second could cause his mission to fail.
'Why is it always the last one…'
Just like he expected it was the deepest location on the map that he was given by Bob. All those treasures were radiating a lot of energy but this was still not the one that he was looking for. After blasting his way through a nearby wall he slid into a giant corridor with a gate at the end.
"That must be it!"
He shouted while propelling himself at the wall with his foot aimed at the large gate. His body was surrounded by lightning and the radiant energy made even the powerful masters behind him tremble. Yet even when his foot connected with the large door it didn't open. His spiritual energy seemed to have been absorbed right as his attack connected. Arcs of golden lightning were forced to the sides and then quickly absorbed by the metal that this whole corridor and gate were made from.
"You fool, your powers won't work here!"
His expectations weren't met as he was still in the corridor and his path was being blocked. This place was composed of some strange materials that were able to absorb large amounts of spiritual energy. Yet even though the enemies were coming from behind he didn't stop staring at his destination. Even though all of his energies were dispersed, there still was some damage on the spot that he hit.
"They won't? Are you sure about that?"
After shouting at the man that was approaching from behind with some other cloned soldiers he pushed forward. His upper body became a blur as a massive barrage of punches connected with the metallic gate. The men that were chasing after him stopped for a moment as they couldn't believe that he was producing holes in the high-quality material, this was not something that should have been a possibility.
Zhang Dong's spiritual energy was great and all of his attacks could only be blocked by a handful of people in this world. Qi was perhaps his forte when it came to fighting but it was not his only weapon. His body had long since left the realms of humans, he was like a person made from metal and his strength was humongous. If his spiritual energy was absorbed by the materials here he just needed to change his approach. The indention that he left behind by his first attack was proof that he could break through with just his body alone. There was no need for fancy techniques or abilities, his fists were enough.
"I'll be going through first, see ya!"
Even though he was punching like crazy, only a small hole was produced. This however was more than enough for him to get through. His enemies didn't think that he could get through this barricade so they didn't fully illuminate the room inside. Thanks to this he was able to slip into the shadows that were produced and get himself inside.
"So this is it?"
'Large energy signature detected.'
Bob confirmed that they had found the source of power that lay right in the middle of this chamber. It was a mostly dark room with some light shindig at a lone dais. Right in the middle there was a floating object that was encased in a soap bubble. At first glance, it looked like a pink sea shell but it was not that simple. It contained a massive amount of water Qi that was on par or even superior to the engine from his flying fortress.
'This is it!'
He could hear the fish soldiers pounding on the door. After he dent a hole into it, the opening mechanism was also destroyed, and squeezing through the small hole was not an easy task. This was the end of his mission, after grabbing the item inside of the soap bubble the outside soap bubble would pop. Zhang Dong nodded and sprinted forward with his eyes glued to the
prize.
"Hah, did you really think that I'd fall for a simple trap like this?"
Yet before his hand grasped for this treasure he pointed in another direction. A beam of light escaped from his fingers that sent his holy lightning at the being hidden in the shadows. During the charge he had realized that this was all a setup, if he grasped the treasure there it would be encased in a bubble.
"You figured it out? My my, you might actually be worthy of being my mate~"
The voice belonged to the Cerulean Empress and it echoed throughout the entire chamber. Yet even with his eyes being able to see through the darkness, he could not see the woman's form, instead, there was something else.
"Why does it always have to be tentacles.."