'That was quite fun' Wu Xiaotian thought as he runs along with the two, thinking of the barrier as if a puzzle to pass time, nothing more than a mental stretching that helps him to keep his mind sharp.
'I've overestimated that formation though, who would've thought that the moment the Transcendent Qi come in contact with it, the barrier turns so weak that a simple detonation of the qi would be enough to destroy it' he added in his mind as he recalls the level of the barrier degrading the moment it got into contact with the pure Transcendent Qi, only stopping the degradation when he infused an incomplete nature in the qi.
'I could probably destroy most barrier formation in this world with the Transcendent Qi then' he concluded as he recalls that this formation, albeit a half-complete one, is already something of the celestial level, and given that the mastery of runic inscription outside this place is already above the mortal level, his deduction seems pretty much accurate.
"Wow!! Whoever resides in this palace sure knows how to live their life!" the loud voice of Wang Sheng interrupted Wu Xiaotian of his thoughts, completely oblivious of the fact that they've already entered inside the palace.
Looking all around, Wu Xiaotian nods his head as if to agree with Wang Sheng's statement. The hall at the entrance of the palace is completely made out of gold, the pillars, the roof, the ground, and the furniture, even the ornaments and plants all around comes in shades of gold, yet despite the brilliant view, they can't appreciate it as corpses of people who just entered were littered on the ground, their blood spilled all around causing a small pool of blood to form.
"It's really good that we let others go first" Huo Chen expressed as he frowns at the viciousness of this palace. As they just died recently, he can still feel the cultivation of the corpses and the strongest of them are already at the Early state Core Formation Realm, and for someone of this level to die just in the entrance hall, he starts to wonder just how terrifying the things they will encounter further inside are.
"Hey Brother Wang, stop checking out the corpses, do you have something for them?" Wu Xiaotian joked as he observes the young man scanning all the corpse in the premise, his words annoying the guy so much that he starts shouting at him.
"What do you know!? There might be spatial ring left behind by this people, the dead no longer needs riches, so I'll use it properly for them" Wang Sheng self-righteously said as he slaps his chest, before rushing to check the other corpses again.
"Stop doing that, you think other people doesn't have that idea?" Wu Xiaotian questioned once again stopping Wang Sheng on his track, the cunning-looking young man scratching his head with a silly face as he awkwardly laughed.
"Ahahah, you're right brother, Actually, I'm just testing you since I've heard from Ah Feng that you're quite lacking in knowledge of the outside world..."
Hearing this, Huo Chen sneered in disdain as he mocks the cunning-looking young man.
"Heh… look at this shameless bastard even going as far as using people not here to save face, truly an eye-opening way of thinking"
"Shut up Ah Chen, you think you're so better?! You've been eyeing the entire room as if you want to take away all the gold in here!!" Wang Sheng retorted completely turning the tables as Huo Chen was taken by surprise.
"W-what the hell do you mean Old Wang?! You think I'm so shallow that I will covet anything so long as its gold?! You think too low of me!!" Huo Chen's explosive temper starts surfacing as he heard his brother's mockery towards him.
"Heh… whether you're that low or not, I know, you know, and the heavens know" Wang Sheng said as he shrugged his shoulders while his hands are raised, his lines completely shutting Huo Chen up.
"Damn!! You win this time Old Wang" Huo Chen grumbled as they start leaving the entrance of the palace.
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Meanwhile in the other parts of the palace, waves of people are suffering from torment, most of them being completely destroyed by numbers of traps, puppets or even strong fierce beast residing each area. This results to the thinning out of the original number of people who entered the palace, now only reaching half the population of when they entered.
One particular group stands out though as they struggle to escape a room filled with gigantic ratlike creatures. In the midst of the group, two young ladies are seen directing everyone else as they also fend themselves, killing every giant rat that came close enough to them.
"Don't let the right flank fall!! You there! Assist them in fending off those rats!" one of the young ladies commanded, exhaustion already clear from her voice.
Perhaps from tiredness, this lady doesn't seem to notice when one of the rats approaches her proximity, pouncing towards her at an inhuman speed, only noticing the rat when it's already just a few centimeters away from her.
'I might be killed by this thing…' she thought to herself, falling down as her face drained of colors, moving her arms as fast as she could as a last-ditch effort to force the rat away, something that's already seemingly futile given the minimal distance between it and her.
As the lady's mind is still wallowing in despair, a cold white light creates an arc in front of her, leaving behind a trail of frost decorated by the blood splashed by the now dead rat, its head rolling beneath her feet.
"Are you okay, Yue?" another young lady, wielding a snow-white sword asked as she held her hands to help the nearly killed lady up the ground.
"I'm fine, thanks, Bing Xue" the lady replied while smiling as she took the hand of her friend.
"Let's get out of this together" Bing Xue said before charging in the midst of the rats once again, thinning their overwhelming numbers as much as she could all while keeping an eye towards the others, helping and reinforcing the places that needs help the most, beheading any beast that blocks her path.
"I really can't rest when I'm with you…" Leng Yue helplessly smiles as the two of them were forced back-to-back by the rats, swinging their swords, the two of them fought as if they're performing a graceful dance, each of their swings purposeful, either pushing the beasts' assault back or completely killing them, showing an absolute display of strength and skills causing the others to be amazed.
"As expected of the twin stars of the Astral Snow Sect, they're truly monstrous talents beyond their peers" one of the people muttered as she throws a dagger killing a weaker rat, all while watching the two young ladies clearing a horde of them from not too far away.
"They're elites of a great sect after all, it's best not to compare them with normal cultivators like us" another person interjected as she shook her head in self-pity.
Hearing these words, the others also nod in acknowledgement as they gaze enviously towards the two. Sure, while it is also for themselves that the two of them were clearing the rat tide, they're still grateful for the two helping them to survive this room, however, they couldn't help but wonder how good of a life they're living being nurtured by such a powerful force, not knowing how hard these two works just to reach the state they're currently in.
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As the group continues to fend against the giant rats, three young men are running along a dark path, completely disregarding the bloodied surrounding littered by fresh corpse, most of filled with bite marks that seems to be left by two front teeth.
"You sure about this Ah Tian?" one of them, a cunning looking young man asked as they continue running forward.
"What? Brother Wang wants to back down now?" a young man with a tall stature and immortal-like appearance and aura around him asked back, as if to tease the cunning looking young man before turning towards the other guy as he said, "Anyways, Brother Huo also agrees with me, so there's no choice for you but to go with us, besides, what did you say previously Brother Huo?"
The guy who was just asked, a young man with a ferocious look and a tall stature replied, "Where there's a lot of death, there's a lot of treasure!!" eliciting a nod of agreement from the other two.