The instant Chen Wuya's hand touched Bai Zhi's wrist, the floating rock beneath them exploded. Lava splashed up, heat blasting into their faces. With no time to think, he drove Misaligned Force into the ground with a backhand strike. The vibration rippled outward, jolting a slanted stone slab upward until it formed a diagonal bridge to the other side. Bai Zhi borrowed the momentum to leap across, landing on the opposite rock and dropping to one knee to steady herself.
Mo Feng climbed over as well, panting as he drove his mechanism shovel into the rocky crust to investigate. The shovel struck something hard beneath the surface with a dull thud. He pried open the cooled outer layer and dug out a bronze plate. Half-buried in ash, its surface was covered in engraved marks, while four large characters stood clearly in the center—"When the Myriad Demons Cauldron Appears, Calamity Rises Across the Nine Provinces."
"Something's wrong with this thing," Mo Feng said quietly. "These runes aren't ordinary writing. They're seal markings."
Chen Wuya stared at the plate as Misaligned Force circulated slowly within him. His chest felt tight; that last strike had drained him too severely, making even breathing difficult. Still, he stepped closer and crouched to inspect the patterns. The lines twisted and crisscrossed, like a fragment of some formation diagram.
The Protector leaned against the rock wall, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side. He had thought he could still hold out, but the moment he saw the bronze plate exposed, his face changed. Quietly reaching toward his waist, he pinched a dark-red poisoned needle between his fingers and flung it viciously at Chen Wuya's throat.
The wind whistled past his ear, and Chen Wuya instinctively twisted aside. His left foot stepped back firmly onto the ground—only