Xu Lao Ba's heart trembled, and he looked up at Shen Zhui and the others.
The few who had thought they had muddled through once again felt their hearts leap into their throats. Just as they thought this plan would fail, Rong Zimo suddenly spoke.
He stepped forward, coughed lightly, then said in a trembling voice, "Elder, this subordinate knows his crime."
Rong Zimo's voice seemed to belong to another person. Shen Zhui and the others did not even dare breathe too loudly, and could only wait.
"A bunch of drunkards! You made this old man think something major had happened. Hurry and go patrol. If your negligence leads to trouble, you'll answer for it!" Daoist Xiangyang cursed angrily a few times, and then no more sounds came from the wooden token.
"Phew~" All five of them let out a sigh of relief.
"That old thief is truly sinister!" Zhao Hu wiped the sweat from his palms. Daoist Xiangyang had tried to trick them just now, and he had nearly lost his composure.
Afterward, he repeatedly baited them into answering and confirmed their identities, making Zhao Hu and Yan You's emotions rise and fall like a roller coaster.
Clearly, in his final questioning, Daoist Xiangyang had assumed that if Xu Lao Ba had been captured, the enemy would only need to seize one leader for questioning. To save trouble, they would not possibly leave a second survivor, so questioning the second person would be enough. Shen Zhui and the others had indeed done exactly that.
If Rong Zimo had not previously heard one of the dead men cry for help and imitated that man's voice, they would probably have been exposed.
Although that Xiantian Martial Artist was not here at the moment, how large could Hekou Town be?
With a Xiantian Martial Artist's speed, he would probably be able to return before long. At the same time, he could send word to the people inside and order them to guard the place with ironclad vigilance.
In that case, they would not find it so easy to sneak inside.
"Brother Shen really thought everything through." Han Mao offered a word of praise.
"Not at all. We only managed to muddle through thanks to Brother Zimo." Shen Zhui sighed as well.
"Well done!" Han Mao patted Rong Zimo on the shoulder.
"Heh heh, I've been idle at the county office for three years. I came up with this stuff on my own whenever I was bored. I never thought it would actually come in handy." Rong Zimo was quite pleased with himself.
"Quick, change into the clothes and replace the tokens. Get inside at once. I estimate that old thief will still grow suspicious. We need to move fast!" Han Mao instructed.
"Yes." Shen Zhui and the others immediately took action.
Once they had changed their attire, Shen Zhui and the others followed Xu Lao Ba into the mountain manor.
Rather than saying they had Xu Lao Ba lead the way, it would be more accurate to say they had Xu Lao Ba clear the path.
Yan You already had an Induction Token on him, so finding the Branch Shrine was not difficult.
They merely needed to head toward the place with the most experts and the tightest guard.
Xu Lao Ba's role was to fool the checkpoints that could be fooled.
Of course, Shen Zhui's group of five had never expected Xu Lao Ba, merely the leader of an outer patrol, to take them straight to the center of the Branch Shrine.
Even so, along the way, he helped them bluff their way through several checkpoints guarded by Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists, which surprised them somewhat.
As they reached a rockery, two Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists suddenly leaped out and pointed their spears at them.
"Stop! Xu Lao Ba, you're supposed to be patrolling the outer perimeter. What are you doing here?!"
Xu Lao Ba said, "I'm entering to patrol under the elder's orders."
One of the dark-faced men said, "That's not right! Why didn't I receive the elder's orders?"
The other burly man in leather armor pointed his spear at Shen Zhui and the others. "Raise your heads. Who are you? Why have we never seen any of you before?"
The Green Token in Han Mao's arms began to hum and tremble. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out from the token and sank into the rockery.
The rockery rumbled and shook, then split apart, revealing a passage.
"This is the place!" Everyone's hearts tightened.
Seeing this sudden change, the two men reached into their clothes for their tokens. Han Mao immediately shouted in a low voice, "Attack!"
Whoosh! Saber light flashed. The long saber in Han Mao's hand carried a howling wind as it lunged straight for the armored martial artist's neck.
"Enemies!" the armored martial artist roared.
But at such close range, Han Mao's ambush had been completely unexpected. Driven forward by the immense power of the Blood Burning Art, how could the saber's speed be anything but astonishing?
The armored martial artist only had time to shift his body by the slightest margin and use the armor on his chest to block.
He dodged Han Mao's saber, but he had no time to evade the long sabers swung by Zhao Hu and Rong Zimo.
"Pfft!" Blood gushed from the armored martial artist's throat. In the blink of an eye, he was dead beyond doubt, his blood staining the earth red.
On the other side, Yan You and Shen Zhui, both Peak Houtian martial artists, drew their sabers in unison. This man was slightly weaker than the other, and before he could even cry out, his head had been severed.
"Shen Zhui, Yan You, come in with me. Zhao Hu, Rong Zimo, guard the outside! Quickly!"
"Let's go!" Shen Zhui and Yan You swiftly followed. The Token bestowed by Wang Long had the ability to break restrictions. They merely needed to find the Branch Shrine and eliminate anyone who stood in their way. The restrictive formations were not something they needed to worry about.
Beneath the rockery was a Stairway Passage leading downward. After Shen Zhui and the others entered, lamps automatically lit up one after another along the walls on both sides.
Once Han Mao, Shen Zhui, and Yan You had descended the stairs, they arrived at an Underground Plaza.
The plaza was brightly lit and vast. Around a dozen Bronze Pillars stood around it, while at the far end stood a solemn and imposing temple.
Threads of golden light drifted down from above the temple. Clearly, this was where the Branch Shrine housing the ancestral spirit tablets worshiped by the Li Family was located!
"Who dares trespass into the Li Family's forbidden grounds?" A shout echoed through the surrounding space, but no figure could be seen.
At the same time, Shen Zhui and the others, who had just stepped onto the plaza, saw yellow light suddenly rise from the enormous Bronze Pillars.
Dark, cavernous openings appeared, and countless crossbow bolts as thick as arms shot out from within.
Clang, clang, clang~
As the enormous crossbow bolts flew toward them, faint green light rose from the tokens on all three men. When the bolts approached to within half a meter of them, they seemed to be blocked by an invisible force and dropped straight to the ground.
"Quick, charge through!" Han Mao ordered hurriedly when he saw this.
Shen Zhui and Yan You quickened their pace and sprinted forward.
The first five Bronze Pillars fired crossbow bolts, while the latter five launched volleys of spears.
The final three Bronze Pillars even sprayed flames, covering the area!
The green light around the men was battered until it swayed precariously!
Shen Zhui's heart pounded at the sight!
The defensive power of merely one Branch Shrine was already this formidable. Wouldn't the location of the true body of the Li Family ancestor's Yin God be ten or even a hundred times more dangerous than this?
"Death to trespassers!" A squad of uniformed soldiers suddenly emerged from the Branch Shrine. These soldiers were clad head to toe in Blood-red Armor, held spears in their hands, and had surging qi and blood.
Eight Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists and two Peak Houtian martial artists!
"Yan You, Shen Zhui, the two of you go inside! Leave this to me!" Han Mao exchanged tokens with Yan You and quickly said, "Have this token touch the Yin God statue, then retreat immediately!"
As the ten soldiers surrounded them, Shen Zhui and Yan You did not waste words and immediately broke out of the encirclement!
The two Peak Houtian martial artists on the other side saw this and instantly turned around, intending to stop Shen Zhui and Yan You.
"You're courting death!" Han Mao held his long saber level. The green light on the token in his hand transformed into golden light!
His expression solemn, he shouted:
"First Summon of Deity: Distinguish Good and Evil!"
The light on the Golden Token flashed. The primordial energy within Han Mao's body suddenly surged, and the glow of primordial energy coating his long saber was instantly overlaid with a layer of golden light!
If someone looked closely, they would discover that above Han Mao's head, the phantom of a figure holding an Iron Ruler was slowly merging into his body.
It was General Gan Gong!
Han Mao had already borrowed the deity's power!
"Slash!"
A blade of Gang Qi swept across. Houtian Martial Artists could ordinarily only attach primordial energy to their bodies, but Han Mao now released a condensed Saber Qi!
With the First Summon of Deity, Han Mao was comparable to a Xiantian Master!
"Fall back! Form the Combined Attack Formation!" One of the two Peak Houtian martial artists was scared out of his wits! He hurriedly retreated, abandoning his attempt to intercept them and regrouping with the others!
If Han Mao picked them off one by one, they would not be able to escape either.
"Quick, notify the elder!"