Today, we're doing a can-opening review of the heavily armored Dark Guards in the Great Rui Dynasty's ancient capital

The gleaming blades and spear tips, the heavy, dark armor.

At least a hundred heavily armored soldiers surrounded the three people standing at the base of the wall in a fan shape, standing silently and menacingly, exuding a strong aura of unease.

Upon seeing this scene, Master Wei Jian squinted and looked at it by the light of the Torch, then spoke.

"This craftsmanship and style... there's no mistake, no mistake, it's the 'Dark Guards' of the Great Rui, with its heavy armor made of black iron, Python-Skin Saber, Flood Dragon-Bone Spear... truly, seeing is believing."

Qin Siyu stood still and lowered her voice. "Is this the time to talk about this, Grandpa? And seniors, this is clearly not a welcome ceremony for us, is it? Even if Ruichao is far away from us, this is definitely not a welcome ceremony from Ruichao!"

Lin Yu calmly replied, "Of course it's not a welcome; it seems they've labeled us as intruders."

"Then aren't we in great danger?" Qin Siyu muttered. "And these 'Dark Guards' of Great Rui... they shouldn't be alive now, right? After all these years, they couldn't possibly be alive!"

Grandpa Wei Jian nodded. "Yes, these are definitely not living people... not even living people buried here... Underneath these armors, they look more like some kind of sacrificial offering than 'people'..."

After a careful examination, the old man's initial joy at seeing these heavily armored guards vanished, replaced by a solemn and complex expression. "The Dark Guards's heavy iron armor's shoulder straps and blade slots are reversed, and the styles of their swords and spears are also reversed..."

"According to the customs of the Rui Dynasty, an army composed of living people would not use this kind of armor and weapons."

"These armors and weapons were originally crafted as 'Ritual Artifact' or 'Funerary Artifact'..."

Master Wei Jian spoke softly, and Qin Siyu's face turned even paler. Shining the [Fear Torch] on her, she looked like she'd been drinking broth for three days straight. "Master, please don't scare me! I'm not very well-educated..."

Lin Yu said in a low voice, "Oh, that's right... Underneath these armors aren't 'people'—neither living nor dead, but some kind of... very peculiar Yaomo."

So don't worry too much.

Qin Siyu's expression softened slightly upon hearing Lin Yu's explanation. "Yaomo?"

Although there were hundreds of such armors here, Qin Siyu had already witnessed a battle involving hundreds of Yaomo, so he wasn't too uneasy about hearing that there were over a hundred Yaomo.

Lin Yu's words did offer some comfort to Qin Siyu.

"Since it's Yaomo... that makes things easier. But what does 'special' mean?"

Qin Siyu mumbled another question.

Lin Yu said, "It's not easy for me to explain what I'm sensing to you... so I'll just show it to you directly."

As he spoke, Lin Yu snapped out the Torch.

After the pale flames disappeared, Qin Siyu instinctively felt a surge of tension. She gripped the Hidden Weapons in her hand tightly, and then heard a series of soft rustling sounds coming from her side.

Thump.

It looked like someone had deliberately stomped heavily on the bluestone floor.

Then...

"Snap!"

A sharp, swift sound of a weapon being swung through the darkness rang out, followed by the vibration of metal.

"Bite!"

Then, Qin Siyu smelled a bloody stench coming from ahead, followed by a loud noise.

"When!"

It was as if something had collided violently, and a flash of blue light appeared.

Qin Siyu, being Thief, possessed excellent dynamic vision and Night Vision. Although the complete darkness had prevented her from seeing the scene clearly, in that brief moment, she had seen...

Lin Yu's figure had already rushed into the encirclement at some point, holding a long sword and surrounded by several heavily Dark Guards.

Then, the blue light went out, and a series of impacts echoed in the darkness.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

With the sound of impact, more blood and a gentle breeze from the shockwave swept in. A flash of blue light appeared again in the darkness, and Lin Yu's figure had almost disappeared. The heavily armored Dark Guards had silently surrounded another area.

Then the light disappeared again, and Qin Siyu felt the bloody smell had been diluted considerably, replaced by a refreshing scent, and then...

"Splash!"

A sound of water was heard, and the air became somewhat humid.

The sound of the water drowned out almost all other noises, as if drawing an end to everything.

At last...

A moment later, the pale firelight rekindled, illuminating Lin Yu's figure—he stood in the middle of the group of black-armored guards.

However, with Lin Yu standing at the center, nearly twenty Xuanjia guards had already fallen.

The armor was dismantled into a pile of parts, soaking in the blackish-red filthy blood flowing from inside the armor—which was then washed away by clear water from who-knows-where and flowed into the Royal Palace.

Even though she already knew that the senior in front of her was exceptionally strong, Qin Siyu still couldn't help but blink, somewhat surprised that Lin Yu had taken down so many Xuanjia Guards in such a short time and in the darkness.

Moreover... most importantly, Qin Siyu had already witnessed many of Lin Yu's methods, but none of the moves Lin Yu used in the darkness just now were familiar to Qin Siyu!

Qin Siyu had previously worried that if this senior rashly made a move and exposed the aura and methods of Yaomo, it would be difficult to handle the situation if Master Wei Jian noticed it.

But now it seems...

"I was really overthinking it!"

Qin Siyu sighed inwardly.

As Qin Siyu was lost in thought, Lin Yu slowly emerged from the heavily armored guards, Torch in one hand.

Unexpectedly, even though Lin Yu had just fought with more than twenty Xuanjia guards, none of them moved now, as if they were ignoring Lin Yu.

And after Lin Yu got closer...

Qin Siyu and Master Wei Jian then noticed that Lin Yu was dragging a heavy suit of armor in his other hand, which was not Torch.

The armor was wrapped in ropes formed from congealed water, and the joints of the hands and feet were bound behind the back, making it impossible for the wearer to move.

Lin Yu tossed the heavily armored guard to the ground and said, "Alright, I'll open one up for you right now so you can see what this thing is all about..."

With that, Lin Yu threw the heavily armored guard to the ground, then grabbed the helmet covering the fully armored guard, reached for a long sword, and plunged it into the guard's neck. Then...

"Crunch..."

The armor made a teeth-grinding sound, and at the same time, a stream of black, foul blood oozed from the back of the neck.

The foul blood contained some kind of chaotic power, causing Qin Siyu to frown.

"What... what kind of power is this? It's disgusting... the flow of qi and blood throughout my body feels stagnant..."

Master Wei Jian answered the question on Lin Yu's behalf, "This is the aura of Gu Arts... It is said that before the Chaos of Huotian, especially in earlier times, the Prison Mountain Realm not only had two paths for Human Race cultivation: Daoist arts and Martial Arts, but many of the 'Fang Techniques and crafts' that are now only used as 'side methods' were actually cultivation methods that directly pointed to the Great Dao in earlier times."

"For example... the 'Gu Poison Arts,' which has now declined to the point where only a few Miasma Hell Martial Arts School in the Miasma Prison use it to assist in martial arts training, was once a complete system that could be cultivated to a high level, even reaching the heavens."

"It can be used to bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded, and it can also be used to kill people from afar without leaving a trace... However, this method is inherently immoral, so it was eventually lost."

Master Wei Jian explained, and Lin Yu nodded.

"As expected of Master Wei Jian, he is indeed knowledgeable and well-informed..."

He pried open the helmet of the armor, revealing a withered, bluish-purple face, soaked in large patches of black, foul blood.

As the helmet was pried open, a large amount of foul blood gushed out, splashing onto the ground with a "splash"—at the same time, the shriveled corpse inside quickly melted into equally black foul blood, which then flowed down to the feet of the three people after merging with this foul blood.

Master Wei Jian sighed as he watched this scene, "As expected, these armors are indeed sacrificial Ritual Artifact, and they don't contain guards... but rather 'Living Gu' created using Ancient Gu Arts."

Lin Yu raised his hand and rinsed away the blood and filth with water. Qin Siyu lifted her foot to let the water flow over it and asked, "Wow... Living Gu, that sounds like a very evil method."

Master Wei Jian nodded again. "That's right. These Gu were probably prisoners or villains in life, then imprisoned alive in armor resembling Ritual Artifact vessels, sealed with Gu Arts, and their souls and flesh were refined together into something akin to 'Yaomo,' much like those who cultivate demonic arts now—except they were passive, and the price they paid was their own lives."

"After that, these Living Gu will only obey the orders of the refiner or the person wielding the corresponding magical Magical Artifacts... Of course, if no one controls them, they will carry out the last remaining instructions—like these guards, who should be ordered to protect the Royal Palace."

Lin Yu nodded. "Yes, that's why they surrounded us... However, it was precisely because they were carrying out the 'final order,' acting almost instinctively, that I was able to exploit their weakness."

Upon hearing this, Master Wei Jian asked with great interest, "An opening? So you do have a special method for dealing with these things... I've been curious about this since earlier, young hero, what method did you use?"

"It's very simple. These Living Gu are transformed from living people into half-dead, flesh-and-soul fused Yaomo monsters. The principle behind their targeting and attack is their resentment and craving for the living," Lin Yu paused, then said calmly, "And I... can make myself look like a dead person."

Master Wei Jian remained silent, seemingly pondering Lin Yu's words.

Qin Siyu quickly replied, "Oh, oh... amazing, senior."

Lin Yu nodded and said with a smile, "So... we don't need to confront these guards head-on anymore."

The flowing clear water drove away the filth and blood, returning to Lin Yu's feet and gathering into a pool.

"I killed twenty of these Living Gu. All you two need to do is jump into this filthy blood... and you can cover up the living aura on your bodies."

"From now on, you won't need to worry about being watched by the guards while you're moving around in this Royal Palace."