Divine Weapon Hall, Double-Headed Flame Lion

"Divine Weapon Hall? This should be where the Fire Spring Sect stored their weapons."

Following the mountain path on the left for a while, Shen Zhou and the others finally spotted a cave dwelling ahead.

Built into the mountain, the structure appeared three stories tall from the outside, with a peculiar shape and clever design. But after a thousand years, some parts had fallen into disrepair, robbing it of some of its grandeur and charm. Still, one could see the care the Fire Spring Sect had put into building this cave dwelling back in the day.

As soon as he heard it was a place for storing weapons, Meng Gang rubbed his hands together eagerly and said, "Divine weapons, huh? Then I've got to take a good look and see what divine weapons ancient cultivators used a thousand years ago."

With that, Meng Gang lifted his foot to charge inside, but Old Man Ji grabbed him and scolded, "Don't be so reckless. Since this is a place for storing divine weapons, there might be restrictions inside. Be careful."

Meng Gang stiffened, found the reasoning sound, and immediately stopped in his tracks.

Then everyone cautiously entered the building, encountering no traps or dangers along the way.

Once they stepped inside the inner hall, they saw it was truly a different world within.

It turned out the building housed a massive hollowed-out cave.

In the cave, the first thing to catch everyone's eyes was a huge furnace standing in the middle.

The furnace was about five meters tall, standing on three legs, shaped like a pill furnace, but with many openings on its body. Looking from afar, one could see ashes and scrap iron accumulated inside, along with some half-forged iron blanks, all of which had gone to waste.

Clearly, this furnace was one for smelting gold and iron.

The cave wasn't a place for storing divine weapons, but for forging them.

Besides the central furnace, there were many smaller forging stations and furnaces around, but they had all collapsed to the ground, covered in dust, looking ruined and abandoned.

After searching the entire cave, the group found no divine weapons, not even half-finished ones. Perhaps everything had been cleared out before the cataclysm.

"It's so clean here. Did the Fire Spring Sect react before the cataclysm back then and stow away all the good stuff?"

Meng Gang, having found nothing after a thorough search, couldn't help grumbling.

Tang Shan said, "If the Fire Spring Sect had reacted before the cataclysm, they should have been able to survive it. How did they end up annihilated?"

Old Man Ji surveyed the surroundings, frowning deeply. "Maybe they knew the cataclysm was coming and made preparations in advance, but in the end, the cataclysm exceeded their expectations. Even with countermeasures, it was ultimately useless."

These words made everyone draw in a silent breath.

They had already prepared and defended in advance, yet they were still 'devoured' by the cataclysm—what kind of calamity was that?

Just as everyone was speculating about what the Millennium Cataclysm might have been, a clanging sound suddenly rang out in the cave.

Following the noise, they saw Shen Zhou holding the Taixuan Sword, circling the giant furnace and occasionally tapping it with the blade, as if checking what material it was made of.

Seeing this, Tang Shan curiously approached and said, "Shen Zhou, did you find something?"

Shen Zhou turned back to Tang Shan with a grin. "Yeah, I found that this big furnace seems to be made of refined steel. Pretty good material, and it should count as an antique, right? If I took it out and sold it, would it be worth a ton of money?"

Tang Shan was dumbfounded.

What the hell, you were circling the furnace for this reason?

Old Man Ji and the Qin family members were speechless too.

Everything else here had already been cleared out, leaving only this big thing that probably couldn't be moved, and now you've got your eye on it.

You really are a 'thief who never leaves empty-handed'!

Meng Gang, being straightforward, said whatever came to mind. "Junior brother, even if you've taken a liking to it, this thing is too big for you to carry away."

Shen Zhou shook the Taixuan Sword in his hand and said, "Don't worry, I have my ways."

With that, he communicated with the Sword Spirit inside the blade. "Hey, Sword Spirit, help me store this big thing away."

The Sword Spirit stayed silent, playing 'dead' again.

Shen Zhou's tone turned a few degrees colder. "You wouldn't want me to suppress you under a latrine pit, would you?"

Sure enough, at those words, the Sword Spirit's furious voice entered Shen Zhou's mind. "You jerk, you big villain... you only know how to scare me with this trick!"

Shen Zhou smirked wickedly. "Don't care what trick I use, as long as it works. So, are you storing it or not?"

Just as Shen Zhou was negotiating with the Sword Spirit, a series of screams and earth-shaking roars suddenly came from outside the Divine Weapon Hall.

Old Man Ji, Li Taohua, and the two Qin elders immediately changed expressions.

"What's going on?"

"Go out and check."

"Be careful!"

The group rushed out at once.

Seeing something was happening, Shen Zhou quickly urged the Sword Spirit to store the thing away, then charged out of the Divine Weapon Hall with Tang Shan and Meng Gang.

As soon as Shen Zhou and the others came out, they saw a two-headed lion with a pair of heads chasing a group of martial artists down the mountain path ahead.

That two-headed lion wasn't just strange in appearance; its body was enormous, two meters tall at the shoulder, robust, with fur like steel needles and a layer of flame-like flowing light shimmering over its body. Its two massive heads looked as big as buckets, and its roars were especially terrifying.

As for those martial artists, they were probably the rogue cultivators who had entered the secret realm ahead of the Qin family, about a dozen of them. At this moment, they were being chased by the two-headed lion, fleeing in panic. Seven or eight of them were injured, scrambling toward Shen Zhou's group in a sorry state.

Seeing this, the Qin family's second elder's expression tightened, and he said solemnly, "A Double-Headed Flame Lion Beast. I didn't expect such a demonic beast to still exist here!"

Shen Zhou pressed further, "Is it very powerful?"

Changfeng explained, "If we classify demonic beasts from one to nine, judging by this big fellow's aura, it's an eighth-grade beast—roughly equivalent to a martial artist at the Transformation Yuan Eighth Realm. But because demonic beasts have powerful bloodlines and freakish physiques, even a Transformation Yuan Ninth Realm cultivator would struggle against it. It could even go toe-to-toe with a Celestial Firmament Realm expert."

Hearing this, Tang Shan and Meng Gang immediately sucked in a sharp breath. "That strong?"

Old Man Ji's eyes gleamed with light, and he grinned with hunter's delight. "Strong is good. The stronger the beast, the more nourishing its flesh and blood. This old man just so happens to be stuck at a bottleneck in his cultivation. If we butcher this big fellow and stew it into soup, I might just break through to the next realm."

Shen Zhou was also sharpening his blade eagerly. "My Golden Body Art has been stuck for a long time too. Looks like it's time to level it up!"

Seeing Old Man Ji and Shen Zhou both treating the Double-Headed Flame Lion as a great medicinal tonic, the two Qin Family elders were also stirred into fighting spirit.

Yihu said, "Alright, since we came here to hunt for treasures, there's no reason to let such a big 'tonic' slip away. Let's take it down!"

The moment they made their decision, the scattered cultivators fled right up to them, shouting, "Help! Save us..."

Behind them, the twin-headed lion was opening its massive maw and lunging down at the crowd.

Seeing this, Old Man Ji didn't even glance at the fleeing cultivators. He stepped forward twice, then crouched slightly, slowly building power in his legs.

As the twin-headed lion closed in, a sharp light burst from his eyes. He stomped the ground, and with a bang, shot forward like a cannonball straight at the beast, roaring, "Beast, take this punch!"

Qi and blood exploded.

Old Man Ji's fist slammed into the lion's front shoulder blade. The beast let out a muffled roar, then flew backward, crashing to the ground more than ten meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Such was the terror of Old Man Ji's punch!

But the twin-headed lion had thick skin and tough bones, with astonishing defense. It shook its head and stood right back up, as if it had only been stunned for a moment.

"This beast really is thick-skinned!"

Old Man Ji's gaze sharpened, but he showed no panic. Instead, his battle intent burned even fiercer.

"Let me take over!"

Seeing this, Shen Zhou drew his sword, ready to carve the lion into pieces, but Old Man Ji immediately blocked him. "Kid, you keep watch for me first. Let me have a proper clash with this beast."

Shen Zhou raised an eyebrow at Old Man Ji, then said, "Old man, if you can't handle it, say so early. Don't throw your back out at your age."

Old Man Ji shot him a glare. "Kid, back when I was roaming Great Cang, you weren't even a glint in your father's eye. Just watch and learn!"

Shen Zhou smiled and said no more.

He had sparred with Old Man Ji before. The old man's peak Transformation Yuan Eighth Realm body-tempering strength was no joke. Even if he couldn't beat the beast, he wouldn't get hurt, so there was no need to interfere.

In that brief exchange, the twin-headed lion had clearly been enraged by Old Man Ji. After shaking off its daze, it roared, then lunged at him with claws and fangs, moving with a speed that matched the old man's.

"Come on, then!"

Old Man Ji's battle intent surged. Yuan power flared as he swung his iron fists and clashed with the twin-headed lion in a furious melee.

Bang, bang, bang...

In front of the Divine Weapon Hall, the sound of fists hitting like drumbeats rang out without pause.

Shen Zhou kept a close eye on the fight, ready to step in at any moment.

The two Qin Family elders stayed alert, watching for any other dangers nearby.

Qin Mingyue, Tang Shan, and Meng Gang kept an eye on the scattered cultivators. The dozen or so of them, seeing the twin-headed lion held back, stopped to catch their breath and heal.

Meanwhile.

At the foot of the mountain beside the Artifact Refining Hall, the Xu Family group hid out of sight.

Xu Baxia looked at the twin-headed lion with some surprise. "How did this beast end up near the Artifact Refining Hall? Last time we explored the secret realm, I saw it in the back mountain."

Xu You's expression shifted slightly. "No matter. This beast is no pushover—even a Celestial Firmament Realm expert would struggle against it. Let it cause some trouble for the Qin Family and wear them down. Besides, weren't we trying to lure the Qin Family to the back mountain? Now it seems we can use this beast to guide them there."

Hearing this, Xu Baxia seemed to realize something, and his expression turned startled. "Elder, are you planning to use the formations in the Fire Spring Sect's back mountain forbidden area to deal with Shen Zhou?"

Xu You smiled faintly. "Young Master Baxia, this is all the Patriarch's plan. That Shen Zhou has the Qin Family Divine Weapon in hand. Relying on us alone to take him on is too risky. But if he runs into the formations and restrictions set up by the Fire Spring Sect a thousand years ago, no matter how strong he is, he won't come out unscathed.

Once he's badly injured, that's our best chance to seize the Divine Weapon!"

Xu Baxia's mind shook.

So his father had planned everything so meticulously.

No wonder his father had said earlier that after the Citywide Martial Hall Tournament ended, the Qin Family might disappear entirely.

If the Qin Family Divine Weapon fell into their hands this time, the Qin Family would be like sheep before a tiger before the Xu Family, with no chance of recovery.

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