Demon God Water Stone

The vast octagonal Inner Castle covered an area of one or two li, and no one knew how many mechanisms and traps lay hidden inside.

"Lu Huairu is hiding in there. We'll have to fight our way in." Si Borong hesitated as he looked down the deep corridor leading into the Inner Castle. "But there are probably plenty of mechanisms, traps, and magic arrays inside. We need a knight skilled at staying alive to scout ahead."

Dongbo Xueying smiled faintly.

Si Borong clearly wanted to save face while also avoiding danger. Dongbo Xueying really had no idea how he'd managed to cultivate to the Silver Moon Rank.

Tang Xiong and Liang Yong remained calm and composed. Their eyes were all on Yu Jingqiu.

"Charging in blindly would be suicide." Yu Jingqiu's voice was cool, yet it somehow put everyone at ease. "Lu Huairu may only be a Meteor-Rank mage, but he's skilled in alchemy, so he must have set up plenty of mechanisms, traps, and magic arrays. Even a Silver Moon Knight would have a hard time surviving a blind charge. Wait a moment. I'll cast a spell to scout ahead."

As she spoke, Yu Jingqiu held her staff and moved her lips slightly, silently chanting an incantation.

In truth, mages chanted incantations as a form of self-hypnosis. Some powerful spells were simply too difficult to cast without pushing oneself to the limit through self-hypnosis. Lesser spells, on the other hand, required no incantation and could be cast directly. Frost Domain and the like had long since become effortless for Yu Jingqiu.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—" Countless shards of ice suddenly began forming out of thin air. They soon gathered into an enormous coiled Ice Serpent, over twenty meters long and roughly as thick as a barrel. Its body shimmered with crystalline light, and its raised head radiated a murderous chill. The invisible pressure it exuded made Si Borong, Tang Xiong, and the others wary.

"A fifth-tier spell, Ice Serpent." Dongbo Xueying nodded to himself. "A spell like this has no vital points, and its strength far surpasses that of an ordinary Silver Moon Knight. In terms of sheer strength, it's probably on par with a Title-level expert, though its technique is weaker. If there were ten of them, they could probably threaten a Title-level expert. But with a Title-level expert's Unity of Heaven and Man, the power of Heaven and Earth would suppress them, making it impossible to cast spells."

Yu Jingqiu held her staff and continued silently chanting.

A little while later, another enormous Ice Serpent appeared beside the first.

"My magical energy is limited, and we still don't know what we'll face farther in. I need to conserve it," Yu Jingqiu said. "These two Ice Serpents will be enough to clear a path."

"Haha! I told you it was our good fortune to have a Silver Moon Archmage with us." Tang Xiong laughed. "The Ice Serpents have no vital points. If we'd gone ahead to scout, we'd have been risking our lives."

"Jing Qiu really is impressive," Si Borong praised. "All right, let's move out. Jing Qiu, stay in the middle with the four of us protecting you. Liang Yong and I will take the lead, while Dongbo Xueying and Tang Xiong bring up the rear."

He hadn't dared charge ahead before.

But with two giant Ice Serpents at the front, he was suddenly full of confidence.

The two enormous Ice Serpents slithered through the broad corridor, one after the other. Every so often, they stopped and lashed their tails against the walls. The corridor shook with a rumble as they forcibly smashed the spell patterns. Some weaker walls collapsed outright. Some traps were destroyed, while others were triggered and struck the Ice Serpents. Even when a blow pierced an icy crater into one of them, the chill swirling over its surface quickly filled it in, leaving its body only slightly smaller.

Each attack and each injury consumed some of the Ice Serpents' power. Once they could no longer sustain themselves, they would collapse completely.

But until then, they had no vital points. They could attack without fear of death.

"How terrifying." Dongbo Xueying watched from behind, silently marveling. "If a mage has enough time, they really are far more dangerous than knights. I've heard that some of the magic arrays mages set up are even more powerful."

Mages were more like scholars, studying and analyzing Heaven and Earth. The spells they cast were also incredibly intricate. Given enough time to cast at their own pace, they could easily toy with a knight until he was dead. And if they had a year or two to set up a powerful magic array, it would be even more devastating.

Knights, on the other hand, were more daring.

They unleashed their power in an instant and led the charge into battle. The stronger the knight, the faster he was. Dongbo Xueying could now cover a hundred meters in the blink of an eye, moving so quickly that ordinary people couldn't even make out his figure. At such terrifying speed, if he tried to assassinate a mage, the mage wouldn't have time to react. Mages and knights each had their own advantages.

"Boom, boom, boom—"

The Ice Serpents possessed strength approaching that of Title-level experts. They might have been clumsy in close combat, but they were exceptionally good at demolishing corridors. Amid the rumbling, many walls collapsed, numerous traps were rendered useless, and many magic arrays were destroyed right at the level of their spell patterns.

The Inner Castle itself was extremely sturdy, however. Even after some walls were demolished, the castle still had other supporting walls, and it didn't collapse.

"Haha, with Jing Qiu here, this is so much easier. None of these mechanisms, traps, or magic arrays can threaten us," Si Borong said with a hearty laugh.

"Don't let your guard down." Yu Jingqiu held her staff and watched every movement ahead. "A skilled Alchemy Master can set up traps that take you by surprise. Even though my two Ice Serpents have crushed and destroyed things twice over as they passed, that only means more than ninety percent of the mechanisms, traps, and magic arrays will be destroyed. We can't assume we're completely safe. We still need to be careful."

"More than ninety percent is plenty. We'll be fine. Besides, Lu Huairu probably isn't as impressive as you think, Jing Qiu. At Changfeng Academy, you're surrounded by experts. Lu Huairu can't compare." Si Borong said this, but in practice, he kept looking to Liang Yong, the experienced escort, for guidance. Clearly, he was still being quite cautious.

In a secluded hall deep inside the Inner Castle.

Lu Huairu sat on the throne at the far end of the hall, frowning. Three subordinates, all Meteor Knights, stood beside him.

"Damn it. I never expected that mage to be a Silver Moon-Rank mage." Lu Huairu frowned. Earlier, he'd seen frost spreading outside, but it hadn't even frozen a few ordinary people to death instantly, so he'd assumed it wasn't all that powerful. He'd never dared show himself, and he hadn't even seen what Dongbo Xueying and the others looked like. Naturally, he hadn't known Yu Jingqiu was with them.

"Altar Master, what should we do?" The three protectors looked at him.

"What can we do? Those two Ice Serpents are rampaging and destroying everything. My magic arrays have been ruined, and hardly any of the purely mechanical traps can still work. Even if one is triggered, it'll only consume a little of the Ice Serpents' power." Lu Huairu shook his head. "Looks like we've only got one chance."

Naturally, some parts of his Inner Castle were designed as killing traps.

But with two Ice Serpents...

Only the clumsiest, hardest-to-destroy trap could still have a major effect.

"There's a deadly trap in the Seventh Corridor!" Lu Huairu said. "It's the most powerful one I've set up. But with those two Ice Serpents in front, it'll probably only kill two or three Silver Moon Knights. That's why I need the three of you to act. Once the trap has badly wounded them, finish them off. At the crucial moment, the three of you will be as powerful as Silver Moon Knights. They won't stand a chance."

"Yes." The three protectors answered respectfully. Then, with pained expressions, they each took a pendant from their chests. The pendants opened to reveal a tiny blood-red crystal.

All three tilted their heads back and swallowed the blood-red crystals.

Their skin began to flush. Their blood surged through their bodies, and their Battle Qi began to change as well.

These were their life-saving treasures: Demon God Water Stones. They were of little use to Title-level experts, but they greatly enhanced the strength of Meteor Knights and Silver Moon Knights. The weaker the user, the more pronounced the effect. A Meteor Knight who swallowed one could reach Silver Moon Knight strength for a short time. Of course, once the effect wore off, he'd be utterly exhausted for two or three days.

Even so, a treasure capable of such a tremendous boost was extremely precious. They were protectors of this branch altar, and each had only one.

"Don't fret over it. We'll have to move after this, and I'll make a request to get you each another one." Lu Huairu said. "Hurry. Go wait beyond the Seventh Corridor."

"Yes."

The three protectors, their skin flushed red, immediately left.

At that moment, a hulking man who looked like a monster entered through a side door. His footsteps made the entire hall tremble. Lu Huairu immediately stood up respectfully. The monstrous man casually asked, "What is it? Run into trouble?"

"Reporting to you, Divine Envoy, this place may have been exposed," Lu Huairu said.

"Exposed?" The monstrous man walked over to the throne and sat down. Frowning, he asked coldly, "They haven't found me, have they?"

"If they had found you, Divine Envoy, they wouldn't have sent just a few Silver Moon-Rank experts. They'd have sent Si Lianghong or Xiang Pangyun. They might even have sent a Transcendent," Lu Huairu said. Title-level experts varied greatly in strength.

An ordinary Title-level expert might only have earned a Bronze Token.

The stronger ones ranked among the top three thousand in the Empire. There was a vast difference between making the rankings and not making them.

Si Lianghong, meanwhile, was an ancient Blood Demon who'd lived for several centuries, while Xiang Pangyun was even more vicious. Both ranked around the top five hundred among Title-level experts throughout the Longshan Empire, far above the ordinary ones.

"Just a few Silver Moon-Rank experts?" The monstrous man gave a contemptuous laugh. "They're nothing but ants to me. What a shame. I've only just settled down here to recuperate, and now I have to leave."