Killing Trap

Inside a hidden passage within the corner hall of the Seventh Corridor, three guardians of the branch altar stood watch with their weapons drawn.

"They're here," a tall guardian suddenly whispered.

Rumble, rumble...

A series of booming sounds echoed from outside, causing the ground to tremble.

The lean guardian walked to the front and peered through an observation hole. He saw two Frost Serpents advancing toward their position, their massive bodies lashing out against the walls of the corner hall, causing the floor to cave in and the masonry to crack.

"Two Frost Serpents—they're truly ruthless. So many mechanisms and arrays have already been destroyed. It's fortunate that the traps in this Seventh Corridor were least affected," the lean guardian muttered. There were many types of mechanical traps, and not all of them could be destroyed by the Frost Serpents.

"Get ready. Once those intruders enter the hall, trigger the mechanisms," the tall guardian commanded.

"They're starting to enter. Wait for my signal," the lean guardian said, watching through the observation hole.

Dongbo Xueying and his group of five followed the two Frost Serpents into the Inner Castle, searching for Lu Huairu. Because the entire Inner Castle was octagonal, there were exactly eight corner halls.

At this moment, they stepped into one of these corner halls.

Si Borong, wielding a greatsword, walked in front alongside the black-haired elder Liang Yong. Yu Jingqiu walked in the center, holding her staff; she had already cast a frost spell upon herself, forming a layer of icy armor over her body.

Dongbo Xueying and Tang Xiong followed at the very back, positioned to the left and right rear of Yu Jingqiu, respectively.

"This Inner Castle is quite large. Where exactly is Lu Huairu hiding?" Si Borong asked, sounding somewhat agitated.

"No rush."

Yu Jingqiu replied, "We are investigating every place we pass. The entire Inner Castle is octagonal, and we have already checked six areas; this will be the seventh. Once we have thoroughly searched all eight, if he is still not found... then he must be underground, and we shall descend! We will filter through it area by area. With the Dragon Mountain Tower flying boat monitoring from outside, he cannot escape!"

"Mm," Si Borong nodded.

Boom— The floor of the entire corner hall suddenly shifted, revealing deep pits beneath filled with sharp spear tips. The tips shimmered with a deep green hue, clearly coated in a potent toxin. Dongbo Xueying and the others quickly dodged. Fortunately, because the floor had been damaged by the Frost Serpents earlier, only a portion of the floor moved, while most of the area remained jammed.

As a result, Dongbo Xueying and his group were able to dodge to safety with minimal effort.

Boom— The four cracked and distorted walls suddenly collapsed in an instant, sending a massive amount of stone tumbling to the ground and revealing a vast array of mechanical crossbows hidden behind them.

These were enormous mechanical crossbows, connected by gears.

Countless bolts were packed densely behind every wall, each one as thick as a human thigh! Seeing these bolts, Si Borong, Tang Xiong, and Yu Jingqiu all felt a chill in their hearts. Bolts this thick... and powered by mechanical gears that locked into place—the tension must be immense. The power of their release would definitely exceed that of a Star-Breaking Crossbow!

"Oh no!" Yu Jingqiu's expression changed drastically.

"Defend all four sides, one person to each side!" the experienced Tang Xiong and Liang Yong shouted almost simultaneously, both knowing they had reached a life-or-death moment.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!!!!!!

The vibration of every bolt being fired was distinct. From the front, the back, and both sides... bolts were flying in from everywhere. Since Dongbo Xueying and his group were all inside the hall, the distance to the bolts was at most a few dozen meters, and as close as ten meters. It was far too close!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

The wind was torn asunder!

Hundreds of thick bolts seemed to shroud the entire corner hall in a single instant, their trajectories crisscrossing!

Fortunately, these were merely mechanisms, and the bolts were aimed to cover almost every inch of the hall; only a few dozen of the massive bolts were actually targeted at the five of them.

"Block!"

"Everyone, hold them off!"

Tang Xiong and Liang Yong both roared.

Bang! The black-haired elder Liang Yong held a shield in one hand and a saber in the other. He instantly used his shield to deflect a bolt, tilting it slightly to dissipate eighty or ninety percent of the force upon impact, sending the bolt flying away! Even so, he still felt the immense shock of the impact. If he had been hit head-on, even with his armor, he would surely have been severely injured and vomiting blood; being struck by two or three such bolts would likely have meant death.

Clang, clang, clang. The white-haired elder Tang Xiong, already over one hundred and sixty years old, held a short sword in each hand. Clang, clang—he perfectly blocked the bolts coming from his side. These old veterans were incredibly experienced.

"Damn it, damn it!" Si Borong, who was also a Silver Moon Knight, was far more panicked. He wielded his greatsword with both hands, struggling to defend himself.

Clang, clang, clang!!!

As bolts flew toward him at high speed, his reactions as a Silver Moon Knight were fast, and his movements were swift, but his swordsmanship was clearly lacking, making his defense extremely arduous.

The rank of a knight did not necessarily correlate with their combat technique.

Becoming a Silver Moon Knight only meant that his Battle Qi had reached the Silver Moon Rank. As for his skill with the greatsword? Although he practiced daily and sparred with experts in his family, he had not even reached the level of 'man and sword as one.' His foundation was solid enough for average combat, but in this life-or-death moment, with high-speed bolts raining down, there was no time to think about how to block each one—it was entirely a matter of conditioned reflex!

"No!" Cold sweat beaded on Si Borong's forehead as he suddenly cried out, finally making a mistake in his defense.

Whoosh. At the critical moment, a shield suddenly reached over and managed to deflect the thick bolt, sending it flying off-course so it failed to harm Si Borong.

The one who had acted at the crucial moment was Si Borong's bodyguard, Liang Yong.

The black-haired elder Liang Yong had kept nearly half of his attention on Si Borong, as he was responsible for his protection during this mission. However, the bolts were simply too fast. He had exerted himself to the limit, and his stance and movement had been compromised. Suddenly, he stumbled, and as he struggled to deal with the bolts attacking him head-on, his defense fell into disarray. Clang, clang, clang... He managed to deflect two bolts with his saber, but he was too slow for the third.

"Ah!" Liang Yong let out a low cry as he tried desperately to dodge.

A bolt flew past, tearing through his right arm. The arm holding his saber was severed instantly, and blood sprayed into the air.

Whoosh.

Soon, all the bolts stopped.

The entire barrage of mechanical bolts had lasted only a few seconds.

Sigh, facing such terrifying mechanical crossbows at such close range, and this Liang Yong didn't even focus entirely on his own defense, choosing instead to distract himself to help that young master Borong. It's pure luck he didn't lose his life, Tang Xiong thought with a silent sigh.

"Old Liang, Old Liang." Having escaped a brush with death, Si Borong hurriedly supported the black-haired elder, Liang Yong. Blood gushed from the stump of Liang Yong's severed right arm, but he immediately flipped his hand to produce a silk ribbon, gritting his teeth as he bound the wound. Simultaneously, the muscles and blood vessels at the site began to contract, slowing the flow of blood.

"I am fine, it is merely a severed arm," Liang Yong said. He was not truly loyal out of deep devotion; rather, he had been cultivated by the Si Family, and his own kin relied upon them. If Si Borong were to lose his life here... he and his family would be finished as well. Thus, he had to protect Si Borong. If Si Borong were to truly die, he would have to die in battle first to prove his worth!

"This Dongbo Xueying is quite formidable. I had to use my full strength just to parry those crossbow bolts, yet this young man seems to have blocked them all with relative ease." The white-haired Tang Xiong glanced at Dongbo Xueying. He had been so focused just moments ago that he hadn't paid attention to how Dongbo Xueying handled the defense, but looking at him now, the young man appeared calm and composed.

"What a pity."

Standing at the rear, Dongbo Xueying shook his head. He held a sliver of killing intent toward Si Borong, but he bore no grudge against the black-haired guard. If it were convenient, he would have helped. Unfortunately, he was at the back of the formation while the others were at the front! Dongbo Xueying had no time to save him; if he were to rush over at his absolute limit to rescue the man... he would be leaving Yu Jingqiu in a desperate situation.

Yu Jingqiu was positioned in the very center of the formation, and as a mage, she could only passively endure such crossbow fire.

"Careful!" Yu Jingqiu suddenly cried out. She had been calmly observing everything.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three figures suddenly lunged from behind a mechanical crossbow rack, a mere ten meters away from the group. These three figures possessed the combat power of Silver Moon Knights, and their speed was terrifying; they crossed the ten-meter gap in a flash.

"Careful!"

"Liang Yong!" Tang Xiong shouted.

"Young Master!" Liang Yong roared, holding his shield up to defend. Two of the attackers charged straight at them. It was clear they had realized that among these Silver Moon Knights, Si Borong was the weakest, and the black-haired elder was now crippled. These two were the easiest targets, so they naturally chose to eliminate them first before dealing with the rest.

The third attacker charged toward the mage, Yu Jingqiu! A Grand Mage—take her out first!

"Stop!" Tang Xiong held a short sword in each hand, intercepting that attacker midway.

Dongbo Xueying, positioned at the very back of the formation, also gripped his spear and charged forward.

"Young Master, let us fight together!" the guard Liang Yong shouted, holding his shield with his one remaining arm.

Si Borong was struck with terror. He hurriedly raised his greatsword to defend. Clang! Clang! Clang! The attacker wielding two Curved Blades moved as fast as lightning, closing the distance in an instant! In terms of technique, this attacker was clearly superior, forcing Si Borong to retreat rapidly! At this moment, he didn't care about the life or death of a guard, nor did he have time to worry about Yu Jingqiu.

He retreated—retreating to the very back of the formation to let others take the blows!

In truth, had Si Borong remained calm and fought side-by-side with Liang Yong, they could have held out for a while until Dongbo Xueying and the others arrived to assist.

But Si Borong cared more for his own life, and his choice was to retreat! The attacker immediately and decisively turned to slash at Liang Yong.

Liang Yong, holding his shield with one arm, had already been struggling against one attacker; now, under a focused assault, he could not hold his ground.

Puff. A Curved Blade flashed from behind, slicing across Liang Yong's throat. Liang Yong's eyes widened, filled with unwillingness, followed by a glimmer of expectation and longing. He was dying, but at least he was dying in battle; he hoped his descendants would be treated well by the Si Family. His body went limp and collapsed to the side.

The guard Liang Yong was dead!

He was the first to die in the group!

The combat between Silver Moon Rank experts was far too fast.

Take the blade strikes, for example—one could strike over a hundred times in a single second! From this, one could understand how rapid their battle was. The three attackers had barely lunged out before Si Borong retreated in panic, and Liang Yong had been killed after blocking only two strikes!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two spear shadows streaked across the air, accompanied by drifting snowflakes.

Puff! Puff!

The two attackers who had just killed Liang Yong had not yet recovered when they felt two spear shadows rushing toward their faces. A sharp pain bloomed in their throats, and they immediately clutched them, eyes bulging as blood poured out.

"You... you..." Neither could believe it; it was too fast. This spear technique was simply too fast.

In a single exchange, both were dead.

The others nearby all changed color!

In reality, the Mystic Ice Spear Technique Dongbo Xueying had learned from the senior Gu Yuanhan was famous for its speed. Even when he was only at the Meteor Rank, his spear speed had been enough to kill a Fifth-Rank Magic Beast, the Shadow Leopard! Even now, he was only using it casually, with only a fraction of his strength—roughly at the Silver Moon level. Yet, given his mastery of the spear and his status as a Transcendence knight, it remained terrifyingly fast, allowing him to easily slaughter the two.

After all, apart from himself, Dongbo Xueying had never seen anyone else reach the Master realm; achieving such perfect, unified power was incredibly difficult.

Very few people could train as diligently as Dongbo Xueying. His father, Zong Ling, and the others could not do it! Such grueling training sounds simple in a single sentence, but how many could actually sustain it? Furthermore, beyond diligence, one needed a sharp mind. Dongbo Xueying had the guidance of a Transcendence spear master, and he was clever enough to summarize his experiences and refine his spear technique time and time again. Through this solid foundation, he achieved the unity of man and spear, eventually stepping into the realm of a spear master.

Daily medicinal baths, insane training, the guidance of a Transcendence spear technique, a castle full of knights to spar with, and a brilliant mind... all of this had forged the Dongbo Xueying of today!