Were You Playing Us From Start to Finish?

Xiang Qian turned around and headed back toward the main hall, but after only a few steps, another complication arose.

A series of thunderous roars came from deep within the treasury, and the ground began to shake. In moments, cracks spread inch by inch across the floor. Countless streams of dust first trickled down from the ceiling, which soon followed the floor's example and split open with huge gashes.

Countless black figures leaped toward the breaches. Those unable to squeeze through rushed out through the treasury doors and sprinted down the corridor toward the main hall—and toward Xiang Qian.

Xiang Qian saw clearly that these black figures were not people. Or rather, they were not living people. Beneath their black armor, their bodies bore not the slightest trace of life. Every grotesque skeletal face radiated a dense aura of deathly stillness.

Like corpses preserved in formaldehyde at a hospital.

The Kamar-Taj sorcerers had grown somewhat accustomed to these "living" corpses. Every Hell Lord had subordinates of a similar nature to some extent. As the Goddess of Death of the Nine Realms, it was hardly surprising that Hela had such servants.

Xiang Qian could not even be bothered to waste another second on these undead. Without slowing his stride, he casually waved behind him, and a burst of fire abruptly erupted, swallowing the entire corridor at his back.

The flames that exploded forth instantly nearly reached the temperature of the sun's surface. Though they began cooling almost at once, they were still enough to destroy every undead creature in the corridor.

The black armor softened and warped in the blazing fire, while the corpses within rapidly carbonized. When they fell, they shattered into clouds of ash.

Fire was one of the best methods for dealing with an army of undead. These