"Zhao Yuanji, how much longer?"
Qin Geng kept his voice low, yet it sounded exceptionally steady in the underground space filled with roaring water and grinding machinery.
He pressed himself against the slick rock wall, the muscles beneath his Black Gold Thread Soft Armor slightly taut. His eyes glimmered in the darkness as he stared fixedly at the enormous bronze Dragon-Locking Gate ahead.
The gate had not opened fully, leaving only a narrow gap. Two scarlet searchlights swept the water like ghostly eyes.
"Almost done, almost done!"
Sweat covered Zhao Yuanji's head. Holding several hair-thin fuses, he carefully tucked them into the gaps around the gate's hinges.
This was the fatal weakness of Mo School mechanisms. Blow it apart, and this bronze lump weighing tens of thousands of pounds would be out of commission.
"These foreign mechanisms are a little sinister. It's not just gears-there's bogwood from underground mixed in, too. Hard as hell."
Zhao Yuanji gritted his teeth, his fingers tying knots at lightning speed. "Everyone, fall back thirty zhang! I've upped the charge in this Mountain-Shaking Thunder, and it'll be exploding underwater. The blast won't be small!"
"Fall back."
Qin Geng waved a hand. Without another word, everyone retreated along the rock wall like nimble geckos.
Only Daoist Chi Song stayed put.
He stood on a jutting rock, the Black-Gauze Lantern in his hand blazing brightly. His dusty gray Daoist robe stirred without wind; he was clearly gathering his power.
BOOM!
In the enclosed cavern of the Underground Dark River, the explosion sounded as though it had blasted a hole through the heavens.
The power of Zhao Yuanji's Mo School Mountain-Shaking Thunder was amplified countless times within that echo chamber.
The enormous, rust-covered iron gate, a full ten zhang tall, and the bronze beast heads embedded in the