Beneath the Aperture-Opening Realm, All Are Ants

Huiming's figure vanished through the hidden door beneath the golden Buddha.

Yang Xiao gave chase at once, spear in hand. Zhao Kui and Old Saber followed close behind, and several captains drew their blades and joined them.

The group rushed through the hidden door and hurried down the stone steps.

The passage hewn through the rock was barely wide enough for two abreast. Heavy stone loomed overhead, and every few paces, an oil lamp cast a flickering yellow light.

"Careful. Someone's ahead."

Zhao Kui had barely spoken when several gray-robed monks wielding iron staffs blocked their path.

The monk in front looked to be in his fifties. He was lean and powerfully built, and his exposed skin bore a faint golden sheen.

"Amitabha."

The monk pressed his palms together, his face expressionless.

"Benefactors, the area ahead is forbidden ground of the Golden Buddha Temple. Please stop here."

Yang Xiao did not slow down.

"Benefactor—"

Before the monk could finish, Yang Xiao turned his wrist and swept his spear shaft sideways.

The shaft slammed into the monk's waist. The hardened flesh he had cultivated through a Body-Tempering Method meant nothing against the Army-Breaking Spear. The crack of breaking bones rang clear.

The monk screamed as several ribs snapped. He flew into the stone wall, blood gushing from his mouth.

The other monks sprang forward together.

They were guardian monks assigned to watch the secret chamber. Every one of them had practiced a Body-Tempering Method, giving them tough flesh and astonishing strength.

Zhao Kui charged in from the side, saber in hand.

He had long stood half a step from the Aperture-Opening Realm, and his cultivation ranked among the finest of the Demon-Suppressing Captains.

His long saber flashed from its sheath, its gleam like a strip of white silk as it struck