“Buzz…”

A sound rang out as the four companions passed through the gateway of light one after the other, arriving at the inner dimension of the Dragon Trapping Well. The gateway shut itself up as they entered, and it was completely dark inside, as if the evening sky had been completely swallowed by the dark night. Wang Bugui attempted to unleash his sense field and realized that it was now restricted to a small radius of fewer than 100 meters. After some observation, he noticed that there was only one path available to them, and he did not know where it led to exactly.

“The radius of my sense field is about 100 meters. What about you guys?” asked Wang Bugui.

“50 meters,” Lyu Hao replied as he frowned.

“Same here,” Zhao Changge replied, frowning as well.

“About the same as you people. I have a treasure that can help us scout ahead, however. I can take point,” Yu Wude suggested as he drew out a compass.

The four of them looked at each other and nodded before heading in the same direction. Yu Wude took the lead, while Wang Bugui followed behind him and tried to pick up any movement in the vicinity. Zhao Changge and Lyu Hao watched their backs in case of a sudden emergency.

They were not traveling very quickly, and there were still no signs of external activity after they had walked for more than 10 minutes. There were also no signs of other living beings, and the only thing they could see was the animal remains strewn along their path.

They increased their walking pace a little and advanced for a few more kilometers, but it was the same as before. The dark and wide path was filled with animal carcasses and there were no living beings around. There were even no dead souls around either.

It was far too quiet, so quiet that the silence had become oppressing. Anyone that spent any more time here would surely be driven insane.

All of a sudden, the compass in Yu Wude’s hand began to give out a golden glow. He signaled for the others to stop and said softly, “There’s a magical formation in front of us. We’ll disarm it as we walk, follow closely behind me!”

“Right, I sense a few strong auras around us. Be careful, everyone,” Wang Bugui said as he nodded in agreement.

The four of them increased their level of alertness and moved off again. Yu Wude’s fingertips were emitting a golden glow and he would draw a talisman of light quickly with every step he took, before casting it into the void. Wang Bugui suddenly realized that each talisman was actually preventing a magical power from the formations around them from being triggered. He let the others stop after they had taken 49 steps, and he waved his arms quickly before taking another step forward.

Before long, he had drawn a golden seal, and it attracted all of the other seals and scripts they had encountered thus far. They fitted into the various talismanic words of his seal, and gold light began to burst forth from where they were standing. This was followed by a resounding clacking sound, as if something had been shattered.

“Hehe, it’s done; the first formation has been disarmed. Let’s move on,” Yu Wude said as he turned to look at his companions. Now they believed that he was being reliable. After disarming another seven formations, they encountered a trickier one. Many undead soldiers and fearsome ghosts were summoned from it, and they could not seem to be able to get rid of all of them.

“Hey! Fatty, why haven’t you disarmed this formation yet!” Zhao Changge roared as he smashed a wandering soul to pieces with a punch.

“Damn you. I don’t know who set up a Ghost Portal Formation here, there are so many of them that we can’t possibly kill them all. We need someone who’s extremely powerful and shatter its heart with pure Yang energy! But one of you is Lyu Bu incarnate wielding his double-bladed halberd, while the other is Zhao Yunlong reborn with his dragon gut silver spear; both of you have too much inauspicious aura,” Yu Wude said to Lyu Hao and Zhao Changge as he killed another vicious ghost with a talisman.

“Where is the center of this formation?” Wang Bugui asked as he grabbed hold of Yu Wude.

“Take nine steps east and 81 steps north,” Yu Wude hurriedly said.

“I’ll disarm this formation. Be extra careful, everyone!” Wang Bugui said firmly as he charged toward the center of the formation.

“Alright, we’ll assist you!” Yu Wude said before summoning a small platform and igniting 49 beams of blazing fires to clear out a path for Wang Bugui. Upon seeing this, Lyu Hao and Zhao Changge drew out their weapons and helped to cover Wang Bugui as well.

“Hyah!”

Zhao Changge shouted. A dragon gut silver spear appeared in his hand, and his handsome face was reflected in its silver shaft. He whirled the spear and stabbed multiple times with it, killing all of the undead soldiers swarming toward Wang Bugui from the left, before he swept it in a huge arc, slaying dozens of souls in the process. Wherever the cold steel tip of his spear hit, the undead would be slain.

“Have a feel of my halberd!”

Lyu Hao was also keeping busy. A double-bladed halberd had appeared in his hand. Its shaft was blood red, and while the blade was glinting brightly, its upper portion was also reddish, as if it had been dyed with freshly obtained blood. The weapon whistled in the air as Lyu Hao spun it around, and each blow took out a huge batch of the undead. Wang Bugui was to the right of him, and none of the lost souls dared to touch him.

He had already used his Hell Step to arrive at the center of the formation, and a golden glow was surging out from all parts of his body. He then transformed his prana power into solar energy before giving out a Break Heaven Fist.

“Rumble!”

There was a huge sound as the fist struck the center of the formation, causing it to shatter along with the ground nearby. The shockwave from his punch rippled through the earth, as it spread from the epicenter of his strike toward its surroundings. The undead had vanished completely, leaving only a crater hundreds of meters wide.

“What great skill you have, Brother Bugui; you can channel both extreme Yin and Yang energy. What sort of martial arts have you learnt?” Zhao Changge asked, praising his friend as he walked over with spear in hand.

“Right, what sect are you from?” Lyu Hao asked as he stuck his huge halberd into the ground.

“Haha, I just practice on my free time, free time,” said Wang Bugui as he laughed softly. He felt that it was not the right moment to reveal his true identity, and he had even decided to conceal it during the Gathering of Practitioners. He believed that it was alright to wait till he could no longer keep it a secret, to avoid becoming a common target. It would also help spread the good name of the Palace of the Human Emperors. Everyone would surely be extremely surprised when news of the sect resurfaced just when they thought that it was already dead.

Zhao Changge and Lyu Hao did not press him further; it was normal for people to have their own secrets. They had an inkling that Wang Bugui wanted to conceal his real identity during the Gathering of Practitioners, and they could accept that. They were still not really sure about his true power. He could use both extreme Yin and Yang energies, and his punch earlier on showed his immensely huge strength.

Even Lyu Hao, who had much brute strength, was unsure if he could outpower Wang Bugui confidently. He did not dare to make any conclusions without experiencing it first hand. Yu Wude, on the other hand, had turned silent very unexpectedly. He took the measure of Wang Bugui and cupped his chin, as if deep in thought. “This person is not as simple as he looks,” he thought.

“Practicing in your free time? You must be kidding. What type of recreational training could make someone become so powerful? There’s something strange about that,” Yu Wude thought. He was still thinking about the issue when the other three companions began to hurry him to continue walking.

The party met with dozens of formations of various sizes along their way, and each was increasingly tougher to disarm. Luckily, Yu Wude was well prepared and always managed to produce some weird object. He used gems, plants, rocks, miniature weapons and even a Magistrate’s Brush (a steel rod shaped like a brush which could be used as a weapon) to disarm the formations in a simple and direct fashion.

It fitted Gui Guzi’s School of Diplomacy to a T. To him, Tao was all encompassing, and it was free and unfettered. If the formations caught one by surprise, and if they were complicated, the way to disarm them would be weave unhindered through them. He focused on the weakness of each formation, before unleashing an overwhelming attack to break it. If there were any that he could not handle with his treasures, he would ask Wang Bugui and the others for help.

Zhao Changge’s attacks were like an enraged dragon that could break the ranks of an army. His pinpoint accuracy and agile use of his long spear were more suitable to disarm traps. Lyu Hao’s attacks, on the other hand, were sweeping and powerful. They covered a huge radius and bore an overwhelming aura; as such, he was more suited to tackle the lethal formations.

As for Wang Bugui, Yu Wude felt that he was a one man formation wrecking ball. He could easily disarm the traps.

The lethal formations could not harm him at all. His body seemed to be invincible, and his footwork was phantom-like and dazzling. The traps could not hold him and could only injure him a little. Perhaps the strongest formations could harm him, but he would charge into the center of those magic circles and directly disarm them anyway.

He even managed to disarm mazes after being instructed once. His heart was so resolute that illusions had no effect on him.

“He’s a demon!”

Was what Yu Wude, Lyu Hao and Zhao Changge thought. That said, having such a powerful friend to help them also filled them with confidence; most likely, they would be able to obtain the treasure they had been seeking here. They advanced together and finally reached the end of the long and deserted path. In front of them was an ancient battlefield, and it was surrounded by a yellow sea.

Wang Bugui and his three friends walked up carefully to take a closer look. An extremely aura pervaded the air around this area, and it was so oppressive that they did not even dare to breathe. Around them was a patch of damaged ground covered with stones; it had long been eroded by the strange yellow sea.

“Who could have left such strong aura behind?” Zhao Changge could not help but ask. It was an aura that only practitioners of sage level could possess.

They did not find anything strange after combing the ancient battlefield once. Yu Wude managed to pick up an ancient bronze scroll, but the others came back empty handed. Suddenly, Wang Bugui called his friends to come over to a spot not far away from the yellow sea. As they drew nearer, they saw a pile of bones on the shore.

“Bones of a sage!” exclaimed Yu Wude before patting Zhao Changge. He kept them away quickly, as even the bones left behind by a sage was also valuable. They could be used to craft artifacts or concoct potions.

“Why would there be bones of a sage here?” asked Lyu Hao. All of them were a little pertubed and decided to retreat. If a sage had fallen over here, what more them?

“Hahaha… humans, you’re courting your own deaths by trespassing!”

Just as they wanted to back away, a voice rang out. It sounded incredibly ancient yet authoritative. Wang Bugui and his friends could not move as they heard it, and the hairs stood up. They could also feel a chill creep into their brains.

They then saw the yellow sea rage as an ancient yellow dragon shot out from within. It was at least 333 meters high, and its bronze-like eyes were fixed on all four of them. “You have two choices. Die or help me escape!” it said slowly.

It was as if the dragon was issuing sentences to the four companions. Either obey or die.

“We’re done for! The old dragon is still alive!” Yu Wude said as cold sweat dripped off his forehead. Zhao Changge and Lyu Hao were also frightened. They were only at Joint Tao Realm, and a true Greater Power could crush them like ants. The dragon had trapped them with magic the instant it appeared, and they had been rendered completely immobile.

“What benefit will we stand to gain if we let you out? I bet we’ll die anyway, right?” Wang Bugui asked as he grunted coldly. He was the only one who could still think clearly now.

“No, I’ll give you something.”

“What is that?”

“If I point you to the path of immortality, would you be willing to free me?”

The ancient dragon asked Wang Bugui. It made the hearts of his three companions beat faster, and they could feel their emotions stir. Regardless of era, being directed to the path of immortality was the lifelong dream of all practitioners!