***, what kind of excellent geomancy spot did I pick here. Two days ago, Jin Bo fled through here in the same desperate manner, four pursuers hot on her heels. I never expected that two days later, the same scene would unfold, only this time the runners were Jin Bo’s companions, and the pursuers had multiplied tenfold.

Worst of all, Jin Bo was yelling as she ran, "Stupid boy, hurry up and help!"

Damn it. With that shout, even I lost my last shred of false hope. Now, anyone, even a fool, would know there was someone else hiding in this stone cave.

Helpless, I had no choice but to spring out and charge toward the horde of pursuers.

Since evasion was impossible, I might as well meet them head-on. Jin Bo had clearly dragged me into this mess; I’d settle that score with her later.

Roar! I burst forth and immediately unleashed several sharp sword energies, slicing toward the dense crowd of enemies.

Because of Jin Bo’s shout, the pursuers had already noticed my presence, so my sudden appearance didn't cause any immediate chaos among them.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Soon, several warriors countered my attack, unleashing their own crescent-shaped sword energies with their half-moon scimitars, neutralizing my assault. Simultaneously, they rushed toward me.

Jin Bo and the others slipped past me at this moment.

"Take care of them!" Jin Bo surprisingly stopped.

Hmph, this woman really had confidence in me. I snapped back, "You all hurry up and go, I’ll hold them off for a while!"

Jin Bo seemed unconcerned and was about to say something more, but the tall mage grabbed her and whisked her away.

I didn't slow down. In the blink of an eye, I met the first few charging warriors head-on.

Roar! Sweep Away a Thousand Troops!

I was calculating their speed and the angle of my blade swings until they closed within five meters. Then, with a sudden burst of acceleration, pouring all my strength into a move as fast as lightning—Sweep Away a Thousand Troops. My Hundred Battles Long Saber whipped up a dazzling crescent of light, slicing horizontally toward them with astonishing speed.

Ah! It’s a Crescent Moon!

Caught completely off guard by my sudden shift in speed, the five intercepting warriors had no defense. At that moment, I was dressed like a Ranger in light armor. Although I wore Zuma jewelry, the distance and my high speed prevented them from discerning the details. Furthermore, my previous intentional use of the Offensive Sword Skill had led them to mistakenly believe I was merely a low-level Ranger, causing them to subconsciously disregard me.

They could never have imagined that I was actually an expert at the Scarlet Moon level. Even though I was only using the Half-Moon Scimitar of an advanced Ranger, the velocity and the inherent Battle Qi energy contained within it were far beyond what ordinary advanced warriors could resist. Add to that my calculated deception of ‘battering the pig to eat the tiger,’ and the outcome was predictable.

Splat, splat! In just one exchange, the five men were instantly cut into ten pieces by my Half-Moon Scimitar.

"Ah! Be careful, that guy is an Advanced Warrior!" Someone in the pursuing group quickly saw through my ruse.

Innumerable crescent sword energies, Soul Fire Charms, and Thunder Spells slammed toward me in a frenzy.

Roar! I exerted myself again, my speed exploding. In the blink of an eye, I darted forward and plunged into their midst. Although I lacked super-defensive gear like the Warrior God Armor, the immense Battle Qi within me, coupled with the enhancement effects from my Zuma equipment, made the intensity of my internal Battle Qi vastly superior to that of these advanced warriors. Merely relying on the protection of my Body Protection Battle Qi, I forcefully broke through into their center.

Roar! The Hundred Battles Long Saber danced like a giant silver serpent in the dense crowd, flashing rapidly. After several brilliant arcs of Blazing Fire light flared, a dozen corpses immediately fell.

"Ah!" Everyone was stunned, even Jin Niu and the others who were fleeing stopped in their tracks.

"That guy is a Scarlet Moon Warrior."

"Go!"

Boom! Several more Crescent Moon Sword Energies shot toward me but were repelled by my Body Protection Battle Qi. However, just as I prepared to counterattack, the remaining twenty-odd pursuers had already vanished without a trace.

..................... I was truly bewildered; were these guys putting on a show?

"Heh heh, I told you handing it over to him would be no problem!" Jin Bo's triumphant laughter drifted from behind me. "They were just a bunch of Advanced Rangers."

"So he has already advanced to the Scarlet Moon Warrior rank? No wonder you were so confident in them!" the tall mage grumbled. "It made me worry for nothing."

"........." Jin Niu was in agony, but he still looked toward me, "Are you telling the truth?"

"It's true!" I added. "The leader is a female Mage, and I also know there’s someone named Chi Xiao in there."

"It’s Chi Yan, and Chi Xiao! This damned group!" The tall mage's face darkened. "No wonder we didn't see them during the battle against the Mad Dragon Gang back then. It seems their objective is to guard the exit tightly and leave us trapped in the Coffin of Death."

"Damn it! Damn, damn it!" Jin Niu was grief-stricken and helpless. It was clear he wasn't a coward afraid of death, but he also understood perfectly that with our current numbers, successfully forcing our way through that stone gate was impossible.

The few of us before him looked like ants on a hot pan, scurrying around frantically.

"I think everyone should calm down and think of a solution together!" Although I knew these words were meaningless, if they continued to panic, they would never devise a plan.

"Right! We must stay calm, absolutely do not panic, or Aunt Lan will surely die!" Jin Niu took a deep breath, forcing himself to settle down.

"But I think before that, we should find another safe place to hide first. After all, the people who just fled might bring the Mad Dragon Gang's experts here," Jin Niu, now calm, realized they were not entirely out of danger yet.

An old hand is an old hand; such mental fortitude is essential. I couldn't help but silently admire him.

En! The big warrior also nodded slightly and quickly crouched down to lift Aunt Lan onto his back.

So, the seven of us, carrying the unconscious Aunt Lan, moved to a new location, finally settling on a relatively large stone cave as our hideout. Of course, necessary camouflage was indispensable. Compared to the cave where Jin Bo and I had been staying, this place was much larger. Eight people hiding here didn't feel crowded at all. Aunt Lan was placed on a makeshift bed prepared for her, and everyone quieted down.

How exactly could they escape the Coffin of Death? Everyone was desperately racking their brains, pondering intensely.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but recall the Dungeon Escape Scrolls and Town Portal Scrolls from Legend. Unfortunately, it seemed there was a gap between reality and the game. In the time I’d been in this world, I had never seen such special items. Rumor had it that only the Royal Family possessed a few such scrolls, unlike in the game where they could be bought at any general store. As for the Mage's Teleportation skill, only a very small number of Space Mages could master it, and the difficulty was even greater than a Warrior learning the Blazing Sword Skill. Even Dong Guan had only mastered the method of opening alternate dimensional spaces; mastering Teleportation would likely take him another decade or so.

Alas! Games are beautiful; reality is cruel!

"What on earth should we do?" Jin Niu had repeated this question countless times.

I, too, pushed my brain’s processing speed to its absolute limit.

First, to leave the Coffin of Death, they had to get past that checkpoint, but with our current strength, that was impossible. The alternative was finding another exit, but that was equally impossible. The sole exit from the Coffin of Death to the outside world was that stone gate; there were no other entrances or exits.

At least, the Ranger Manual offered no other routes.

This left using external force to blast through the gate, but currently, the Divine Moon Palace and the Alliance forces inside the Coffin of Death were nearly wiped out. Even if they pooled their strength, they couldn't possibly defeat the experts from the Mad Dragon Gang guarding the entrance. It seemed every conceivable escape route was unworkable.

Of course, I had also considered stripping the clothes off the dozen or so Mad Dragon Gang members I had killed and disguising myself to sneak out. However, this method was also impossible. With the Mad Dragon Gang on high alert, they would certainly have extremely rigorous security measures; relying on such a petty trick would absolutely fail.

It seemed there was no way out except for a forceful breakthrough, but a breakthrough required sufficient power. Moreover, besides the missing Divine Moon Palace remnants and the Great Alliance stragglers, the only others in the Coffin of Death seemed to be the Mad Dragon Gang. I couldn’t very well ask the Mad Dragon Gang to start slaughtering each other.

Then there was the elusive Dragon God of Touch. I couldn't possibly summon the Dragon God for help; I didn't have such divine abilities.

Dragon God of Touch! Wait! The Dragon God of Touch! For a moment, I nearly jumped up. It was the Dragon God of Touch! Since the Mad Dragon Gang could lure the Dragon God of Touch so close to the cave entrance back then, they must have mastered the method for attracting it. Then, if we used the same method, we could lure the Dragon God to the exit and wipe out the Mad Dragon Gang forces guarding there in one fell swoop. This plan, however, seemed utterly insane.

Furthermore, the unique movement pattern of the Evil Centipede gave me another idea. It almost never moved on the surface, instead tunneling back and forth underground, only revealing its terrifying, huge body when attacking enemies above.

Since it operated underground, it must excavate tunnels. Therefore, beneath the Coffin of Death, there must exist a massive underground passage. Where this passage leads, I couldn't say for sure, but one thing was certain: the Evil Centipede must drink water, so its tunnel must lead to some water source. As far as I knew, Meng Zhong was in a desert region, and the only nearby water sources were the outer seas to the north and northwest, or the fresh water river near the Zha Ma Temple, the Yun Jing River. However, these places seemed too far. If the Evil Centipede really traveled that far to drink, the Ranger Manual wouldn't have recorded it as only appearing in the deepest parts of the Coffin of Death. That left the only water source within the Coffin of Death: the Stone Tomb Stream, which was the closest water source. In my estimation, a passage identical to the Coffin of Death must be hidden beneath the Stone Tomb Stream.

Actually, this deduction wasn't entirely without basis. I remembered from playing Legend that in the area where the Dragon God of Touch appeared—the lower right corner of the Coffin of Death—there was a hidden door that led to the second level north of the Dungeon. But from the second level north of the Dungeon, there was no way to enter the Coffin of Death. Back then, I hadn't paid much attention, assuming it was just a game bug. But thinking about it now, since this world is almost identical to Legend, perhaps the bugs from the game also exist in the real world's Coffin of Death? The thought almost made me want to scream aloud.

Heavens, why didn't I think of this before? In Legend, the exit leading to the 'First Line of Heaven' was not the only way out of the Coffin of Death!

"I have an idea!" I hesitated, considering whether to reveal this method, as it was merely a hidden map feature in Legend, and I wasn't sure if such a path existed in the real world's Fama world.

"What idea?" Over a dozen scorching gazes immediately fixed on me.

"Hurry up and tell us!" Jin Niu looked extremely impatient.

"I'm not very confident, this is just my initial speculation," I admitted guiltily.

"Just tell us what the method is, quickly!" The big warrior was even more anxious. Seeing my hesitation, he looked ready to beat me up.

"I was thinking, since the Evil Centipede is so huge and it never operates on the surface, only moving underground, there must be an underground passage carved out by it beneath the Coffin of Death. I think these tunnels must lead somewhere else!"

...............

Everyone stared at me as if they had seen a ghost.

"Are you saying we have to find the underground passage where the Evil Centipede moves?" Jin Bo’s voice was almost lost, trembling uncontrollably from extreme fear.

"Yeah! Heaven help us, are you insane? Even if we find that tunnel, if we run into the Evil Centipede, won't we still die?" Another beautiful Priestess looked aghast.

Only Jin Niu, the big warrior, and the tall mage wore expressions of grim seriousness.

"Do you have a better idea?" The tall mage tried hard to stay calm. "Indeed, taking that path is extremely dangerous, but the chances are much greater than trying to force the stone gate at the 'First Line of Heaven.' As long as we are careful not to run into the Evil Centipede, we should be relatively safe."

"Jin Bi is right," Jin Niu said hesitantly. "But where exactly does this underground tunnel lead?"

"I don't know that part!" I continued. "But I suspect that since the Evil Centipede is so large, it must drink water, and this tunnel must lead to the only water source in the Centipede's lair: the Stone Tomb Stream." In truth, I leaned more toward the tunnel leading to the second level of the Dungeon, but that idea had absolutely no theoretical basis; it was purely a hidden map from Legend. Saying it out loud would lack credibility, so I simply omitted it.

..............

"Heavens, you even figured that out," the beautiful Priestess gazed at me, her eyes shining so brightly it made me dizzy.

"This guy mastered the Blazing Sword Skill when he was only fifteen and a half!" Jin Bo said matter-of-factly. "It's not surprising he could figure this out, is it?"

"Heh heh! A genius is a genius!" the beautiful Priestess murmured. "If only I were that smart."

"Silly girl, just save it! With that stubborn brain of yours, you won't come up with such a brilliant idea in a lifetime!" Perhaps because a viable solution was found, Jin Bo was in the mood to joke.

"This! Haha!" I chuckled dryly. It seemed the halo of genius was stuck to me whether I liked it or not. However, I decided to warn them about the worst-case scenario beforehand: "There is another possibility: that water source might not lead to the Stone Tomb Stream but to some underground river. If that’s the case, it will be much trickier. So everyone, don't be overly optimistic."

"That's right," the tall mage analyzed. "Even if it doesn't lead to the Stone Tomb Stream, it will definitely lead to another place with water. Most of the groundwater in Meng Zhong is distributed in the form of underground rivers. If we encounter such a water source, it’s not troublesome; on the contrary, it would be a huge stroke of luck!"

"Ah!" This time, I was the one completely surprised!

"Don't forget, the lowest terrain in Meng Zhong is east of the Zha Ma Temple, where the Yun Jing River is. If we really find an underground river, its ultimate destination must be the Yun Jing River, because the Yun Jing River is formed by the convergence of water flowing from countless underground streams. Therefore, as long as we follow the river, we will inevitably reach the Yun Jing River," the tall mage exclaimed excitedly.