The overwhelming force, the dozen or so figures who arrived in unison, were forced to unleash their strongest moves; at this moment, they were all shocked and enraged.

Zong Shou was equally bewildered. Were those Venerables protecting the realm simply incompetent fools?

How could they have allowed a Saint-level expert of the Night Demon race to enter the Cloud Realm so easily?

His heart filled with doubt, yet Zong Shou’s reaction was not slow in the least. The Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise retrieved the two Black Profound Violet Gallantry Shields almost instantly.

Both shields had already been upgraded to Mid-grade Immortal Artifacts; they were heavy and solid.

Even now, bearing the brunt of that immense power, they showed no strain.

Yuan Wushang snorted coldly, and with a thought, the Jade Puppet slammed a mighty fist into the void.

The collision of colossal forces caused the heavens and earth to roar, shaking incessantly.

Amidst the burst of vital energy, the Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise instead accelerated forward, crashing straight into the tomb door.

Upon rushing in, Zong Shou discovered that more than seven figures who had entered ahead of him had not been repelled by the Night Demon Saint-level expert.

At this moment, their forms flickered, disappearing into the passageway ahead.

Zong Shou’s eyes narrowed. He mused that these individuals were brimming with confidence and must have made extensive preparations beforehand.

This Qin Emperor’s Tomb was a massive labyrinth filled with countless passages. Without the detailed map, ninety-nine out of a hundred who entered would surely be lost within this sepulcher.

Observing his surroundings more closely, Zong Shou gasped sharply.

“Such potent Yin Malice!”

Legend held that the location where the Qin Emperor was interred was once the premier Dragon Vein nexus of the world.

However, through the vicissitudes of time, the Eastern Kunlun Mountain range had first fractured, and then the site had sunk deep into the Evil Abyss.

The location of this tomb complex had long since become a place of utmost depravity.

Even the essence blood of one hundred thousand Yang youths was insufficient to dispel it completely, managing only to clear a section near the tomb entrance.

This was already on the Double Ninth Festival, a time of ultimate Yang energy for Heaven and Earth. Who knew what the situation would be at other times.

After shrinking its body to the absolute minimum, the Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise continued to fly rapidly through the tomb, following Zong Shou’s instructions.

Its four limbs were retracted entirely into its shell, while the two shields guarded its flanks.

Along the path, the stone walls above, below, left, and right peeled open one after another, unleashing countless fierce crossbow bolts that shot downward.

They struck the shield and the shell with a string of ‘clanging’ sounds.

Nearly every single arrow carried the force equivalent to the full power of a Spirit Realm cultivator’s strike.

Yet, despite appearing to charge through heedlessly, they had actually managed to evade the vast majority of the mechanisms and traps.

The most perilous dangers here were not the bolts, but the highly toxic, dense acid that would pour out in wide swaths upon any disturbance—acid capable of corroding metal and even Immortal Artifacts could not withstand it.

There was also a type of poisonous mist, colorless and odorless, undetectable even by spiritual sense, which caused one to be poisoned without awareness. Even a God Realm cultivator could only withstand it for a brief moment; after half that time, flesh and bone would rot away, turning into sludge.

Furthermore, various Spirit Arts were pre-laid within. Touching a restriction would trigger them, each possessing overwhelming might.

Zong Shou possessed the blueprints left by Chong Xuan, coupled with the Mohist lineage knowledge collected by Shen Yuexuan.

He was intimately familiar with the workings of most of these mechanisms, which allowed him to traverse the tomb corridors with such ease.

But even so, there were several near-fatal encounters that almost claimed them here.

This prompted the Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise to become even more cautious; its azure flames enveloped its body in thick layers of profound ice, isolating the interior from the exterior.

Zong Shou used a spiritual technique to shrink his body to the size of a thumb, positioning himself in the gap at the forefront between the two shield plates.

While using his will to guide the Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise’s flight path, his mind was preoccupied with the tomb entrance they had just passed.

—Strange. How did that Night Demon foreign race learn the news? And how did they enter the Cloud Realm?

Filled with great confusion, Zong Shou then turned and asked Yuan Wushang, “What is your assessment of that person’s strength?”

At this moment, Yuan Wushang, who had engaged the opponent with the Jade Puppet, was naturally the most qualified to speak.

Though he himself perceived some nuances, he could not be certain.

“Their strength should be comparable to the Saint-level experts within our Cloud Realm—”

Yuan Wushang’s expression was grave as he pondered, “My Jade Puppet can only sustain for three hours at most!”

“Three hours?”

Zong Shou was momentarily stunned. This meant either that this individual faced minimal suppression within the Cloud Realm, or that their actual strength far surpassed their nominal rank!

The latter possibility was exceedingly small. However, the Night Demons were a foreign race from outside the Cloud Realm, and logically, being restricted by the realm, they should appear several times stronger than a native Cloud Realm Saint.

The Burning World Bloodline of the Lu family was valued not only for its ability to tear open the void but also because it could help a person dissolve the binding repulsion of a realm.

But how had this Night Demon Saint managed it? And what was their purpose in coming to the Qin Emperor’s Tomb?

Were they also after the Bronze Men? While the First Qin Emperor forged the Twelve Bronze Men to awe the world, he also created them to guard against foreign races.

At one point, they had thoroughly swept invading extraterritorial forces out of the Cloud Realm.

The legendary Bronze Man puppets themselves were said to possess a modicum of sentience and were naturally utterly averse to the aura of any race other than humans.

It was likely this individual would not achieve their goal easily.

“That person must have been born in the Cloud Realm; one of their parents was likely also from our Cloud Realm.”

Noticing Zong Shou’s surprised gaze, Su Xiaoxiao remained serene. “My love, do you know how many Night Demon generals perished under the Qin army when the First Qin marched across the land? How many Saint-level experts of foreign races were suspected of being sealed by the First Qin? And how many divine artifacts of various races might be buried here? Furthermore, I have heard that several of the Night Demon royal cultivation techniques have been lost in the Cloud Realm—”

Seeing Zong Shou grasp the meaning, Su Xiaoxiao smiled slightly. “Perhaps they also came for your Boundless Beginning and End Buddha. The Boundless Light should be one of the divine techniques the Night Demons fear the most.”

Night Demons fear light; their combat strength peaks at night, rendering them frail during the day.

Only as their cultivation grows can they resist it. Nevertheless, the Night Demon race remains deeply apprehensive of abilities related to light.

The Buddhist patriarch, the Great Sun Tathagata, single-handedly suppressed the Luminous World, preventing countless millions of Night Demon troops from daring to invade, thus protecting the peace of dozens of surrounding worlds.

“Your Majesty, be careful! Something seems wrong.”

Just as Zong Shou was deep in thought, Shen Yuexuan’s reminder came from beside him.

A flicker of alarm registered in his divine sense as well. Zong Shou did not deliberate long before maneuvering the Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise to abruptly veer sideways and accelerate again.

The next instant, hundreds of dust-sized black specks shot out from all four walls, scattering everywhere.

Then, they detonated silently, a mass of black light expanding and dissipating. When all the anomaly ceased, Zong Shou saw that a stretch of land fully ten li behind him had been utterly ‘swallowed’ by the black light; all matter within had been annihilated!

The soil, the walls—not a single trace remained, as if it had never been there.

“The Great Annihilation Art?”

Zong Shou’s face turned ashen. He carefully examined the blueprint in his hand, confirming that there was no corresponding record. Only then did he ask Shen Yuexuan, “Is this a lost part of your Mohist lineage, or was it never there to begin with?”

Of the ten Grand Artificers who designed the Qin Emperor’s Tomb, not all of them left behind their legacies.

Shen Yuexuan had exhausted his efforts over the past few months but had only managed to find the records of three of them. Naturally, there were gaps in the mechanical structure of the Qin Emperor’s Tomb.

Shen Yuexuan smiled wryly. “This section of the vicinity was constructed by my ancestor. There should not be such a restriction…”

Zong Shou nodded upon hearing this. This must have been a subsequent modification made after the First Qin Emperor’s time.

Shen Yuexuan added, “Fortunately, if one does not alter the original structure too much, creating flaws, even improvements are limited. If I know one, I can infer the second, but it will require time for careful deduction.”

Zong Shou shook his head. “The Double Ninth Festival lasts only one day. Let’s discuss it when we reach that location.”

Though the mechanisms and spirit formations here had been altered, the four of them working together were not afraid.

Even if they encountered danger, they were confident they could withstand it.

The Yin Malice was too dense, possibly leading to all sorts of incredible occurrences.

After the Double Ninth Festival, the Yang energy would wane. They could only remain in this Qin Emperor’s Tomb for three days at most; they truly could not afford to waste time.

Charging straight through, they entered a semi-enclosed branching tunnel barely ten breaths later.

The path ahead appeared to be a dead end, but Zong Shou tossed out an array disc inlaid with over a hundred Immortal Stones.

Then, with a flash of black light, also utterly silent, all the walls and earth layers within a radius of ten li vanished completely.

However, this was not annihilation; rather, it mimicked his own Boundless Beginning and End divine ability.

Before the four people and one beast now appeared a huge pit.

And beneath that pit was yet another tomb passage.

Zong Shou couldn’t help but smile, urging the Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise to transform into light and descend.

This was the true Qin Emperor’s Tomb; the outer layer was merely a false tomb designed to mislead the world.

The true and false layers were superimposed, even using nearly identical spirit arrays and mechanisms within, all to deceive the masses.

But upon entering this layer, the danger was clearly far greater.

In mere moments, several heavy ‘thuds’ resonated, causing the entire body of the Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise to shake violently.

It was dozens of projectiles, each carrying force comparable to the initial strike of a nascent God Realm expert, mixed within hundreds of thousands of crossbow bolts, slamming heavily against the two great shields.

Even the immensely powerful Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise could not bear it.

The two Black Profound Violet Gallantry Shields developed numerous dents, causing the Tortoise heartache—it had only possessed these two shields, recently upgraded to Immortal Artifacts, for barely ten days.

For a moment, it became timid and hesitant to charge forward again.

Zong Shou did not get angry but laughed instead, suddenly kicking the Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise squarely on the head.

“If these two shields break, I will find you better ones later. What are you afraid of? Can two ordinary Immortal Treasures last a lifetime?”

The Azure Fire Mystic Tortoise was instantly delighted, and the two shields began to dance wildly again. This time, it was afraid its Black Profound Violet Gallantry Shields wouldn't break. It even deliberately used the shields to smash into the God-rank projectiles.

It wasn't until Zong Shou lost patience and kicked it again that it slightly reined in.

“Hmm? Someone is already here?”

Turning a corner, drawing ever nearer to the main burial chamber that formed its own dome, Zong Shou suddenly felt something and looked ahead.