Zheng Zha’s storage ring and Zhao Ying Kong’s daggers were weapons especially lethal against spiritual entities, even Imhotep himself had suffered greatly from them before; let alone these Sphinxes. Under the dual assault of their weapons, the two Sphinxes were instantly pierced through, their forms beginning to shatter and crumble, slowly turning into dust. Although this earthen dust began to writhe and reassemble, the rate of reconstruction was slower than the one shattered by the little monk by a hundred times. Then, Zheng Zha suddenly roared, and the Sphinxes that were about to lunge at the pair instantly froze. Imhotep loudly addressed Zheng Zha, "I do not wish to be your enemy. If you hand over the Book of the Dead, I will allow you to take this Oriental woman and leave. I only require the Book of the Dead and this woman."

Imhotep pointed toward Evy, who lay upon the altar.

Evy, both hands bound by chains, watched the mummy corpse beside her and shrieked, "Zheng Zha! Don't agree to it! He's scared of how powerful your weapons are. Don't leave me here!" Zheng Zha managed a bitter smile. Regardless of whether the team was willing to surrender the Book of the Dead, the bargain was impossible to fulfill, as their very mission was to inter the immortal priest Imhotep, and unless he was killed, the Book of the Dead could not be used by anyone else.

Did he have to commit suicide to hand over the Book of the Dead? Imhotep impatiently whipped up a swirling vortex of sand. When the gale subsided, two mummy guards appeared beside Evy and Jiamin, their scimitars aimed directly at the two on the altar.

Then Imhotep spoke coldly, "You choose. Either they die, and I seize the Book of the Dead, or you hand over the Book of the Dead yourselves. I only require one sacrifice; choose wisely."

Zheng Zha took a deep breath, retrieved the Book of the Dead from his storage ring, and held it aloft, gesturing toward the murky pool of sludge at his feet. "If you dare harm a single hair on their heads, I will immediately throw this Book of the Dead into that abyss. Then neither of us gets the prize. Do you want to test me?" Imhotep’s expression finally shifted. He glared fiercely at Zheng Zha. "Fine! I will spare them! Go and kill all those who came for the Sun Scripture!" With a loud bellow, the Sphinxes immediately surged toward the passage Zheng Zha had come from.

Before long, several Sphinxes had slipped into the passage.

Zheng Zha’s heart seized with panic. He was just about to charge toward the little monk and Imhotep, but as he moved, the blades held by the two mummy guards instantly swept downward. The weapons were barely a few inches from the women’s throats when Zheng Zha abruptly stopped, and the two mummy guards slowly raised their blades again.

Imhotep snarled, "I will give you time to think. In a few minutes, their corpses will be in this hall. You don't have much time left. Before they die, you had better give me a satisfactory answer." The little monk had been observing the developing situation. He suddenly burst into loud laughter, then hoisted his large sack and walked toward Zheng Zha. Zheng Zha reacted swiftly, immediately placing the Book of the Dead back into his ring, preempting any potential sneak attack from the monk.

As the little monk walked, he opened the sack. Inside, covered head to toe in blood, was Qin Zhuiyu. Her eyes were rolled back, and her mouth foamed white and red. The monk slowly pulled her out of the bag. The sight that greeted Zheng Zha filled him with overwhelming, speechless rage; in that instant, he nearly lunged at the monk.

Not only had Qin Zhuiyu’s four limbs been severed, but from her neck down, her skin was gone. Her entire body was composed of raw red muscle and vascular fibers—a sight so horrifically bloody that even a seasoned surgeon would vomit. Her skin had been violently flayed off, leaving her resembling a skinned rabbit, a brutality simply beyond words.

The little monk’s movement seemed to rouse Qin Zhuiyu. The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was Zheng Zha nearby. The woman began to struggle madly, her mouth opening as if to scream, but only muffled groans emerged. Tears streamed down her face, turning into bloody streaks due to the filth covering her features.

Zheng Zha watched the shapes her mouth formed, sensing she was signaling him to kill her. Moreover, she ceaselessly slammed her forehead against the floor, as if this action could somehow quell her agonizing pain. "You, I will definitely kill you! You are the first person I have ever hated so deeply since childhood. I can never forgive you, never!" Zheng Zha ground out through clenched teeth, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, his jaw aching from how tightly he was biting down.

The little monk grinned hideously. "Forgiveness is unnecessary! By killing you, my scenario points and reward points will explode! I could even form a stronger team without effort. Hahaha! You will all die! Every last one of you must perish!" As the little monk spoke, he tossed Qin Zhuiyu into the air.

Right before Zheng Zha's eyes, Qin Zhuiyu was helplessly thrown toward the massive, twin-headed cobra, and she was instantly dismembered without a single cry. Before Zheng Zha, she was literally ripped into a thousand pieces.

Smack! After the giant twin-headed cobra finished devouring Qin Zhuiyu, a heavy blow landed on Zheng Zha’s chest, sending him flying mid-air. The two massive serpent jaws lunged toward him; a direct bite would surely mean utter annihilation. "Zheng Zha!" Zhao Ying Kong suddenly roared. Taking advantage of everyone’s attention fixed on Zheng Zha and the little monk, Zhao Ying Kong had already subtly drawn his silver throwing knives. He unleashed a rapid volley, piercing the bone-hands holding the scimitars of the two mummy guards before they could react. Simultaneously, a flaming dagger flew across the void toward Imhotep. To his look of stunned surprise, the flaming blade pinned him against a pillar, and his chest instantly erupted in flame.

Zheng Zha roared, blood-red fire erupting from his body. He charged headlong into the giant snake’s maw, easily vaporizing both heads into dust. Still wreathed in flame, he then leaped through the air toward the little monk.

The little monk’s soul fled in terror. He tried to retreat, but Zheng Zha tackled him solidly. The monk’s Buddhist light and the blood-red flame intensified simultaneously. As the flames gradually receded, the light around him dimmed until it vanished completely. "Aaaah!" Zheng Zha bellowed, raising his fists and hammering down onto the little monk’s abdomen. After several blows, the ground behind the monk was nearly cracked, and the monk was vomiting blood from his mouth and nose. In this desperate struggle, he could worry about nothing else; he unsealed the second stage of his Gene Lock and unleashed his full power. The muscles in his arms swelled to more than three times the thickness of an ordinary person's arm. While blocking Zheng Zha’s assault, he shoved Zheng Zha away with tremendous force and scrambled desperately toward a passage in the tomb.

Zheng Zha’s vision was now completely crimson. He genuinely wished to swallow the little monk whole. As the monk struggled free, Zheng Zha pushed off again and lunged forward, latching onto the monk’s back and taking a savage bite. With a wrench and a pull, a thick slab of muscle was torn away with a ripping sound. The little monk’s entire left shoulder blade area was nearly stripped bare, blood spraying out like a fountain from his back.

The little monk could no longer heed the pain or his limbs; he was terrified by Zheng Zha's frenzy. Only the primal thought of survival remained in his mind. As a chunk of muscle was ripped from his shoulder, he ran even more desperately toward the dark passage.

Zheng Zha held the piece of muscle clamped tightly in his jaws, the sheer force of his bite tearing the flesh in two. He didn't slow down; in this chase, he closed the distance by several more feet. He wrapped his arms around the little monk again and clawed toward his face with his right hand. With a sickening crunch, the little monk finally let out a harrowing scream; his entire right cheek and eye socket were nearly ripped open by the claws, the eyeball instantly crushed by a finger. He fought with everything he had to break free from Zheng Zha’s grasp and lunged headlong into the passage.

Zheng Zha tumbled after him, gripping the monk’s waist, and the two of them rolled violently into the dark alleyway. From the main altar hall, they heard a series of crisp sounds of bone and flesh crushing, accompanied by the little monk’s fading screams. Ten seconds later, a blood-soaked figure, his eyes completely gone and a large teeth-mark marring his face, crawled out. He managed to gasp a cry for help before a bloody hand dragged him back into the darkness. Then, the alley fell utterly silent.

Outside the altar hall, Jiamin, Evy, Zhao Ying Kong, and Imhotep, who had just retrieved his dagger, all swallowed hard before leaping toward the entrance.