Chapter 922: Ulterior Motives All Around

An intense corpse energy spewed out of the just-opened passageway, along with two figures.

Feng Lintao’s eyes flashed, and he stopped in place, but didn’t fall back.

Lan Yao quickly performed an incantation gesture to activate a defensive barrier. Next, a boom rang out as Lan Yao retreated in the face of two puppets that resembled corpses. Both figures had two heads, bloodthirsty eyes, and mouths full of sharp teeth. They also emanated terrifying pressure.

Just as Lan Yao launched an attack, one of the puppets changed directions and shot toward Xu Qing. Fighting broke out instantly, and Xu Qing’s heart sank a bit. This puppet had seemingly inexhaustible strength and a very tough body. It also seemed resistant to divine abilities. It was obviously an extraordinary puppet.

However, as they fought, Xu Qing looked at the passageway and then sent a thought out to the centipedes. He didn’t do so by means of divine will, but rather, through the violet crystal, which made it impossible for anyone else to detect. The ghost-face centipedes converged around Xu Qing and met the puppet head-on. Clearly, they weren’t worried about dying, and some of them even self-detonated.

Lan Yao’s heart pounded as she struggled to deal with the puppet attacking her.

In the briefest of moments, both Xu Qing and Lan Yao found themselves in difficult situations.

As for Feng Lintao, the two puppets seemingly ignored him. That caused Lan Yao’s expression to darken. Then her eight-colored peacock appeared and lunged toward Feng Lintao.

“What’s the meaning of this, Feng Lintao? Before I set out, I made sure my husband knew where I was going and what I was doing!”

Feng Lintao’s eyes glittered. He was almost convinced to leave Lan Yao behind, but after some consideration, he offered an explanation.

“Don’t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Lan. I’m now a full-blooded Fardark. And my ancestor set all of this up! It’s a given that the traps don’t pose a threat to me now. Whether you believe it or not, Fellow Daoist Lan, I had no idea these two corpse puppets were here. It seems to me they were created by my ancestor using members of our own species. They’re the guards here.

“If members of other species hadn’t come today, they wouldn’t have done anything. But I was careless. Calm down, Fellow Daoist Lan. I’ll just go in and get the holy fardark nectar. Once I’m out, I’ll give you your fair share.”

With that, Feng Lintao rushed into the open passageway.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of shockwaves rippling out, plus Lan Yao was in the middle of fighting. Because Feng Lintao had been paying attention mostly to Lan Yao, he didn’t notice that a shadow flitted out from beneath one of the exploding centipedes and slipped right into the passageway....

Lan Yao watched grimly as Feng Lintao left her behind. She unleashed an attack, but the puppet in front of her blocked it. Clearly, there was no way she would get free from the puppet anytime soon. A murderous look appeared in her eyes as she took out a seven-colored pearl and put it in her mouth. Her cultivation base then surged, and a shadowy projection appeared above the top of her head. The projection was blurry and difficult to make out clearly, but the cultivation base power it emitted was astonishing. The moment it was out in the open, it shot toward the puppet.

The puppet attempted to dodge out of the way, but completely and utterly failed. The shadowy figure slammed into it, and the extraordinary puppet exploded into bits. The projection also dissipated.

Lan Yao’s face looked very pale, but she didn’t fall back. Not even looking at Xu Qing, she raced into the passageway.

Xu Qing watched it all happen, and though he was surprised by her secret magic, he quickly recovered from his shock. Then he continued to fight with the puppet, not bothering to use any of his trump cards.

A few dozen breaths of time passed. Then, whistling sounds could be heard from the passageway. Lan Yao and Feng Lintao shot out into the open. Their expressions flickered dramatically as they came to a stop and went into incantation gestures, as if they expected a dangerous foe to emerge behind them.

Shortly after, rumbling sounds rose up, and a stream of golden light shot out after them.

It was an enormous, golden rat! Its fur was standing on end, it had glittering, golden eyes, and a host of razor-sharp teeth. In between the fur on its body were numerous faces growing out of its flesh, snarling viciously. The moment it appeared, its glittering eyes fixed on Feng Lintao and Lan Yao. It howled. All the faces on its body howled as well, creating a sound that could shake the soul. Then it suddenly vanished, only to reappear right in front of Feng Lintao, where it opened its mouth viciously.

Feng Lintao’s face fell as he lunged backward. He waved his hand, and a shield appeared in front of him, the very same one he had used during his fight with Xu Qing.

A boom echoed out as the golden rat hit the shield. However, the shield, which had easily blocked Xu Qing, instantly shattered, and the pieces were sent flying in all directions.

At the same time, the golden rat seemed to be shaken, although that didn’t reduce its ferocity. In fact, it seemed to get more ferocious. Just as it was about to press the attack, Lan Yao’s eyes flashed, and she took advantage of the moment to rush back toward the passageway. Howling, the golden rat vanished, then reappeared in front of Lan Yao to block her path. Golden light shone brightly around it. Lan Yao’s eight-colored peacock blocked the light, but in the process was ripped to shreds.

Xu Qing watched all of this with an expression of shock on his face. He could tell that this golden rat was a godly entity, and that it had very strong godliness. In fact, it seemed just on the verge of igniting godfire.

Hold on, no. It’s not about to ignite godfire. It already did that in the past. Yet somehow the godfire was extinguished. Now it’s built up enough reserves that it’s on the verge of doing it again.

Xu Qing had dealt with enough gods that he could make such a determination at a glance.

Meanwhile, Feng Lintao scowled as he performed an incantation gesture and said, “Are you just going to stand around, Fellow Daoist Firedark? This godly rat got into the area with the holy fardark nectar from a different direction. It’s obviously been holed up in there for a while. It was asleep.

“I ran into it and it started chasing me. If we don’t kill it or at least trap it, then we have no chance of getting the holy fardark nectar! Although I didn’t lay eyes on the holy fardark nectar earlier, I could smell it. It’s definitely still in there! We have to go all out if we’re going to have a chance. Also, I have a secret magic I can try to use to control that puppet a bit!”

Through all of this, Feng Lintao hadn’t forgotten to keep the Captain at his side to use as a threat. The truth was that he was feeling very down. Though he had been the first into the passageway, he hadn’t even reached the Fardark Cistern when he unexpectedly ran into the golden rat.

The rat hadn’t been put there by his ancestor, and it wasn’t something he had planned to deal with. Now, though, he had no choice other than to deal with it. Gritting his teeth, he spat some blood out of his mouth and activated a secret magic. The puppet engaged in combat with Xu Qing shivered, backed away, and then shot toward the golden rat.

Lan Yao saw all of this happening and realized there was no time to continue trying to one-up Feng Lintao. Backing up, she continued fighting and simultaneously said, “He’s telling the truth, Fellow Daoist Firedark!”

A look of hesitation appeared on Xu Qing’s face, although he already knew that Feng Lintao was telling the truth....

Finally, he said, “I want thirty percent of the holy fardark nectar!”

Feng Lintao gritted his teeth. “Fine!”

Lan Yao knew this wasn’t a time to quibble, so she nodded.

Xu Qing was inclined to say something further. But knowing there wasn’t time, he quickly pulled out the Spirit-Devouring Dagger and leaped forward to help Feng Lintao, Lan Yao, and the puppet to fight against the golden rat.

At the same time, he glanced at the passageway and sent a secret message to Little Shadow.

“Don’t take all of it. Leave some behind!”