Bluemoon’s expression was indifferent. “It wasn’t just my ancestor who entered the Earth Dragon’s lair back then.”

Qianye accepted this theory and glanced deeply at the blood altar before leaving with Bluemoon’s party. If a single blood altar required the blood of hundreds of people, just how many would be required to pacify the Earth Dragon? And where did these sacrifices come from?

Qianye had a vague feeling that the fate of those civilians left behind in Port City was bleak.

The four thus continued onward. After avoiding two rounds of traps, one of the elders finally took a careless step and triggered a mechanism on the ground. With a loud bang, a blinding flash of light lit up the dark underground world and sent a high-frequency wave far off into the distance.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

“Prepare for battle.” Bluemoon wasn’t flustered. She rolled up her sleeves to reveal the left arm that had always been hidden inside. Quite shockingly, the limb had been modified into a large caliber origin cannon. The exquisite weapon was dark green and entirely covered in origin array patterns.

The two old men also removed their robes, and there were also traces of modification on their bodies. One of them had implanted an origin furnace into his body which, after activation, began to power the other mechanical parts in his body. He was just like a human-shaped puppet.

A wisp of sadness appeared in Bluemoon’s eyes. “We Highbeards have limited lifespans. In order to maintain our combat strength, we have to undertake more and more modifications as we grow older.”

Qianye nodded in silence. He suddenly sensed numerous origin power auras approaching rapidly from the side.

“Enemy ambush!” Qianye pointed in that direction. Bluemoon and the others, being experienced soldiers, reacted instantly by pointing their weapons where Qianye had pointed to.

Several arachne soldiers had just charged out of the tunnel when they were welcomed by the interweaving fire of the three Highbeards. Bluemoon’s choice was a large caliber hand cannon, while the two elders were using rapid-fire origin machine guns.

Unable to stop his momentum, the arachne soldier behind dashed into the line of fire and suffered the same fate as his earlier companions. Ten high-ranking arachne warriors thus lost their lives under the interweaving fire of the Highbeards. An earth-shattering roar erupted in the tunnel as a heavy axe spun out of the entrance and flew toward one of the Highbeard elders.

The elder shook his left arm, and out popped a protective shield.

“Clang!” The flying axe struck the barrier, shattering the origin power on its surface and soon, the shield itself. The elder took several steps back, sparks flying out from the mechanical joints on his body. His face turned pale as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The axe couldn’t stand the massive impact, either, and actually broke down into several pieces.

An extremely large arachne stormed out of the tunnel, clad in a set of magnificent, dark golden armor. Seeing his broken axe and the arachne corpses strewn across the ground, he erupted in a horrible rage. He said with an intense glare, “All of you shall die!”

A single flying axe had injured a Highbeard elder. This arachne possessed significant combat strength and was definitely not an ordinary count.

However, Bluemoon wasn’t alarmed and merely fired her cannon in the arachne count’s face. This shot was extremely powerful, almost comparable to Zhao Yuying’s Mountain Splitter. The count didn’t dare look down on this blast—he pulled out a heavy shield strapped to his arachnid body and used it to block the side of his body. With a boom, the impact from Bluemoon’s shot forced the arachne one step toward the side.

The furious count had just lowered his shield when a blaze flickered in his eyes; Bluemoon had fired once again. This shot was extremely tricky, almost grazing past the shield’s upper body as it seemingly came for the arachne’s head. The roaring count ducked out of instinct, but this actually helped the shell to land squarely on his head.

The arachne’s helmet flew off as fresh blood flowed down his dazzled face; he shook his head repeatedly, growling all the while. Nonetheless, the count’s body was indeed strong and sturdy—he actually seemed fine after taking a blow to the vitals and was still capable of further combat.

But this shot had clearly enraged the count. After recovering from the daze, he quickly produced his origin machine gun and fired a stream of origin flames from it. Bluemoon immediately evaded the incoming fire. Her movements were extremely nimble and, on many occasions, seemed to defy the laws of physics entirely. It was as though she wasn’t a humanoid being at all. Due to the aid of mechanical parts, her actions were odd and unpredictable, making her a difficult target to hit.

The blustering arachne chased after the girl with his raking fire. But one of the Highbeard elders had secretly installed several steel wires on the ground, and they were hard to notice in the darkness of the cave. Tangled up with several steel cables, the arachne count’s massive body finally lost its balance and collapsed to the side.

Before he could even try to clamber back up, a large metallic net fell on top of him and bound him up in an instant. Both the steel cables and the metallic net were made of special materials—the target only managed to tear some parts of the net after struggling with all his might. It was bound to take him some more work in order to break free.

At this point, Bluemoon produced a small tube which she tossed onto the restrained target. The faint yellow liquid inside burst into raging flames as the tube cracked open, scorching the arachne count until he was howling in pain. The spider activated his origin power in a desperate attempt to snuff out the flames on his body, but this fire was extremely hot and almost as difficult to extinguish as origin flame. In addition to that, Bluemoon and party fired continuously at the arachne count to break his origin defenses.

Seeing how things had unfolded, Qianye tossed two origin grenades under the beleaguered arachne.

The target’s body flew up with a rumbling explosion. A wave of heat and gravel rushed at everyone’s faces, forcing Bluemoon and the elders to turn away. Having taken two solid grenade blasts, the arachne count’s origin defenses were flickering and showing signs of dying out. The Highbeards took this opportunity to blast the arachne count with all their might, quickly turning him into a beehive.

After a moment’s work, the arachne count’s screams trailed off and his massive body stopped flailing about.

This was a true expert whose combat strength far exceeded his peers, yet he had died such a sullen death—the only attack where he had managed to fully exert his power was the flying axe. This battle gave Qianye a deeper understanding of the Highbeards’ fighting style.

“Let’s move, their main force will arrive soon,” Bluemoon said urgently. The four hastened their steps toward the depths of the lair.

A sinister voice rang out before long. “Highbeards, you’re finally here!” These words hadn’t even ended when a faint shadow appeared from the side and made a beeline for one of the Highbeard elders.

The old man was quick to react, exchanging ten blows with the assailant in a flash and roaring furiously as he did so. That silhouette slowly visualized in battle and seemed to be a werewolf of extremely faint color. His build wasn’t very big, but he moved with great alacrity and went for the vitals with every move. The entangled Highbeard elder was one level higher than the opponent, yet he was somewhat flustered and had taken a couple of injures within moments.

Bluemoon and Qianye rushed into the fray. The four-man assault greatly restrained the werewolf count’s movement space and threw him into a perilous situation.

However, the wolf didn’t seem afraid at all. His eyes flickered with bloodlust as he let out a sudden howl. The glow on his body flickered as his body-size and momentum increased little by little—his origin power began to burn as though it were aboil!

A single collision from him sent the Highbeard elder flying, after which he chased after the target and launched a flurry of ruthless attacks, putting the elder in a desperate situation. The assailant made no motion to protect himself, allowing Bluemoon and the other elder to rip his back open with their attacks.

It was at this time that a tremendous, cold intent swept through the cave. This time, though, it didn’t leave but lingered over the place.

Bluemoon expression changed drastically. “Is he crazy!?”

This werewolf count had let loose entirely and was fighting without any restraint, finally drawing the attention of the Earth Dragon’s will. Rustling sounds emerged from the surrounding caves that sent a chill down everyone’s spine.

“You want to die together?” Bluemoon shouted at the werewolf. As she saw it, it was idiocy to die in the service of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons. There weren’t many in the neutral lands willing to do that either.

The werewolf thrust a claw into the Highbeard elder’s abdomen before turning back with a sinister smile. “My entire tribe died in the hands of your Highbeard mercenaries, I’m the only one alive. Back then, I swore to my ancestor’s spirit that I’ll kill all Highbeards and build a skull totem on his grave as a sacrifice to our tribesmen. Do you think I don’t know your identity? The Highbeards will be half done for if I kill you.”

Bluemoon was both shocked and furious. Who would’ve thought they would encounter such a person. The Highbeards made a living as mercenaries, and more often than not, there was only a thin line separating soldiers of fortune and bandits. To be entirely frank, they were bandits with their mask on and mercenaries without. Countless tribes big and small had fallen in the hands of Highbeards. How could Bluemoon even remember which tribe this werewolf count hailed from?

Amidst flying dust and gravel, a shadow shot out of the ground and flew toward Qianye. The latter broke into a frown as he raised East Peak upward, cleverly blocking this incoming silhouette. The black shadow crashed into the sharp blade and was immediately split into two halves. However, Qianye’s hands also trembled slightly, a testament to how much force the little thing was carrying.

The black object landed on the ground, revealing its true form. It looked much like a worm and was a meter long. It was covered in scales and had a mouth full of sharp teeth where its head should be. It seemed to possess powerful vitality, as it was still flailing about even after being split into two.

This strange creature was actually able to fly a short distance through the air after emerging from the ground. Back then, it had shot past Bluemoon and made straight for Qianye.