Chapter 157
Chapter 157
Yu Sui didn't act immediately, but sent out more light cores toward the half tower.
The people of Northern Kun City said the flames left by the Sea Whirlpool would devour Five Elements Energy, making it impossible to enter. Yu Sui drove her light cores to quietly approach and wanted to test it.
As soon as the Five Elements Light Cores approached the weak flames, they were devoured. A sudden burst of flame drew fearful gazes from others, with wariness and tension in everyone's eyes.
Seeing this scene, Yu Sui looked suspicious. Did Lin Chenghai know about this thing?
If he knew and still told her to go underground to find people, that meant he was telling her to go die.
Northern Kun City was so large. Lin Chenghai abandoning Yu Sui here alone was meant to make her retreat in the face of difficulty. After all, this girl was Saint Chang Gen's disciple, and Taiyi's people wouldn't do anything to her anyway.
If it weren't for Yu Sui saying she and Mei Liangyu had mutual feelings for each other, and his good impression of Yu Sui, Lin Chenghai wouldn't have shown any kindness to Saint Chang Gen's disciple.
Him not chopping Saint Chang Gen's disciple with two or three strikes would already be this disciple's good fortune.
Yu Sui walked in the direction Lin Chenghai had left, occasionally adjusting the positions of the Five Elements Light Cores she had released. Earlier on the Spirit Bird, many light cores had been destroyed due to Lin Chenghai and Ou Rushuang's fight.
Though her light cores had good concealment, when encountering large-scale destructive Nine Schools Arts, or when attached to others' injured locations, they were as fragile as glass beads that could be crushed by hand.
Northern Kun City was originally built to the standards of a kingdom's capital. It had many magnificent palaces and bustling districts, with flower markets, theaters, and fish towers for entertainment and sightseeing everywhere.
Later it was renovated by Taiyi's Mechanism School families. The wealthy and gorgeous aspects of human life were all converted into cold and solemn Forging Platforms.
High-standing furnaces burned bright red, with countless black stone forging tables arranged alongside. Many mechanism tools that laypeople couldn't name were placed on the forging tables.
Usually the Forging Platforms were bustling with busy Mechanism School practitioners. Due to the Sea Whirlpool incident, the four City Lords responsible for Northern Kun City ordered a temporary halt to work to first investigate the Sea Whirlpool threat.
Northern Kun City had an arrangement of three streets and one district. Within every three districts there must be one Forging Platform, and the Mechanism School practitioners responsible for this Forging Platform's affairs all lived within these three districts.
Using her Five Elements Light Cores, Yu Sui gained an aerial perspective overlooking all of Northern Kun City and discovered the pattern of the Forging Platform arrangement. The three districts together formed a square, outlined by broad official roads.
Most of the trees planted in the city were snow-white crystal trees. The circle around the official roads were all crystal trees that emitted thin cold air, which could absorb the heat from the Forging Platform furnaces to cool down Northern Kun City.
Though the city's layout was square and orderly, most areas looked the same, making it difficult to distinguish one from another.
The surface layout was neat and orderly, but what lay below was unknown.
Yu Sui pondered that beneath Northern Kun City probably referred to the location within the giant whale's belly.
She relied on Instant Shadow Talismans to rush toward the half tower, encountering quite a few Mechanism School practitioners along the way. She heard them gathered together discussing the Sea Whirlpool's attack on Northern Kun City.
There were also teahouses and taverns among Northern Kun City's neighborhoods. Those who could work or do business here were either Mechanism School family members or people who grew up in Taiyi Academy.
The Sound-Seeking Golden Bell also attracted the attention of Northern Kun City practitioners. After receiving messages from the Northern Kun City Lords and Situ Ling Kui, people closer to Lin Chenghai and Hu Gui began to take action.
Yu Sui was looking for an entrance to the underground while also searching for Li Jin Shuang.
Hu Gui's position was quite obvious, but before long the guidance left by the Sound-Seeking Golden Bell disappeared. Baili Mo rang the Sound-Seeking Golden Bell again, with bell sounds echoing throughout Northern Kun City continuously.
But the Sound-Seeking Golden Bell couldn't find traces of Situ Jin and Wenyang Xiu again.
Standing on the Spirit Bird looking toward the Sound-Seeking Golden Bell's direction, Baili Mo began to get a headache. Had the outsiders used some method to shield the Sound-Seeking Golden Bell, or had they killed them to silence them?
……
Zhang Xiangyun and Luo Fu received Ou Rushuang's orders and followed the Mechanism School people underground. Hearing that a Sea Whirlpool had attacked Northern Kun City and brought strange flames, both were surprised for a long time.
Parts of the underground passages were connected, with the same style as the Forging Platforms. Cold black iron, burning furnaces, and unclosed Dragon Stairs could be seen everywhere.
Because Northern Kun City's underground was also very large, there were many Dragon Stairs. Due to the Sea Whirlpool attack, some Dragon Stairs were damaged and unusable, and fierce fire blocked the way, making it difficult to approach the attacked center.
At the middle section of the giant whale's belly, the passages excavated by Northern Kun City's people were blocked by those weak flames. They were gathered together discussing how to break through. The best solution was to take a new route down, but that would take considerable time.
Zhang Xiangyun and Luo Fu stood at a distance.
Both sides of the passage were cold black Profound Stone walls. These black Profound Stones were also used to cool down the underground Forging Platform furnaces.
Walking in the black Profound Stone passages could provide cooling for people who spent long periods forging mechanisms at the Forging Platforms, and also effectively block explosions that might occur when building certain large mechanisms.
Luo Fu examined the distant flames that could devour Five Elements Energy and frowned: "Mei Liangyu and the others might already be dead."
"It doesn't matter if he's dead." Zhang Xiangyun also frowned. "What's important is bringing the item back."
Nian Qiuyan had calculated that Mei Liangyu was at the collapsed center, but how to get in was a difficult problem. So many Mechanism School practitioners had no solution, and they had to find Mei Liangyu before others did.
Seeing how the Mechanism School families were completely baffled by these flames, Zhang Xiangyun decided not to waste time and go search himself.
Because they were people summoned by Ou Rushuang, they received a map of Northern Kun City's underground when leaving, to prevent them from getting lost underground.
Zhang Xiangyun looked at the map as he walked forward. Luo Fu thought for a moment and said: "There should be many people above the Abyss Sea now. I don't know if Nangong Sui and Li Jin Shuang will be discovered."
"There's no time to think about those two now." Zhang Xiangyun's eyes showed hints of irritation.
What had been a simple matter suddenly became complicated, with nothing going smoothly.
Zhang Xiangyun now had difficulty concentrating. He couldn't help thinking about being attacked underwater earlier. Because they hadn't found anyone or even a suspect, the injury was inexplicable.
Luo Fu said maybe it was done by the outsiders who kidnapped Situ Jin.
Zhang Xiangyun felt it was impossible.
The opponent's attack target was clear, aimed specifically at him and Luo Fu. Nian Qiuyan wasn't hurt by even a single hair. If it weren't for Mei Liangyu and his group being at Northern Kun City's collapsed center, he would suspect whether Mei Liangyu had secretly made the move.
What made Zhang Xiangyun even more uneasy were those attack techniques that couldn't be predicted or guarded against in advance, appearing suddenly without warning. If they came several more times, he wasn't confident he could dodge them all.
Though he had reported this to Ou Rushuang, Ou Rushuang had no solution for now, only saying maybe he and Luo Fu had triggered mechanisms on the Spirit Bird.
The Spirit Bird was a product of the Mechanism School families, which they weren't familiar with.
The unknown threat made Zhang Xiangyun tense up, watching and listening in all directions, ready to fight the suddenly appearing mysterious threat at any time.
"Wait." Luo Fu suddenly spoke, reaching out to stop Zhang Xiangyun from walking forward. Zhang Xiangyun looked up: "What?"
"Go this way." Luo Fu indicated with his eyes that he should turn left, then pointed at the map. Zhang Xiangyun looked back at the map and only then turned around.
Luo Fu asked him: "What were you just thinking about?"
"Nothing." Zhang Xiangyun didn't want to reveal his inner worries. He took a deep breath, wanting to focus on finding Mei Liangyu.
He continued looking at the map: "The collapse range is quite large. At the very bottom is the Coiling Dragon Stone Cave, which is Northern Kun City's water storage location. Above that are warehouses storing weapons, stone materials, and other mechanism forging-related items. The Communication Courtyard is at the top, and next to the Communication Courtyard is a Forging Platform. Our current position should be here."
Luo Fu turned to look at the place Zhang Xiangyun pointed to on the map: "Why are there quite a few places without name markings?"
"They belong to secret places where the Four Great Mechanism Families store things, so they're not marked." Zhang Xiangyun said. "The sea fire left by the Sea Whirlpool isn't just at the top. The underground edges destroyed by the Sea Whirlpool also have remnants. Where they exist, progress is impossible."
Luo Fu looked at the map: "Some roads are impassable, and opening new ones involves the Mechanism School families' secret warehouses, so that's why it's been delayed until now?"
"Exactly." Zhang Xiangyun nodded and pondered. "But now people have come from Mechanism Island, and it's even alarmed Taiyi Academy Saints. Even if it involves secret warehouses, they'll reopen routes and won't continue delaying."
He said: "Let's first find places without sea fire that allow passage."
While Zhang Xiangyun and Luo Fu were taking action, Yu Sui was intently watching the map in his hand while observing Lin Chenghai's movements. On his side, fighting had already broken out, but Lin Chenghai had the upper hand. The Mechanism School practitioners who came to stop him were no match for him.
Lin Chenghai didn't linger in battle. His strikes were fast, ruthless, and accurate. He didn't kill, only made people lose mobility. When there were few people, he would just run. When many people held him back, he would quickly resolve the situation.
However, Yu Sui discovered that whenever Lin Chenghai fought someone, he would stop to regulate his breathing for a while.
It seemed he was still affected by the Azure Blood Golden Butterfly's toxins.
Thanks to the map on Zhang Xiangyun's side, Yu Sui found an entrance to go underground.
……
Zhang Xiangyun and Luo Fu took the Dragon Stairs down one level. Exiting the Dragon Stairs was a spacious tea room for rest, with carved screen doors on the left and right, each leading to the secret warehouses not marked on the map.
"Should we take a look?" Luo Fu asked.
These two secret warehouses had nothing to do with the Sea Whirlpool attack.
"Since we're here." Zhang Xiangyun was the first to step out of the Dragon Stairs, walking toward the left screen door.
Luo Fu followed closely behind.
Zhang Xiangyun was somewhat curious about the Mechanism School families' secrets, and combined with Mei Liangyu's talent in Mechanism Arts, it made him gnash his teeth in hatred.
He also wanted to see what fancy things the Mechanism School families had.
When Zhang Xiangyun reached out to touch the stone door, he discovered there were no restrictions on it at all. It could be opened easily, which made him more cautious. He glanced at Luo Fu from the corner of his eye, signaling him to be careful.
Luo Fu received Zhang Xiangyun's signal and quietly stepped back.
The moment Zhang Xiangyun opened the door, he had already ignited protective energy while leaning back to the side. Luo Fu's body was surrounded by golden lightning, with thunder threads like a rushing snake swarm surging inside.
But they hit empty air.
In the dazzling flash of golden lightning, Zhang Xiangyun and Luo Fu saw the situation inside clearly, their faces changing slightly.
Even Yu Sui, who was rushing through the underground passages using Wind-Riding Techniques, stopped and widened her eyes slightly.
Though the stone door was small, the space inside was very large. Lamps burned on the stone walls, illuminating the long, deep pit below. The first thing that caught the eye were silver threads hanging down from above. The silver threads were thin and long, barely visible to the naked eye, but became obvious due to their large quantity.
These thin silver threads each corresponded to hundreds of Spirit Puppets in the deep pit below.
The Spirit Puppets wore Situ family Mechanism School clothing, with body types of men, women, old and young. The exposed skin of young men and women was smooth and delicate, with long, slender fingers, while the elderly had very detailed wrinkle patterns even on their hands.
Only regardless of gender or age, their body shapes were all cast from the same mold.
Silver threads wrapped around their necks, hands, and feet, shaping them into marionettes.
The Spirit Puppets faced the stone door, so when the door opened, one could see the Spirit Puppets' faces without features, uniformly pale, flat, comical yet eerie. Looking for too long would even feel unsettling, sending chills down one's spine.
If one didn't look at the faces, no one would believe that what was in this deep pit were Spirit Puppets artificially created through Mechanism Arts.
Instead, they would think they were living people.
Mei Liangyu had told Yu Sui that the current Grandmother Situ was skilled in Puppet Arts.
The Situ family mainly researched Puppet Arts.
But Zhang Xiangyun and Luo Fu didn't know this.
Both men looked at the pale, faceless yet lifelike human-shaped Spirit Puppets staring at them and felt their scalps tingle. After the initial shock, Zhang Xiangyun immediately reacted. A place like this couldn't possibly have no restrictions and allow free entry and exit. Their ability to enter so easily meant someone had already removed the restrictions beforehand.