Volume 4: Super-Tier Awakening & The Ancient Capital Calamity
Chapter 354
The Ancient Trap: The Eight-Trigram Death Formation Activates
“Crack... Crack... Crack...”
The harsh, spine-chilling sound echoed incessantly through the depths of the gloomy underground hall, resembling the snapping of thousands of evil spirits’ bones under an immense, crushing weight. Layers of terracotta, dry mud, and lacquer that had endured for thousands of years suddenly cracked and peeled off in massive chunks, tumbling down onto the cold black-jade floor. The outer camouflage coating thousands of terracotta warrior statues finally collapsed entirely, revealing beneath them ancient bronze armors blazing with a fierce, blood-red magical light, reeking of palpable slaughter and hostility.
The air, already thick with deathly miasma, grew exponentially more suffocating. Streams of karmic magical flames traced along every single vein and line on the bronze armor, hissing sharply as primeval tens-of-thousands-of-years-old magical power came into contact with the outside air.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
The millennia-old terracotta army simultaneously stomped their heels against the floor. The terrifying weight of these bronze masses combined with ancient magic generated tangible shockwaves that rolled outward, shaking the sprawling black-jade avenue. Major fissures ripped across the floor, spewing orange flames thick with the stench of sulfur and ancient poisonous gases.
Thousands of six-foot-long bronze spears and countless ancient Qin-era magic crossbows engraved with primitive runes lifted in unison, aiming straight at the five figures standing at the center. The empty bronze eye sockets of the statues seemed to glare malevolently at those who dared to disturb the sovereign’s eternal slumber.
“This is bad...” Professor Zhang Yuanmin’s face turned pale as death, his hand gripping his gold-rimmed glasses trembling violently while cold sweat poured down his forehead. “This isn’t merely an entombment guard! It’s a complete combat ancient formation operated by the souls of sacrificial warriors!”
Professor Zhang’s warning had barely faded when the entire army lurched into motion. Without the chaos or trampling characteristic of mindless creatures, the tens of thousands of statues moved in seamless rhythm, with absolute discipline and terrifying precision. They quickly dispersed, sliding across the black-jade floor as if gliding on ice, operating precisely according to the ancient Eight-Trigram diagram: ruthless, airtight, layered in concentric circles with zero blind spots!
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!”
The eight gates—Open, Rest, Life, Harm, Du, Scenery, Shock, and Death—abruptly flared with eight distinct magical lights. Massive underground stone walls rumbled up from beneath the earth, completely fracturing the hall’s space into dozens of narrow, claustrophobic mazes designed to isolate each member from the formation.
“Trying to separate us? In your dreams!”
Xie Zhaoyuan let out a deep, explosive roar. The imposing aura of a peak-tier Earth Mage erupted as he slammed both palms hard against the hall floor. “Earth Dragon Wing-Armor: Rampart of Firmness!”
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Thick layers of earth-yellow stone shields a yard thick shot up from beneath their feet, intertwining into a sturdy fortress meant to block the closing underground stone walls. Yet the pressure from the Eight-Trigram formation far exceeded his predictions. The underground stone walls not only rose but also brought with them countless hidden bronze blades screeching shrilly, scraping against the stone shields and generating a blinding rain of sparks. Cracks began to spiderweb across Xie Zhaoyuan’s stone shields under the crushing weight of the grand formation.
“Don’t let them complete the Dragon-Trapping encirclement! Those crossbows are about to fire!” Tang Yue shouted, her gaze sharp as obsidian blades sweeping swiftly across the space.
The shadows swirling around her suddenly churned into a hazy silken veil, enveloping her lituary figure before melting into the dark voids between the stone pillars. The Shadow Element in Tang Yue’s hands was no longer used merely for stealth; it transformed into thousands of dark spikes darting backward toward the magic crossbow carriages at the “Harm Gate” position to disrupt their reloading rhythm.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The dark spikes slammed into the bronze armor of the terracotta warriors, producing metallic clashes but leaving only shallow indents. This bronze armor had been tempered through bloody ancient sacrificial rituals; its hardness even surpassed modern magical alloys.
Right at that moment, a barrage of hair-raising wind-tearing shrieks erupted from mid-air.
“Piercing wind! Piercing wind! Piercing wind!”
Thousands of magical crossbow bolts shot out from the “Shock Gate” and “Death Gate” positions, tearing through space with streaks of blood-crimson light. Their velocity was so extreme it produced deafening sonic booms, carrying destructive power capable of piercing both steel and ordinary defensive magic.
“Ice Palace Mirror Phantom: Ten Thousand Frosty Blue!”
Mu Ningxue stepped forward with resolute determination. Her long silver hair whipped fiercely in the gale generated by her own frost aura. The exquisite Ice Palace Bow in her hand curved to its absolute limit. She no longer fired single arrows; instead, she spun around, releasing the bowstring in a moment of absolute stillness.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Thousands of pure ice arrows, sparkling with an explosive purple-crystal light erupting from the string, formed a dense semi-circular ice wall blocking the hall’s airspace.
When the terracotta army’s magical crossbow rain crashed into Mu Ningxue’s ice wall, a brilliant yet terrifying spectacle unfolded. The magic crossbow bolts carrying millennial flames froze the moment they touched the ice, locked mid-air by the piercing cold of the Ice Palace Bow before shattering into tens of thousands of sparkling crystal shards falling like diamond dust.
Yet the number of terracotta warriors was overwhelming. The first wave of arrows was intercepted, but the second wave shrieked and howled as it lunged forward, pressing immense weight onto Mu Ningxue’s shoulders. Her complexion grew slightly pale, and wisps of frost began to escape her breath.
“Professor Zhang! Do you see any weakness in this formation? If we keep dragging this out, our magic power will run dry before we can break it!” Xie Zhaoyuan roared at the top of his lungs amidst the deafening explosions of magic while pouring his all into maintaining the stone shields.
Professor Zhang Yuanmin, hugging closely behind Tang Yue, stared unblinkingly at the shifting light patterns beneath the hall floor, muttering, “The Eight-Trigram Death Formation... Kun is Earth, Qian is Heaven... Impossible! This isn’t an ordinary defensive formation! This is a mutated Six Ding and Six Jia God-Slaying Formation! The eight gates aren’t static; they rotate according to the cyclical generation and destruction of the Five Elements! If we misjudge even a single position, the entire grand formation will instantly transform into an inescapable meat grinder!”
“In other words, we’re standing inside a death trap custom-designed to annihilate intruders of Super Tier and above?” Tang Yue materialized from a shadow right beside Professor Zhang, her sharp gaze sweeping toward the “Life Gate” position, which flickered with the weakest light.
“Exactly! Look, that Life Gate position is actually a baited trap!” Professor Zhang pointed toward an empty space several yards away, where a stone platform carved with a coiling dragon stood. “They intentionally widened the Life Gate to lure us there, but the moment we step foot in it, all four directions will simultaneously trigger the Death Gate and Harm Gate, concentrating the full lethality of thousands of terracotta warriors onto a single point!”
“Hmph, the ancients really were vicious.” Amidst this life-or-death crisis, a figure who had been standing quietly observing all along finally spoke.
It was Lin Feng.
He stood upright at the center of the group, his gaze entirely unwavering as thousands of bronze soldiers closed in. The aura on his body began to gather—not exploding noisily like Xie Zhaoyuan’s, nor freezing cold like Mu Ningxue’s, but dignified, solemn, and deep as a ten-thousand-fathom abyss.
“Lin Feng, do you have a plan? My stone walls aren’t going to hold out against a third shockwave much longer!” Xie Zhaoyuan shouted as a large chunk of his stone shield was smashed into debris by a terracotta warrior wielding a bronze spear.
“There’s no need to tediously smash each gate position the conventional way.” Lin Feng’s lips curled into a cold smile as he slowly raised his right hand.
In his palm, an orb of lightning carrying an ethereal purple hue instantly condensed. It was not ordinary lightning magic, but primitive energy carrying the majesty of divine punishment; its mere appearance distorted the surrounding space, shooting countless crackling miniature lightning bolts outward like furious silver serpents.
“What are you planning?!” Professor Zhang widened his eyes in panic. “Using brute force to forcefully break the formation in this confined space will easily cause backlash! This entire hall will collapse and bury us all!”
“Collapse?” Lin Feng turned his head, a flash of razor-sharp light cutting through the gloom like sword-glow. “I didn’t come here to play puzzle games with a pile of millennia-old scrap metal. Since it’s an ancient trap, I’ll just use the purest violence to smash it from the roots!”
“Boom!”
As his voice fell, Lin Feng’s body suddenly erupted with a blinding, heaven-shaking radiance. He took a step forward, and the ground beneath his feet instantly turned to fine powder. Tens of thousands of purple lightning bolts pierced down from the vaulted ceiling directly onto him, fusing into one with the vast magic power within his body.
“Thunder God Descent: Shatter the Mountains and Rivers!”
A low shout like midsummer thunder rolled across all directions. The lightning orb in Lin Feng’s hand expanded a hundredfold in the blink of an eye, turning into a blazing purple sun carrying destructive might as it plummeted straight toward the center of the Eight-Trigram Death Formation.
At that exact moment, the eight positions of the formation seemed to sense an unprecedented life-or-death threat. Thousands of terracotta warrior statues simultaneously raised their heads, roaring with muffled sounds echoing from the netherworld. The eight gates—Open, Rest, Life, Harm, Du, Scenery, Shock, and Death—suddenly snapped shut at breakneck speed, forming a gigantic meat grinder made of bronze and magical array diagrams!
Thousands of magical bronze spears carrying millennial unquenchable sacred flames whizzed through the air simultaneously, converging on a single point and plunging down toward the center where the five of them stood with enough force to level a small mountain!
The blazing red light of the sacred flames and the destructive purple light of the lightning collided mid-air, creating a terrifying spatial shockwave that tore apart large chunks of the black-jade floor beneath their feet...