145: Chapter 145 The Gate of Trials, Martial Demon Inheritance

In an instant, the entire team sprang into action.

The brief shock caused by Lin Mo single-handedly suppressing the monster was finally pulled back by more realistic crises.

Lin Mo did not wait for them to slowly process it.

He lifted his feet and leaped from below, his figure flashing as he landed back on the ground.

His movements were clean and decisive; not even the hem of his clothes was ruffled.

But the more he was like this, the more terrifying he seemed to others.

Zhou Jingyue looked at him, silent for a long while, before finally unable to help but whisper: "You... that move just now, weren't you affected by it?"

Lin Mo glanced at him.

"What do you think?"

Zhou Jingyue choked and immediately shut his mouth.

Zhao Lingxiao rarely refrained from retorting; he just let out a breath and smiled bitterly: "Fine, I submit."

Lin Mo didn't respond, only turning his gaze to Gu Changchuan.

"Where is the next location?"

Gu Changchuan immediately handed over the detector.

"Three kilometers in this direction."

"However, the situation over there is more complex than here. There is a lot of distorted terrain in the ruins, and many remaining Mimics might not have been cleared out yet."

Lin Mo took it, glanced at it, and nodded.

Just as the team was preparing to set off, Shen Zhihan suddenly frowned, as if she had noticed something.

"Wait."

"Look at this."

She pointed to the surface of the cocoon shell that had just been forcibly pressed back by Lin Mo.

Everyone turned back. They saw that on the layer of black shell membrane that had been pressed into a distorted shape, a very faint red pattern had emerged at some point.

The pattern was very short, like some kind of incomplete mark.

Yet, it faintly exuded a sense of familiarity that made people uneasy.

Shen Zhihan's expression suddenly turned very ugly.

"This is..."

"A transmission mark?"

Gu Changchuan was startled.

"Could it be that our movements were predicted by Cao Shen in advance?"

The air instantly turned cold.

Zhou Jingyue's expression changed slightly:

"Are you saying that Cao Shen, or the people behind him, deliberately let us seal this Fallen One?"

"Very likely."

Shen Zhihan looked up into the depths of the black fog.

"Moreover, just now when Lin Mo pressed it back, it might have actually triggered some kind of early warning."

As she finished speaking, a very slight vibration suddenly came from the depths of the rift.

Thump.

It sounded like an echo coming from even further away.

Lin Mo's eyes sank instantly. He looked up at the darkness deeper inside and said calmly: "Someone is coming."

Zhou Jingyue was the first to react, his long sword instantly unsheathed by half an inch.

Zhao Lingxiao also immediately stepped in front, his expression vigilant.

Gu Changchuan waved his hand, and the heavy armor squad quickly pressed forward, while the technical team rapidly retreated to a safe position.

The entire team completed a defensive formation in an instant.

In the darkness, a figure soon rushed out.

The person's clothes were torn, and their breathing was slightly hurried, clearly having forced their way through the pollution zone to get here.

But when she truly appeared in everyone's line of sight, everyone was visibly stunned.

The person who arrived was a woman.

She had a calm temperament and delicate features, yet she exuded an indescribable sense of danger.

Especially the faint, strange aura about her, which instinctively made people raise their guard.

Zhou Jingyue frowned and asked coldly: "Who are you?"

Zhao Lingxiao's gaze darkened, his hand already on his weapon.

"Where did you come from?"

Gu Changchuan did not speak immediately, only staring fixedly at the person with an exceptionally grave expression. Because he could not discern the other party's background. More accurately, he could not see through her.

That feeling was very strange.

Clearly, the other party was standing right there, and her expression was not deliberately concealed, yet her entire being exuded an extremely strong sense of danger, just like Duan Qi from before.

Facing everyone's vigilance, the woman's expression did not fluctuate in the slightest. She merely lifted her eyes slightly, scanned the entire group, and finally landed on Lin Mo.

But just before she could speak, Zhao Lingxiao had already taken a step forward and said in a deep voice: "Don't move!"

"Take one more step closer, and you die!"

The atmosphere instantly tightened.

Shen Yi stood where she was, offering no explanation, only looking at Lin Mo with a hint of clear inquiry in her eyes.

She knew that her current identity was seen as a source of danger in others' eyes.

And Lin Mo did not let this silence last too long.

He looked up, calmly gazed at everyone, and said directly: "Don't be nervous, she is one of us."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhou Jingyue and the others lowered their guard.

The crowd dispersed, and Shen Yi walked up to them, her expression suddenly becoming serious.

"Cao Shen has already entered the Trial Gate of the Martial God Secret Realm. These are all baits he set up in advance. You have fallen into his trap!"

This sentence immediately caused everyone present to change their expressions.

Gu Changchuan's expression changed abruptly.

"What did you say? The Trial Gate? The Trial Gate of the Martial Demon Inheritance has appeared?"

Shen Yi nodded, her gaze sweeping over everyone: "Cao Shen deliberately let these Fallen Ones hold you back, making you focus all your attention on these few sacrificial nodes, while he himself had long since taken his elite forces straight to the Trial Gate."

Zhao Lingxiao's brows knit together: "The Trial Gate of the Martial Demon Inheritance... isn't that something that only exists in legends?"

"It's not a legend." Shen Zhihan's voice suddenly interjected, her expression even graver than before.

"There are records in the ancient books of Tianyan Academy; the core of the Martial God Secret Realm is not those sacrificial arrays, but the inheritance trial left behind by the Martial Demon. Whoever passes the trial may obtain the Martial Demon's martial will, and perhaps even inherit his power."

Zhou Jingyue gripped his sword hilt: "Is that what Cao Shen wants?"

Shen Yi looked at everyone, "No one knows his true goal, but if he obtains the Martial Demon Inheritance, I'm afraid no one will be able to stop him!"

This sentence was like a basin of ice water, chilling everyone to the bone.

Gu Changchuan made a judgment almost instantly: "Where is the Trial Gate?"

Shen Yi raised her hand, tapped a few times on Gu Changchuan's detector, and a map of the secret realm was pulled up.

She drew a circle at a location deep within the map: "Here. From our current position, it will take forty minutes at full speed."

"Forty minutes..." Gu Changchuan gritted his teeth, "How long has Cao Shen been inside?"

"At least two days."

Everyone's expression sank. Two days! That long!

If he has already passed the trial, or has even begun to accept the inheritance...

"It's not too late to rush over now." Lin Mo's voice suddenly rang out. Everyone looked at him.

"The Martial Demon's trial shouldn't be that easy to pass. At the very least, Cao Shen hasn't obtained the inheritance yet!"

He turned around and looked at Gu Changchuan.

"Seal this place off, send people to notify those outside about the Martial Demon Inheritance, and everyone else, let's set off now."

...