61: Chapter 61: A Situation Occurs

When Qiao Song led the four people to the outer periphery of the Seal, two groups of people were already standing at the entrance.

The first group wore the dark brown casual attire of the Tianque Sect, with dark red borders embedded at the cuffs. The leader was a Fourth Realm Fifth Layer Disciple, lean and tall with prominent cheekbones, who was crossing his arms and talking to the Imperial Guards next to him.

The second group was the Imperial Guards, and the guard leader was also around the Fourth Realm, with a standard long saber hung at his waist, and the bronze ornaments on the scabbard polished brightly.

Qiao Song walked forward and greeted both sides.

The Tianque Sect leader surnamed Zheng spoke lukewarmly, sweeping his gaze past Qiao Song's shoulders to glance at Xie Feng and the others. The guard leader, however, was polite, cupping his hands at Qiao Song and saying that during the tripartite joint investigation, each side would investigate on its own, and if there were any abnormalities, they just needed to notify each other.

After things settled down, Qiao Song led the four people to start sampling along the boundary line of the outer mine pit.

Saying it was sampling, actually Xie Feng and the other three were just watching the fun; none of them knew anything, and only Mo Tang was the professional.

Mo Tang rummaged out a set of portable rune detection boards from the wooden box. Extremely fine induction circuits were engraved on the board surface, and sticking it onto the rock wall of the mine pit could read the concentration and flow rate of Spiritual Qi.

She walked a section and stuck it on, recording the data on paper with a charcoal pencil, her brows furrowing tighter the more she recorded.

Qiao Song squatted next to Mo Tang to look at the data, then stood up and sent a brief report to Qin Tianzong using a jade token.

"Holy crap, you can even send text messages? Elder Qin is this awesome?" Tu Ziguan leaned over and stared at the jade token in Qiao Song's hand.

As the two were chatting, several figures nearby were approaching.

Three Tianque Sect Disciples walked over from the other end of the mine pit, looking like unfamiliar Faces.

The one in the lead had just stepped into the Fourth Realm, walking in front with two Third Realm followers behind him. Their pace wasn't fast, but their direction was very clear.

After walking closer, the leading person did not speak immediately, pretending to lower his head to look at the Ore residues: "Fellow Cultivators of the Qingyun Sect, we already measured this area yesterday, and the data is normal. You don't need to bother flipping through it again."

Mo Tang tapped lightly on the slag. "Measured yesterday, measure again today. Things like Seal data might change after a day. You Tianque Sect members wouldn't not know this, would you?"

The corners of that person's mouth pressed down a bit, then quickly recovered to a very faint arc.

"We've heard about the matter of Cangyun City. You Qingyun Sect investigated quite thoroughly in Cangyun City, investigating the city-guarding Cultivators out of existence. But Ranhuo City is not Cangyun City, and matters here belong to the Tianque Sect to manage. The tripartite joint investigation is for the imperial court's Face, but when all is said and done, you are going to leave after the investigation. We, however, are going to stay here. Investigating too thoroughly is bad for everyone."

Tu Ziguan pulled the temperature-measuring needle out of the rock cleft of the mine pit and straightened his body. Gu Jian beside him also pulled his sword up from the ground and hung it back at his waist.

At this time, over at the mine pit entrance, the guard leader seemed to have noticed the commotion here. Those few guards were not far away to begin with; not long after the Tianque Sect Disciples walked over, their gazes had already followed them.

One of the guards turned his head and whispered something to the leader. The leader's hand pressed on the hilt of his saber, his gaze locking onto this side, probably judging the situation.

Right at this subtle juncture, an extremely fine and cold chill seeped up from the ground beneath their feet.

The air was still hot; the high temperature of the geo-thermal fissure baked this entire area until it was dry and sultry, but the chill underfoot was unaffected by any air temperature, seeping upward from the extreme depths of the earth.

This was the local kind of cold, and it was moving, floating upward from an extremely deep position straight toward the direction of the rune barrier.

Xie Feng's Mirror-Breaking Finger began to operate, converting mana into Spiritual Qi, which floated at his fingertips.

"An anomaly!" Qiao Song shouted loudly, lifting a carving knife with his left hand and picking up a weird measuring ruler with his right.

The guard leader had already drawn his saber from its scabbard, feeling the chill the moment it seeped up. Qiao Song reacted even faster; both he and that Leader Zheng were in the Fourth Realm, and the range of their Spiritual Qi perception was much broader than everyone else present.

The instant the chill touched the rune barrier, Qiao Song's carving knife had already left his hand, tracing a few extremely fine Spiritual Qi threads in the air to weave a temporary cordon in front of everyone.

That thing drilled out from the underground.

Its form looked like a mass of molten glass, with a large mass of twisted mouse-like facial features floating on its surface. Xie Feng, the Tianque Sect, and the others immediately retreated. This kind of anomaly with unclear rules and a complete form was not something they could handle. There were several Fourth Realm Cultivators present, so leaving it to them to kill head-on was fine.

"It's not coming for us." Qiao Song's carving knife was already clasped back in his hand. "Its direction is the rune barrier; don't let it drill toward the Seal side!"

The guard leader's saber was already unsheathed, a layer of extremely faint golden light patterns shimmering across the blade. The Spiritual Qi texture of the imperial secret technique was completely different from that of the Sects. Leader Zheng of the Tianque Sect cut in from the side with an extremely ugly expression, condensing a mass of dark red Spiritual Qi in his palm—at a glance, it was a fire-attribute Cultivation Technique.

"Don't use fire!" Xie Feng started reminding the moment he perceived it.

That ball of fire in Leader Zheng's palm was already condensed, and hearing this, he hesitated for a split second. Just in that split second, that shadow anomaly had already bitten out a crack on the rune barrier, extremely fine and short, but the cracks of the Seal barrier began to spread in all directions from that opening.

Qiao Song went up first, scattering a large handful of carving knives. The carving knives scattered in the air, each wrapped in a layer of high-density pure Spiritual Qi without any attribute—it was a hard collision after compressing Spiritual Qi to the extreme. Then he slapped the back of the anomaly with his ruler.

"It is devouring Spiritual Qi!" Qiao Song put away his carving knife and retreated, his tone still steady. "Physical attacks are effective; after Spiritual Qi is devoured by it, it will instead grow larger. Blades and swords are fine, don't bombard it with pure Spiritual Qi."

The guard leader's saber followed closely behind. The blade blessed by the imperial secret technique chopped into the core of the shadow, and the golden light patterns on the blade burst out with a patch of extremely bright golden light the moment they contacted the shadow.

Leader Zheng of the Tianque Sect withdrew the fire-attribute Spiritual Qi, replacing it with pure palm force to slap it upward. The palm force carried no attributes, just extreme force, slapping onto the side of the shadow with one palm and knocking the shadow into the rock wall.

Three Fourth Realm Cultivators struck at the same time, and finally, under a single slash from the guard leader, the entire core was split into two halves.

Silence was restored in the mine pit, and the high-temperature air surged back, quickly dissipating that chill from just now.

The guard leader plugged his saber back into the scabbard, his hand resting on the hilt, and his gaze swept over the Tianque Sect Disciples.

Qiao Song put the carving knife back into the leather holster at his waist and turned to Xie Feng. "How did you know you couldn't use fire?"

"I didn't know either, just for safety's sake. In case this thing is related to the Fire Vampire, using fire would be equivalent to feeding it."

Qiao Song nodded; being a bit cautious was ultimately never wrong.

Tu Ziguan pulled the temperature-measuring needle out of the rock cleft, and the scale on the needle crawled up another half a small division.

"The temperature at the outer periphery of the Seal is still rising." Mo Tang held the charcoal pencil, rapidly recording data on paper without even lifting her head.

The mark of Ghatanothoa was quiet on Xie Feng's chest without generating heat. That anomaly just now was indeed not Cthulhu-mythos-related; even Ghatanothoa couldn't be bothered to pay attention to it.

But this anomaly being attracted by heat to bite the Seal was itself a signal. The thing sealed underneath definitely had to do with the Cthulhu mythos, and it was already attracting surrounding anomalies to approach, actually making an anomaly dare to show its Face in front of three Fourth Realm Cultivators.

"Elder Qin has already been notified." Qiao Song stuffed the jade token back into his sleeve. "He is at the council meeting, telling us to continue sampling. As for the matter of Seal repairs, he and Elder Han will coordinate."

The guard leader had been standing nearby all along, and at this moment suddenly interjected: "We are ordered to supervise here. This place is dangerous, so you all should exercise more caution."

He turned around and whispered a few words to the guards behind him. Several guards nodded simultaneously, their hands resting on their saber hilts as they rearranged their stances. One of the guards nodded, put away his weapon, and ran outward.

A few Tianque Sect Disciples also ran out.

"What did they go do?" Tu Ziguan helped Mo Tang tidy up her items and glanced back.

"They went to report." Qiao Song put away the ruler. "Didn't you see the Tianque Sect leader also leave? Now the Seal can actually let this kind of anomaly seep in; the Tianque Sect can't cover it up anymore. Elder Han can't play tai chi with us at the meeting anymore, and the Third Princess is about to apply pressure."