72: Chapter 72 Nyarlathotep!!!

Xie Feng's first reaction after bringing the people to the place was to retreat.

The ground on the lower level was packed with people; an Elder from the Tianque Sect's Artifact Hall was squatting on the ground, carefully peeling off illusionary script samples with a carving knife, a royal retainer was pacing back and forth along the edge of the forbidden Spell runes while holding a compass, and several deacons from the Qingyun Sect were pasting rune detection boards onto the rock wall.

Spirit Stone lamps and spiritual power light spheres illuminated the entire cavern as bright as day, the expressions on everyone's faces were very solemn, and every gaze was fixed on the patterns of the runes.

Xie Feng was only a blind person of the First Realm, and moreover a blind person who didn't want to risk his life here; anyway, he had already done what he promised the Third Princess.

He tapped his blind cane towards the direction of the inclined path, preparing to slip out quietly, his mind already calculating whether to eat a sesame flatbread or go to sleep first after getting out.

Then that royal retainer pulled a piece of paper out of his sleeve.

Xie Feng's footsteps paused.

That piece of paper was extremely thin and old, engraved with extremely dense runes on its surface, and its stroke structure shared the same origin as those illusionary scripts on the lower ground.

His spiritual power perception involuntarily probed half an inch further onto that paper.

Illusionary scripts.

Without a doubt, the royal family actually had a fragmentary page of illusionary scripts in their hands.

Xie Feng told himself he would just take one look; he was already prepared to retreat, but as a Cthulhu enthusiast, how could he not even look at it once? This was already engraved into his DNA, surely looking at it wouldn't make the flames explode, right? Right?

Xie Feng's spiritual power, carrying a heavy sense of stealth, slowly dispersed. Now the entire underground was filled with spiritual power, making it hard to notice him. At the same time, he drew a trace of extremely thin mana from his Meridians and mixed it into the perception of spiritual power.

Pure spiritual power sweeping over it couldn't touch the things deep within the illusionary script, but mana could.

The moment the silver-white threads touched the surface of the paper, the true meaning of those ancient words surged up from deep within the paper like a lit fuse.

Cthugha's De-summoning Spell! ?

Damn it, this old fellow really has the goods! How could you stumble upon this? Or did you guys actually recognize it? No wonder your royal family can suppress the Tianque Sect until they are speechless—your strength is indeed formidable!

Xie Feng felt the Spell upon it and pondered inwardly: It really is suiting the medicine to the illness, but unfortunately, the prescription cures both the lesion and the patient to death.

The ritual recorded on this paper could send it back from whence it came.

The price was that after the fragment was sent away, all the heat it carried would be evacuated in an instant.

The earth-fire fissures would be extinguished, all the earth-fire veins in the entire earth meridian would completely cool down, and Ranhuo City would henceforth become an ordinary stone city.

One didn't need to guess to know what reaction those people upstairs would have upon hearing this plan.

The Tianque Sect would never agree; earth-fire was their lifeline—a six-hundred-year Artifact Refining foundation and half a province's raw material supply, cut off just like that?

The imperial court wouldn't easily nod either; once the Directorate of Military Weapons' supply of copper ingots was cut off, the defense pressure of the surrounding eight provinces would instantly max out.

The Third Princess would most likely smash a long table to pieces on the spot.

But what did this have to do with Xie Feng?

Anyway, most people's lives were saved; excessive greed was not a good thing in the Cthulhu Mythos, so being able to keep one's life was already sheer luck.

He was just a guide; decisions of this level had nothing to do with him.

He confirmed the contents on the paper, memorized the patterns of the runes, and then withdrew his mana, turning around to continue walking toward the inclined path.

The dome overhead suddenly lit up, and blue-white light came from above that translucent ground layer.

Xie Feng's spiritual power perception suddenly spread upward.

Across a layer of translucent sealed foundation, the blue-white flame in the center of the dome was slowly rotating, and countless Fire Vampires were silently cruising around it. Looking down from above, they resembled a group of fireflies lowering their voices, and all the light spots were sinking downward at the same time.

Sinking toward the direction of this grayish-white ground.

Damn it! ! ! ! ! It couldn't be such a coincidence, right!

The illusionary scripts on the grayish-white ground being examined by the Cultivators suddenly lit up on their own. They weren't activated by the royal retainer; they were responding to the gaze of the flame overhead.

Over six thousand operating surveillance runes simultaneously emitted an extremely faint grayish-blue fluorescent glow. The Tianque Sect Elder squatting on the ground carving runes stopped his hand, the royal retainer holding the compass turned around to face the dome directly, and the Qingyun Sect deacon by the rock wall grabbed the rune detection board.

The runes set up by Master Huo slowly emerged, and the flames above slowly sank.

The entire grayish-white ground was actively responding to the attention of the flame above.

"Use it quickly!" Xie Feng strode over to the royal retainer's side, pointing at the flame above and shouting loudly.

Although that royal retainer was somewhat displeased that a petty Cultivator of the First Realm was shouting at him, the Third Princess had spoken and the situation was urgent now, so he couldn't help but immediately begin urging the Spell.

The surrounding powerful Cultivators all cast sideways glances, thinking that this royal retainer indeed had tricks up his sleeve. Xie Feng also nodded, waiting for this person to send away the danger before them.

A moment passed, and it was utterly useless.

Xie Feng's eye socket without eyeballs widened: If you don't have mana, what the hell are you using it for? Aren't you messing around here?

He was about to reach out to take the book page; if worse came to worst, he would just do it himself. Although he was unwilling to attract Cthugha's attention, there was no other choice—he couldn't just throw his life away here.

The old man of the royal retainer directly dodged away. Given Xie Feng's condition, he simply couldn't keep up with this powerful Cultivator of unknown Realm. Disdain appeared in the retainer's eyes: "An ignorant junior, how could such a divine object be driven by spiritual power? Behold my Magic Treasure!"

With that, he pulled a weird crystal-like object from his bosom, and the Spell was actually slowly activated.

Xie Feng immediately and acutely perceived that it was filled with mana.

Elder Things crystal? What a rare item!

"Hoo~" Xie Feng let out a long sigh of relief. He had thought he would have to snatch it and go up to pull off a wave of Cthugha's De-summoning Spell himself, scaring himself for nothing. With this thing, he wouldn't have to stick his neck out; how wonderful.

As for this underground turning into a stone city after sending the deity away, let this old man explain it himself—that'll teach you to look down on me just now.

As for the Fire Vampires, Xie Feng wasn't worried either. With so many powerful Cultivators standing below, could they still let themselves be beaten by Fire Vampires?

Ah, steady as an old dog, steady as an old dog!

"I have treasured this Magic Treasure for many years, and its internal reserves are already insufficient. Fortunately, through continuous searching over the years, I managed to find another piece a few days ago." This old man looked like he wanted to show off in front of the imperial guards so he could demand a reward from the imperial court later.

Xie Feng didn't care about all that either. Anyway, as long as he could send this ancestor before him away, anything went. It was just that a new piece found a few days ago—why did it sound a bit unreliable?

The old man took out another stone.

This stone looked about ten centimeters in size, a nearly black polyhedron with red stripes and many irregular planes.

Xie Feng felt that this thing didn't look much like an Elder Things crystal? And why did it also feel so familiar?

Then Xie Feng's hairs stood on end and cold sweat poured down. He immediately opened his mouth to shout, but unfortunately before his sound could come out, the retainer had already poured mana into that weird crystal.

That crystal suddenly burst out with a burst of black light that covered the entire lower layer.

Nyarlathotep! ! I just #@￥#! !