267: Weird Underground Palace

The group continued to advance into the depths of the underground palace.

Aside from Xiao Shi, who had sensed something unusual,

the rest of the group placed their full trust in Xiang Zizhen.

They felt that with a Martial Demon Realm Expert like Xiang Zizhen present, even if they encountered a crisis in the palace, he could easily resolve it.

Only Xiao Shi remained filled with vigilance and caution.

After traveling a certain distance further, they successfully entered another stone chamber.

However, this stone chamber contained no stone chests and appeared quite empty.

"There don't seem to be any treasures here..."

The group looked around.

They were somewhat disappointed.

However, upon entering the stone chamber,

Xiao Shi immediately spotted numerous profound and obscure formation patterns on the walls.

Since the others lacked his night vision, they didn't notice the patterns on the walls right away.

Aside from Xiao Shi,

only Xiang Zizhen discovered the formation patterns on the walls as they entered.

"These are incredibly advanced formation patterns..."

Xiao Shi narrowed his eyes slightly.

Even with his current Comprehension Ability in Formations, he found these patterns to be extremely profound.

As the other Prison Guards gradually approached the walls,

they too began to discover the formation patterns.

However, being largely ignorant of Formations, they couldn't understand the patterns at all.

They could only turn their questioning gazes toward Xiang Zizhen.

"Warden, what kind of formation patterns are these?"

Someone spoke up to ask.

Xiang Zizhen stared intently at the patterns on the wall.

Although he wasn't an expert in Formations either,

with his cultivation and experience, he wasn't completely lost.

"These patterns... should be part of the Formation that exists within this underground palace!"

Xiang Zizhen said in a low voice.

The moment they entered the palace, their Soul Consciousness had been heavily suppressed.

Clearly, only a powerful Formation could achieve such a feat.

Hearing this, the group nodded in agreement.

Their eyes brightened as well.

They immediately realized the staggering value these patterns held!

After all, this kind of Formation... was extremely rare.

Its value was far beyond the treasures in the previous stone chamber.

If they could record these patterns and take them out, it would undoubtedly be a massive harvest!

This caused everyone's hearts to burn with excitement.

They immediately began recording the formation patterns here.

Xiao Shi was also carefully examining the patterns.

However, he didn't need to use items to record them like the others.

The images he saw were transmitted directly to his distant main body.

His main body stopped everything it was doing,

focusing all its attention on memorizing and deciphering these patterns.

Although the patterns were incredibly profound,

they weren't impossible to decipher.

It just required some time... Xiao Shi glanced at Xiang Zizhen surreptitiously.

He found that Xiang Zizhen was actually allowing the Prison Guards to record the patterns without stopping them.

In his view,

since Xiang Zizhen was using them as cannon fodder, he shouldn't be wasting time here.

This made him even more confused by Xiang Zizhen's actions.

Judging by Xiang Zizhen's Soul fluctuations, he wasn't in a hurry at all.

Aside from Xiao Shi,

the elderly prisoner to the side also didn't seem to expect Xiang Zizhen to linger here.

Although his expression remained normal and he didn't speak,

his gaze stayed fixed on Xiang Zizhen.

Through the Soul Seal condensed in Xiang Zizhen's mind, he sensed a faint Soul fluctuation being continuously transmitted into Xiang Zizhen's consciousness.

"Could this be... Soul Transmission?"

Xiao Shi thought of a rare and powerful technique.

From the current situation,

it was highly likely the elderly prisoner was transmitting messages to Xiang Zizhen.

Unfortunately, Xiao Shi couldn't eavesdrop on their conversation through the Soul Seal.

Furthermore, neither of their expressions changed,

making it impossible to deduce the content of their talk from their faces.

Despite not knowing what Xiang Zizhen was planning,

being given time to record the patterns was very beneficial for Xiao Shi.

He just happened to be stuck in his research

regarding the Soul Imprisoning Formation.

The patterns here might provide the inspiration he needed to complete the enhancement of the Soul Imprisoning Formation.

Since the research was being done by his main body,

Xiao Shi's Clone didn't need to do much thinking.

It only needed to feed back the images and information it saw to the main body.

This allowed him to keep a constant eye on Xiang Zizhen and the elderly prisoner while examining the patterns.

He noticed that... Xiang Zizhen wasn't recording the patterns himself.

He was simply waiting for the other Prison Guards to finish.

Because none of the guards were proficient in Formations, their recording progress was very slow.

Moreover, each person could only record a portion;

none could record the entire set of patterns.

While they were recording,

Xiao Shi had already finished deciphering a portion of the patterns.

He gained significant insights into Formations from this.

At the same time, he discovered that... if he could decipher all the patterns here, he might be able to utilize the Formation within this palace!

Should he encounter a crisis in the palace then, he would have a powerful means of survival!

And so,

once the Prison Guards finished recording the patterns,

they finally left the stone chamber and continued deeper.

One harvest after another

left the guards invigorated, filling them with even greater anticipation for the treasures deeper within.

As a result, they all let down their guard.

Truly, since entering the palace, they hadn't encountered the slightest danger.

It had been nothing but non-stop harvesting.

Only Xiao Shi did not relax; instead, he became increasingly vigilant.

They maintained their Formation: the elderly prisoner leading the way, followed closely by Xiang Zizhen.

Bringing up the rear was a Prison Guard at the Life Soul stage.

He was the strongest person there after Xiang Zizhen.

As they moved forward,

a sudden gust of wind blew from behind.

The appearance of this wind instantly set everyone's nerves on edge.

After all, under normal circumstances... there shouldn't be any wind in an underground palace!

A wind appearing now was definitely unusual!

"Hmm?"

The moment Xiang Zizhen felt the wind, his figure vanished, appearing at the very back of the group as if by teleportation.

Xiao Shi also smelled blood, and his heart sank.

The scent of blood was coming from behind.

He turned around to look.

He found a corpse lying on the ground, head severed from the body, blood geysering from the stump. It was the Life Soul stage Prison Guard who had been at the back!!

His lifeless eyes were wide open, a look of terror frozen on his face, as if he didn't understand how he had died.

Xiang Zizhen stood before the corpse.

His expression was grim, his brow furrowed.

Not only had this guard been decapitated,

but most terrifyingly... his Life Soul had also been extinguished simultaneously!

One must know,

usually, for a Martial Artist who has reached the Life Soul stage, even if their Physical Body dies, their Life Soul remains.

Back when Xiao Shi killed that outsider expert at the Life Soul stage, he was nearly counter-killed by the opponent's Life Soul.

Yet now, this Life Soul stage guard's Life Soul had perished along with his Physical Body.

This was quite terrifying.

Even someone as strong as Xiang Zizhen didn't know how this was possible!

Furthermore,

the state of this guard's death reminded Xiang Zizhen of the headless corpse they had seen on the way here.

The manner of death was identical!

Both were missing their heads.

The cut at the neck was clean, as if beheaded by a Sharp Weapon.

A Life Soul stage expert... dying so inexplicably, with even his Life Soul unable to escape.

Witnessing this scene, a chill rose in everyone's hearts.

Especially for the other Life Soul stage guard in the team.

The strongest and most prideful aspect of Life Soul experts was their Life Soul.

It was like having an extra life.

Even if their Physical Body was destroyed, they wouldn't truly die.

But now, under this unknown crisis, even the Life Soul couldn't preserve his life, dying along with the body.

The shock this brought to the remaining Life Soul guard was immense.

The thing he was most proud of was so vulnerable.

"I... I was walking right in front of him. Aside from that gust of wind... I didn't sense any movement, nor did I detect any power fluctuations."

The one walking in front of the dead Life Soul guard was a Soul Consciousness Stage guard.

He was terrified now.

His face was pale.

His voice was shaky and trembling.

"Could it have been that wind just now?"

Someone said with a frown.

After all, they hadn't perceived anything else besides that wind.

Naturally, the wind was the prime suspect.

However, Xiang Zizhen shook his head.

That wind hadn't just affected the dead guard; it had swept past all of them.

If the wind had caused the kill,

it would have to be a force with immense destructive power.

But they hadn't felt anything unusual from the wind.

"It's not the wind."

"That wind... was just a distraction."

Xiang Zizhen said deeply.

"If it wasn't the wind, then it must be the Formation in this palace!"

Another guard frowned.

He felt that the Formation here might possess such silent killing methods.

"It's not the Formation."

Xiao Shi shook his head inwardly.

His main body had already finished deciphering a portion of the patterns.

He realized that the patterns on the chamber walls were only a part of the palace's Formation.

Not the whole thing.

But he also understood that this Formation didn't have the capability to kill so directly.

Especially not a Life Soul stage expert.

Suddenly,

Xiao Shi and Xiang Zizhen both realized something at the same time.

They both looked up.

Their gazes bypassed everyone, looking toward the very front of the team.

With one look,

both of their faces darkened instantly.

Whoosh!

Xiang Zizhen's figure flickered.

He appeared instantly at the front of the group.

Following Xiang Zizhen's movement, the others also looked over.

"That prisoner old man... is gone!!"

The guards' hearts shook violently.

This was also very wrong!

Even though their attention had been focused on the dead Life Soul guard, the weakest among them was at the Soul Awakening Stage of the Martial Soul Realm, and they had a powerful Martial Demon Realm Expert like Xiang Zizhen.

If the prisoner had taken even half a step forward, they would have sensed it instantly.

Moreover, the prisoner was in handcuffs and shackles, his cultivation was sealed, and there were Seals within his body.

He was no different from an ordinary person.

Even if he took the chance to run,

with his abilities, how far could he have gone?

Xiang Zizhen's face was as dark as water.

He realized he had been tricked!

The death of that Life Soul guard was clearly a trap set by someone to lure him away!

As long as his eyes were off the prisoner,

the prisoner could escape from the palace.

"Now... what do we do?"

The guards all looked at Xiang Zizhen.

Only at this moment

did they realize this palace was not as safe as they had previously thought.

On the contrary,

the dangers of this palace were enough to easily kill any one of them.

They might not even know how they died.

The most troublesome thing now

was that the prisoner had escaped!

Without the prisoner to lead the way, they didn't know what they would face next.

Under everyone's expectant gaze,

Xiang Zizhen spoke without any hesitation.

"Go!"

"Leave this place immediately!"

His expression was decisive,

without a hint of hesitation.

As he spoke, he began leading the group back the way they came.

This decision was quite unexpected to Xiao Shi.

After all, he had always thought Xiang Zizhen brought them here to serve as cannon fodder.

But from the current situation,

it seemed his speculation was wrong?

Just as the group was about to follow Xiang Zizhen out,

suddenly, one of the Soul Awakening Stage guards bowed his head, letting out a low, old, and raspy cackle.

"Jie jie jie jie..."

"Since you've come, stay and play for a while!"

As soon as those words were spoken,

everyone's eyes immediately locked onto that guard.

The guard looked up.

His eyes were blood-red, his face filled with ferocity and madness.

Before anyone could act,

the guard raised his hand and smashed a fist into his own head.

With a boom,

his head exploded.

An eyeball that had splashed onto the ground was still rolling, staring at the group with a hint of mockery.

"Soon..."

"You will all be like this."

"Enjoy death! Jie jie jie jie..."

Squelch!

Xiang Zizhen crushed the eyeball and the corpse into powder with one foot.

A powerful force radiated from him, enveloping all the nearby Prison Guards.

Xiao Shi could feel this force surrounding his body, providing protection while also inspecting and scanning him.

It was confirming that he hadn't been subjected to a similar possession.

Once the inspection was complete,

this power clung to them, ensuring they wouldn't be possessed.

"Move, quickly!"

Xiang Zizhen said in a low voice.

He led the group back along the path they had come.

Everyone's expressions were solemn.

They gripped their weapons tightly,

ready for combat at any moment.

However, as they traveled,

everything was calm; they encountered no enemies and no crises.

But after walking for a while, they actually ended up back at their starting point!

It was as if they had never left at all.

Waves of chill immediately spread through everyone's hearts.