268: Rescue Xiang Zizhen

"The Formation in another part of the Underground Palace has been activated."

Xiao Shi's gaze sharpened.

Through the interpretation of the formation patterns, he had realized that the Formation located within the Underground Palace was divided into several parts.

Each part of the Formation possessed different functions.

For instance, the powerful suppression formed against Soul Consciousness was the function of one part of the Formation.

And the Formation currently activated trapped them here, preventing any of them from leaving.

Xiang Zizhen's brows furrowed deeply.

Even he had no good solution at this moment.

After all, he was not proficient in Formations, making them difficult for him to crack.

"Warden, what should we do now?"

Everyone turned their gazes toward Xiang Zizhen.

A deep sense of anxiety rose within them.

Currently, two of their Prison Guards had already died a tragic death. If they had been killed face-to-face by some powerhouse in the Underground Palace, they wouldn't be this anxious and heavy-hearted.

What truly terrified them...

...was that they had no idea how these two Prison Guards had died.

Especially the first Prison Guard.

It was most bizarre.

For the second Prison Guard who died, they could still see traces of possession.

But for the first Prison Guard... they still didn't understand what had happened.

"As things stand now..."

"There is only one way!"

Xiang Zizhen sighed and spoke to everyone in a heavy voice.

"I can perform a Secret Skill to teleport you away from here, but... this Secret Skill teleportation cannot ensure a specific location, and there is a high probability that you will still be inside the Underground Palace. It can teleport you to other locations within the palace, allowing you to escape the current predicament."

Xiang Zizhen's words made everyone's hearts feel even heavier.

They realized.

Even if Xiang Zizhen could get them out of their current predicament through this Secret Skill, they would still face new problems.

First, after teleporting, their positions would be scattered, and they would no longer be able to group together.

Second, the teleportation location could not be determined.

If they were lucky and were teleported directly to the exit of the Underground Palace, they would be able to escape the danger immediately.

But similarly.

There was also the possibility of being teleported to a more dangerous area deeper within the Underground Palace.

The risk of death would be even greater then.

There was an element of gambling involved.

But if they didn't teleport away... they would be trapped here indefinitely.

If it continued, no one knew if even greater dangers and crises would appear later.

Regardless.

The most important thing right now was to escape this predicament.

Teleporting to another location might offer a glimmer of hope.

But if they stayed trapped here, they would just be waiting for death!

"As for this situation, I was negligent."

Xiang Zizhen sighed.

"Now, I can only leave a protective layer of power on you. This protective layer can provide you with a certain degree of protection. The rest... will depend on yourselves."

Through the Soul Seal in Xiang Zizhen's mind, Xiao Shi could clearly judge that the other party's words were not false at all.

This was different from what he had previously speculated.

If Xiang Zizhen wanted to use them as cannon fodder this time.

There would be no need for this.

After all, performing this teleportation Secret Skill would impose a certain burden and cost on Xiang Zizhen himself.

From the other party's series of actions and the fluctuations in his Soul, the sudden situation that occurred earlier was indeed unexpected for him.

And in his treatment of everyone, he didn't treat them as cannon fodder at all.

In fact, the reason Xiao Shi thought Xiang Zizhen was using them as cannon fodder was mainly based on the premise that Xiang Zizhen was the culprit who killed Qin Mo.

Xiang Zizhen's suspicion in this regard was truly too great.

But now, Xiang Zizhen's series of actions...

...reminded Xiao Shi of what he had initially discovered about Xiang Zizhen's character.

Treating people with sincerity, gentle and refined, he was a very sincere person.

Not the kind of insidious person who would play dirty behind someone's back, one way on the surface and another in secret.

This was true whether he was in the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect or the Star Luo Army.

This was also the most contradictory point Xiao Shi found in the investigation of Qin Mo's death.

According to Xiang Zizhen's temperament and character.

He couldn't possibly be the murderer of Qin Mo.

And yet, all fingers pointed at him.

But now was not the time to dwell on these things.

The situation in the Underground Palace had completely spiraled out of Xiang Zizhen's control.

No one knew what kind of terrifying crises still existed in the Underground Palace.

The most important thing right now was how to survive in this Underground Palace!

Soon.

As Xiang Zizhen performed the teleportation Secret Skill.

The figures of the crowd were enveloped and swallowed by one white light after another.

Disappearing one after another.

Xiao Shi, also covered by the white light...

...was teleported directly to another part of the Underground Palace.

This was a wide corridor.

The pitch-black Underground Palace was silent.

After Xiao Shi appeared here, he began to ponder.

Although this Underground Palace held great danger.

He had come here for two main purposes.

One was to earn merit and exchange it for more prisoners to kill from the prison.

The second was to investigate Xiang Zizhen deeply.

Through this incident, he had seen Xiang Zizhen's character, which was consistent with the information he had previously acquired.

He had to re-evaluate the incident of Qin Mo's murder.

If Xiang Zizhen wasn't the murderer.

Then it could only be the other two people from the Dream Witch Lineage who joined forces to kill Qin Mo.

In that case.

He couldn't just ignore Xiang Zizhen.

He had to ensure he could leave the Underground Palace alive!

"As the Paladin of this generation in the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect, Xiang Zizhen is deeply trusted by the other members and is their leader. If something happens to him, the murderer of Qin Mo is even more likely to seize the opportunity."

"At that time, the remaining members will likely be picked off one by one, which would be truly dangerous!"

Although Xiang Zizhen had always been the prime suspect.

Xiao Shi had never fully concluded he was the murderer from the start.

Before deciding to investigate Xiang Zizhen.

He had already prepared for both possibilities.

If Xiang Zizhen was the murderer, he would find evidence to nail him, proving his own innocence while also purging the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect of a cancer.

If Xiang Zizhen was not the murderer, he would guide him from the shadows, providing him with information and intelligence, using his hand to find the true culprit.

Now, Xiao Shi leaned more toward the latter.

Naturally, he had to ensure Xiang Zizhen's safety.

And from this operation, Xiao Shi felt that Xiang Zizhen was completely being schemed against by that Elderly Prisoner.

Clearly, the Elderly Prisoner had already planned everything when he told Xiang Zizhen about the information in this Underground Palace.

The purpose of doing this, besides wanting to escape, also held another possibility... that a death trap had already been set up inside the Underground Palace, just waiting for Xiang Zizhen to fall into it!

This was a death trap targeted at Xiang Zizhen!

If that was the case.

Xiao Shi could not sit idly by.

Although his cultivation was quite different from Xiang Zizhen's, and under normal circumstances, he definitely couldn't participate in a Martial Demon Realm battle.

However, in this Underground Palace, he possessed an ability that could rescue Xiang Zizhen at a critical moment!

That was... the formation patterns he had seen on the stone room walls earlier!

Currently, the main body's interpretation of these formation patterns was more than halfway complete, revealing that once he finished interpreting all of them, he could use one of the Formation's abilities within the Underground Palace.

This ability could ensure he rescued Xiang Zizhen.

However, the prerequisite was that the main body must complete the interpretation of all formation patterns before the crisis arrived.

"It should be in time..."

Thinking of this.

Xiao Shi no longer hesitated.

He began to sense the location of the Soul Seal he had left in Xiang Zizhen's mind.

Back when the [Soul Seal] was still the Entering Martial Rank [Dust Seal], it already possessed the ability to sense and track the mark, but there were significant limitations regarding distance.

Now that it had become the [Soul Seal], the sensing distance had become extremely vast.

This allowed Xiao Shi to clearly perceive his location through the mark in Xiang Zizhen's mind.

Immediately, Xiao Shi began to cautiously approach Xiang Zizhen's position bit by bit.

He knew very well.

Even if he had the ability to rescue Xiang Zizhen, it was best to hide in the shadows.

He couldn't be discovered early.

He would wait until the most critical moment to appear and rescue him.

Of course.

If Xiang Zizhen could handle it himself, that would be for the best.

And so.

While Xiao Shi moved forward cautiously, he also kept an eye out for any crises that might appear in the Underground Palace at any time.

However, after he had traveled for a long time, the entire Underground Palace remained calm and peaceful, with no danger present.

This made him even more certain that all of this was a death trap targeted at Xiang Zizhen!

"This Underground Palace itself shouldn't have any crises..."

"Given Xiang Zizhen's caution, he would have scouted this place beforehand. If this Underground Palace had the kind of danger seen earlier, he definitely wouldn't have come easily."

"In other words..."

"The dangers that appeared before were all man-made, not inherent to the Underground Palace itself. Someone wants to kill Xiang Zizhen!"

"Now that we've separated from Xiang Zizhen, we're actually safer. The person behind the attempt on Xiang Zizhen's life doesn't care about us at all. All the crises are now concentrated on Xiang Zizhen!"

After Xiao Shi realized this.

He couldn't help but speed up.

Quickly approaching Xiang Zizhen.

However, not long after he moved forward, as he stepped into a stone room, his footsteps suddenly halted!

The scene before him... caused his pupils to contract violently.

Inside this spacious and massive stone room.

There was actually a corpse.

It was none other than that Elderly Prisoner from earlier!!

"He's dead!?"

Xiao Shi's mind was hit by a massive wave of shock.

He never expected in any way that this Elderly Prisoner would die here!

According to his previous guess, even if this Elderly Prisoner wasn't the mastermind of this death trap, he was the key to leading Xiang Zizhen here.

But after escaping from Xiang Zizhen's hands, instead of gaining freedom, he died?

What's going on!

Xiao Shi was certain that the other party had not been killed by Xiang Zizhen.

He had been keeping track of Xiang Zizhen's whereabouts and was sure Xiang Zizhen hadn't been here.

At the same time, he didn't believe the Elderly Prisoner had been killed by other Prison Guards.

He quickly stepped forward.

Carefully examining the Elderly Prisoner's corpse.

He gradually discovered some strange points.

First, the Elderly Prisoner's corpse was still wearing the Handcuffs and Shackles that sealed his cultivation.

Reasonably speaking.

Once he escaped from Xiang Zizhen's hands, he would definitely try to break the Handcuffs and Shackles as soon as possible.

But he was still wearing them.

This was very strange!

Second, the manner of the Elderly Prisoner's death was the same as the first Prison Guard who died; both had their heads cut off!

"Could it be infighting?"

Xiao Shi could now basically infer.

There must be someone else behind the Elderly Prisoner.

The Elderly Prisoner's role was mainly to lead Xiang Zizhen into the Underground Palace.

The one setting up the death trap was the person behind him.

Xiao Shi now suspected that the Elderly Prisoner's death was likely due to infighting with the person behind him.

"No!"

"The Elderly Prisoner's Handcuffs and Shackles were only part of his imprisonment. What truly sealed and imprisoned him was actually the 'prison' inside his body!"

Xiao Shi remembered when he had tried to observe the old man through the Soul Seal earlier.

But he was blocked by the prison inside the other party's body.

Now, when he examined the prison inside his body...

...he suddenly discovered that the prison inside the other party's body had been brutally destroyed, and the prison was empty, with nothing inside.

Suddenly, a terrifying association grew within Xiao Shi's mind.

"He's not dead..."

"But he successfully escaped the imprisonment and got out!"

"From start to finish, what the prison wanted to confine and imprison was not this old man's body, but the... Soul inside him!!"

"His body was merely a container that could be discarded at any time. What was truly terrifying was the Soul that was being confined and imprisoned within it!"

"The reason he was wearing Handcuffs and Shackles was purely to prevent him from destroying the prison inside his body himself."

"Now that he's been rescued by an accomplice, who directly helped him destroy the prison inside his body and freed him from the imprisonment, there was naturally no need to go the extra mile to destroy the Handcuffs and Shackles."

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

Presumably, this was also the reason the other party had never spoken a single word from start to finish.

It wasn't that he didn't want to talk.

But that he couldn't.

This body was only a container to imprison his Soul; he could only communicate through Soul transmission.

"Hmm?"

Just then.

Xiao Shi suddenly noticed a pause at Xiang Zizhen's end and felt a strong vibration coming from his Soul.

This meant that Xiang Zizhen had already started fighting!

"I have to get there as quickly as possible."

Xiao Shi moved.

Quickly rushing toward Xiang Zizhen's location.

Currently, he was still some distance away from Xiang Zizhen.

At the same time, the main body's interpretation of the formation patterns still had a bit left.

Xiang Zizhen would need to hold on by himself for a while.

Not long after leaving this stone room.

A figure appeared in front of Xiao Shi.

It was a figure squatting on the ground, with its back to Xiao Shi.

From the other party's clothing, it could be seen that this was a Prison Guard.

However, Xiao Shi did not approach.

He heard the sound of blood dripping onto the ground and saw the blood spreading beneath the other party's feet.

An even stronger sense of crisis filled his mind.

The Prison Guard squatting ahead slowly turned his neck stiffly, revealing a blood-stained, hideous, and terrifying face.

His eyes were filled with madness as he stared fixedly at Xiao Shi.