197: Chapter 197 Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain

Senior Sister Tao Tao hurriedly moved closer to Lin Qing, while vigilantly scanning her surroundings.

Lin Qing glanced at the four statues in the corner; if he were to encounter other Cultivators, it would be manageable, but if the danger came from the Forbidden Ground, he would have to handle it with caution.

Creak—!

As Lin Qing had expected, the four statues slowly began to Move, accompanied by a grinding sound.

"Lin Qing."

Senior Sister Tao Tao cast her gaze toward Lin Qing, subconsciously calling out his name softly; right now, Lin Qing was her only reliance, and she hoped he would not abandon her.

Lin Qing glanced at her, sensing her nervousness. If conditions allowed, he would protect her; if not, Senior Sister Tao Tao would have to fend for herself.

"You first check if there are any mechanisms."

Lin Qing said to Senior Sister Tao Tao, while simultaneously stepping toward the center of the stone chamber. He certainly wanted to find the exit himself, but it was clear that Senior Sister Tao Tao could not hold off these four statues.

The stone statues were carved from blue-black rock; even after lying silent here for tens of thousands of years, there were no traces of erosion from the passage of time on them.

The four stone statues were not uniform in appearance. Besides their differently carved attire, the biggest difference was the weapons they held: a long sword, a long spear, dual blades, and a giant hammer, respectively.

Suddenly, their previously hollow eyes lit up with a cold, greyish-white light. They stepped forward in unison, causing the entire stone chamber to tremble slightly, and fine dust fell from overhead.

The battle broke out instantly. The statue holding the long spear took the lead, thrusting its spear forward directly at Lin Qing's chest.

Lin Qing shifted his feet, turning sideways to avoid the sharp point of the spear, while simultaneously forming his right hand into a palm and striking the side of the spear shaft, using the force to deflect the thrust.

Before he could withdraw to counterattack, the airflow to his side suddenly became turbulent, and a biting sound of something cutting through the air assailed him.

The statue holding the dual blades had arrived. Its dual blades flew rapidly, slashing alternately from left to right; the Moves were light and tricky, and the offensive was precise and fierce.

Lin Qing lowered his waist and planted his feet, forming his hands into palms, and blocked with equally rapid movements, striking the side of the blades with every palm, forcibly parrying the series of attacks.

Just as Lin Qing was engaged in a rapid exchange of offense and defense with the dual-blade statue, a heavy footstep sounded from behind—it was the statue holding the giant hammer.

It raised its giant hammer high, bringing it down toward Lin Qing's head with the force of ten thousand jun.

Lin Qing did not take it head-on. After brushing aside the blade light in front of him once more, he tipped his toes on the ground, leaped into the air, and used his Movement Technique to avoid the heavy stone hammer.

While his body was still in mid-air, the statue holding the long sword had already locked onto him. Lin Qing exerted force from his waist and abdomen, spinning his body in the air to avoid the incoming long sword, and landed back on the ground.

In an instant, the four stone statues formed a encirclement. The long spear was relentless, the dual blades were swift, the giant hammer was heavy, and the long sword was fierce. The four types of Moves coordinated with each other, actually managing to trade blows with Lin Qing, who was unleashing thirty percent of his strength.

In fact, Lin Qing could have attempted to control these stone Puppets using the dao child token, but he did not do so immediately. It had been a long time since he had encountered such evenly matched opponents.

Senior Sister Tao Tao had been searching for mechanisms around the stone chamber, and after Lin Qing had been fighting the statues for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, she finally made a discovery.

"Lin Qing, it's the weapons. Their weapons are the keys."

Since the mechanism had been found, Lin Qing did not intend to continue the battle; fighting heartily for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea had already satisfied him.

However, he did not unleash his full strength to destroy these four statues; instead, he took out the dao child token to attempt to subdue them.

He recognized the blue-black stone used to forge the statues; it was called Soul-Silent Stone. Besides being hard, it had another characteristic.

That was that Divine Thought could not penetrate it. In other words, even if these four statues were placed outside, they would be qualified to battle those in the God Realm.

Four God Realm entities, even if only at the ninth rank, would be a significant combat force for the Chuyun Immortal Sect; they could not be wasted.

Sure enough, as soon as he took out the token, the four statues hurriedly halted their offensive. A sense of control came from the token, and Lin Qing knew that these four statues were now under his command.

Lin Qing straightened his robes, walked up to Senior Sister Tao Tao, and asked: "What's going on?"

Senior Sister Tao Tao's eyes held a trace of strangeness as she glanced at the token in Lin Qing's hand.

Is this Lin Qing sick? He had the means, yet he fought these few statues for so long!

However, she certainly dared not say it out loud. Instead, she led Lin Qing to the corner, pointed to a slot that had previously been blocked by the statues, and said: "It's right here. The other three corners also have similar slots. I've observed them carefully; they fit the shapes of the weapons in their hands perfectly, so it shouldn't be wrong."

Lin Qing carefully examined the place Senior Sister Tao Tao pointed to and found that it was indeed as she said.

Therefore, he summoned the statues over and placed the weapons in their hands into the respective slots.

Another sound of stones grinding rang out, and the wall opposite the passage they had come from slowly sank into the ground.

Behind the wall, it was no longer a stone passage, but a more expansive underground space.

Although there were various stones in the space emitting faint fluorescent light, the overall area could still be described as dim, and for a moment, Lin Qing could not determine the specific size of the space.

Lin Qing stepped out of the stone chamber, and Senior Sister Tao Tao hurriedly ran to his side; in her eyes, Lin Qing was becoming increasingly reliable and secure.

The four stone statues also followed closely in their footsteps, stepping out of the stone chamber one after another. Just after they left, the wall behind them closed again with a rumble.

Lin Qing looked back at the stone wall, then at the four statues following him. After pondering for a moment, he said: "You four, from now on, you shall be called Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain."

He pointed at the four statues, naming them individually: the one holding the dual blades was called Wind, the one holding the long spear was called Forest, the one holding the long sword was called Fire, and the last one holding the giant hammer was called Mountain.

He was not sure if the four statues could understand him, but generally, Divine Artifacts had some degree of intelligence. He speculated that the grade of these four statues should not be low, which was why he spoke to test them.

Sure enough, upon hearing Lin Qing's words, the four statues nodded in unison. Lin Qing smiled with satisfaction.

Although these four statues were destined not to stay with him for too long, after all, Lin Qing's growth speed was too terrifying.

But these statues had decent strength; at least in this Secret Realm, he would not have to do everything himself.

This expansive space was not a flat, unobstructed ground; various stones of different sizes and shapes stood on the ground, some of which were emitting faint fluorescent light, illuminating the surroundings.

The two carefully groped their way forward through the stone forest, with Senior Sister Tao Tao still in front and Lin Qing behind.

Suddenly, Lin Qing placed his hand on Senior Sister Tao Tao's shoulder, stopping her advance, while simultaneously raising his left hand to make the four statues stop in their tracks.

The surroundings suddenly became quiet. Just as Senior Sister Tao Tao was about to ask Lin Qing what he was doing, several figures walked out from behind a large rock.