53: Chapter 53 Desert Mechanized Passage

The moment the spikes appeared, Song Yiqing had already sensed them, but Zhang Qilin clearly expressed his stance through action.

With a sidestep, he easily dodged the sudden strike of a spike.

Immediately after, dense clusters of spikes shot out frantically from beneath the desert sand.

It was as if some kind of mechanism had been triggered.

Fortunately, the group's movements were not slow at all.

Even Wu Ren and the other two managed to dodge precariously.

However, compared to Zhang Qilin's ease, the three of them were more or less covered in minor scratches.

As this wave of offense passed, Wu Ren prepared to dash forward first.

But at that moment, Song Yiqing spoke up weakly.

"Take three more steps, and you will die."

These eight words were like a prophecy. When Wu Ren had taken two steps and was about to take the third, he stopped abruptly.

It was this very pause that saved his life.

Another spike, without any warning yet seemingly pre-arranged, suddenly shot out from the sand.

Having narrowly escaped death, Wu Ren felt a chill run down his spine, and cold sweat poured down continuously.

He looked in terror at Song Yiqing, who was being carried on Zhang Qilin's back.

He couldn't understand how the other man had known in advance.

Could this be the ability brought about by practicing Feng Shui Art to an extremely high level?

But this ability was simply too heaven-defying!

But there was no time for him to think further.

Because Song Yiqing's next instruction arrived.

"Wu Ren, three steps back. Gong Chen, four steps forward. Wei Zhiyuan, seven steps to the left."

The three of them looked at each other first, but no one dared to hesitate at this moment.

Wu Ren's near-miss earlier was the best example.

Especially since this wave of offense was clearly more ferocious and the projectile speed was faster; trying to dodge based on reaction alone would be incredibly difficult.

So, the three of them began to move quickly the instant Song Yiqing spoke.

In the very next second after they relocated,

Swish, swish, swish!!

Spikes continuously shot out from the desert sand.

The firing speed became faster with each shot.

This filled the three with a sense of dread; without Song Yiqing, even if they had dodged the first wave, they would certainly be dead by now.

Bullet Screen Section

[My god! What is going on with this place? Why are there so many spikes shooting out? Could there be some ancient creature underneath? A porcupine?]

[The person above has watched too many cartoons, right? This clearly has nothing to do with ancient creatures.]

[If anything, it should be related to Mechanism Art.]

[It is Mechanism Art, and this is called a Mechanism Path!]

[If you watch enough exploration livestreams, you'll find out,]

[that in this Taklamakan Desert, there are many of these abandoned Mechanism Paths.]

[They aren't just near the core area;]

[I've seen exploration teams encounter them even in the outer regions.]

[Huh? Why are these things everywhere? Shouldn't things like Mechanism Paths only be found inside tombs?]

[The specifics aren't clear, but the lethality of these things exposed in the desert is immense. To dodge them, you either need extreme speed to dash through,]

[or use heavy firepower to directly smash the Mechanism Path to pieces.]

[Otherwise, the vast majority of exploration teams would die on a Mechanism Path.]

[How bizarre! This is clearly a desert, so how can such things exist? It's too eerie!]

The Iron Triangle,

At this moment, Lin Tianyi and his group had already entered the core area, and they were currently hiding inside a relatively secluded, dilapidated house.

The outside was buried in yellow sand, with only a few cracks through which they could observe the situation outside.

Outside, a large number of smaller Desert Ground Sloths, about six or seven meters in size, were wandering around.

Among them, quite a few Desert Ground Sloths were devouring the corpses of people from exploration teams who had just been killed.

"My god!! Old Lin, it looks like these guys have no intention of leaving at all!"

Fatty spoke in a low voice, while quickly moving closer to Lin Tianyi's side.

When he noticed Song Yiqing and the others trapped on the Mechanism Path on the livestream screen in the other's hand, he let out a sigh of lament.

"We're doomed. Originally, Lord Pang here was hoping that when they arrived, they could lure these Desert Ground Sloths away. Now it seems that's completely impossible!"

"Is this Song Yiqing a bit stupid? This is a Mechanism Path; instead of telling them to rush through quickly, why is he having them move back and forth?"

"What is he doing? This is just asking for death!"

"No, he's not asking for death."

Lin Tianyi keenly noticed some important points.

Fatty, however, asked with a face full of confusion,

"What's up? Old Lin, don't tell me you've seen some trick to this?"

"Are you trying to say that this Song Yiqing has a way to solve the Mechanism Path?"

As he said this, he put on a pained expression, trying hard to stifle a laugh.

"Pfft!! Old Lin, your joke is just too funny. What are you thinking?"

"We've studied this Mechanism Path many times before, haven't we?"

"We even sought analysis from famous mechanism masters in the field."

"Unless a historical-level Feng Shui master arrives in person, and one who is also skilled in Mechanism Art at that,]

[there's no chance of solving it!"

"Fatty,"

Lin Tianyi exhaled deeply.

"Perhaps we have all misjudged him."

"What? You're being so mysterious,"

Fatty dug at his ear in confusion.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"This Song Yiqing might not just be extremely strong in terms of combat power."

"His attainments in Feng Shui are likely not shallow at all."

"Previously, we only saw him observe the sky and the terrain to discover some celestial phenomena,]

[which was then overshadowed by his incredibly shocking combat power."

"But don't forget, he was the one who solved the Maze Formation on the Black Tower!"

Lin Tianyi spoke with great solemnity, and Fatty was startled by his attitude.

"Wait, Old Lin, Lord Pang doesn't understand anything about Feng Shui Art. It all looks about the same to me. Wouldn't it be the same if you did it?"

"Anyway, no need to say more about other things."

"Just tell me what you want to do now!"

"My idea is very simple,"

Lin Tianyi took another look at the livestream screen, then said to Fatty and Wang Shan,

"I can't break the layout of the Six-Pillar Temple. Even though we have the Eyeball Jade in our hands, we have no way to do it."

"But if we can cooperate with Song Yiqing, the probability of us entering below will be much greater!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Wang Shan fell into thought.

But Fatty directly refused flatly.

"No! Absolutely not!! Absolutely, absolutely not!!"

"Why? What are your thoughts?"

Lin Tianyi frowned slightly and looked at him in confusion.

Fatty then said,

"This Song Yiqing is too ruthless!"

...