120: Chapter 120 The Door Gods Demand Bribes for Tongbao

The dark red earthly fiend poisonous miasma violently crashed against the crimson-gold aura shield in mid-air, producing a flurry of rapid corrosive sounds.

That patch of toxic fog, sufficient to instantly melt a living person's flesh and bones, touched the defensive qi stimulated by the Pure Yang Dao Body, immediately turning into large plumes of green thick smoke that completely dissipated along with the cold wind of the valley.

Lin Ye wrapped his arm around Leng Yue's slender and flexible waist, his toes tapping lightly on the scorching hood of the off-road vehicle, and his figure floated down using the momentum.

His military boots stepped firmly on the damp bluestone ground, crushing a few withered and yellow fallen leaves.

His clothes had long been soaked by hot sweat, sticking damply to his spine and radiating a vigorous Pure Yang heat outward.

Leng Yue's entire body remained icy cold.

That head of smooth silver-white hair brushed past Lin Ye's neck with the downward movement, bringing a continuous cool touch.

Leng Yue's expression remained calm.

The dazzling dark gold light in the depths of her eyes slowly converged.

She quietly retreated half a step, standing silently behind Lin Ye and acting as the most perfect bodyguard role.

Second Master Lei's double knees heavily knocked onto the muddy ground.

His single eye stared fixedly at the green toxic smoke that had just dissipated in mid-air.

That miasma came menacingly; if it were an ordinary mystic sect cultivator, he would have already been turned into a pool of yellow water by the poisonous qi.

The young man before his eyes relied solely on embracing the woman beside him to channel qi.

A casually erected aura shield completely shattered this heaven-and-earth lethal array.

This kind of method far exceeded the limit of mortal Daoist sects.

Dazhuang's native firelock, which he regarded as his life, dropped directly into the muddy water pit.

His face was pale, his two thick arms trembled uncontrollably, and he couldn't even muster the strength to bend down and pick up the gun.

Haozi's right arm, covered in grayish-white mud, was convulsing wildly.

He fell prostrate at Lin Ye's feet, his head banging loudly against the gravel ground, his forehead breaking open and fresh blood mixed with mud flowing down.

"Immortal! Immortal, save my life!"

Haozi roared with a hoarse voice, treating Lin Ye as a living Bodhisattva.

Lin Ye raised his right foot, gently kicking Haozi's shoulder with his boot sole to stop his kowtowing action.

"Stop worshiping gods here, save your strength for work."

Lin Ye straightened his collar, his gaze sweeping past the four people kneeling on the ground and casting toward the muddy pool rolling with black bubbles ahead.

"Second Master Lei, show your tools of the trade, if we can't cross this mire before dark, tonight all of us will have to be buried with the dead people at the bottom."

Second Master Lei stumbled to his feet scrambling.

He wiped the cold sweat off his face and turned to give Dazhuang and Yaba a wink.

Dazhuang recovered his senses, quickly untying the heavy canvas bag on his back, and pulling out section after section of polished, gleaming pure copper long rods from the bag again.

Second Master Lei took them, his hands flying, and once again twisted and spliced these copper rods section by section.

The copper rods were assembled, turning into a heavy magic tool three zhang long with sharp barbs at the front end.

Second Master Lei unscrewed a round cap at the tail of the copper needle.

Yaba handed over two kraft paper bags.

Second Master Lei unwrapped the paper bags, mixed the high-purity quicklime powder and realgar powder inside in proportion, and poured them all at once into the hollow tube groove inside the copper needle.

He took a deep breath, his chest bulging high, and circulated his unique breath-holding and breathing-contraction technique.

"This time it will definitely work."

Second Master Lei tightly gripped this pure copper long needle weighing dozens of catties with both hands, his waist and abdomen suddenly exerting force.

He strode to the edge of the cliff, aimed at the black mud pool below that was as viscous as asphalt, and stabbed the copper needle down fiercely.

"Click."

The mechanism at the bottom of the copper needle was triggered.

The moisture in the surrounding black mud was rapidly evaporated by the terrifying high temperature.

"Boss Lin, the road has been paved again."

Second Master Lei pulled out the scorching copper needle, panting heavily, and pointed at the grayish-white mud path below.

"Lead the way." Lin Ye was concise.

Second Master Lei dared not delay, carrying the copper needle and walking at the very front.

Dazhuang and Yaba followed closely behind carrying heavy equipment.

Haozi walked in the middle dragging his half-crippled arm.

Lin Ye held Leng Yue's hand and stepped onto the mud path.

Frost Star, disgusted by the sour and rotten smell of the underground, directly climbed onto Lin Ye's back, wrapping her hands around his neck.

Ayugu carried the glass bottle full of glowing fireflies, shrinking at the very rear of the team to take charge of the rear guard.

A group of people walked on the mud path only one meter wide.

Less than half a foot away on both sides were the fatal black mud rolling with dark red bubbles.

The bottom of the mire was not peaceful.

"Patta."

"Patta."

Bubbles kept bursting.

A ghastly white finger bone floated to the surface under the push of the muddy water.

Immediately afterwards, half a skull covered in green moss poked out.

The hollow eye sockets directly faced the living people walking on the mud path, and endless resentment seemed to be hidden in the depths of the eye sockets.

There were simply too many dead bodies buried in the mire.

An ancient corpse wearing the tattered martial official uniform of the Qing Dynasty was forcibly hardened by Second Master Lei's quicklime.

Its lower half was tightly embedded into the mud path beneath its feet.

Its shriveled, sallow face faced the sky, its mouth wide open, stuffed with dried black mud inside.

Lin Ye's military boots stepped directly on the ancient corpse's cold and hard frontal bone.

A crisp, teeth-aching "crack" came from the soles of his shoes.

The ancient corpse's skull was crushed on the spot, and bone fragments fell into the muddy water on both sides.

Lin Ye didn't even pause his footsteps by a fraction.

Frost Star lay on Lin Ye's shoulder, her different-colored pupils looking around boredly.

Her gaze locked onto a strange fish swimming at the edge of the mire.

The fish was covered all over its body with dark red long hair, had no eyes, and grew a flat face resembling an old man on its fish head.

The little girl's mouth curled into a sweet smile.

"Brother-in-law, the fish in this water have human faces, and they are spitting at me. I want to dig out their eyeballs and squeeze them for fun."

Ayugu, walking behind, shuddered all over upon hearing this, almost losing her grip on the firefly bottle in her hand.

"Little ancestor, stop right there! That is the Resentful Water Human-Faced Horseshoe Crab."

"This kind of evil creature specializes in surviving by sucking the brain marrow of dead people. Don't ever reach your hand out; it carries a bizarre poison that melts bones, and touching even a bit can corrode your fingernails into mud."

Ayugu lowered her voice, dissuading her earnestly.

Frost Star snorted, burying her head into Lin Ye's neck nest, sneering at Ayugu's warning, and plotting in her heart to find an opportunity to catch one and roast it to eat.

The ten-minute arduous trek finally ended.

The group crossed the last section of the mud road, their feet stepping firmly on the solid black land on the opposite bank.

That grayish-white mud path behind them, after losing the support of the quicklime, was rapidly re-swallowed by the surging black mud, completely cutting off the retreat.

The fog ahead gradually took on a layer of eerie ghost-green.

A black mountain wall tens of meters high blocked the way.

The rock surface of the mountain wall was smooth as a mirror, exuding a metallic, cold and hard texture.

Right in the center of the mountain wall, a huge rock fissure about ten meters wide split open.

This rock fissure was the true entrance to the Ten Thousand Gu Demon Cave.

Chilling wind carrying ten-thousand-year ice-cold blew out continuously from the depths of the rock fissure.

The sound of the wind passed through the cave, producing a sharp sound resembling an infant crying.

On the open space at the entrance of the rock fissure, a behemoth lay horizontally.

That was a bluestone statue over five meters tall.

The divine statue was clad in ancient rattan armor, its hands tightly grasping a ruggedly shaped double-headed stone axe.

Most terrifyingly, the face of this divine statue was completely flat.

There were no eyes, no nose, and no mouth.

On that flat stone face, circles of densely packed ancient Miao seal characters were carved.

These seal characters were slowly rotating, emitting ghost-green phosphorescence outward.

When Lin Ye and his party stepped into the ten-meter warning range in front of the divine statue, a sudden change occurred.

On the flat stone skin of the face of the bluestone statue that had been dormant for thousands of years, two cracks suddenly split open.

Two scarlet flames suddenly ignited in the depths of the cracks.

The heavy double-headed stone axe was slowly raised by it.

The edge of the stone axe scraped across the black stone ground, stirring up a long string of dazzling sparks.

The harsh scratching sound echoed in the empty valley.

"Rustle... Rustle..."

Along with the awakening of the divine statue, countless pairs of ghost-green compound eyes lit up densely on the pitch-black rock wall deep inside the rock fissure.

Tens of thousands of palm-sized black gu insects wriggled in the rock crevices.

The sound of the insect swarm rolling converged into a scalp-tingling noise.

These venomous insects sleeping on the periphery of the demon cave smelled the breath of living people, ready to tear intruders into pieces at any time.

Ayugu's face was pale.

She touched several poison cloth bags hanging around her waist, her fingers trembling several times, completely unable to find enough gu poison to deal with this insect swarm.

Second Master Lei and the other three showed despair on their faces.

They pulled the bolt of the native firelock, and Dazhuang raised the machete in his hand, preparing to make a final desperate struggle.

Lin Ye stood at the very front, his expression calm.

That familiar system prompt tone cut in on time.

"Ding! Detected the resurrection of the ancient Miao border gate-guarding spirit Faceless Stone God. This statue is the product of the combination of ancient Miao warrior souls and earthly fiend qi, and is indestructible. Fighting head-on will deplete a large amount of combat strength."

"Please have the host finalize the public relations strategy within three minutes to resolve the admission crisis!"

The light screen unfolded, and three options jumped into view.

[Option A: Cyber Immortal Fight — Pull out your newly acquired soul-suppressing copper coin sword, infuse it with full-body thunder fire, forcibly go head-to-head with the stone statue, and smash it into a pile of rubble with violence.]

[Reward: Obtain title [Demolition Office Captain]. Consequence: A strong explosion can easily detonate the Ten Thousand Gu Grand Array inside the mountain wall, and collapsed rocks will bury you alive, which is a zero-yield behavior of great effort and thankless results.]

[Option B: Money Makes the Ghost Push Gods — Step forward, fish a netherworld currency out of your pocket, smash it hard on the forehead of the stone statue, and bribe it with the most vulgar yet practical money.]

[Reward: Husband points +300, the faceless stone statue opens the green light for you, and obtain one Ancient Miao Military Strategy Talisman. Consequence: None.]

[Option C: Honey Trap to Lure the Enemy — Let Leng Yue step forward and unleash the coercion of the Half-step Hanba to shatter it.]

[Reward: Obtain one kiss from Leng Yue. Consequence: A large-scale Red Lotus Karmic Fire will directly burn the extreme Yin herbs in the demon cave, and your treasure-hunting trip will yield nothing.]

These three options: fighting head-on is thankless, and burning herbs with Red Lotus Karmic Fire is purely being a prodigal.

Lin Ye reached out his hand, grabbing Ayugu who was about to rush up and make a big scene, and dragged this impulsive Miao girl back behind him.

He took the opportunity to clutch the soul-suppressing copper coin sword on his back tightly into his arms, stopping the crowd behind him.

"Don't be in a hurry to make a move."

Lin Ye looked at the huge divine statue holding the stone axe high, his tone revealing the meticulous calculation of a marketplace businessman.

"We must talk about rules; money makes the mare go, and immortals working underground also have to pay social security."

"Today I'll let you witness what true 'money power' public relations is."

Second Master Lei listened in utter confusion.

Dazhuang widened his bull eyes even more, thinking that Master Lin had been stimulated by the Yin qi and his brain had gone wrong.

This was a killing machine without emotion, talking about money with a rock?

Lin Ye unhurriedly reached his hand into his cargo pants pocket.

He fished out a strange coin that was as black as ink, round on the outside and square on the inside.

The surface of this coin exuded a bone-chilling death qi, which was precisely the netherworld currency he extracted from the system.

Lin Ye pinched this coin, exerting force with his wrist.

His fingers tightly clasped the edge of the coin, aimed at the faceless skull of the stone divine statue, and flicked it out casually.

The black coin turned into an extremely fast black light, cutting through the ghost-green fog.

"Clang!"

A crisp metal collision sound rang out.

The netherworld currency accurately smashed onto the forehead of the stone carving.

The coin was not bounced away.

The moment it touched the stone surface, that netherworld currency instantly turned into a wisp of pure netherworld death qi.

This stream of black airflow followed the seal character patterns on the stone statue's face, directly melting into its huge body.

That faceless stone carving, which was originally covered with moss, after absorbing this source of netherworld death qi...

The stone skin all over its body glowed with an eerie, moist luster.

The stone statue's movement froze in mid-air.

"Roar!"

It let out a low, satisfied roar, and the two burning scarlet flames in its eye sockets gradually extinguished.

It neatly hoisted the high-raised double-headed stone axe onto its broad shoulders.

Its huge bluestone body smoothly moved five meters to the right, yielding the black rock fissure leading to the depths of the underground palace.

The compound eyes of the restless venomous insects on the surrounding rock walls also extinguished all at once the moment the stone statue retreated.

The dense insect swarm burrowed back into the depths of the rock fissure, hiding their traces.

An unimpeded passage appeared before everyone's eyes.

Second Master Lei and his three grave robbers looked at this scene, their worldviews once again pressed to the ground to be rubbed and pulverized.

"This... Even the ancient guardian beast can be bribed with money?"

Dazhuang's native firelock slipped directly from his hand, hitting the back of his foot without feeling any pain, and he stammered.

Ayugu put away the venom gu cloth bag in her hand.

She looked at Lin Ye's calm and composed back, full of frustration and helplessness.

Her proud Miao border gu arts were simply a joke in front of this chief manager's simple and rude money offensive.

"We won't leave today; we'll camp right at the foot of this stone divine statue."

Lin Ye raised his head and glanced at the sky above the rock fissure.

The sky deep in this valley had completely darkened, and forcibly entering the interior of the demon cave in the dark was extremely unwise.

He issued orders.

Dazhuang and Yaba nimbly unloaded their backpacks.

They found a few waterproof tents and quickly set them up on a dry and flat open space.

Lin Ye sat cross-legged in front of the main tent.

He pulled out a portable alcohol stove from his backpack.

Lighting the stove fire, he set up a small aluminum kettle.

After the water boiled, he broke off a few dry slices of two-hundred-year-old Purple Ganoderma, threw them into the kettle, and brewed hot tea.

The medicinal fragrance of the Purple Ganoderma scattered along with the rising water vapor, dispelling the lingering chill around them.

Leng Yue sat quietly beside him.

The night wind blew across the valley, stirring up an empty echo.

Leng Yue's silver-white long hair flickered with a faint dark-gold luster under the reflection of the weak campfire.

She took the teacup handed over by Lin Ye, holding it in the palm of her hand.

In the black rock fissure ahead, night wind carrying the shrill cries of ten thousand gu insects was constantly blowing out.

[Book title testing, which book title do you see ୧ ꒰ • ̀ ᴗ • ́ ꒱ ୨]