Chapter 63

With a ghostly figure, Zhuge Xiang dodged around the storage room, which, though consisting of a dozen or so rooms and not small, still made him feel pressured as the disciples spread out to search for clues to the secret passage. After all, while the Breath Concealment Jade could suppress his aura, it couldn't hide his physical form. Fortunately, someone soon finished checking a room, and Zhuge Xiang quietly slipped in, waiting for Zi Xiang's plan to kick in.

In one of the rooms, Lu Xiaoman's face was deathly pale. Zi Xiang's words filled him with terror. Indeed, if they couldn't find a way out, everyone would be trapped and die, but death would come in stages.

Li Ling was the strongest. When a person is starving, they can eat anything. Zi Xiang and Lu Yuling were both beautiful women, and any man would likely save them for last, enjoying them before eating. Thus, with the lowest strength, who would die first was obvious. The thought of being the first to be dismembered and eaten made Lu Xiaoman's face turn white.

"No, I don't want to die..." Shaking his head, Lu Xiaoman was filled with fear and helplessness. The thought of being dismembered and eaten made him indifferent to Zi Xiang's affection.

"I don't want to die either, but the two of us can't defeat Li Ling. His Body Tempering Realm cultivation is a whole level above us," Zi Xiang said softly beside Lu Xiaoman, then seemed to think of something. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" At this point, Lu Xiaoman was clearly losing his composure, unable to maintain even a basic calm.

Zi Xiang felt a wave of disdain, but it didn't show on her face. "Unless we gather everyone's strength and ambush him. Li Ling is the strongest, and if we don't resist, the others will fall one by one. I believe everyone will join us."

"Right, that's what we should do." Lu Xiaoman's eyes lit up, as if he had found a last straw. "I'll contact the other two senior brothers, and you, Zi Xiang, can persuade Sister Lu Yuling."

"Okay, we must succeed." Nodding, Zi Xiang and Lu Xiaoman made their plan, and she left. Lu Xiaoman stopped searching for the secret passage and hurried to find the other two senior brothers, secretly relieved that Zi Xiang liked him. Otherwise, if she and Li Ling had teamed up, they would all be dead.

Although the storage room had only a dozen or so rooms, searching for a secret chamber required meticulous attention to every inch, leaving no clue overlooked. After two hours, they still hadn't finished. Suddenly, Li Ling's nose twitched, catching a whiff of alcohol. Hungry and thirsty, the smell of alcohol immediately tempted him.

"Damn, which bastard is drinking at a time like this? Looks like they've given up on getting out and are just enjoying themselves," Li Ling muttered, stopping his search and following the scent.

In a nearby room, Lu Xiaoman was hugging a wine gourd, hiding in a corner, looking furtive. But soon, a figure appeared before him, eyes filled with intense anger.

"Ah! Senior Brother Li Ling," Lu Xiaoman exclaimed, seeing the figure. "I, I haven't eaten in a while, and I was really hungry, so..."

"Damn, at a time like this, you have the nerve to drink?" Snatching the wine gourd from Lu Xiaoman, Li Ling roared, kicking him several times, making him scream in pain.

After kicking Lu Xiaoman over a dozen times and seeing him in pain, Li Ling felt better. He took a few large gulps from the wine gourd, savoring the enticing aroma, and drank more.

Rubbing his nearly broken bones, Lu Xiaoman watched Li Ling drink, his eyes filled with cold intent.

"Found it, found the secret passage..." Just as Li Ling was finishing the wine, a loud shout rang out. Both Li Ling and Lu Xiaoman ran out.

"Where? Where is the secret passage?" Li Ling asked the shouting disciple, rushing over.

It was the innermost room where the magical artifacts were stored. The disciple pointed to a corner of the wall. "I'm not sure if it's a secret passage, but when I knocked, it sounded hollow."

"Hollow wall?" Li Ling's eyes lit up. He gathered his strength and struck the wall with both palms, his Body Tempering Realm cultivation in full force.

Whoosh...

As Li Ling turned, a strong wind suddenly whistled overhead. Looking up, his face changed as he saw a massive puppet, the largest unfinished one he vaguely remembered from one of the rooms, made entirely of steel. It must have weighed over a thousand pounds and was now falling down on him.

In a hurry, he channeled his energy into his arms and pushed against the steel puppet, not trying to lift it but to push it aside.

At the same time, several shouts came from the other side of the steel puppet. Lu Xiaoman, the other two male disciples, Zi Xiang, and Lu Yuling, five in total, each extended their arms, channeling their energy and striking the puppet with all their might. The combined force of five against one was overwhelming, and Li Ling was pinned to the wall, the puppet crushing him, making him spit out a mouthful of blood, unable to move.

"What are you doing?" Li Ling, with energy in his arms, tried to push the puppet away, but the Body Tempering Realm disciples, though strong in physical defense, were not much stronger in raw power than the Qi Cultivation Realm disciples. Five against one, Li Ling couldn't budge the steel puppet, let alone the fact that the lowest among them, Lu Xiaoman, was at the eighth level of Qi Cultivation, while Lu Yuling was at the fifth.

"Don't blame us for being ruthless. You're not a good person either. If we can't get out, we'll all fall to your hands," the disciples said coldly, pressing down on Li Ling with all their might.

"You naive fools, do you think this can defeat me? When I get out, I'll make you beg for death," Li Ling said, pinned under the puppet. They couldn't kill him, and they couldn't keep him pinned forever. Once he was free, he would kill them all.

"You won't have the chance. Haven't you noticed something different?" Lu Xiaoman's face was filled with madness. He had always been treated like a pig or a dog, and now he could kill Li Ling, which made him feel incredibly excited.

"Different?" Lu Xiaoman's words made Li Ling focus, and he felt a growing pain in his stomach, which intensified. His face changed, and he screamed, "Damn, did you poison the wine?"

"Ha, of course. You're at the Body Tempering Realm, so we had to be fully prepared," Lu Xiaoman laughed loudly, hearing Li Ling's scream.

"15 Blood Recovery Pills, 13 Qi Recovery Pills, a Shadow Clone Scroll, Wolf Fang Arrows, a Blood-Refined Blade, a Hundred-Refined Bow, Repair Oil, Skill Orbs..." Hiding in a room, Zhuge Xiang opened his storage belt and inventoried his items. As his cultivation increased, so did his possessions, and he was quite satisfied with this.

However, a sudden cry of pain caught Zhuge Xiang's attention. It was Lu Xiaoman being tortured, followed by a shout about finding the secret passage. Zhuge Xiang withdrew his focus from the storage belt, stood up, and left like a ghost, knowing the plan was in motion.

"Ha, even though you're at the Body Tempering Realm, the poison is extracted from a two-star superior-grade beast. As long as we keep you pinned, you'll die from the poison in a few minutes..." If anyone had the deepest hatred for Li Ling, it was Lu Xiaoman. Seeing Li Ling about to die filled him with indescribable satisfaction.

"Damn, do you really think I, Li Ling, am so easy to kill? Do you think a mere two-star beast's poison can defeat me?" Despite being pinned by the steel puppet and five cultivators, Li Ling suddenly said coldly.

As he spoke, a dark green necklace around his neck glowed with a milky white light. With a roar, Li Ling pushed the steel puppet up half a foot and slipped out like lightning.

Thud. The steel puppet crashed into the wall with a loud noise. Seeing Li Ling escape, everyone's faces changed. The Body Tempering Realm Li Ling had escaped.

Seeing the milky white light from his necklace, Zi Xiang and the others looked grave. His necklace could counteract the poison from a two-star superior-grade beast?

"You, all of you, will die..." Despite his broken magical sword, Li Ling's Body Tempering Realm cultivation was formidable. His eyes filled with intense killing intent, he gathered his strength and pounced on them with his bare hands.