Chapter 675: Beating Heart

Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97

Right after calling out that man’s name, Yu Fei-er’s face turned crimson, and she quickly shook her head in denial.

’How can he possibly be here...’

Considering the duration they had been fleeing for, they were at least several kilometers into the depths of the underground chamber. On top of that, there were many Otherworldly Demon puppets patrolling the area, ready to take out any intruder. Most important of all, that fellow had clearly entered the other passageway, so how could he possibly appear here?

There was no doubt about it, she must be hallucinating!

Right after she reaffirming that she would never fall in love with that despicable fellow, she actually hallucinated his voice and thought that he would come to her rescue... How embarrassing!

"It was just a passing remark, none of you heard a thing at all... Got it?"

Yu Fei-er harrumphed furiously with a threatening edge in her tone.

"Cough cough..."

Wu Zhen and the others glanced at one another before replying, "Princess... it seems like we heard those words as well."

"You all heard those words too?"

Taken aback, Yu Fei-er quickly scanned her surroundings anxiously. But other than the two puppets which were still striking the barrier of light relentlessly, there wasn’t anyone aside from them.

"Since all of us distinctly heard his voice, it is unlikely to be an imagination on our part..."

Xing Yuan nodded.

While he did detest Zhang Xuan, it was still consoling to hear the other party’s voice at this crucial moment.

Seeing that the other party actually doubted his existence after he had spoken, he shook his head helplessly and continued transmitting his voice to them.

"Alright, none of you are hallucinating. I’m indeed Zhang Xuan, and I am here to save you all. My physical body is still outside, and I am currently using a secret art to transmit my voice over..."

As he couldn’t reveal that he was a floating soul at this moment—this would expose his identity as a soul oracle—he could only explain it by this.

"If you’re outside, could this be... Transmission Over a Thousand Li?"

Xing Yuan and the others widened their eyes in shock.

One must know that not even a Transcendent Mortal 8-dan could possibly transmit his voice so clearly over several kilometers.

Could it be that... Zhang Xuan already possessed such immense strength?

Seeing that Zhang Xuan was aware of their situation and intended to save them, Yu Fei-er heaved a sigh of relied and asked, "How do you intend to save us? Do you have an idea in mind?"

This fellow might be hateful, but he did possess incredible capabilities.

Otherwise, how could she possibly have been bullied so many times and yet still be helpless against him?

"It’s precisely because I don’t have any ideas that I’m here to discuss this matter with you..." Zhang Xuan said.

He really had no idea in mind.

His soul might have been able to sneak in without catching anyone’s notice, but if he were to attempt to bring the others out, they would surely be surrounded and killed before they could get far.

"Discuss? If we had an idea in mind, we would have already escaped from this darned place long ago..." Xing Yuan said with a darkened face.

His spirits had lifted after hearing Zhang Xuan’s voice, but who would have thought that the other party was as lost as them?

"Alright, why don’t you all tell me the situation here in-depth? This will help me find a viable solution to your current plight. For one, I saw quite a few puppets walking away from your direction when I was scouting around just now. Under normal circumstances, they should have all gathered here to get rid of you together. Why did they walk away, leaving only these two here?"

Zhang Xuan raised the doubt that had been plaguing him all along.

If all of them were to attack at once, the barrier of light would have shattered long ago, and this group would be cold corpses by now.

While the puppets didn’t possess intelligence, it was reasonable to think that they were programmed to encircle and defeat any intruders into the underground chamber. After all, the puppet he had met in the stone room before had pursued him frenziedly, threatening to grind him into meat paste. As such, how could they possibly let such a huge group off?

Perhaps, there might be some fundamental logic to it. If he were to exploit this, he might be able to find a way to save the group.

"Not too long after we entered this underground chamber, we encountered those Otherworldly Demon puppets. We were immediately overpowered by them, and they deliberately blocked the way back to the passageway. Thus, we could only retreat deeper into the underground chamber while fending them off..."

Ye Qian swiftly explained everything that happened.

Right after walking down the flight of stairs, they immediately saw this underground town, so they quickly rushed to it excitedly, thinking that they had found a vital clue. Who could have thought that they would meet with the Otherworldly Demon puppets not too long later?

That was also the region where Zhang Xuan first found the traces of battle.

Surrounded by a group of Saint realm puppets, they were naturally not a match at all.

It was fortunate that Xing Yuan and Princess Fei-er possessed many valuable artifacts on them. Hurling them out while retreating, they managed to fend the enemies off. Even so, they were still severely injured through the many encounters.

Fleeing all the way to the altar, they happened to find Wu Yangzi’s corpse and triggered the mechanism he had left behind. It was then that the barrier of light emerged, and they got a moment of breather.

Meaning, this barrier of light was indeed an artifact left behind by Wu Yangzi. It was probably a means to prevent his corpse from being defaced by the Otherworldly Demons after his death, but who could have known that it would unintentionally save the juniors who came searching for him two thousand years later?

However, judging from the current state of the barrier, it was unlikely to last too much longer.

After hearing Ye Qian’s works, Yu Fei-er harrumphed.

"Who said that those fellows didn’t gather here in an attempt to get rid of us? All twenty of them were here a moment ago, or else the barrier of light couldn’t possibly wane so quickly. Just that... for some reason unknown to us, they left abruptly!"

It wasn’t that those fellows didn’t come to encircle them, but that they were unable to break the barrier and left. Who knows when they will return?

All of the defensive artifacts they possessed were depleted. Once the barrier of light shattered, they would lose their only protection. Even if Zhang Xuan was here to support them, it was still highly unlikely that they would be able to escape.

"You said that they left after attacking the barrier for a moment?"

Zhang Xuan frowned.

That didn’t make sense at all. If those fellows had continued, the barrier of light would have shattered by now. Why would those puppets march off during such a crucial moment, leaving only two of them to continue?

The group nodded.

"When did they leave?" Zhang Xuan asked.

"Around ten minutes ago or so!" Ye Qian said.

"Ten minutes ago? That’s around the time that Little Qi and I left the underground chamber..."

Frowning, a thought suddenly surfaced, and Zhang Xuan’s face darkened. "Could it be..."

Could it be that... these fellows found out that he had breached the other passageway, and were heading over to support their ally?

If that was the case, he would be in great danger!

His physical body was still hidden in the passageway near the entrance of the underground chamber. If he were to be noticed by them, wouldn’t his body be smashed into pieces?

"Give me a moment, I’ll look around and figure something out..."

His physical body was of the greatest importance to him now, he couldn’t allow anything to go wrong with it. Not to mention, if his physical body were to be ruined, there was no way he could help Yu Fei-er and the others out of their current plight.

Thus, leaving behind these words, he immediately rushed off.

"Hey! ...Hey!"

As his voice slowly faded, the surroundings grew silent once more. Yu Fei-er shouted in panic a few times, but she didn’t receive any response. Infuriated, she smacked the ground with her fist.

What the heck was that?

He was here to save them, and yet he disappeared without doing anything at all. What was he up to?

...

Zhang Xuan couldn’t be bothered with the resentment that was piling up on him at the moment. His soul rushed all the back to the passageway at the quickest speed possible.

It was due to his fear of being noticed that he moved slowly previously, but given that it was likely that his physical danger was in danger now, he couldn’t bother about that anymore. Soon, he arrived back at the flight of stairs.

’There are no puppets here...’

On the stone steps, his physical body was still meditating quietly by the corner, untouched by anyone.

’Was I wrong?’

He thought that the other puppets were rushing to aid their ally in the other underground chamber after learning that it had been breached by intruders, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Zhang Xuan scratched his head in confusion.

"Clone!"

Hu!

Releasing his clone, Zhang Xuan placed his physical body into his storage ring.

While his physical body couldn’t survive for too long in the storage ring, this should be the safer course of action for the moment.

Naturally, the ring was left with his clone.

Even though his clone had proven to be unreliable on many occasions, the might of the Nine Hearts Lotus wasn’t for show. Those Otherworldly Demon puppets might be formidable, but it would still be extremely difficult for them to kill his clone.

At the very least, his clone should be able to ensure the safety of his main body.

"Wait here for me, I’ll take a look to see what the puppets are up to. At the very least, I’ll be able to prepare for whatever they are up to..."

After instructing his clone, Zhang Xuan’s soul flew into the depths of the underground chamber once more.

Given that those puppets weren’t going to the other underground chamber, they must be up to something. Otherwise, they couldn’t possibly let Yu Fei-er and the others go.

Thus, Zhang Xuan felt that there was an imperative need for him to uncover what those fellows were up to!

After flying for a moment, Zhang Xuan saw the first wave of puppets once more. They were currently moving to the corner of the ’city’.

’What are they doing there?’

The corner of the city wasn’t lit up by Night Illumination Pearls, so it was pitch-black. Nevertheless, the puppets marched on tirelessly, disappearing into the darkness swiftly.

’Eye of Insight!’

With the Eye of Insight activated, the pitch-black area suddenly became visible to his sight.

The Eye of Insight wasn’t just capable of seeing through facade, even darkness couldn’t conceal its vision.

Examining the surroundings closely, Zhang Xuan continued following the puppets forward.

Very soon, the puppets left the city and arrived before a stream.

’It’s probably connected to the stream I saw above...’

Zhang Xuan’s eyes shot up.

To think that the stream above would actually flow through this area as well!

However, what were they planning to do here instead of attacking Yu Fei-er and the others?

Huala!

In the midst of Zhang Xuan’s confusion, one of the puppets stepped into the river.

Geji! Geji!

As soon as the puppet stepped in, a series of gears clicked, and a round pedestal appeared in the middle of the stream.

As soon as the round pedestal surfaced, an overwhelming killing intent immediately filled the surroundings.

The blast of overpowering killing intent induced an immense pressure weighing down on Zhang Xuan’s soul.

’To think that the killing intent even affects souls?’

Zhang Xuan quickly drove the Heaven’s Path Soul Art, and only then did he finally recover from the impact. He couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

He was currently a soul, possessing no shape and no form. Who knew that the killing intent emanated from the surfaced round pedestal would be so powerful that it nearly caused his soul to plummet to the ground?

The scale was completely incomparable to the living Otherworldly Demon that Hong shi caught.

’What in the world is that?’

Gathering more lines of insights in his energy, Zhang Xuan focused his gaze on the round pedestal. Even without thinking, it was clear that there was something wrong with the current situation.

On the round pedestal, there was an object around the size of the watermelon. It contracted and expanded at a constant frequency, creating a loud rumbling noise reminiscent of thunder along with its movements.

’A heart?’

Zhang Xuan’s body froze.

He was doubtful at first, but the more he looked at it, the more apparent it became to him that the object placed at the center pedestal was a crimson heart!

Why was there a heart here? And more importantly... how was it still beating?

Just as Zhang Xuan was perplexed by the situation before him, he saw the puppet which leaped into the water kneeling before the round pedestal.

Hu hu hu hu!

Along with the beating of the heart, spiritual energy was drawn from the stream by the heart and infused into the puppet. The worn-out puppet immediately became energized once more.

’The puppets are... recharging their energy?’

Zhang Xuan clenched his fists in agitation.