Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 388 Central Hall, Mutual Hostage Reception

The central hall connects all sides.

From here, you can reach all parts of the Mechanical City, and most of the roads within the Mechanical City can be shortened by simply passing through the central hall.

When Wei Zhuang arrived at this place, he ran into the Black Qilin and the Hidden Bat, who were also waiting there.

"Lord Wei Zhuang."

"Hmm? Nobody here?"

"They're still here, they've just hidden in that secret room..."

Black Qilin briefly recounted what had just happened.

"Hmph! You think you're safe just because you're hiding?"

Wei Zhuang scoffed.

The black Qilin said, "When I was lying in wait, I heard them talk about the Ink Core Chamber. Their tone carried a hint of confidence, so I'm afraid that the chamber is not as simple as just a simple chamber."

Wei Zhuang sneered: "What tricks could the Mohists possibly have? Nothing more than some simple traps. And what about Gongshu Chou?"

Zhang Han said, "Master Gongshu has gone to study the Mohist mechanisms. I wonder where he is?"

"If that's the case... Peerless!"

At Wei Zhuang's command, a burly man whose height far exceeded that of ordinary people stepped out from the crowd.

His muscular body revealed him to be Wushuang, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Flowing Sands.

However, at this moment, Wushuang's right arm has become a retractable and rotating mechanical axe, covered with bronze armor, his feet have also become mechanical feet, his face is covered with bronze mask, and a mechanical gear protrudes directly from the back of his head.

It is clearly a mechanical humanoid that has undergone human modification.

It turns out that Wushuang had been following Weizhuang's orders to search for and pursue Gai Nie.

However, he only possessed superhuman strength, a natural ability to overcome physical limitations. While this might be sufficient to deal with ordinary innate masters, he was no match for Gai Nie.

Even though Gai Nie was already seriously injured in months of fierce fighting at that time, he could still kill Wushuang with a single sword strike.

Unexpectedly, Wushuang ended up in Gongshu Chou's hands, who not only saved him but also transformed him into the mechanical man he is today.

The original Musou was merely a big, dim-witted man; the current Mechanical Musou, however, is a complete and utter killing machine.

At Wei Zhuang's command, the Mechanical Warriors burst out from the crowd and charged towards the central hall.

Numerous elite Qin soldiers, each wielding a long spear in one hand and a shield in the other, followed closely behind.

Inside the secret chamber of the Ink Core, Gao Jianli saw the outside scene through the periscope and immediately ordered, "Now! Activate the mechanism!"

The disciples immediately activated the mechanism, and in an instant, a row of spears shot out from the outer wall of the central hall, followed by another row in front of it.

In the blink of an eye, spears shot out from all areas around the central hall except for the central circular area, turning the entire central hall into a forest of spears.

Many Qin soldiers suffered heavy losses.

Even though they were all elites of the Qin army, fully armored and armed with shields, capable of blocking most attacks from other directions, none of them could defend against this attack coming from below.

Immediately, most of the Qin soldiers were pierced through from below by the spear, their blood flowing everywhere.

However, some highly skilled martial artists reacted in advance, leaping to dodge the attack from below. At the same time, they swung their shields, spreading them on top of the spears, and then landed on the shields, thus finding a place to stand.

However, the sound of a mechanism suddenly came from above everyone's heads.

The decorations above the central hall, which resembled starlight, suddenly moved aside, revealing sharp, gleaming arrows behind them.

Suddenly, crossbows appeared on the walls, their arrows already loaded.

In the next instant, accompanied by a whistling sound, countless arrows shot at us from above and from the left and right.

In the blink of an eye, the surviving Qin soldiers were all pierced by arrows, suffering the fate of being riddled with arrows.

However, even though all the Qin soldiers had died, a tall figure remained in the arena.

It is truly an unparalleled mechanism.

His right arm, which had been completely transformed into a machine, suddenly began to spin with the two axes at its very tip, then swung left and right, slashing at the spears in all directions.

The spinning axe itself was made of extremely solid materials, and with Wushuang's distance and the mechanism, he could easily cleave all those spears in half with a single swing.

As for the arrows shooting down from above and all around, the mechanical warriors completely ignored them.

The art of mechanisms, much like the art of martial arts, requires a great deal of investment to obtain a highly effective mechanism.

Even though many mechanisms that can be mass-produced have no major problems in terms of their basic structure, if you want to use these mechanisms to deal with experts, you must use extremely precious materials to manufacture them.

Otherwise, no matter how ingenious your mechanism or how powerful your methods are, if the materials are subpar, it will be useless if someone shatters it with a single sword strike.

The spears and arrows currently in use, though intended for the central hall to defend against enemies, are clearly not all made of exotic iron, nor even of high-quality steel; they are at most steel refined to the 50s or 60s.

However, the unparalleled mechanical device was personally crafted by Gongshu Chou.

After all, he was Wei Zhuang's subordinate and one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Liusha. Gongshu Chou would give him some face no matter what. Although the materials used could not be said to be rare in the world, they were definitely not cheap.

This is what makes the mechanism so powerful and unparalleled.

He was born with exceptionally strong muscles and bones, possessing immense strength. Combined with these mechanisms, his power became even greater.

Dealing with these spears at this moment is as easy as chopping leeks; a large swath can be cut down with ease.

Seeing this, Gao Jianli instructed the Mohist disciples to manipulate the mechanism to retract the spears, and then thrust them out again.

But Wushuang, the master strategist, remained completely undaunted.

His slashing strike created a huge gap in the entire spear formation.

However, with his clumsy body and numerous traps, his weight was unusually high, making it impossible for him to perform high jumps.

Thus, they were completely helpless against the crossbows high above and all around them.

The crossbows around them are no problem; if Bai Feng and Wei Zhuang were to take action, they could easily destroy them.

The most troublesome ones are those on the ceiling. The crossbows are hidden directly behind the ceiling, and to destroy them, you first have to destroy the ceiling.

This is clearly a difficult problem.

Wei Zhuang thought for a moment, then dismissed the idea and ordered, "Capture some Mohist disciples!"

Before long, more than a dozen Mohist disciples were captured.

Wei Zhuang sneered and said loudly, "Fellow members of the Mohist school, why don't you take a look at who these people are!"

After saying that, he grabbed a Mo family disciple and threw him into the central hall.

"Shut down the mechanism!"

Gao Jianli's gaze turned fierce, but he also gritted his teeth and gave the order in an instant.

The rain of arrows stopped instantly.

"Hahaha……"

Wei Zhuang laughed heartily, leading a group of Qin soldiers and many Mohist disciples into the central hall, where he lined up the Mohist disciples.

Shark Tooth was drawn from its sheath, and it pointed at several Mohist disciples, saying, "Now, open the door to the secret chamber, or else..."

"mean!"

Even Fan Zeng, a military strategist, couldn't stand it anymore.

Using Mohist disciples to threaten the Mohist school. The key point is that they had just threatened them once, and now they're using them as leverage to threaten them again.

Are you still shameless?

Wei Zhuang clearly didn't care about any of this, and said coldly, "Hurry up, don't waste time. If I lose my patience, these people's lives will be in danger!"

Gao Jianli clenched his fists, his brows furrowed, but he still couldn't make a decision.

Once the Ink Core Chamber is opened, everyone inside will likely perish today.

After all, the enemy not only had a large number of Qin soldiers, but also experts like Wei Zhuang.

However, if the secret chamber is not opened, the Mohist disciples outside will be in danger.

Apart from a few Mohist disciples who were not poisoned and had already fled to the back mountain, most of the remaining Mohist disciples were still in the city at this moment, unconscious due to the deadly poison of Zhenyu Qianye.

If Wei Zhuang were to directly order the massacre, the lives of these hundreds of Mohist disciples outside would likely be in danger.

Just as he was struggling to make a decision, footsteps suddenly came from outside.

Three people emerged from another passageway leading to the central hall.

The leader was dressed in white and held a long sword with a scabbard wrapped in hemp cloth.

No one could have imagined that beneath this burlap was the second-ranked sword in the world, Yuanhong!
This person is none other than Gai Nie!

The other two are Duanmu Rong and Gongshu Chou.

Upon seeing Gai Nie appear, Wei Zhuang's eyes lit up with excitement, but he frowned slightly when he looked at the two people beside him.

At this moment, Gongshu Chou was completely restricted by Duanmu Rong, and three silver needles were sticking out of his neck.

Gongshu Chou would likely have his throat pierced by the silver needles if he made even the slightest movement.

Upon arriving at the central hall and seeing Wei Zhuang and the others, Gongshu Chou felt as if he had seen a savior: "Lord Wei Zhuang, General Zhang Han, please save me!"

He was also unlucky. As the Mo family's sworn enemy, Gongshu Chou had long known that there was a forbidden area of ​​the Mo family in the Mo family's mechanical city, so he wanted to find the location of this forbidden area.

As it turned out, they ran into Gai Nie and Duanmu Rong on the way.

The two were going to find the three little ones.

Gao Yue had been following Duanmu Rong around, so she carried a strong herbal scent.

The scent would be inaudible to most people, but Duanmu Rong was a descendant of a medical family. Medical skills require observation, listening, questioning, and palpation, so Duanmu Rong's sensitivity to smells far surpassed that of ordinary people, especially the smell of herbs.

Using this clue, Duanmu Rong found the vicinity of the Mo family's forbidden area.

As a result, he ran into Gongshu Chou.

Gongshu Chou was accompanied by many Qin soldiers, and after a battle, they captured him alive.

But this also disrupts the flavor.

Duanmu Rong lost her trail, but learned from Gongshu Chou that Wei Zhuang was leading most of the Qin army toward the central hall, which was why he brought Gongshu Chou back here.

Wei Zhuang could use the lives of the Mohist disciples to threaten Gao Jianli and the others, and she could naturally use Gongshu Chou to threaten Wei Zhuang as well.

"What a waste!"

Wei Zhuang cursed.

Zhang Han's expression hardened.

Duanmu Rong said coldly, "Wei Zhuang, immediately order the release of my Mohist disciples, or I will kill this old man right now. Hmph, a lackey of Qin! I wonder how furious the First Emperor will be at the loss of this Qin state's Grand Tutor!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Wei Zhuang laughed loudly, brandishing his Shark Tooth Sword, and said, "You captured him, so what right do you have to threaten me? Quicksand and Qin are just partners. As long as we can break through this mechanical city, my mission will be complete. As for how many people die in the process, or who dies, what does it have to do with me?"

"you!"

Duanmu Rong was truly surprised that Wei Zhuang didn't care at all about the life of Gongshu Chou, the Qin state's national advisor.

A voice came from beside him.

"Miss Rong, be careful!"

Gai Nie's voice was gentle and refined, but the sword light that followed was incredibly sharp.

Yuan Hong, ranked second in the world, truly lives up to his reputation.

Gai Nie suddenly drew his sword to deal with the sudden, piercing light of the demonic sword!
The long robe fluttered.

White hair flying in the air.

The strangely shaped shark-tooth sword had somehow appeared before the two of them.

It turned out that Wei Zhuang was cunning and treacherous. On the surface, he seemed to care nothing about Gongshu Chou's life, but in the instant his words fell, he had already attacked.

They wanted to use this rapid offensive to save Gongshu Chou.

Duanmu Rong didn't understand Wei Zhuang's personality very well, but Gai Nie did.

When he heard those words, Gai Nie realized that Wei Zhuang was likely to launch a surprise attack, which is why he warned Duanmu Rong in advance.

And the way things unfolded, or rather, Wei Zhuang's personality, did not exceed Gai Nie's expectations.

In the blink of an eye, Wei Zhuang had already launched his attack.

He thought his words would cause emotional fluctuations in Gai Nie and Duanmu Rong, thus creating an opportunity for his swift sneak attack.

But to his surprise, the moment he launched his sneak attack... no, it should be said that before he even made a move, Gai Nie had already drawn Yuan Hong.

As the sword thrust out, the Shark Tooth's blade struck Yuan Hong precisely.

Fortunately, he didn't act alone.

The moment he launched his sneak attack, Zhang Han, Bai Feng, Chi Lian, Yin Fu, and the others beside him also made their move at the same time.

Although Gai Nie was able to stop Wei Zhuang, in his current state, that was all he could do.

Faced with Wei Zhuang's offensive, Gai Nie had no chance to be distracted.

Fortunately, there were other Mohist companions in this area at that time.

Gao Jianli made a decision in an instant: "Open the secret chamber!"

With the sound of a mechanism, the door to the secret chamber opened, and Gao Jianli rushed out instantly, his Water-Cold Sword radiating unparalleled chill.

He showed no intention of cherishing his true energy, and immediately unleashed his ultimate move.

The wind howls, the Yi River is cold!
The chilling sword energy condensed into solid ice, instantly transforming into an ice wall that blocked the way for everyone and Duanmu Rong.

However, while this move would be easy to use against the Wolf King, it would be quite inadequate against experts like Zhang Han.

Zhang Han struck out with his palm, instantly breaking a large hole in the ice wall. The others also used their own methods to easily break through the ice wall barrier.

Fortunately, what Gao Jianli wanted was not to defeat the crowd, but to create a temporary barrier.

In that instant, the secret chamber door opened to reveal an even wider space, and Snow Maiden and Thief Zhi charged out together.

Dao Zhi's lightness skill was even better; in the blink of an eye, he had already arrived behind Duanmu Rong, and then reached out and grabbed Gongshu Chou by the throat.

With a stomp of his foot, he sent Gongshu Chou flying backwards.

Duanmu Rong reacted in that instant, abandoning Gongshu Chou, and dodged to the side, avoiding the attacks of several experts.

(End of this chapter)