Immortality starts from the liver proficiency

Chapter 135: Inside Tiangong City
"arrive!"

The morning mist on the top of Guniu Mountain had not yet dissipated. Xu Yunfan stood on the mountainside, looking at the bronze gate below that was winding like a giant python.

The outline of the Mechanical City was faintly visible in the mist. The 360 ​​bronze watchtowers on the city wall glowed with a cold light, and the roar of the gears meshing could still be clearly heard from miles away.

He grasped the true disciple token at his waist, and felt the unique chill of metal in his palm. According to the rules of Tiangong Cave, one must verify his identity when entering the city, even true disciples were no exception.

However, there is something strange about the Mechanical City today.

There was still a constant stream of caravans at the city gate, the sound of camel bells mixed with the clatter of horses' hooves, just like usual.

But when Xu Yunfan's eyes swept across the crowd, they suddenly froze. The disciples from the Foreign Affairs Hall who were supposed to be checking tokens at the city gate were all unfamiliar faces.

Although they were wearing the standard black shorts of Tiangong Cave, the bronze plates hanging around their waists looked a bit worn, and some even had unwashed blood stains on their cuffs.

This scene made his heart sink slightly. Although he could not recognize all the disciples on duty, these people were incompatible with the disciples of Tiangong Cave and were terribly disguised.

No wonder, no wonder the high-ranking officials of the Xianghuo Sect in Cuibo City who were at the Blood Exchange Realm would say that the preparations were hasty.

"Brother Xu, those aren't disciples from the Tiangong Cave External Affairs Hall. Today, the ones on duty at the city gate should be disciples from the Mechanical Hall. Every day, the shifts are reviewed by deacons from various departments, so it's definitely not something a single hall can handle."

A hoarse female voice came from behind.

Xu Yunfan turned around and met the burning gaze of Yan Yuwei, the first disciple of Rongjin Hall. Her eyes were bloodshot and filled with resentment that was hard to conceal, but it was suppressed and unaffected.

When the whole family of Cui Bo City was killed, she did not rush into the city regardless of everything, but turned back to Tiangong Cave. Except for the madness she felt when she saw Cui Bo City being slaughtered at the beginning, now every move she made was like this.

All I can say is that he is worthy of being the first disciple of Rongjin Hall, his character and aptitude are both excellent.

When the woman was nearing Tiangong City, she went to an outpost and changed her equipment. She was wearing a set of heavy copper armor, the symbol of the Rongjin Hall, which was extremely rare. Under the heavy armor, she wore a black tights that wrapped around her muscular body. On her waist was a meteorite iron pickaxe. The tip of the pickaxe had a dark red sheen, and it was obvious that it had just been dipped in kerosene.

Xu Yunfan naturally didn't know about these things. Since he arrived at Tiangong Cave, he didn't have enough time to practice martial arts all day, so how could he care about these things?

Seeing that Xu Yunfan didn't say anything, Yan Yuwei knew that Xu Yunfan probably didn't know.

"I saw the duty roster for the Foreign Affairs Hall last month. The ones guarding the gate last time should have been Qi Huan's 'Twelve Qingfeng Guards,' but these people..." She paused, "They haven't even mastered the form of the Hidden Sword Pavilion. Now that the city gate is blocked, it's impossible that there aren't disciples paying attention. But now everything is calm. I'm afraid it's..."

"Let's go in and take a look first. Since there's no movement, there must be a chance to turn back."

The two looked at each other and separated tacitly.

Yan Yuwei sneaked into the caravan, and her rough fingers stroked the mechanism on the handle of the mechanical sword.

Xu Yunfan went around to the west side of the city wall, where there was a secret passage leading directly to the Weapon Casting Hall. Zhan Yan had just told him about it the day before, and he could enter and exit with the token of a true disciple.

The moss-covered black iron door, which blended in with the surrounding mountains, creaked open. Xu Yunfan grabbed the Thunder Fire Qilin Hammer with his backhand, and the dormant blood in his body slowly surged.

The fluorite lamps in the secret passage should have been always on, but now they were all extinguished, and the darkness was filled with a pungent smell of rust and tar.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, his ears trembling slightly. At the fork in the road thirty feet away, there was a slight sound of metal scraping.

"Crack!"

After taking a few steps forward, he heard a sudden click of a mechanism under his feet. Xu Yunfan immediately retreated three steps. The ground where he was standing suddenly collapsed, revealing a spike with a dark blue poisonous light underneath.

Almost at the same time, dozens of holes appeared on the stone walls on both sides, and poisoned crossbow arrows poured down like a rainstorm!

Duh!
Xu Yunfan growled, his muscles instantly tensing like iron.

The crossbow bolts struck the iron-clad bones, sending sparks flying. He used the momentum to roll, lashing out with his Thunderfire Kirin Hammer. The hammer wind, carrying a wave of scorching heat, smashed the hole into scrap metal. Amidst the shards of metal, a dark figure swooped down from the ceiling, chain blade in hand, aiming for the throat!
"Ghost chain?"

Xu Yunfan's pupils suddenly shrank. This was a mechanical weapon developed by the Mechanical Hall.

The copper spring at the end of the hammer handle suddenly bounced open, and the hammer head fell to the ground with a bang. The rebound force swung the chain blade three inches off the mark.

In that split second, he had seen the attacker's face clearly. It was none other than Wang Huan, the deacon of the Foreign Affairs Hall!
He remembered it clearly because he was the one who was responsible for arranging the belongings for his yard. He was humble and polite.

At least, Xu Yunfan, whose sixth sense was extremely sharp, did not detect any negative emotions from the other party, which made him slow down the hammer in his hand, and his heart sank at the same time.

Apart from the true disciples of each department, only the heads and elders of each department in Tiangong Cave know about this secret passage.

"Brother Wang, you..."

Before he finished speaking, the whites of Wang Huan's eyes suddenly turned blood red, and the veins on his neck wriggled like earthworms. The chain blade's attack became three times faster, and it was clear that he was fighting for his life.

Xu Yunfan's expression quickly calmed down, and the hammer head accurately hit Wang Huan's Danzhong acupoint. The hidden power penetrated his body and Wang Huan immediately collapsed to the ground.

When he tore open his clothes, a black and purple bruise appeared on Wang Huan's chest, shaped like a blood lotus.

"The Xianghuo Cult's Heart-Eroding Pill!"

Xu Yunfan's eyes were puzzled.

He had seen people in Wuzhou who had taken this elixir, and whose internal organs were eaten by elixir worms, and who eventually became walking corpses who only knew how to kill.

There is no hope.

Xu Yunfan no longer hesitated and brought down the hammer with a bang.

Carrying the Thunder and Fire Qilin Hammer, Xu Yunfan rushed out of the secret passage and looked back at the scattered corpses in the secret passage.

These were all disciples of Tiangong Cave who had been poisoned by the Heart-Eroding Pill, and there were even a dozen inner disciples among them.

He galloped all the way into the depths of Tiangong Cave, came to Leihuo Cave, and saw Zhan Yan who was forging weapons.

"Master!"

Zhan Yan turned around and saw that the person coming was Xu Yunfan. A smile appeared on his face and he put down the red copper forged hammer in his hand.

"Yunfan, you came just in time. I've been lucky these past few days, forging several top-quality blades. Yesterday, I went back to watch you forging iron, and I just happened to think of a technique that can force out more than nine layers of impurities in the black iron. Forging it into thousand-forged steel will be much easier."

"Master, let's put this aside for now. Please listen to me first."

Xu Yunfan spoke first and told Zhan Yan everything about how he and Yan Yuwei had arrived at Cuibo Tower, discovered the Xianghuo Sect's massacre in the city, and met Zhou Yuande, the head of the Foreign Affairs Hall, on the way back to Tiangong Cave.

Zhan Yan naturally thought this was a bit far-fetched when he heard it. He frowned and said, "Let's not talk about the martial artists in Cuibo City, the four major martial arts schools, the city governor, the captain, the martial arts masters, and the 10,000 elite garrison troops. How could they be suddenly slaughtered by the Xianghuo Cult?"

Xu Yunfan said, "I didn't believe it at first, but it's true."

Zhan Yan pondered for a moment, then looked at the bloodstains on the Thunder Fire Qilin Hammer in Xu Yunfan's hand, and crushed the wine bag in his hand.

(I overslept today. I still have three chapters to go tonight. I’m typing like crazy.)

(End of this chapter)