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Chapter 164 The Classic of Mountains and Seas: The Peng Snake! ? Force Field Attacked! (Chapter 15 of 2 words, please vote!)

"Let's talk about it after we get out!"

Fang Qingyu's voice was extremely low, instantly interrupting Jiang Wei's whisper.

His sharp gaze swept across the chaotic tunnel, and the Starlight Field opened again, forcefully stabilizing the nearby rubble and sticky chunks of flesh that were falling due to the aftershocks.

"Retreat! Quickly!"

Fang Qingyu gave a low shout, tightly protecting Jiang Wei with one hand, while pointing the Dragon Sparrow Slash at the front with the other.

Qin Hui and Qi Hao immediately took the lead, shields and gauntlets clearing the way, Old Qiao put away his recorder, Lü Chen followed closely behind, and Wei Banmeng, like a cheetah blending into the shadows, silently covered the rear.

Following the route they had marked on their way up, the group trudged upwards with difficulty, amidst increasingly thick and choking dust and miasma, and under constant, slight aftershocks.

The collapsed and blocked passage increased the difficulty several times over, and sometimes it was necessary to rely on Jiang Wei's precise small-scale flame burning or Fang Qingyu's violent sword energy to forcibly break through the obstacles.

Every tremor made everyone's hearts leap into their throats.

They were terrified of experiencing another cataclysmic impact like the one they had just witnessed.

The effects of the Poisonous Miasma Pill were rapidly diminishing due to the intense consumption of energy. The protective aura on the body's surface flickered, and a piercing, numbing, and corrosive sensation began to seep in.

When everyone finally rushed out of the D-7 entrance in a disheveled state.

When they felt the salty sea breeze again, almost everyone couldn't help but gasp for breath, greedily inhaling the relatively fresh air.

The sunlight was dazzling, yet it carried the warmth of someone who had survived a catastrophe.

The area was in complete chaos, clearly indicating that the powerful earthquake had had a wide-ranging impact.

Fang Qingyu's team quickly found the officer in charge of the entrance to Zone D to report on the completion of their mission and what they had encountered in the passage.

The officer looked at the "Misty Corridor" area clearance report uploaded to the tactical terminal, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. He clearly hadn't expected this squad, venturing deep into the area for the first time, to complete such a difficult mission so efficiently.

"Well done!" The officer nodded approvingly, then his expression turned serious again. "As for the tremors just now, well, they've been happening frequently these past few days, each one stronger than the last. The source is right at the deepest part of the pit."

"Has the cause been found out?" Fang Qingyu asked calmly.

The officer shook his head, his face showing helplessness and a hint of worry: "We're still investigating. Master Chen and Master Zheng are working together to suppress that molting-level life ghost, but the information they're getting back is very vague. It seems that the thing is undergoing some kind of violent 'molting' or struggle deep underground, triggering large-scale geological activity."

He paused, looking at the lingering fear on everyone's faces.

He added, "But you can rest assured that the tunnel structure itself is stabilized by that chosen one from the west. As long as it doesn't collapse directly on your heads, the risk of overall collapse is extremely low."

"A chosen one with earth-elemental abilities?" Qin Hui couldn't help but interject curiously, "Is it that one from the west?"

He remembered what the middle-aged man at the bar had said last night.

“Yes!” the officer affirmed. “That sir controls the power of the earth and has constructed a vast network of force fields deep underground, which has largely offset the damage to the tunnel structure caused by the earthquake. Otherwise, with a tremor of that magnitude, it would have collapsed beyond recognition long ago.”

Fang Qingyu and Wei Banmeng exchanged a knowing glance.

The chosen ones from the west, along with Zheng Xiaohai, the Angry Wave Master from Songdu, Chen Tiejun, the "Mountain-Splitting Hand" who came from the capital to provide support, and the apostle descendant of the Su family.
With four top-tier beings joining forces to suppress it, the situation in the pit was indeed extremely dangerous and complex.

The merit points and credits earned from the task were credited to my account quickly, and the amount was quite generous.

Fang Qingyu's team immediately headed to the resource exchange point at the camp.

This area was even more bustling than the entrance area, with all sorts of martial artists and cultist squads coming and going. The air was filled with the stench of blood, sweat, blood crystals, life beads, and the unique scent of meditation flowers.

The exchange counter resembled a huge steel warehouse, brightly lit.

Unlike Qingjian City's resource tiering system, Songdu Frontline's exchange rules are simple and straightforward.

Merit points and credits are the hard currency; they are not differentiated by rank, only by quantity.

A huge screen scrolled through a dense list of exchangeable items: from Qi and Blood Crystals to Life Beads, covering levels from Breaking Through Mortal to Entering the Subtle and Profound.

From rare minerals and special medicines to custom equipment blueprints, and even oddities marked "snatched from the battlefield, origin unknown," the variety is dazzling, and the prices are astonishingly high.

"A Profound-level Rock Armor Corpse King's corpse? 1,500 merit points?! This is robbery!"

Qi Hao gasped as he looked at the earthy yellow crystal icon on the screen, which exuded a heavy aura.

"Save your breath. That thing is for making equipment for Xuanwu warriors or for special body-refining techniques. You don't need it."

Several people watched from the sidelines, while Fang Qingyu stepped forward to join the queue.

Ahead was a small squad with a fierce aura, all dressed in identical crimson combat uniforms.

This squad had clearly just gone through a fierce battle; many of them were wounded, but their eyes were sharp as knives, radiating a strong aura of menace and bloodlust.

The leader was a tall, stern-faced middle-aged man whose bare arms were bulging with muscles and veins that resembled coiled, angry dragons, faintly gleaming like lava.

He was handing a sack of blood-red materials containing the materials of the Fate Ghost to the officer at the exchange office.

"Wow, the Crimson Flame Squad has had quite a haul this time. They must have taken down at least two big guys at the Transcendent Rank, right?"

A team member waiting to redeem his card whispered to his companion, his tone tinged with envy.

“That’s right, Captain ‘Lava’ Lei Gang personally leads the team, and they specialize in taking on tough opponents. I heard that yesterday in the ‘Furnace’ area, they actually killed a Fiery Hell Corpse Demon that was about to break through to the Molting level, and the commotion was so great that the entire area shook!” his companion replied, his voice filled with awe.

Fang Qingyu listened silently, his gaze sweeping over Lei Gang and the team members behind him.

This Crimson Flame Squad is indeed the elite of the elite; the murderous aura they exude, forged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, is undeniable.

Furthermore, it seems that everyone's cultivation techniques and martial arts are biased towards the fire element.

They are an extremely offensive team.

On the other side, a smaller team, whose aura was more reserved, also caught Fang Qingyu's attention.

They wore plain gray robes, and their weapons were mostly blunt instruments such as clubs and pestles. They carried a peculiar sandalwood scent.

The leader was a bald old man with a peaceful face and deep eyes.

He handed over only a small box of materials.

However, the staff members looked surprised, indicating that it was indeed very valuable.

“They’re from Qingquan Mountain.” Wei Banmeng’s cold voice rang out softly beside Fang Qingyu. “A Buddhist martial arts school, specializing in defense. Their Qingquan Gang Jin, cultivated through visualization techniques, is quite famous.”

Fang Qingyu nodded slightly.

The Songdu branch has gathered experts from all over the country, each with their own unique martial arts style, all there for the immense crisis and opportunity beneath this pit.

It was Fang Qingyu's team's turn to exchange.

They submitted the results of this mission, as well as the materials they collected from clearing away the spirits along the way.

The officer in charge looked at the merit points and resource list displayed on the terminal, then looked up at the team whose members seemed to have varying strengths but had completed the difficult "Misty Corridor" mission. A strange look flashed in his eyes, but he didn't ask any questions and quickly processed the matter.

Fang Qingyu had a clear goal and directly exchanged for a large number of universal, Breakthrough, and Microscopic level Qi and Blood Crystals and universal Life Beads. These were hard currency and the foundation for the team's rapid improvement. After the exchange was completed, the group returned to their slightly cramped prefab dormitory.

Exhausted yet excited, Qin Hui and his companions discussed in hushed tones the resources they had exchanged and the powerful new team they had encountered.

Fang Qingyu gave Jiang Wei a wink, and the two quietly left the dormitory, stopping behind a huge reef near the sea cliffs, far from the hustle and bustle of the camp.

“Now you can tell me.” Fang Qingyu looked at Jiang Wei and said in a low voice, “What is next?” He clearly remembered the shock that flashed in Jiang Wei’s eyes and the unfinished words when the tremors were at their most intense.

Jiang Wei's small face looked unusually serious under the moonlight, and her clear eyes, which were usually innocent, now flickered with a hint of solemnity.

She took a deep breath, as if recalling the chilling roar from the depths of the earth.

"Besides the molting-level Fate Ghost below, there should also be a Peng Snake!"

Jiang Wei's voice was soft, yet it struck Fang Qingyu's heart like a heavy hammer.

"Pengshe?" Fang Qingyu frowned. The name was unfamiliar to him. "What is that? Some kind of powerful spirit of fate?"

Jiang Wei shook her head, her expression becoming even more peculiar, carrying a look of surprise that she thought, "You didn't know that?" She continued, "It's recorded in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, specifically the *Northern Mountains Classic*! 'Five hundred li further north is Mount Chunyu Wufeng, and to the north, Mount Jihao, where the wind is like a whirlwind. To the west, Mount Youdu, from which the Yu River flows. There is a Peng Snake, with a red head and white body, whose cry is like that of an ox; its appearance foretells a great drought in the region.'"

She paused, looking at Fang Qingyu's still somewhat bewildered expression, and explained, "It's a very ancient mythical beast with a crimson head and a white body, and its roar sounds like a bull's bellow. Whenever it appears in a certain place, a severe drought will occur there!"

Upon hearing this, Fang Qingyu frowned even more deeply. He looked around at the damp sea breeze and then at the area shrouded in the force field in the distance: "A severe drought? This environment... it doesn't make any sense. Moreover, how could something so legendary still exist? And still underground?"

"Existence is possible!" Jiang Wei's tone was resolute, her small face tense. "Very possible! Because the eggs, or rather the larvae, of the Peng Snake are extremely resilient, possessing a certain 'dormant' characteristic. As long as the shell doesn't break, the life force inside can be preserved for a very, very long time in extremely harsh environments—possibly thousands, even tens of thousands of years! Once it encounters a suitable environment, or is stimulated by external forces..."

Jiang Wei pointed her little finger at the enormous force field: "If, I mean if, there is an ancient Peng Snake egg that was buried deep underground at some point, or perhaps it was deliberately placed here, and then, in that special underground environment, it was hatched!"

"The muffled roar that came during the earthquake was filled with pain and anger, sounding like a bull's bellow, yet it was suppressed deep underground by a powerful force, unable to break free. That feeling was too much like the Peng Snake being forcibly bound and unable to unleash its true power!"

Fang Qingyu's pupils suddenly contracted!

Jiang Wei's deduction was like lightning cleaving through the fog!

Creation Technology
They have been searching for powerful spirits to act as incubators to nurture the so-called "divine embryos".

If, by chance, or if they had a specific goal in mind, they might have mistaken an ancient Peng Snake egg for a more precious divine embryo and thrown it into the depths of the Songdu Pit, using the environment and the molting-level life ghosts there to incubate it.
"If it appears, the town will suffer a great drought." The Peng Snake's innate ability is to cause a great drought, which is the extreme opposite of manipulating water vapor!
What kind of place is Songdu?
The largest port city in Southeast China, located by the sea!
Water resources are extremely abundant!
A serpent, yearning to cause a severe drought but whose origins were suppressed by the marine environment, was forcibly hatched deep underground.
This is hardly the incubation of a "divine embryo".
This is practically the hatching of an ancient ferocious beast that has been tormented by the environment, suppressed by power, and driven to madness by its pent-up frustration!
No wonder there are constant violent earthquakes underground, and it took four top experts working together to barely suppress them!

This is not even a question on the same level!

This thought sent a chill down Fang Qingyu's spine.

The night is getting darker.

After a brief period of commotion, the camp fell into a weary silence, with only the sound of patrol footsteps and the faint sound of wind coming from the direction of the force field in the distance.

Sudden--

"Moo—!!!"

A piercing, painful, and furious scream, like the mournful cry of a wounded bull amplified a thousand times, mixed with a grating metallic noise, tore through the silent night sky without warning!
The sound came from inside the force field!
It actually penetrated the force field barrier that isolated all sound, and like a giant sonic hammer, it slammed into the eardrums and hearts of everyone in the camp!

"Ugh!"

"what sound?!"

"my head!"

The camp erupted in chaos! Lights from countless prefab houses came on, and groans of pain and screams of terror filled the air.

Some lower-level martial artists who were closer to the force field even covered their ears and squatted down in pain, blood seeping from their ears and noses!

Fang Qingyu and Jiang Wei rushed out of the prefab house.

In the distance, the dome of the crater force field was churning violently as if boiling, with a transparent, eerie white light flickering intermittently!
That piercing scream came from within!

"Enemy attack?! It's that molted-shell level creature that broke out?" Qin Hui and the others rushed out, their faces pale.

The piercing alarm instantly resounded throughout the entire camp, even more shrill than during the earthquake!

"Woo-wu-wu-"

"Highest alert! Highest alert! The force field barrier has been forcibly breached by unknown means! Unidentified individuals are intruding into the core area! Repeat, unidentified individuals have intruded! This is not a second-order fluctuation! All elite squad leaders, assemble at the command center immediately! Volunteers to go to intercept, sign up!"

The officer's roar echoed throughout the camp through the loudspeaker, carrying an unprecedented urgency and murderous intent.

The force field was forcibly breached; someone broke in?

Is the target directly aimed at the core?

Fang Qingyu had only just heard Jiang Wei mention the existence of the Peng Snake when this strange phenomenon occurred tonight.
It's really hard not to think of that ancient ferocious beast that was already on the verge of going berserk!

"Qin Hui, Haozi!" Fang Qingyu turned around abruptly, speaking rapidly, "You two stay here! No matter what happens, you are not allowed to go down without my order!"

"Qingzi!" Qin Hui said anxiously.

"Execute the order!" Fang Qingyu's voice was firm and unquestionable.

Then his gaze shifted to his surroundings.

There, dressed in matte black, Wei Banmeng had appeared silently at some point, twin blades in hand, her cold eyes burning with fierce fighting spirit.

Jiang Wei's small hands gripped Fang Qingyu's clothes tightly, and a golden-red light flickered in her clear eyes.

Fang Qingyu's gaze swept over his two teammates, and he gripped the hilt of the Dragon Sparrow Slash tightly in his hand.

"let's go!"

Before the words were even finished, three figures shot off like arrows, tearing through the chaos and noise of the camp, heading straight for the entrance to the force field!

The pit is more dangerous at night.

This is common knowledge.

But at this point, almost everyone who was capable did not hesitate.

It was like it was in front of Fang Qingyu and the others.

Several fierce-looking teams, each bearing insignia from different cities or with a resolute expression, were the first to merge into the violently fluctuating "water film."

Although most people say that improving themselves is the priority.

But when something really happens.
No one was ambiguous about it.

After all, whether one wants to protect the public or improve oneself.
The intruder's actions.

He undoubtedly stood on the opposite side of everyone!

(End of this chapter)