Luo Yu said, "Try to circulate your spiritual power within your body and see."
Bai Xiao'e subconsciously did as instructed, only to feel that her spiritual power movement was rough; a stabbing pain spread through her meridians. Her combat strength had already decreased due to holding her breath, and now, with the added difficulty of moving her spiritual power, she feared she didn't even have a fifth of her original strength.
Her mind was somewhat in disarray, but noting Luo Yu's calmness, she didn't lose her composure.
"Big Brother Luo Yu, do you have a way to deal with this?"
"Of course."
The reason why Luo Yu had so quickly noticed the air was poisonous was because the Ancient Spirit of Shennong Yandi within him had automatically reacted.
Any poison that could overturn Shennong's own would indeed be incredibly formidable.
"Don't panic, I'll detoxify you."
"Whoosh!"
Luo Yu emitted a vibrant green light, full of vigorous vitality, and wisp after wisp of black smoke emerged from his mouth and nostrils.
He raised his hand and released two beams of green light onto the heads of Bai Xiao'e and Zhen Fu'er.
The two women felt a sense of relief throughout their bodies as if they had been washed from head to toe, with the same black smoke emerging from within them.
Bai Xiao'e tried to circulate her spiritual power again and found that the pain and roughness had completely disappeared, instantly filling her face with surprise and admiration.
"Big Brother Luo Yu is amazing."
"The measures in this tomb are simply unstoppable, with undying terracotta warriors and colorless, odorless poison that can silently affect high-level martial artists. I shudder to think what more terrifying methods lie ahead."
Sister Zhen, standing by, also showed a look of admiration on her face.
"Without Luo Gongzi's abilities, if it were other martial artists who came here, if they weren't forever trapped in this place, they'd be forced to retreat."
"Control yourself."
Luo Yu continued forward with the two women, and judging by the length of the corridor Zhen Fu'er mentioned, they might have reached the latter half of it.
They would be able to see the chamber beyond very soon.
Luo Yu pondered whether they might come out of this without any treasures, only to encounter a thousand-year-old rice dumpling; that would be a huge loss.
Soon, they saw the tomb chamber right in front of their eyes.
"Big Brother Luo Yu, look quickly! Look at that wall."
Without needing Bai Xiao'e's vocal reminder, Luo Yu had already noticed that the walls were covered in holes of special shapes, pockmarked throughout.
If someone with trypophobia saw this, they probably wouldn't survive a minute.
"What is this thing?" Luo Yu expressed his confusion.
Zhen Fu'er also shook her head.
As Luo Yu took a step forward, it was as if he had triggered a mechanism; a series of strange, hissing noises followed, all coming from within the holes.
Utterly eerie.
"Ah!"
"Something's coming out!"
From the holes, slender red snakes slithered out, their red scales glistening while they hissed and flicked their forked tongues. However, their snake eyes were gray, dull, and lifeless, not at all resembling living creatures.
The swarm of snakes rapidly climbed in the direction of Luo Yu and his companions, exuding a menacing aura.
But the danger didn't stop there; numerous dense, dark shadows flew out from those very holes, with their thin, long, sharp mouthparts extended.
"Mosquitoes?"
"This big?"
Thousands of red snakes crawled at their feet, and in the air, countless black mosquitoes swarmed together, creating a disturbing buzz as they all rushed towards Luo Yu and his companions, presenting a scene so alarming that Bai Xiao'e and Zhen Fu'er were utterly petrified.
What normal woman could withstand such a terrifying sight? And for those with a phobia of swarms, it was the worst kind of horror.
"You group of beasts dare to act wild?"
Luo Yu summoned the Five Domains to protect himself.
Simultaneously, with a clang, the Slay-Immortal Sword appeared, flying towards the army of black mosquitoes and the swarm of snakes.
"Sword Array, activate!"
"Swish, swish, swish!"
One sword turned into four, suppressing the four directions, and countless chaotic sword energies intertwined, dividing the battlefield, as a blood-red murderous aura exploded.
However, all the snakes and mosquitoes were directly immune to the killing intent and ignored it completely, remaining undeterred in their approach.
"Boom, boom!"
They came in droves, but were all intercepted by the crisscrossing sword energies of the Slay-Immortal Sword Array, getting sliced up on the spot.
"Chatter, chatter."
Sword energies whizzed through the air, buzzing incessantly.
The whole mini-Slay-Immortal Sword Array was like an insurmountable chasm, lying between Luo Yu and the army of poison beasts. Not a single poisonous mosquito could breach the Sword Array.
Countless poisonous insects fell to the ground, crackling with the noise of impact, yet they still fearlessly surged forward, almost as if they could not sense fear like the dead, nearly filling the entire corridor. The bodies of the dead insects also released black poisonous gas.
"Hiss—"
"Too terrifying."
"This endless swarm of poison insects, who could bear it?"
Bai Xiao'e's beautiful eyes were filled with fear; even for a girl as strong as her, the sight of so many poison insects inevitably caused disgust and panic.
Zhen Fu'er stood beside her with her red lips parted in shock.
"This... this is just too extravagant."
"The legendary Slay-Immortal Sword Array used to kill bugs? That's way too extravagant,"
Luo Yu chuckled.
A mischievous thought played in his mind.
Perhaps the owner of the tomb never imagined someone would play with his creation like this, using the Slay-Immortal Sword Array in such a way was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
A quarter-hour later, the path ahead finally calmed down.
But it was now piled high with thick layers of dead poisonous insects, and in front of the small space isolated by the sword formation, a nearly solidified black poison gas had spread.
Even if you had the ability to kill the poisonous bugs, you'd still end up dying from the poison gas.
"Tch."
Facing the poison gas that would send ordinary people running in terror, Luo Yu raised the Five Emperor Flames, ready to burn the poison gas to ashes.
He suddenly stopped.
Bai Xiao'e looked confused, "Big Brother Luo Yu, if you don't burn these poisonous gases, what are you keeping them for?"
Luo Yu replied, "This poison could easily kill a First Rank Martial Artist. It would be a waste to burn it all."
He took out a Bronze Cauldron directly, passed through the blockade of the sword formation, and entered the nearly solidified black poison gas. Like a whale swallowing water, he voraciously inhaled the poison gas.
A vortex appeared at the mouth of the cauldron, grand in scale, and after sucking for half a minute, it absorbed all of the black poison gas completely.
Even the corpses of the poisoned insects were not wasted; they were all taken away.
Bloodstains still remained on the walls of the tomb, evidencing the battle that had just occurred.
Bai Xiao'e watched the cauldron flying back, her Beautiful Eyes flickered with apprehension. She deliberately stepped to the side to avoid it, genuinely unable to guess what Luo Yu intended to do with so much deadly poison.
It was terrifying.
"Let's go."
Luo Yu pocketed the sword formation and the small cauldron in the flick of a wrist and walked forward.
"I guess this should be the last obstacle."
"Let's see what's hidden in this chamber."
"Boom!"
Turning the mechanism, the stone door of the chamber rose, and indeed, no further danger emerged; the three of them entered the chamber smoothly.
"This..."
The three looked around at their surroundings, slightly surprised.
The decor of this chamber was identical to that of Zhen Fu'er's, with giant night pearls illuminating the entire room.
The air wasn't foul but instead filled with a faint fragrance that Luo Yu found familiar, as if he had encountered it in the outside world.
In the exact center of the chamber, there was a huge pink crystal sarcophagus, radiating waves of special cold air.
The lid of the sarcophagus was moved aside, carelessly smashed onto the ground.
"Hmm?"
"There's a sarcophagus, but no person?"
Luo Yu was startled and immediately swept his gaze around with heightened alertness, wondering if a 'zongzi' had heard the noise and hidden itself.
But after a careful look around, he found nothing; the chamber was entirely empty.
"Could this chamber also be hiding a person?" Bai Xiao'e found it hard to believe, yet it somehow made sense.
"Who is buried in this tomb, and where are they? Surely they haven't all silently left like Sister Zhen."
Luo Yu had intended to ask Zhen Fu'er who was supposed to be in this place, but seeing her face filled with a surprised and puzzled expression,
He knew it was futile to ask.
"Let's go!"
"Let's check the other two chambers."
Knowing they would find no clues by staying, Luo Yu quickly led the two women through the passages to the other chambers.
"Since someone has left, from where did they exit, and why didn't they trigger any mechanisms?" Bai Xiao'e's face was full of doubt.
Zhen Fu'er gave a wry smile, "I thought returning here would solve some mysteries, but instead, they've only deepened."
Luo Yu found it bizarre; now the question was whether the pink sarcophagus had been empty from the start or if the occupant, like Zhen Fu'er, had awakened and left.
"Boom, boom!"
Luo Yu breached another set of mechanisms in the passage and entered the chamber, pushing open the stone door and bursting inside.
"Another sarcophagus!"
"Red crystal sarcophagus."
"Empty!"
Luo Yu noticed that this chamber lacked the special fragrance of before but instead carried a faint scent of blood.
However, it was very faint now.
He scratched his head.
What the heck was hidden here, and where did it go?
"Let's move to the last chamber."
After navigating through the mechanisms, Luo Yu entered the final chamber, expecting yet another empty sarcophagus, only to find that this one was different.
This time, the sarcophagus,
Contained someone...