Chapter 171: Chapter 168: You Want to Run Before You’ve Even Gotten the Cheat?

As the surface of the bronze mirror rippled, its tarnished face reflected an endless starry sky.

Before Shi Ming could react, in less than a tenth of a second, dozens of stars within the mirror lit up in succession. They connected into lines, swiftly outlining a massive, scorpion-like creature in the reflected starry sky!

The moment the creature’s outline was complete, the massive bronze mirror became as brilliant as the Star Sea, illuminating the entire dark tomb chamber.

’Not good!’

Shi Ming sensed an unimaginable crisis!

’Dodge!’

WHOOSH!

A scorpion tail formed from segments of starlight shot out from the bronze mirror, aiming a sneak attack straight for Shi Ming’s heart!

In the blink of an eye, the She Ri dove, barely dodging the blow.

Its strike having failed, the scorpion tail didn’t give up. It seemed to have locked onto its target, quickly adjusting its direction from within the mirror and lashing out viciously three more times!

The She Ri dodged nimbly within the cramped space!

While dodging, Shi Ming activated his Ice Annihilation Power,

Three greatswords forged of ice rapidly materialized and flew toward the bronze mirror. Icicles flaked off the blades as they cut through the seawater. But strangely, the moment these frigid greatswords touched the bronze mirror, they all passed right through its profound, star-filled surface, as if they had fallen into a boundless cosmos.

’They just vanished?’

’What kind of treasure is this mirror? It’s definitely something special.’

While Shi Ming was still confused, a complete scorpion body finally crawled out of the bronze mirror. It was a giant scorpion formed from starlight. Its carapace wasn’t the typical dark black or deep red of a normal scorpion, but instead seemed to be made of crystal, its insides glittering as brilliantly as the morning star. It had eight legs covered in barbs, each one as thick as Shi Ming’s own thigh!

The most terrifying part was its tail, raised high in the air.

At the tip of its menacingly segmented tail, a stinger glowed with a faint, cold blue light. It jabbed back and forth in mid-air, ready to plunge into its prey’s chest at any moment!

Shi Ming frowned.

’An A-rank or higher sea beast?’

Ice Annihilation Power!

CRACK—

As his Ice Annihilation skill activated, the seawater around the giant scorpion and the bronze mirror instantly froze solid, completely sealing off the area just as he had done with the Titan that day.

But this move seemed to be ineffective against the giant scorpion. It ignored the frozen water, its body passing through the ice as if made of pure light, and lunged at Shi Ming once more.

"It’s intangible!"

’So it really is made of starlight.’

’Doesn’t that mean it’s completely immune to attacks?’

’But its own attacks can still inflict massive damage?’

The scorpion’s attacks were utterly bestial. As he dodged back and forth, the creature wreaked havoc on the tomb chamber. The stone bed and pedestals, which had withstood thousands of years of time and decades of seawater erosion, were obliterated by the sweeping strikes of its venomous tail. Even the Golden Coffin that once held the remains of Scorpion King III was knocked completely upside down.

Shi Ming wondered if he should keep fighting.

’It’s intangible,’

’which means it’ll be hard for me to hurt it quickly unless I can find a weakness.’

’At the same time, this venomous scorpion obviously doesn’t have blood.’

’This means that even if I use every trick I have to kill it, there’s no benefit. I can’t bathe in its blood, and I won’t even get any points.’

’A losing deal!’

Assessing the situation, Shi Ming decided it was best to retreat for now!

He immediately retracted the She Ri and used the power of the Dinglan Pearl to leap into the air, shooting toward the tomb chamber’s main entrance. The She Ri was very useful for exploration, but the Pyramid’s narrow corridors were unsuitable for escaping in a drifting craft! It was faster to go on foot.

BANG!

He slammed head-first into a barrier invisible to the naked eye.

His escape had failed!

A Starlight Barrier had, at some unknown point, completely enveloped the tomb chamber.

Aside from energy fluctuations, no physical object could leave—not even the rubble created by the destruction of the chamber.

Shi Ming slashed at the barrier several times, but it remained completely unscathed.

’Fuck!’

Shi Ming steeled himself.

’If I can’t take care of the barrier, I can at least take care of that mirror, right?’

’Once I deal with the source of the problem, I refuse to believe this place can still trap me. Let’s see if your weird, flashy Starlight Barrier can hold up then!’

The King Slayer was drawn once more.

Shi Ming moved like a panther with muscles coiled tight, his agility pushed to its absolute limit. As he dodged and weaved around the intangible scorpion within the tomb chamber, he found an opening and slashed at the source of the anomaly—

the ancient bronze mirror.

’If I destroy this thing, the scorpion that came out of it should lose its source of power!’

FWASH—

The King Slayer slammed viciously into the stone wall.

More than half of the chamber wall was instantly demolished.

The entire section of wall the bronze mirror had been attached to collapsed into ruin. Strangely, however, the mirror itself remained completely unharmed, suspended in the seawater within the Pyramid, the hazy starlight within it shining with exceptional brilliance. The saber’s edge had passed right through the bronze mirror, obliterating the wall behind it like rotten wood, yet the mirror itself was untouched.

’Ineffective?’

’What in the world *is* this thing!’

...

...

...

The Starlight Giant Scorpion was fast and its tail was incredibly treacherous, but its agility was still a notch below Shi Ming’s. It couldn’t pose too great a threat in the short term. Here, in the cramped tomb chamber, Shi Ming dodged the giant scorpion’s venomous tail strikes while searching for a way to break the stalemate.

For now, the tomb chamber was sealed by the Starry Sky Barrier, so he couldn’t get out.

The strange mirror couldn’t be destroyed, though it seemed possible to pass through it—not that Shi Ming was willing to try.

The mirror showed a starry sky. If he passed through it and truly entered that space, it would be game over. His body could withstand the pressure of the deep sea, and he could breathe underwater, but a vacuum was nothing like the seabed. There wouldn’t be a single chance for survival.

He couldn’t harm the giant scorpion, and although it couldn’t get the better of him for now, he would eventually become exhausted in a prolonged fight.

Shi Ming steeled himself.

’In that case, don’t blame me for flipping the whole table!’

He took a deep breath. The crimson markings spreading from his right arm to his heart began to glow, starting from his chest. In an instant, all the markings shone with a blood-red light, exuding an unimaginably murderous aura. This power fused with a portion of his Ice Annihilation Power and was channeled completely into the King Slayer he held.

The ancient blade of the King Slayer was now also covered in pulsing crimson patterns.

’This intangible barrier seems indestructible, but in truth, when the King Slayer strikes it, there’s a definite feedback.’

’I refuse to believe that I can’t break through this barrier, even with my maximum Attack Power!’

Things had come to this; Shi Ming could no longer afford to hold back.

His base Attack Power was 93, and the King Slayer’s Attack Power boost was around 50%. Man and weapon combined, his total Attack Power was around 140!

An Attack Power of roughly 140, multiplied by ten!

An Attack Power of 1400, and that’s still not enough to solve this problem?

Ordinarily, a single strike like this could easily destroy a Gold-grade drifting craft!

CRACKLE!

Tenfold Power!

The blade’s edge, carrying a suffocating chill and a murderous aura, swept toward the suspended bronze mirror like a gale, unleashing an unimaginable storm of icicles. Within the pale white tempest, the murderous blade light slashed outward from inside the tomb chamber. The entire Scorpion King’s Pyramid was split clean in two, like a quadrangular pyramid sliced open from the inside!

The ancient structure exploded outward,

sending massive amounts of brick and stone tumbling down,

and the heavy stone blocks kicked up a violent storm of sediment on the sand-like polar seabed.

The blade’s light tore open half the Pyramid, extending for three kilometers and carving out a solid, double-layered ice chasm!

The power of that single slash was terrifying to behold!

HSSS—

Cold mist billowed from Shi Ming’s eyes, his mouth, his entire body. The seawater around him was freezing rapidly.

He moved his body, and the newly formed ice shattered.

When the cold light dissipated,

the giant scorpion made of starlight had vanished without a trace.

The ancient, star-filled mirror was still there, but the Starry Sky Barrier that had enveloped the tomb chamber had been shattered. Nothing could block Shi Ming’s path now.

He surged with power, shooting out of the tomb chamber like a meteor and leaping out through the breach in the Pyramid.

In an instant, he was hundreds of meters away!

But just then, a voice rang out from the mirror. It pierced through hundreds of meters of water to echo in Shi Ming’s ears. He couldn’t understand what was being said, but he could tell it was a woman’s voice.

"Trying to run?"

The ancient bronze mirror flashed.

The stars within it condensed into a Star Chain. Moving at a speed comparable to light, the chain swiftly caught up with Shi Ming—who was already over three hundred meters away—and bound him tightly.

Shi Ming struggled, but he was unable to exert any force and couldn’t break free.

Finally, it dragged him all the way back by force.

The voice was desolate and cold, yet majestic and layered.

"I have waited in this star-filled space for so long, and I’ve finally found a human with a decent physical constitution."

"And you’re trying to run before you’ve even collected your cheat?"