The stone wall in front of them was tough, but how could it possibly stop Fang Shuwen?

In an instant, the stone walls blocking their path shattered.

But then they suddenly heard the WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH of something slicing through the air.

Fang Shuwen paused, stunned. In the space he had just shattered with his palm strike, a flurry of nearly rotted arrows was flying about chaotically.

Some even shot toward them.

Yu Yaoguang flicked her sleeve, and the arrows were instantly swept to the ground. She then sneered.

"Just as I thought."

Fang Shuwen mused thoughtfully.

’So, they ran into a trap too? Except it wasn’t arrows, but... oil, or maybe gunpowder? Is that what caused such a huge ruckus?’

Judging from this trap mechanism, Yu Yaoguang’s earlier guess was likely correct.

This massive stone labyrinth was indeed riddled with hidden traps.

The people who had entered earlier had been scattered into different areas because the stone labyrinth rotated on its own.

Someone must have tried to brute-force their way through, triggering some of the mechanisms and causing the explosions.

The impact of Fang Shuwen’s palm strike was considerable.

Though it hadn’t completely cleared the path ahead, it had exposed the entire internal structure of the hidden mechanism. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

As the group continued forward, they found many arrows that had completely rotted away within their mechanisms.

This was a clear sign that the place had existed for a very long time.

"Ye Feihua certainly knows how to pick a location. She sets up a fake Jinghua Pavilion and finds such prime real estate to go with it. A buy-one-get-one-free deal, huh?"

Fang Shuwen scoffed.

Speaking of which, Fang Lingxin couldn’t help but ask in a low voice,

"Master... what should we do with the Seven-String Ancient Chapter?"

She didn’t know much about it, but she had a feeling it was extremely troublesome.

Fang Shuwen said quietly,

"Just hold onto it for now. But we must not let anyone know."

Fang Lingxin nodded repeatedly.

"I definitely won’t tell anyone... Master, maybe you should hold onto it?"

She took out the Seven-String Ancient Chapter. She couldn’t shake the feeling that it was unsafe to keep it on her person.

Fang Shuwen nodded, taking the Seven-String Ancient Chapter and tucking it into his robes.

Ye Feihua had most likely miscalculated this time.

Before, Fang Shuwen truly had no interest in the item.

If Ye Feihua had come asking for it later, Fang Shuwen might have even returned it to her, provided she paid a suitable price.

But now...

Fang Shuwen had no intention of ever giving it back.

She was the one who put it in Fang Lingxin’s hands, after all. She couldn’t blame anyone but herself if he didn’t return it.

Hearing their conversation, Shui Qianrou quickly added,

"I won’t say anything either. Big Sister said it’s not actually useful, and it already has an owner.

"Once I find my brother, I’ll convince him not to be so fixated on it either."

Fang Shuwen ruffled Shui Qianrou’s hair.

Yu Yaoguang glanced at Fang Shuwen in surprise but said nothing more.

Their current location wasn’t a normal path; it was where all the traps and Hidden Weapons were stored.

As they pressed on, they no longer heard the explosions from before. Apparently, whoever had caused the ruckus realized the situation was dire. If they had continued, everyone would have ended up buried alive in this seemingly bottomless underground labyrinth.

But then Fang Shuwen’s ears twitched. He could hear the sounds of a fight up ahead.

But now, another wall blocked their way.

Without needing a reminder from Yu Yaoguang, Fang Shuwen struck out with his palm.

The stone wall exploded, and the sounds of the fight instantly became crystal clear to them.

Stepping through the breach in the wall, they saw a blaze of firelight illuminating a relatively spacious area ahead.

Amid the rubble, they could even see broken mechanisms and gears.

Several figures were attacking a Great Monk, while many other Jianghu people, who had come to seize the Seven-String Ancient Chapter, surrounded them like predators.

The ground was littered with corpses.

A few others were huddled against the walls, their faces pale and filled with terror.

They seemed to have been scared out of their wits by the scene before them.

Looking closer at the fighters, they saw that the Great Monk was the same one who had descended in a blaze of golden light to intercept Shui Qianliu earlier.

Now, he was once again wreathed in golden light, shattering everything around him.

Quite a few people were ganging up on him.

Little Madman Zhang Xuanfeng, Ghost Slave, the bare-chested Young Master San Jue Su Heng, and Leng Yanqiu.

There were also two figures in black masks. As they raised their palms in their Palm Technique, a searing heat radiated in all directions; they were clearly from the Dragon Emperor Hall.

But what pleased Fang Shuwen the most was that Shui Qianliu was right there in the thick of it.

In fact, among all these fighters, Shui Qianliu was the main force.

His Martial Arts were clearly a cut above the rest. If he hadn’t been directly countering the old monk’s attacks, the others would have been killed long ago.

Shui Qianrou caught sight of Shui Qianliu by the firelight. Her eyes instantly welled up, and she couldn’t stop herself from crying out,

"Brother!!"

Hearing her voice, Shui Qianliu’s body shuddered. He thought he was hallucinating.

Heedless of anything else, he whipped his sword around to force the old monk back, then hurriedly turned to look. An anxious expression immediately appeared on his face.

"Rou’er? Why are you here?"

Hearing this, the old monk froze for a moment, then burst into maniacal laughter.

He abruptly abandoned Shui Qianliu and charged straight for Shui Qianrou.

His body blazed with golden light. He strode forward, head held high, and no one dared to stand in his way.

"Little girl, you shun the path to heaven, and instead you..."

Before he could finish, he froze. A ferocious gale blasted his face like a sudden squall. He snapped his head up just as a palm strike reached him.

Only then did he remember that Shui Qianrou was with the Demon Evil God!

With no time to think, he clapped his hands together, and a strange Buddhist Dharma Aspect instantly enveloped him.

But a deafening BOOM erupted!

All anyone saw was a blur. The old monk, enveloped in his Dharma Aspect, was sent flying backward like a golden meteor, smashing through who knows how many corridor walls before disappearing from sight.

Fang Shuwen casually flicked his hand.

"Old people talk too much damn nonsense..."