Chapter 115: It Won't Work With Only One Door

The tomb passage was long, with glowing pearls embedded on both sides. Despite the passage of countless years, these pearls still emitted a soft, steady light.

Song Yue and Xiao Qi walked one after the other, moving cautiously for over ten minutes and covering at least seven or eight hundred meters. Fortunately, this stretch was peaceful, and no crises emerged. Even so, the two remained vigilant, not daring to advance recklessly.

Finally, they reached the end of the passage, blocked by a stone door. The door was ancient, devoid of carvings, and radiated an aura of profound antiquity. Recalling his previous exploration of a dark secret realm with Brother Qian, Song Yue stepped forward and carefully gave it a push—

Boom!

A terrifying force surged instantly from the door, as if a powerful master had struck out with a palm. Even though Song Yue had been extremely careful, he was still sent staggering backward by the immense impact. His internal organs churned, and runes lit up across his body, flashing with light to shield him from the blow.

"What is this, a case of picking and choosing your opponents?" Song Yue felt a bit indignant.

Xiao Qi, looking visibly shaken, said to Song Yue, "Brother, you are far too reckless!"

Just then, a series of "click-clack" sounds echoed from the walls on both sides of the passage. The next moment, two humanoid "puppets," taller than a man and pitch-black in color, squeezed out from the stone walls.

"Holy crap, ghosts!" Xiao Qi scrambled behind Song Yue.

Song Yue was speechless. *You’re a grave robber, and you're telling me you’re afraid of ghosts?* However, he had no time to mock Xiao Qi’s cowardice. He instantly drew his Dragon-Pattern Immortal-Slaying Blade, calmly watching the two eerie puppets.

They were eerie because their faces lacked ears, noses, or mouths. On each of their pitch-black wooden heads sat a single, hauntingly human-like eye! As Song Yue stared into their eyes, they stared right back at him. The intelligence within those eyes was identical to a human's, yet the gaze was cold—as if they were looking at a corpse.

Xiao Qi also pulled out a magical artifact. Song Yue glanced at it and felt at a loss for words; it was a gleaming silver nail, over a foot long. If the timing hadn't been so dire, he would have asked if Xiao Qi had pried it off a coffin.

"Step back and don't get in the way," Song Yue whispered.

The passage was narrow, less than two meters wide. With those two puppets standing there, they effectively blocked the path. Song Yue thought to himself that it was fortunate there wasn't one behind them, or he would have been trapped in the middle.

No sooner had he thought this than a "click-clack" sound echoed from the walls behind him.

Song Yue: "..." *Is my intuition cursed?*

There was no chance for Xiao Qi to retreat now. Watching two more grey, dull-looking puppets squeeze out, Xiao Qi looked as if he were on the verge of tears. These two were different—not only were they a lackluster grey, but their faces were completely blank, just flat surfaces. After emerging, they didn't act, simply standing there to block the path.

Song Yue thought for a moment and said to Xiao Qi, "If they don't attack you, don't move." He drew his blade and walked toward the two one-eyed puppets with their intelligent gazes, saying, "Senior puppets, I have no intention to disturb you; I have merely wandered here by mistake..."

As he spoke, one of the puppets suddenly attacked!

Ancient runes manifested on its body as it struck out with a palm. The movement was not stiff at all; it was like a grandmaster of martial arts. A palm strike erupted with golden light and overwhelming power, crashing toward Song Yue through the narrow passage like a collapsing mountain.

*This puppet has no sense of martial honor!*

The moment the puppet attacked, Song Yue’s protective aura flared, and previously latent runes appeared upon it. This was the result of his recent cultivation, raising his protective barrier to a new height.

Boom!

A muffled sound echoed through the passage. The force struck the barrier, making the runes flicker wildly and the defense waver, but it did not shatter. Song Yue retaliated with a slash! A fierce blade aura cut toward the puppet's body like a ribbon of light. He caught a flash of solemnity in the puppet’s single eye.

*This thing has truly become a spirit!*

Bang! The black puppet warded off the slash with a casual strike, but a deep wound was left on its wooden hand. To Song Yue’s shock, black liquid—like blood—began to flow from the gash. The puppet’s single eye filled with fury as it launched a frenzied attack.

In such a cramped space, it was hard for either side to maneuver. The puppets possessed immense strength, and the second one soon joined the fray. Facing two terrifying puppets, Song Yue’s blood energy erupted. Following his practice of the third chapter of the Taiyi Body-Forging Scripture, his blood energy had become denser, forming a crimson barrier.

The walls of the tomb were incredibly sturdy and showed no damage, but the puppets were soon covered in wounds from Song Yue’s sharp blade. They kept bleeding, a sight that made Xiao Qi’s hair stand on end. Fortunately, the two grey puppets did not attack him.

Song Yue held his blade in his right hand, while his left fist crackled with thunderous energy. The two one-eyed puppets seemed to fear the lightning, avoiding direct contact and showing genuine terror. Seeing this, Song Yue sheathed his blade and unleashed a barrage of Thunder Fists.

The terrifying lightning soon engulfed the two one-eyed puppets. Finally, they could no longer hold up and collapsed, falling into a pile of wooden parts and two large, foul-smelling puddles of black "blood."

But before Song Yue and Xiao Qi could breathe a sigh of relief, the two puddles of blood miraculously reformed into human shapes and charged at Song Yue again. Even Song Yue felt his scalp tingle. He struck out with his Thunder Fists once more.

However, the puppets—now that their physical forms had shattered and their "blood" had regenerated—ignored the lightning. Furthermore, their attacks shifted from physical force to mental strikes!

Terrible mental energy assaulted Song Yue’s consciousness. At that moment, the strange blade of grass in his mind, which was usually fond of playing dead, gave a gentle tremor. A mysterious power surged out, shattering the regenerated puppets and dragging them instantly into Song Yue’s mental sea.

Song Yue was startled, fearing it was an enemy attack attempting to possess him. But soon, he realized his consciousness was fine; instead, the already emerald-green grass seemed to grow even more vibrant after absorbing the energy.

This was no illusion! Song Yue was shocked and speechless. It was one thing for this strange grass—born from his comprehension of the first page of the *Dark Scripture*—to occupy his mind like a stubborn squatter, but now it was autonomously absorbing energy he couldn't even understand.

He felt uneasy. He missed his master dearly; the old man had left too hastily for Song Yue to ask about the *Dark Scripture*. *Forget it, deal with the future later. At least for now, we're on the same side.*

Song Yue took a deep breath and looked at the two grey puppets that had remained still. As his gaze fell upon them, they actually... ran away! They quickly darted back into the solid stone wall and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Song Yue: "?"
Xiao Qi: "..."

This was a terrifying thought: puppets inside a suspected True Immortal’s tomb, acting like sentient beings and even feeling fear?

Song Yue led Xiao Qi over the pile of broken wooden parts to the ancient stone door again. This time, he tried to sense its vibrational frequency, but he was blocked. A vast, gentle power prevented him from touching the true frequency of the door.

Song Yue continued to silently practice his mental arts. Xiao Qi also racked his brain for a way in, but the problem was clearly beyond him. He was adept at navigating common tombs, but he was helpless against the tomb of a potential great master. Not one to sit idle, he wandered around, touching the walls.

After a while, he said in surprise, "Brother Yue, what is this?"

Song Yue frowned and turned back. "Puppet parts. Aren't you afraid of getting cursed..." He trailed off, freezing as he saw a small stone stele, over a foot tall, sitting by the wall near the wooden debris. He fell into deep thought. *Is the Heaven-Reaching Stele starting to mass-produce?*

"This place is too evil!" Xiao Qi looked at the stele in terror, his voice trembling. "This isn't my first time seeing it!"

Song Yue thought back to Wen Rou; hadn't she experienced the same thing? The Heaven-Reaching Stele was shamelessly persistent, always finding its way back no matter how many times it was discarded. Xiao Qi, being a cautious grave robber, would never have touched such a thing.

"Really, I'm not lying!" Xiao Qi insisted. "Since my first exploration of this secret realm, I've seen it outside, and many times since, in different places..."

"It has taken a liking to you," Song Yue said.

Xiao Qi’s voice shook. "Brother, don't scare me. Why would a tombstone like me? I’m not as handsome as you..."

Song Yue’s mouth twitched. "This thing has nothing to do with this tomb; it’s called a Heaven-Reaching Stele."

After a brief explanation, Xiao Qi approached the stele, tentatively using his mental energy to communicate with it. A moment later, he vanished through an energy portal opened by the stele. He returned shortly after, looking excited. "It’s a massive storage space! Just like yours, hahaha... Wait, mine doesn't seem as big as yours, and it only has one door. I remember you said yours had nine? Brother Yue, do you know where those doors lead?"

Xiao Qi was like a curious child.

"Congratulations on becoming a glorious warrior. One day, you will be summoned to step onto a bloody battlefield to fight the enemy and protect all of humanity." Song Yue said this half-jokingly, watching the smile fade from Xiao Qi’s face. He delivered the final blow: "That stone door is the gateway to the battlefield."

Xiao Qi: "..."

He stood stunned for a long time before looking at Song Yue. "Brother, you’re not lying to me, are you?"

Song Yue smiled. "Why would I lie to you?"

Xiao Qi looked like he was about to cry. "Can I choose not to go?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Song Yue said. "Before reaching the Infant Transformation stage... maybe?"

Xiao Qi let out a sigh of relief, grinning, "Then I have nothing to worry about. Infant Transformation is impossible! I was never cut out for cultivation!"

Song Yue smiled without a word. Though he didn't know how the stele chose its "warriors," he was certain that anyone chosen by it possessed extraordinary destiny. As Sun Tong had told him, while there were few shortcuts for martial artists, other cultivators had many. Sometimes, a single scripture could allow one to leap across realms. It seemed unfair to martial artists, but Song Yue didn't care. As long as his resolve was firm, he feared no other cultivator!

He had only recently stepped into the Grandmaster realm, yet he dared to fight those in the Core Gathering stage. If you let an average martial artist try to fight a Core Gathering practitioner, they would be crushed into dust in seconds.

The two returned to the stone door and began to rack their brains again. Song Yue tried every method, but nothing worked. Just as he sighed, preparing to give up, his own Yuxu Heaven-Reaching Stele flew out on its own and slammed into the ancient stone door with a ferocious force.

Boom!

With a deafening crash, a large hole appeared before them.

Song Yue: "..."
Xiao Qi: "..."

They stared at the hole in silence. Long after, Xiao Qi’s mouth twitched as he asked, "Brother... does mine... do that too?"

Song Yue glanced at him. "Not if it only has one door."