Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1216 - 1216 703 Taking a Different Path - Part 2

Chapter 1216: Chapter 703: Taking a Different Path – Part 2 Chapter 1216: Chapter 703: Taking a Different Path – Part 2 What could have been a deed of valor ended up as a head-on failure, and no one would be foolish enough to reach such a point.

Soon, including Emperor Bahuang, a total of twelve individuals, with the lowest among their ranks being at the Gold Core Stage Seventh Level and the majority at the Gold Core Stage Eighth Level, donned the best equipment of the entire team. The moves they executed were also some of the strongest of the team. Under Qi Tian’s unified command, their attacks landed on the wall almost simultaneously.

Such a formidable combined assault, focused in one spot, would have made even someone like Manager Chen think twice and avoid it, preferring to keep at a safe distance.

Qi Tian, constantly using the sensing function of the Heavenly Dao Engine to lock onto the Spirit Qi, had hoped to witness the wall crumble under the assault of the first team. Unfortunately, such a result did not materialize. Even with such a robust attack, the wall remained unscathed, not a hint of damage. The attack seemed no more than a tickle to the wall, leaving everyone utterly speechless.

Qi Tian had considered such an outcome, however unwilling he was to entertain the thought.

Qi Tian simply sighed and did not waste more time in frustration. He issued another clear order, this time to both the first and second teams, a total of twenty-five individuals. He instructed them to use their most powerful moves, regardless of cost, to attack the wall before them.

Under Qi Tian’s unified command, twenty-five Gold Core Realm experts launched their attacks, which uniformly struck the wall. Sadly, the wall was still without a mark, as if nothing had happened.

Through the sensory function of the Heavenly Dao Engine, Qi Tian detected no change whatsoever in the wall; not even a crack, let alone a white mark, could be left on it, suggesting that the wall’s durability was comparable to, if not stronger than, the Inner Underground Palace door.

If such a sturdy wall were just a wall, Qi Tian would never believe it. While he acknowledged that somewhere in the world there might be someone capable of such construction, he did not think the owner of the Saint’s Tomb beneath his feet could afford such luxury.

In Qi Tian’s view, if there truly were someone who could afford such extravagance, then the tomb, or rather palace, left behind by such a person would hardly be penetrable by a group of Gold Core Realm cultivators like Qi Tian’s. They would have been blasted to dust already. It’s plausible that only someone on that level might consider such materials trivial and use them casually.

In a sense, this was a flaw; there certainly had to be something wrong with the wall. If it could be pried open, undoubtedly, a secret would be revealed.

Qi Tian began to expand the scale of those attacking the wall, from one team to two, and then to three, four, and finally five teams. Under his command, they launched coordinated attacks, but the outcome remained the same, with the wall completely unharmed.

The continuous failures made Qi Tian realize that this approach would not create an opening in the wall; a different strategy was necessary. It was also a matter of reality pressing in; after issuing orders to the first team to launch their strongest attacks five times in a row, some were running low on True Essence, and their power began to wane. A few more attempts, and they might drain their True Essence completely, rendering them useless and unable to continue following his commands. At that point, the team’s combat effectiveness would be greatly weakened.

In a place like the Inner Underground Palace, for the team to lose combat power was an extremely terrifying thing. The occurrence of even a minor accident could lead to very severe consequences, and Qi Tian had to be constantly cautious, wary of such uncontrollable incidents.

Qi Tian issued an order for all five small teams to rest together, recover their True Essence, and relax their minds. Afterwards, Qi Tian stood in front of the wall, caressing it with his hands, hoping to find some inspiration to break through the wall in this manner.

Qi Tian opened the black hole in his palm and summoned a Transporting Whirlwind to try and remove any Spirit Qi that might be on the wall, but after the whirlwind emerged, it merely swirled on the surface of the wall, and not a trace of Spirit Qi was found, let alone swept away.

Qi Tian could only retract the Transporting Whirlwind and turned to face the wall, deep in thought. The previous attempt made him realize something—that the wall’s defensive power had exceeded the combined combat power of the entire team. Even if Emperor Wu and the others needed time to recover, and even if after their recovery they repeated the same action at his command, the result would still be futile, with no different outcome.

If Qi Tian wanted to make any progress, he must change his approach. He quickly thought of another method, which could also be considered the last method he could think of at the moment—using Master Ming Ren’s flying sword, a method that had never failed him before, to attack.

The flying swords of Master Ming Ren that Qi Tian had left were all Nascent Soul Stage magical tools. Using them even once was an extremely heavy burden for Qi Tian. If he had a choice, he would not wish to resort to them, but this time, pushed to this extent, if Qi Tian didn’t use them, one could pretty much declare this expedition to the Inner Underground Palace a failure. There would be no need to continue exploring further.

Without hesitation, Qi Tian took out one of Master Ming Ren’s flying swords. Under his control, the sword hovered in front of him. Then he tossed a few wax pills into his mouth, each of which contained a drop of Spiritual Milk Liquid, a very high-grade kind at that. Qi Tian, with the Spiritual Milk Liquid in his mouth, could quickly recover his True Essence when it was excessively consumed.

This method was extravagantly lavish, and other cultivators would certainly not be so wasteful, but for Qi Tian at this moment, although the Spiritual Milk Liquid was precious, it was not the first thing to consider. If he couldn’t open the wall, Qi Tian wouldn’t be at ease, and he couldn’t pry open the central coffin of the Inner Underground Palace without peace of mind.

It was like a vicious cycle. To break it, some sacrifices needed to be made in advance. Even wasting some Spiritual Milk Liquid was acceptable. Moreover, Qi Tian still had plenty of such high-grade Spiritual Milk Liquid, so wasting one or two drops was merely a trifle, not worth mentioning.

Qi Tian put a lot of effort into infusing the flying sword with enough Spirit Qi. Of course, “enough” was relative here, only meaning that he could barely control the sword to perform some actions. If Qi Tian wanted to unleash the peak combat power of the sword, that would be wishful thinking, unless he was willing to infuse all of his True Essence into the sword several times over, and then he might barely manage it.

Qi Tian tightly grasped the flying sword and then violently thrust it at the wall in front of him.

Just a moment ago, Qi Tian had led Emperor Jianwu and over fifty Gold Core Realm powerhouses in an attack on the wall to no avail. However, now, as the tip of the flying sword pierced the wall, a crisp “hiss” sound rang out next to Qi Tian’s ears, similar to that of a butcher’s knife plunging into a pig’s neck.

Qi Tian looked at the flying sword in his hand and discovered it had steadily penetrated into the wall, although not very deep, roughly an inch, but this was already a very remarkable result.