Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1286 - 1286 0737 Turning the Tables_2

Chapter 1286: Chapter 0737: Turning the Tables_2 Chapter 1286: Chapter 0737: Turning the Tables_2 Having analyzed the three-dimensional holographic images fed back to him by the Heavenly Dao Engine, Qi Tian had essentially ascertained the layout of the Saint’s Tomb’s Inner Underground Palace. Compared to the previous Saint’s Tomb he had explored, this one was not only smaller in scale but its interior layout was also less sophisticated.

In the previous Saint’s Tomb, even when he used every possible method to probe the Inner Underground Palace during his exploration, he could not clearly understand what was inside, and he also encountered various dangers, some of which nearly cost him his life. But with this Inner Underground Palace, he hadn’t even entered yet and was still outside the tomb’s entrance, and he had already clearly probed what was inside, identified where the Killing Array was, where the traps were, and which areas needed his special attention. This would be of great help to him during his formal exploration, allowing him to avoid most dangers and complete the probing mission with minimal cost.

However, this did not mean that probing the Saint’s Tomb’s Inner Underground Palace alone was absolutely safe. Apart from those dangerous factors, Qi Tian had not forgotten that the most dangerous place inside the Inner Underground Palace was Manager Chen, who possessed the cultivation realm of the Second Level of the Nascent Soul Stage. Just this alone represented extreme danger, and if Qi Tian was not careful in dealing with him, the consequences could be very severe.

Qi Tian stood outside the entrance of the Inner Underground Palace, carefully checking his entire body, donning all the battle armor and Protective Talismans that he should wear. He gripped the Yonghe Stick tightly in his hand and prepared some talismans in places on his body that were easily accessible. He also held healing pills in his mouth. He had made all the preparations he could think of, ensuring nothing was overlooked.

After confirming he was ready, Qi Tian formally fixed his gaze on the entrance of the Inner Underground Palace. He did not rashly move forward but had all the ghostly faces on alert. He then released a dense fog from the Ruyi Sand to obscure everyone’s vision and Divine Sense. After that, he had the Ruyi Sand, transformed into a sand wheel, approach the tomb’s entrance to begin cutting it open.

The Ruyi Sand had just begun to work when the tomb’s entrance reacted violently. Dozens of Wolf Teeth Knives above the Half-step Nascent Soul level, along with one at the Nascent Soul Level, charged out from the entrance as if they cost nothing, ready to annihilate anyone daring to damage it. Although the Wolf Teeth Knives were formidable and could relentlessly pursue their target, making escape impossible, Qi Tian was prepared this time. He had sealed all the space, which, although meant to be used against people, also affected the knives and caused them to fail to locate their target. As a result, many knives, without a clear target, fired blindly like headless flies, causing no harm to Qi Tian, the ghostly faces, or the Ruyi Sand. They essentially fired blanks.

The tomb’s entrance had only been rigged with these Wolf Teeth Knives as its trump card. There were no other mechanisms. While the material of the entrance was precious, it was not the kind that required a Nascent Soul Stage’s flying sword to cut. The Ruyi Sand effortlessly cut through the door and created an opening large enough for Qi Tian to move in and out freely.

Qi Tian recalled the Ruyi Sand and instructed it to release more thick fog, which spread throughout the Inner Underground Palace through the hole in the tomb’s entrance.

The disturbance caused by the Ruyi Sand cutting through the tomb’s entrance was significant, but Manager Chen remained motionless inside, as if he had not heard the noise at the entrance. As the fog began to disperse throughout the Inner Underground Palace, Qi Tian had the ghostly faces prepare for an attack, wary that Manager Chen might lash out. But Qi Tian quickly realized he might be worrying over nothing, as Manager Chen continued to stay still, seemingly oblivious to Qi Tian’s stealthy moves.

Qi Tian was puzzled. Didn’t the living corpse merged with Manager Chen know the power of the Ruyi Sand? Or did Manager Chen simply not care about the dense fog released by the Ruyi Sand, potentially creating a battlefield that was not in his favor?

Unable to find answers, Qi Tian could only suppress his doubts. The Ruyi Sand released the fog quickly, and it did not take long before it filled the entire Inner Underground Palace, leaving no dead angles.

Qi Tian then commanded the nine ghostly faces to rush toward the hole above the tomb’s entrance, and he was the first to enter the Inner Underground Palace. After that, a defensive shield formed by the Transporting Whirlwind entered, and only after all of the Transporting Whirlwinds had entered the Inner Underground Palace did Qi Tian step into it unhurriedly.

At this moment, inside the Inner Underground Palace, one couldn’t see their hand in front of their face, and Divine Sense was severed, with only Qi Tian being able to use the Heavenly Dao Engine’s sensitivity to Spirit Qi to monitor the entire Inner Underground Palace in real-time.

The focus of Qi Tian’s monitoring was naturally Manager Chen, but he did not consider Manager Chen as the primary target to strike first. Manager Chen’s strength was far beyond his own, and even though Qi Tian had many tricks up his sleeve, including the trump card of Millennium Corpse Water, he couldn’t guarantee a one-hit kill on Manager Chen. If Manager Chen evaded his trump card, then Manager Chen could fully use his home field advantage to stall within the Inner Underground Palace, and if Manager Chen were lucky enough, he might even turn defeat into victory. In that case, the unlucky one would be Qi Tian.

Qi Tian would never allow such a situation to arise, so he resolutely set his first strike target to be items and formations within the Inner Underground Palace that could cause him various troubles. The first thing Qi Tian intended to do was to clear them, to break Manager Chen’s home ground advantage, and then see if there was a chance to turn the tables and make this place his own turf.

Manager Chen remained motionless, and it was unclear whether he was utterly unable to guess what Qi Tian was planning or for some other reason, just letting Qi Tian go about his business in the Inner Underground Palace.

Having experienced so much over the years, this was the first time Qi Tian had encountered such an opponent who let him make all kinds of preparations. If it weren’t for going through it personally, Qi Tian would never believe such a situation could happen; it was almost like a fantastic tale, too unreal.

What Qi Tian didn’t know was that Manager Chen’s situation was out of necessity. In the first fight with Qi Tian, he had suffered a considerable loss, losing an arm, and was seriously injured. Under normal circumstances, he needed to heal properly to recover fully. Manager Chen returned to the Inner Underground Palace and began his healing process, even planning to give up on killing Qi Tian. He was prepared to lie low for a while, with other matters to be dealt with after the period of lying low was over.

But the best-laid plans of Manager Chen could not keep up with the changes brought by Qi Tian, leading to the current situation. Qi Tian had already started making various preparations on the periphery, essentially placing the noose around Manager Chen’s neck, only waiting for the command to pose a fatal threat to Manager Chen.

Inside, Manager Chen was struggling intensely. He was very clear that if he let Qi Tian continue to meddle in his Inner Underground Palace, it was uncertain what the outcome would be, but he could be sure of one thing: Qi Tian’s actions would lead to situations he didn’t want to see happen.

Interruption in the healing process meant unavoidably facing Qi Tian with injuries, which Manager Chen didn’t want to see. After all, he had already suffered a significant loss in a one-on-one fight with Qi Tian. He was not eager to confront Qi Tian again without being fully prepared, as he might suffer a second loss at the hands of Qi Tian.

Manager Chen’s concerns were reasonable, and while normally this caution might be an advantage, in the current situation where a battle was imminent, Manager Chen’s indecision amounted to him watching the few good opportunities he had slip away from his fingertips.