Chapter 947: The Second Key?

"If everyone is ready, then let us go in." Chen Yang looked up and down at the green stone door before them and said.

"I can still handle those puppets, but if those talisman spirits appear again, I'm afraid Fellow Daoist Li will have to take more care." Sun Tu said to Han Li with a smile.

"City Lord Sun, rest assured. I will spare no effort." Han Li replied.

Sun Tu nodded, then cast a glance at Fang Chan beside him.

Fang Chan said nothing, took the lead, pushed open the temple gate, and swept inside. The others followed closely, entering one after another.

After everyone had entered, Sun Tu waved his sleeve, and a surge of powerful force rolled forward, closing the temple door again.

Han Li frowned slightly, glanced at the door, then turned and scanned the interior of the temple.

A sound of "whoosh" was heard.

On the walls around the hall and the dome above, huge fire basins hanging there simultaneously ignited flames, burning brightly, illuminating the entire chamber.

In the center of the hall, the ground was lower, and there stood a strange-looking ancient bronze tree. Its trunk divided into seventeen or eighteen branches, all carved with star patterns.

What was eerie was that almost every branch of the ancient bronze tree hung a statue completely covered in bronze armor, at first glance resembling seventeen or eighteen hanged corpses, extremely bizarre.

Han Li frowned deeply, following the branches of the bronze tree upward, and saw a white beam of light at the top of the tree. Within the beam glowed a red light, and inside it lay another blood-red key.

Shi Chuankong saw this and couldn't help but look at Han Li.

Han Li exchanged a glance with him and subtly shook his head, signaling him not to make a sound.

But just then, the blood-red key on the bronze tree suddenly flashed, emitting a burst of blood-red light.

Han Li's chest then also felt a burning sensation. Caught off guard, he couldn't help but frown and grunt.

Chen Yang saw this, a flicker of doubt in his eyes, and asked with a frown, "Fellow Daoist Li, what's wrong?"

The others, hearing this, also looked over.

"I sustained a hidden injury on the road earlier, and it's been triggered now, causing a sharp pain in my chest. It's nothing serious..." Han Li waved his hand casually, explaining offhandedly.

Fortunately, the burning sensation lasted only a moment before dissipating, and the key hidden in his bosom did not emit any strange light, thus not drawing further attention from others.

"It's relatively safe for now. Fellow Daoist Li, why not sit down and regulate your breathing for a while? If you ignore the injury, it might cause more trouble later." Chen Yang frowned and said.

"That sounds good." Han Li nodded, and indeed went to a corner of the hall, sitting down cross-legged.

Shi Chuankong hesitated for a moment, then also sat down cross-legged beside him, beginning to regulate his own injuries.

Seeing this, Chen Yang's expression shifted slightly, then he turned his head to look at the blood-red key atop the bronze tree, his expression solemn.

"Haha... Fellow Daoist Chen, it seems the key you mentioned earlier is right here. We've turned misfortune into fortune, brought here by the puppet tide." Sun Tu said with a hearty laugh.

"Fellow Daoist Sun is right. We've finally seen the light after hardship, and have been rewarded." Chen Yang said with a smile.

"Then... this key..." Sun Tu paused here, raising an eyebrow slightly, looking at Chen Yang.

"As far as I know, there is more than one blood-red key. No matter who it is, seizing just one is meaningless. If we encounter others with this key later, it's best to cooperate with them for mutual benefit." Chen Yang's expression unchanged, he smiled.

Han Li pretended to close his eyes and regulate his breathing, listening to the verbal sparring between the two, sneering inwardly.

Not to mention that earlier Chen Yang and Sun Tu had not mentioned the blood-red key to the two of them, now Sun Tu was vaguely trying to rely on his and Fang Chan's cultivation to take the blood-red key for himself first, but Chen Yang's words made him have to think twice.

"Two City Lords, I think this bronze tree is so strange, the 'hanged ghosts' on it are mostly puppets. I'm afraid getting that key won't be so easy." At this moment, Xuan Yuanxing suddenly spoke.

"Fellow Daoist Xuan Yuan is right. Let's first join forces to take this blood-red key." Sun Tu indeed followed up.

"There's no time to lose. Let's act now." Chen Yang nodded and said.

With that, he took the lead, flying up and leaping toward the bronze tree.

Sun Tu frowned, signaled to Fang Chan, who immediately moved and followed.

The two landed one after another on the lowest branches of the strange bronze tree.

Upon landing, Chen Yang sensed something wrong. A powerful attractive force suddenly emerged from under his feet, firmly adhering his body to the branch. He tried to lift his leg to move, but failed.

On the other side, Fang Chan was in a similar situation, firmly trapped by the strange bronze tree.

Just then, star patterns on the bronze tree's trunk lit up one after another, turning into wisps of white light traces, swimming scattered along the trunk.

Attracted by the commotion, Han Li opened his eyes and looked over, seeing that the 'hanged ghosts' hanging on the strange bronze tree began to swing back and forth in the air.

Soon, like ripe fruits, they fell off the branches one after another.

Upon landing, the seventeen or eighteen puppets' eyes simultaneously lit up with red light, each drawing a standard battle saber from behind their waists. Though without star apertures, they were engraved with star patterns, the blades shining like new, covered with a layer of white starlight.

They scattered, with two of them jumping back onto the lowest branches of the strange tree, while the rest charged at Han Li and the others with their sabers.

Han Li sighed, stood up again from the ground.

The crowd then engaged in a melee with the puppets.

Two puppets charged with sabers, their speed not slow at all. One swung horizontally, the other vertically, turning into two snowy blade arcs attacking from left and right.

Han Li took off the white curved saber from his waist, the Star Moon Boots on his feet flashed with light, his speed reaching an extreme. He instantly passed under the horizontal slash of one puppet, simultaneously sweeping his saber at its legs.

A sharp clang of "clang"!

A large burst of dazzling white sparks splashed from the puppet's body. The armor, seemingly bronze but of unknown material, left a conspicuous white mark under Han Li's curved saber slash, but was not damaged.

"What formidable armor!" Han Li was slightly surprised.

He turned, stomped the ground, secretly activated the Vajra Art, the apertures on his arms shining brightly, gripping the curved saber tightly, and slashed heavily at the pursuing puppet.

The star apertures on the white curved saber also lit up, the blade seeming coated with a film of starlight, its cold light even more intense.

The puppet, seeing this, had already raised its saber above its head to block Han Li's curved saber.

A crisp sound of "crack"!

The puppet's saber snapped with the sound, and the white curved saber slashed down, landing on the puppet's left shoulder.

Unfortunately, cutting through the saber had already consumed most of the curved saber's star power. When it actually struck the puppet's shoulder, it only cut through an inch of armor, unable to harm the puppet's core.

Han Li frowned, yanked the saber sharply, trying to pull it back.

But he found that the puppet's armor generated an extremely strong suction, firmly clamping his saber, preventing him from pulling it out smoothly.

Meanwhile, the other puppet had already flashed over, slashing horizontally again, aiming at Han Li's lower abdomen.

Helpless, Han Li had to abandon the saber and retreat to dodge.

On the other side of the strange bronze tree, Chen Yang and Fang Chan were both immobilized, only able to stand and fight the puppets attacking them. At first they managed with ease, but when two more puppets leaped over, they became somewhat overwhelmed.

Especially Fang Chan, who was caught between two puppets, struck over a dozen times, covered in blood.

Yet, there seemed no pain on his face; instead, his eyes flowed with an increasingly intense battle frenzy.

"Ao..."

Seeing a puppet's saber thrusting treacherously toward Fang Chan's heart, the pig-faced youth finally erupted, letting out a sharp, beast-like howl.

With this scream, visible semi-transparent sound waves from his mouth crushed the void before the youth, surging toward the puppet.

The puppet's saber, thrust into the sound waves, immediately seemed to sink into mud, blocked by a powerful force, unable to pierce through, its speed becoming extremely slow.

At the same time, the branch beneath them shook violently, and both he and Chen Yang regained their freedom.

Fang Chan stepped forward, thrust his hand through the residual power of his own roar, grabbed the puppet's neck, let out a fierce shout, and squeezed hard.

A strange sound of "bang".

The puppet's neck immediately burst, its head falling to the ground, rolling away.

Chen Yang, taking advantage of regained freedom, turned and shot a delicate, slender white bone awl, slipping through the gaps in the puppet's armor.

Then, an explosion sounded, and the entire puppet burst apart from within.

Afterward, the Xuan City group's results increased. After about an hour, they finally defeated all the puppets.

Among them, aside from Fang Chan, who had over a dozen minor injuries, and Xuan Yuanxing, whose abdomen was pierced by a puppet's saber, the others were almost unscathed.

Sun Tu briefly treated Fang Chan's wounds, then stood up and said to Chen Yang, "Who will take the key? And who will keep it?"