Chapter Eighty-Three: The Golden Pagoda Appears Again

How dare a mere wretch of evil act so brazenly?

Mayura let out a cold snort and concentrated her cosmos into her right hand. She aimed at the evil warriors ahead and hurled a punch.

Though her eyes could not see, her sixth sense still let her perceive the vile, hideous souls lurking beneath those wretches’ skins.

Feather of the Peacock.

In an instant, her cosmos transformed into a colossal peacock that enveloped Mayura.

Before the evil warriors could even recover from their shock, the great peacock spread its resplendent tail fan. The markings upon it, like evil eyes, turned into countless green beams that shot forth.

By the time they tried to defend themselves, it was already too late.

The green beams struck their bodies mercilessly, and the group was sent flying with anguished cries.

Boom.

Yin Shiqi was not as strong as Mayura, and he landed a beat later.

Burning his cosmos, he concentrated his power in his right hand and punched toward the few people not covered by the peacock’s attack.

Whirlpool Strangulation.

As his fist flew out, a blue whirlpool coiled around it and began to expand outward in all directions.

Crash.

The whirlpool shot forth. The remaining evil warriors saw it and ran for their lives, but their speed was no match for his strike. In an instant, they were all dragged into the vortex.

Crack, crack, crack.

Then came a series of bone-shattering sounds. The blue whirlpool, once clear, was dyed red.

Bang.

The whirlpool slammed into a wall in the distance and exploded, leaving behind a pool of blood and several corpses already reduced beyond human shape.

By then, the entire stronghold had been cleared by Yin Shiqi and Mayura alone.

"Er... are the three of us a little redundant?" said Ruolan as she landed, looking troubled at the pile of fallen evil warriors.

With two Gold Saint warriors present, the three Bronze Saints had not had a single chance to act.

"We're truly sorry. We've only held you back, Lady Mayura, Lord Yin Shiqi!" Meiyi said to them with an apologetic expression.

"There's no need to apologize to us!"

Mayura waved a hand and said earnestly, "This has only just begun. There will be plenty of chances later!"

"Yes, it has only just begun. You don't need to blame yourselves," Yin Shiqi said with a nod. Glancing once more at the evil warriors on the ground, he patiently explained, "This stronghold is still far from their divine realm, so its defenses are very weak."

"I imagine that the closer we get to their divine realm, the stronger the enemies we encounter will become."

"When that time comes, we'll focus on dealing with the stronger evil warriors. The rest will still need you to handle them."

None of the evil warriors in this stronghold had reached the Gold rank. They were all only at Bronze level, which was why he and Mayura could dispose of them so easily.

"I see!"

Hearing this, the expressions of the three Bronze Saints finally eased.

Though not having to fight made things easy, they did not want to stand around like a bunch of bored spectators.

Seeing that they were willing to help, Mayura immediately instructed them, "Go and check carefully. See whether any stragglers remain."

"Yes!"

The three spread out at once.

Yin Shiqi did not join the Bronze Saints. Instead, he turned his gaze to the pyramid that had been destroyed by Mayura.

"Senior, do you know what this pyramid was used for?" he asked, looking toward Mayura.

"I don't know," Mayura replied with a slight shake of her head. "I only sensed that it contained a great deal of cosmos energy. To be safe, I destroyed it at once."

Whether for attack or defense, energy had to be used. Such enormous power itself signified latent danger.

Yin Shiqi recalled slowly, "I once saw alien gods in the Nile region who built similar pyramids, using them as foundational devices to break through the barrier between worlds."

"So, I suspect..."

"You suspect the gods in North America are also using pyramids to break through the world barrier?" Mayura finished his thought for him.

"Yes."

Yin Shiqi nodded, then added, "But if it were such an important device, they should never have left it guarded by only a handful of worthless men."

"Most importantly, this pyramid lies outside the gods' domain."

"Normally, it ought to have been built within that domain."

"It's far too strange."

Mayura listened and said without the slightest trace of emotion, "Then there is only one possibility: this pyramid is not very important to them, so they do not fear our destroying it."

"But if it is not important, that does not mean it has no use. Why would they build a pyramid at all?" Yin Shiqi said, crouching down to pick up a fragment of stone from the ruins. Examining it, he went on, "What are you doing?" Mayura immediately ordered him away and ignited her own cosmos.

Sensing a powerful psychic force radiating from the Peacock Saint’s body, Yin Shiqi quickly stepped aside.

After a short while, Mayura used her psychic force to search through the entire pyramid with meticulous care.

"Did you discover anything, Senior?" Yin Shiqi asked hurriedly.

Mayura did not answer. Instead, she looked at him and asked, "Tell me, aren't the plants and trees around here already beginning to wither?"

Her sixth sense could tell that the surrounding vegetation was abnormal, but it could not provide clear visual perception.

Yin Shiqi immediately applied his cosmos to his eyes, enhancing his vision, and swept his gaze across an area of several hundred meters.

"Yes. The vegetation is showing signs of withering," he replied with a nod.

"Then that explains it."

Mayura said slowly, "This pyramid has the function of drawing out the earth's energy."

"And the enormous energy I sensed inside it just now should have been drawn from the land beneath us."

"Drawing energy?"

Hearing this, Yin Shiqi fell into deep thought.

It went without saying that the purpose of drawing energy was, of course, to use it.

But there was no sign that this evil warriors' stronghold had used the pyramid's energy.

Clearly, the energy extracted by the pyramid must have been intended for someone or something else.

If it was meant to be transferred elsewhere, then there had to be a channel for that transfer.

Thinking of this, Yin Shiqi turned and asked, "Senior Mayura, did you find the pyramid's energy conduit just now?"

At this, Mayura was ready at once to refuse the redundant request.

After all, she had just finished checking it.

But she was one of the Sanctuary's foremost experts, and the strongest among the female Saints. Her experience far surpassed Yin Shiqi's. With only a moment's thought, she immediately understood why he wanted her to examine it again.

Without another word, she quietly burned her cosmos and once more transformed the force of her psychic power, probing deeper into the ruins of the pyramid.

Very quickly, at the very bottom of the remains, she discovered an unremarkable energy outlet.