Chapter 1242: Heavenly Work Lock

Whoosh! As the words fell, shadowy figures flickered, and in the blink of an eye, a large group of Inner Demons appeared before them. There were over a hundred of them.

Back in the Combat Master Hall's Heart Temple, the Inner Demons that Zhang Xuan had tamed and stored away when they were summoned to kill him now proved useful.

Zzzzzz! The hundred-plus Inner Demons charged directly at the puppets.

“This one’s mine, don’t fight me for it!”

“I saw it first…”

“I’m Demon C, he’s Demon D; Teacher personally named us. Those without names go to the back!”

Upon seeing so many puppets, the Inner Demons excitedly swarmed them. In the blink of an eye, before the puppets could even reach them, they all lay motionless on the ground.

“You… you…”

The ruthless man went mad. He had spent countless materials and treasures refining these puppets, believing they would be his main force, invincible in battle, effortlessly slaying the person before him. He never dreamed that the other party had already prepared a countermeasure.

So many Inner Demons… Is your family running an Inner Demon shop, selling them?

“Get up quickly…” he roared in frustration.

However, the puppets struck by the Inner Demons stood motionless, their eyes vacant, like zombies.

“Master, should I smash them all to death? Otherwise, if the Inner Demons can’t control them, they might charge again…” The Golden Origin Cauldron came forward, once again resuming its proud and imposing demeanor. It wiggled its massive bottom, seemingly itching to sit on one and crush it to death.

“Smash them to death?” Zhang Xuan shook his head. “Although these are puppets, they possess their own consciousness. It would be too cruel to kill them all!” These puppets had been imbued with spirits, making them special weapons, just like the Golden Origin Cauldron. Killing them outright would be too barbaric.

“Then…” The Golden Origin Cauldron was stunned. If they weren’t killed, and the Inner Demons lost control, with so many of them… wouldn’t they be beaten to death?

“Ah, I’ll handle this!” Zhang Xuan shook his head, a willing expression on his face, and with a sweeping motion of his hand, *Whoosh!* All the puppets lying on the ground were sucked into his storage ring. These creatures were in disarray and incapable of resistance. Furthermore, since they were essentially weapons, they wouldn’t die even if stored away.

The Golden Origin Cauldron was speechless. The ruthless man was so choked with anger he almost spat blood. These puppets were *his*… *his*!

This is robbery!

You didn’t find it difficult to deal with; you clearly planned this all along!

Filled with frustration, he knew there was nothing he could do. With so many Inner Demons, this guy had thrown the puppets’ consciousness into chaos, rendering them incapable of combat. Getting angrier wouldn’t help.

“Ah, transforming so many puppets, allowing them to abandon evil for good, is a great deed! I’ve certainly made a significant contribution to the Master Teacher Pavilion!” Ignoring the speechless Golden Origin Cauldron and his clone, Zhang Xuan sighed contentedly. He then walked a few steps to the mechanism from which the puppets had emerged and gently pushed it open.

Another downward passage appeared. He still sent his clone ahead, following it down. This time, there was no danger, and they quickly arrived at a lower level of the underground palace.

“Why does this look like a maze…?” The Golden Origin Cauldron looked around and couldn’t help but say. The underground palace before them wasn’t one large chamber but countless small rooms, densely packed with paths everywhere, appearing no different from a maze. Most importantly, it stretched out of sight, seemingly extending endlessly beneath the earth, as if the entire island was filled with such structures.

“What… is this for?” His clone was bewildered. Not only them, but even Zhang Xuan stood stunned. With his eyesight, he could discern that these maze-like rooms were forged from special materials, costing an unknown fortune. If the numerous puppets before were costly, then these rooms were certainly far more expensive, at least tens or hundreds of times more so!

“Could it be for those puppets to live in?” The Golden Origin Cauldron pondered.

“For puppets to live in? Even a hundred puppets couldn’t fill this many rooms…” A sweep with his spiritual sense revealed tens of thousands of rooms. Even if puppets lived there, there wouldn’t be enough puppets to occupy them all.

“Stop guessing. Be careful, and don’t let the ruthless man ambush us…” Unable to figure out what was going on, Zhang Xuan shook his head and walked forward along the maze-like passages. Anyone else would quickly get disoriented, but under Zhang Xuan’s Eye of Insight, the faint, disappearing line in the air still appeared intermittently. Following it for nearly ten minutes, passing countless rooms, they once again found a stone door leading downward.

Since they had already arrived, they hesitated no longer. The two people and one cauldron once again descended. As soon as they stepped off the stone stairs, a dense aura of slaughter surged towards them, threatening to tear their consciousness apart.

His clone could still withstand it, but the Golden Origin Cauldron trembled incessantly, unable to resist. Although its grade had advanced to a mid-tier Saint artifact and its strength had reached the late Ethereal Body realm, it was still merely a spirit, not a true soul. Facing the fierce murderous aura of the Foreign Spirit Race, it was simply too weak.

“You go back for now!” Zhang Xuan put it into his storage ring. He and his clone simultaneously looked up. In the vast underground palace, a square box hung in the center, suspended by four iron chains embedded in the walls. The chains, forged from an unknown material, were dark and gleamed with a cold light. The surging aura of slaughter emanated precisely from this box.

“The ruthless man… is inside?” His clone was startled.

“Most likely!” Zhang Xuan’s brows furrowed. Such a dense aura of slaughter, a power of bloodline, surpassed that of Emperor Qingtian. Only the ruthless man could possess it.

Below the box was an altar, similar in appearance to the one Zhang Xuan had just used against Emperor Qingtian, but larger. It was engraved with strange patterns, also exuding a desolate killing intent. It seemed that anyone who approached it would be instantly cut in half.

His clone picked up a stone and threw it at the altar. *Sizzle!* Several sword rays emerged from the altar, reducing the stone to powder.

“This…” Zhang Xuan’s eyebrow twitched.

The altar in his possession was used to restrain souls, but this one appeared to be a killing array, capable of easily slaying people. Even if he were to enter, those sword rays would surely mince him instantly. In other words… anyone attempting to approach the iron box would be shredded by the sword rays and die on the spot.

“Ruthless man, where are you?” After a glance, Zhang Xuan’s Eye of Insight couldn’t discern what it truly was. He looked around the room.

“You can speak my name; it seems you know a lot about the history of the Master Teacher Pavilion! But what if you found this place? You can’t kill me if you can’t open this box…” The ruthless man’s voice echoed.

“You’re in the box?” Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.

“Precisely. Even if you know, do you dare release me?” The ruthless man scoffed.

“This…” Zhang Xuan hesitated. Back at Chen Zhe’s manor, when the other party had tried to seize him with a black hole, he had muttered to himself that if he devoured Zhang Xuan, a Heavenly Acknowledged Master Teacher, he could escape his restraints… Now it seemed this box was those restraints.

If he were to open it, the ruthless man would seize the chance to escape. The ruthless man in the Path of Heaven’s Tome was impossible to contend with… and Zhang Xuan certainly wouldn’t be a match either. But… if he didn’t release him, protected by such a massive iron box, killing him would be impossible.

“First, let’s see what this thing is!” Despite his doubts, Zhang Xuan wasn’t in a hurry. He walked step by step towards the iron box. The further he advanced, the denser the aura of slaughter became. If it were Master Wu or others, even eight-star master teachers, they might collapse under the mental pressure. But Zhang Xuan was different; with the Heaven’s Path zhenqi circulating within him, the pressure vanished immediately. He soon reached the outer perimeter of the altar.

He still dared not enter this area, but from such a close distance, with his Eye of Insight, he could clearly see what the iron box was. From its exterior, there were no seams, making it look like a solid chunk of iron, approximately fifty centimeters in diameter.

“What is this?” His clone also approached.

“If I’m not mistaken, it should be… a Heavenly Craftsman’s Heavenly Work Lock!” Zhang Xuan said after a moment of hesitation.

“Heavenly Work Lock?” The clone was puzzled. He had been in the storage ring these past days, and Zhang Xuan hadn’t had time to share the knowledge he had recently gained from reading, so his understanding was still far inferior.

“A Heavenly Work Lock is the most impenetrable mechanical lock created by Heavenly Craftsmen, used to imprison special treasures that cannot be destroyed. Once locked, even the designer themselves cannot open it. Forcibly breaking it will completely destroy whatever is inside!” Zhang Xuan explained.

His clone was stunned.

“This is different from a Heavenly Craftsman’s Ingenuity Box; it was designed specifically for sealing!” Zhang Xuan nodded. He had previously seen Heavenly Craftsman’s Ingenuity Boxes, which, though difficult to open, could be unlocked if the method was found. However, this Heavenly Work Lock was a dead end. Its purpose was simple: to lock something inside and prevent it from ever coming out. It could be said that once locked, even immortals couldn’t break it open. Forcing it would only cause whatever was inside to be destroyed along with it.

“Since it’s that kind of thing, isn’t it simple then? Just violently impact it, cause the Heavenly Work Lock to self-destruct, and the ruthless man will die, right?” His clone blinked. They weren’t there to rescue the ruthless man; if he could die inside, that would naturally be for the best.

“It’s… not that simple!” Zhang Xuan shook his head, saying nothing more. Instead, he circled the area, stroking his chin, deep in thought. If it were as simple as his clone suggested, how could the ruthless man have allowed them to enter? Although he couldn’t get close to the Heavenly Work Lock, if he could find a way to strike it with zhenqi without touching the altar, he wouldn’t be attacked, right? If it were truly that simple, the ruthless man would be too easy to kill. He simply couldn’t believe that such a powerful expert could be slain so easily.

“Let’s split up and look around, see if we can find anything!” With a thought, Zhang Xuan transmitted his recently acquired knowledge to his clone. He then walked past the altar and explored the surrounding area. The underground palace was vast, its walls, like the maze above, entirely forged from special materials, no longer mere rock.

Frowning, Zhang Xuan extended a finger and lightly touched a wall. A book appeared in his mind. After a glance, Zhang Xuan’s brows furrowed.

“This…”