Chapter 361: These Are The Ancient Armored Puppets?
Chapter 361: These Are The Ancient Armored Puppets?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Everyone, you're being too polite. This is what I should be doing. In the following rounds, I'll definitely get the top position too!" Xu Que promised the Third Prince with a pat on his chest.
He had decided that in the upcoming rounds, he wanted to continue to act tough as well!
This was because he had been very happy when he had seen that his Acting Tough Points had nearly exceeded the 25,000 mark, as shown in the System interface.
However, his words startled the Third Prince and his brothers!
You still want to be number one for the following rounds?
Brother, please don't joke about this alright? The next round is not something with which you are able to help!
"Young Hero Xu, the upcoming rounds are not about divine chariot racing. You can take a break and need not worry so much!" said the Third Prince quickly.
"It's alright," said Xu Que with a wave of his hands. "I know we're facing the ancient armored puppets the next round. Just watch me!"
The Seventh Princess had told him before that the divine chariot race had been just a qualifying round to gain entry to the Imperial Tombs. In the next round, he would be able to enter the Tombs for real!
The Imperial Tombs of the Metal Nation were not the same as those of Fire Country.
Or, one could say, they were not even on the same level.
The Imperial Tombs of Fire Country were traditional tombs that Xu Que knew a little about. They were made from earth and masonry.
The Imperial Tombs of the Metal Nation however, had been made from a wide variety of strange metals. They glittered under the sun and looked flashy to the eye.
However, they had one thing in common . Both Imperial Tombs had powerful restrictive enchantments.
The restrictive enchantment in the Imperial Tombs would prohibit all magical weapons and skill arts that would require a large amount of spiritual Qi to activate or execute. Therefore, it served as a good protection enchantment for the Imperial Tombs.
As his strong magical weapons and skill arts had been rendered useless, Xu Que had used the excavator to dig through the tombs back in Fire Country.
Unfortunately, as the Imperial Tombs in the Metal Nation had been made from a variety of powerful and strong metals, if Xu Que had not participated in the race to gain entry, it would have proven very difficult for Xu Que to dig through the tombs and enter with brute force.
...
Xu Que was following the group of people walking towards the entrance of the Imperial Tombs when suddenly there was something in front that delighted him and caught his eye!
The entrance to the Imperial Tombs was structured like a pair of Big Bermuda shorts.
It was very similar to the building of China Central Television (CCTV) which people had nicknamed 'Big Pants' and 'Big Shorts' as well. But the Seventh Princess, who was beside him, told him that this was one of the Metal Nation's totems.
"I must say that your Metal Nation is really funny!" Xu Que laughed in amusement as he stared at the weird totem. "There are so many possible designs for a totem, yet your country had adopted the 'Big Bermudas' as your totem…"
"Young Master Xu! Don't look down on our Metal Nation's totem." The Seventh Princess pouted slightly. "According to my father, the totem of the Imperial Tombs can absorb the metal spiritual Qi that exists in the world. And it will supply this as energy to the ancient armored puppets within, as well as the traps and other hurdles inside the Imperial Tombs…"
"Yo! I didn't know that this pair of 'Big Bermudas' would have such a function? Maybe I should make one and leave it outside too…"
Xu Que pondered over that thought while he followed the rest of them. They arrived just outside the Imperial Tombs.
The round of the contest that would take place inside the Imperial Tombs would involve facing the ancient armored puppets!
As this round would subject contestants to the restrictive enchantment of the tombs, those who could enter needed to undergo a check on their level of cultivation as well as the grade of their magical weapon!
If the entrants were very strong or their magical weapons were of a very high grade, then the endless stream of tens of thousands of ancient armored puppets inside would become even stronger and even more frenzied!
During these past years of the Imperial Tombs Contest, the Metal Emperor had figured out that when Original Infant stage cultivators entered the tomb, the prowess of the puppets would also hover at the Original Infant stage, and the difficulty would not be too terrifying!
Moreover, the cultivators could not bring high-grade magical weapons with them into the tomb. This would actually allow them to better control the situation!
There had been one year where the Metal Emperor had sent over a hundred Original Infant stage cultivators into the tomb. In the end, the ancient armored puppets had tuned their cultivation level up to the Infant Transformation Stage and wiped out all the cultivators within a second!
Subsequently, the Metal Emperor had halved the number of Original Infant Stage cultivators to fifty, and had instead instructed them to bring high-grade magical weapons along with them. However, the puppets had also tuned their prowess to the Infant Transformation stage!
In the end, when fifty cultivators of the Original Infant stage had entered the tombs without any high-grade magical weapons, the puppets had tuned down their prowess to the Original Infant stage!
Later on, they had found a way to deal with the issue of magical weapons. They would bring the raw materials inside the tombs, and when the puppets had fixed their prowess at the Infant Transformation Stage, some of them would start to forge high-grade magical weapons right inside the tomb, whilst others were in charge of fending off the puppets!
Therefore, this round would be a showdown on magical weapon forging!
"Young Hero Xu, are you well-versed in weapon forging?" the Third Prince asked doubtfully.
Xu Que raised an eyebrow and replied, "of course, I'm a one-star weapon forging master!"
One-star?
When the few of them heard that, they nearly coughed out blood!
Brother, you're only a one-star weapon forging master and you have the nerve to say it out loud?
Moreover, you used such a confident tone to say that!
Stop teasing us, alright?
"Heheh, if it's only one-star, let's just forget about it!" a middle-aged man who was standing beside the Third Prince smiled faintly at Xu Que. "Since you've helped the Third Prince by winning the first round, you should help fend off the puppets so as to buy time for me to forge the magical weapon!"
"Yo, this is…"
"Young Master Xu, let me introduce you," said the Seventh Princess who hurriedly stepped forward. "This is our team's six-star weapon forging master, Zhou Lin Feng!"
Obviously, a six-star weapon forging master was at a high status!
It was easy to tell that from the attitudes of the Third Prince and the Seventh Princess.
"Young Hero Xu, do let Master Zhou handle this round," the Third Prince smiled pleasantly. "If this round is another success, I'll never forget the kindness of the two of you!"
After Xu Que had won first place for the first round, the Third Prince had become filled with hope for contending the position of Crown Prince. For now, he only hoped to pass this round smoothly!
Xu Que did not actually know how the ancient armored puppets would look. If only magical weapons could deal damage to them, he could always get a super-duper magical weapon from System or even release the Sword Spirit for a puppet massacre!
So, he decided not to say much; just gave a nod and uttered, "okay."
After all, his real aim for this trip was the Genesis Metal Herb in the Dragon Veins!
...
Very soon, everyone was ready. The teams of the contending princes as well as the participating cultivators from other sects and clans, gathered before the entrance of the Imperial Tombs!
The queue was very long as each and every one of them had to be inspected. They were not allowed to bring in any high-grade magical weapons!
Xu Que's stuff was all inside the system inventory so naturally, nobody would be able to detect them. After the inspection, he entered the Imperial Tomb.
The rest of the team carried various raw materials for weapon forging and walked into the tomb one by one.
The Third Prince and his brothers as well as the Seventh Princess wanted to participate in this round. Their responsibility would be to fend off the puppets and protect Zhou Lin Feng so as to buy him time to forge a high-grade magical weapon!
In no time, all the participants entered the Imperial Tombs. The old eunuch beside the Metal Emperor shouted an announcement!
"The second round of the contest starts now!"
...
Boooommm!
Immediately, a loud noise was heard!
The entire Imperial Tombs shook and the restrictive enchantment was activated. At the dim tunnel of the Imperial Tombs, there was a sudden outburst of muffled sounds!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
That was the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground in a steady rhythm. The sounds were coming towards the participants!
Xu Que narrowed his eyes and looked towards the source of the sounds. He could make out rows and rows of dark shadows and was instantly floored!
"F*ck! These are the ancient armored puppets huh?"