Chapter 308 - 283: Axe of the Spiritual Artifact, Following the Trail (Part 3)

"Brother Xiong, Miss Scarlett."

Allen greeted politely, then hurriedly urged:

"Brother Qin Tian, let’s set off quickly."

"Alright!"

Qin Tian nodded, his eyes gazing into the distance.

......

On the outskirts of Quanhui City, the secret base of the Black Cloud Commerce Association is located within an abandoned mining tunnel. The humid air is mixed with mineral dust and the smell of rust. The oil lamp on the stone wall flickers intermittently, casting distorted shadows.

Bam!

Liu Yi slammed open the heavy iron door. The collision between the door plank and the stone wall produced a deafening noise. He staggered into the council hall, almost collapsing as his knees weakened. His sweat-soaked hair clung to his pale cheeks, and his ragged breathing sounded like a broken bellows: "President! President!"

"The president is not here. There are clues near the underground Spiritual Spring, and the president personally led a team to investigate."

The man on the redwood chair slowly raised his eyes, revealing a noticeable dent in his left chest beneath his black outfit. Speaking strained the wound on his mouth, causing him to clench his jaw in pain.

This was the chained man, Xie Fei, who was severely injured by a punch from Xiong. His face was now pale as paper. He gently massaged his chest with his right hand, while the chains on his wrist dangled, producing a muffled clatter on the stone floor.

"Liu Yi, weren’t you with Wolfgang and the others trying to capture Allen? Where are they?" Xie Fei’s voice was hoarse as if scraped by sandpaper, weakened by his injuries.

"Dead, all dead!" Liu Yi clenched his fists fiercely, his nails deeply embedded in his palms, with beads of blood seeping through his fingers. His pupils widened in terror, reflecting the bloody scene he had just witnessed. Beneath the thick layer of unfathomable fear, there was a trace of survivor’s relief and unspeakable dread.

"What! Dead!" Xie Fei stood abruptly, the pain in his chest wounds intensified, but he was oblivious. The chain in his palm stretched taut, "How is this possible? You, Wolfgang, Zhang Yao - three Tier Five, seven Tier Four, all the rest are Tier Three elites - so many people, and you didn’t capture Allen? Now there’s only you left to come back?"

Liu Yi’s throat convulsed violently, his voice trembling: "If it were only Allen, it would have been easy. But this time he was accompanied by three experts, especially that young man... In one slash, he cut Wolfgang in half!"

Three experts? Xie Fei’s pupils contracted suddenly, causing the chains to clink loudly against his palm: "Is it two men and one woman? One of the men as tall as a tower?"

"Yes, yes! That’s them!" Liu Yi nodded repeatedly, urgently asking, "You’ve encountered them too?"

"My injury is from that giant," Xie Fei’s face turned livid, his fingertips pressing against the dent on his chest, where the bones still ached faintly.

"The giant isn’t the most terrifying one," Liu Yi’s voice shook like a candle in the wind, "That young man’s saber... those who haven’t seen it with their own eyes can never imagine just how terrifying it is."

"No, this must be reported to the president immediately!" Xie Fei raised his hand to dial the phone, but at that moment a piercing scream suddenly echoed from deep within the base, followed by the dull sound of bones shattering.

Bam!

The heavy iron door was blasted open with tremendous force, crashing against the stone wall, sending debris flying. Moonlight poured through the gap in the broken door, outlining the silhouettes of four figures ever clearer—Qin Tian, wielding the Thunder Saber, led at the front. Xiong, carrying a giant axe, followed closely behind, Allen’s dragon claw still stained with blood, and Scarlett’s fingertips, with Poisonous Silk, glistened under the lamplight.

Behind them, members of the Black Cloud Commerce Association lay strewn across the ground, the stench of blood wafted into the hall with the breeze.

"Black Cloud Commerce Association is indeed deeply hidden." Qin Tian’s voice resounded calmly, like ice dropped into boiling oil, instantly breaking the deathly silence in the hall.

Xie Fei and Liu Yi turned simultaneously, upon seeing the figure wielding the Thunder Saber, Liu Yi’s face instantaneously turned ashen white as paper. It was as if an invisible hand clenched his throat; he retreated three steps before crashing into the stone wall.

Xie Fei stared at Xiong’s imposing frame, suddenly his chest ached severely, a hint of terror flashed in his eyes.