The Qin family members all rushed to the second floor, searching cautiously while keeping watch.
Unbeknownst to them, Qin Yang was frantically gathering spirit medicines with the Treasure Rat underground, his Qiankun Ring nearly full to bursting.
"If it weren't for these spirit medicines replenishing their spiritual energy, those beasts would have starved to death long ago," Qin Yang murmured. He carefully stored another sixth-order spirit medicine. Looking up at the skylight, he wondered if someone had intentionally dropped these medicines after leaving to prevent the beasts from starving...
The beasts' tenacity and ability to enter hibernation meant these spirit medicines had truly allowed them to survive until the day of their liberation.
But now that they were free, Qin Yang couldn't be happy. What if Lou Mengyu was in danger?
"Are there any other treasures besides these spirit medicines?" Qin Yang asked.
The Treasure Rat narrowed its eyes, sensing for a moment before shaking its head.
"How many are left? This place is enormous—when will we finish searching?" Qin Yang pressed.
The Treasure Rat extended three fingers, then retracted one after sensing briefly.
"Three? Two?" Qin Yang asked.
Before he could finish, the Treasure Rat urgently retracted another finger.
"How many exactly?" Qin Yang frowned.
The Treasure Rat didn't continue its gestures and rushed toward the next beast cage.
Qin Yang followed, entering through a small door into the corridor. As he turned, his scalp prickled, and his entire body tensed.
A massive elephant-like beast lay quietly in the passage, nearly blocking it completely. Its jet-black tusks looked menacing enough to pierce the heavens.
"Dragon Jade, prepare Dragon Might!" Qin Yang shouted mentally.
"There's bad news and good news. Which do you want first?" the Dragon Jade responded with unexpected levity.
"Not another 'can't use it' situation, is it?" Qin Yang glared, his voice sharp with frustration.
"No, no, no. Dragon Might is perfectly usable. That's not the issue," the Dragon Jade explained.
"Then what's the bad news?" Qin Yang demanded.
"The bad news is this beast is a Heaven-Shattering Mammoth. Among all demonic creatures, it ranks among the top-tier. Its bloodline is so powerful that few other beasts can compare."
"Why are we still standing here? Prepare Dragon Might!" Qin Yang ordered.
"You haven't heard the good news yet!" the Dragon Jade interjected.
Qin Yang's anger froze as he noticed the mammoth's closed eyes - the beast hadn't detected them. "What's the good news? Tell me now!" he hissed urgently.
"The good news is... it's dead," the Dragon Jade replied slowly.
The atmosphere suddenly fell into an awkward, mysterious silence.
"Ah! I'm going to crush you!" Qin Yang tugged at the Dragon Jade hanging around his neck, but even when the painful pressure made his neck ache, he couldn't pry it off.
"Who told you to skip the good news first? You can't blame me now, can you?" The Dragon Jade chuckled.
Qin Yang took deep breaths to calm himself, studying the Heaven-Shattering Mammoth's corpse. Those eerie black tusks caught his attention.
"Heaven-Shattering Mammoth... these tusks..." Qin Yang clicked his tongue. "These are treasures!"
"Don't even think about it. Its tusks could snap through that magical chain lock," the Dragon Jade warned.
This only fueled Qin Yang's determination. Activating his Shocking Sword Finger, he thrust it at the tusk's base.
The same Shocking Sword Finger that could clash with Wei Yu's Ba Wang Unrivaled Halberd left no mark on the tusk, instead sending a numbing shock back through his finger. His body, now as powerful as a mythical beast's, would have shattered his finger completely if he'd been in his previous state.
The Treasure Rat squeezed back through the passage, carrying a fifth-grade spirit medicine. Instead of joy, its expression held fear.
Qin Yang swiftly stored the spirit medicine. "Strange," he remarked. "You usually devour these spirit medicines the moment you find them. Why didn't you touch this one?"
The Treasure Rat chittered incessantly, as if urging Qin Yang to depart.
Qin Yang, still clutching the black elephant tusk, suddenly felt it stir.
He jumped in fright. "A reanimated corpse? Is that what's happening?"
But then the massive tusk abruptly plunged downward. Qin Yang scrambled to grab it. The water barrel-thick tusk was impossibly heavy; he had no choice but to push it away forcefully. If it crushed his foot, he'd never get it free.
"What's happening..." Qin Yang frowned, then gasped as he noticed the Heaven-Shattering Mammoth's body twisting unnaturally.
No, it wasn't the mammoth's body twisting—it was the space itself warping!
The Heaven-Shattering Mammoth's form began dissolving bit by bit, until even its impenetrable black tusk started vanishing inch by inch.
The distorted space spread relentlessly, its advance slow but inexorable.
"What's happening? Is this because of that disk again?" Qin Yang demanded.
"Partly yes, partly no," the Dragon Jade replied. "Just get out now."
Qin Yang retreated backward. Though the twisted space's expansion was gradual, it radiated an overwhelming sense of impending doom.
A single glance sent chills down his spine.
"My black elephant tusk..." Qin Yang realized with a jolt. The space distortion kept devouring it relentlessly, the tusk shrinking with each passing moment. Now it was barely two meters long!
"Perfect length for the Qiankun Ring!" Qin Yang exclaimed. "Though shorter than before, at least it's thick enough!"
He reached out, but the tusk had already vanished. As he tried to retrieve the second one, the monitoring artifact suddenly materialized against his chest and thrust him backward.
Caught completely off guard, Qin Yang flew through the air.
"Holy shit!" Qin Yang cursed, then broke out in cold sweat as he realized what had just happened.
Where he'd stood moments ago, a spatial rift had opened. Had the monitoring artifact not shoved him away, the rift would have torn him in half!
"Eh? This monitoring artifact..." Dragon Jade muttered, equally shaken. After enduring countless hardships, the sole heir of the Qin Family had nearly met his end again.
What puzzled Dragon Jade was how the artifact had detected the spatial rift even before he'd sensed it. Not only that, but it had actually saved Qin Yang's life!
"This magical treasure is of high quality, possessing its own spiritual intelligence," Dragon Jade said. "If you have the chance, find a skilled artificer to repair it."
Qin Yang, his heart pounding, nodded repeatedly. Though this surveillance artifact was as annoying as a fly, it had saved his life!
Its earlier intervention on the second floor must have been well-intentioned.
"We can't stay here long. Let's get out!" Qin Yang turned and sprinted down the corridor.
The Treasure Rat scrambled up Qin Yang's body in three quick steps, burrowing into his pocket. It wriggled until its small head peeked out, tiny paws clutching the fabric's edge.
On the second floor, the Qin Family elders grew increasingly agitated. After searching for so long, they hadn't even seen a shadow of Qin Yang!
The surrounding Qin Family members clung to each other like frightened children.
One elder roared, "Look at your cowardly faces! Don't you know spreading out would speed up the search? Even if you can't fight him, could you not escape?"
The Qin Family members didn't dare reply, but the same thought echoed in their minds: "If Qin Yang wants to kill us, we might not escape at all..."
"Huh? Qin Yang's over there!" A Qin Family disciple at the window pointed down toward the arena.
The crowd surged forward, but Qin Yang had just exited from the lower floor.
"When did he go down?" The Qin Family elder roared in fury. They'd been distracted for so long that Qin Yang had outwitted them completely! He'd never been on the second floor at all!
"Ah!" Several Qin Family disciples suddenly screamed.
"More enemies?" The elder's mental scan swept the area, draining all color from his face.
The others followed their panicked gazes. There, a body had split cleanly in two. A spatial fracture spread like a mirror shattering, and in the next instant, another horrifying scene unfolded.
The man's lower body continued retreating in terror, but his upper half had vanished! The torsoless legs stumbled several more steps before collapsing in a bloody heap.
"Wow, so many people! Did Nangong Ling hire you clowns... no, wait, I mean rescuers?" Qin Yang's voice carried clearly from below. He'd spotted the crowd of Qin Family members crowded at the second-floor windows.