Chapter 369: Stopping the Array
Shui was ready to head deeper into the cave, but once he took one step forward, countless spirits that could fill his sight flew out from the cover of the elemental crystals. Judging from the intensity of the light coming from these spirits, he knew that they were average-level and high-level spirits capable of communication, but he didn't know if they would be willing to let them pass peacefully. Thankfully, he had an executive on his head.
Once the spirits glanced at Miss Spirit, they shuddered in fright before heading back to their hiding spots. Shui breathed a sigh of relief as he saw this, for he knew that if that many spirits attacked then he could only run. Shui hastened his pace as he went deeper into the cave. The red spirit said that she had prepared protective measures at the core of the cave so they shouldn't run into any other spirits there. Shui hoped that the rest of this task would be completed smoothly, but when he saw the exquisitely carved wall blocking his path, Shui immediately stopped and furrowed his brows. The red spirit would only have to touch the wall for it to give way, but she didn't criticise him for stopping. In fact, she also narrowed his eyes.
"Well, I certainly didn't expect this."
Their objective seemed to be teasing them with how close it was, but they couldn't get any closer. That was because of the five shiny black golems that stood between them and the wall.
"Did you make these guys?" Shui asked.
"No, I didn't think it was necessary."
"Which means that-"
"The new-born spirit did this."
"Wasn't it supposed to be born after the small world formed?"
"Normally, yes. But it's not that odd of an exception."
The two talked leisurely, but they stayed in place. Both of them knew that the moment Shui took a step closer, the golems would attack. Since a battle seemed inevitable, Shui took a deep breath and prepared his mind for battle. Noticing this, the red spirit flew up and warned him.
"Be careful. If this is the work of the new-born spirit then it likely has a good idea of your power. Don't hold back."
Shui responded to the red spirit's warning with a smirk.
"Don't hold back? Perfect."
Shui could feel his fist heating up as the divine energy coursing through his vessel concentrated there. With a tiny taste of omnipotence, Shui took his first step, which awakened the golems. Then he took his second step, which launched him close enough to demolish a golem with a single punch.
"One."
Not minding the dirt of the collapsed golem that drifted about, Shui went after a nearby golem that barely managed to raise its hands. He swept down his leg like a guillotine, easily splitting the golem in half and causing tremors. Shui tried to follow up with a sweeping kick after reaching the ground, but the red spirit's alarmed voice reached him.
"Watch out!"
At the same time, Shui felt the chill of incoming danger and hastily retreated. A short moment later, a golem was reformed from the dirt and stood in front of the severed golem that swiftly completed its restoration. This wasn't a strange sight considering that they were golems, but Shui was surprised.
"What?! I should have obliterated its core in that hit, does it not have one?"
As Shui tried to quickly figure out how to defeat the golems, the red spirit addressed his doubt.
"No, I'm sure they have cores because I can feel the spirit controlling them through it. My guess is that the cores are extremely small and are constantly moving around."
"Tch, so I need to somehow crush its entire body in one blow."
Shui could sense the rapid rise in the difficulty, but all he could do was grit his teeth. During this time, all five golems were warmed up and began to transform. Before he thought to stop them, Shui watched in bewilderment as two golems turned red with their arms becoming cannons, one turned yellow and fused its arms with the ground and the last two became slender and light-green.
Instead of Shui, it was the red spirit who reacted to the danger first.
She shouted, "I'll try to cut off the spirit's control. Hold them back as much as you can!"
"Got it."
At first, Shui thought that even if he couldn't beat them, holding them back would be simple, but he was quickly proven wrong. The red golems were the first to attack with fireballs from their cannons. With the confidence he had in his comprehension of fire laws, Shui wondered if he could deflect these fireballs, but the moment he sensed the profoundness hidden in the flames, Shui quickly changed his mind.
Although the fireballs weren't heavenly flames, the purity of the fire elemental energy was at that level. Even his quasi-divine body wouldn't be left unharmed if he took several of those hits head-on.
Shui was in awe at how deadly the blasts were, but under the cover of more fireballs came the two slender golems. He didn't completely understand how, but these slender golems were fast enough to keep up with him. He was above them in a simple dash but in close-range battle it was difficult to evade their every blow. Against the barrage of the fireballs shot by the red golems and the heavy thrusts of the slender golems, Shui had no choice but to allow himself to get hit a few times.
Neither the punches of the golem nor the fireballs would cause serious damage in one hit, but it had Shui frowning at feeling pain from an attack since it hadn't happened in a while. However, the golems weren't finished yet. Finally, the yellow golem made its move. As soon as he picked up on the slight tremors from below his feet, Shui hurriedly leaped into the sky. Immediately afterwards, fangs of earth emerged and waited for him to enter the gaping hole between the fangs.
Furthermore, the ground wasn't the only unsafe place. As the slender golems jumped to reach him, giant hands of stone came down from the ceiling and walls to capture him. Shui quickly manipulated the wind to escape their grasps, but he clicked his tongue as he recognised how dangerous his position was. It was hard enough trying to face the red and slender golems, but now he had to be careful of the yellow golem trapping him as well. If the red spirit couldn't cut off the new-born spirit's control in time, his loss was a very likely outcome.
'I have to defeat them.'
Once Shui decided to defeat them instead of simply holding on, his first thought was to smash them with a hammer. However, all of the golems were tougher than tesora-rank artifacts, so only the strongest of archaic-rank relics could damage them. Although Shui had a few tesora-rank artifacts that he had taken from the elders that were previously apart of the Lava Stream Sect, using them against the golems would be like slamming a stick on a rock.
'Damn it, maybe I should have brought the Thousand Flames Cauldron with me.'
Shui could have taken the archaic-rank artifact that the supreme elder, now slave, had, but after studying it he left it in Cyrus so that the slave could use it to protect his loved ones. He didn't think it was a bad idea, but in his moment of weakness he began reconsidering. Still, regret wouldn't solve anything so Shui moved on to another solution.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone