...

The infected led Sun Hang and the others through the tunnel for nearly two kilometers, passing many sidetracks imbued with eerie auras along the way. However, the infected did not stop, and Sun Hang and the others could not split up to investigate these side paths.

They could only make simple marks at the entrances of these side paths before continuing to follow the infected forward.

Finally, when Ye Xuan was almost out of breath, they reached the end of the tunnel—a rather spacious underground hall.

This hall was filled with life-sized clay figurines. Most of these figurines were defective, but the few well-preserved ones exuded a very obvious eerie aura. Besides the armored soldier figurines, there were quite a few horse figurines and chariot figurines in the hall.

Heavy crossbows mounted on the chariots, with four three-meter-long bows overlapping front and back, and large winches wrapped with strings twisted from several beast tendons. The arm-thick crossbow bolts gleamed with sharp cold light, directly pointing at the intruders of the hall.

"Wow... did they move the terracotta warriors from the First Emperor's Mausoleum outside Chang'an City here?" Sun Hang couldn't help but exclaim.

"No, the ones moved here are not the terracotta warriors from the First Emperor's Mausoleum." Candle Dragon shook his head. "The chain armor and equipped weapons on these soldier figurines are vastly different from those of Qin Dynasty soldiers... And the crossbows mounted on the chariots are more akin to the styles equipped by Crusaders a thousand years ago."

However, apart from this, Sun Hang also sensed an extremely powerful aura hidden behind the military formation.

"Oh?" Sun Hang surveyed these soldier figurines again. "So it's just a bunch of barbarians then?"

It's not that Sun Hang looked down on the European armies, but in a horizontal comparison, the Crusaders, whether in terms of equipment or combat strength, really couldn't compare to the Song Dynasty's army of the same period, let alone the more formidable nomads of northern Xiazhou Continent.

To the Xiazhou people of that era, this Crusader force, which marched eastward all the way from Europe into Asia, could only be considered a bunch of ignorant beggars.

"At first glance, it's intimidating, but on closer look, it's far inferior to the terracotta warriors of the First Emperor's Mausoleum." Ye Xuan also commented from the side, "Whether in numbers or aura."

The number of soldier figurines in this hall was about three hundred, with less than fifty warhorses, and only four chariots equipped with heavy crossbows... Such a military force might have been considered significant during the Crusades, but on the Song-Liao battlefield of the same period, it would struggle even to capture a small town.

"Could all these be replicas made by that 'Phoenix Factory' back then?" Yang Qi wondered.

"Probably, Europe has no history of making clay soldier figurines." Candle Dragon said.

While the group discussed these counterfeit terracotta warriors, the infected suddenly started running back, shouting in a hoarse voice as he ran, "Awake! He... he has awoken!"

A loud bang suddenly came from a distance, no one expected that a crossbow, having been placed underground for over a hundred years, could still fire accurately. The arm-thick bolt shot out swiftly, pinning the fleeing infected to the ground!

"Traitor, die!"

A deep voice echoed in the hall.

Several eerie figures rushed forward, blocking everyone behind them, while Yang Qi and Ye Xuan ran to the side of the infected to check her condition.

"She can still be saved!" Yang Qi shouted, "But we must send her back to the facility immediately, Sun Hang, can you use your power to stop her bleeding for now... Sun Hang?"

Yang Qi looked up, only to find that Sun Hang had already bypassed those eerie figures and walked to the forefront.

"Come on, dude." Sun Hang continued forward, "Your lines are really too cheesy, can't you come up with something less cringeworthy?"

"Intruders, yield, and you may live." The voice spoke again, "Resist, and die!"

The soldier figurines imbued with eerie auras began to move. Accompanied by a piercing, coarse grinding sound, a dozen sword-and-shield-wielding soldier figurines encircled Sun Hang, their cold, threatening weapons pointed at vital points all over his body.

"Kneel!" the voice shouted sternly.

"Seems like you don't quite understand the situation, huh." Sun Hang glanced over the soldier figurines, speaking calmly, "Step aside."

His tone was serene, yet the aura he unleashed was overwhelmingly powerful. In an instant, within a radius of a hundred meters centered on him, the soldier figurines collapsed with a clatter. Even Wang Xiyi and Candle Dragon, who stood behind Sun Hang and weren't directly hit by the aura, showed a slight discomfort on their faces.

"Watch closely and learn well." Sun Hang said as he walked, "The so-called 'King's Dominating Aura' is not proclaimed with the mouth. Yours can only be called 'Turtle's Aura'."

Sun Hang had already seen the source of the voice—beyond the fallen soldier figurines, at the back of the formation, there was a throne built from white bones. On the throne rested a desiccated corpse, a pure gold crown atop its bald head.

On its chest was a dramatically exaggerated wound, extending from the left shoulder to the lower right abdomen, splitting the entire chest and abdominal cavity open. Dimly visible, at the position of its heart, was something emitting a faint red glow.

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