My CEO Bai Fumei’s wife

A visible crack appeared on the official seal.

Zhao Wuji stared at the crack. He had tried it on the very first day he received the official seal, and even with all his strength, he couldn't leave a trace. This was Xuanjin, bestowed by the Emperor himself, and was said to be something that could not be damaged by anyone below the Nascent Soul stage.

"Impossible, how could Xuanjin be cracked by a Nascent Soul cultivator?"

Qin Yu's second sword strike came down, without any fancy techniques, just a simple slash.

Zhao Wuji raised his official seal to block, and with a crisp sound, the seal shattered.

The treasure bestowed by the Emperor himself shattered into seven or eight golden fragments, which fell onto the gears and were completely swallowed up by the mechanism.

"Even the Emperor's gifts are nothing more than this."

"My official seal..."

Zhao Wuji's voice sounded as if someone had choked him; he had lived for five hundred years and never imagined this day would come.

The official seal bestowed by the Emperor was the symbol of his power and the source of his domineering presence in Yanlong City. Now, that source of power has been shattered by two sword strikes.

The moment the official seal shattered, the entire mechanical maze began to operate again, but this time the operation was completely different from before.

The gears no longer rotated in the same direction, but began to spin randomly, colliding and tearing at each other, turning the entire maze into a crazy meat grinder.

Three of the seven guards were caught off guard and were pulled into the depths of the mechanism by the spinning gears. Their screams lasted for less than two breaths before they disappeared completely.

"Eight, nine, ten."

Qin Yu's voice was still cold. He continued counting without stopping, chasing after the direction Zhuge Chuchu had left in.

"Stop right there."

Zhao Wuji's roar came from behind, but Qin Yu did not turn around.

He knew Zhao Wuji wouldn't catch up now, because those spinning gears posed a greater threat to him than to Qin Yu.

Zhao Wuji's official seal was used to control the maze. With the seal broken, he lost control of the maze, and now the entire maze is targeting him.

Qin Yu was protected by the chilling aura of the giant ice python, and the mechanical gears would automatically slow down when they came into contact with the extreme cold.

"Kui Wu, Zhu Zhen, Xiao Long, stay here and hold him off."

"Boss, we can't hold out for too long against late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators."

"It won't take too long, just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

After saying this, Qin Yu disappeared into the depths of the mechanical maze, leaving only three divine pets blocking the center of the passage.

Zhao Wuji stared in the direction where Qin Yu had disappeared, a hint of madness flashing in his eyes.

“A cow, a pig, and a little snake—you three beasts think you can stop me?”

Kui Wu's answer was a bull's horn.

The corner struck Zhao Wuji's protective spiritual shield, causing a fine crack to appear in the shield.

"I am not an animal, I am the boss's brother."

Zhu Zhen's pig's trotter came down from another direction, and Zhao Wuji was forced to take three steps back to dodge, but a piece of his robe was cut off by the edge of the gear.

"I am not an animal, I am the boss's bodyguard."

The dragon's breath covered Zhao Wuji's retreat route, and golden flames formed a wall of fire between the mechanical gears.

"I am just a young dragon, but I am not an animal."

Zhao Wuji's face twisted in pain. He was the dignified city lord of Yanlong City, with a cultivation level of the late Nascent Soul stage, and an official appointed by Martial Emperor City. Now, he was being blocked in the middle of the road by three demonic beasts and cursed as a beast.

"You are courting death."

A terrifying surge of spiritual energy erupted from his body, a prelude to a full-force attack from a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

But his attack was interrupted before it could be launched, as the gears beneath his feet suddenly accelerated, pulling his body to the side.

It was this slight miscalculation that caused his attack to miss.

Kui Wu's horn struck his ribs, and the sound of two ribs breaking could be clearly heard in the maze.

"The official seal is broken; you can no longer control this maze."

Kui Wu's voice carried a hint of sarcasm.

"The boss said that without equipment, you're useless, and you are useless now."

Zhao Wuji's eyes turned red. His five hundred years of cultivation had been mocked as worthless by a bull demon. "I don't need an official seal to kill you beasts."

"Then you give it a try."

Zhu Zhen's body blocked Kui Wu's path, and his pigskin gleamed with a dark red sheen at that moment—a special skill of the Vajra Indestructible Body.

Zhao Wuji's fist slammed into Zhu Zhen, sending him flying ten feet, but leaving only a faint mark on his skin.

"That's it."

Zhu Zhen crawled out from between the gears, a broken mechanical part stuck in his buttocks, but he was still taunting.

"The beatings I took in the Xuan Yin Palace were ten times worse than this punch from you. Who do you think you are?"

Zhao Wuji's attacks grew increasingly fierce, but he discovered a fact that shattered his spirits.

Although he couldn't defeat these three demonic beasts, he also couldn't kill them.

The bull's horns were so hard that every time it rammed into him, it left cracks in his protective aura.

That pig's skin was too thick; even if you hit it, you wouldn't be able to hurt any vital organs.

The young dragon's flames were too cunning, always sneaking up from the side when his attacks missed.

What's even more deadly is this out-of-control mechanical maze, where the gears would suddenly change direction every now and then while he was attacking, disrupting his rhythm.

The time it takes for an incense stick to burn passed unnoticed during the battle.

Zhao Wuji had more than a dozen wounds on his body, and his spiritual power had been depleted by at least 30%, but the three demonic beasts were still jumping around in front of him.

"A bunch of damned beasts."

Zhao Wuji's roar echoed through the maze, but no one paid him any attention.

Because deep within the labyrinth, another battle is about to erupt.

When Qin Yu caught up with Zhuge Chuchu, she was standing in front of a huge stone gate, lost in thought.

The stone gate was three zhang high and two zhang wide, and it was covered with densely packed runes in dark red, as if they were written in blood.

"This is the Gate of Death."

"Yes, but I can't get in."

Zhuge Chuchu's voice carried a hint of despair.

“What Zhao Wuji said is true. The core area is sealed, and my bloodline power cannot break the seal.”

Qin Yu walked to her side, his gaze falling on the runes on the stone gate.

He couldn't understand the runes, but he could sense the power contained within them—a terrifying power far exceeding that of the Nascent Soul stage.

"This is a seal for the Nascent Soul stage."

“It’s not just a Nascent Soul stage seal, it’s an Emperor-level seal. My father was caught by the Emperor’s men right in front of this gate back then.”

Zhuge Chuchu's voice grew softer and softer.

"He gave me the Heavenly Compass and told me to run away, and then he never appeared again."

Qin Yu didn't respond to that; he placed his hand on the surface of the stone door.

The runes on the stone gate immediately lit up, and the dark red light tried to corrode his palm, but it was repelled the moment it touched the Purple Sun Divine Armor.

"What do you want to do?"

"This young master wants to test just how tough an Emperor-level seal really is."

Qin Yu's words startled Zhuge Chuchu. Before she could react to what Qin Yu was about to do, she saw him raise the Nine Dragon Sword.

"Are you insane? This is a seal of an Emperor-level being, how could someone like you, in the early Nascent Soul stage, possibly..."

Qin Yu didn't let her finish speaking before his sword slashed down.

The Nine Dragons Sword, imbued with the residual power of the Heaven-Defying Tribulation and the aura of a true dragon, slammed into the stone gate with a deafening roar.

The stone door didn't break, but the runes on it dimmed for a moment.

In that instant, Qin Yu's second sword strike followed. (End of Chapter)