Chapter 146: The Tide Approaches

"No rush, let me deal with Miao Quan first!"

Su Ye did not care about finding the true treasure; Miao Ba and Miao Quan had previously wanted him dead, and there was still a group of enemies waiting for him. He wanted to finish off Miao Quan right now.

"Xiao Ye—" Jiang Ziyang, having heard this, reached out to stop him. He said in a deep voice, "Keep him alive for now; it will be to our advantage! The Sorcerer Clan is not as simple as we imagine."

Ouyang Yunfeng also spoke up, "That's right, let’s set aside our personal grudges for now! We must find the real treasure before they get there first."

Su Ye looked from a distance at Miao Quan, who was being held by several martial artists. Miao Quan was covered in wounds and would likely have collapsed if not for those supporting him. Though he looked miserable, it was nowhere near enough to extinguish the hatred in Su Ye's heart. Moreover, he felt that keeping a wily old fox like Miao Quan alive was a disaster waiting to happen.

"Then at least cripple his cultivation!" Su Ye would not be polite; he had to ensure the enemy posed no further threat.

"Don't worry, I have already shattered his hands and feet; he is now a cripple. Let's go!" Ouyang Yunfeng pulled a strange map from his robes. It was hazy, but it clearly depicted a city.

Su Ye, standing nearby, caught a glimpse and his body trembled; the layout of the city felt incredibly familiar. Looking closer, was this not a map of Thunder City? However, judging by the architecture, the map must have been drawn shortly after the city's construction, as Su Ye had seen the initial formation of Thunder City through his "Eternity in a Glance" vision.

To think that Ouyang Yunfeng even possessed a map of the interior of Thunder City—they had not come empty-handed; they were fully prepared.

"This way—"

Ouyang Yunfeng traced his finger lightly across the map, pointing to a small red dot. Beside the dot was a line of small, ancient-looking script. Guided by Ouyang Yunfeng and Jiang Ziyang, the group hurried into the city.

Upon entering, they discovered many martial artists sitting cross-legged on the roads, absorbing spiritual energy. Crossing the moat bridges, they found even more practitioners doing the same. Some had even jumped into the moat, shouting loudly as they tried to salvage something from the depths.

"Truly a blessed land for martial cultivation! The legendary Thunder City does not disappoint!" Jiang Ziyang sighed with emotion.

"The spiritual energy here is so dense, I wonder where it is emanating from?" Ouyang Yunfeng’s observation was sharp.

Su Ye remained composed; he had already plucked the flower bud and intended to keep that secret. However, Jiang Liuying looked at him strangely and asked, "Hey, Su Ye, you were the first to enter the city, did you find anything? If you obtained any treasures, you have to share some with me!"

She spoke without thinking, but those around them were very attentive. Whether it was the Jiang family, the Martial Alliance, the Gu Ye Sorcerers, or Wu Yan and his followers, they were all filled with curiosity about Su Ye.

Su Ye knew he couldn't deny everything, but he didn't want to expose what little he had gained—the lesson of "innocence is a crime when one holds a treasure" was too profound.

"When I came in, I encountered a cluster of dense spiritual energy and swallowed it whole, which boosted my cultivation significantly!"

*Hum!*

As Su Ye spoke, a surge of true energy erupted from his body, instantly revealing his cultivation level.

"Sixth level of the Qi Gathering Realm!" Everyone was shocked. They knew he had been at the third level; to think he had soared to the sixth level after only a day and night in the city. Such a rate of improvement was terrifying!

"As expected of the greatest genius in Yang City!"

"It seems you are the one who obtained the greatest fortune in Thunder City! Many people couldn't achieve such progress even in ten years." Everyone showered him with envy and praise.

Only Jiang Liuying looked somewhat sullen. She had only recently awakened and her cultivation was still unstable, fluctuating up and down. She had hoped to finally hold an edge over Su Ye, but he had surged ahead once more.

"A sixth-level Qi Gathering Realm practitioner with the Thunder Pulse—haha, Su Ye, you are another formidable warrior for us!" Ouyang Yunfeng laughed, then quickly moved on, following the map.

Time was of the essence, and everyone followed suit. After weaving through the city, they turned into an open side gate and finally stopped before a massive, fortress-like structure. It looked like an arrow tower; in ancient times, archers and crossbowmen would climb such structures to fire down upon attacking enemies from a vantage point.

"This is it!" Ouyang Yunfeng pointed emphatically at the map, his voice rising with excitement.

Su Ye didn't know what was hidden here, but he knew it must be a precious treasure, otherwise, Ouyang Yunfeng and Jiang Ziyang wouldn't have gone to such lengths to reach this place.

"Everyone, take your posts and keep watch. If any other martial artists approach, stop them immediately!" Ouyang Yunfeng ordered loudly.

Jiang Ziyang’s eyes remained fixed on the massive arrow tower. As if a long-held wish were finally coming true, he looked immensely excited. "Good, good, good! We have finally arrived! Everything we saw outside was trivial; this is the true treasury! Come—Xiao Ye, give me your Thunder-Attracting Bead!"

Seeing that it was Jiang Ziyang asking, Su Ye had no reason to hold back and handed over the bead he had been holding. Jiang Ziyang took it, reached into his own waistband, and produced a second, identical bead.

The light emitted by the two beads intertwined, becoming even more dazzling. He leaped onto the arrow tower, held one bead in each hand, and hurled them into the sky.

*Hum, hum!*

The two beads hovered in mid-air! A long line of white light formed between them, as if they were being tethered by an inextinguishable bolt of heavenly lightning.

*Boom!*

The beads seemed to trigger some sort of formation, resonating with a humming sound in the sky.

"It works, it works! Hahaha!" Jiang Ziyang laughed heartily, though his smile seemed laden with endless weariness. When he swept his gaze across the entire city, his expression held a strange depth that no one else’s did.

"It seems our records are true!" Ouyang Yunfeng waved his fists, his laughter echoing. They had staked everything on this journey, expending massive amounts of manpower and resources. Being able to enter the city and trigger the barrier made it all worthwhile.

Elder Bei Fei, Wu Yan, and the others began to offer fawning compliments. "Patriarch Jiang is truly a man of great fortune! We are all benefiting from your success!"

"Exactly! The Young Alliance Leader is so bold at such a young age; we were right to choose our allies!"

Jiang Ziyang waved his hand dismissively. "Enough, enough. You don't need to say such things. I, Jiang Ziyang, have no other talents, but I keep my word. Everyone will have a share of the treasures inside."

He triggered another mechanism, and a beam of dark light struck the arrow tower. The massive structure began to rotate with a grinding sound, and the huge wall in front of it suddenly split apart.

*Rumble!*

A massive entrance appeared, from which the sound of metallic clashing resonated.

"It's weaponry!" In the vast entrance, everyone saw clearly what lay inside. Hidden within the thick walls was an armory—or rather, a weapon tomb—filled with a dense collection of divine arms.

Great swords, furious sabers, long spears, black crossbows, and more... These were no ordinary weapons; each radiated an ethereal glow, their sharpness impossible to conceal. Every martial artist stared in shock, unable to believe what they were seeing.

"Is this real? Heavens! These are all divine weapons!"

"There are so many! They are all ours!" Many could barely restrain themselves from rushing in, but they managed to hold back, looking toward Jiang Ziyang and Ouyang Yunfeng.

Ouyang Yunfeng was also deeply moved. With a batch of such divine weapons, wouldn't building his own force be like adding wings to a tiger? These weapons would elevate the combat power of any martial artist by several levels.

"Patriarch Jiang, you go ahead!" Ouyang Yunfeng stepped aside.

Jiang Ziyang clenched his fists tightly and muttered, "Our Jiang family has finally been favored by the heavens! Our fate is not sealed—everyone, do not scramble! There are enough weapons inside. Line up and enter one by one to choose your own. Do not be greedy; just pick the one that belongs to you! Go!"

The martial artists let out a cheer and, suppressing their urges, began to queue up to enter.

Su Ye was excited, but also deeply puzzled. He asked in a low voice, "Patriarch, how did you know weapons were stored here? These are arranged so neatly; they were clearly left behind deliberately!"

Jiang Ziyang laughed and praised him, "You are very observant! Indeed, these were left by our ancestors! But now, they have been obtained by us. Even the maps we carry—one could say everyone in Thunder City came here following a legend..."

He paused, lowering his voice, and asked, "When you were in the clan, have you ever heard of—'The Tide Is Coming'?"

*The Tide Is Coming?*

Su Ye’s heart chilled. This was not the first time he had heard those words; he had previously heard Ye Lingyun muttering them while approaching the city gates. It seemed that because of those words, the city gates had slowly opened.

"What does that mean?" Su Ye asked, frowning.

Ouyang Yunfeng’s expression grew grave. "Legend has it that a Seer left a final prophecy: a great catastrophe would arrive with the tide! To escape this disaster, our ancestors built this city! Everything here was meant to be used to combat that catastrophe!"

Su Ye felt a sudden sense of turmoil. He had encountered Seers before—the deceased Granny Lingya and the ugly woman Ling Zhu—and their prophecies were always terrifyingly accurate. Could the "tide" truly be coming? If so, were they securing their own survival, or were they stealing the hard-won preparations of their ancestors?

Yet, he reconsidered—Thunder City had existed for far too long, tracing back to the dawn of Chinese civilization, spanning thousands of years. Could a Seer have foreseen a tidal disaster thousands of years in advance?

Seeing Su Ye lost in thought, Jiang Ziyang patted his shoulder and said in a low voice, "Don't overthink it! This is not something you or I can stop. Go in and pick a weapon for yourself!"