Chapter 2868: Chapter 2868: The Truth

It looked like the man was telling the truth. He wasn't able to see who Zen was. Otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to attack Zen.

After all, no ordinary Souls of Light could cause Zen any real damage. Attacking him was like courting death.

“It's okay,” Zen said, finally relaxing.

Crack! Crack!

The two armors were nearly catching up. Any moment, they would be climbing out of the basement.

Zen wanted to run away right away. He was already exhausted from trying to lose them during the climb.

“These two armors are strong. We have to go,” Zen announced as he dragged Dorothy's arm.

The members of the Nine Li race looked at each other and hesitated.

They knew that the two armors could not leave the basement.

The basement was, as a matter of fact, a trap. As soon as the thin wall was destroyed, the two armors would be activated, resulting in the collapse of the underground passage. All the Souls of Light inside would die.

The armors weren't supposed to be capable of climbing out of the basement.

The Nine Li people exchanged looks of hesitation.

The girl's brother reacted out of haste. “We have to get out of here right now! The armors are too powerful! Let's go! Hurry up!”

The others reacted the same way. They pretended to be scared.

As they were about to leave, Dorothy halted in her tracks. “Wait,” she said, grabbing Zen's arm.

She felt that something was wrong.

She looked at the crowd. They were acting strangely.

After the door of the basement was opened by the Ear Mice, all the Souls of Light of the other races had entered, but they stayed outside.

There might be two reasons.

First, they only came after the armors entered the basement. Perhaps they didn't want to enter it when they saw how bad it was.

Second, they might have stayed outside because they knew that something bad was going to happen in the basement.

At first, Dorothy believed the first option. She thought the people were just passing by, clueless about the truth.

However, Dorothy found it odd that they did not even flinch at the sight of the armors. They even hesitated to leave upon Zen's command.

It was not until the girl's brother reminded them that they stirred into action.

Dorothy could tell that they were acting.

“What's wrong?” Zen asked.

The members of the Nine Li race stopped in their tracks. They wondered what Dorothy was thinking of.

This only confirmed Dorothy's speculation. She snickered as she walked towards the hole.

“Be careful.” Zen followed behind her. It was unlike her to act recklessly. Zen was curious as to what Dorothy had in mind, so he did not stop her.

Dorothy stood by the hole and looked down. “Look,” she said, nudging Zen to look below.

The two armors were hanging five feet away from the hole. To Zen's surprise, they were not moving at all.

Buzz!

Buzz!

The two armors raised their heads and their eyes flashed red. However, they did not move an inch.

Curious, Zen squatted at the square hole and stretched out his hand.

The armors were not willing to give up. One of them pulled out a rusty saber and brandished it into the air.

The saber was far away from Zen, so it couldn't hurt him.

“Be careful!” Dorothy warned.

She was afraid that Zen was being too risky.

The other armor pulled out two rusty sabers. This caused it to lose its grip and fall down.

It dropped more than a thousand feet and, soon, its body was heard clanking against the ground. Zen and Dorothy looked and saw that it created a big hole. 𝐫ἁℕΟ฿ĘⱾ

The other armor did the same thing. However, just as soon as they got rid of the armors, something happened.

Wisps of colorful fog gradually rose from the underground, completely blocking Zen's sight.

“Look! What's that?” Something small was floating along the fog, but Dorothy was having trouble seeing it clearly.

Zen stared at it closely. “It's an hourglass,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

It floated amidst the thick fog—an hourglass the size of a fist.

The sand inside it was dripping quickly. Every time the top half emptied, it would automatically rotate and continue its flow again.

Each time the hourglass turned, everything in the underground room reversed back in time.

The two armors returned to the other side of the wall.

The chains that already broke became whole again.

Even the wall, which had already been partially broken by Zen, repaired itself.

The basement restored its original state. The collapsed passage floated and reconnected with the square entrance.

Nearly everything was restored. Only the dead Souls of Light remained in their dead state.

Zen took a moment to think about his next steps. Clearly, something was wrong. He turned his head to look at the people behind him. “You knew this would happen.”

The members of the Nine Li race remained silent. It was difficult to explain, but they didn't want to admit it.

“If you don't want to talk to me peacefully, then maybe we should resort to tougher means. What do you think?” Zen's voice became as cold as ice.

He could kill anyone in sight easily in the Grand Sky Temple. There was no place for them to run to.

Perhaps the humans thought that Zen would spare them. They did not know that he wouldn't hesitate resorting to violence if necessary.

“We can't force the back door of the Grand Sky Temple open. If we do that, everyone will die,” the girl's brother explained.

It was no use to continue tricking Zen. He had to tell the truth.

“Is there a way to open it?” Zen asked.

Everyone was silent again.

If they revealed the clue, they risked exposing their identities.

It would be as good as surrendering their lives to Zen.

“Say it,” Zen ordered.

Dorothy tilted her head slightly.

“I heard you talk about the Nine Li race outside the temple,” the girl chirped. “You don't intend to harm the Nine Li race, do you?”

“Sally!”

“What are you talking about?”

She then kept silent, not wanting to disappoint her companions.

She knew she asked a foolish question.

It wasn't a good time to ask such things.

At that moment, Zen had the upper hand. She was but a powerless being compared to him.

She nearly told Zen that they were from the Nine Li race.

Everyone else stood tense and worried as Zen and Dorothy exchanged a meaningful look.