Ultimate Scheming System

"The princes are so strong!"

"It is our country’s blessing that the princes have such amazing power!"

"The Eldest Prince’s skill art ’lashing the waves’ is simply wonderful!"

"The Second Prince is not weak either, his skill art ’breaking through manifestations’ totally destroyed the ancient armored puppet!"

"The Third Prince has the strongest power, look at his ’explosive hammer blast’!"

"The Eighth Prince should be the strongest. He’s taking on two puppets at one time and has withstood three hits so far without shedding any blood!"

...

Many people scrambled to flatter the prince that they were supporting!

Booommm!

Suddenly, a deafening sound was heard that seemed to come from deeper inside the tombs. That sudden ruckus made everyone descend into silence!

Everyone stayed quiet. They were puzzled and looked at the passageway that led to the deeper tombs with uneasiness!

The noise had been very loud and it made a lot of people feel dismay and fear.

A magnificent aura could be felt from the depths of the tombs, followed by heavy, constant sounds of something knocking against the ground!

Stomp!

Stomp!

Stomp!

Every time the heavy sound was heard, it was as if a hammer was mercilessly dealing a blow to everyone’s hearts.

Everyone was shocked; the several princes were appalled too. They quickly dealt a finishing blow to the puppets that they were engaging with and retreated to the back.

"What’s that thing?"

"Could it be that new ancient armored puppets are coming out?"

"But it can’t be. There has never been such an event in the previous contests!"

"This aura somehow doesn’t feel right!"

"We are just dealing with the third wave of the ancient armored puppets. Come on, there shouldn’t be anything new at this point?"

"Did someone accidentally activate a trap or something?"

Everyone was increasingly perplexed by the unforeseen situation.

Outside the Imperial Tombs, the Metal Emperor and the crowd were taken aback as well.

From the Heaven and Earth Mirror, they could clearly see and feel what was happening. They could also feel the reverberations of the sudden deafening sound and the mighty aura, as if they were also inside the burial chamber as well!

"This is bad, such aura, it’s the golden puppet that appears every 100 years!" exclaimed the Metal Emperor who suddenly thought of something. He suddenly stood up with a flabbergasted expression. "Quick!" the Emperor shouted abruptly to the old eunuch. "End this contest and get them out of there!"

"Ah? Your Majesty, it’s... it’s too late now," the old eunuch replied in a terrified manner. "The restrictive enchantment has blocked all the entrances. Nothing can get inside now. We can only wait for them to come out!"

"This is abominable! The golden puppets only appear every 100 years. The last time they appeared was 30 years ago. Why did they appear again?"

The Empress Dowager inside her divine chariot spoke calmly, "do not worry, my son. The golden puppet moves slowly, so once they see them, they’ll quickly retreat!"

...

The crowd started to create a commotion.

The golden puppet that the Emperor had spoken of... they had heard of it before.

That was the strongest obstacle in the Imperial Tombs and would only appear every 100 years!

The golden puppets were seven-star magical weapons. There were over a hundred of them and they were extremely sturdy. They were equivalent to Infant Transformation Stage cultivators.

The cultivators inside the burial chamber were all in the Original Infant stage. Even if they had their six-star magical weapons, they wouldn’t stand a chance against the golden puppets!

"This is bad!"

"How did this happen?"

"Maybe something has happened to the restrictive enchantment and released the golden puppets?"

"Seems like this year’s contest is going to end here!"

"The contest used to last for several days during the previous years. Looks like this year’s contest won’t even last for a day!"

"We have stronger contestants this year, and I thought they would proceed to the next round. Looks like our hopes have been dashed!"

"Ai, the Dragon Veins are being too well-protected! The forefathers of the Royal Family of Metal Nation were really strong!"

The crowd outside the Imperial Tombs shook their heads.

...

Inside the burial chamber, the group had not guessed that the commotion had been caused by the golden puppets. They stared at the tunnel watchfully as they continued to fend against the ancient armored puppets!

A short while later, they saw some golden rays coming from the tunnel.

Stomp!

Loud, uniform sounds were heard and the group suddenly saw several golden puppets moving in the tunnel.

Everyone stared in disbelief at the golden puppets. Their faces went ashen!

"Heavens, it’s the golden puppets!"

"What’s happening? It has not even been 100 years, why have the golden puppets come out?"

"Could someone have accidentally activated a trap or something?"

"No way, all of us stayed together in one place, there’s no way anyone could have activated another restrictive enchantment!"

"Back off, retreat!"

"We can’t continue with the contest!"

"It’s such a pity! This year we had the best line-up so far but we encountered the golden puppets!"

"D*mn, why did this happen? I haven’t even fought the puppets for the Eldest Prince yet!"

"Me too, I haven’t fought the puppets for the Second Prince yet either!"

Many of them were bitter about the current situation. Besides being unable to perform, another main reason was that they were hopeful to go on to the next round of the contest. However, their hopes had now been dashed by the unexpected appearance of the golden puppets!

"Forget it, let’s retreat! That’s all we can do now!" announced the Eldest Prince.

He knew very well how terrifying the golden puppets were. Even if the whole group took on the golden puppets together, they would only be able to handle 10 golden puppets!

Not only that, but there were also thousands of smaller ancient armored puppets, and over a hundred golden puppets. It would be impossible to continue the contest.

"Huh?"

Xu Que raised an eyebrow and was somewhat dumbstruck by what he heard.

The golden puppets that only show up every 100 years have appeared earlier?

Something must be amiss. Maybe someone really activated a hidden restriction or trap?

Xu Que was pondering over this matter and suddenly he thought of something.

Nah!

Could this have been activated... by that f*cking dog?

Xu Que finally thought of Buttface. He had not seen Buttface since he had started participating in the contest.

With that dog’s temperament, it was impossible for him not to show up.

Moreover, Xu Que knew that Buttface had previously dug a hole, but it had been turned into barracks for the guards.

Now that he thought about it, Buttface must have entered the Imperial Tombs before him.

And these golden puppets might have been activated by Buttface, who might have been reckless whilst exploring the area!

"Young Master Xu, things are looking bad. Now that the golden puppets have appeared, we need to leave this place!" the Seventh Princess hurriedly informed Xu Que as she slipped through the anxious crowd to get to him.

Master Zhou had stopped his weapon forging as well. The Third Prince and the rest of their team were now ready to retreat!

However, Xu Que shouted to everyone, waving his hand, "calm down, everyone! Aren’t all of you the nobility and elites of the Metal Nation? All the more reason why we should be calm in such situations, right? As everyone here represents the future of the Metal Nation, you must believe in yourselves! Understand? Be more confident, yes! Be like me, keep your back straight, stick out your chest, tidy your hair and face the danger bravely..."

Everyone was startled and stopped in their tracks. They looked at Xu Que in astonishment.

"Furthermore, what’s there to panic about?" Xu Que continued his speech with a domineering aura. "It’s just the golden puppets. Just because they look nicer and they think they are so powerful? Hahaha... they’re just trash to me! Step aside! Back off... I’ll take them on!"

With that, he took a large stride forward.