A soft glow rose in the pitch-black corridor.
Next to Zhou Mingde, a "Sun Glow Stone" floated quietly, moving with him.
His gaze swept across both sides easily taking in the frescoes on the stone walls of the corridor.
The frescoes started from the entrance, depicting the story of an ordinary mortal child discovered to be endowed with Spirit Root Aptitude, and their journey of cultivation and growth.
Zhou Mingde felt a tinge of surprise and anticipation to see that the frescoes featured a variety of Demon Insects and Demon Beasts; it seemed the Tomb Master had battled enemies by commanding these creatures during their lifetime.
From this detail, it appeared that that the Tomb Master was well-versed in both Beast Taming and Insect Expelling Techniques.
This information undoubtedly excited Zhou Mingde.
The Zhou Family was renowned for their Beast Taming Techniques. If they could obtain the inheritance of the Tomb Master's Beast Taming and Insect Expelling Techniques, the Zhou Family's Beast Taming power would certainly become stronger, and they would also gain another lineage of Insect Expelling Techniques.
Particularly, this Insect Expelling Technique might just be the key to controlling the current insect disaster plaguing Yang Kingdom and Glory Country.
Clearly, Zhou Mingde was not the only one who considered this.
Shen Borong and Ruan Hongzhuang also realized this as they observed the frescoes on both sides of the corridor.
A glimmer of anticipation appeared in their eyes as well.
But the corridor was not a straight path forward; it had a right-angle turn, and because of that, the frescoes could not be seen in their entirety at a glance.
The fresco at the corner depicted the Tomb Master at a time when their Cultivation Level was at the later stages of the Purple Mansion Phase.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Mingde could only proceed with layered protections towards the corner.
Before long, as Zhou Mingde moved forward, he suddenly tensed, as if sensing something, and hurriedly shook the yellow jade Ruyi Magic Artifact in his hand to release a dense yellow light to protect himself.
Just as he completed these actions, the stone walls on both sides suddenly cracked open, and red lights shot out, quickly filling the space around him.
Upon closer inspection, those red lights turned out not to be Magic Artifacts but swarms of red flying mosquitos the size of fingernails.
These mosquitos were as red as fire all over except for their black eyes.
Their presence did not seem strong, about equivalent to a first-stage Demon Insect.
But when Zhou Mingde was engulfed by them, he quickly realized how terrifying they were.
The flying mosquitos completely enveloped him, like a blazing red fire clinging to Zhou Mingde's body.
The various protections he set up, however, began to rapidly decay and dissipate under their siphoning.
The mouthparts of these red mosquitos stuck onto the Protective Barrier, withdrawing the Spiritual Power from it as a mosquito draws blood.
Even if each individual mosquito siphoned an insignificant amount of Spiritual Power, the combined effect of thousands of them was too much for even a Purple Mansion Phase Cultivator like Zhou Mingde to bear.
Having realized this, Zhou Mingde quickly commanded the Fire Divine Jackal to spew Demon Fire to burn the mosquitos.
However, to his surprise, the Demon Fire that could melt even second-tier Magic Artifacts had no effect on those mosquitos!
It was as if they possessed an immunity to fire attacks, showing no discomfort even as the Demon Fire blazed fiercely around them.
Zhou Mingde was utterly shocked by this development.
At that moment, he set aside any concerns about pride and shouted to Shen Borong and Ruan Hongzhuang for help, "I implore my fellow Cultivators to lend me a hand!"
In such a time, Shen Borong and Ruan Hongzhuang did not falter.
They both understood that, with the treasure yet unseen, there was a need to continue their cooperation between them.
Besides, it was possible that Zhou Mingde still had other means to deal with the situation and was merely testing them.
Thus, when Zhou Mingde called out for help, the two of them immediately joined in to assist.
They had watched the actions of the Fire Divine Jackal and took note.
When they took action, they did not use any Fire Element Spells or Dharma Powers but chose Spells of other attributes instead.
Shen Borong's spell incantation brought forth a blue and white torrent of water that surged towards the mass of red light.
Ruan Hongzhuang waved her sleeve to bring out a dark green gourd Magic Artifact and, under the spell's activation, a stream of dark green toxic mist spouted from it, billowing toward the mosquitos.
As expected, although the Red Flying Mosquitos had high resistance to fire, they had little defense against other forms of attack.
Shen Borong's water jet easily washed them onto the ground, followed by the toxic mist that quickly corroded them into poison.
Neither the water jet nor the toxic mist were above the third tier, and therefore, did not affect Zhou Mingde or the Fire Divine Jackal.
"Thank you, fellow Cultivators, for your assistance."
Having freed himself, Zhou Mingde immediately bowed to thank Shen Borong and Ruan Hongzhuang.
He then looked at the cracked stone walls on both sides, a flicker of relief passing through his eyes.
The situation had indeed been perilous, and it was fortunate that he wasn't alone, or he might truly have been injured by those mosquitos.
Now, as he focused on the cracked walls, he saw that behind them lay small stone chambers, each containing two open, fiery-red stone coffins, which seemed to be where the Red Flying Mosquitos had been resting.
"It's a wonder what kind of Demon Insect these Red Flying Mosquitos are, able to hibernate for so many years in this tomb without food or water!"