Hearing this, Zhang Haobo channeled his power, placing both hands against the bronze door.
He pushed with all his might, yet the door didn't budge.
"Maybe we should try attacking it?" Xiao Heng suggested.
Zhang Haobo pondered for a moment, then gave a slow nod.
Stepping back a short distance, a phantom image of a vast sea of blood suddenly manifested above Zhang Haobo's head.
Blood Sea Grotto-Heaven. Who would have thought someone as even-tempered as Zhang Haobo would possess a Nascent Soul grotto-heaven so terrifying? Xiao Heng took a sharp breath.
Even though it wasn't his first time witnessing this spectacle, the overwhelming, malevolent aura emanating from that boundless sea of blood still made his heart pound with fear.
Bloody waves churned. Countless crimson longswords shot forth from the sea.
As Zhang Haobo pointed forth, they howled through the air and slammed into the bronze door ahead.
Boom!
Boom!
Deafening explosions rang out incessantly. The bronze door, and indeed the entire space, seemed to tremble from the assault.
After a while, Zhang Haobo withdrew his Blood Sea Grotto-Heaven.
He glanced at the bronze door, which hadn’t budged in the least, and frowned. "It’s not working. Its defense is clearly beyond what a Nascent Soul cultivator can breach."
Su Xiaomei, who was usually quick-tempered, surprisingly offered no retort this time. Instead, she looked on blankly, lost in thought.
Xiao Heng also racked his brain for a solution.
For a moment, an odd quiet fell over the group.
Suddenly, Su Xiaomei exclaimed. "I've got it!"
"Got what?" Xiao Heng looked at her curiously.
"The cauldron, the cauldron," Su Xiaomei said, her eyes fixed on Xiao Heng, urging him on. "You still have one of the mini cauldrons, right? Look at this door. It must be a mechanism. Just like the barrier outside, it surely has a way to distinguish friend from foe.
"Back in the day, disciples of the Medicine King Sect probably only needed to circulate their sect's technique to gain entry.
"We obviously can't do that. But we can try to fool it, just like we did outside, using the Mini Medicine King Cauldron." Su Xiaomei explained earnestly.
Xiao Heng listened, nodding at first.
Then, his expression abruptly changed. His body flickered backward, putting distance between them rapidly.
His face darkened with anger as he roared: "You are not Su Xiaomei! Who are you, really?"
Su Xiaomei was stunned for a moment. Then her small face flushed a deep crimson.
"Xiao Heng! Are you looking to die?"
A crimson sun blazed to life above her head.
A short while later, Xiao Heng, sporting a bruised and swollen face, offered Su Xiaomei a solemn apology.
"Xiaomei, I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what? Am I really that stupid in your mind?" Su Xiaomei snorted coldly, turning her head away to avoid looking at him.
"Uh..." Knowing he was in the wrong, Xiao Heng was momentarily at a loss for words.