Chapter 77: The Acquired Treasure

  Sanbao watched as the army of mummies surged forward, their tattered clothes fluttering, and a flicker of pity rose in her heart.

  So these mummies were the missing vilgers from the mountain vilge and this very vilge.

  The mummies let out low growls as they stormed into the temple, rushing toward the group with frenzied determination.

  "They've lost all their senses, they’re just mindless mummies!" Wang Suifeng called out, his voice loud and commanding. "Don’t pity them."

  Qin Liangguang was the first to act, sshing through the first mummy that charged with his sword, severing it in half.

  But the mummies didn’t stop— more and more pressed forward, relentless, like a wave of water crashing toward them.

  "Only by severing their spines or destroying their heads can you completely kill these mummies!" Wang Suifeng shouted, swinging his sword and cleaving off half the head of another mummy.

  Boom—! The stone wall on the left side of the temple colpsed with a deafening crash. More mummies poured in like a flood that had just broken through a dam.

  The situation in the temple became chaotic. Just then, Sanbao felt a cold gust of wind blow in from behind.

  She turned just in time to see Wang Yuanying silently appearing behind her, holding a willow wood dagger, aimed directly at Sanbao’s back.

  The dagger struck true, piercing Sanbao's body all the way to the hilt. But Sanbao’s form rippled like water, vanishing into thin air.

  It was a trick. Sanbao had already noticed Wang Yuanying's movements earlier. She had used a newly learned technique from the *Divine Illumination Sutra*, leaving an illusion behind while silently moving behind Wang Yuanying.

  Sanbao quickly spped her palm toward Wang Yuanying’s back.

  The strike, filled with strong spiritual energy, sent Wang Yuanying flying, crashing into the group of mummies.

  Sanbao then pretended to be injured, stumbling backward and colpsing behind the statue with a loud thud, as if she had fallen unconscious.

  "Sanbao, what’s wrong?" Wang Suifeng and the others, seeing this, believed that Sanbao had been seriously wounded from the surprise attack, and rushed to help her. However, the mummies were coming in droves, surrounding them, turning the small temple into a battleground.

  Sanbao crouched behind the statue, silently calling forth the *Candle Dragon Sword* from her bracelet. She swiftly used the sword to sever the heads of several mummies around her, clearing a path and making some space.

  She then stored the sword, quickly pulled out a pair of scissors from the Seven Treasure Bracelet, and with lightning speed, snipped off a small piece of the red silk that was wrapped around the statue.

  Next, Sanbao used the scissors to cut her palm deeply, and fresh blood began to pour out.

  The statue, though facing away from her, seemed to sense the scent of her blood. Sanbao felt a strange shift in the air as the statue’s eyes flickered with an eerie red glow.

  Seizing the moment, she gritted her teeth and pressed the piece of red silk onto her palm, smearing her blood onto it.

  The statue’s entire body suddenly glowed with a bright red light, and it began to shake violently.

  Suddenly, a burst of intense red light shot out from the crack in the red silk, heading straight for Sanbao!

  Quick as a fsh, Sanbao turned her wrist, using the red silk in her hand to catch and trap the red light, holding it securely within her palm.

  She could feel something small and round, like a pearl, within the red silk. This round object seemed to pulse with heat, struggling violently, trying to break free from the confines of the red silk and escape.

  Sanbao quickly pressed the bead along with the red silk beneath her, pretending to be severely injured and lying motionless. At the same time, she poured all her spiritual energy into the red silk, suppressing the bead’s resistance.

  Time passed slowly, and after a while, the bead’s struggles gradually weakened. Finally, it grew completely still.

  Sanbao sighed in relief, carefully pcing the bead and the red silk into the Seven Treasure Bracelet, storing it safely.

  But the struggle with the bead had drained a significant amount of her spiritual energy.

  Sanbao’s face turned pale, her breathing shallow, and her hands and feet trembled.

  Worse still, when she had fallen earlier, one of the mummies had grabbed her shoulder, tearing her clothes and exposing her flesh. Blood poured from the wound on her shoulder.

  "Sanbao, where are you? Are you okay?"

  A frantic voice rang out. Wang Suifeng had finally cleared the surrounding mummies and rushed to the back of the statue, urgently searching for Sanbao.

  Sanbao looked up at him, her heart warming slightly at the concern in his face.

  Wang Suifeng’s white clothes were now torn, his sleeves stained with blood, and the wounds on his arms were gruesome, but he ignored them completely.

  His face was filled with urgency, his eyes scanning the area desperately for her.

  "I'm here. I’m fine, just a minor injury," Sanbao whispered softly. "What about the others? Where’s Wang Yuanying?"

  "They got scattered by the mummies." Wang Suifeng took two pills from his pouch and handed them to her. "Take this *Detoxifying Pill* and this *Vitality Pill*. Once you’ve recovered, we’ll go look for them!"

  Sanbao nodded, taking the pills and swallowing them, silently concentrating on her recovery.

  Wang Suifeng stayed by her side, his gaze resolute and unwavering, as if to say he would never back down from any danger as long as he was protecting her.