His strength really wasn't high! Zuo An's expression immediately calmed down as he single-handedly held one of the stone statues in place.
Yang Kai and Du Yishuang led the other stone statue charging over a hundred zhang away, then exchanged a glance, hastily skidding to a halt and turning to face the statue head-on.
Little Sister Du must have used some martial technique — her hands danced through a flurry of movements, golden light blazing from her palms as she struck the statue until it staggered, chips of stone flying off.
The statue clearly felt no pain; even in its battered state, it fought back viciously.
Du Yishuang hastily leaped back, and Yang Kai seized the opening to press in. His palm wind howled as he landed another set of light wounds on the statue.
By this time, Lan Chudie and Nie Yong had arrived as well. The former joined the fray without a word, while Nie Yong shot Yang Kai a bitter glare, as if blaming him for having lured the stone statues to chase after him earlier.
One had to admit — this woman Lan Chudie did possess some powers of observation. Based on nothing more than a single exchange from Yang Kai and Du Yishuang, she had already gauged the depth of the stone statues' strength.
The statues' attacks were formidable — after all, their bodies were made of stone. A single punch would easily carry several thousand jin of force.
But they were fragile! And slow to react as well. Although they had some speed, they couldn't pose a real threat to anyone present.
Under their coordinated assault, cracks spread across the statue's body, leaving it in tatters.
Seeing victory within reach, all four intensified their attacks.
Before long, the statue was beaten to literal rubble.
None of the four sustained any injuries, though their Yuan Qi consumption had been considerable.
Lan Chudie immediately stepped forward and rummaged through the debris, but found nothing. She couldn't help but knit her delicate brows, murmuring, "Strange!"
In her mind, the fact that these lifeless stone statues could move meant there had to be some hidden mechanism. Yet she'd found nothing at all — a slight disappointment.
"Let's go — back to Zuo An!" Lan Chudie didn't dally, leading the others back along the way they'd come.
On the other side. Zuo An had been circling the stone statue for a while. In the beginning, he'd tried to trade blows with it head-on, only to discover he was outmatched in raw strength — the skin on his fists had been split open. After that, he'd learned his lesson. Lan Chudie had only told him to keep it occupied, not to kill it.
He'd been tangling with it for quite some time, and his nerves were fraying, when Lan Chudie and the others finally appeared. Without a word, they all surged toward the stone statue together.
With one fight under their belt, dealing with the stone statue now was far simpler and easier — and with Zuo An added to their fighting strength on top of that.
In less time than it took to drink a cup of tea, the second statue was smashed to pieces as well.
All five of them were panting heavily. While this battle hadn't put their lives in danger, the toll on their bodies had been significant.
"What exactly was that about, Yang Kai!" Nie Yong glared at Yang Kai furiously. "Don't think I won't lay a hand on you just because we're from the same sect."
"What?" Yang Kai regarded him with an indifferent look.
"Why did you lure those two stone statues to chase after me?!"
"Did I?" Yang Kai's gaze flickered, his expression calm but tinged with impatience. Back then he'd been focused entirely on running — when had he had time to worry about anyone else?
"Enough bickering!" Lan Chudie pulled rank as the senior sister, glaring at both of them. Then she walked over to the rubble to search through it again.
"Just you remember — if you ever pull that kind of underhanded trick again, don't blame me for not holding back!" Nie Yong's expression was ice-cold.
"Hm…?" Over by the rubble, Lan Chudie suddenly let out a cry of pleasant surprise. She reached in and rummaged through the debris, pulling out a small stone figurine about the size of an infant's fist.
Her exclamation drew everyone's attention, and they all turned to look at what was in her hand.
The small stone figurine wasn't large, but it was carved from some unknown material — it was crystalline and translucent, as beautiful as jade.
Inside the figurine, red lines resembling the meridians of a human body crisscrossed and wove through one another. A rough count revealed there were as many as thirty of them.
"What is this…?" Zuo An clicked his tongue in wonder, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the figurine. Yang Kai and Du Yishuang walked over as well. The five of them formed a circle, every pair of eyes brimming with confusion.
"Is this small stone figurine made of some kind of jade?" Nie Yong asked with a hint of excitement.
"Doesn't look like it!" Lan Chudie shook her head. Although she couldn't identify the material, she hadn't felt any energy emanating from the figurine upon picking it up. However, those red lines inside seemed to contain a trace of mystery — they were circulating in a cyclical pattern.
"What do you all think?" Lan Chudie looked up at the others.
"Could we possibly use this thing to control those stone statues?" Zuo An suddenly proposed a possibility.
Their eyes lit up — only for Lan Chudie to shoot the idea down. "Probably not. One of the two statues we just fought didn't have a small stone figurine inside it at all. And even if what you said were true, that statue has already been smashed apart — how would we control it?"
Yang Kai's expression shifted slightly, and he spoke up abruptly: "Don't you all think these red lines inside look like something?"
"Like what? If you don't know anything, stop flapping your mouth! A mere Kaiyuan Realm brat standing here running his jaw!" Nie Yong had grown thoroughly fed up with Yang Kai and retorted without the slightest courtesy.