Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3079: Golem Ambush

A sharp crack rang out, and the golem’s head shattered like brittle pottery. A small crystalline projectile clattered to the floor.

Cattaleya lowered her sling and smirked. "You’re welcome, little formation master."

Meng Bai gave her a quick nod of gratitude but didn’t pause for long—two more golems were already closing in. He engaged them without hesitation, his movements fast, precise, and without wasted energy. For someone still at the Peak of the Dao Shell Realm, he was fighting far above what should have been possible.

Cattaleya noticed immediately.

As she herself waded into battle, wielding a massive blunt black greatsword that looked more like a siege weapon than something meant for personal combat, she kept an eye on him. With each swing, she crushed through the rocky forms, the impact sending shockwaves through the tunnel walls. She fought like a moving fortress, her strikes heavy but never slow.

"Impressive," she called out to Meng Bai between blows. "You’re not just holding your ground—you’re actually pushing them back. And you’re four realms below them."

Meng Bai ducked under a golem’s swing, drove his spear through the gap in its chest, and replied with a grin, "It’s all thanks to my master and Daoist Chu’s guidance."

Hearing this, Lin Mu didn’t respond verbally, but a faint hint of pride crossed his expression before he turned his attention to the Fifth Tribulation Stage golem lumbering toward him. With a flick of his wrist, the Sword Cradle Divine Sheath shimmered, Afternoon Pine rushing out. Then in a single stroke, the golem was neatly split from crown to base.

The battle was relentless but short-lived. One by one, the stone warriors fell, their forms collapsing into inert rubble. Dust hung in the air, mingling with the cold dampness of the Abyss.

As the last of the golems crumbled, Lin Mu knelt down and brushed aside fragments of rock. His fingers traced faint engravings hidden within the stone—tiny arrays, meticulously carved.

"Formation puppets," he said after a moment. "But the energy powering them... it’s unusual."

Daoist Chu joined him, examining the fragments. "Unusual how?"

Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed. "It’s similar to the energy I’ve felt from the Ephemera Sect—same strange texture to it—but instead of corrupting living beings, it’s been harnessed to create and control these golems."

Cattaleya frowned, wiping dust from her weapon. "So whoever made these... could be linked to the same forces behind the Ephemera Sect’s corruption?"

"Possibly," Lin Mu replied. "But this is... cleaner. More deliberate. The corruption is normally wild and invasive, like a parasite. This feels more like... a carefully tamed beast."

Meng Bai glanced at the rubble around them, an uneasy expression on his face. "If they can control something like this with that kind of energy... what else could they be making?"

No one had an answer for that, and the heavy silence that followed spoke volumes.

The only sound now was the faint settling of rubble behind them as they prepared to move deeper into the Abyss.

The group pressed on, the air in the tunnels now heavier with tension. The encounter with the golems had made it clear that these passages were far from abandoned—something was watching, guiding, and testing them.

Daoist Chu, taking no chances, produced several intricate talismans from his sleeve. Each one shimmered faintly with a soft gold glow as he flicked them into the air.

They didn’t merely float—they took positions at even intervals around the party, circling slowly, their runic lines flaring to life. A warm, steady radiance filled the space, chasing away the deep shadows that clung to the walls.

"Light will give away our position," Lin Mu noted quietly.

"True," Daoist Chu replied, his eyes scanning the darkness ahead. "But we already know this place has no shortage of predators. I’d rather we see them coming than walk blindly into their jaws."

No one argued with that logic. The flickering talismans made the jagged walls gleam with faint silver veins, and the distant drip of water that now echoed eerily in the background. Every step now felt heavier, their senses stretched taut like bowstrings.

It didn’t take long for the next threat to appear.

From the shadows ahead, faint grinding sounds rose—a low rumble like shifting gravel. Meng Bai’s hand tightened on his Spear shaft just as the ground trembled under their boots.

A chunk of stone detached from the wall, then another, until entire sections of the tunnel seemed to ripple unnaturally. The rocks twisted and groaned before pulling themselves into shapes, more types than they had seen before. There were humanoid figures, hulking beasts, and even twisted multi-limbed forms—each one forged entirely from the stone around them.

The stone creatures’ hollow eyes glowed faintly with a pale green light.

"Formation puppets again," Lin Mu murmured, his gaze narrowing.

But this time, they weren’t facing just one or two. A full wave emerged, numbering over a dozen. Their cultivation varied, some radiating the aura of the 2nd Tribulation Stage of the Immortal Realm, while others reached as high as the peak of the 5th Tribulation Stage.

"Don’t overextend," Daoist Chu warned. "They’ve improved their strength."

Meng Bai didn’t need to be told twice. He lunged forward, intercepting three of the weaker golems, his spear flashing in a series of precise arcs as he executed the Nine Strikes Mountain Piercing Spear Technique which worked great against the golems.

Though they towered over him, his strikes were clean and efficient, carving deep gouges in their rocky bodies. His footwork kept him just out of their reach, forcing them to stumble into each other.

Cattaleya watched from the side, eyes narrowing in interest. She had already heard of Meng Bai’s potential from Elyon and Lin Mu, but seeing him firsthand was different.

The young man was still only at the peak of the Dao Shell Realm, yet here he was, cutting down opponents four cultivation realms above him. That kind of leap was not normal—it was exceptional.

"You’re quite something, kid," she called out as she swung her massive blunt greatsword in a wide arc. The weapon’s head crashed into three larger golems with a sound like mountains colliding, shattering their torsos in a single blow.