Gu Zuo’s heart was startled.
What was going on? Why had the hall started shaking? Could it be that something bad had happened?
His turbulent mind was full of all kinds of notions. At once, he sent out his psychic power and was combat-ready.
Gongyi Tianheng approached him in an instant, and protected him at his side. Tianyang and the Ling Clan siblings were farther away, but there was no way for them to come over. Nevertheless, through Tianheng’s signal, Dragon One came to their aid at lightning speed. He used Xiantian true qi to brace the area for them.
At this moment, the hall produced a loud, rumbling sound, and then it collapsed.
An enormous boulder tumbled down. If it smashed down on a person’s body, they would vomit blood and be grievously injured with crushed muscles and bones!
Gu Zuo reflexively thickened his psychic power and formed a hard barrier to cover them overhead.
Tianheng’s eyes bore a smile, and likewise unfurled his hand upward.
In a split second, a transparent barrier protected the two of them. There was even a reddish-gold membrane on top of it, so most of the jagged edges of the boulder were melted before it could drop down. No matter how powerful the remaining parts were, the boulder was unable to break through that transparent barrier.
This side was secure, but that didn’t mean that the other side was safe.
Dragon One was indeed strong, but it was still a little challenging if he wanted to use his own power to protect three people.
His true qi cover shook back and forth. Clearly, if it was continuously smashed by such boulders, it might collapse!
Tianyang also discharged a true qi cover without delay. Unfortunately, a Houtian’s true qi cover wasn’t particularly useful. He could only barely help out.
It appeared that two layers of a true qi cover wouldn’t work.
Tianheng’s brows furrowed slightly. He turned his body and extended a hand to blow up a large chunk of the hall’s stone that was about to fall down. Smaller stones then fell upon the true qi cover, and the destructive power was reduced greatly.
Upon seeing this, Gu Zuo went to help.
Although his psychic power couldn’t be blatantly used in the open, when his big brother acted first, he could secretly play a few tricks — For instance, whenever his big brother acted, he could follow-up with a discharge his invisible psychic power to lighten his big brother’s load somewhat.
Under Tianheng’s open interference and Gu Zuo’s secret assistance, Dragon One and the others got through this calamity without a hitch. Moreover, not a single person was injured.
The hall’s shaking didn’t persist for too long. In about half the time of a joss of incense, it stopped.
The scene before their eyes was very astonishing.
As it turned out, after the hall collapsed, what appeared in front of everyone was a very large tomb chamber. Once they rubbed their eyes and looked carefully, they realized that the crumbling boulders that fell during the hall’s collapse were simply ordinary gravestones that were released by some mechanisms, and the so-called hall was a complete illusion.
Tianheng said: “After we eliminated the blood corpses and dried out the blood pool, a mechanism was activated. Those boulders were another test to give us some more dangers. Those boulders that we had avoided would’ve been quickly restored to a high altitude to be dropped again. This repeated usage would’ve made us suffer a huge loss.”
Gu Zuo spat out a long sigh: “So it’s actually like this.”
Fortunately, Tianyang’s side couldn’t bear up under the strain. As a result, the two of them had smashed the boulder to pieces, which prevented the mechanism from using the shattered boulder again. Conversely, if they were afraid or already exhausted, they would’ve simply dodged the boulder. That boulder would’ve been used repeatedly until they didn’t have the strength to dodge anymore. The only path after that was probably to be crushed to death by the boulder.
This kind of mechanism was truly exquisite... Or perhaps, treacherous.
Tianyang and the others clearly understood the cause amid all of this, and they wiped away a sheen of cold sweat.
Soon after, the group began to size up this revealed tomb chamber.
— To be honest, having gone through two dangerous situations in a row, they didn’t really get a look at this tomb chamber.
Gu Zuo saw that the front part of the tomb chamber was connected to a tomb passage. And inside this tomb chamber, several stone tables were arranged. However, there weren’t any coffins. It looked like there were funerary objects placed here.
When they had arrived inside the Great Tomb of the Human King, apart from the inheritance, weren’t funerary objects their most important goal? Who knew how amazing the things on the tables were?
Thinking as such, Tianheng had already opened his mouth first: “We’ll take a look together.”
Naturally, Gu Zuo, Tianyang, and Dragon One approached gladly. But the Ling Clan siblings hesitated slightly.
Tianheng said: “There’s no harm. Let’s go together.”
That brother and sister pair wore happy expressions on their faces, and walked forwards.
The tomb chamber had three long, stone tables. On the left-side table, the things placed upon it was a saber, spear, sword, and halberd. It was a table for weapons. On the middle table, there were some armors and such placed upon it, which were things for self-protection. On the long table on the right, what was placed there was several books. The book covers were simple and unadorned. They looked like a few cultivation methods and martial skills.
It was clear and easy to see that these were all things that were indispensable to martial artists.
Everyone walked closer, and sensed a burst of bone-chilling cold.
This coldness came from those weapons.
First was a large saber. The entire blade was a scarlet-red color. Its shape was sleek and heroic, and appeared very heavy. On top of it, there were layers upon layers of flowing light streaking across it. With just a look, one would feel that it was out of the ordinary.
Tianheng declared: “Spirit weapon.”
Gu Zuo also discovered that this weapon was unlike all the others in the past — No matter how sharp the past ones were, they were all inferior to this scarlet-red saber. Between the circulating rays of light, there seemed to be a bit of spirituality.
The weapons that suited the usage of Houtian martial artists and Xiantian martial artists were actually mundane weapons. Forging them wasn’t so difficult, and the most commonly seen weapon in the Sect was also this rank of mundane weapons.
Naturally, what was even stronger than a mundane weapon was a spirit weapon.
A weapon with spirituality was called a spirit weapon. A martial artist at the Immortal Realm or above who wanted to fully display their own strength could only use a spirit weapon. Merely, the spirituality of a spirit weapon being used by an Immortal Realm couldn’t compare to that of an Atomic Realm martial artist. Thus, spirit weapons that suited Immortal Realms were called Human-Level spirit weapons, and spirit weapons that suited Atomic Realms were Golden-Level spirit weapons.
This kind of division actually bore some resemblance to the divisions for pharmacists and medicinal pills.
The treasured sword that the Ling Clan siblings formerly used was also a Human-Level spirit weapon.
From this, one could see the craftiness of the Ling Clan ancestor — If the clan hadn’t fallen on hard times, a Human-Level spirit weapon in a large aristocratic family would’ve been worth collecting. However, it wasn’t eye-catching, and it could be kept confidential. Once the clan declined, a Human-Level spirit weapon would be taken as a treasure passed down through the generations of a small aristocratic family. It, too, wouldn’t be conspicuous.
The scarlet-red saber was definitely a fire-attributed one. Tianheng didn’t hesitate once, and immediately said: “Tianyang, this thing will belong to you.”
Tianyang’s expression was happy: “Big brother?”
Tianheng smiled and said: “A drop of blood will let it recognize a master, and it will also conceal its brilliance.” Then he said, “You have a fire attribute and you’re fond of fighting in an unrestrained manner. This saber is most suitable for you right now.”
Tianyang didn’t stand on ceremony, and accepted it at once. A drop of blood fell down.
The scarlet-red saber instantly let out a low, joyous cry as if it rather liked Tianyang as its master. Soon after, its spirituality acted independently, and it withdrew its splendor. It looked exactly the same as a mundane weapon, but it was totally different on the inside.
Closely following that was a spear. It seemed to have the metal attribute.
Tianheng picked it up and threw it to Dragon One: “Take it, and have it recognize you as its master.”
Dragon One took it, and let a drop of blood fall onto it without the slightest hesitation: “Many thanks, young master!”
The sound of that spear’s low cry was even happier than that of the scarlet-red saber.
Gu Zuo couldn’t help inwardly thinking about whether this had a big connection to the two sets of bone pearls in Dragon One’s body.
However, this was just a guess, and shouldn’t be taken as fact.
Next was a sword with the ice attribute and a halberd with the earth attribute.
These two spirit weapons were received into Tianheng’s open sleeves: “Young Master Ling and Young Lady Ling don’t definitively know their attributes right now. For the time being, these won’t be distributed.”
Ling Ziqi and Ling Ziwei didn’t make any fuss. Being able to gain experience was already enough. How could they dare to object here? What’s more, Gu Zuo had also practically saved Ling Ziwei’s life. They wouldn’t harbor any greedy thoughts.
Thus, the two were merely somewhat disappointed. They promptly responded: “Yes, benefactor.”
Tianheng raised an eyebrow, and took the initiative to walk to the table in the middle.
What was arranged on the stone table were three sets of inner armor.
They were light-gold in color and one couldn’t make out what the materials were, but the effects were probably out of the ordinary.
Tianheng took the saber out from Tianyang’s hand and slashed towards the three sets of inner armor —
Shing! Clink!
Several peals of sound echoed out, but there weren’t any marks on the three inner armors.
Tianheng reached out a hand, and swept out.
The three inner armors were quickly tossed up into the air. And like a firecracker, they each flew in three directions! Among which, Tianyang received one and the Ling Clan siblings received the other two.
Tianheng said: “This place has many tribulations. The realms of you three are comparatively low, so each of you will take one set for self-protection.”
The Ling Clan siblings never expected that they would still gain such benefits. Upon hearing Tianheng’s words, their hearts couldn’t thank him enough. They expressed their sincerity over and over again.
Tianyang saw that the woman he adored now had something to protect her body, and his heart was naturally delighted. However, the pharmacist, who was even frailer, actually got nothing. He thought it was due to his family’s elder brother or perhaps some other reason. But after a bit of hesitation, he still offered the inner armor in his hands: “Big brother, now that I have a spirit weapon, the power to protect myself has risen. It’d be better for me to give this inner armor to Brother Ah Zuo. Although big brother is present and nothing will probably happen to Brother Ah Zuo, wouldn’t it be better if he can be protected even more carefully?”
Gu Zuo heard this, and his heart warmed.
A treasure was at stake, but Tianyang was still willing to give a good thing to him first. This was true friendship. The advantages that he previously treated to Tianyang also weren’t in vain.
However, his self-defensive capabilities were even higher than Dragon One’s. Compared to his big brother, he was only a bit worse. It wasn’t practical to use the inner armor. And giving it to Tianyang to protect his body was for the best.
A hint of praise flashed through Tianheng’s eyes, but he still said: “Tianyang shall take it. If I’m here, nothing will happen to Ah Zuo.”
Gu Zuo also hastily said: “Rest assured, Tianyang. Big brother has made plans long ago.”
The two had an extraordinary tacit understanding. Tianyang looked left and right at the two before putting on the inner armor.
It wasn’t known how the inner armor was forged. It appeared to also have some spirituality, and needed a drop of blood to recognize a master. When one’s thoughts turned, the armor would put itself on the body. It was fortunately like this, which didn’t embarrass Ling Ziwei, who was the only woman here.
On the last table were three books. Among them, one was a cultivation method and two were martial skills. Also, the cultivation method and a martial skill formed a complete set. Meanwhile, the other martial skill was a saber technique. They were all at least at the Human-Level rank, and were very practical.
It was a pity that the cultivation method and martial skills weren’t suitable for the Moon Siren Body. Without any better option, they were collected by Tianheng. After taking them back to the Sect, they would be distributed to the Tianlong Guards at his discretion.
These three types of funerary objects were acquired. Tianheng then took the lead to walk into that corner’s tomb path.
Nevertheless, Gu Zuo’s psychic power explored it first. And still he saw a tract of white fog.
At this moment, Tianheng advanced a step without the slightest hesitation, and discharged the reddish-gold power without restraint!
In a split second, the white fog dispersed. When everyone swiftly walked over, what they saw was another large hall. There was a blood pool and endless blood corpses!
With experience this time around, everyone had lots of confidence in their hearts.
Gu Zuo still cooperated together with Tianheng to exterminate the blood corpses. Meanwhile, Dragon One, with the support of Tianyang and the others, made self-preservation a priority over slaying the blood corpses.
However, the strengths of this time’s blood corpses were stronger than those before.
Not only did the Xiantian Realm blood corpses appear more frequently, the speeds of all the blood corpses were also faster.
Fortunately, the present Tianyang and Dragon One had spirit weapons. They faced the enemies smoothly and without any trouble. The Ling Clan siblings wore inner armor, which could protect most of their bodies.
Overall, it wasn’t as difficult as it was previously.
Tianheng and Gu Zuo soon smashed a clear path for themselves. It was also Tianheng who used more than half of his power to evaporate the blood pool. Merely, the power needed this time was even greater. Reaching the end, Tianheng only had a sliver of power remaining, and barely disposed of the blood pool and more than half of the blood corpses.
Beneath the blood pool, Corpse Spring Flowers were flourishing.
There were two hundred-something Corpse Spring Flowers this round. Sure enough, more had shown up here than in the previous blood pool. Moreover, the product grades seemed better, too.
But Gu Zuo didn’t have any thoughts about harvesting them this time. He only rapidly said: “Big brother lacks strength right now. Young Lady Ling and Young Master Ling, please help pluck the Corpse Spring Flowers. Dragon One and Tianyang, I’ll have to trouble you two with quickly eliminating the rest of the blood corpses.”
Tianyang and the others all immediately agreed, and urgently set out. The Ling Clan siblings swiftly evaded the blood corpses and dashed towards the bottom of that blood pool.
The blood corpses’ powers were greatly reduced. Tianyang and Dragon One had a general understanding. Once all of the blood corpses were disposed of, the hall might collapse. Thus, when they acted, their speeds were also controlled extremely carefully.
Off to the side, Gu Zuo wasn’t able to deal with anything else. Many top grade Qi Linking Pills quickly appeared in his hands. And all of which were stuffed into Tianheng’s mouth: “Big brother, quickly circulate your qi and recover!”
Tianheng was caught off guard, and had quite a few pills stuffed into his mouth. Just then, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He promptly mumbled: “Ah Zuo, rest assured. I’m not going to be a hindrance here.”
Once Gu Zuo hurriedly stuffed the pills, he found that his own reaction was a little extreme. Suddenly, he was somewhat embarrassed. After that, he forced a laugh: “Sorry, big brother. I was a little... Ahaha.”
While Tianheng swiftly digested the medicinal pills, he shook his head and broke into laughter: “No harm done. Ah Zuo was distraught for me. As it happens, I’m happy, but there’s still not enough time.”
Gu Zuo’s face reddened. Once again, he took out some medicinal pills.
But this time, Gu Zuo just put them all in Tianheng’s hand, letting him adjust the dosage himself.
As for Gu Zuo, he paid careful attention to this hall.
He was prepared if this hall also collapsed. At the first signs of anything happening, he would unfurl his psychic power to protect his big brother, who had become a weak chicken!
Not long after, Tianheng’s strength had recovered to a little less than fifty percent — This was all due to the powerful medicinal effects of top grade pills. Dragon One and Tianyang had also dispatched the remaining blood corpses.
Sure enough, the hall shook and collapsed once again. As before, Tianheng released a reddish-gold cover. Tianyang and the others also did the same. However, only Tianheng and Gu Zuo had extra energy to both brace and shatter that boulder. In addition, Gu Zuo was the main force this time. Tianheng was still taking medicinal pills to recover his true qi.
This round’s falling boulders were more numerous and concentrated. Smashing them was likewise more challenging. However, as far as Gu Zuo and Tianheng were concerned, this wasn’t a matter that was considered excessively difficult. Before long, the illusion had completely faded away.
What was left behind was three long, stone tables, as well as the funerary objects on the tables.
Spirit weapons, armors, and cultivation methods.
It was still these three things. And each one was even better than what they saw previously.
The spirituality of the spirit weapons and armors was a bit stronger, and the cultivation methods had also reached the Golden-Level. But this time, Tianheng didn’t allocate these objects — With such product grades, Tianyang and the others simply wouldn’t have had any way to use them freely. If the things were distributed, then that would’ve been considered a reckless waste of resources.
Similarly, Gu Zuo also didn’t receive anything.
On the contrary, all of the Corpse Spring Flowers that the Ling Clan siblings harvested before were respectfully offered to Gu Zuo now.
Following that, the group walked over to the tomb path ahead.
What no one expected was that there was still a blood pool... In the Great Tomb of the Human King, one tomb chamber connected to another tomb chamber. It was like it was challenging people to pass through checkpoints. Each and every one had similar ghasts to deal with.
However, they didn’t dare to treat things lightly.
— If one faced something without enough prudence, they would instead be fooled due to a force of habit. What should be done then?
Therefore, under Tianheng’s guidance, not only didn’t they lose their vigilance, they instead took even more precautions.
He felt that this Great Tomb of the Human King wouldn’t let them pass through so easily...
Outside the Great Tomb.
After the first batch of cannon fodder and talents were sent off into the Great Tomb, the people outside all waited anxiously. They wanted to know about the movements of the people inside.
Yet, not much time had passed when someone flew out from that place in the middle of the sky. He appeared as if he was blindly running for his life, like someone had beaten him out. In short, he cut a very sorry figure.
The members of all the large organizations gathered closer, grouping into a circle.
At this moment, they saw that this was a talent who originally had high hopes placed upon him. His body was riddled with bloody holes, and his complexion was blackened. It was obvious that he was poisoned. And what was even more frightening was that his body was starting to grow inch-long strands of hair, and the skin of his whole body was also constantly darkening. His facial features gradually revealed a malevolent look, as if he was slowly turning into an evil spirit... Subconsciously, everyone couldn’t help sucking in a cold breath.
Too horrible!
In the end, just what was in that Great Tomb?
Soon after, the talent twitched repeatedly. All of a sudden, he leaped up. At this moment, he really was like an evil spirit as he advanced towards those living people and attacked with all his might. Some people were inattentive, and were scratched by his ghost claws. The forming scratch marks immediately became black. Moreover, it followed the blood vessels and kept spreading, making their features also start to twitch.
Some people immediately shouted:
“Careful! Don’t get scratched!”
“Quickly use fire to burn those who’ve already been scratched!”
“We absolutely can’t allow them to injure more people!”
Because the number of wounded was very low, that talent who had transformed into a ghast and the few others were swiftly dealt with. But the feelings of fear that this incident brought still left traces in the hearts of some martial artists.
Particularly in the minds of those who weren’t that powerful. For a moment, their hearts were beating the sound of retreat.
Immediately following this, someone yelled: “Look at the secret realm!”
Many people looked over, and their eyes suddenly widened. They all let out cries of alarm.
“How, how can that be possible...”
“Am I seeing things?”
“Just before, there was clearly only one!”
“But now, there’s eighteen—”
Originally, high in the air, there was only a single entrance to the Great Tomb. Now, that entrance had changed into eighteen entrances all of a sudden. Each one was exactly the same as they all towered side by side in the hazy, white light!
Moreover, no one was able to identify the one that the first batch of people had entered. When all was said and done, which was the entrance?
Or perhaps, none of them was the entrance...
These people naturally didn’t know that, at the very beginning, the single entrance was actually eighteen entrances. Seventeen were fake and one was real. It was difficult to distinguish what was real and what was fake.
Merely, at the start, Gongyi Tianheng and the others had used the secret key to open that Great Tomb. With the secret key pointing the way, they directly passed through and went in, and where they went was naturally to the real tomb. On the contrary, those eighteen entrances were superimposed upon one another. After the first batch of people entered, they had already been long scattered among the eighteen entrances. The death toll was far higher than what they anticipated!
Right now, Tianheng and company were crashing their way through several checkpoints. The Great Tomb of the Human King had reduced the degree of difficulty. This transformation into eighteen entrances...allowed those remaining who wanted to enter know how many paths blocked their way.
This was no more than letting them make some psychological preparations.
At this moment, the numerous forces which had gathered the second batch of troops all couldn’t help feeling a headache coming along.
After thinking about it, they realized that there’d be, at most, only one real entrance among the eighteen. But if they sent people in like this, then the probability of selecting the real tomb was too small! After the first batch’s cannon fodder entered, just how many hidden dangers were used up in the eighteen tombs? No matter how they thought about it, it wasn’t too reliable...
The people of the second entering batch should’ve all been the geniuses of each large organization.
However, if they let the geniuses go in now, the attrition rate of the geniuses would be increased too much compared to their predictions...
T/N: For clarification, the terminology spirit weapon mentioned in this chapter (灵兵) coincidentally matches the name spirit weapon (神兵) used previously for Tianheng’s new spear and the Sect Pavilion that forged it.
Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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