Gu Zuo subconsciously wanted to put away the things in his hand. But after a bit of hesitation, he and Gongyi Tianheng shared a glance and he only put away that item book. The three sheets of pill prescriptions still remained in his hand.
During this time, those people outside who were making a racket had already barged inside.
There were two batches of people.
The batch on the left was comprised of nine young men. The leader had an arrogant countenance. His every moment seemed to be a little frivolous, but the difference in this was that another four people who were clearly guarding him were very cool-headed — Even though their attitudes had nothing in common with each other, they all appeared very experienced. There was an additional four who were also somewhat haughty. It seemed that they weren’t protectors, and they were rather fickle and impatient.
Meanwhile, the other batch of people left Gu Zuo a little astonished.
The one who acted as the leader — That young man who wore magnificent robes and had exceptional poise also bore a face full of surprise. It was clear that he recognized them as well.
Gu Zuo’s frame of mind was somewhat subtle.
Wasn’t this person Huangfu Zhanghao? Previously, due to a medicinal pill, Zhanghao’s luck had formed a connection with that of his big brother. Zhanghao simultaneously became his big brother’s shield as well as a person who borrowed his big brother’s luck.
Ever since they entered Qingyun Sect, they had never bumped into each other. They had only heard that he had been welcomed into the Inner Sect by someone at the start. He was also given a Xiantian Pill to have a breakthrough. Now, they had unexpectedly met again in here... It was very timely.
Next to Huangfu Zhanghao, there were only five individuals. And among them, three were very familiar.
There were two men and one woman: Zou Qingyue, Luo Yanfang, and Liu Wuyuan. At the time, they had presided over the Hundred Countries Tournament. Later, the three brought them to Qingyun Sect, and gave the disciples their initial assignments.
However, Gu Zuo remembered that these three were Immortal Realm martial artists. They definitely weren’t at the Xiantian Realm... And Ling Ziqi clearly stated that in the Great Tomb of the Human King, only martial artists below the Immortal Realm could enter.
— It couldn’t have been that, in order to get into the Great Tomb of the Human King, they had directly dropped their own realms? That was just too heartless.
Gu Zuo scrutinized them for a moment.
Soon after, he discovered that the qi emissions of Zou Qingyue and the other two were undulating indeterminately. He carefully thought it over, and vaguely recalled something among the previous newly-obtained item books. Written down was a medicinal pill that could temporarily suppress one’s realm. Perhaps, what they had used was this type of pill?
...Okay, this wasn’t heartless. Rather, it was just paying a huge price.
He took another look at the four cool-headed people on the left side. Sure enough, their qi emissions were unstable, too. They were the same as Zou Qingyue — Immortal Realm martial artists who had suppressed their realms to enter. Moreover, Zou Qingyue and the other two were silently protecting Huangfu Zhanghao.
On the contrary, those four fickle and impatient young men were the same as Zhanghao, and the remaining two on the right who seemed to have a noble air about them — They all should’ve been Inner Sect disciples at the Xiantian Realm.
On this side, Gu Zuo kept a subtle demeanor, but on that side, Huangfu Zhanghao was bewildered.
Their group of eighteen individuals had entered the same entrance, but chose different tomb passages. Along the way, both sides had encountered many pitch-black ghasts — Due to the ghast’s speed and power, they were caught off-guard at the beginning. Each side had one or two companions perish, and there wasn’t even enough time to save them. After that, they were even more cautious as they finally got through that passage. Following this, the two sides met again in the same tomb chamber. They went forwards, and only the path between tomb chambers remained.
This time around, both sides didn’t come across any difficulties. However, this wasn’t a good thing because they clearly found stone tables on either side of those tomb chambers — There should’ve been funerary objects on top of the tables — But now, the tables were completely empty. This meant that someone had gotten here first!
Hence, although each side didn’t find their counterparts pleasing to the eyes, they still advanced quickly. Finally, they caught sight of that core tomb chamber, which was different from the ones outside. In order to block those people who’d gotten there first, they had set out many battle arrays. The deed was done. But as it turned out, the one they trapped was that familiar person who once kindled his curiosity, which then became admiration — Until Zhanghao was finally able to calmly avoid recalling him anymore.
When neither party said anything, the noble young master on the left side impatiently opened his mouth: “If you guys want to keep your lives, then hand over everything!”
The footsteps of the eight people beside him changed to protect him. Their movements were clearly to back him up.
Gu Zuo silently swept a glance over to that side.
Such a small number of people... What did it matter if some were previously Immortal Realms? So long as the opponents weren’t Immortal Realms, it was impossible to cause them too much pressure. Besides, while Gu Zuo couldn’t do anything out in the open, he wasn’t pressured at all when secretly using poison. It would take less than a minute to put them down.
— However, what was Huangfu Zhanghao thinking about on that side?
Without waiting for Zhanghao to speak, those four haughty Xiantian martial artists beside that frivolous young master started talking one after another:
“What’s wrong? You guys refuse?”
“Our Qingyun Sect is handling matters here. Sensible people will cooperate!”
Gu Zuo: “...”
How big were their faces? This was... No, this should’ve shown that they were very confident in themselves!
Those couple of suppressed Immortal Realms might’ve been a bit hard to deal with, but his big brother could crush the others to death with just a hand. Not to mention his big brother, he could also release a cold arrow.
That’s right. Among these five young martial artists, the one with the highest realm was just at Xiantian stage six. The others were Xiantian stage four and five. With his realm likewise at Xiantian stage five, assassinating them would be effortless.
Tianyang said nothing. He only furrowed his brows.
He felt that it was a little tricky.
Meanwhile, the Ling Clan siblings’ former joy slowly changed to worry. Admittedly, they had learned through recent interactions that their benefactor and the others were members of Qingyun Sect. However, their benefactor was only a single individual in the end. Now, there were quite a few people. The statuses of those people seemed equivalent or even higher than their benefactor’s status — Having gone through numerous things, they actually didn’t dare to have excessive faith in others. Even if it was someone from the same sect, would they truly be trustworthy? Even though they had announced their identities, wouldn’t the other party still be greedy?
They also said nothing.
Because they knew that lowly people had no right to speak during this trip. The true leader was still their benefactor, Gongyi Tianheng.
Since Tianheng had yet to say anything, they acted as if they heard nothing.
The appearance of Tianheng not talking was observed by Huangfu Zhanghao. In his mind, he secretly pondered.
Based on his former understanding of Tianheng, this was a person who was calm and composed at all times. Moreover, whenever he had this kind of composed appearance, he usually would’ve long made successful calculations and preparations. Although he hadn’t seen Tianheng in a long time, Zhanghao still decided to trust his own intuition — In the Sect, he really had been greatly valued, but as the young master of an aristocratic family, he also understood that watching out for himself was even more important than his own supposed worth. As a result, after starting off a bit too conceited, he soon came to a realization.
At this moment, Huangfu Zhanghao took the initiative to open his mouth: “Brother Tianheng, I trust you’ve been well since we last met?”
He looked at Tianheng with surprising courtesy.
Tianheng smiled: “While I wouldn’t consider myself well-off, I’ve saved up some capital. Brother Zhanghao, many thanks for your concern.” Following that, he said, “Actually, Brother Zhanghao, what are the current rules?”
Zhanghao said in a clear voice: “Brother Tianheng must be joking. We’re all members of the same sect. Naturally, we can’t harm each other. We need to be polite.”
Tianheng raised an eyebrow, and his gaze fell onto that Senior Sect Brother Zhu.
Huangfu Zhanghao also smiled and said to the frivolous young man on that side: “Senior Sect Brother Zhu, you’ve misunderstood. This is our Qingyun Sect’s...” He saw that Tianheng was already at the Xiantian Realm now, “...Inner Sect disciple, and he shares the same status as us. We should get along properly.”
The complexion of that person surnamed Zhu reddened and paled. Shortly thereafter, he gave a cold laugh: “Ha! Huangfu Zhanghao, you seem to be old friends with him? No wonder you’re speaking up for him like this. He has taken away all the benefits up ahead. How could I, the Senior Sect Brother, tolerate him for hogging everything? I’m afraid you also can’t tolerate it!”
Zhanghao bit back a retort, but after seeing that Tianheng’s expression wasn’t the least bit flustered, his mind also made plans. He restrained that sliver of greed borne from Zhu Jiu’s words, and said: “Brother Tianheng, since you got here first and swept away the calamities ahead...”
When he spoke up to here, he suddenly recalled those pitch-black ghasts as well as those unobstructed tomb chambers. He was frightened at once, but his words didn’t stop: “...The things you obtained naturally belong to you. Senior Sect Brother Zhu, how can you wield your own identity as a fellow disciple to demand it of him? There are things that a man of character will and won’t do. Such instigations really aren’t befitting of a gentleman.”
Gu Zuo listened to Zhu Jiu and Zhanghao’s words, and his fingers tightened.
Right now, it was like they were watching a play or something... This side hadn’t done anything yet, but that side had already started infighting. However, regardless of what Zhanghao’s goal was, he was standing on the same side as his dear big brother. As such, this what somewhat beneficial to them. Otherwise, his big brother would either have to incite disharmony in the relationship between the two sides, or he would have to deal with them as a joint force, which would be hard work in comparison.
Throughout Zhu Jiu’s life, what he hated the most was insubordination. Upon hearing Zhanghao’s words, he knew that his own instigations had failed. A hint of fury couldn’t help flashing through his eyes: “Huangfu Zhanghao, you entered the Inner Sect after me, but do you know that you need to respect your Senior Sect Brothers? Besides, there’s no need to be hypocritical! Who doesn’t want treasure? Meeting us can also be considered their bad luck. It’s better that we get rid of them, seize their belongings, and hand it over to the Sect for even more advantages. They probably didn’t arrive by following the Sect into the Great Tomb, so who would know that we killed them?”
Zhanghao also looked down on Zhu Jiu. His words didn’t have the slightest trace of backing down: “While we should respect our Senior Sect Brothers, those Senior Sect Brothers should also be worthy of respect. Let alone making schemes to plunder the fortuitous encounter that your Junior Sect Brother obtained, you still want to conspire to murder your fellow disciples. Who in their right mind would want to follow such a person? If anyone did follow you, who would be capable of sincerely respecting you? In all likelihood, once someone loses any exploitive value, then they’ll be similarly dealt with. It’s really quite lamentable.”
Whatever provocations they came up with over there, he could do the same.
Zhu Jiu’s eyes carried an ominous light: “You really aren’t willing?”
Huangfu Zhanghao’s complexion was cold: “I’d advise that Senior Sect Brother Zhu doesn’t entertain any wild fantasies. Although I have a few less people here, I believe that Brother Tianheng certainly won’t mind joining forces with me. At that time, even though you have personal guards, I’m afraid you’ll have to fight with us where neither side wins!”
Originally, Zhanghao’s forces here were really weak with just five Xiantians. Tianheng had two Xiantians on his side. Added together, it was seven versus nine. They were still the weaker party — The pharmacist and Houtian martial artists were all considered superfluous, and weren’t counted among them by Zhanghao and the others.
However, Tianheng had seized the good things in the Great Tomb. If pressed, there would be no way for Zhu Jiu’s side to achieve their goal. This would pull things back a little bit in terms of battle superiority. On top of that, one couldn’t look at how there were more people on that side. In fact, Zhu Jiu himself couldn’t be counted for any combat power. Zhanghao was likewise being protected, but he could contribute. In this way, the gap was even smaller.
Zhu Jiu listened to Zhanghao’s threats, and his gaze flashed repeatedly. His complexion was extremely ugly.
At this time, the four bodyguards at his side exchanged glances. The most senior among them spoke up: “Junior Sect Brother Zhu, you shouldn’t save a little only to lose a lot.”
Zhu Jiu clenched his fists. After a long while, he lowered his head unwillingly. But, no one saw the bitter resentment in the depths of his eyes. There was nothing to be done. In actuality, quite a few of his people had died earlier. While those four people were protecting him, they would also restrict him under essential circumstances. It was basically impossible for him to command them when they had already made up their minds. This caused him to develop hatred towards these four people in his heart.
That senior protector advanced a step, and spoke staidly: “Since we’re all fellow disciples, then any problems can be discussed. We naturally won’t dip our fingers into those previous things, but our Sect will pay a high price to research this Great Tomb. For the state of affairs in the tomb within this tomb chamber... I’ll have to ask this Junior Sect Brother to follow us to see the Elder, and talk things over.”
At first, Huangfu Zhanghao’s mental state was stretched taut, but when he saw the four protecters on that side making this decision, he couldn’t help heaving a sigh of relief.
He didn’t want to confront Tianheng at all.
Perhaps he wasn’t too confident in himself, but he thoroughly understood that, back when Tianheng wasn’t able to practice martial arts, there were many times where people weren’t optimistic about Tianheng, but he would always win in the end. This caused those who tried to entrap him to suffer immense retributions, while he earned money by the boatload. In short, he had never suffered a loss.
Thus, under the premise that he and Tianheng had an oath of allegiance, he wasn’t willing to make things difficult for any unknown benefits — In actuality, they really didn’t know what was in this Great Tomb. Maybe there wasn’t anything useful? It wasn’t necessary to antagonize others for this reason.
Gu Zuo secretly praised that guy in the depths of his heart.
Sure enough, Huangfu Zhanghao was an intelligent person.
En, it might’ve also been because his borrowed luck was too good.
Hence, Zhanghao turned his head, and said to Tianheng: “It seems there’s no one else in this Great Tomb. Brother Tianheng, wouldn’t it better for us to go out together? The Elder who’s awaiting us this time is a capable subordinate of the Sect Master. He’s always impartial. If Brother Tianheng makes a big contribution to the Sect, you certainly won’t be treated unfairly. And if Brother Tianheng doesn’t want to do this, the Elder also won’t make things difficult. However, Brother Tianheng is also a member of our Sect, so just don’t let your own fertile waters flow into the fields of outsiders!”
These words were certainly good to hear. Moreover, compared to the former aristocratic young master, not only did he seem open-minded, he also had the bearing of a high-ranking individual. He was very effective at swaying bystanders to his cause.
Of course, Tianheng wouldn’t form any thoughts about wanting to rely on his help because of this. However, since it was pleasant to the ears, Tianheng put forward a very sincere attitude: “I’ll naturally place my trust in Brother Zhanghao.” Then, he looked at that senior from before, “Many thanks for upholding justice, Senior Sect Brother.”
Off to the side, that Zhu Jiu had been completely shaken off. Tianheng looked everyone in the eye except for him. Naturally, Zhu Jiu’s anger was unbearable, but there was still nothing he could do about it. Following this, he could only hatefully remember all these people and get his revenge on them one by one in the future. Merely, he didn’t discover that the other three protecters around him had observed his expression this time. They all faintly shook their heads.
While there was nothing wrong with wanting benefits, it was inappropriate to persist on a lost cause for personal gain; especially when it was in spite of the Sect’s general situation. Wanting to obtain advantages was human nature, but he didn’t understand how to weigh up one’s words and expressions for the sake of said advantages. From the start, he only thought about murdering his fellow disciples, and there wasn’t the slightest trace of internal struggle. One could see that his heart was ice-cold.
Placing this child in a position of power would be difficult to endure. They still needed to observe some more.
Meanwhile, Gongyi Tianheng’s words weren’t finished: “This one happens to know about some matters in this Great Tomb. When I meet the Elder, I’ll explain the inside information. As for any transactions... I’ll discuss them with the Elder in detail.”
Those couple of protecters heard this, and their expressions were gladdened.
From these few words, they heard some things.
After that, the leading protecter said: “Since it’s like this, the matter shouldn’t be delayed. We’ll first guard these few Junior Sect Brothers out of the Great Tomb.”
Tianheng smiled and said: “Brother Zhanghao, after you. Ladies and gentlemen, please.”
Zhanghao saw that Tianheng was giving him face, and similarly wore a smiling expression: “Brother Tianheng, after you.”
Yet, right at this moment, Zhu Jiu suddenly shouted: “That coffin should be brought back to the Sect!”
When these words were spoken, the expressions of everyone in the tomb changed.
Zhu Jiu was proud of himself and said: “What? Witnessing the beauty of this woman’s corpse has unexpectedly captivated you all. Have you forgotten the Sect’s mission? The woman’s corpse here is vivid and lifelike. If we bring it back, open the coffin, and do some checking, maybe we can still obtain benefits!”
It wasn’t that no one saw the coffin. On the contrary, because Yan Ruo’s corpse radiated an alluring light as she did in life, the men who came in couldn’t help being attracted in an instant. If that strand of Remnant Soul hadn’t already been fused with Ling Ziwei, perhaps they wouldn’t have immediately started fighting and scheming against one another. Rather, all of their attention would’ve been on the woman’s corpse!
However, these people also knew that this was the centermost tomb, and the corpse inside of the coffin was certainly the tomb owner. She slept peacefully herein, but it wasn’t known what methods she possessed while alive. Why would they go to disturb her corpse? It was assumed that all the benefits that could be taken in the tomb chamber were snatched by Tianheng. Naturally, it was better to let the woman’s corpse rest in this place. They simply wouldn’t have been so heedless as Zhu Jiu’s words, and take away the predecessor’s corpse!
Gu Zuo immediately developed a feeling of disgust towards that Zhu Jiu.
Grave robbing was one thing, but thinking about stealing the corpse, too? Moreover, after opening his mouth, he was so disrespectful to Yan Ruo. If Yan Ruo was still alive, a single palm would’ve been capable of slapping Zhu Jiu to death several times over. How could anyone tolerate him to speak ostentatiously here?
The others also bore some ill will towards Zhu Jiu.
Just before Zhanghao was about to berate him, one of Zhu Jiu’s protectors already spoke first: “Junior Sect Brother Zhu, have you forgotten Junior Sect Brother Wang’s ending? Could it be that you want to try it out personally?”
Gu Zuo was puzzled.
Zhanghao explained to everyone in a cold voice: “Just a while ago, this Senior Sect Brother Zhu took a fancy towards that small sculpture outside. He ordered Junior Sect Brother Wang to go and fetch it for him. In the end, that sculpture possessed great power and Junior Sect Brother Wang died immediately. But our Senior Sect Brother Zhu didn’t care about it at all. Now, he’s being disrespectful towards the owner of this tomb. Does he want to make another Junior Sect Brother test the tomb owner’s methods?”
When these words were uttered, the four actual Xiantian martial artists standing around Zhu Jiu all shifted away to the sides a little bit.
Zhu Jiu was furious. He knew that this corpse was out of reach, and flicked his sleeves: “You guys had better not regret this!”
Zhanghao’s gaze was gloomy and unfeeling.
Gu Zuo sighed again.
How should he put it? Even he, a person who grew up in a peaceful world, had a feeling of wanting to kill that guy and burn the evidence... That guy was too good at pulling aggro!
Following this, everyone returned to the original path.
When they left the inner tomb chamber, Gongyi Tianyang and Ling Ziwei both turned around and glanced at that coffin as well as that small sculpture.
Gu Zuo shook his head.
These two people would be allowed their eternal rest here... He hoped that nobody would come to disturb them in the future.
If there was a next life, he also hoped that destiny could bring the two together.
No matter what kind of fated relationship, so long as they could meet again, that would be the best. Wasn’t that so?
Although the nature of it wasn’t quite the same...it was much like him and his big brother.
After coming to this world, he had always felt that encountering Tianheng was very lucky. That Human King Yan Ruo — Princess Yan Ruo should’ve also thought the same thing after meeting Huo Zhan, right?
The process of leaving the Great Tomb was also very smooth.
Previously, Gu Zuo and company had disposed of the blood corpses. When Huangfu Zhanghao and the others passed through, they had also gotten rid of the remaining ghost corpses. Inside of the true tomb, there really weren’t any more dangers.
Speaking of which, Human King Yan Ruo’s temperament was very good. While there were many dangers in her tomb, the strengths of those living corpses actually weren’t beyond reasonable limits. What she used was human wave tactics, but there wasn’t anything outrageous like living corpses at the Immortal Realm or above. This clearly showed that she wanted to choose a disciple. If people still died in droves, what was there to blame her for?
As for there being seventeen fake tombs and one real tomb... Was it okay if she hadn’t wanted to be disturbed too much? Was it okay if she wanted to find a disciple with good luck? It was completely okay! She had every right to be willful and headstrong!
Gu Zuo followed behind Tianheng with a head full of assorted thoughts. Then, they were led to a seemingly upright and plainspoken Elder.
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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