“So that is how it is.” Yu Qing nodded repeatedly, showing a face full of appreciation for these words, and casually added, “Good, I will let you kill this thief with your own hands to vent your hatred. Go ahead.”
“….” Tong Zaitian was instantly rendered speechless on the spot. His eyes widened slightly with a sense of disbelief. He stared blankly at the seemingly serious gang leader, and finally nodded decisively, thanking the gang leader for accommodating him.
He turned to head towards Gong Ziting, having already made up his mind not to give Gong Ziting any chance to speak and expose him, ensuring a single fatal strike.
In fact, before coming here, Duan Yunyou had given instructions. Gong Ziting had already leaked secrets. Although there were understandable reasons, it was still detestable. If he was still alive, he must be stabilised. If he could be saved, he should be saved, as a way to account to the gang members. If he truly could not be saved, one could act according to the situation and was permitted to kill him to silence him.
In short, his mission on this trip was the priority. The already compromised Left Guardian was not as important as his mission.
He had stabilised Gong Ziting just now because it was inconvenient to suddenly strike him down. Now that this new gang leader had given him the opportunity, he was more than willing to do so to eliminate future trouble.
Gong Ziting at the doorway was also staring over and observing.
Seeing Tong Zaitian’s resolute back as he moved to act, Yu Qing suddenly smiled deeply, as if he had figured something out. He quickly stepped forward, grabbed him, and smiled, “No rush, no rush. Even if I let you kill him to vent your hatred, it is not now. Before we can confirm the so-called clues here, we cannot kill him. Wait a bit longer. There will be a chance for you to take revenge in the future.”
Tong Zaitian was stunned again, then quickly bowed and said, “It is fine, I am in no rush. The overall situation is the priority. It is not too late to deal with it later.”
Yu Qing said, “I knew Mr Tong was a reasonable person. Sure enough, you did not disappoint me. Go and get busy first. We will talk about this matter later.”
“Good.” Tong Zaitian responded obediently and stepped back with an appearance of great respect for the gang leader. As he turned around dragging his tools, he breathed a slight sigh of relief, but also felt quite regretful. It had been a good opportunity to eliminate future trouble.
Yu Qing watched him leave, and just happened to see Mu Aotie carrying a pile of sand out from a lower area. He then followed him out, taking an extra look at Gong Ziting as he passed the doorway.
Once outside, after Mu Aotie had dumped the sand, Yu Qing beckoned him to a slightly further place and asked, “What do you think of this person, Tong Zaitian?”
Mu Aotie replied, “When we were dividing the money, did you not praise him as being quite good?”
Naturally, they had previously searched Xu Fengji’s corpse and obtained several million taels. Logically, this was Tong Zaitian’s sole harvest. However, Tong Zaitian refused to swallow it all alone, saying that he could only kill Xu Fengji because everyone had attracted Xu Fengji’s attention.
In the end, Tong Zaitian only took half, and the remaining half was divided equally among everyone.
“Did I?” Yu Qing doubted. Thinking about the situation at the time, with money to divide, everyone was naturally happy and naturally felt that Tong Zaitian was a good person. He seemed to have exclaimed a word of praise, but precisely because of this, it made him feel even more annoyed.
He had no need to feel embarrassed in front of Mu Aotie, so he solemnly reminded him, “We have been fooled. That fellow is from the Flying Eagle Gang. He is a spy sent by Duan Yunyou.”
Mu Aotie was stunned. “He is definitely from the Scorpion Gang. I have seen him over at the Scorpion Gang before.”
Yu Qing retorted, “If he can come here to be a spy, could he not also be a spy within the Scorpion Gang? The Scorpion Gang was ruined, the chief was killed, and last night they were accurately ambushed again. Losing so miserably is probably inextricably linked to this fellow. Poor old woman Xu Fengji, she probably did not know what was happening even until her death.”
Mu Aotie asked suspiciously, “How do you know he was sent by Duan Yunyou?”
Yu Qing was too lazy to beat around the bush and spoke directly, “He just used the opportunity to get close to Gong Ziting. I overheard their conversation.”
Mu Aotie became serious. “Then we must remind everyone to be careful.”
Yu Qing raised his eyebrows and said, “How to remind them? We have been played like fools once again. We have only been here for two days, and we have been played twice, with so many people dead. This Tianji Mountain is truly cursed. We cannot dodge hidden arrows, nor can we guard against open spears. It is simply impossible to defend against. When life and death are at stake, which of these people can you easily trust?”
He had called Mu Aotie aside specifically to remind him to be careful.
Mu Aotie’s face also darkened. “If he could kill Xu Fengji like that, I can use the same method to do him in. I will handle it!”
He dropped these words and left.
Yu Qing grabbed him abruptly and glared, “I am reminding you to be careful and not to fall into his trap. Who told you to go and kill him?”
Mu Aotie asked in surprise and suspicion, “Did you not see the fate of that Scorpion Gang earlier? This is a venomous snake hiding in the dark. Do you still want to keep him around to bite us?”
Yu Qing said, “We have already discovered him. What dark place is he still hiding in? We cannot kill him right now. We indeed need to keep him.”
Mu Aotie did not understand. “Keep him for what? To kill Duan Yunyou?”
Yu Qing leaned in close and whispered sneakily, “Did you not hear what Gong Ziting said? Duan Yunyou has an ancient book in his hands. It is a notebook from when ancient forces explored and mapped Tianji Mountain. Who would have thought this abandoned broken temple would be related to the Qilin Ginseng? Who would know this broken temple was originally called the Qilin Hall? Did he not see all of this from that notebook?”
“From this, it can be seen that the notebook records not only the geographical situation of Tianji Mountain, but may also involve some history buried by time. There might even be records of the Three-legged Crow.”
Mu Aotie’s eyes lit up. “You want to get your hands on that ancient notebook from Duan Yunyou?”
Yu Qing said, “We cannot get the Tianji Mountain map from Nie Rifu, the city lord of Kuilei City. We are not qualified to touch the ones in the hands of the several top experts. Can we not make a move on this sickly Duan Yunyou?”
“He cannot beat me anyway. Our strength is right here. Do we need to have any scruples? The capable deserve the good things. Is this not the rule of the game on Tianji Mountain?”
Mu Aotie nodded slightly in agreement, but still frowned. “They will not easily give it to us. I am afraid it will not be that easy to get our hands on it!”
Yu Qing said, “Does Duan Yunyou not like to play dirty? Who says we cannot? We will keep him company! Therefore, this matter about the spy must remain known only to you and me. Others must not know. Once the news leaks, or if the other side sees a clue, we really will not know who is plotting against whom.”
Mu Aotie understood and asked, “What do you want to do?”
Yu Qing said, “No rush. Let us do our own things first. We cannot stop eating just because a fly fell into the pot. As long as we do not give Tong Zaitian the opportunity to ambush me, and as long as I am still here, Duan Yunyou will not dare to clash with us directly. Since they have planted a spy here, they will not be in a hurry either. No one should disturb us, so we can act at our leisure.”
Even so, the personnel taking turns to guard the surroundings never relaxed.
They had already experienced the dangers of this Tianji Mountain, and no one dared to lower their guard.
Tong Zaitian would also take turns on guard duty. It seemed there was no difference in treatment compared to others, but Yu Qing intentionally arranged for Mu Aotie to be on the same shift as him. This was to let Mu Aotie secretly keep watch, preventing the enemy from sneaking up on them without anyone knowing.
As the gang leader, Yu Qing remained the most relaxed one. While others were constantly taking turns to stand guard and work, he was the only one lying in front of the temple carvings, continuously studying them.
The group dug until the afternoon of the next day before they finally managed to excavate all the large and small spaces inside the entire temple.
Yu Qing also examined all the carvings that could be clearly seen in the large and small spaces within the temple. There were fully ten thousand carved pictures, not including those that had been eroded by time and were unclear. This showed how magnificent the carvings inside this temple had once been.
Many pictures had their own content, but Yu Qing did not understand the background of this content, so he could not understand what the carvings meant.
For the parts he could understand, based on some similar and repeated scenes, he also summarised a few characteristics.
For example, a carved picture in front of him depicted several maids collecting dew from flowers and grass, and then offering it to the Qilin to drink. He had seen similar scenes several times. Although the pictures were different, the meaning was the same.
Therefore, he summarised that the Qilin liked to consume morning dew.
Also, it liked waterfalls, enjoying the impact of the rushing water in the cascades.
It liked strange rocks. Many painted scenes showed it appearing among strange peaks and beautiful stones, with many backgrounds featuring rugged and bizarre rocks.
It liked to ride the clouds and mist. There were many scenes of riding clouds and mist in the carvings, showing it liking to welcome the morning glow and watch the sunrise at the peaks of cloud and mist seas.
It liked to eat fish and shrimp. Many scenes depicted it treading on waves to forage for fish and shrimp.
Within the entire temple, these were the only characteristics he could understand and summarise. Needless to say, he could not understand the rest, and he did not pay too much attention to other fragmented and complicated details for the time being.
He also had his own method. Finding the Qilin Ginseng was just about figuring out its living habits. Remembering those scenes depicting stories from who knows which realm would probably be useless. He could not possibly remember all ten thousand pictures, so he could only make some selections.
At this moment, he was not the only one holding a fluorescent stone for illumination. Other members of the gang who had just finished working were also doing so. Their eyes were shining one by one as they stroked and examined the carved patterns, all wanting to unravel the secret of the Qilin Ginseng.
Swish, swish, swish. The three people who had carried out the last pile of sand also returned in a hurry, sliding directly down the sloping floor with eager minds.
Although it was broad daylight, it became dark as soon as one went down below. Everyone had to take out a fluorescent stone to see clearly. This showed how deeply the temple was buried underneath, and also how difficult it was to remove the sand piled up here.
“Eh, what is this iron ring for?”
Gao Changtai pulled away a clump of remaining sand from the sloping wall, revealing a Qilin beast head holding a ring in its mouth. He tugged at the metal ring and asked with some surprise.
Yu Qing walked closer and took a look. “Nothing much. It should be an original ornament of the temple. There are corresponding ones in other positions too. I do not know who took them away.”
He had seen several similar Qilin beast heads before, and their teeth were all chipped. Seeing this ring holder, he understood.
“Oh, then this ring holder might have some trick to it. There is no gap between the teeth. I do not know how it was put in.”
With shining eyes, Gao Changtai clicked his tongue twice. Without being polite, he grabbed the ring holder, channelled his magic, and twisted it forcefully. With a crack, the stone beast tooth chipped and flew off, and the iron ring fell into his hand.
Just as he was holding the iron ring and rubbing it to examine it, a crisp clicking sound suddenly came from the wall in front of him.
The sound was not loud, but it was very heart-stirring.
Everyone looked over. Gao Changtai raised the fluorescent stone and shone it on the stone wall. They saw a clear crack appear in the wall above the beast head, which was obviously related to his forced pulling just now.
The crowd instantly fell silent, holding their breath and concentrating, truly not daring to even breathe heavily.
However, what they feared came to pass. Everyone felt as if the entire temple had shifted slightly. Then, the crack on the wall became larger and longer, and stones began to fall from above with a crackling sound.
“The temple is going to collapse. Run quickly!”
Yu Qing suddenly shouted loudly and urgently dodged to escape.
Thinking of the scene of this deeply buried temple being buried by the collapsing sand mountains all around, everyone’s faces changed drastically. They fled in an emergency, scrambling over one another to turn the corner from behind the main hall of the temple and rush out with all their might.
Gong Ziting, who was sitting at the doorway looking left and right, also realised something. Fortunately, Moli kept her promise and gave him a pull, dragging him out along with her.
Boom.
An earth-shattering rumble echoed through the desert.