He had not finished speaking when he saw Meng Wei walking over and promptly shut his mouth.
Meng Wei arrived in front of the three martial brothers and asked with a smile, “What are you chatting about?”
Yu Qing, “Chatting about whether we can still leave alive.”
Meng Wei lifted his chin towards the rumbling clearing site. “As long as you tell me what you truly came here to do, I can guarantee you will leave Jianyuan Mountain alive.”
That was quite a bold statement. The three martial brothers exchanged a glance.
Yu Qing yielded quite readily. “Have you heard of the ‘Cloud Chart’? I heard that thing is in the ancient tomb.”
Meng Wei was silent for a moment. “Something everyone knows is no secret.” His meaning was clear, this was not the answer he wanted.
Yu Qing, “It is common knowledge, but the item has not yet been found inside.” He was testing the waters, wanting to know whether the other party knew that Sinan Mansion had obtained the Cloud Chart.
Meng Wei, “Then I shall have no choice but to arrange some people to accompany you inside to search.”
The three martial brothers all fell silent.
They did not wait long before the four to five zhang high sealed mound was half its original height. One could see the level of cultivation those labourers possessed.
After that, no one moving stones could be seen atop the sealed mound. Only large rocks were being thrown out from the sealed mound beneath the stone wall from time to time.
Then someone leapt out, flew up from the stone pile, and landed in a flash before Meng Wei, nodding. “The cave entrance has been dug out.”
Meng Wei looked around and said to Yu Qing, “It seems the demon cultivators of Jianyuan Mountain do not intend to stop you from entering. Those so-called people from Wu’s Gold Shop, are they not with you? Do you want them to go in with you?”
Wu’s Gold Shop? Yu Qing was stunned for a moment, then understood he meant Qin Jue and the others. He denied it. “I am not familiar with them.”
He did not want anyone to capture Qin Jue and expose his true identity.
Since they were not going in together, Meng Wei did not press the matter for now. “I said before, I can guarantee you will leave Jianyuan Mountain alive. If there is anything you wish to tell me, you may say it now. It is not too late to regret your decision.”
Yu Qing, “I told you but you did not believe me. What can I do?”
Meng Wei turned to Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie again. “If either of you has something to say, it is the same. I will still honour my promise. Do neither of you have anything to say?”
Mu Aotie tilted his head slightly and looked up at the sky proudly, having nothing to say.
Nan Zhu actually wanted to speak, and secretly blamed Yu Qing. Things had already come to this. They were already being watched. Was there still any need to fuss over a single sentence in that broken map?
However, there was one good thing among martial brothers. Though they had many grievances normally, their attitude was still united when facing outsiders. So he also kept silent.
Silence was an attitude in itself. Meng Wei understood. Seeing the people who had gone to clear the entrance had reappeared on the stone pile, he also flashed over. He landed on the sealed mound and looked at the cleared entrance. He waved several people over and casually selected six, instructing, “You six accompany them down. See what exactly they are looking for. If you find it, keep it in our own hands.
This ancient tomb has been sealed for ten to twenty years. Previous assumptions may no longer apply. No one knows what the situation inside truly is, but you must all know something of what happened before. The existence of evil spirits inside is unavoidable. Remember, if the situation is truly dangerous, a situation you cannot handle, then do not force it. Failed bravado is meaningless. Withdraw immediately.
Try to stay close to those three. They are not fools either. For merely three people to dare enter, they may have some reliance. Staying close to them may help avoid some dangers.
Also, if things do not work out, try to keep that little moustache safe. That little moustache is someone wanted by those above…”
Yu Qing moved back and forth, wanting to find an angle to use his Character Observation Technique. However, Meng Wei was facing the stone wall. He could not find an angle to observe the other’s lip movements.
The secretly nervous Nan Zhu grabbed him again and pulled him over, complaining in a low voice, “Are you mad? Things have already come to this, and you are still thinking of finding an immortal’s abode to get rich? Listen to me. Let us not play this game anymore. As long as they have the ability to honour their promise, tell them the secret.”
Yu Qing retorted, “And then continue to hide bitterly in the mountains?”
Nan Zhu glared. “So many generations in the temple have lived this way. Why can you not do the same? Fifteenth, no amount of money is more important than life!”
Yu Qing did not object verbally, but he greatly disagreed with these words in his heart.
He was possibly the youngest sect leader in Linglong Temple’s history. Taking this position at the most restless age may not have been suitable, but there was no helping it. Special circumstances caused this. The previous generation had no time or opportunity to let him undergo the settling of years. They could not wait for him to mature and become steady before passing on the position.
The fatso before him had at least enjoyed romance and pleasure. But what about him? The beauties he had imagined, he had never experienced any of them. He had possessed several million taels of silver but had it robbed from him. Now, to let him return to the mountains to live in seclusion, poor and miserable, he was unwilling.
He really wanted to ask this fatso, when Master tried to persuade you back then, did he succeed? Did you not all walk out of the mountains one by one?
Only after enjoying romance and pleasure did you run back to the temple. Now you actually have the face to advise others to let go. Are you ill?
Of course, he did not say this aloud. There was no time to digress now either. He explained in a low voice, “He says letting us go will keep us safe, and you believe him?”
Nan Zhu, “What can we do if we do not believe it? We are already being watched. Can we run away? If the deal is negotiated, we at least have a glimmer of hope. Do not concern yourself with this matter. Watching you mess about gives me a headache. From now on, shut your mouth. Ninth and I will handle it.”
Seeing his authority as sect leader being undermined again, Yu Qing immediately became displeased and cursed aloud, “My arse you will. How much money do you owe me?”
Nan Zhu ignored him and asked Mu Aotie, “Ninth, what do you think? The minority obeys the majority.”
Yu Qing interrupted in a low voice, “There is another exit in the ancient tomb!”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie were both stunned. Nan Zhu said uncertainly, “Fifteenth, you cannot joke about this because of a quarrel. It will cost lives.”
Yu Qing had the two move closer and whispered, “That Squire Zhong from the capital back then crawled out through another exit of the ancient tomb by accident. That was how he luckily saved his life.”
He was not speaking nonsense about this. Back then in the capital, when Zhong Su prepared to use the treasure map to protect himself and discussed it with him, upon learning that he did not know what the two half-maps were, he had briefly explained the origin of the Cloud Chart. He had spoken of crawling out of the cave and seeing A Shiheng’s father commit murder to silence witnesses and rob the treasure map.
Nan and Mu looked at each other. Nan Zhu said in a low voice, “Did he tell you how to get to the exit?”
Yu Qing, “He did not say that. He also crawled out in panic. How could he remember the route? Inside it was like a labyrinth. In panic, there was no way to remember.”
“Then how dare you guarantee you can find it?”
“Do you think I became sect leader for nothing? Others not finding it does not mean I cannot find it. Rest assured, as long as there is another exit, I will definitely find it. Without this confidence, would I joke with my own life?”
“Fifteenth, some people speak rather casually. What if that Squire Zhong was just embellishing things? After so many years, what if the other exit is gone, or collapsed?”
Hearing these ten thousand worries, Yu Qing could not quite hold back his anger. “I say, Seventh, can you be a bit more interesting? Even if we must submit to them, we should only do so when we truly cannot go on. Not even daring to try, and kneeling down directly. You are fat and cowardly. Is there any point in living like that?
To trust our own lives to someone else’s guarantee, do you not find that absurd? Even if we must make a deal with them, it should only be when forced to with no other choice. As long as there is the slightest possibility, we must first keep our own safety in our own hands.
We have already fallen into a pit. Now more than one group is watching us. Only by entering the tomb can we have a chance to escape their sight. Only by finding the other exit can we have a chance to quietly flee Jianyuan Mountain. Of course, it would be even better if we can conveniently find what we want.”
Mu Aotie rolled his eyes, feeling the last sentence was somewhat unnecessary.
Nan Zhu realised this fellow Fifteenth was probably still most fixated on the blessed immortal land. He laughed coldly. “Ninth, listen to me. Sooner or later he will get us killed!”
Yu Qing, “It will not come to that! Simply put, a true man can bend and stretch. If it works, we escape on our own. If not, kneeling down then will not be too late.”
Nan Zhu snorted coldly and said no more. The three martial brothers had more or less reached a unified opinion.
There was no more chance to chatter. Meng Wei, who had finished arranging his subordinates, was waving at them to come over.
Yu Qing took the lead. The three walked with flying steps and climbed onto the pile of scattered rocks.
Facing them again, Meng Wei pointed at six people and said to Yu Qing, “Whether you believe it or not, I must tell you. These six will do their best to protect you.”
Six? Yu Qing swept his eyes over the few people and asked, “Is Mr Meng not going in?”
Meng Wei, “This is the forbidden ground of Jianyuan Mountain. How could people from Blue Sea Shipping Firm trespass without reason? You are merely a batch of labourers newly hired by the shipping firm. The firm does not know you have ulterior motives. The firm has also been deceived. Your actions have nothing to do with the shipping firm. Jianyuan Mountain can dispose of you however it wishes.”
Yu Qing understood. “So that is why Blue Sea Shipping Firm arranged a recruitment.”
Nan Zhu, “The situation here and now, do you take the people of Jianyuan Mountain for blind men?”
“So what if they see? I am merely advising you not to enter. If you do not listen, I cannot help it.” Meng Wei smiled ambiguously. His gaze slowly landed on Nan Zhu’s face. “Why the mockery? Strength is fact. Lack of strength is excuse. Fatso, there are quite a few people in this world willing to pretend to be blind.”
Nan Zhu was actually left speechless.
At this moment, the two labourers who had been sent away by Meng Wei earlier returned, each carrying a pile of temporarily made torches.
Meng Wei turned to look at the scattered rock pit on one side. Half of a cave entrance was exposed in the pit. He stared at it and said, “The demon realm once sent in large amounts of fire oil and set the inside ablaze, wanting to clean it out. But it did not achieve the desired effect. It is said quite a lot of fire oil remains inside. I see you have not prepared anything. Take torches inside. They may be useful.” He waved his hand to indicate.
The six labourers immediately each gathered a bundle of torches to carry. Afterwards they jumped down one after another, and successively crawled into that pitch black cave entrance.
Meng Wei turned back and made a gesturing motion towards Yu Qing. Please!
Yu Qing also bent down to pick up two torches, jumped into the pit, and bent over at the pitch black cave entrance that had only been dug out to half a person’s height. He looked inside and could see nothing.
Crack!