“Are you certain people from Sinan Manor will come?”
Earlier outside the cave, when old fifteen suddenly realised that the marriage arrangement was a scheme by Sinan Manor, and that Sinan Manor was also targeting the ancient tomb, he had been somewhat confused. He hadn’t understood, hadn’t known how to see it, and hadn’t had time to ask for a clear explanation.
Yu Qing: “What are you thinking about? Even that female immortal could see that the cloud map had been unravelled. Why are you still dreaming?” He waved his hand to signal him to move aside. Now was not the time for endless idle chatter. Continuing to mutter and conspire would easily make that woman suspicious.
There were some things he actually didn’t want to explain. However, there was no choice. He wasn’t acting alone. His two martial brothers were living people. If he didn’t unify their thinking, if their minds didn’t move in the same direction, they would easily be dragged down.
He once again held the map, pondering and comparing all along the way.
The three of them were going back and forth in this area. Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie were also one hundred percent certain that old fifteen was trying to pinpoint the approximate location of that valley stone bridge on the map.
It was understandable that they couldn’t figure it out for a while. The map was genuinely not easy to read.
The key point was that the woman in white was unwilling to say where they currently were. And there were too many similar terrains on this densely packed route map. Even holding the map, they hadn’t managed to figure out their own location.
After wandering for a long time, Nan Zhu suddenly let out an “Oi,” pointing at the ground. “Look.”
Yu Qing and Mu Aotie followed his finger and looked. They saw a row of roots floating up from the ground, stretching into the distance.
The three followed the indication to the end of the crossroads, only to see the guiding roots turning in another direction.
“This is telling us to follow the direction,” Nan Zhu reminded.
Yu Qing’s brows slightly raised. He didn’t listen. What direction or not, he simply ignored it, turned around and went back, returning to the previous spot, holding the map and continuing to study it.
He had spent so much time and had already eliminated most of the places with similar routes. How could he let his previous efforts go to waste.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, who had followed him back, were truly impressed by this fellow. This was openly opposing that female immortal.
Nan Zhu had no choice but to remind him in a low voice, “Old fifteen, if you anger her later and she really leads Liu Piaopiao and the others here, that’ll be trouble.”
Yu Qing glanced at him. “Can you not rest the fluorite stone on your belly? Can you raise it a bit higher?”
Nan Zhu raised the fluorite stone that had been resting on his protruding belly again, helping to illuminate, saying with dissatisfaction in his mouth, “My arm has been held up all this time. It’s a bit tired.”
The three of them didn’t walk far this time before being blocked by people at the intersection ahead.
The woman in white appeared again. This time she was standing at an intersection waiting for them.
The three of them weren’t worried in the slightest. They directly went over. In any case, the other party couldn’t be Liu Piaopiao and those demon cultivators in disguise.
Yu Qing, holding the map with one arm, cupped his other hand in salute. “Immortal, why have you come?”
The woman in white had a cold face. “What are you three doing wandering back and forth in this area?”
There it was. The two martial brothers’ heartstrings tightened. They were somewhat nervous. She had come to settle accounts.
Yu Qing raised the map in his hand. “We can’t figure out where we are. We’re comparing and studying it.”
The woman in white: “I have already pointed the way for you. Why didn’t you follow it?”
Yu Qing immediately turned hostile, saying in a deep voice, “Follow what? We still can’t find our location. We can’t even verify if the map is real or fake. Are we supposed to blindly follow your words? If you trick us to our deaths, should we still do as you say? Even if you are an immortal, you must be somewhat reasonable, right?”
The two martial brothers’ peripheral vision met. Earlier, when the other party gave the map, this fellow old fifteen hadn’t raised any doubts. Now he was suddenly exploding.
The woman in white was silent for a moment. She stepped forward, her gaze glancing at the map in Yu Qing’s hand. Her finger pointed at a black-coloured intersection on the map. With this point, a drop of green mucus was squeezed out. “You are currently at this position.” After that, she retreated to the intersection, pointing to another path. “Those demon cultivators are still wandering in the first level area. Hurry over and eliminate them.”
Yu Qing, holding the map, however, directly walked up to her.
The woman in white waved her hand, signalling him to go right.
Yu Qing, however, insisted on going straight ahead, tilting his head to signal her to move aside.
This was a direct confrontation. Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie’s heartstrings, which had just relaxed, tightened again. They didn’t know what old fifteen was trying to do.
The woman in white said indifferently, “Look at the position I pointed out for you and you’ll know. This path is a dead end.”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie quickly moved closer, looking at the map. They discovered that, as the other party said, it was indeed so.
Yu Qing: “What harm is there in me taking a look? Your attitude makes me suspicious. The direction you pointed out might be the one with the real route map drawn on it. The direction you don’t let us go might be the fake one.”
Since he had put it this way, involving the issue of sincerity in cooperation, what else could the woman in white say? She slowly moved aside.
Yu Qing was not polite. He immediately walked over to see for himself. He didn’t walk far before discovering that ahead was indeed a dead end.
However, he secretly felt it strange. If it was a dead end, why was she still blocking it?
He then carefully observed as he approached the end.
Just as he was about to reach the end, “Didi di…” Big Head let out another burst of resounding chirps.
What was at the end? The three martial brothers quickly exchanged glances. Yu Qing gave a look.
The woman in white behind them, upon hearing Big Head’s chirp, her expression changed. She quickly saw something was wrong. The words “Stop” had just left her mouth when Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie had already flashed out from Yu Qing’s left and right, simultaneously swinging their swords horizontally.
Ding ding dang dang!
Sparks flew from the stone walls on left and right.
Pfft…
The twin swords that swept horizontally across the stone walls from left and right joined together at the end ahead, but an abnormal noise occurred. Green juice splattered from the stone wall.
The stone wall shook, revealing its true form. It was actually a group of “ghost foetuses” stacked together, transformed into the appearance of a stone wall, blocking a cave entrance.
The three martial brothers were greatly shocked. They hadn’t expected that “ghost foetuses” could be used in this way. This was simply too terrifying.
Under the attack, the group of “ghost foetuses” fell into disarray. The cave entrance behind could no longer be hidden, exposed before the three martial brothers.
There was clearly something inside that the woman in white didn’t want them to see.
Opportunity knocks but once. Yu Qing made a prompt decision, shouting, “Enter!”
Mountain years, years of being together, the tacit understanding between martial brothers existed. Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, upon hearing the sound, immediately took the chance to rush into the cave.
The fighting strength of the “ghost foetuses” was very poor. They simply couldn’t stop them. However, they still chased in.
Outside, the woman in white waved her sleeve. The “ghost foetuses” pursuing them let out low sounds and slowly retreated.
The matter had already been exposed. There was no longer any need to block.
The woman in white who walked over and Yu Qing’s gazes had already collided.
The woman’s gaze was clearly asking, what exactly do you want to do?
The man’s gaze was clearly asking, is this a passage? Did you falsify your map?
A test of sincerity in cooperation had arisen. Neither of them uttered a sound. For now, only the facts could speak.
The woman in white stepped over the bodies of several “ghost foetuses.” Yu Qing followed her in.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, who had entered first and taken a fluorite stone to illuminate, seemed to have been frightened. They quickly retreated, their expressions not very good.
“What is it?” Yu Qing asked.
Mu Aotie said in a deep voice, “Many corpses!”
Many corpses? Yu Qing was puzzled.
Before he could ask, the woman in white waved her sleeve again. Dots of starlight reappeared, quickly spreading to light up a very large underground space.
The scenery here was different from other places. Many roots hanging down from above were lush and dense.
Beneath each cluster of roots seemed to be a person shrouded, stuck to by the roots.
Swish! Yu Qing suddenly drew his sword, approaching a person shrouded by roots. The sword edge gently parted the sticky covering roots, revealing the general outline of that person. He was actually wearing military clothing. In life, he seemed to have been a soldier.
“Look at the face.” Nan Zhu reminded from the side.
Yu Qing’s sword edge parted the covering roots on the corpse’s face, revealing the soldier’s features. His complexion was bluish-black, head raised, lips unable to close. He had actually grown fangs. Thin roots were guiding drops of red liquid into his mouth.
The smell of blood could be detected. That red liquid was fresh blood.
He lowered his sword and chose another one that looked different to examine. Parting the shrouding roots, it was a general wearing armour.
Judging by the style of the armour, it didn’t look like it was from Jin Kingdom.
Yu Qing examined quite a few in succession, discovering that most of the corpses seemed to have been dismembered, as if reassembled. It was somewhat nauseating to look at.
Each corpse still held a weapon in its hand.
How many such corpses were in this underground space? Because of the hanging roots blocking the view, it was unclear. Based on a rough estimate from what he could see in one row, Yu Qing estimated there were probably over ten thousand corpses here.
Yu Qing suddenly turned back and asked the woman in white, “Zombies? You raised them? You killed this many people?”
The woman in white: “I didn’t kill them. They are all old subordinates of Guan Fengyang from three thousand years ago. After dying in battle, they were sent here one after another for burial.”
Yu Qing said in a deep voice, “So one by one, you refined them into zombies?”
The woman in white: “Different from ordinary zombies. They are called ‘puppet warriors.’ In life, they were willing to be loyal to Guan Fengyang unto death. In death, they are willing to guard his tomb for Guan Fengyang. That invasion by your father and the others was repelled primarily by them. But the losses were also tragic. Almost all of them had been dismembered by the swords and blades of cultivators.”
The three martial brothers listened with secret shock. They could imagine the scene of these tens of thousands of ‘puppet warriors’ charging in the ancient tomb.
Yu Qing looked up, his gaze fixing on the drops of blood trickling down from the roots above. “You reassembled their corpses and are also transfusing blood into them. Could it be that after being dismembered, they can still come back to life?”
The woman in white: “Still missing something. The blood from those killed earlier isn’t enough. With the blood of another hundred or so people, it should be about enough to awaken them. With them and your so-called ‘ghost foetuses’ working together, you will also be able to relax. Go, eliminate the remaining demon cultivators!”
Yu Qing: “We need to plan carefully. We can’t act recklessly. The three of us are no match for them.”
The woman in white: “You can resolve them bit by bit in batches. The ghost foetuses will cooperate with you. The ghost foetuses will transform into your appearances, constantly harassing them. When they become negligent, feeling that the ghost foetuses’ attack power is nothing much, you, mixed in among them, can launch a surprise attack!”