What on earth? The group understood it, yet did not understand it.
Ning Chaoyi asked, “Would it not seem somewhat pointless for the Immortal Palace to create these golden animals to hunt and kill each other? Could there be some profound meaning behind it?”
Wu Hei said, “To purify the evil qi within the Golden Ruins.”
“Purify the evil qi?” Nan Zhu, Nie Pinlan, and Shen Qingcheng said in unison, while the others also felt surprised.
Wu Hei explained, “No one knows what happened in the Golden Ruins back then, but a massive amount of evil qi suddenly appeared and spread everywhere. Normal people could not survive at all, and animals that could not adapt went extinct. Later, the Immortal Palace used local materials to refine and release many golden animals, creating such a food chain. When my father and uncle opened the entrance and came in back then, the water, the plants, and even the soil were filled with evil qi, and evil clouds even floated in the sky. Judging by how things look now, the purification effect on the evil qi seems quite good. I have been observing along the way, and there seems to be no trace of evil qi left in the plants and the soil.”
Everyone did not care whether there was still evil qi around them. Nie Pinlan asked the question everyone was curious about, “How could a sudden massive amount of evil qi burst out from an immortal cave dwelling?”
Wu Hei said, “I do not know, but the sudden disappearance of immortals from various cave dwellings across the land might be related to this.”
Everyone looked at each other.
Yu Qing looked up at the receding cloud mass and suddenly blurted out, “So, does this mean we have to keep following this cloud mass?”
Wu Hei hummed in agreement.
“Then let us go.” Yu Qing said nothing else, shouldered the coffin with all his strength once more, and prepared to leave.
Wu Hei, however, stared at the cloud mass in the sky and reminded them, “The Golden Ruins are probably very dangerous now, so everyone must be extra careful.”
Nan Zhu sighed, “If we truly run into your uncle and he insists on killing us, being careful will be of no use.”
Wu Hei said, “It is not my uncle.”
Everyone immediately looked at him with questioning faces.
Wu Hei said, “The Immortal Palace in the clouds proves that my father’s words were not false. My father also said that when they came in back then, there were many golden snakes, insects, rats, and ants here. Now we can hardly see any, and the evil qi has been purified quite cleanly. This means that after thousands of years, a massive amount of evil qi might have concentrated in a small number of animals. I do not know to what extent those animals have advanced, but they must be more powerful than the giant golden snake.”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone felt a chill in their hearts. They had all witnessed the attacking power of the giant golden snake, which was comparable to an Initial Xuan cultivator. What would it mean if they were even more powerful?
Almost all of them subconsciously looked around.
After dropping these words, Wu Hei looked at his son in the basket on his back, who was still sound asleep with his mouth open and his head tilted, and then took the lead in chasing the cloud mass in the sky.
The others naturally continued forward as well.
“Sigh!” Nan Zhu sighed as he ran along. To him, one Grandpa Wu was already terrifying enough. Now they might also encounter other terrifying monsters, those so called masterminds behind the scenes, and possibly mountain guarding beasts. Just thinking about it made his hair stand on end.
Originally, they should have just made a fortune and run away quickly, which would have been the right thing to do. Doing things this way now is by no means a wise move, leaving him very helpless.
Everyone present, except for him and Mu Aotie, had reasons that forced them to stay.
Of course, the two of them also had an alternative reason for staying. It was impossible to abandon Yu Qing at this time, as that bastard had lost his reason.
Yu Qing could not persuade the two to go back, and the two could not persuade Yu Qing to leave, so they could only resign themselves to the worst.
Chasing clouds was basically the first time everyone had done such a thing. They had not even thought about it before.
Only after truly starting the chase did they discover a huge problem. The cloud mass was dynamic and kept drifting in the sky. They could keep following it nonstop during the day, but what to do at night? It would be fine if they had the stars and moon as reference, but what if they encountered weather without stars and moon, or interference from other cloud masses?
There was no better solution now, and they could not just stop following. They could only put the problem aside for now and deal with it when it arose.
They walked and stopped along the way, occasionally seeing gleaming golden stones on the road.
After a short while, Wu Hei, who was constantly observing his surroundings, suddenly stopped, then slowly turned around and stared intently in one direction.
Not understanding why, the others followed suit and stopped, looking in the same direction.
Before long, a figure emerged from a distant ravine, followed by a group of them. It was exactly the Iron Mask and his group who had been tracking them all along.
Due to the terrain, following them all the way like this inevitably meant encountering inconvenient topography. For example, there was just an open area ahead, and even though they passed through at top speed, they were still discovered.
Wu Hei and the others stopped, and the Iron Mask’s group behind them also stopped. The two sides looked at each other across the distance.
When enemies meet, their eyes burn with hatred. Yu Qing gritted his teeth in secret.
However, whether Bai Lan wanted revenge or Yu Qing wanted revenge, whether the two camps would fight did not depend on the two of them, but on the two experts, Wu Hei and the Iron Mask. Coincidentally, neither of these two wanted to fight, because neither had the certainty of defeating the other.
As for Wu Hei, he could step in to help Yu Qing, since the latter had after all saved him and his son. But there was no need to risk his life against others at all costs just to avenge Yu Qing. Their friendship had not reached that point.
Wu Hei turned around and continued towards the cloud mass in the sky.
The others followed.
“Fifteenth Brother,” Nan Zhu, who was helping to carry the golden coffin, called out and tugged at Yu Qing’s arm.
Yu Qing, who had been staring at the tracking personnel behind them, only then turned around and caught up with the group.
Ning Chaoyi, who kept looking back, suddenly said, “That side once informed us that the three of you have not yet broken through to the Xuan realm, and they brought us along for fear you might come to harm. However, your cultivation levels do not match what they said. I think that with their capabilities, they would not make a mistake about such a basic background of yours. What is going on here?”
The three martial brothers did not want to answer this question. Nan Zhu seemingly jokingly asked back, “You are not sent by that side to probe our backgrounds, are you?”
These words left Ning Chaoyi spreading his hands in speechlessness.
As night was about to fall, the group behind suddenly quickened their pace, arousing the vigilance of this side.
Eventually, the two forces confronted each other.
The number of people on both sides was about the same. Wu Hei’s side had a total of ten people, including the child. The Iron Mask’s side had a total of thirteen people, including the four demons, and Gao Yuan had already rejoined the team.
Only at this moment did Yu Qing’s pupils contract sharply as he clearly saw Bai Lan, Gao Yuan, Jiang Shan, and Rat Granny in the opposing camp.
He already knew that the four demons were pawns in the Qiao Manor incident, but he did not expect the four demons to have chased them all the way to the Golden Ruins.
The resentment and malice revealed in Bai Lan’s eyes as she looked at him quite sobered him up.
The Iron Mask stepped out from the other side, walked alone to the front of this group, faced Wu Hei, and asked, “May I know how to address you, sir?”
Wu Hei said, “If you will not take off your own mask, why bother asking who I am.”
The Iron Mask nodded, “Well said. The conversation you had on the Golden Terrace earlier, I heard it all while hiding inside the entrance and exit. Since things have come to this, it is better to dissolve enmity than to create it. Neither you nor I can monopolise the benefits here, so why hinder each other? We might as well cooperate.”
Wu Hei said indifferently, “You flew up to the Immortal Palace to take a look, and I am afraid you discovered you could not get in, which is why you thought of seeking cooperation with me, right?”
The Iron Mask suddenly narrowed his eyes, “It seems I did not find the wrong person. You indeed know the way to enter the Immortal Palace.”
Indeed, Gao Yuan had flown into the clouds earlier and saw the Immortal Palace in the clouds, but was blocked outside the immortal gates, unable to advance a single step. Helplessly, he returned to report the situation, and even carried the Iron Mask to the Immortal Palace to verify it. Finding that they truly could not enter, it led to the current situation of taking the initiative to come and negotiate cooperation.
Not only him, but even Yu Qing and the others were secretly shocked. It turned out that even if they found the Immortal Palace, they could not easily break in. No one knew how many secrets Wu Hei was still hiding in his heart, squeezing out a little only when pressed, like a stubborn ointment.
However, Yu Qing could somewhat understand it. To operate for so many years under the nose of that old fox, Grandpa Wu, without making a single mistake, how could he lack some depth?
Wu Hei said, “So what if you did not find the wrong person? On what grounds do you negotiate cooperation with me?”
The Iron Mask said, “Having followed you for so long, I have probably figured it out. You have no way to get close to the Immortal Palace for the time being, but I do!” He pointed back at Gao Yuan behind him, “His true form is a giant white headed eagle. He can carry all of us up to the Immortal Palace above the clouds. Of course, you also said on the Golden Terrace at the exit that the Immortal Palace sometimes appears on the ground. The fact that you can keep following it proves your words are not false. But do not forget, too much time can only lead to trouble. Will you really wait until your uncle finds his way here?”
Wu Hei said, “You first killed our people, and then came over to ramble a lot. This is what you call cooperation?”
The other party had indeed moved him, but the sincerity was lacking.
Hearing this, the Iron Mask stared at the golden coffin carried by Mu Aotie and laughed loudly, “Killed your people?” He suddenly stared at Yu Qing again, waving his hand to point at the four people including Gao Yuan, “Ashiheng, you should not be unfamiliar with these four, should you? Seeing these four, do you still think Qie Er Qiao appearing by your side was a coincidence? What do you mean by killing your people? I killed my own people. I personally pulled out the spy I had planted by your side. You should be thanking me instead!”
Ashiheng? As soon as this name was spoken, Ning Chaoyi and the others were all stunned. It felt very familiar. After thinking for a moment, they remembered who it was. The probability of someone else having such a rare name was probably very low, and they were all instantly extremely surprised.
They never expected that the person who had been mingling with them these past few days was actually that famous number one scholar in the world!
Thinking about it again, it was not so strange. Rumours in the jianghu said that this Tanhua scholar was also the first to find the Little Cloud Realm. Now that he could find his way to the Golden Ruins, it was not exactly rare.
For a moment, everyone looked at Yu Qing with a sense of wonder. They were actually working together with the famous Tanhua scholar. Who knew if this would count as a topic of conversation in the future?
Of course, some people secretly found it strange. With this gentleman’s talent, how could he be someone lacking money? Yet his purpose when running in at the very beginning was to get gold. What was the situation here?
Seeing Yu Qing’s indifferent expression and his unresponsiveness to his words, and also seeing that Wu Hei seemed to be observing Yu Qing’s attitude, the Iron Mask added, “If the Tanhua scholar truly developed feelings for this spy over time, I can understand it. But everything has its priorities, and you are not a three year old child. No matter what grudges exist between us, they should not delay our primary purpose for coming here. We might as well join hands to achieve the primary purpose first. There is no need to rush to settle the scores right now. The key is that no matter how anxious you are now, you can do nothing to me. If you insist on settling the accounts, you might as well leave it for later.”