The other party rattled on with a pile of reasoning, but Yu Qing did not want to reason with him, because he had no qualification to do so. He could not make decisions for the other party, nor could he make decisions for the group of people on his side. He countered, “Who exactly are you?”
The iron-masked man smiled. “I know what you want to know, but you and I are currently in an adversarial relationship. I cannot tell you yet. As long as the cooperation goes smoothly, even if you do not ask afterwards, I will voluntarily tell you some of what you want to know. I will absolutely keep my word!”
Yu Qing fell silent. Whether to cooperate or not entirely depended on Wu Hei’s decision. The other party had never wanted to cooperate with him in the first place, but with Wu Hei, who held the secret method of entering and exiting the Immortal Palace. He knew Wu Hei carried the pursuit of his son, and estimated that Wu Hei would not refuse such cooperation.
In other words, in the current situation, as long as Wu Hei could still stand before the iron-masked man to protect them, that was already quite good. How could they demand that he listen to them? Wanting him to risk his life to avenge them was even more impossible.
The iron-masked man’s eyes held a smile. He also did not believe Wu Hei had any reason to refuse him.
Who would have thought, Wu Hei said indifferently, “I do not even know who you are. Do you think I have any need to cooperate with you?” He tilted his head to signal to Yu Qing and the others, “You go first.”
The meaning was simple. He would go last to cover their retreat.
At the root of it, he still wanted to protect the group of people beside him. If he went first, once the iron-masked man struck, the others might not be able to withstand it.
Just as Yu Qing had saved his son back then, and he had specifically gone to express his thanks, previously at the entrance and exit when he and his son had fallen into his uncle’s hands, it was also everyone working together who had rescued the father and son. His current actions were therefore within reason.
Yu Qing could not help but look at Wu Hei a few more times, gaining a deeper understanding of this man’s character.
Of course, he was also surprised that Wu Hei had actually refused to cooperate.
The iron-masked man was also surprised. He spread his hands. “No one can take the things in the Immortal Palace away, no one can monopolise them. Everyone smoothly taking what they need, what is wrong with that?”
Glancing at his companions who had already left first, Wu Hei gave a faint line, “If you want to cooperate, you must show sincerity. Let me clearly know what is going on. Otherwise, you are not my only choice!”
Having spoken, he turned and left.
He could not possibly help someone enter the Immortal Palace when he did not even know who the other party was. The thing his father had insisted on to the point of turning against his own blood brother, though he could not be as resolute as his father, he would absolutely not act recklessly.
Also, the other party had never said that Ning Chaoyi and the others were spies planted on this side. What did that mean?
In short, it was absolutely not to help Yu Qing vent his anger. He was not that childish.
The gaze within the iron-masked man’s iron mask eye sockets turned gloomy, staring fixedly at Wu Hei’s departing figure.
He roughly understood what the other party meant, but before he obtained what he wanted, he could not possibly reveal his own details clearly. Once the other party went back on their word, or if they could not find what he wanted within the Immortal Palace, he would not even have the slightest path of retreat left.
After slowly taking a deep breath, he spoke, “Bai Lan, if you want revenge, take it!”
Previously, after using Qiao Qie’er to kill Yu Qing had failed, Bai Lan still wanted to continue using the spy on that side to avenge the hatred. However, the appearance of the Immortal Palace had caused him to prioritise the bigger picture and temporarily suppress Bai Lan. Now, it was very clear that there was no need for that.
“Thank you, sir!” Bai Lan bowed in thanks. Looking toward Yu Qing from afar, deep hatred once again surged in her gaze.
The iron-masked man spoke again, “What do you guess, can they smoothly cross that ravine?”
Previously, when he and Gao Yuan had returned from the Immortal Palace, they had seen some things on the ground from high in the air…
The group led by Wu Hei stopped, forced to temporarily halt.
Upon the earth, it was as if a massive scar had appeared. The terrain of thousands of mountains and ravines seemed to have been torn open by a huge gash. The crack wound crookedly, a massive ravine hundreds of zhang wide, and this was not even the widest point. Its depth was unknown. The slanting sunlight did not reach its bottom, a veritable abyss.
How to cross? Everyone lowered their heads to look at the bottomless abyss beneath their feet.
For a group of cultivators, crossing was not difficult. The question was whether there might be something down in the depths of this abyss, especially after hearing Wu Hei’s earlier statement.
Ning Chaoyi asked Wu Hei, “Could what you spoke of be down there?”
Wu Hei, “I do not know. I fear even my father does not know. After all, several thousand years have passed. Anything is possible. However, looking at the state below, it should be a suitable place for things to hide.”
Behind him, Xiao Hei climbed up from the sitting basket, crawled onto his father’s shoulder, crawled over his father’s head, and stretched his neck to look at the abyss. Curiously, he asked, “Things?”
The others understood that this little brat was probably asking what things were there.
After spending some time together, they had all sensed that this little brat’s speaking ability seemed rather poor, not very articulate.
Wu Hei raised his hand and pressed his son back into the basket.
Everyone stared at the abyss, pondering. Nie Pinlan spoke, “Speaking thus, it would still be best to minimise the time spent down below.”
Ning Chaoyi asked Wu Hei again, “With sir’s cultivation, can you fly directly across?”
Wu Hei nodded slightly. He raised his hand and made a gesture, flying obliquely into the air. After reaching a certain height, he glided toward the opposite bank in a slow, level manner.
Everyone understood at a glance. Even with this man’s cultivation, he could not fly directly across. He also had to adopt a gliding method to cross.
Ning Chaoyi nodded slightly. He turned back to the crowd and said, “We do not have sir’s cultivation. We cannot fly directly to the opposite bank, but this height should be sufficient for us to glide to the cliff face on the opposite side using qi. Once everyone reaches the cliff face, ascend as quickly as possible…” His words abruptly cut off, and he followed everyone’s gaze to look at the golden coffin that Mu Aotie was carrying single-shouldered.
The crowd was somewhat at a loss for words. The weight of this golden coffin was far more than a thousand jin. Jumping far while carrying something so heavy, even with Wu Hei’s cultivation, he probably could not fly to the opposite bank. He would probably have to touch bottom too.
However, this Tanhua Lang’s actions made it clear that he would not easily abandon the remains of his beloved. Otherwise, he would not have taken this risk. They could not even bring themselves to persuade him otherwise.
Wu Hei obviously did not have the convoluted concerns of ordinary people. The wind from the bottom of the cliff swept upward, his long hair fluttering. He stared at Yu Qing and asked, “Do you truly believe the dead can be resurrected?”
Yu Qing, “Since the Immortal Palace truly exists, there is no harm in trying.”
Wu Hei, “No harm? Several thousand years have passed. Perhaps the things that exist down below are things even I would not dare to lightly provoke. If you truly encounter them down there, I will not save you.”
It was completely putting the ugly words up front, a look of do not say you were not warned.
Yu Qing thought for a moment, but still nodded, “I understand.”
Wu Hei turned back to look at the iron-masked man and the others who were slowly approaching from behind. Facing the opposite bank, he said, “You go first. I will send you on your way.” He revealed his palm, making a pushing gesture. Seeing everyone hesitate about who should go first, he directly pointed at Ning Chaoyi.
There was nothing more to say. Ning Chaoyi immediately leapt up, one foot landing toward Wu Hei. The latter caught the sole of his foot with one palm, drew his arm back, then suddenly pushed. Ning Chaoyi immediately shot obliquely out over the abyss.
“You.” Wu Hei then pointed at Shen Qingcheng. The two acted as before, and Shen Qingcheng was sent out too.
After that, one after another, the Thief Mandarin Duck couple and Lu Xingyun also flew toward the opposite side.
Before long, they could faintly see from this side that Ning Chaoyi’s figure had already quickly climbed up from the dark depths of the opposite cliff face. He soon sprang up and landed on the cliff top of the opposite bank. The others followed suit one after another.
Wu Hei turned back to look at the three martial brothers. Seeing the three had no intention of approaching, he then pointed at Nan Zhu, “You.”
Yu Qing proactively reached out and forcibly snatched the golden coffin that Mu Aotie was carrying, “You two go first.”
Fearing the two would hesitate and decline, he actually leapt out with a single bound, jumping into the bottomless abyss while carrying the golden coffin alone.
Wu Hei had just frozen when he heard two swishing sounds. His gaze swept aside, and he saw Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie both draw their swords, almost simultaneously leaping out, unhesitatingly diving directly into the bottomless abyss, chasing after the direction in which Yu Qing was falling.
“Sir go first. Do not worry about us. See you on the opposite bank!”
This was the last shout Nan Zhu let out as he fell toward the bottomless abyss.
Wu Hei was deeply moved. Suddenly, caught off guard, he was inexplicably shaken.
As he himself had said, he had already told them that there might be things down below that even he would not dare to provoke. Yet these two had still resolutely jumped down almost simultaneously. Now he somewhat wanted to know what the relationship between these three was.
Within the abyss, Yu Qing, carrying the golden coffin, exhausted all his cultivation to manipulate qi, trying to increase tension to slow his falling speed. But the golden coffin was truly heavy enough, making his descending speed still appear quite fast.
Just then, two figures appeared from left and right.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, who had pursued him from above, caught up. Both flipped in mid-air, each extending one hand to support the two ends of the golden coffin. Both also simultaneously manipulated qi to decelerate.
Yu Qing looked left and right. Seeing both his martial brothers were on high alert toward their surroundings, he said nothing. He also supported the golden coffin with one hand, drew his sword with the other and held it in his hand, raising his vigilance toward this abyss.
Under the combined spellcasting of the three martial brothers, the golden coffin’s rapid falling speed finally slowed considerably.
The three gradually sank into the darkness of the abyss. Nan Zhu began to mutter complaints at Yu Qing…
On the cliff top, Wu Hei stared at the abyss seeing them off for a while. Then he raised his hand, directly picked up his son who had climbed up again behind him, and conveniently tucked him under his arm. Then he turned around, facing the group of people who had already arrived.
The iron-masked man, leading the crowd, stopped and said faintly, “Earlier, when I passed through the air, I discovered there were enormous spiders crawling about in this abyss, even bigger than those giant snakes. I do not know if they eat people. It would not be good if they were startled.” Having spoken, he suddenly stamped his foot. The ground trembled with a rumble. The cliff edge cracked, and collapsing rock walls rumbled as they smashed down toward the abyss.
Wu Hei’s long hair suddenly swept backward, his face murderous. Yet looking at the son tucked under his arm, he ultimately did not react. He leapt up and flew toward the opposite bank of the abyss.
The iron-masked man walked to the edge of the cliff, looked down, then stared at the distant figure in the air. “Bai Lan, your enemy seems to have gone down. Without that baby-carrying fellow to look after him, this is a good opportunity for you to avenge yourself. It is just a question of whether you dare to go down.”