Knowing that all of them were competing against each other, all the Saints shot forward like beams of light refracted from a prism.
As soon as the Saints disappeared into the tomb, the Royal Family from the Sun Kingdom quickly followed, their guards vanishing into the massive tomb as well. Shortly thereafter, the families followed suit; so even began fighting to get ahead of the others. However, after the three families entered, Yan Xiaobao, clad in his black cloak, easily navigated through the battles and stepped into the tomb below.
Even before entering the actual hole leading underground, the cold air rushing out made him feel comfortable, in stark contrast to the weather outside. Glancing at the entrance, Yan Xiaobao was surprised to find that it wasn’t a treacherous path; rather, stunning steps had been carved into the ground. Though they weren’t crafted by a skilled artisan, their uniform size and precision were srizing, not a single one uneven.
Even after thousands of years, these steps remained utterly flawless. The only elent fitting for such a place was the scent of blood carried by the cold air. It was evident that, although not many groups had entered yet, several people had already perished. Whether they fell to traps or were killed by other experts, Yan Xiaobao couldn’t tell. Regardless, his focus remained sharp, entirely on the events unfolding around him. His senses were at their peak. His eyes shifted into wolf eyes, and as he slowly descended the steps, the world ahead of him beca gray and somber.
The ceilings and walls were smooth, not the rough, rugged structures one would typically expect from a tunnel leading into the ground. Behind him, he could hear voices from a group that had already managed to enter. Ahead, he could also hear the sound of people running. The closer he got to the end of the tunnel, the stronger the scent of blood beca.
As he ventured deeper, he began to see corpses scattered across the ground. So had clearly died in battle, while others had fallen to traps. Arrows jutted out from so of their bodies, the holes in the walls marking the spots where the arrows had been launched.
No Saints had died, but several Royal Guards had sacrificed their lives in front of the arrows. Gazing at the fallen, Yan Xiaobao decided to tread more carefully as he continued forward.
After walking for about half an hour, he finally reached the lowest point. In front of him stood two massive doors, forced open, their warped fras a testant to brute strength. It was clear that multiple attempts had been made to pry them open. Evidently, the Saints had stuck together, using sheer power to overco many dangers in the tomb.
Passing through the doors, several tunnels appeared before them. Like the steps, these tunnels were smooth, yet none bore any markings or signs indicating what lay ahead.
"The Saints have split up," Lan Feng remarked as he sensed the myriad energy ripples emanating from the various tunnels. "Luckily for us, they’re ignoring the treasures as they rush toward the center of the tomb in search of greater fortunes to enhance their power." He continued, his words prompting a nod of agreent from Yan Xiaobao.
"On the other hand, the Royal Army is looting anything they find within their tunnels," he mused as he extended his consciousness to probe each tunnel.
Suddenly, a frown etched itself onto his face. "I know you want to kill the Third Prince, but there are so exceptionally valuable treasures in the furthest tunnel. I’m not entirely sure what they are, but the energy fluctuations there are far stronger than those in the other tunnels."
Without hesitation, Yan Xiaobao sprinted into the furthest tunnel. As he ventured deeper, he was stunned to find that the tunnel resembled a narrow path. Along one side of the path were small wooden huts built into the walls. Each hut was sealed with inscriptions, but sensing the power of these inscriptions, Yan Xiaobao could tell he had the strength to break them—he rely needed to remain cautious of traps.
Stopping at the first hut, Yan Xiaobao summoned his martial power, overlaying a protective sigil onto the hut’s seals. Monts passed before a tiny tremor coursed through the sigil, and the door creaked open.
Entering, he found the walls lined with shelves, all filled with jade bottles of various shapes and sizes. Just as he was about to pick up one of the bottles, he felt Lan Feng forcibly take control of his body.
"You fool!" Lan Feng shouted at the young man who had almost uncorked the bottle. Carefully placing the bottle inside a storage stone, Lan Feng cast a cursory glance at the remaining bottles in the room. All the jade bottles streaked through the air, landing inside Yan Xiaobao’s bag as Lan Feng slowly relinquished control of his body.
"We don’t know what’s inside these bottles," Lan Feng warned. "They might very well contain so sort of curse. We’ll examine them once we leave. For now, collect everything we co across, but do not open anything that is sealed."
Hui Yue nodded and moved toward the next hut. He moved as quickly as possible, aware that it was only a matter of ti before the tunnels beca sward with cultivators.
Breaking the seal was just as easy as before, and entering swiftly allowed him to store more jade bottles without delay. The third hut contained a majority of herbal dicines, but upon inspecting them, he noticed that so were Holy Flowers. These radiant blossoms had absorbed energy over the years, surviving thousands of years to remain vibrant and healthy. They far outshone those gifted by the Deng Family in Liluo City.
So of the flowers had wilted, while others were almost drained of energy. Yan Xiaobao took everything he possibly could before leaving the hut once more. As he exited, he heard another group of treasure hunters approaching, only to watch them rush into a nearby hut along the tunnel. Inside that hut, a potent dicinal fragrance hung in the air, and Yan Xiaobao quickly gathered everything before turning to leave. Just as he stepped outside the hut, voices reached his ears.
He tried to leave, only to find himself face-to-face with a group of cultivators. The group consisted of three n and one woman, their expressions grim. Upon seeing Yan Xiaobao, their faces twisted into greedy smirks.
"Hand over all the storage stones you have, and we’ll let you live," one of the n sneered, brimming with pride and confidence in his ability to overpower Yan Xiaobao. The man wrongly assud that Yan Xiaobao lacked a cultivation base. Defeating such a person should’ve required no serious thought—what he didn’t realize was that Yan Xiaobao was not soone to be underestimated.
Hui Yue snorted as he glanced at the so-called experts in front of him. Instead of fighting, he rely activated Velocity Flow. Before they could react, he had already darted past them, his movents so fast they couldn’t even register them. Their hearts pounded as they turned, catching only a fleeting glimpse of the young man. By the ti their eyes landed on him again, he was already inside a nearby hut, his martial power destroying the inscriptions on its door.
"It’s best not to provoke him..." the leader murmured before turning to lead his companions toward another unopened hut. Watching them leave, Yan Xiaobao dashed into the hut he had just unlocked. One after another, he shattered the inscriptions and entered the huts. His speed exceeded that of the other groups by several magnitudes, but soon, more and more experts began to appear, entering the huts. Most groups avoided causing trouble for Yan Xiaobao, their instincts telling them that his concealed strength and lack of a visible cultivation base were far too mysterious to challenge.
Others were not so fortunate. So of the weaker groups were forced to part with their treasures or lose their lives. So opted for surrender, while others t their end, unable to protect their gains. The scent of stale air quickly turned tallic with the growing stench of blood.
Paying little attention to this, Yan Xiaobao dashed further into the tunnel, nearing its end before long.
No huts remained at this point. Instead, another door had been forced open, leading Yan Xiaobao into a grand hall. The hall was adorned with nurous stone sculptures, all of which looked lifelike and imposing.
Gazing at the floor, Yan Xiaobao noticed it was patterned in a black-and-white checkerboard. He couldn’t help but wonder if this setup was so sort of trap. One could never be too careful.
Yan Xiaobao and Lan Feng refrained from rushing forward. Instead, they stood and observed the entire hall of stone. Shortly after, several groups of experts arrived. Unlike Yan Xiaobao, they cared little for the tiled floor and recklessly charged ahead. Their only objective was to reach the other side, where yet another forcibly opened door awaited.
As the first group stepped onto the tiles, a deep rumble echoed through the hall, energy ripples emanating from the stone sculptures. Seeing this, Yan Xiaobao frowned. He couldn’t discern whether the disturbance was caused by stepping on specific tiles, certain colors, or rely entering the hall itself. The exact trigger for the energy waves was unclear, but he quickly realized that the Saints had avoided fighting any of the stone giants. None of them appeared to have been crushed in combat.
Thinking it over, Yan Xiaobao directed his consciousness into his Lower Dantian, where he observed the wings of martial power hovering in place.
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