Chen Xiaobei swung his arm giving a tight slap to Ding Wuji.
Chen Xiaobei's cultivation had also reached the peak of Ethereal Cultivation, peaking out at 130,000 combat power. He did not need any trump card whatsoever to hammer Ding Wuji.
Smack!!!
A loud crisp sound rang in the air. Ding Wuji was struck so hard he spun around like a spinning top, bouncing quickly from one area to another.
Bam!
Ding Wuji hit a rock about 10 meters from where he was standing, and it was so hard that the rock crumbled.
"Elder Shixiong! Elder Shixiong, are you alright?"
All 10 of Xingxiu's disciples ran over to him, stunned by what had just happened.
Their Xingxiu faction's number one disciple, Ding Wuji was unconscious and he had simply just been struck once.
His eyes were rolled to the back of his head, and blood with pieces of broken teeth were spilling from his mouth. It was a pathetic sight indeed.
"This… This kid is so strong. Elder Shixiong can't even take one hit from him…" The Xingxiu disciples muttered to themselves. They were laughing at Chen Xiaobei earlier but now they stared at him with fear in their hearts. They dared not look Chen Xiaobei in the eyes for fear that he might strike them as well.
Although the Xingxiu people were alarmed by Chen Xiaobei's slap, the women of Ancient Tomb faction lowered their impression of Chen Xiaobei even further.
"That slap was just 130,000 combat power. Chen Xiaobei really is a liar!"
"How could he possibly kill the hundreds from America's three largest forces with puny strength like that? How could he even beat the Xingxiu God and Osnur? That's impossible!"
"Little Sever, let's go! Your Shijie will not allow you to make friends with a hypocritical liar like him!" Elder Shijie said sternly.
"Shijie! This is all a misunderstanding! Faction leader Chen is not a hypocrite!" Liu Xuanxin insisted.
"Putting his character aside, ultimately, he's still a weakling!" Elder Shijie said. "Xingxiu faction will take revenge on him for hitting Ding Wuji! Then there's the Anti-Xiaobei Alliance! With Chen Xiaobei's tiny strength, not only could he not protect you, but he might even bring you trouble!"
"Shijie…" Li Xuangxin was at a loss, but she was still adamant on defending Chen Xiaobei.
"Goddess of Luck!" Chen Xiaobei suddenly cut in. "Your Shijie is right. This mission is way beyond my control. There's a good chance that there may be trouble that I won't be able to resolve! It's better for you to stay away from me for now. That's the best option now!"
"But…" Liu Xuanxin sounded worried.
"There are no buts. Aren't you going to listen to what your Shijie says?" Elder Shijie said sternly.
"Alright." Liu Xuanxin looked at Chen Xiaobei, and said, "You have to be careful. If you're in trouble, you can just call me. I will help you out if I can!"
"Huh? Why the sudden concern about me? Could it be that you've started to develop feelings for me?" Chen Xiaobei grinned.
"You… Don't talk nonsense! I… I'm angry…" Liu Xuanxin felt a sudden panic in her heart and quickly turned around to leave.
"Oh." Chen Xiaobei was amused. "This girl looks like she has no regard of whatever that's happening in the world but, I didn't expect her to have such a childish temper!"
"Bro Bei, we better get going as well. It's almost time!" Li Xiang reminded.
"Alright! Let's go!" Chen Xiaobei nodded and led his people up the mountain.
Deep in the mountain, on a rocky little hill made up of strange and grotesquely shaped rocks, about a thousand of people were seen to have gathered.
By their outer appearances, these people could be divided into 10 major factions.
On one side stood Kunlun, Mount Shu, Xingxiu, Blood Descendants, the Vatican, and Hogwarts – all six of these were in conflict with Chen Xiaobei. You could tell that at first glance.
On the other side were more than a dozen strapping Europeans. They all had certain elements of wolves on their bodies. These were the werewolves that Li Xiang had mentioned earlier.
As they were enemies of the Blood Descendants, they kept to themselves and stood far away on their own, making no contact with any faction.
The other two groups were Ancient Tomb and the legendary Five Mountain Swords Faction.
Also present were the ones Chen Xiaobei had just met. The Ancient Tomb faction, Liu Xuanxin and the six beautiful disciples were all there too. Their faction leader, Long Zishan though, was absent.
Five Mountain Swords on the other hand were a stark contrast – they were all made out of men!
The ones in the front stood out especially; young, good-looking, and refined. Most importantly, their cultivations were all pretty high. In the words of the city's slang, they were embodiments of the classic Diamond Wangs (eligible bachelors)!
Probably because they had withdrawn from the world for a very long time, not to mention adhearing to the law of attraction to the opposite sex, the Ancient Tomb's women instinctively drew near to the few strapping Diamond Wangs of Five Mountain Swords.
Both sides fell into enthusiastic conversation, hinting at the possibility of an spontanous alliance.
Xiangyu took once glance at the whole scene and frowned. "I was hoping to form an alliance with the Ancient Tombs but it looks like that won't be happening!"
Chen Xiaobei shrugged. "Apart from us, the werewolves are also standing in isolation! If they're not afraid, then why should we?"
A herculean man standing among the group of werewolves suddenly looked over at Chen Xiaobei.
Chen Xiaobei noticed it but instead of avoiding him, he looked right back at the man.
There was a king-like aura emanating from the man, one which was evidently very powerful. His steely gaze cut across the pedestal like a blade – most people would not dare look him straight in the eyes.
However, Chen Xiaobei's state of mind was in a really calm situation at the moment. He was not even afraid of the Tyrant Dragon King's powerful presence. Naturally, he was also able to remain calm under the threatening stare of that man.
After a few seconds, the man looked away.
Chen Xiaobei turned around and asked, "Li Xiang, who is that guy?"
"The werewolves' present age Alpha, Dio Kane!" Li Xiang explained. "His strength is similar to that of the Blood King, Sequinn. Due to his ability to beastify into War Wolf mode, he is much stronger than equivalent humans of the same cultivation!"
"If that's the case, that automatically makes the Alpha and Blood Emperor two of the strongest people on earth, right?" Chen Xiaobei asked.
"No. The strongest person has always been the faction leader of Kunlun, Zhou Daoxian if you don't count Ancient Tomb's Long Zishan. Alpha and Blood King both come second!"
"It's almost time but this Long Zishan is not here yet. I would say she is pretty confident of herself and she should be quite powerful as well!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"Long Zishan is a mystery. She's been hiding for 300 years, and yet, no one knows of her cultivation!" Li Xiang said.
Suddenly, someone thundered loudly, "Chen Zhufeng!"
The people of Xingxiu, all hundreds of them, approached Chen Xiaobei.
Xingxiu God Ding Xiadong walked in front of his people. Next to him were two disciples propping up a very bruised Ding Wuji who was still somewhat vomiting blood.
They had obviously come to condemn and spite Chen Xiaobei.
"Oh, isn't that Faction leader Ding?" Chen Xiaobei smiled. "Have your injuries from your beating healed?"
"You…" Ding Xiadong's face reddened like a ripe tomato.
The last time, he was beaten up by Old Luo. Then Chen Xiaobei took a toll on Xingxiu faction by denouncing them, and making things worse, he then extorted 100,000 Spiritual Stones out of them.
This matter had become the butt of jokes in China's Jianghu.
Chen Xiaobei touched a sore spot, slapping Ding Xiawu in the face with his arrogant chatter..
"Great faction leader Ding!" Chen Xiaobei grinned. "I have a little bit of medical skills… based on your vital force, I can tell that your injuries have yet to heal completely! You better go back and take a good sweet rest. What if something happens to you in the tomb? It would be a great loss you know, if you die suddenly!"
"You… You are the one who'll die suddenly!" Ding Xiadong roared. "I will make you a dead man now!"
The dispute quickly caught the attention of everyone surrounding them. All eyes were on the two, and people began to whisper amongst themselves.
"This is going to be a good show! Xingxiu God is going to kill Chen Zhufeng!"
"Isn't Chen Zhufeng supposed to be very powerful? Why is the Xingxiu God so brave?"
"Powerful my ass! Chen Zhufeng has powerful people backing him up! Now that they are not here, he'll die for sure!"
"Even if Ding Xiadong doesn't make a move, the Anti-bei Alliance will do so when the tomb is opened. It's a dead end for Chen Xiaobei wither way!"
"Chen Xiaobei is so brave huh! He knows that this is a 'Feast at Hongmen', and yet he still came!"
"That's not bravery! That's recklessness to the stupidest extent! Dumbass! Just watch. The Xingxiu God might be able to kill Chen Xiaobei with one stike!"
The majority of the thousands of people agreed that they were about to witness Chen Xiaobei's death.
"Dipshit! Do you have any last words? You better say them now!" Ding Xiadong spat.
"Last words?" Chen Xiaobei shrugged. "Do you think that you have the ability to kill me?"
Chen Xiaobei was obviously unafraid of this threat. First of all, Ding Xiadong was still recovering from his previous injuries, and secondly, Chen Xiaobei had Osnur inside his Verdant Emperor's Divine Gourd. Even if they did eventually break into a fight, Chen Xiaobei would still be unafraid.
Unfortunately, Ding Xiaodong knew nothing of that, so he continued, "I say this before the heroes of the world: if you are not dead today, I will bang my head on the wall until I kill myself!"
"Hehe!" Chen Xiaobei's heart did not even skip a beat at this threat.
He already had the Verdant Emperor's Divine Gourd in one hand, ready to release Osnur at any time, and kick Ding Xiadong's ass!
Suddenly, Liu Xuanxin stood in front of Chen Xiaobei. "Stop it!"
This girl did not know about Chen Xiaobei's trump card, so out of worry for him, she ignored her Shijies' protests and pushed her way to the front.
"Huh?" Ding Xiadong snorted. "What are you? How dare you block me?"
Because Liu Xuanxin was wearing a mask, her young voice made the senior Ding Xiadong address her with contempt.
After all, he was the faction leader of a high-rank reclusive ancient faction. He had demigod strength and he was not about to give face to a youngster.
"I am the seventh disciple of Ancient Tomb faction!" Liu Xuanxin said politely. "Please give face to our faction leader, Long Zishan and let's talk this out!"
"Long Zishan? Hmph! Me? Give face to Long Zishan? Who will give face to me then?"
Ding Xiaodong had just made a public declaration before the heroes of the world, that if he did not kill Chen Zhufeng today, he would kill himself instead!
If he gave Zishan face and not kill Chen Xiaobei, he would be simply be putting his reputation at stake!
"I…" Liu Xuanxin was dumbstruck. She did not know what to do from then on.
"Lucky Goddess, go back to your Shijie. Don't worry about what's happening here!" Chen Xiaobei said.
"No! If I'm here, Ding Xiadong would have something to worry about! If I leave, you're dead!" Liu Xuanxin said stubbornly.
"Hahaha! Who do you think you are, little girl? Why would I be worried about you? That's the stupidest joke I've ever heard!" Ding Xiadong mocked. "Even if your precious Sifu comes, I won't be the least bit worried! If you don't get out of my sight in three seconds, I will kill you too!"
Fear flashed in Liu Xuanxin's eyes. She could sense the murderous intentions oozing out of the now very angry Ding Xiadong. If she did not step aside, she would be one to die.
But Li Xuanxin stood her ground. She had already made up her mind, and she was going to defend Chen Xiaobei to the death!
"Goddess, what is the meaning of this?" Chen Xiaobei asked. "Our relationship has not reached that level yet, right? Have you really fallen for me?"
"Stop that nonsense! How could you still joke at a time like this?" Liu Xuanxin scolded.
Clearly, Chen Xiaobei was still unaware of the intimacy that had happened between them.
The last time when Chen Xiaobei rescued her, it had already taken root in her heart and occupied a very important spot! By breaking the one last barrier between them, they would become the most intimate of lovers.
That was exactly why Liu Xuanxin was willing to protect Chen Xiaobei even if she had to die.
"It looks like you don't plan to move! Then go to hell with Chen Zhufeng!" Ding Xiadong was not joking. His Ethereal Force was at the ready to kill both Liu Xuanxin and Chen Xiaobei!
"Faction leader Ding! Please have mercy!" Ancient Tomb's elder Shijie screamed. "Little Qi is my Sifu's favourite disciple. If you kill her, our Sifu will definitely not let you off the hook!"
"Hmph! Stop using Long Zishan to try and stop me! She's nothing to me!" Ding Xiadong did not stop, but his Ethereal Force got more and more powerful – ready at the palms to strike at Liu Xuanxin and Chen Xiaobei at full force.
"Stupid girl! Why aren't you running away?!" Chen Xiaobei grabbed Liu Xuanxin and brought her to his chest, using his own body to protect her.
"If you're going to die, let's die together!" Liu Xuanxin said bitterly, but firmly.
"Don't worry! I won't let you die!" Chen Xiaobei had one arm around Liu Xuanxin and the other raising the Verdant Emperor's Divine Gourd.
"Xingxiu old dog! Who gave you the balls to kill my disciple?!"
Suddenly, an explosive voice of a woman shouted. The owner of the voice stood in front of Chen Xiaobei and Liu Xuanxin, and then countered Ding Xiadong's attack with a slap!
Rumble! Rumble!
A purple Ethereal Force burst open and came head to head with Ding Xiadong's Ethereal Force.
Two demigods crossing swords was like a meteor slamming into earth. The explosion was tremendous, tearing the ground, and sending people with lower cultivation toppling over.
What happened next was beyond everyone's imagination!
The purple Ethereal Force penetrated and struck Ding Xiadong in the chest, causing the old man to eject blood from his mouth.
Rumble…
Ding Xiadong was sent flying away at lightning speed – like a meteor crashing into the wall of a mountain. Both them were the faction leaders of ancient factions. Both of them were demigods. Still, Ding Xiadong was defeated even before he could realize it. Even though Ding Xiadong had no visible injuries on him, it was still the cold hard truth that there was a huge gap in power between them!
"The Xingxiu God has been defeated by only a single strike… This… This is truly unbelievable…"
"Who… Who is that person… Too damn powerful! With that kind of strength, I think the person might be as powerful as the faction leader of Kunlun Faction itself!"
"Could… Could she be the leader of Ancient Tomb Faction, Long Zishan?"
Thousands of people were left in shock. Their eyes were glued to the woman that appeared out of nowhere. The way they stared at her was enough to tell that they had deep respect for her. Apart from her powerful presence, she had an apperance that no one else expected. She looked like she was only in her twenties. Her skin was fair and there was not a single wrinkle on her face; truly a masterpiece from the gods. Her perfect facial features had made her glow like a goddess and she was wearing a long purple dress with wide sleeves. Like a white stork floating in the wind, her dress had perfectly depicted her untainted temperament!
"She… She's your Sifu?" asked Chen Xiaobei, shocked.
"You pervert! Let go of me!"
Immediately, Liu Xuanxin pushed Chen Xiaobei away. Clearly, she was green with jealously when Chen Xiaobei had his eyes fixed on another woman.
"Huh?? Why am I suddenly a pervert now?"
"You are staring at my Sifu in a perverted manner! What are you if not a pervert?!"
"Huh… My lady! What kind of stare are you talking about? I was shocked by how she looks! This is not a perverted stare! All the disciples of Ancient Tomb Faction are addressing her as an elder, and my friend told me that your faction has stayed hidden for 300 years! I did not expect that she has such a youthful look on her! It's only normal that I'm shocked!"
Seemingly, Chen Xiaobei was telling the truth here. In that moment, Chen Xiaobei was not the only one that was shocked by her look. Everyone else present had mututal feelings.
"Little Qi, are you okay?"
Long Zishan turned around and looked Liu Xuanxin. The way she talked revealed her matured presence that did not match her young looks.
"I'm fine!"
Immediately, Liu Xuanxin ran to Long Zishan and ignored Chen Xiaobei.
Long Zishan then took a look at Chen Xiaobei and asked, "So, you are Chen Zhufeng?"
"Yes. I'm Chen Zhufeng from Bei Xuan Faction! Elder Long, thank you so much for helping me just now!"
"My intention was to save Little Qi! Not you!"
"Erm…"
Struck with awkwardness, Chen Xiaobei did not expect that he would be snapped with such an ice-cold reply.
"Sifu, can we bring Faction Leader Chen with us? Emperor Qin's tomb is a dangerous place! It's good to have one more friend to look out for us!" asked Liu Xuanxin in meekness.
Before Long Zishan could anything about it, everyone around them started to put on their displeased look. As for the people in Anti-Xiaobei Alliance, they began to feel worried. Things could get really complicated if Chen Xiaobei became Long Zishan's ally.
The Werewolf Emperor Dio, was constantly staring at Chen Xiaobei. It seemed like he was deep in thought. In the end, the disciples from Five Swords Mountain and Ancient Tomb Faction shook their heads in disappointment and came out with words to show that they were strongly against it.
"Sifu! Don't bring that kid along with us! He's not even powerful enough to help us! Yet, he has managed to make plenty of enemies! Remember that he almost killed Little Qi. Bringing him with us is no different from carrying a bomb with us!" said the Elder Shijie of Ancient Tomb Faction.
"I'm the young lord from Five Swords Mountain Alliance, Feng Bucun! Greetings, Faction Leader Long!"
Suddenly, a handsome young man went to greet Long Zishan with both of fists being put together in a polite gesture. Not only was this young man extremely good looking, he was also a very powerful figure in Jianghu as well. He could be considered as one of the most eligible bachelors around. The moment he spoke, a couple of female disciples of Ancient Tomb Faction started to blush, falling instantly for him. However, Long Zishan did not even lay her eyes on him. Considering that she did check Chen Xiaobei out from head to toe just now, it seemed like Chen Xiaobei was someone that mattered more to her.
"Elder Long! I have mentioned to Lady Fang that we should form a temporary alliance when we explore Emperor Qin's tomb. I just hope that you won't bring someone useless with you!"
Lady Fang was the Elder Shijie of Ancient Tomb Faction, Fang Yin!
"Sifu! Five Swords Mountain are really powerful! They are well prepared for this operation! I believe that we can benefit greatly from them if we join forces and team up!"
Long Zishan would ignore Feng Bucun but she would never ignore Fang Yin.
"This time, you are supposed to look for your golden opportunity during this trip! Since that's the case, you can do whatever you want from now on! It's up to you to make the decision! It could end up good, bad, or nothing at all! The choice is yours."
Immediately, Fang Yin and a few other disciples joined Feng Bucun.
"Sifu, how about you? Are you coming with us?" asked Fang Yin.
"I will not join forces with anyone!" replied Long Zishan.
Upon hearing her decision, Fang Yin and the rest of them were left in disappointment. The one who was most disappointed was definitely Liu Xuanxin. Now, she knew that her Sifu would never agree to bring Chen Xiaobei with them. To her, Chen Xiaobei was now surrounded by potential enemies. If Long Zishan chose not to bring Chen Xiaobei with her, that would have meant that Chen Xiaobei would most likely end up dead in the end!
"Little Qi! How are you going to choose? Are you going to follow me or follow that someone over there…?" asked Long Zishan. It was as if she knew what Liu Xuanxin had in her mind.
"I…"
"She will follow you, Elder Long! This girl is really clumsy! I don't think I can take care of her!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"You are the clumsy one here! You have no right to make the decision for me!" said Liu Xuanxin.
"He's afraid that he will drag you down along with his troubles!" said Long Zishan.
After hearing that and a realization struck her, Liu Xuanxin was filled with joy. She did not expect that Chen Xiaobei would make such sweet move for her.
"All's done now! It's getting late! Let's take out the key to open the tomb together!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"That's right! We should all put our differences aside for the moment. Right now, we have more important matters to attend to, ad that is to open the tomb!" Chen Xiaobei proposed.
The heads of the other forces all agreed to that notion.
It was without a question an extremely difficult feat to gather all nine of the Orochi Scales. No one was willing to give up a chance like this to explore the world's greatest hidden treasure!
If their operation was unsuccessful due to the remnants of some personal grudge, it would be one of the most regretful things to ever happen!
In lieu of this, the people of the Anti-bei Alliance decided to set their enmity with Chen Xiaobei aside for the time being.
Soon after that, all the heads of the forces stepped out.
Zhou Daoxian! Ancient Tomb faction leader, Long Zishan! Mount Shu faction leader, Xu Shiqiu! Xingxiu faction leader, Ding Xiadong! Five Mountain Swords faction leader, Feng Aotian! Blood Emperor, Sequinn! Wolf Emperor, Dio! All the seven heads had a piece of Orochi Scale in their hands.
The Vatican and Hogwarts did not have an Orochi Scale but were invited to the expedition because they were members of the Anti-Bei Alliance.
The two final pieces of the Orochi Scale was with Chen Xiaoebei.
Considering the number of scales each person had, the person with the most decisive authority should have been Chen Xiaobei.
When it came to strength however, Chen Xiaobei was the weakest among all of the top dogs.
That was why Chen Xiaobei had to extra cautious!
He made a conscious move to stand right next to Long Zishan before taking out the Orochi scales, one in each hand, his fingers locking onto the scales. If his enemy made even the slightest move, Chen Xiaobei would destroy both of the scales. He would rather fight to the death than let his enemy take advantage of him.
Emperor Qin's tomb contained the greatest treasures on earth though. As key to opening the door to the treasures, the Orochi Scale had caused countless bloodshed in Jianghu, and had changed hands from owner to owner. This was the first time in thousands of years that all the pieces were together in one place.
No matter how much Chen Xiaobei's enemies hated him, they would never want to miss out this once in a million chance.
His enemies did not budge from their places.
Buzz…
When all nine pieces of Orochi Scales were put together, a powerful wave of energy exploded.
Halos of glimmering light appeared in ripples of waves and began to expand. Within this light were mysterious and obscure runes.
The dense collection of runes then formed a giant formation.
All the leaders were shocked by what they had just witnessed. No one said anything as they had no idea on what was happening!
Chen Xiaobei could be considered the world's number one formation and rune master, but he could not understand what the runes were for, and what they were meant to do.
It was apparent that without all nine of the Orochi Scales, no one on earth would be able to break the code of this formation.
It was also confirmed that this place was Emperor Qin's real tomb, and that no one had ever been inside prior to this!
That was great news for all of them!
But then again, at the same time, it was also a warning signal! If the formation into the tomb was by itself so gargantuan, there must be bigger, scarier and more powerful things awaiting them inside the underground palace!
Desecrating the tomb of a legendary emperor was not going to be an easy task!
Rumble! Rumble!
The earth trembled and the ground was ripped opened!
The rift was growing bigger and deeper by the second. It was very much like a ravine, and akin to an endless abyss leading into hell.
After about half a minute, the trembling finally came to stop.
"Emperor Qin's tomb is down there?" Ding Xiaodong stretched out his neck and looked down the ravine.
The old man was already injured, and was still spitting blood from Long Zishan's beating. His face was drained of color and he spoke with great difficulty.
The other leaders all did the same, wringing out their necks trying to see what lay underneath.
"Senior Long! Step back!"
Suddenly, Chen Xiaobei grabbed Long Zishan's wrist and pulled her backwards.
"Huh! What?" Long Zishan furrowed her brows, looking a little irritated.
After being a recluse for 300 years, no man had ever touched her. She had only come out into the world, when Chen Xiaobei had already broken her sacred rule. She was very distressed and even thought about giving the inconsiderate kid a piece of her mind.
But she changed her mind the next second.
Zing! Zing! Zing!
Sharp, dark, grey blades shot out of the ravine. They looked like swords, but were actually lethal Corpse Qi instead!
They had the speed of demigods, moving so quickly they were like shooting stars which made their way to the leaders in a blink of an eye!
"Shit!" Except for Long Zishan and Chen Xiaobei, the other leaders were tainted by the Corpse Qi, and were beginning to feel dizzy and weak.
The most unfortunate one was Ding Xiadong. He was already severely injured, and when the Corpse Qi took hold of him, he immediately fell very ill to the ground with foam spewing out of his mouth.
Thus, the power of a a mighty demigod cutting such a sorry figure. His old face was completely ruined!
"Pure Yang Spiritual Items! Use pure Yang Spiritual Items to repress the Corpse Qi!" shouted Kunlun faction's leader Zhou Daoxian as he drew a gold sword and swung it at the Corpse Qi.
Poof!
Poof!
Black smoke rose as the sword came in contact with the Qi. It disappeared into the air, and Zhou Daoxian's regained the colors on his face.
When the others saw this, they began to do the same. Luckily, pure Yang Spiritual Items were the bane of Ying Evil Items. After a short while, everyone recovered from the curse.
Ding Xiadong the old man on the other hand, was rescued by a few elders, and was able to preserve his life.
"This place is really very dangerous! This is just the entrance, and it's already that scary! If we go in…" Ding Xiadong paused and swallowed nervously. He dared not even think about it.
The expression on the other leaders' faces were very heavy. They were cautious at the beginning but now they were twice as cautious.
Everyone's gaze turned to Chen Xiaobei and Long Zishan.
They all wanted to know how Chen Xiaobei and Long Zishan were able to foresee and escape the unanticipated trap of Corpse Qi!
"Let go of my hand!" Under the watchful eyes of the people around her, Long Zishan who was on the edge swiftly flung Chen Xiaobei's hand away.
"Err, that was so sudden. I did not mean to offend you, senior!" Chen Xiaobei quickly explained.
Thankfully, Long Zishan was not mad at him.
"How did you know there was danger ahead?"
The others pricked their ears up.
"That is my secret. I cannot tell in front of so many people!"
Chen Xiaobei shrugged, a smile on his face, a concealed twinkle of joy in his eyes.
Evidently, that Corpse Qi which almost maimed everyone had just brought Chen Xiaobei a piece of extremely good news!
Secret?
Long Zishan and the rest of the powerful individuals frowned after hearing that. Clearly, they did not notice the Corpse Qi earlier. Chen Xiaobei was the only one who noticed it. This had triggered the curiosity of everyone around him. They wanted to know how in the world Chen Xiaobei could have noticed the Corpse Qi. Unfortunately, Chen Xiaobei did not want to tell them whatsoever about it. Such arrogance of his had made them extremely frustrated.
There was nothing they could do to him. After all, two out of eight Orochi Scales were with Chen Xiaobei. They were worried that he might destroy the Orochi Scales if they triggered his anger.
"Hmph!"
Long Zishan snorted at Chen Xiaobei. It seemed like she was really unhappy about Chen Xiaobei not revealing the secret to her. She then got back to Liu Xuanxin and talked to her in a soft voice. As for Chen Xiaobei, he returned to his camp with his shoulders shrugged.
"Xiaobei! What happened just now? How did you know there would be an explosion of Corpse Qi?" asked Xiangyu.
"Because of the Chaos Blood Sword! It kind of vibrated inside my body just now. It was as if it was triggered by something!" replied Chen Xiaobei.
"Chaos Blood Sword? I heard that the Prime of Tongtian acquired the Chaos Sword Essence during a really special event! That is a potential legendary Divine Instrument!" said Six-Eared Macaque, who was really shocked.
"You are right! This item has great potential but it's going to take a long time before I can transform it into a Divine Instrument!" replied Chen Xiaobei.
"Did you think the vibration you felt just now could indicate that the Chaos Blood Sword is about to evolve?" asked Xiangyu.
"Bro Yu, you are really smart! It's rare that the Chaos Blood Sword vibrates on its own! The previous two vibrations saw it evolve into something more powerful!"
"Are you trying to say that there is something hidden in Emperor Qin's tomb that will help with the evolution of your Chaos Blood Sword?" asked Six-Eared Macaque.
"Should be!"
Chen Xiaobei nodded his head and he could barely contain the excitement within him. He wanted to explore the tomb as soon as possible.
Soon after that, all the factions were prepared to enter the tomb.
"All the ordinary disciples, you are required to return to your respective factions immediately! You are now allowed to enter the tomb! All the elders and core disciples, please follow right behind me at the proper distance! Follow my rules! Those who act on their own would have to bear the consequences!" shouted Zhou Daoxian.
One had to say that this was a very wise decision. Considering that the entrance was filled with traps, bringing the ordinary inexperienced disciples into a tomb as such was no different from sending them straight to hell. After that, all the other factions did the same as well. After they walked for a few hundred meters, they finally arrived at the bottom of the place. Most of them started to take out the flashlights that they prepared earlier to look for the entrance to the tomb.
"This way! Everyone come here! Such huge doors!"
Soon, there was someone shouting drawing everyone's attention. The doors were at least hundreds of meters tall and it was made of a giant slab of white jade. Let alone the skill to build these doors, this slab of giant white jade that was used to build the door was not something that could be found on Earth.
"I think this must be the entrance to the tomb!" said Feng Bucun.
Fang Yin and the other Ancient Tomb Faction's disciples were gathering around him and cooing over him.
"Such a huge doors! How are we supposed to open it?!" asked the disciples of Ancient Tomb Faction.
"Master Feng is well prepared for this trip! I'm pretty sure he knows how to open these doors!" said Fang Yin.
"This is just a white jade! I can't deny that it's huge but it's still an ordinary Earthly item! Step away! Let me break it with my sword!" said Feng Bucun.
Immediately, all the more powerful individuals laid their eyes on Feng Bucun.
"Alliance Leader Feng, you really are blessed! Look at you! You are so young but your cultivation is so powerful! Like father like son!" said Xu Shiqiu.
"Bucun's cultivation is number one among his peers! I think Five Sword Mountain alliance is going to have a powerful successor!" said Ding Xiadong.
"If I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure Bucun will become one of the top 10 most powerful elites on Earth! I think he might even reach our level!" said Zhou Daoxian.
"Everyone! That is such a high praise! My son doesn't deserve it!" said Feng Aotian.
The more they praised him, the more the ladies from Ancient Tomb Faction idolized him.
"Thank you so much for the praises! I will never disappoint everyone here! All I need is a slash and this door will definitely break in seconds!" said Feng Bucun.
With hundreds of people looking at him, Feng Bucun proudly strode towards the giant jade door.
"This kid is really good at acting tough! Xiaobei! Use your Netherspirit Battlescouter to check him out!" said Six-Eared Macaque.
Ding!
[Cultivation: Early phase of Ethereal cultivation. Lifespan: 282 years. Health: 180,000. Combat power: 180,000!]
"Early phase of Ethereal cultivation. He looks like he is around 26 or 27 years old! It sure is true that he could be considered one of the most powerful young men in Jianghu!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"Use your Golden Gaze Fiery Eyes and see what's behind the door! He will take a huge slap in the face if there is Corpse Qi behind the doors!" said Xiangyu.
"Alright!"
With a smile on his face, Chen Xiaobei triggered his Golden Gaze Fiery Eyes.
"There's no Corpse Qi behind the door!"
After knowing that, Six-Eared Macaque and Xiangyu were left in disappointment.
"But, he will still get a huge slap in the face!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"Why?"
Xiangyu and Six-Eared Macaque were puzzled.
"Because there's no way that he can open the doors! Not even a demigod can use their strength to break this door open!"
"Really?! The doors are made of jade? How is it strong enough to withstand a demigod's attack?"
Swoosh!
Feng Bucun began to channel his Ethereal Force!
His white shirt was flailing about as he drew his sword slowly from his sheath. The combination of the suave action and his handsome face made him even more lethal to the girls around him.
"The name of this sword is the Skytrembler! The seventh most powerful sword of Five Swords Mountain Alliance! One strike and the doors will be destroyed!"
"Master Feng is so damn cool!"
All the ladies from Ancient Tomb Faction screamed at the top of their lungs.
"He only has three seconds to act cool in front of them!" said Chen Xiaobei with a smile.
"You bastard! Did you just say that Master Feng won't be able to stay cool for more than three seconds?!" scolded Fang Yin while glaring at Chen Xiaobei.
"Elder Shijie. You shouldn't care too much about what he said of Master Feng! Clearly, he's simply jealous right now!" said the disciples of Ancient Tomb Faction.
"Me? Jealous of him?" Chen Xiaobei snorted while trying to hold on to his laughter.
"Yes! You are indeed jealous of him! Master Feng has a better background, position, cultivation, and he looks better than you too!"
Swoosh!
Before the female disciples could finish their sentence, Feng Bucun had already landed his Skytrembler Sword on the doors.
BAM!
A blinding light could be seen as the sword landed on the door. To their surprise, the doors managed to block the attack which sent Feng Bucun flying off with a great force.
Ouch…
Ouch…
In front of everyone, Feng Bucun tumbled on the ground a dozen times before striking his face hard on the ground.
"This… How is this even possible?"
All the female disciples were dumbfounded by what they saw.
"So, is this the definition of cool? If this is what you call by a cool guy, then I must be the coolest guy in the whole universe!"
Left in embarrassment, none of them could rebuke Chen Xiaobei.
"Xiaobei is awesome! What he said about the guy has just came true! Hahaha…" chuckled Six-Eared Macaque and Xiangyu while laughing out loud.
From afar, Long Zishan and Liu Xuanxin were also paying attention to everything that had just happened.
"Chen Zhufeng is definitely hiding something from us. I'm pretty sure that he somehow knows the secret of these jade doors!" said Long Zishan in a soft voice.
"I'm not too sure actually!" replied Liu Xuanxin.
"My girl… What's with you? You have lost your virginity to him. How can you not know his secrets?"
"Oh… Sifu… Please don't talk about this matter anymore…"
"Love is a complicated thing in this world…"
On the other hand, the Wolf Emperor, Dio was paying close attention to Chen Xiaobei. From the very beginning, he was interested in him. It seemed like he had some kind of plan in his mind. Other than Long Zishan and Dio, none of the powerful individuals in the ground would want to pay particular attention to Chen Xiaobei.
"Bucun! Are you okay?!"
Immediately, Feng Aotian rushed to his son and helped him to get back on his feet.
"Ugh… I'm… I'm fine…"
Considering the large amount of dirt and dust that soiled his face, he must have also suffered some form of internal injury. Out of ego's sake, he would never admit that he was injured by the doors in front of everyone.
"I'm glad that you are fine! Take a step back! Let me break this door personally!"
Feng Aotian took a step forward to the jade doors. Upon seeing that, everyone around him was filled with excitement again.
"Watch! Alliance Leader Feng is about to churn up some action! He's a demigod! I'm confident enough that he will be able to break the doors!"
"Of course! Do you know how powerful Alliance Leader Feng is?! He holds the number one sword of Five Swords Mountain Alliance, the Dragonrise! His sword is powerful enough to slash everything in this world into half!"
"So, that's the Dragonrise Sword huh?! Oh god! I can't believe that I would be able to catch a glimpse of it with my own eyes in my lifetime! This trip sure is worth it!"
It was obvious that everyone expected Feng Aotian to be able to destroy the doors with ease.
"Alliance Leader Feng! Sorry for being brutally honest here but I'm afraid breaking the doors with brute force is simply not possible! I can assure that you will end up like your son if you refuse to listen to me!"
Just when everyone thought that Feng Aotian could destroy the doors, Chen Xiaobei stepped out to talk him out of it.
"Huh? Who do you think you are? How dare you doubt my strength?!" asked Feng Aotian, who was very much angered by the rebuttal.
Knowing that his son had just embarrassed himself, Feng Aotian wanted to use this opportunity to redeem his son's pride. He did not expect that a young man like Chen Xiaobei would have the guts to stop him from doing so.
"I was not doubting your strength! I'm not trying to mess with anyone here! I can tell you that no one can open this door here except for me!"
"What???"
Everyone was left in a state of shock after hearing Chen Xiaobei's claim.
"Hey kid! Stop acting in such an arrogant manner! If Alliance Leader Feng fails to break the doors, what makes you think you can break it? Not in a million years!"
"Besides, there are nine demigods present here! How are you going to unlock the doors if they themselves can't do it? Do you really think that we are dumb enough to believe what you say?!"
"Alliance Leader Feng is a great man! He will not be bothered by words that come out from an ant like you! Your face will be slapped when he breaks the doors later!"
"That's right! Break the doors, then slap his face!"
None of them wanted to believe in all that Chen Xiaobei had just said. All of them were taking turns to mock him.
"Everyone! Don't worry! I will definitely not disappoint everyone here!" said Feng Aotian in a confident manner.
The moment Feng Aotian stepped up and unleashed his sword from the sheath, everyone could feel the powerful Sword Qi filling up the area.
Even Chen Xiaobei could not help but give it compliments.
"That's one good sword!"
"Sword Qi Heaven Slashing Strike!"
Feng Aotian shouted and channeled his Ethereal Force to his sword.
"No way! Alliance Leader Feng is going to use his ultimate skill to break the door! Isn't that too much?!" said Xu Shiqiu, shocked.
"Alliance Leader Feng! Watch out! Don't cut the mountain into half!" said Ding Xiadong with a victorius smile on him.
A few other powerful individuals were smiling along as well.
Swish!
Feng Aotian unleashed the attack. A strong hurricane-like gale started blowing when the Ethereal Force was being unleashed on the jade doors. The sharpness of the sword was enough to cut the entire mountain into half like butter! Logically speaking, this attack should be powerful enough to break the doors.
But!
Everyone was left in shock when they saw what happened next.
BAM!
The attack and the sword were halted the moment the sword came in contact with the jade doors. Just like Feng Bucun, Feng Aotian was sent flying away by the bouncing force of the jade doors as well.
Ouch…
Not even the mighty Feng Aotian could defend himself from the force of the doors.
At that moment, dead silence engulfed the place as everyone was left dumbfounded.
"Hahaha… You should have listened to Xiaobei!"
Xiangyu and Six-Eared Macaque were laughing out loud when they saw Fang Aotian tumbling on the ground. Immediately, everyone shifted their attention toward Chen Xiaobei.
"That's unbelievable! That kid was right! Even Feng Lianzhu has been left in such a horrific state with his Dragonrise Sword!"
All at once, hundreds of pairs of eyes locked on Chen Xiaobei in shock and awe.
A few seconds ago, they were all waiting for Feng Aotian to give Chen Xiaobei a reality check; a slap in the face. They had never thought that when the truth was finally out, it was their faces along with Feng Aotian's face that had been slapped instead.
"So? Are there anymore disbelievers here huh? You can all give it a try if you want to! If you can open this jade door, consider me the greatest loser then!" Chen Xiaobei looked around at the people, brows raised challenging them.
Right now, except for the nine demigod-ranked Jianghu leaders, the rest of them were elders and core disciples of these nine forces.
It was to be understood that these hundreds of people were of the highest tier on the Jianghu pyramid.
Strangely, at this very moment, none of them dared to give it a try. Even the most powerful of the lot, Zhou Daoxian and the strongest one, Long Zishan were silent daring not to make any smart-arse comments.
Clearly, these people had all finally realized that there was probably some mysterious sorcery or mechanism concealed within the jade door.
This was due to the fact that they were not sure what the nature of this mechanism was. Making a hasty move would only be a waste of effort, and the embarassing results of the previous attemps would just repeat itself.
There was pin-drop silence in the place, and everyone's attention was on Chen Xiaobei. Now, they were looking at him as their only hope.
After a moment of silence, Long Zishan spoke, "Faction Leader Chen! If you can open door, then please… go ahead! Stop keeping us in suspense!"
"Mm, I won't give anyone face here, but I must give face to Faction Leader Long!" Chen Xiaobei grinned. "All the faction leaders holding Orochi Scales, please come to the door. We'll need all nine pieces to open it!"
"Ahh… I understand now!" Feng Bucun exclaimed before anyone could give an answer. "This door has the same protective formation in it! The halo of light that attacked me is the same as the one before! We'll just need to gather all nine of the Orochi Scales to open the door!"
Fang Ying quickly praised him, "Master Feng, you really are very smart! You can tell of the inner workings of the door at first glance!"
"Master Feng is right! Hurry! Do as he says!" The girls urged excitedly.
"Right my ass!" Chen Xiaobei rolled his eyes at the giddy fangirls. "The protective formation within this door has the same function but the method to open them is a completely different one! If you don't believe me, you're free to give it a try!"
So, the leaders with the Orochi Scales gathered together. However, nothing happened. The jade door did not even budge an inch.
Thus, Feng Bucun and his fangirls were all left speechless, their faces beet red in embarrassment.
"Well, Faction Leader Chen, this proves that you are right! Just tell us what we should do now!" Long Zishan said.
The other leaders said nothing, signalling that they were all in silent agreement.
"Fine! Watch closely!" Chen Xiaobei picked up a couple of pebbles from the ground and tossed them at the door one after another at different points. "I've just used the pebbles to hit seven parts of the door. Everyone, please choose one point and aim the the scales at a point each!"
Wasting no time, the Seven leaders quickly did as he said, raising their Orochi Scales to each of the points.
"Hah! It's not responding! Chen Zhufeng! If you're messing with the seven leaders, you are as good as dead!" Feng Bucun barked.
"Hey asshole. Did your school-teacher teach you math? If you can count, we've only used seven of the Orochi Scales! Of course it's not going to react!" Chen Xiaobei picked up his own two Orochi Scales and pointed it at two other points.
Wooom!
Suddenly, the giant jade door began moving. Rings of light scribed with ancient runes began to light up in the areas where the Orochi scales were pointing at.
The formation on the jade doors was activated, and magically, a tremendous force came from within and slowly pushed the doors open.
"Good lord. It's open?! It's finally open! It looks like we are only able to open the door because of Chen Zhufeng's method!"
The people all around began to exclaim with loud gasps, staring at Chen Xiaobei with a look of awe and surprise.
"What happened?" Long Zishan asked as she stared at the opening jade door. "What sort of mechanics were hidden on the nine points of the door?"
Chen Xiaobei chuckled. "It's actually not some obscure mechanism. It's just the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams."
"Oh?! Nine Palace Eight Trigrams?" Long Zishan studied the door with a closer inspection. "One Kan, two Kun, three Zhen, four Xun, five Central Palace, six Gan, seven Dui, eight Gen, nine Li – this really is the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams!"
All the leaders nodded in agreement with a genuine and pleasant surprise in their voices. "Whoa… that was something so simple! The Nine Palace Eight Trigrams arrangement! Why didn't we think of that in the first place?"
"Well, we didn't think of that because we didn't know about the existence of these nine formation cores!" Zhou Daoxian said.
To these leaders, the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams was simply basic knowledge. It was something they were all too familiar with.
What they could not see, were the points where Chen Xiaobei threw the pebbles.
They were the nine formation cores of the protective formation. If Chen Xiaobei had not pointed them out, the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams would have never crossed their minds.
"Faction Leader Chen, how did you know the exact locations of the formation cores?" Long Zishan was curious.
"It's my secret!" Chen Xiaobei merely smiled, revealing nothing.
The people were left high and dry. Their curiosity was piqued but Chen Xiaobei's empty answer shot them down.
It felt like being flirted with and aroused by a beautiful woman, but at the crucial moment, she said that she was on her period.
What a party pooper!
However, that was simply the case for them, but not for Chen Xiaobei's own people. Those people actually knew what that secret was.
It was when Chen Xiaobei used his Golden Gaze Fiery Eyes to examine the jade door, that he discovered the hidden protective runes. This was why he said that Feng Bucun would be able to act cool for only three seconds and not longer.
At the same time, Chen Xiaobei also spotted the positions of the nine formation cores. That was how he knew of using the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams to break the formation.
This 'secret' was not very complicated at all but of course, Chen Xiaobei did not want any outsiders to know about it.
Crraack!
The giant jade door finally opened completely.
A 10 meter wide passage appeared behind the door; wide enough to accommodate 10 cars placed beside each other!
The passage though, was in complete darkness so it was difficult to tell how deep it went.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Suddenly, large oil lamps on both sides of the passage gradually lit up in pairs, and like street lamps, they lit up one pair after another along the path all the way to the end of the passage.
"How is it that oil lamps light up on their own?!" Fang Ying asked.
Feng Bucun took to answering confidently without much deliberation, "It's elementary. There is white phosphorus inside the oil lamps. When the jade door opened, oxygen entered the passage and when white phosphorus makes contact with oxygen, a combustive reaction happens! That's how the oil lamps were lit up!"
"Wow! Master Feng! You know so much… you're so knowledgeable! How incredible!" The group of fangirls praised in unison.
Feng Buchun smiled smugly. "Hehe, I've done a lot of homework in preparation for this operation! If there's anything you don't understand, you are all free to direct your questions to me!"
"You're wrong!" Chen Xiaobei suddenly spoke. "This is no white-phosphorus-spontaneous-combustion bullshit! These are Spirit-lit Lamps!"
"Spirit-lit Lamps?"
None of them had ever heard of anything like this.
It was difficult for them to believe something they'd never heard of.
Feng Bucun looked sideways at Chen Xiaobei and snorted, "Heh! You really like to complicate things unnecessarily, don't you? That would be a human lighting the candle and a spirit blowing it off. What stupid Spirit-lit Lamp? Don't pretend to know if you don't know! What a joke!"
Chen Xiaobei was not at all disturbed by this rude comment. He simply shrugged and said, "If you don't believe me, you can just walk in and see for yourself."
"Tha…" Feng Bucun did not know what to say. All the tough talk aside, he did not dare be the first to enter that passage.
Previously, when he ignored Chen Xiaobei's advice and tried to open the door with his sword, he got into trouble. Right now, Feng Bucun was not the only one who was afraid of entering first. In fact, none of them dared to do so.
"Didn't you say that I was pretending to know things I didn't know? Since you're the one who knows so much, then you should go ahead!" Chen Xiaobei challenged.
"I…" Feng Bucun turned red as a tomato.
Chen Xiaobei turned away from him and said, "We all came to explore the tomb. You're all probably prepared to wrestle evil spirits with whatever measure you have with you! So, open your Yin Yang Eyes, and see. Then you'll know whether or not what I say is true!"
"Yin Yang eyes? I remember now!" Someone shouted from among the group, "In an intelligence report, it was said that Chen Xiaobei was born with Yin Yang eyes. He must have seen something! Everyone do as he says!"
Everyone people began to take action.
The Chinese factions used the Taoist method, and drew small runes on yellow paper talismans using cinnabars.
Everyone had a piece of yellow paper which they burnt, and then they could, albeit for a limited amount of time, be able to use their Yin Yang eyes to see and hear Yin spirits.
The Americans on the other hand, all employed different methods.
The wizarding school chanted a spell, the Blood Descendants drew Star of Savid around their eyes, the Vaticans took out a special cross, and the Werewolves made pendants out of wolf teeth and silver pieces.
"My god! There are so many Yin spirits!"
The hundreds of people there shouted in surprise.
They saw countless Yin spirits floating in the deep and wide passage. There was a Yin spirit hovering around the top of each oil lamp.
The Yin spirits were all female, and were dressed in traditional palace clothing. These were probably palace maids.
When they looked at the oil lamps, they found that the red flames had all turned into blue wildfires.
Female spirits lighting up wildfires. If those were not Spirit-lit Lamps, then what else could they be?
"Hurry! Hurry! Everyone, take out whatever weapons you have to fight the Yin spirits. Let's charge!!!" Feng Bucun shouted.
Everyone began taking out their pure Yang Spiritual Items, or specific magical items that were used to deal with Yin spirits, and were ready to fight a battle against them.
"Stop!" Chen Xiaobei suddenly shouted. "We cannot fight this battle!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Feng Bucun frowned. "They are blocking the way! If we don't get rid of them, how are we going to move forward?"
"Put your weapons away and just walk in!" Chen Xiaobei said.
"Are you out of your mind?" Feng Bucun shouted. "You want us to walk through a passage filled with Yin spirits without our weapons? We'd be like lambs for slaughter walking to a lion's den!"
Everyone else present were all questioning Chen Xiaobei's strange instructions as well.
"Master Feng is right!" Feng Ying said. "Yin spirits are spiritual bodies. If we put away our pure Yang Spiritual Items, then we'll be like fish on a cutting board! The Yin spirits will surely kill us!"
It would seem that the people who supported Feng Bucun were all in agreement. "Yesh! Going in unarmed is suicide! It's a stupid suicide mission!"
Of course, there also those who supported Chen Xiaobei. "But then again, Chen Zhufeng was right about the jade door and the Spirit-lit lamps! If we don't listen to him, we might get into trouble!"
An insolent Feng Bucun however quickly shot them down. "Nothing happens three times in a row! Chen Zhufeng was right twice. This time, he probably wants to exploit our trust, and set up a trap for the people of the Anti-Bei Alliance!"
At the damning accusation, the people who inititally supported Chen Xiaobei began to waver.
Feng Bucun continued, "Everyone, don't forget that most of you here are his enemies! Do you think he really cares for you? I for one, don't believe that!"
With this final nail in the coffin, the people who once supported Chen Xiaobei now looked at him with renewed suspicion in their eyes.
"You're biting the hands that feed you!" Chen Xiaobei said coldly. "Since none of you believe me, then pretend I didn't say anything! Since you guys love fighting so much, you should just go and fight then! From now on, I won't be giving you any pointers anymore!"
Chen Xiaobei was no Mother Teresa. He was never one to tolerate being snubbed at for his good intentions.
He warned them out of kindness, but what he got in return was doubt and innuendo. He would not warn them anymore as his honest to goodness goodwill had been only met with spite and malice.
"Brothers! Seniors! Prepare your weapons and charge forward with me!"
Feng Bucun had lost a lot of face during this little trip, so he quickly took the lead in hopes that his good performance would restore what little reputation he had left.
Wu Yuejian followed closely behind, with the Anti-Bei Alliance coming after. Hundreds of them began to advance into the passage.
In the end, only Long Zishan, Liu Xuanxin, and the Werewolves decided to remain.
Xiangyu commented, "The people who stayed are all wise!"
"The fools that rushed in will pay for not listening to Xiaobei!" Six-Eared Macaque said.
"Faction Leader Chen! What is going on?" Long Zishan and Liu Xuan approached them.
The Werewolves did not come forward, but as silent as they were, they were all ears and waiting for Chen Xiaobei's answer.
"I won't explain it to the people who don't believe me, but since all of you trusted me, then I will tell you the gist of it!" Chen Xiaobei said. "This is the golden rule of tombraiding! One must light a candle before robbing a grave, but if the Yin spirit blows out the candle, the people who rob the grave would have to leave immediately!"
Everyone who was listening nodded as they had obviously heard this kind of saying before.
Chen Xiaobei then continued his explanation, "To put it simply, when the spirits blow out the lights, it's a sign for people to leave! Alternatively, if the spirits light up the lights, it's a sign that they welcome people!"
"Welcome people?" Liu Xuanxin said. "You meant those palace maid spirits lit up the oil lamps to welcome us?"
"That's right! It's a welcoming sign!" Chen Xiaobei nodded.
"How is that possible? The Emperor's tomb is an extremely important place. There must be a stricter defensive plan to keep outsiders from going in!" Liu Xuanxin was noticibly hesitant. "In fact, this is the tomb of THE great Emperor Qin. There are too many people waiting to rob his grave. Why would they be welcoming anyone to go in? That doesn't make any sense at all!"
Chen Xiaobei shrugged. "From an outsider's point of view, this is all illogical! But it makes a lot of sense from Xu Fu's point of view!"
"Xu Fu?"
Everyone was baffled.
"Everyone knows that Xu Fu is Emperor Qin's most trusted individual. When Emperor Qin's first sat on the throne, he personally asked Xu Fu to design his tomb! In other words, every single trap here had been singlehandedly designed by Xu Fu! After the tomb was built, Xu Fu was assigned to a journey to look for the Immortality Pill. He then took this opportunity to permanantly stay in Japan and never returned to Qin again. Some years later, Emperor Qin died. In order to make sure that the location of Emperor Qin's tomb would remain a secret, all tens of thousands of his people who helped with the tomb were sealed within it! This means that Xu Fu would be the only person left in this world who knows the true location of Emperor Qin's tomb. Wishing for his future offspring to enter the tomb one day, Xu Fu decided to use a secret technique to craft nine pieces of Orochi Scales!"
After hearing the explanation, everyone nodded their heads indicating that they were familiar about the subject and had heard about this before. However, doubt was still sewn on everyone's faces. For one, they could not figure out why Chen Xiaobei would them about it.
"Still can't understand? This tomb was built by Xu Fu and the scales were supposed to be passed to his offspring. Of course the evil spirits treated us as allies the moment we unlocked the doors with the scales! That is why the fires were automatically lit just now!" exclaimed Chen Xiaobei.
"Ohh… now it makes sense to me! Xu Fu was considered to be one of the most talented prodigies during the Qin Dynasty! The defensive formation that he setup here is strong enough to defend the tomb from all kinds of elites on Warth! His offspring would have been killed here if he didn't leave a backdoor for them!" said Long Zishan.
"That must be it! The backdoor was built when Xu Fu constructed this tomb! With the nine pieces of Orochi Scales, his offspring could do whatever they wanted here!" said Six Ear-Macaque and Xiangyu agreed as well.
From afar, Dio nodded his head to indicate that he too agreed with what Chen Xiaobei had just said.
"Since the tomb has recognized us as the offspring of Xu Fu, the hundreds of people that charged forward just now should be safe, right?" asked Liu Xuanxin while staring at the path behind the jade doors.
All the spirits along the way were killed by Pure Yang Spiritual Items when they charged forward earlier. Seemingly, it was a smooth journey for them.
"If we walk the path without making any hostile moves, I can assure you nothing untoward would happen to us! However, the moment those idiots attacked the sprits, all of them are obviously now considered as enemies!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"Enemies?!! Are you trying to say that the defensive formation would no longer consider us as Xu Fu's offspring?" asked Liu Xuanxin.
"That's right!" said Chen Xiaobei with his head nodded.
Rumble…
A loud rumbling sound could be heard from the path.
"Arghh… Help me! What kind of monster is that…? So powerful… this is too powerful… Save me…"
Soon, all hundreds who ventured in weapons blazing started to beg for someone to save them in an extremely hysterical manner. Clearly, they were attacked by some kind of monster as they walked down the path.
"Oh god! Xiaobei! You got it right again!" shouted Liu Xuanxin, eyes wide open in shock.
Everyone around him were filled with awe by Chen Xiaobei's sharp mind. His excellent deduction skills had once again allowed him to foresee the threat ahead of him. Naturally, those who refused to listen to him had pay the hefty price of their lives.
"Faction Leader Chen! What should we do now?" asked Long Zishan.
Dio who was quite a distance away propped up his ears as well. The seemingly lethal and awful threat within the tomb was so frightening it had made elites like Long Zishan and Dio lose their zeal to continue exploring. Both of them were hoping that they could use the backdoor that Xu Fu designed for his offspring to reach the end of the path.
"There's nothing we can do about it! The moment those idiots slaughter the spirits on the path, all of us here would be considered intruders! Perhaps… tombraiders! Or even worse, the murderers of Xu Fu's offspring! The nine pieces of Orochi Scales are useless now! We will have to rely on our own strengths to defeat the threat here!"
"What?!"
Everyone was shocked when they heard Chen Xiaobei's dismal words.
Even Dio, who had been awfully quiet all along could not help but voice out his thoughts.
"Mr. Chen! Is this true?! Are the Orochi Scales useless now?!"
"It's true! The Orochi Scales are meant solely for Xu Fu's offspring, and I'm pretty sure that Xu Fu would have personally listed down the do's and don'ts! Those idiots had just broken the rules! Hence, the defensive formation will no longer consider us as friendly allies!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"Xiaobei! What were you thinking? Since you knew that the Orochi Scales would be rendered useless the moment they attacked the spirits, why didn't you stop them then?!" asked a bewildered Liu Xuanxin.
"I would have stopped those bunch of idiots charging forward if I knew the consequences earlier! Things have just taken a turn for the worse with the backdoor now gone!" said Xiangyu and Six-Eared Macaque.
Even they could not understand what Chen Xiaobei was thinking earlier.
"Mr. Chen! What were you thinking huh?" asked Long Zishan with a frowning brow.
At that moment, everyone turned around staring at Chen Xiaobei. It was as if he had just made a stupid decision.
"My idea is really simple! If everyone wants to rely on the Orochi Scales to get to the end, I will not get anything from this tomb since I'm the weakest person here! I might even lose my life along the way! Now that they have destroyed the backdoor and are forced to fight with powerful enemies, I might just be able to make use of this chaotic situation to get my hands of the final prize!"
Filled with shock, they thought that it was a dumb decision to let those idiots to destroy the backdoor. After hearing Chen Xiaobei out, they finally realized that Chen Xiaobei was merely creating an opportunity for himself by letting them make the obvious mistake. Immediately, Xiangyu, Liu Xuanxin, Six-Eared Macaque, and the rest of them changed the way they looked at Chen Xiaobei.
"Faction Leader Chen is no ordinary person! You see a bigger picture than all of us!" praised Long Zishan.
"You are calm when you made the decision! I'm truly impressed by you!" said Dio with squinted eyes while checking Chen Xiaobei out.
"Please don't tease me anymore! Let's walk down the path and see what kind of monsters could cause such a racket!"
"Run! Hurry! Run!"
When Chen Xiaobei and the others who were with him entered the passage, people were running from the deep end of the passage towards the exit trying to escape.
These people all came from different forces, but they all one thing in common – they were all severely injured.
The wounds looked like they had been inflicted by swords, the cuts were deep and practically everyone's clothes were soaked in blood!
These people were the core disciples and core elders of top-tier ancient factions, and the lowest cultivation among them was Celestial Cultivation.
At those levels of cultivation, it was still considered to be very powerful on Earth.
What sort of creature could inflict such detrimental harm on them?
"Everyone, draw your weapons! Do not let your guard down!"
Chen Xiaobei took out his Dragon's Edge, and went on extremely high alert.
Behind him, Xiangyu took out his Zhenwu Battle Spear, Six-Eared Macaque took out a long metal staff made of Japanese resources, and Li Xiang took out a machete.
On the other side, Long Zishan called Liu Xuanxin to her side, of which he gave priority to protect.
The werewolves did not use any weapons. Wolf Emperor Dio however, had already ordered the Celestial Cultivation members in his pack to retreat, bringing only four Ethereal Cultivation Wolf Kings with him.
It was due to the fact that four Wolf Kings were so much stronger than four Blood Descendant princes.
With Dio bringing only four Wolf Kings, that meant that he respected Chen Xiaobei's judgement. The road ahead was going to be even more ardous. Weaklings who entered would surely die.
"So many dead people… So many…"
As they went further into the passage, the more corpses they encountered.
There was even a female disciple of Ancient Tomb faction.
"Fourth Shijie! That's… That's fouth Shijie!!!" Liu Xuanxin cried, a deep grief and sadness in her eyes.
Long Zishan frowned. "One cannot go against fate! Before we entered the tomb, I allowed all of you to make your own decisions. Little Four's death is the consequence of her own choices!"
"I… I want to avenge my fouth Shijie!" Liu Xuanxin gnashed her teeth.
"You're still new to our faction. I cannot allow you to make your own decisions yet!" Long Zishan shook her head. "You cannot avenge her, for you are not simply strong enough!"
"I…" Liu Xuanxin was speechless.
Every one of the dead lying on the ground were stronger than Liu Xuanxin. If she even attempted to take revenge, she would most definitely die. There was no doubt about it!
Zing!
Zing!
Zing!
They continued further inside, and heard the unmistakable noise of a raging battle.
"My god! What is that?"
Chen Xiaobei and the group of people who were with him were completely stunned by what they saw.
At the deepest end of the passage, a sea of monsters poured out like water from a swollen river!
The monsters were all of human form, clad in all-black armor, and holding a Da Qin saber. At first glance, they appeared to be a large army of Qin soldiers who were attacking their enemies.
But they were not human!
They were monsters – their bodies were festering and decomposed with the whites of their bones showing in places. Their eyes were a cobalt blue. Cold and empty, they steamed with a menacing demeanor.
Most importantly, they did not possess the logic and reasoning of a living human being. They were the living corpses of the dead!
Under the bidding of an unknown force, they charged recklessly, vowing never to stop until the last of their enemies have been eliminated!
If these soldiers in black armor must given a description, the only fitting one would be a zombie legion!
They were like the zombies in recent movies, a hoarde of walking dead soldiers. There were tens of thousands of them, flooding into the passage like rushing water.
On top of that, they were unafraid of pain nor death! Until they had completely wiped out each and every trespasser, they would not stop attacking!
Over and beyond that, their speed and strength were around middle-phase of Celestial Cultivation.
That was why the assault that had just taken place earlier maimed or even killed the hundreds of people who entered the passage.
Fortunately, among the hundreds, there were seven demigod rank elites. Although they were frenzied by the sudden attack, they eventually managed to stabilize the situation.
These seven were at the front, slaughtering the soldiers in black.
The others waited by their sides to backing them up, killing any zombies who managed to escape.
Although they had the situation under control, this was just a temporary victory. The seven leaders were not relieved at all.
"How many of these bloody things are there? They just keep coming! We can't hold them off forever!" Ding Xiadong had sustained some serious injuries so that he had to suffer a pain every time he killed a zombie.
"If I'm not mistaken, this group of soldiers are the Black Mystical Dragonriders of the legends!" Zhou Daoxian said.
"Black Mystical Dragonrider? What is that?" Ding Xiadong frowned.
"I know! I know!" Instead of focusing on killing the zombies, Feng Buchun busied himself trying to take the limelight. "During the reign of Emperor Qin, his armies were nothing like the world had ever seen before! Among the multitudes of Qin's army, the Black Mystical Dragonrider was the strongest and most powerful of the squadrons! Only the most elite of warriors were handpicked to join the Black Mystical Dragonriders. Only 10,000 were chosen from the entire country! But this troop of 10,000 were molded into invincible legends! The most incredible thing was that during the battle of Changping, the Black Mystical Dragonriders, under the lead of the God of Killing, Bai Qi, pierced through the hearts and bellies of 600,000 Zhao soldiers! They slaughtered the Zhao soldiers, defeating them until finally, they were completely subdued by Qin's army!"
200,000 of the Zhao soldiers died in the battle, and Bai Qi himself butchered 400,000. That battle established Bai Qi's title as God of Killing. At the same time, Emperor Qin managed to establish his own kingdom by destroying all six other dynasties! After the battle, Emperor Qin praised the Black Mystical Dragonriders as the 'undefeatable Divine Army'! Bai Qi himself also said that the Black Mystical Dragonriders had contributed the most to the battle of Changping!"
Feng Buchun spoke with fervor and confidence. He had clearly done his homework on the history of the Qin Empire.
"If this Black Mystical Dragonrider was so strong and powerful, why did they all die in the Emperor's tomb?" Ding Xiadong asked.
"They were buried alive with the Emperor!" Feng Bucun said. "The Black Mystical Dragonrider was not just incredible at fighting battles, they were also very loyal to Emperor Qin! The popular phrase, worship not the heavens and the earth, worship not gods or Buddhas, but worship Emperor Qin alone' actually referred to the Black Mystical Dragonriders! When the Emperor dies, in order to prevent the secret location of the emperor's mausoleum from being let out, the people in charge of choosing the location, building the mausoleum, and burying the Emperor… a total of more than 10,000 people were trapped and buried inside the tomb! The Black Mystical Dragonriders had attended the burial, and they were the ones who actually killed those people! In the end, all 10,000 of the Black Mystical Dragonriders remained in the tomb forever!"
Everyone was stunned by this macabre revelation.
Chen Xiaobei who was listening from afar praised, "What an incredible legion of armies! If their souls are still around, then they'll be the 10,000 most powerful Combat Spirits!"
(ps: The facts used in this chapter are purely fictional. Please do not compare them to actual historical occurrences. )
"They are just a bunch of walking dead… They have no souls!"
After activating her Yin Yang Eyes, Liu Xuanxin could see that there were no souls within their bodies.
"You sure are right about that! All these Black Mystical Dragonriders look like they are controlled by some form of power! That's why they could attack us!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"It's actually a good thing that they are soulless creatures! All we need to do is to destroy their bodies and they'll be useless! Without their bodies, whoever it is that controls them will not be able use them to attack us and we can continue moving forward!"
"No… no! It's not that simple!"
Immediately, everyone gathered and turned their attention towards Chen Xiaobei once again.
"Did you manage to figure out another hidden secret?"
"I'm not too sure about it for now, but we will know soon!"
After that, everyone redirected their attention to the battlefield again.
"Motherf*cker! We have been doing the killing for so long! Have we not killed all 10,000 of them yet?! I have spent way too much Ethereal Force! I need to rest badly!" said Ding Xiadong who was looking very pale and somewhat greenish.
"Alright. Faction Leader Ding, you'd better rest! From the looks of it, there are not many of the walking dead left! I think the six of us should be able to handle the rest of them!" said Zhou Daoxian.
It might have looked like an easy task but the truth was, a few among the powerful elites had spent at least 30% of their Ethereal Force to destroy the horde of walking dead. Fortunately, there were only 10,000 of them. They were lucky as all their Ethereal Force would have been drained completely if they were up against 40,000 or 50,000 of them!
In an unfortunate turn of events, more walking dead came out from the back of the path just as all the 10,000 Black Mystical Dragonriders were almost eliminated! Like a giant tsunami, the new bunch of walking dead started charging at them mindlessly. From the looks of it, it seemed like they were five times the number of the Black Mystical Dragonriders!
"Oh god! Xiaobei! You are right again! It's not as simple as we thought!" exclaimed Liu Xuanxin.
"This is within my expectation! There were at least tens of thousands of people being buried alive here! In other words, the mysterious force can at least control tens of thousands of corpses to attack us!"
"Are you trying to say that the powerful elites which travelled with us are going to spend all their Ethereal Force to defeat all those walking dead?!"
Upon hearing that, Chen Xiaobei did not answer the question. Instead, he had a thoughtful expression plastered on his face.
"What… What the hell is going on? Why are there even more zombies now?!" shouted Ding Xiadong with beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Shit! This is the worst case scenario! With so many walking dead, our Ethereal Force will be drained completely!" said Xu Shiqiu.
"Let's retreat! We are all going to turn into dead meat if we continue to fight them!" said Zhou Daoxian.
Clearly, all of them were not pleased by the decision of them having to leave the place. After all, they had spent a great deal of effort to enter the tomb. Asking them to return empty-handed was definitely the last thing they hoped for. Rendered with no other options, their only chance of staying alive was to retreat. The situation henceforth was similar to a one-to-ten thousand circumstance during the ancient times. If they continued to put up a fight, they would not die being killed by their enemies but rather of exhaustion instead. Xiangyu was the prime example of this. During his last battle, he was surrounded by Liu Bang's soldiers and he managed to kill mountains of them. Though he did not suffer any major injuries, he was forced to end himself in the end due to extreme exhaustion.
All the hordes of walking dead were clearly not powerful enough to hurt all those elites. However, the elites would need to come up with every single ounce of their Ethereal Force within them to destroy all of it. When the last ounce of Ethereal Force had been depleated, it would mean be a confirmed death. That was why they were ready to exit the tomb simply to stay alive. None of them were willing to risk their lives in such a circumstance.
"Sifu! Xiaobei! Let's retreat as well! The moment all the elites in front of us retreat, all those walking dead zombies will come charging at us! We should leave now to prevent any unwanted injuries!" said Liu Xuanxin.
"Okay."
Long Zishan nodded her head in agreement.
As for the Werewolves, they had already retreated without even thinking twice.
"Lucky goddess, I'm afraid I will not be backing out of this place. I'll need you to follow your Sifu closely okay? Send me a message when you step out of this tomb! I need to know that you are safe!" said Chen Xiaobei.
"Why are you not coming with us?" asked Liu Xuanxin.
"Silly girl… All those people in front of me are members of Anti-bei Alliance! Five Swords Mountain has a beef with me as well! They will definitely put me to death the moment I leave this tomb!"
"What… What should we do now?"
With Chen Xiaobei's current state of cultivation and without the protection of the Demonic Beast Kings, he would definitely be killed within seconds if all of the Anti-bei Alliance attacked him at the same time.
"There's nothing much I can do now! Leave this place and I will be killed! I just might stand a chance to survive if I move forward!"
"This…"
It was easier said than done though. She found it hard to believe that Chen Xiaobei could stop the entire horde of walking dead when even the seven powerful elites in front of her had failed to do so.
"Little Qi, come with me! In times like this, only Faction Leader Chen would be the one who can get himself out of a sticky situation! He has to risk his life to do it!" said Long Zishan.
"Sifu…"
Liu Xuanxin was struck by despair immediately. She had to admit that not even her Sifu was not where near powerful enough to stop all the members of Anti-bei Alliance. In order to stay alive, Chen Xiaobei had to stay here to fight off all the walking dead. Knowing that she would not be much help if she stayed, Liu Xuanxin left the place with her Sifu harboring a heavy heart.
"Faction Leader Chen, do you want me to take care of your friends?" asked Long Zishan.
"Thank you so much, Faction Leader Long. I will leave them to you!"
"We are not leaving! Who says that we are leaving?! We are brothers! I would rather die together with you than abandon you here! We are not cold-blooded animals! There's no way that we will leave this place without you!" said Xiangyu, Six-Eared Macaque, and Li Xiang at the same time.
"Brothers, believe in me! I will have to do this on my own!"
"Why? Why must you bear this burden all by yourself?"
As it was, Xiangyu, Six-Eared Macaque and Li Xiang were not willing to leave Chen Xiaobei behind and just run off on their own, but they all understood Chen Xiaobei very well. He was not a stupid person who sought to impress others by pretending to be able to handle more than he could.
If he said that he had to handle it on his own, he must have had his own reasons for doing so.
"Nothing! Just trust me! Hurry up and leave now! Don't get me distracted! I can take of these zombies!" Chen Xiaobei answered. He was unquestionably calm and there was an imposing aura about him.
Of course, he held many trump cards in his hands and these trump cards were his secrets. He could not explain any of that to them in front of outsiders.
Xiangyu and the others had a somewhat vague understanding of what Chen Xiaobei meant.
"Hurry up and leave! The zombies are coming! Stop hesitating!" Chen Xiaobei said sternly as he put his foot down.
"Alright! We'll wait for you outside! We will keep waiting for you, no matter how long it takes!" They were not the sentimental type so they quickly followed Long Zishan out of the passage.
"Xiaobei! You must survive!" Liu Xuangxin gave Chen Xiaobei a deep soulful look before she was dragged away by Long Zishan, before finally disappearing into the end of the passage.
Only Chen Xiaobei was left. With the Dragon's Edge in one hand, Chen Xiaobei ran towards the zombie legion.
The people from other forces were also retreating.
One by one, they ran past Chen Xiaobei, glancing at him with bulging eyes as if he was a suicidal madman.
"Hey, kid! Have you gone insane?"
Feng Bucun and his group of fangirls stared down at Chen Xiaobei.
Feng Bucun even deliberately stopped to mock him. "While everyone is retreating, you're standing here like a piece of wood? This method of suicide is very unconventional!"
"Go away!" Chen Xiaobei said icily. He had no time to entertain Feng Buchun.
"You little prick! How dare you talk to me like that?" Feng Bucun shouted. "I think I know now! You're not trying to die in the hands of the zombies… you want to die by my sword!"
"If you want to kill me, get ready to die first!" Chen Xiaobei's tone was frosty and there was a murderous rage in his eyes.
"Dumbass! Why are you still acting tough?!" Fang Ying barked. "You are just at the peak of Celestial Cultivation! Master Feng is an Ethereal Cultivation elite! He only needs half a sword to kill you a hundred times over!"
"Heh! Wow! What great Ethereal Cultivation!" Chen Xiaobei mocked. "Get out of my sight or I'll kill you as well!"
"You…" Fang Ying stamped his feet angrily. "I am also at Ethereal Cultivation! Come and kill me! You are just a big mouthed monkey who loves to boast! I must make sure to keep Little Seven as far away from you as possible!"
"Bucun! What are you still doing here? Retreat now! The zombies are coming!" Feng Aotian shouted as he approached.
"Alright! I'm coming!" Feng Bucun turned to look behind him. He saw a huge horde of zombies running towards them, which made the hairs on his skin stand.
"Fang Ying, let's go! Ignore this idiot!" Feng Buchun grabbed Fang Ying's hand and the pair made their escape.
Fang Ying blushed, completely forgetting about Chen Xiaobei while letting Feng Buchun lead her out of the passage.
The other Ancient Tomb disciples also followed behind them. Before they left, they jibed, "Hey kid, may you die in peace! We won't let Little Seven burn joss papers for you!"
Chen Xiaobei ignored the women. He raised his Dragon's Edge and taking long strides, he made his way towards the crowd of zombies at lighting speed.
The few leaders of the Anti-Bei Alliance were all dumbfounded by what they were witnessing.
"Has that kid gone mad? That's suicide!" Xi Shiqiu frowned.
Zhou Daoxian smiled knowingly. "This kid is smart. He knows that if he escapes, we will kill him! Dying in the hands of these zombies is perhaps a more comfortable prospect than dying in our hands!"
"Yeah!" Ding Xiadong said through gritted teeth. "I've already prepared a series of ten tortures for him! Dying like that is an escape!"
"The zombies are still pouring in! Let's get out of here quick!" said the Blood King, Sequinn who looked startled and unnerved.
"Right! Let's retreat! We'll figure out how to defeat these zombies later!" The Holy Mage of the wizarding school and the Grand Pope of the Vatican agreed as well.
In no time, everyone had evacuated the passage.
The mysterious force that controlled the zombies only covered the areas of the passage. So, when the leaders of the forces stepped through the jade door, the zombies stopped chasing them, and turned around and ran back towards where they came from.
Right now, there was one more intruder in the passage!
Zing! Zing! Zing!
Chen Xiaobei had already begun swinging his Dragon's Edge at the zombies.
The zombies' combat power hovered around 60,000 to 70,000. To Chen Xiaobei, that was to be considered as weak.
Every time Chen Xiaobei's saber struck, body parts were severed. There were heads, limbs, flesh and bones strewn all over the floor.
These roles that these zombies played were not to attack elites but to wear them out.
Chen Xiaobei was killing swiftly and effectively, but every time he swung his blade, he was spending a big amount of body strength and True Qis. If he continued like this after a while, he would be completely drained.
Of course, Chen Xiaobei was not dumb enough to allow that to happen!
Earlier on, the leaders of the other forces had to protect the hundreds of people behind them so they were only able to hold their ground, and were unable to advance forward. In the end, having done that for quite a while, they used up all their Ethereal Force and were forced to retreat.
In comparison, Chen Xiaobei sent his own people away, and advanced on his own. With nobody else for him to worry about, he was a lot more nimble and free!
The Dragon's Edge struck and sliced, creating a bloody path. Chen Xiaobei continued to advance further and deeper into the passage. That way, he was able to avoid using up his energy defending his ground if he stuck to the same place.
As he was pushing his way forward, Chen Xiaobei used his Golden Gaze Fiery Eyes. This was how he was able to gain a slim chance of survival.
"These corpses are being controlled by a mysterious force. That's why they are so strong!" Chen Xiaobei thought to himself. "To be able to provide such a vast and continous source of energy, there must be a giant formation at the end of the passage! It's like opening the jade door. As long as I can locate the core of the formation, I can break it! Without the energy, these zombies will be like normal corpses, and will be of no threat to me at all!" A smile crept up on Chen Xiaobei's face. "There's something going on with the Chaos Blood Sword! The thing needed to suppress the formation core must be a treasure that's related to the Chaos Blood Sword's evolution!"
Zing! Zing! Zing!
Chen Xiaobei kept brandishing his saber, slicing the monsters like they were vegetables killing seven to eight zombies each time.
There were tens of thousands of zombies in the passage. Getting to the end of it was not going to be an easy task.
"Damn! Things are worse than I thought!" Chen Xiaobei furrowed his brows. "I've already gone as far as a few hundred meters in and I haven't even caught a glimpse of the formation! I've already used half of the True Qis from my Dantian! If I keep this up, I won't be able to make it to the end!"
Chen Xiaobei swung his saber wildly but all around him, the zombies were pouring out endlessly, gradually slowing him with their numerous bodies.
"If I go on like this, I will be completely drained! But no… I can't retreat! It's day right now, so I can't use my Nightstalker Outfit. The Anti-Bei Alliance will attack me once I get out!" As his True Qi continued to deplete, Chen Xiaobei began to grow anxious. "I have to come up with a new plan or I'm done for!"
Chen Xiaobei pulled himself together, and continued to push forward. As he went through the horde, his mind was running through the list of trump cards he had on him to see if any of them could solve his problem.
Nuclear bomb! He only needed one to solve everything! But he would have to die too, and worse still, the mausoleum might collapse!"
The Blood God's Deity-Killing painting could only trap living things. These zombies were dead. They could not be trapped! Also, the painting could only cover a limited area. As there were so many zombies, it would prove inadequate!
With these two weapons of mass destruction eliminated, Chen Xiaobei was left with plenty of Spiritual Instruments, but they were used for one-versus-one attacks. None of them could withstand fighting off such a large legion of zombies.
"My old trump cards are useless. What about the new Red Envelopes I got from the King of Glory competition?"
Chen Xiaobei remained calm as he looked into the new envelopes he received.
Chen Xiaobei got five Red Envelopes during the Red Envelope Snatching Session: Shen Gongpao's Saturn Peach, Xiao Tianquan's Shapeshifting Pill, and Yanwang's Spirit Summoning Talisman. Chen Xiaobei had used them before and they were clearly not useful for fighting this massive army of zombies.
He was left with two more Red Envelopes; namely Tiangong Xingjun's Tiangong Blueprint, and Emperor Zhenwu's Zhenwu Ethereal Pill!
"Got it!" Chen Xiaobei's eyes lit up, excited that he might have found a solution to this zombie problem.
"Oh no!" Chen Xiaobei's expression however, suddenly changed.
When he was distracted, several zombies had thrown themselves at him.
Chen Xiaobei could not move his saber. At the front and on both sides, another dozen zombies launched themselves at him.
Soon, a whole group of them came surging forward, piling on top of one another like a small hill, and Chen Xiaobei was pinned right at the bottom of this hill made up of thousands of zombies!
On the other side of the jade door, all of the leaders, including Long Zishan and Dio, were discussing ways to break through this obstacle of zombies.
On another side, the core disciples and elders of these forces spent the time recuperating and replenishing their True Qi.
"Xiaobei! Please be alright."
Liu Xuanxin could not rest. Instead, she stood with her hands touching the jade door, looking into the passage worriedly.
She was so nervous that her voice trembled, and her heart was pounding violently inside her chest. She had never felt such a strong premonition of impending doom before.
"Hehe! How could he be alright?" Feng Buchun walked up to her. "It's not like you didn't see the zombie legion! Even the seven demigods had to temporarily retreat! There's no way that Celestial Cultivation piece of shit can survive the onslaught!"
Liu Xuanxin's face turned white as ghost at this comment. She felt an intense hatred towards Feng Buchun but at the moment, she could say nothing in return.
Even from a common man's perspective, Feng Buchun's words made a lot of sense. Even the demigods dared not stay inside. Could Chen Xiaobei be much stronger than the demigods? Of course not!"
"Little Seven! Don't worry about that kid!" Fang Yin snorted. "Just now, that kid said he wanted to kill me! His heart is extremely poisonous! You shouldn't be sad even if he's dead!"
"Elder Shijie! That's enough!" Liu Xuanxin glared at her. "All this time, you and Feng Buchun have been targeting him! Everyone is aware of that! I know Chen Xiaobei better than you do! He will never kill innocent people! He only kills people who deserves to die!"
"What?! What did you just say?!" Fang Yin shouted. "How dare you say that I deserve to die? Do you even see me as your Elder Shijie?"
Liu Xuanxin on the other hand was not your mild-tempered girl next door as well. She fought back, "Fourth Shijie's has just died but I don't even see you mourning for her! So many of my friends have died but here you are rejoicing over others' misfortune! Let me ask you, have you even thought of us as your Shimei? You want to use your position as elder Shijie to exert pressure on me? Oh please! You're not worthy of that!"
"You… You…" Fang Yin's face was beet red with anger but she found herself unable to retaliate because what Liu Xuanxin said was somehow the truth.
Even the four other girls following behind Fang Yin nodded in silence; their faces sorry with shame.
"Hmph! Liu Xuanxin! You'd better remember what you say now! Don't you regret it!" Fang Yin shouted.
The other girls faces fell. "Elder Shijie. Our Sifu has warned us not to use Little Qi's real name! Have you forgotten?"
"I…" Fang Yin froze when she realized her mistake but driven recklessly by her anger, she said stubbornly, "So what if I call her by her real name? I want Sifu to kick her out of our faction after this!"
Smack!
Suddenly, a deafening slap hit Fang Yin so hard that she was thrown a few meters away. Her face swelled up immediately, and bright, fresh blood strated to flow down the side of her lips.
"Si… Sifu… why did you hit me?" Fang Yin stammered.
She did not see this coming. One second ago, Long Zishan was discussing plans with the other leaders, and the next, she appeared like a bolt of lighting before Fang Yin and slapped her tightly in the face.
Had the mention of Liu Xuanxin's real name triggered Long Zishan's limits? Could she never be even touched?
"You ignored my instructions, and you ask why I hit you?!"
Long Zishan had an eagle-eyed vision and saw what was happening.
Under pressure, Fang Yin inhaled sharply, and quickly got down to her knees with her head touching the floor. "I'm wrong! I know I'm wrong! Please, forgive me, Sifu!"
"There's no need to get angry, Faction Leader Long!" Zhou Daoxian and the other leaders quickly came over. "Faction Leader Long hid simply Liu Xuanxin's identity because she's afraid that we'll capture her and use her as our hostage! Now that Chen Zhufeng is dead, we don't need her anymore alright!"
Long Zishan frowned. "Who told you that Chen Zhufeng is going to die?"