The following morning Lou Ben met Wu Gen outside the undead trench.
The trench had a small cave opening on the side of a medium-sized mountain. It was not too far from the village, but was deep inside the forest.
At the entrance was two village guards, they were stationed here to make sure no undead wave heads towards the village.
It was a simple set up by the village and it even allowed for the village to lower the tax on businesses because there was a small entry fee of three aura stones per person.
Lou Ben and Wu Gen approached the two expressionless guards and Lou Ben waved his sleeve: "Brother Wu Gen, I'll take care of the fee. It's my side of the promise since you brought the extra crystals."
Lou Ben handed the six aura stones to the expressionless guard and walked toward the entrance.
Wu Gen nodded at Lou Ben: "Seems like the Xiao clan has gotten good at our fundamental techniques. You used Space Sleeve as if it is second nature."
Lou Ben handed Wu Gen a dagger: "Brother Wu Gen, I was the one who was reprimanded because of the difficulty using that technique. Ever since then I have been using it daily to remind myself that I can slack off inside the red light district but I can't slack off on cultivation."
Wu Gen agreed: "Well then brother Lou Ben, what about this dagger? I thought we came to mine refining materials to sell."
"Haha, brother Wu Gen, didn't you notice the other mission inside the undead trench? There are people who want the skin of the undead to research and use in their recipes either for refining crystals or for pills!"
Lou Ben was smiling as he thought about the profit of both the aura stones and information the two of them will get during this mission.
The undead trench was dark and room was sparse. The adventurers described it as a dark labyrinth. After some weeks of adventuring, people noticed the further they go, the more strange the undead act. The hallways twist and turn, due to the natural formation of the mountain, the mountain often rumbles and this causes hallways to collapse and new routes to emerge.
Wu Gen handed Lou Ben a jade slip: "This is the recent map for the trench. Be careful, it seems that someone discovered stairs in the middle."
Lou Ben touched the jade slip to his forehead and replied: "It looks like there's more than meets the eye."
The two figures of Lou Ben and Wu Gen walked through the dark hallways and activated a technique called Atom Search, this technique allowed the user to see in the dark as if light was nonexistent.
This was a technique the Xiao clan learned during their teachings inside the Xiao Palace. Steward Wen Guoliang made ample preparations for the clan to tackle many different challenges.
The technique is not originally used for vision but Steward Wen Guoliang also noted that it can be a big help in a variety of situations. He wanted the Xiao clan to understand that techniques can be used in a variety and don't have to be fixed.
Wu Gen was the first of the clan to notice this and put a few notes on the mission board about his findings.
While the two figures walked the dark hallways, Lou Ben sensed movement.
"Looks like it didn't take long for us to meet the first group of undead."
Growling approached the two and echoed off the small hallways.
The undead approached, it was a group of three adults.
The undead were pale, their skin was being eaten by maggots, and their mouths moved up and down as if their jaw was broken.
Lou Ben smiled: "I'll take care of them. Thankfully we learned from Brother Kai Yang and kept on alert."
Space technique - Gravity Hand!
Lou Ben raised his right hand over his head and slowly raised it.
The undead shook and slowed down as the bones in their legs started to break through the skin.
*POP
The undead lost movement from their legs and started to crawl towards Wu Gen and Lou Ben with more anger!
Lou Ben wiped the sweat off his forehead and raised both his hands in front of his chest.
Space Technique - Gravity Hands!
This time Lou Ben clenched his fist in front of him and pulled apart as if he was trying to tear the bodies of the undead off limb from limb.
This was ineffective. The undead were already crawling towards them, the three undead simply shook it off.
Lou Ben caught his breath: "Brother Wu Gen, I think you will have to finish it for me. I was aiming to tear their heads off, but I lack experience."
Wu Gen nodded: "No worries brother, we have to save our energy."
Wu Gen raised both hands in front of him facing each other.
Space technique - Gravity Hands!
Although he used the same technique as Lou Ben, Wu Gen decided to aim it at only the first undead that was leading the pack.
*Splat
Wu Gen clapped his hands together and the first undead's head turned into a thin membrane.
Blood and brain tissue littered the floor.
Wu Gen wiped the sweat off his forehead: "As I thought, It's better attacking if we focus on a single target."
Lou Ben stood straight and raised his hands in front of him: "Brother I can finish the left one and I'll leave the right one for you."
*Splat
*Splat
The two Xiao clan members took care of the last two undead in succession.
After realizing their strength, Lou Ben decided not to spread out their energy to attack multiple targets.
The fight they just had was a slow one, it was not too life-threatening, this is because they noticed the undead from a far distance, and the undead are incredibly slow. The bodies of the undead are rotting and being eaten so they can only move so fast.
Lou Ben grabbed his dagger and started tearing the flesh off the undead bones: "Brother Wu Gen, you know I heard that these undead get faster after they have eaten. I was told by Brother Su Sheng that brother Kai yang was attacked by an undead who was running. It got the best of him and took advantage of the situation."
"Yes, I heard this too. The poor fools let their guard down, probably thinking about making a quick profit to go fool around with the girls inside the palace of sweets." Wu Gen rolled his eyes and also cut flesh off the undead.
Lou Ben laughed and agreed: "But, I don't blame them. The girls inside that palace are petite and curvy, I can see why they call it the palace of sweets. If I had a business like that, I would name it something similar."
Wu Gen rolled his eyes but agreed: "sigh…it's just that the Xiao clan is not focused, there is no problem indulging the way we do, but its obvious that it's affecting the missions we complete."
*Slash
Wu Gen sliced a large chunk of flesh off an undead's leg and stored it inside his Space Sleeve.
Lou Ben nodded and ripped apart the undead's arm and stored it inside his Space Sleeve: "You're right. We need to have a meeting, otherwise we might end up getting reprimanded from Steward Wen Guoliang when he does his first investigation on our progress."
*Crunch
Wu Gen tore apart the hands of the last undead and stepped on the fingers to create bone fragments.
Lou Ben looked up: "What do you plan to do with that? We can't sell bone fragments."
Wu Gen shrugged: "I don't know, but if they're willing to buy this awful material, then I can save a small bit just in case it has value. Just in case, you never know."
Lou Ben agreed and did the same: "Ever since we got here, you focused on the nitty gritty and I focused on the Xiao clan and information gathering. Brother Wu Gen, next time let's work with another Xiao clan member and try to assess his traits. We should try to investigate the Xiao clan before Steward Wen Guoliang gets the chance."
Wu Gen nodded and stored everything inside his Space Sleeve.
The two figures walked forward and continued down the dark hallways of the undead trench.
Lou Ben and Wu Gen talked about small things inside the Xiao clan, at first they didn't mind the actions that the other members were doing, After all the both of them also took action the same, from drinking, gambling, to women. All the members were experiencing the freedom of being a dao master.
Eventually they agreed to bring the clan together and make some changes. There were a few things that they could not accept, Brother Xiao Kai Yang getting injured was only the beginning of troubles and they wanted to minimize future issues.