"Oh? You're all planning to go to the back mountain Yin Tomb as well? It's just that..."
Feng Tao was first overjoyed. In her family, apart from her father and a few branch family heads who were at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation or above, the cultivation of most disciples was not high. And here, not to mention others, just having Tang Tian and Wu Yizhen go was something she couldn't ask for more. They would definitely be of great help.
But except for Zhang Ming, the other three hadn't asked for any reward. Although she had originally planned to give some, if they were to act again, she found herself in a difficult position about what kind of reward would be appropriate. Her gaze finally fell on Zhang Ming. She knew that this person would only act if there was a reward. She could owe the others a favor for the time being, but it would be difficult to talk to Zhang Ming.
She didn't know that Li Yan had not agreed. She thought they had all agreed. When Li Yan saw Feng Tao look over, a smile suddenly appeared on his face.
"If I go, is it true that whatever I get, your family won't confiscate it?"
Li Yan's words surprised Feng Tao. On the other side, Tang Tian chuckled inwardly.
'I knew you wouldn't dare to go against my wishes. Otherwise, I would have had to find an excuse to teach you a lesson this time.'
As for the voice transmission Tang Tian had secretly sent to Li Yan just now, Tian Denghu and Wu Yizhen didn't know about it, so they weren't very surprised by Li Yan's question. Fang Guangjun's voice transmission earlier had said the same thing. Now, this Junior Brother Zhang was directly confirming it with Feng Tao. Of course, they also wanted to know about this point.
"Oh, I have to ask my ancestor about this."
Feng Tao thought to herself, 'I knew you wouldn't be willing to act without any benefits.'
And just at this moment, the Feng family's ancestor above had finished arranging matters and was looking over at them. He naturally valued the disciples of Falling Star Valley. So he had been paying attention to Tang Tian's side. He had heard the conversation of the few just now, and at this moment, Fang Guangjun on the side also moved his lips slightly.
"Junior Nieces and Nephews, my Feng family couldn't be more pleased that you are willing to help. Everything you obtain in the Yin Tomb will belong to you. This is your own fortune. Hmm, even if you don't get any fortune, my Feng family will not treat you unfairly. I, Feng, can still make a decision on this point. It's just that the back mountain Yin Tomb is also very dangerous. The Yin energy is too dense. For you, you might be at a disadvantage in a fight, so you need to keep this in mind."
The Feng family's ancestor didn't hide the fact that he was eavesdropping on the conversation here. Instead, he said it directly and even generously offered to pay some reward to Tang Tian and the others, appearing very magnanimous. This made Fang Guangjun on the side secretly praise the Feng family's ancestor. Just now, he had only sent a voice transmission saying that if those few disciples participated, they should just treat it as training. But the Feng family's ancestor still handled the matter in a way that left no room for complaint.
Seeing that even the Feng family's ancestor had spoken, Tang Tian couldn't refuse. He just glanced at Zhang Ming faintly and thought, 'You've gotten lucky again.'
Li Yan seemed not to have felt Tang Tian's gaze. He was still thinking about a problem, a strange matter.
'My senses just now were definitely not wrong. Why did a trace of killing intent suddenly appear from him? I've never had any dealings with him before. Was it aimed at me, or someone else around me?'
The other party probably didn't even take him seriously. Although it was hidden, the flash of killing intent was still keenly sensed by Li Yan. It was precisely because he sensed this trace of killing intent that Li Yan immediately changed his mind. He immediately decided to follow them. He wanted to see if it was aimed at him. He was suspicious by nature, and now that he was lurking in Falling Star Valley, once he found something wrong, he naturally had to know the reason to come up with a countermeasure.
In the back mountain of the Feng family, it was dark all year round, with a thick fog swirling between heaven and earth. At this moment, Li Yan and the others were standing at the entrance of a valley. Although they hadn't entered the valley yet, gusts of yin wind were already blowing out from within. The yin wind blew the even denser gray fog from within the valley outwards, making the entire area in front of the valley dark. Although it was just past noon, the sky here was already invisible.
There was only one stone path leading to the valley, wide enough for only three people to walk side by side. On both sides of the path were two high mountains, with steep cliffs rising to the sky. The stone path was damp from the thick fog, making it a bit slippery to walk on, but since this group were all cultivators, no one would slip and fall.
On the ground between the stone path and the towering cliffs on both sides, there were dense growths of blackish-green vegetation, which were also gently swaying by the constantly rolling fog in the air, appearing somewhat verdant. Many vines grew from the ground below and climbed up the cliffs, making the rock walls on both sides appear a large patch of dark green, looming in and out of the thick fog.
The Feng family's ancestor stood at the entrance of the valley. He reached out and patted his waist, and after a gray light flashed, an object appeared in his hand. It was a light gray, palm-sized object that looked like the skull of some living creature. The surface of the bone was extremely smooth, with several gray lights wandering unpredictably across its surface.
The Feng family's ancestor's hand flashed with spiritual light. A roaming black light on the skull shot up and, in the next instant, shot into the thick fog in front of him. Then, the thick fog in front of everyone surged like a tide, and a passage was revealed from the fog. The Feng family's ancestor and Fang Guangjun were at the front. Without saying much, they exchanged a glance and stepped in.
Behind them, including Li Yan and the other four Falling star Valley cultivators, there were more than forty people in total. Most of the Feng family's elite forces were here. The Feng family's other ancestor, the one Feng Tao called Third Grand-uncle, had not come with them. He had to lead the remaining small number of cultivators to hold the fort in the front. There were quite a few people who coveted the Feng family's territory. They couldn't have their entire force come to the back mountain, only to be wiped out by others taking advantage of the opportunity.
If Fang Guangjun hadn't acted, then only one of the two Feng family ancestors would have come to the back mountain. In that case, their speed of cleaning up the Yin Tomb in the back would have been much slower. After all, their manpower was limited.
Li Yan and the others followed in the middle of the group, and they entered very quickly. As soon as the few from Falling Star Valley entered the passage, they were a little surprised. The scene inside the passage was completely different from what they had imagined.
Before, when Tang Tian and the others were waiting for the Feng family's ancestor to open the formation at the valley entrance, because their Divine Sense couldn't penetrate the formation at the valley entrance, they had all judged the scene inside in their minds. Since it was a tomb, they all thought that as soon as they entered the valley, they would be greeted by large and small broken tombstones and tombs everywhere.
But when they stepped onto the passage, they found that they were completely wrong. The passage did not lead into the valley. To be precise, the passage led directly underground from the entrance.
Underground, a slightly wider path than before snaked through. This was the path the Feng family's ancestor was currently leading everyone on. Walking on this path, a fork in the road would occasionally appear in front of everyone, leading to an unknown place. The entire underground was like a huge labyrinth. Looking up, it was about twenty zhang high, making the group walking in it seem so inconspicuous, like a team of ants crawling.
From time to time, a huge stone pillar would appear on the road. The stone pillars gave people the feeling of supporting the sky and the earth. They were mottled and worn, as if they had been eroded by the long years. Some were even broken and crumbling, looking as if they would collapse at any moment.
In some places, huge strips of cloth hung down from the top of the wide tomb. Li Yan thought these cloth strips looked like shrouds. Some of the cloth strips had a lot of clay adhering to them, and the exposed parts of the cloth had brownish patches, like dried bloodstains. These wide cloth strips gave off a strong smell of decay and silt, as if they had been underground for thousands of years.
From time to in, gusts of bone-chilling cold wind blew past, causing the wide cloth strips to flutter and make "peng peng peng..." sounds. This sound was particularly jarring in the wide tomb. This labyrinth-like underground had dark passages everywhere. When these cold winds blew past, they would bring a "wu wu wu" strange howling sound, making people feel even colder in their bodies and hearts.
"This must be the yin wind!"
Tian Denghu, who had always prided himself on being bold, couldn't help but shrink his neck at this time. He only felt the back of his neck stiffen, and a chill involuntarily emanated from his body. And on the side, Tang Tian and the others were also shocked speechless by the scene that appeared in the tomb. A chill rose from the bottom of their hearts. Only those Feng family disciples seemed to be enjoying it here, and some even had a look of intoxication in their eyes.
The light in the entire underground was not very good. As far as the eye could see, Tang Tian and the others felt very oppressed, as if a huge stone was pressing on their hearts. On the ceiling of the tomb and the surrounding walls, or on those stone pillars and cloth strips, red and green lights would occasionally be reflected, bringing some light and color here. The reflected surroundings were dark, with a red and green light flashing in and out, appearing and disappearing. The alternating light and dark made the further distance appear pitch black. This light instead made the entire underground appear even more gloomy and strange.
Not long after descending into the passage, the voice of the Feng family's ancestor came from ahead.
"You must follow me. Do not step onto the forks in the road along the way. All of those forks lead to tombs. Although there are no more ghost creatures above the Foundation Establishment stage here, some at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Condensation, and even some at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation, are sealed in those tombs. The tombs can only be opened from the inside with a restriction token, but no special manual is needed to enter from the outside. If any of you accidentally stumble into one, and Fellow Daoist Fang and I don't notice in time, there could be great danger, and the outcome would be unknown."
After saying this, the Feng family's ancestor said no more. He still held the unknown skull and led the way quickly. He said these words, of course, for Tang Tian and the others to hear. Who among the Feng family disciples didn't know?
Seeing that Tang Tian and the others still had looks of doubt, Feng Zaiyu, who was walking on the side, immediately knew that his ancestor's words, a simple explanation, could not let outsiders understand the situation. The main purpose was to remind them. However, the number of words his ancestor had spoken today was more than he had spoken in the past year combined. This was already very rare. What's more, this was to a few junior disciples. This was only because they were disciples of Falling Star Valley that the ancestor said a few more words. Otherwise, he would not have personally opened his mouth to remind them.
Feng Zaiyu immediately explained in a low voice.
"What we entered from the valley entrance is the tomb closest to an exit. Starting from that tomb, my Feng family, through the efforts of successive generations, has slowly connected the tombs we can control into a larger and wider tomb. So, the forks in the road here, in total, can actually lead to several thousand tombs. That is the best place for our Feng family disciples to go into seclusion for cultivation or for training. Here, in order to keep the Yin energy dense and not decline, we usually do not kill the weak Underworld Ghost Creatures, but let them advance and grow. It's just that we've just entered, so you haven't seen any ghost creatures yet. In a little while, when we go deeper, we will encounter many ghost creatures along the way. However, the highest level of these wandering ghost creatures generally will not exceed the sixth layer of Qi Condensation. Once they exceed this realm, they will be sealed in a tomb by the family..."