Chapter 21: Making an Appearance
In his current state, it was inconvenient for Lu You to travel together with Han Tian, especially with the speed boost from the Divine Speed Talisman and Light Rock Talisman, which made Lu You even faster than Han Tian, who was at the peak of the Qi Refining realm.
He used a Wind Talisman to clear the way, blowing low the grass and foliage to prevent the demonic beast from hiding.
With the Divine Eye Talisman enhancing his vision, allowing him to see through traps and ambushes, Lu You headed west without obstruction.
Occasionally, one or two foolish demonic beasts blocked his path, only to be blown to pieces by the dense barrage of Thunder Technique Talismans.
"This ancient tomb is seriously wrong. All the demonic beasts here actually feed on human blood."
Lu You noticed the strangeness of this place. Aside from the spider he had killed earlier, he successively encountered bat- and venomous snake-type demonic beasts, and also saw several corpses of rogue cultivators. Though their wounds differed, the result was the same—their life essence had been completely drained.
"I wonder whether the Verdant Cloud Sect disciples have noticed this anomaly."
Moving like the wind, Lu You finally heard the distant sounds of a large group of cultivators. He slowed down, quietly slipped into the forest, and used the Divine Eye Talisman to observe from afar.
Using the Verdant Cloud Sect's special secret technique, most of the sect's disciples who had survived the teleportation into the ancient tomb were gathered here. Counting carefully, there were nearly a hundred people.
Yet even with nearly a hundred cultivators present, everyone's expression was grim.
Opposite them stood a resplendent, gold-and-jade palace. Its presence was imposing and utterly out of place within the ancient tomb. With just one glance, it was obvious that the greatest treasure of this tomb lay within that palace.
Lu You merely glanced at it once and dared not look again, because the plaque above the palace bore no words at all—only a pair of eyes painted upon it, exactly the same as the eyes Lu You had seen that night.
He scanned the crowd once more. The bad news was that Senior Sister Zeng Yan was not among them. The good news was that the ten Foundation Establishment realm cultivators of the Verdant Cloud Sect were also absent.
Lu You's heart sank.
Could it be that his senior sister and those Foundation Establishment disciples had already entered the palace?
"Damn it, something's really wrong with this ancient tomb. How about... how about we just leave?"
Among the gathered hundred were some rogue cultivators from the lower city. Seeing the terrifying and eerie scene before them, the rogue cultivators were the first to lose their nerve.
"No." A Verdant Cloud Sect disciple immediately drew his weapon.
"Senior Brother Bai has already said it, we must not act on our own. We have to stay together and wait. This ancient tomb is strange, and all the demonic beasts here feed on life essence. Senior Brother Bai suspects that these demonic beasts are being controlled by some existence within the tomb, using life essence as sacrifices. If everyone scatters and someone gets drained of life essence, this tomb will only become even more dangerous."
Compared to the rogue cultivators, the Verdant Cloud Sect disciples were disciplined and orderly. However, the number of Verdant Cloud Sect disciples who had entered this tomb was far smaller than that of the rogue cultivators.
"Go to hell with that! Are you trying to use us as cannon fodder?!"
"Tell us how to leave the tomb right now, I'm done with this!"
"Yeah, yeah, this is too damn deadly. If you could bring us in, you must have a way to get us out. Damn it, I'm not playing anymore. I'm leaving!"
Relying on their numerical advantage, the rogue cultivators also drew their weapons. What the Verdant Cloud Sect had originally recruited to "increase manpower" now instead became a blade pressed against the sect disciples' throats.
"Brothers, you all saw it with your own eyes just now, before we even entered the treasure hall, a Foundation Establishment cultivator had already died. No one knows what's inside that hall." A scar-faced rogue cultivator stepped forward.
All the powerful figures of the Verdant Cloud Sect had already entered the palace, and at this moment, the scar-faced man actually revealed an aura of the Foundation Establishment realm.
"Damn it, we've been played by the Verdant Cloud Sect. What kind of legacy tomb is this? It's way too deadly. Who knows whether those Foundation Establishment guys who went in will even come out alive? I say we kill these little Verdant Cloud Sect brats right now, divide up the treasures on them, then hide somewhere. There are Golden Core cultivators watching outside the tomb, if nothing happens for too long, they'll break the seal and come in to rescue people. When that happens, we run together. We get the money and keep our lives. Isn't that a hell of a lot better than squatting here waiting to die?"
At this moment, the scar-faced man was actually the strongest presence among the crowd. The other rogue cultivators exchanged glances, their hearts stirred.
They had entered the legacy tomb to gamble their lives for opportunities. Now that the so-called inheritance looked like a nine-out-of-ten-death situation, slaughtering these Verdant Cloud Sect disciples and looting their bodies could also count as a kind of opportunity.
Whether they were rogue cultivators from the lower city or ones who had gathered from elsewhere, they all lived lives spent licking blood from the edge of a blade. Every one of them had likely played the role of bandit or robber at some point. Seeing the scar-faced man take the lead in drawing his weapon, the already numerous rogue cultivators turned ferocious and surrounded the Verdant Cloud Sect disciples.
Hidden in the shadows, Lu You frowned.
He already knew what rogue cultivators were like—after going down the mountain twice, he had seen it clearly. The Verdant Cloud Sect ruled this region; it was impossible that they didn't understand the nature of rogue cultivators. So why had the Verdant Cloud Sect elder leading this expedition insisted on letting the rogue cultivators in?
Subconsciously, Lu You shuddered.
Could it be that all of this was the plan of the elders outside the formation? That he wanted accidents to happen inside the tomb—mass deaths?
Thinking of the demonic beast in the tomb that constantly fed on life essence, and of the eyes he had seen that night in the back mountain—eyes that had frozen his blood with a single glance—Lu You suddenly realized something terrifying.
What if the elder who came to inspect the back mountain had known that this was not a legacy tomb at all, but chose not to report it?
What if he had instead arranged for disciples to be sent in as offerings of life essence, and, fearing that the Verdant Cloud Sect disciples alone would not be enough, had also brought in the rogue cultivators as well?
No. This tomb must not be allowed to drink any more blood.
Lu You's gaze turned cold.
The Verdant Cloud Sect disciples had a secret technique to gather together—his senior sister certainly had one as well. Most likely, because she was a sword cultivator and stronger than others of the same realm, she had entered the treasure hall together with the Foundation Establishment cultivators.
If he wanted to save his senior sister, the first thing he had to do was stop these rogue cultivators from causing trouble.
If those eyes truly belonged to something that fed on life essence, then bloodshed would only make that terrifying presence even stronger.
"Brothers, kill all these little Verdant Cloud Sect bastards! We split the loot evenly!" The scar-faced bandit charged ahead, taking the lead.
The many rogue cultivators behind him were not about to fall behind, since they couldn't seize the inheritance of the tomb, they all turned their thoughts toward the Verdant Cloud Sect disciples instead.
Boom!
Just as the rogue cultivators were about to rush up to the Verdant Cloud Sect disciples, a violent gale suddenly swept in. Even trees that weren't especially thin were uprooted by the wind.
Howling wind and flying sand instantly blocked the rogue cultivators' advance. Some of the weaker ones instinctively grabbed onto the legs of the people beside them, otherwise, they would have been blown straight away.
"Holy shit, why is there a typhoon inside this tomb?!"
The scar-faced man swallowed a mouthful of sand. He spat it out, his face full of shock. In the very next instant, something even more shocking happened—so shocking that he forgot to close his mouth.
Countless Thunder Technique Talismans were lifted by the raging wind, densely packed together, spreading across the sky like a tidal wave of talismans. Lu You, dressed in flowing red, stepped atop the wave and descended. Looking down at the bandits trapped by the gale and trying to attack, he drew the treasured sword from his back and pointed it at them from afar.
The wave crashed down from the heavens. Even the radiant glow of the magnificent treasure hall was suppressed by the sudden lightning. Amid the furious roar of the wind, the world was left with nothing but a sea of violet thunder.
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