Absolute Destiny Game
Chapter 288 - 94: Master of the Ancient Tomb

Chapter 288: Chapter 94: Master of the Ancient Tomb

Just as Xiao Jie followed Hidden Dragon Do Not Use and others easily leveling up by killing monsters, the expedition team gradually delved deeper into the ancient tomb.

Salted Fish still took the lead, feeling both apprehensive and uneasy, yet filled with anticipation.

This time in the ancient tomb, probably his last raid, whether he could turn things around depended on this moment of nervousness.

He definitely needed to score some good loot.

While moving forward, he was still psyching up his teammates in his mind.

"Hidden Moon Following Wind, that idiot, just run, it’s good for us—the fewer splitting the money, the better—everyone keep up!"

Armed with his blade, Salted Fish muttered as he eyed the pitch-dark tomb passage ahead, already regretting becoming the leader; damn, the tomb was too creepy, silent all around, at least some background music would have been nice.

"Hey, does anyone have a Summoning Beast to scout ahead? The pressure is a bit much having to face-check this."

"I’ll do it," Bai Ze said.

He chanted softly—some spells in this game that take longer to cast have corresponding spells to recite.

"Supreme Decree, respond without pause, Protecting Heaven Soldier, honor my command, summon the Heavenly Soldiers—quick as a decree!"

A white light flashed, and an enigmatic Array appeared on the ground. As the light faded, a silver helmet and armor-clad Heavenly Soldier was summoned.

Protecting Heaven Soldier: "Humph, human Taoist, can’t you even fight on your own?"

Bai Ze retorted without politeness, "Cut the crap, lead the way."

Though the soldier was verbally harsh, he obeyed, leading the way with his spear.

Salted Fish finally took a breather, crossing a gloomy tomb passage and arriving in a vast burial chamber, which appeared to be the tomb’s antechamber, empty and echoing. The walls were covered in murals depicting several major battles experienced by Zhongwu Marquis Wang Chang in his life.

In the murals, Wang Chang, adorned in a Yanling Helmet and Ming Guang Armor, looked ferocious and commanding, leading thousands of troops and horses.

Around the hall, several armored stone statues stood at each corner.

The crowd observed curiously, silently gathering information about the ancient tomb, trying to discern any intelligence from the murals.

"Wang Chang must have been a corrupt official; damn, to build such a massive tomb."

"Didn’t you see what’s written on the stele? Zhongwu Marquis, during the time of the Ancestor Dragon Empire, he was quite a significant official, a lord of a region."

"Shush, did you guys hear something?"

Crack—a sound of splintering rock echoed, and instantly everyone held their breath.

"It’s the statues!" someone exclaimed.

Then, the four armored warrior statues slowly cracked open their stony exteriors, revealing their true forms inside.

They were four red-eyed zombies.

Armored Corpse Guard (Ancient Tomb Guardians): Level 18 Elite. Life Value 1000.

"Prepare for battle!" Salted Fish hurriedly shouted.

Seeing the monsters emerge, the team was momentarily rattled but quickly regained their composure.

Four Elite Monsters weren’t too big of a problem; twenty people against four, they were bound to win.

The team charged, and after a few minutes—

Fierce Warrior: "Haha, our team really is strong."

Shengtun Lemon: "Exactly, we took down all four elites. Salted Fish, that secret technique of yours was really cool."

Imperial Little Qi: "Right, right, let those few losers leave; what haven’t we seen?"

Xiu Hua Meng Zhangfei: "Damn, I almost died just now; how could you guys talk about retreating without considering your teammates!"

Saint Sollo: "Holy shit, we struck loot! It’s Blue Equipment."

Lucky find, four Elite Monsters directly dropped one piece of Blue Equipment and three pieces of Green Equipment, instantly boosting the team’s morale.

After regrouping, they continued forward.

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"We struck loot! Not bad at all, a Mysterious Meat Chunk, worth a tael of silver," Hidden Dragon Do Not Use said satisfied, looking at the loot dropped by the Corpse Giant Rat.

"Is this thing of any use?" Xiao Jie asked curiously; he had picked up one earlier.

"You can exchange it with the Taiyin Law Conference for reputation. Corpse Chasing Mages, Ghost Curse Masters, Ghost Generals all farm them in large quantities; they go for one tael of silver each in the auction house."

Is that it... Xiao Jie thought, hoping it was something more special, though one tael of silver was already quite significant. But by now, he no longer valued one tael of silver as much.

"Brother Qianlong, how about we explore the other two tunnels?" He mentioned, feeling a bit eager.

While they dared not rashly venture into the ancient tomb, it was still possible to take risks in the mines.

The first level had more than one tunnel leading downward, and the mine was interconnected in all directions; who knows how extensive it was or how many elites, bosses, were lurking.

"Not today, let’s just slowly level up here. Actually, I really don’t wish to lead people into danger. If others find their own demise, even if many die, I wouldn’t blink an eye. But if someone dies because of my decision, I always feel like I owe something. Ah, initially I didn’t want to be the Sub-Branch Leader, but the leader insisted, so I had no choice."

Perhaps due to the suppressive atmosphere of the cave, or maybe because he had grown familiar with Xiao Jie, Hidden Dragon Do Not Use became more talkative.

"It can’t be helped. Casualties are inevitable in group battles; it’s impossible to always have smooth sailing." Xiao Jie intelligently consoled, "You could think of it this way, if someone else were commanding, perhaps even more people might have died. In fact, you might have saved a few lives."

Hidden Dragon Do Not Use laughed, "Haha, when you put it that way, it could work."

"By the way, what’s up with Salted Fish? Why is he so desperate to make a fortune?"

Hidden Dragon Do Not Use sighed, "Originally when he began playing the game, he spent millions to develop rapidly, accumulating a considerable amount of high-interest debt. Although he gradually started making some returns, his expenses grew more numerous—buying Saber Skills, learning Inner Strength, always having to keep some life-saving items. His luck hasn’t been great, struggling to save money even over Level 30. Now, people in real life are chasing him for debts; if he doesn’t produce something soon, he might be forced into execution, potentially losing his house."