Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 663 - 658: Ruined Tomb Part 2

Chapter 663: Chapter 658: Ruined Tomb Part 2

Mountain Man Yuanxia carefully stowed the contract away.

"Everyone, one of the entrances to the Ruined Tomb is inside the mountain of this small island. We just need to follow the entrance and exit of this temple, go into the underground ruins, find that entrance array, and we’ll be able to smoothly enter the Ruined Tomb."

None objected.

Then, Mountain Man Yuanxia led the four of them into the temple through the main gates.

In a shadowed spot of the temple that avoided light, they one by one entered an underground passage.

After entering the temple, they kept descending along the underground passage, and after an indeterminate amount of time, a small stone chamber soon appeared ahead.

Mountain Man Yuanxia strode into it and stamped his foot on the floor of the chamber.

Instantly, a yellow fog emanated from under his foot, completely enveloping the stone chamber.

Some leaf-like yellow halos intermittently rose and sank within the sand.

Soon, the yellow fog was quickly retracted by him, and he motioned for the others to follow.

Everyone entered the stone chamber.

Lu Qiaoqiao surreptitiously glanced at Mountain Man Yuanxia just as he, too, happened to look over, their eyes met for a moment, then both pretended as if nothing had happened and shifted their gaze away.

"This is the teleportation formation that leads to the Ruined Tomb. Please be very careful once we cross over. Since the Demon God King and his group left, the energy storm fluctuations in the Ruined Tomb have been extremely severe, occasionally releasing the resentful gases of the Resentful Spirit River. It will be up to Brother Zeng Zhuo then."

"Leave it to us."

Zeng Zhuo nodded. He was an absolute expert in this domain, or else he wouldn’t have joined such a high contribution point mission as a loose cultivator.

Mountain Man Yuanxia smiled.

"The array activation requires half an hour. You all can move around freely. This temple’s underground harbors a unique plant called Heart-Piercing Grass. It can be used in medicine or traded in the black market for Spiritual Marrow. However, harvesting it consumes a great deal of True Yuan."

"If you don’t mind, you might want to check it out. After expanding your senses, those almost imperceptible essences are the places."

"Heart-Piercing Grass? Such things are also found here?" Both siblings Zeng Zhuo’s eyes lit up. This kind of spiritual medicine and unique plant required significant amounts of True Yuan to ensure that it was harvested without decay. They had previously done such herb gathering tasks to earn fees for magical artifact manuals but did not expect to find it here.

"Indeed, there are. The underground of this area is a vast network, everywhere these unique plants grow," said Mountain Man Yuanxia with a smile.

"Then let’s have a look," said Zeng Zhuo solemnly. If it truly existed, it would be a decent income. Going back and forth, despite the hardship, could earn them over a hundred contribution points.

He glanced at his sworn sister, and after both nodded, he was the first to walk out through an exit on a wall of the stone chamber, quickly disappearing into the outer corridor.

Murong Jun also left the stone chamber, exiting through another passage.

Lin Xin, however, stood still in his original spot.

"Isn’t Daoist Xin interested?" Mountain Man Yuanxia smiled and looked at Lin Xin. A hundred or two contribution points would usually interest anyone who had just entered the fifth rank.

Usually, only those with years of accumulated wealth, or backed by powerful forces, would remain unmoved and look uninterested.

Lin Xin’s heart stirred, realizing he had slightly given himself away. He then put on an act, showing interest but with some hesitation.

"Daoist Xin is worried about insufficient True Yuan, and entering the Ruined Tomb later might be..."

"There’s no need to worry, Daoist Xin. The two Daoist friends Zeng Zhuo naturally won’t use too much of their own True Yuan for gathering either. They will just select and mark some of the highest quality ones. Later, after completing the mission, returning for the harvest will also be much faster," said Mountain Man Yuanxia with a chuckle.

"That sounds good."

Lin Xin heard this and also smiled broadly.

He noticed that Fairy Lu Qiaoqiao was still standing in place with an indifferent expression, not moving at all.

With a chill in his heart and without further glances, he too followed out from an exit on the wall of the stone chamber.

Outside the stone chamber was a large, dark, and pitch-black square, with giant stone statues standing quietly around it. In the center, there was a huge, dilapidated altar. Surrounding the altar was a vast expanse of pitch-black grass, faintly emitting strands of Yin Elemental Energy.

Zeng Zhuo and Murong Jun had already reached the altar, carefully examining the black grass.

Although the lighting was dark, Lin Xin and the other fifth rank Human Immortals were naturally unaffected due to their non-mundane bodies.

Lin Xin squinted his eyes and quickly followed towards them.

*************

Inside the stone chamber.

Mountain Man Yuanxia watched Fairy Lu Qiaoqiao with a smile.

"What? Is Fairy Lu not interested in the Heart-Piercing Grass?"

"Cut the act, Huang Peiyuan," Lu Qiaoqiao said coldly, her voice focused into a line that directly entered Mountain Man Yuanxia’s ears.

"We both know the truth. Why keep up the pretense—whom is it for?"

"Fairy Lu Qiaoqiao, I am merely here to investigate the Ruined Tomb and search for the Land Subjugation Jade Record. You followed all the way here, not indulging in luxury at home or quietly cultivating the Earth Immortal Great Dao. Heh, are you not afraid of an accident while meddling in the Ruined Tomb?" Upon hearing this, the smile on Mountain Man Yuanxia’s face could not hold, and he retorted coldly.

"Others might not know you, but do you think you can deceive me as well?" Lu Qiaoqiao tilted her chin up, "If there weren’t any clues about the Ancient Divine Artifact, would you, old man, willingly leave your own Elemental Energy Mountain?"

She paused, glancing outside the stone chamber at the three people beside the altar, Zeng Zhuo.

"Ancient Divine Artifact? Fairy, you are truly wronging this old man." The man from Elemental Energy Mountain revealed a bitter smile. "If I say that I indeed came to find the Land Subjugation Jade Record, you probably wouldn’t believe a word I say, would you? Although I indeed have some clues about the Ancient Divine Artifact, that place is far too dangerous, so I sold them to the bosses behind several major commerce associations a long time ago..."

"Ancient Immortal Cave Dwelling, Land Subjugation Jade Record?" Lu Qiaoqiao sneered a few times, not caring to engage with him further, and walked out on her own.

The man from Elemental Energy Mountain watched her leave with a bitter smile, his face full of helplessness.

Once Lu Qiaoqiao had completely left the stone chamber, the helpless look in his eyes instantly turned sinister and malicious. He could no longer hide the fury in his heart.

"Lu Qiaoqiao... since you are courting death on your own, don’t blame me for being unemotional..."

He pondered for a while, his expression gradually returning to calm, but a trace of venom and difficulty flickered in the depths of his eyes.

His hands kept carefully arranging the formation, activating the runes one by one. His mind, however, kept reflecting on the arrangements of this occasion.

Eventually, he activated the entire array.

He stood up, looking outside the stone chamber at the altar, his eyes revealing a hint of coldness.

"Originally, after the plan succeeded, I was going to kill the rest and leave, but with Lu Qiaoqiao stepping in, it’s possible that others might have noticed as well... it’s a bit troublesome now."

His original plan was indeed to rely on the strength of the others, storm through the peril, and upon accomplishment, eliminate everyone else and quickly leave.

But now with Eastern Lake Fairy Lu Qiaoqiao mingling in, the others being merely Loose Cultivators and ordinary Sect Cultivators, none of them were simple characters. That Lu Qiaoqiao, with blood on her hands, calculating in the hundreds of thousands at the least... And that Magic Artifact in her possession...

He was not afraid of the others who were aware of this situation, but Lu Qiaoqiao alone...

****************

Lin Xin watched Fairy Lu exit from the stone chamber, the chill on his face deepening by a notch.

A thought flickered in his mind.

On the other side, Zeng Zhuo and Murong Jun actually began collecting Heart-Piercing Grass.

Upon encountering such a large amount of high-quality Heart-Piercing Grass, both couldn’t help but exhibit a look of surprise. It was clear they were not individuals who possessed deep schemes.

Lin Xin had also encountered many Human Immortals who had painstakingly progressed into the Fifth Rank and lacked cunning; they devoted their entire lives to hard cultivation and understanding Cultivation Decisions, having pitifully little knowledge of worldly ways.

Or perhaps, most Fifth Rank Human Immortals within a thousand years in the Mortal Realm were like this, the truly cunning ones being significantly older cultivators.

Like that man from Elemental Energy Mountain.

That old man’s smirking demeanor was so blatantly insincere that he could see through it at a glance.

And that Lu Qiaoqiao, clearly having a past with the man from Elemental Energy Mountain, had known him before.

Lin Xin pondered, while his hands passed over the Heart-Piercing Grass leaving traces of his aura as marks.

"Have you collected Heart-Piercing Grass before, Brother Xin?"

As Zeng Zhuo worked, he struck up a casual conversation with Lin Xin.

"No, this is my first time seeing it, I make a living from the Refinement of Magical Artifacts with Formation Talismans, I’m not familiar with these things," Lin Xin replied with a smile.

"You can tell. Coming out on this mission, I didn’t expect to encounter such a large batch of high-quality Heart-Piercing Grass. Honestly, this grade of Heart-Piercing Grass, if sold on the black market, would at least fetch this much per pound."

He stretched out five fingers.

"Fifty points?" Murong Jun guessed softly on the side.

"That’s correct." Zeng Zhuo nodded, his eyes full of smiles. "For those like us, who are loose cultivators, unlike that wealthy big shot who despises such petty profits, we couldn’t pass it up."

"Come and collect some to take back, Brother Xin. There’s too much Heart-Piercing Grass here; we can’t finish it. It would be better for our group to take it all rather than letting others discover and dig it up later," Zeng Zhuo said congenially.

Lin Xin smiled and declined initially, but facing persistent persuasion from the other party, assuming he was just too modest, eventually, he joined in reluctantly and started collecting Heart-Piercing Grass.

At that moment, Lu Qiaoqiao also walked over to this area, her expression icy. Without even glancing at the three, she swept her eyes over the Heart-Piercing Grass and went to sit cross-legged somewhere else on her own.

Zeng Zhuo attempted to invite her, but she ignored him completely. Murong Jun held back her foster brother, whispering something about learning to disguise oneself, not letting one’s emotions show too easily.

Zeng Zhuo readily agreed, his cheeks immediately returning to the previous expressionless face.

"Don’t change your expression in front of others!!" Murong Jun exclaimed in frustration. "How is that disguising anything!!"

While she corrected her foster brother, she also kept an eye on Lin Xin to see if he had noticed their earlier actions.

Lin Xin leisurely learned to collect Heart-Piercing Grass, amused by the behavior of the siblings.

Although he kept his head down, his senses, far superior to an ordinary fifth-rank cultivator due to his physical constitution, picked up the whispering between the siblings due to their proximity.

These two, completely unaware, were still communicating among themselves. As the younger sister, Murong Jun was visibly frustrated and scolded her foster brother.

Zeng Zhuo, however, was helpless, not knowing how to behave properly.

But when it came to discussions related to cultivation practice, his mind was exceptionally quick.