Chapter 6: Hidden Agendas

Wu Yu was left speechless, having no choice but to cast a mournful glance at the young man who remained oblivious to his own errors.

What else could he say? After consuming some food to recover their strength, the group rose to leave. Naturally, they packed up every last bit of jewelry from the great tripod and all the burial goods within the stone sarcophagus, leaving nothing behind. After all, according to Third Uncle, why should they, people of the Southern School, follow the rules of the Northern School?

As they walked along the tunnel, they soon plunged into darkness. When they turned on their flashlights, they were startled by what they saw.

"What… what is that thing?" Wu Tianzhen was completely bewildered. "Is it… is it another female ghost?"

Wherever the flashlight beams fell, terrifying and mournful shadows appeared on the walls, making one's skin crawl at the mere sight of them. Yet, as soon as the light drifted away, the shadows vanished.

"This…" Third Uncle frowned deeply. He had never encountered such a thing, and helplessly, he turned his gaze toward the young man and Wu Yu.

"These are… paintings?" The young man frowned. Relying on the innate gifts of his own bloodline, he was the first to approach the wall. Sure enough, as the terrifying shadows passed through his arm, it felt more like a projection!

"Damn it! This Lu Shangwang is playing tricks to fool people!" Da Kui shouted angrily at the sight and kicked out hard.

Unexpectedly, his foot met nothing but air; the ground in front of him was a bottomless abyss.

"Careful!" Wu Yu spun around and tossed the rope Pan Zi was carrying toward him.

"Holy crap!" Da Kui broke into a cold sweat, clutching the rope tightly and finally letting out a sigh of relief.

"Can’t you pay attention, damn it!" Pan Zi cursed, nodding gratefully at Wu Yu as he quickly pulled him up.

"Be careful. I don’t know how these murals were painted, but under the light of a torch, they create an effect similar to a projection," the young man analyzed from the side. "It won't cause any physical harm, but it’s meant to scare people. The ground beneath us could be a trap or an abyss at any moment; if we were in the dark, it would be easy to fall victim to it."

"Understood!" Third Uncle nodded and waved his hand. "Everyone, tie yourselves to the ropes and watch every step. Don't be frightened by the shadows on the walls; as long as we keep moving, we'll be fine."

Seeing this, Wu Yu also secured his rope, keeping a vigilant eye on his surroundings. He felt this was more than just a scare tactic to make people panic and fall into traps; he didn't think it was that simple.

Perhaps his suspicion was correct, for when the group reached the halfway point, a rustling sound suddenly reached their ears.

"Something is coming!" Wu Yu’s expression changed. One of the local specialties immediately came to mind—corpse beetles!

"Corpse beetles!" The young man’s eyes could see in the dark, and after Wu Yu spoke, he immediately spotted them.

"Stay close to me, we can't afford to delay!" The young man tightened the rope around his arm and began to run.

"Hurry!" Wu Sanshu looked at Tianzhen and Wu Yu, urging them on.

"Pan Zi, keep an eye on my Third Uncle. I’ve got Tianzhen," Wu Yu said.

"Don't worry, Young Master Two!" Pan Zi nodded, feeling incredibly fortunate that Wu Yu was on this tomb raid. Otherwise, trying to look after both the Third Uncle and Tianzhen, he truly didn't know what the outcome might have been.

As the army of corpse beetles drew closer, Wu Yu finally realized they had been hiding in the various traps beneath their feet all along. In other words, if someone had fallen down, even if they hadn't been killed by the fall, they would have ended up as food for the beetles.

"Faster!" Wu Yu grabbed Wu Tianzhen’s shoulder and increased their speed. He had already seen the young man using his Qilin blood, which meant the difficulty of clearing the path ahead was beyond imagination.

"Three meters, upper right!"

A cold wind blew, and Wu Yu immediately sensed an opening above.

"Da Kui!" Pan Zi shouted upon hearing this.

"Coming!" Da Kui ran to the wall and crouched slightly; Pan Zi leaped and landed on his shoulders.

"Third Master!"

"You guys…" Before Wu Sanshu could finish his sentence, a roar suddenly erupted from ahead. The group’s expressions changed slightly, as they had heard this exact sound at the entrance.

A Blood Corpse!

"Leave this to me!" Wu Yu severed the rope and threw Wu Tianzhen upward. In the next second, he opened his instrument case, his fingers moving rapidly across the strings.

Suddenly, in an environment filled with tension and panic, the sound of the zither wafted through the air, refreshing and soothing, causing everyone to involuntarily relax.

Seeing this, Third Uncle didn't hesitate and, with the help of Da Kui and Pan Zi, reached the opening.

The young man waved his hand, his Qilin blood forming a circle around Wu Yu. "Take care!" He raised his black gold ancient sword and charged at the Blood Corpse. However, in the process, he seemed to trigger a mechanism, and a heavy stone door slowly began to descend.

Vaguely, it could be seen that the young man was not facing just one Blood Corpse, but five!

The group gasped in horror, but there was nothing they could do. Wu Yu was clearly in a state where he had no extra strength to help; the overwhelming swarm of corpse beetles was already enough for them to handle. Now, they could only pray for the young man’s safety.

Using the zither music to disturb the nerves of the corpse beetles and throw them into chaos, combined with the deterrent of the young man’s blood, they were kept at bay, making the situation temporarily safe.

"You guys go first! I have my own way to escape!"

"No! Second nephew, get up here!" Third Uncle wouldn't hear of it. It was hard enough that the Wu family was no longer down to a single heir; he wouldn't let Wu Yu stay behind to cover them, even if it cost him his life.

"Third Uncle, you go first!" Wu Yu shook his head. Seeing the deterrent effect of the Qilin blood fading, he didn't hesitate. He slammed his palm against the wall, and his internal energy caused the tunnel to shake; rocks fell, quickly blocking the path.

The zither music continued, but instead of disturbing the beetles, it formed a protective magnetic field around him, shielding him from their attacks while he rapidly recovered his spent energy. After holding out for half an hour, he leaped away, stowed his zither, and used light-footwork to dash toward another passage.

"What are they doing now?" Wu Yu didn't want to get too deeply involved in Wu Tianzhen’s growth, at least not in the early stages. Whether it was the young man or his Third Uncle, they both had their own tasks in this tomb, and his presence would only make them uncomfortable. Thus, after killing the Blood Corpse King, he had been thinking about how to split up.

Finally, the opportunity had arrived. His use of the "Second Sword" had consumed more energy than imagined, which had caused a slight delay. Without the Third Uncle and the others, it was easy for him to escape the encirclement of the beetles using his martial arts skills.

Furthermore, he had his own plans. Everyone else had their eyes on the Ghost Seal and the Snake-Eyed Bronze Fish, but Wu Yu had been eyeing the Heavenly Heart Stone from the start. A piece of Heavenly Heart Stone that large didn't even exist in the Eleven Warehouses! Moreover, he was on a mission for the Eleven Warehouses... In fact, ever since entering the tomb, he had been secretly dropping infrared scanners every so often. They were only the size of soybeans but could scan a hundred-meter radius. His goal was to build a one-to-one replica of the Lu Shangwang Palace in the Eleven Warehouses!

Therefore, Wu Yu took this time to traverse the entire palace, placing the scanners before heading toward his final destination: the true hiding place of Tie Mian Sheng!

However, Wu Yu seemed to have overestimated the others' speed, or perhaps underestimated the increased difficulty of the tomb. When he reached the final burial chamber, even the young man was still some distance away.

Weighing the box in his hand—he knew this was the Ghost Seal, the young man’s objective—Wu Yu didn't say anything. He turned, took out a rope to hoist the Heavenly Heart Stone, and grinned at the Nine-Headed Snake Cypress that ran through the entire tomb. "Behave, or I won't mind cutting off your roots!"

A trace of sword energy shot into the heart of the tree from his fingers.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Countless vines danced like dragons, rushing toward Wu Yu, but they stopped just a meter away. Invisible sword energy swathed his body as he glared sharply at the Nine-Headed Snake Cypress, remaining silent.

In the end, the Nine-Headed Snake Cypress was afraid. Having lived for thousands of years, the evil nature of this thing had long since birthed a sliver of intelligence. Though not fully developed, it was no different from a wild beast. Driven by the instinct to avoid disaster, it sensed the terror of Wu Yu and chose to back down.

"Good." Wu Yu smiled slightly, then threw the rope to hang it on the tree to lift the Heavenly Heart Stone. After repeating the process a few times, he successfully sent the stone out through the sinkhole entrance above.

"Phew, that was exhausting!"

After leaving a transmitter behind, he leaped back down. Sensing Wu Yu’s return, the Nine-Headed Snake Cypress rustled, clearly displeased. The Heavenly Heart Stone, its natural bane, had passed right by it, which was like having a blade drawn across one's throat. It had thought the trouble was over, only for the wielder to return with a different blade.

"Don't worry, stay quiet, and I won't touch you!" Wu Yu had no interest in meddling; the tree was irrelevant to him. He had already heard light footsteps—the young man, undoubtedly.

Wu Yu found a hole to hide in. Just as he settled, he saw the young man descend from above, landing right by the stone platform. He skillfully raised the female corpse, his expression solemn. After using a specially shaped wire to retrieve the key and open the treasure box to take the Ghost Seal, he paused, then tossed in a silk scroll and a Snake-Eyed Bronze Fish. He nodded, replaced the key inside the corpse, and quickly left.

"This is much more exciting than the TV show. Seeing the young man take the Ghost Seal with my own eyes... so what comes next?" Wu Yu whispered to himself, unaware whether the person who would appear next was his Third Uncle, Wu Sanshu, or the Xie family’s Xie Lianhuan.