After leaving the underwater tomb, Li Tan and Dongfang Zheng headed back to the camp together.
Both of them wanted to leave immediately, but doing so would easily draw the attention of the Di Hu Men and the Kuo Dao Sect. Li Tan didn’t mind, as he was about to leave Fan Cheng anyway. However, Dongfang Zheng still needed to return to the Tian Lang Men, and drawing suspicion would complicate matters. Therefore, they had to go through the motions.
“Where have you two been?”
As they approached the camp, the suspicious voice of an elder from the Kuo Dao Sect came from not far away.
Dongfang Zheng clearly disliked this person and turned his head away immediately, leaving Li Tan to respond on his behalf, “Nothing much, just wandering around.”
“Wandering around the entire afternoon?”
“This area is desolate; there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to go around here,” the elder from the Kuo Dao Sect said as he approached them.
Li Tan naturally explained, “Well, we were mainly trying to look around nearby to see if there might be other tombs. It’s not uncommon for important figures to set up fake tombs around their own.”
After thinking for a moment, the elder of the Kuo Dao Sect snorted disdainfully, “If there were fake tombs, wouldn’t we already know about them? Don’t you think you’re underestimating the Kuo Dao Sect?”
How is this about underestimating you?
Is this guy just looking for trouble?
Li Tan twitched his lips, “Senior, you’re misunderstanding. We were just worried about the possibility of something.”
“So you spent the whole afternoon looking for this possibility? Did you find anything?”
“No, nothing at all.”
The elder of the Kuo Dao Sect displayed a smug expression, as if he had expected this all along, “Then just behave yourselves and wait. I’m not a demon; tomorrow when the seal is broken, we’ll leave some leftovers for your Tian Lang Men.”
Dongfang Zheng glared at him furiously.
Li Tan smiled and said, “Then please, Senior, take good care of us then.”
The elder of the Kuo Dao Sect looked at Li Tan with an odd expression, thinking to himself, Could this guy be an idiot? Did he genuinely not catch my sarcasm or is he deliberately flattering me? Either way, it’s fine. After all, there are only two of them; even if they have ulterior motives, they won’t be able to do much.
The more the elder thought about it, the more content he became, and he happily walked back.
Dongfang Zheng glanced at the elder’s retreating figure with disdain and said to Li Tan, “Don’t interact with that guy.”
“Why not?”
Li Tan asked.
Dongfang Zheng replied with a disgusted look, “That guy is a pervert.”
“How so?”
“This happened more than ten years ago. I went out to deal with a traitor and ran into that guy. He had kidnapped a little girl and then…” Li Tan paused, realizing what had happened, and his expression immediately turned somewhat queasy, “What did Senior do back then?”
Without hesitation, Dongfang Zheng replied, “I rushed out and beat him up.”
“Didn’t expect Senior to be so skilled in martial arts.”
“I threw over ten talismans at him.”
“I see. No wonder he came looking for trouble yesterday.”
The camps of the Kuo Dao Sect and Di Hu Men were close to each other. Their disciples, male and female, gathered around bonfires, chatting and laughing. They could be easily distinguished by their attire, with about seventy percent of the Kuo Dao Sect disciples being female, while the Di Hu Men had a more balanced gender ratio.
Thinking about certain scenes, Li Tan couldn’t help but shudder involuntarily, feeling a sudden urge to do something.
However, there were too many perverts and scoundrels in the Jiuzhou region, and intervening every time wouldn’t be wise.
Li Tan still had many things to do and couldn’t afford to provoke unnecessary trouble.
The night quickly passed, and the next morning, everyone woke up early except Li Tan and Dongfang Zheng.
A disciple from the Kuo Dao Sect was very displeased and woke the two of them up, saying it was time to break the seal. Dongfang Zheng showed no intention of helping and had the disciple deliver a message to the elder of the Kuo Dao Sect, implying, “If you’re so great, why do you need me?” Then he began to meditate comfortably.
Li Tan had no interest in cultivation and, with nothing better to do, went to the lakeshore to observe the situation below using his spiritual sense.
Beneath the water’s surface, there were merely four elderly men, all senior members from the Di Hu Men and the Kuo Dao Sect. Given that the water-avoiding pills were second-tier elixirs, they naturally wouldn’t distribute them to ordinary disciples.
The four elders swam around the edge of the seal, their faces filled with seriousness, tapping here and there. The morning passed like that, but there was still no progress in breaking the seal. The four elders were now probably sweating profusely, which was clearly unexpected.
This was understandable. Before entering, Li Tan had also thought the tomb’s owner was only one level higher than a master, but he hadn’t expected them to be two levels higher. Naturally, the strength of the seal was more powerful than anticipated.
Because of his prior experience from his past life, this didn’t surprise Li Tan. He idly sunbathed on the lakeshore. As the sun set, some movement finally came from below the lake.
The four elders surfaced with extremely grim expressions and ordered their disciples to follow them into the tomb. Since not entering now would definitely raise suspicion, Li Tan called Dongfang Zheng and slowly followed them back.
Passing through a not-very-long cave, they reached outside the tomb’s gate.
This time there were more than a dozen people, making the already cramped space extremely crowded and the air increasingly stifling. The four elders gathered at the door, their faces dark. They spent over an hour, but the gate remained completely unmoved.
The elder from the Kuo Dao Sect from the previous day angrily shouted, “What exactly are you Tian Lang Men here for? Why aren’t you helping yet!”
Dongfang Zheng mocked, “Since you Kuo Dao Sect want all the meat, you should do most of the work. I’m just here for the soup, so why should I help?”
The other elders of the Kuo Dao Sect were almost driven to fury, but another elder beside them quickly intervened, “That was just a joke. Brother Dongfang, why take it seriously? This tomb is no simple matter; the treasures inside are likely to be far more than we imagined. Brother Dongfang, please be magnanimous and help us out.”
Since the hand doesn’t strike a smiling face, Dongfang Zheng, although somewhat unwilling, still went over.
Yesterday, it had been Li Tan who led the way. To be honest, Dongfang Zheng was also quite interested in the various traps within the tomb. As he studied them, he was immediately amazed.
It wasn’t because the traps were impressive, but because he found the traps unexpectedly complex, which surprised him regarding Li Tan’s actions from the previous day.
It had taken the five of them three or four hours to figure out the traps, while Li Tan had done it in just a few breaths. The difference was like heaven and earth.
Eventually, they spent five hours dismantling the traps. By then, it was likely daylight outside again, and the sleepy disciples suddenly became energetic.
The elder from the Kuo Dao Sect the previous day looked at Dongfang Zheng unfriendly and shamelessly said, “It would be a shame if fighting over the treasures inside harmed our camaraderie. How about this? We’ll pool all the treasures together and divide them according to the number of people from each faction.”
According to the number of people?
From that perspective, the Tian Lang Men was clearly at a disadvantage, receiving less than half regardless of how it was divided. Dongfang Zheng nearly argued with him but suddenly heard Li Tan cough, which snapped him back to his senses, and he agreed indifferently.
The elder from the Kuo Dao Sect wore a pleased expression, as if his scheme had succeeded, and led his disciples rushing inside.
Soon, almost everyone outside had gone in, and Li Tan and Dongfang Zheng exchanged glances before entering last and waiting in the central chamber.
Then quickly, those who had entered the main tomb came out, all with gloomy expressions dark enough to drip water.
Li Tan feigned excitement and asked, “Why did you seniors come out so quickly? Did you bring out all the treasures?”
The elder from the Kuo Dao Sect gave Li Tan a sharp glare and angrily said, “The main tomb has nothing but a few imperial-level cultivation techniques.”
The disciples who had entered the side chambers reported their findings.
“There are a lot of spirit stones over there!”
The elder from the Kuo Dao Sect relaxed his eyebrows and went inside to look, only to soon hear an angry roar from within, “Idiot! The spiritual essence has long been drained; this is just a pile of stones!”
“There are quite a few weapons over there.”
An elder from the Di Hu Men’s eyes lit up.
The disciple added, “They’re about as good as what the blacksmiths at the foot of the mountain make.”
The elder from the Di Hu Men twitched his mouth.
“Uh, there’s nothing over there.” Li Tan glanced at the place where this disciple had gone, realizing it was where he had previously looted the elixirs.
About an incense stick’s worth of time passed, and the Di Hu Men and Kuo Dao Sect gathered all their findings together to begin dividing the spoils.
Hmm, on the ground was a large pile of gold and jewels, a few tattered imperial-level cultivation techniques, and some blunt weapons not even suitable for slaughtering pigs.
Dongfang Zheng immediately said, “You can divide these things. My Tian Lang Men can’t accept them.”
Li Tan flattered, “Senior, I’ll take my leave first. If I’ve offended anyone, please forgive me.”
Thus, Li Tan and Dongfang Zheng left the tomb, and what happened afterward was unknown to them.
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