"Go!"

Without even bothering to thank me or express some form of appreciation, the elite martial artists all dashed into the mountaintop milliseconds after the barrier vanished. They only spent a short time gawking at me, and then without displaying any grat.i.tude, they took my efforts for granted and rushed toward the mountain peak.

"Thank you. Great work!"

Or so I thought, but Lei Yong Chun paused to thank me. I nodded, and the older guy turned toward Bai Ning Xue with a smile.

"You really have quite a few talented students at your school."

"So think twice before you attack us again," she retorted coldly. Lei Yong Chun laughed at that.

"Don"t be naïve. It"s precisely because of that, that the Martial Arts Alliance view your academy as a threat."

Before he could elaborate further, he followed Sui Sha Yu, and the couple vanished into the mountaintop after the other sects and martial artists.

It wasn"t just Lei Yong Chun, though.

"I didn"t rely on brute force."

For some reason, Ling Qing Zhu was sulking as she glared at me. I held up both my hands apologetically to quell her frosty tantrum.

"Sorry. That"s not what I meant. I wasn"t referring to you specifically. I meant the others, more generally."

"…"

Ling Qing Zhu didn"t seem convinced, but thankfully she accepted my answer at face value and turned away. In a single bound, she streaked toward the entrance of the ancient tomb, resembling an azure shooting star. The rest of her Incendiary Ifrit Sect followed after her, and even though they did not look as impressive, they still struck a magnificent view for all those who watched, resembling blazing fireworks that seared through the heavens.

The elite martial artists and their respective sects weren"t the only ones charging into the entrance of the tomb.

"The barrier is gone! Hurry! Charge in!"

Upon seeing the elite martial artists charge toward the ancient tomb, the crowd gathered at the campsite stirred with uncontrollable excitement and insane joy. As one, they surged upward, scaling the mountain and dashing toward the entrance of the tomb with no regard for others or their own safety. In mere seconds, the whole crowd had dashed madly toward the opening, reminiscent of a ravenous locust swarm descending upon a field of crops.

Or the gold rush. Or whatever.

I caught a glimpse of the Green Dragon Sect, Li Chun Long, Qing Xin Xia and the others choosing to hold back instead of helping the elite martial artists and other sects earlier, and wait for them to break the barrier in their stead. Despite being one of the major sects, it seemed that Li Chun Long and the Green Dragon Sect planned to let the others take the credit and conserve their strength, which would allow them to secretly sneak in to reap the rewards while holding an advantage. I paid them not much attention, instead looking around for the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, but was disappointed when I couldn"t see any of them.

I would have thought Tang Qi Hong and the rest of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect would come up when they saw me come up the stage, but there was no sign that they were even in the campsite to begin with. Or perhaps the campsite was so crowded that it was difficult for them to fight their way to the front to back me up.

A pity. We could form some sort of alliance between the White Tiger Sect and the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect to counter the alliance between the demonic sects, as well as what seemed collaboration with the Red Phoenix Sect and Heavenly Way Sect. Though, judging from Jiang Jun Hao"s reaction, I doubted the Heavenly Way Sect would work with the demonic sects.

"That was a job well done," Bai Ning Xue told me, and her fellow White Tiger Sect disciples nodded in agreement.

"Nah, I didn"t do much," I mumbled, embarra.s.sed. Zhu Jiao laughed.

"What are you talking about, Wu? You basically single-handedly brought down a barrier that the attacks of so many elite martial artists failed to destroy. You"re clearly the MVP here!"

"They all just adopted the wrong approach," I replied. "If any of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect disciples or experienced Spirit Engravers were here, they could have deciphered and deactivated the barrier just as easily, if not more so than I did."

"Always so humble," Zhu Jiao chuckled with a shake of his head.

"We should go too."

Bai Ning Xue glanced at the rest of her sect and nodded. As one, the White Tiger Sect moved, their steps fluid and graceful. Zhu Jiao trailed them, hanging at the back.

"Wu, what are you waiting for?"

Zhu Jiao glanced back at me. I was still craning my neck and scanning the crowd for any sign of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, but even with the technological aid of my advanced gla.s.ses, I couldn"t locate any of my friends at all. Sighing in disappointment, I shook my head and turned to Zhu Jiao, my legs already moving.

"For the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect."

"Don"t worry. If Heaven wills it, we"ll meet them sooner or later. For now, let"s go into the tomb! After coming all the way here, I don"t intend to return home empty-handed!"

"I know how you feel," I said with a nod. I felt similar, after all, and hoped I could get my hands on at least a single treasure. That would make the whole trip, and the amount of time and effort spent on it entirely worthwhile.

Using my Shadow Steps and footwork, I managed to surge ahead and keep up with the extremely fast White Tiger Sect disciples. Remembering how I initially had trouble with Kuang Hu"s speed when I fought him during the tournament, I couldn"t help but marvel at how they had trained and developed. The White Tiger Sect truly emphasized upon speed.

No wonder Lei Yong Chun was able to escape Teacher Jiao and the others that night…

"Out of the way!"

"No, you get out of my way!"

"I"ll kill you!"

"!!"

While we sprinted toward the entrance of the tomb, already there were several conflicts and arguments in the ma.s.s of bodies pressing forward. I ignored them even though I could sense the surges of qi and hear explosions and the unmistakable noise of skirmishes as martial artists sought to pull ahead of their compet.i.tors.

The battle for the ancient tomb had finally begun, it seemed.

On the bright side, it seemed that we were no longer ripping off chapter t.i.tles from Wu Dong Qian Kun.

Braving through the commotion atop the originally serene mountain peak, I tried to swim through the crowd of onrushing martial artists who were frantically making their way toward the ancient tomb. While there was conflicts between fellow humans, as I mentioned earier, occasionally inhuman snarls and roars punctuated the screams of humans as they fell victim to the numerous demonic creatures and magical beasts that dwelled within the mountains. Despite the casualties to both human and non-human attacks, the majority of the martial artists succeeded in reaching the mountain"s peak within a few minutes.

I hung back a little, not wanting to be targeted by either human martial artists or ferocious magical beasts and demonic creatures. That allowed me to successfully avoid them, but I found myself separated from Zhu Jiao and the rest of the White Tiger Sect. I caught a glimpse of Zhu Jiao flailing about as he too was torn apart from his beloved Bai Ning Xue, before a sea of martial artists flowed in to cut us off from each other"s sight.

d.a.m.n it!

Gritting my teeth, I tried to wade through the sea of bodies, doing my best not to get swept away by the onrushing tide of martial artists. I didn"t know how I did it, but after what seemed like an eternity, I finally found myself at my destination. Bending over, I heaved and panted to catch my breath at the edge of the mountain"s peak.

"Phew…"

Exhaling in relief, I raised my eyes and wiped the perspiration from my brow. Ahead, there was a large stone wall that was built into the cliff wall that was concealed beneath the vegetation that grew all over the mountain"s peak. Or what used to be a stone wall, anyway. Presently, the stone wall had been forcefully smashed to bits, only the huge chunks of debris showing any sign that it used to be a st.u.r.dy, solid stone wall.

This qi signature…

Judging from the type of qi that lingered around the shattered stone wall, I guessed that it was Jiang Jun Hao who obliterated the stone wall in order to forcibly create an entrance. I couldn"t help but shudder at his brute strength.

Maybe I shouldn"t have made fun of them over-relying on brute force earlier…

Gulping, I cautiously made my way toward the shattered entrance.

Outside the stone wall, countless martial artists were pouring into the broken hole, excited and pa.s.sionate. The raw emotion of greed seemed to radiate from their bodies, saturating the air with their desires and hopes.

"Zhu Jiao!" I called out, hoping to find my friend. However, even though I scanned through the entrance with the aid of my hi-tech gla.s.ses, I failed to catch sight of Zhu Jiao or the White Tiger Sect or the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. they must have been carried along by the flow and overwhelming press of martial artists and entered the tomb a while ago.

d.a.m.n it, Zhu Jiao…what was the point of making a group if we were going to separate and end up having to explore the tomb individually?!

Of course, I knew inwardly that Zhu Jiao would actually appreciate his current predicament, especially if he found himself alone. He had many secrets, which included the golden amulet and his master, Qi Lin, which were best kept from other people. He was probably laughing to himself about how favorable his situation was.

As expected of the typical wuxia/xianxia protagonist. Always alone, on his own, so that he can indulge in his secrets and h.o.a.rd all the treasures to himself. No doubt, the spirit of his master would be directing him toward a treasure vault where he would find countless qi pills or something. And then foolish antagonists will attempt to rob him, only for Zhu Jiao to teach them a lesson and kill them, and ended up intimidating the other martial artists who followed.

Yeah, it was so predictable I could already guess what would happen.

Then again, it"s not as if I"m not in a similar situation…

Like Zhu Jiao, I was alone. The problem was that I didn"t have any of his cheats or protagonist luck. I didn"t have a ghostly master on hand to tell me where all the precious goodies were, and I certainly wouldn"t be lucky enough to stumble upon a cache of spirit pills or other valuable treasures and weapons. And I didn"t have any secret other than that I was the disciple of the Heaven and Earth Sect, except that most people already suspected that. Plus it wasn"t that big a deal because…there wasn"t much I could learn other than Heaven and Earth Formula, which was a cultivaton technique rather than a combat technique.

"Ha…"

If only Master could conform to the typical ghost master…as it was, I had only learned under him for less than a week, and he taught me nothing but the most rudimentary technique and left me to learn everything else on my own. Those wuxia and xianxia protagonists had it good, having such fated encounters and awesome luck.

Meanwhile, I got tortured, abused, and suffered nothing but failure after failure. The fate of a non-protagonist like me was pretty…bad. Well, at least I had some successes, but nothing too major. On the other hand, I did succeed in my hunting missions and had the spirit materials I needed…all that was left was for a yin-type artifact that could help both me and Qing Tan.

Well…let"s not waste any time.

Sighing again, I stepped through the entrance, while allowing myself to be carried along by the unceasing flow of martial artists. The moment I was through the broken entrance and inside the ancient tomb proper, I suddenly felt an immense pressure crushing me.

"!!!"

My knees almost buckled from the weight. Fortunately, it seemed I wasn"t the only one affected. Everyone who had pa.s.sed through the entrance seemed to feel the exact same suffocating sensation, gasping, turning pale or staggering. Thanks to that, the flow into the tomb slowed down. Normally, the people from behind would shove them forward in their relentless march toward the ancient tomb, but like everyone else, the moment they were through, they abruptly stopped when they felt the inexorable pressure weighing down on them.

Even though the Nascent Soul Stage pract.i.tioner had clearly been dead for countless years, his lingering aura continued to remain in this s.p.a.ce. The sheer power of his ghostly presence clogged up our qi and caused our movements to grow sluggish.

"Whoa…what a terrifying power," I murmured, my face pale and sweaty. I swayed slightly on my feet, trying not to fall over. "Even though he"s dead, he still possesses this much power…man, I wonder how formidable he was when he was alive…"

Taking deep breaths to calm myself down, I wandered into the cavernous chamber in front of me, following the flow of people. Then I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the chamber suddenly open up to dozens of pa.s.sages, each leading into different places within the tomb. Needless to say, the sea of people who had flooded into the ancient tomb earlier were now dispersing, choosing a different path and following it into whatever depths in the tomb it took them to.

Needless to say, Zhu Jiao"s master had told him to take the fifth tunnel to the left. He had ignored the other martial artists exploring the place and looking for treasures and proceeded straight to a hut where he sensed a tremendous amount of qi. Relying on the advice of his master, he was somehow able to unlock the door, which would was too st.u.r.dy and durable for him or any of the other martial artists to break through with brute force.

Inside, he found tens of thousands of Pure Yuan Pills which he could then convert into millions of Yang Yuan Pills. With that spatial pouch of his that stored his items in an alternative s.p.a.ce (thanks to the Void Whale material), Zhu Jiao was able to gather almost all of them. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), four random dudes with no names or personality other than them existing purely to be greedy antagonists for the protagonist to kill without any qualms, walked into the hut and, in the most stupid manner ever, demanded that he handed his pills over.

Again, needless to say, Zhu Jiao defeated them as easily as a pro gamer would against mob AI enemies, felling them in one attack each. Or perhaps he set his pet magical beast on them. Then Zhu Jiao went back to storing every single Yuan Pill in his bag, and smiled in satisfaction.

Just as when he was about to leave, a bunch of people came across him and his pet spirit magical beast. The moment they saw the four lifeless corpses on the floor, they became afraid of the overpowered Mary Sue protagonist that he was, and backed away as he casually strolled out of the hut with his pet.

The crowd quickly dispersed, having seen an example of what happened if they were foolish and reckless enough to attack the protagonist with super plot armor and his pet. They were aware that he had taken all the treasures, because protagonists were ent.i.tled to all the d.a.m.ned treasures in whatever adventures they had, but they lacked the strength to do anything. All that bulls.h.i.t "strong eat the weak" and "survival of the fittest" thing that I hated so much. The world didn"t work like that. It was a lot more complex than simply the strongest bullying the weakest. No man was an island, and even the most powerful martial artist needed to eat. Where was he going to get food from, if he abused and killed all the farmers?

In any case, you were probably wondering how I knew all this even though I wasn"t on the scene. The short answer was because I am an Omniscient Reader. Uh, no, it has nothing to do with a certain Korean webnovel…

And also because this whole arc smacks of Wu Dong Qian Kun. h.e.l.l, even some of the chapter t.i.tles took on the same name! If we were to replace Lin Dong with Zhu Jiao, we could guess what sort of developments he would breeze through with fairly high accuracy.

"Hey, hey, hey!" JC192209 shouted. "I don"t want to know about Zhu Jiao! What about your adventures?!"

Good point. After all, there was little point narrating my little jaunt in the tomb if I was just going to rant about how lucky Zhu Jiao was.

"Twenty-three thousand Pure Yuan Pills!" Zhu Jiao shouted happily. Apparently he was overjoyed at the millions of gold he could make with these pills. His master then directed him to some other place filled with demonic spirits and…

"OI!"

"Sorry. Yeah, yeah, I gotcha."

Looked like my best Ryan Reynolds impression had failed. How did Deadpool pull off this fourth wall-breaking business without being abused and criticized by readers like I was? I honestly had no idea. Evidently the writers of Deadpool had something I lacked. Admittedly, my sense of humor was pretty horrible and tended to p.i.s.s people off more than it amused them.

Unlike Zhu Jiao, I didn"t have a guide telling me where to go, so I chose a tunnel at random and wandered into it.

"…"

Despite following a bunch of people, we ended up walking into a deadend. The martial artists ahead cursed at their bad luck, and then turned to run past me, backtracking to choose another path and hoping they would make it in time before the other treasures were s.n.a.t.c.hed up. I lingered for a while longer, but after scanning the place with my gla.s.ses and relying on my Heaven and Earth senses, I couldn"t find anything.

This place is a bust, huh?

I sighed. Of course it would be. I wasn"t some wuxia/xianxia protagonist where everything would work out for me smoothly. I wasn"t a perfect wuxia/xianxia protagonist who never experienced failure and had everything go his way. Of course I wouldn"t be able to stumble across treasures and valuable spirit pills on my first attempt.

As disappointing as it was, I didn"t have cheats that enabled me to go around the system or exploit it. I could only work harder than others.

"Let"s go back and choose another path."

Shaking my head bitterly, I hurried along the path like the others did and chose the nearest one. This one branched off into a vault, but I was too late. People were already leaving the vault, many of them bruised and battered. Curious, I snuck into the vault, going against the flow, only to see that it was empty. The traces of raging qi that continued to swirl within the interior told me that a ferocious battle had just taken place. Judging from the damage and scars left on the walls and floor from spirit weapons and divine techniques as well as a few dozen b.l.o.o.d.y corpses strewn across the ground, it appeared that they had fought and killed each other over the contents within the vault.

A cursory inspection revealed that all the contents had been taken. Anything of value had been looted by the survivors. h.e.l.l, judging from the bitter expressions of the people I saw earlier, the majority of the survivors probably departed empty-handed, but they were wise enough not to challenge those who now held the treasures.

No doubt the strongest prevailed, and it would be suicide to fight them. Seeing their injuries and the numerous dead martial artists left to rot in the vault, they most likely figured that out the hard way. I pitied them.

Yeah, worry about yourself…you"re probably going to end up returning home empty-handed at this rate!

At least I would be returning home alive and in one piece, unlike the poor b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who got beaten up for trying to s.n.a.t.c.h the treasures and spirit weapons from each other. And which was more than the dead, who would never be returning home ever again.

To die in a place such as this…over fighting for treasure. It just didn"t seem worth it. Well, the smarter ones knew when to back off, but some people were blinded by greed and desire that they were desperate enough to rob others when they shouldn"t.

I had no intention of robbing or attacking others. If I couldn"t find a treasure or spirit weapon or arcane artifact, then that was it. At least I gained some combat experience and learned how to navigate the tomb. The knowledge and experience would have to suffice.

Still…I did want something. I wanted at least a small token thing for spending all the time and effort climbing to this place.

But how? I don"t have the luck of a protagonist, nor will I ever have any fated encounters or whatever. All I have is hard work and the will to defy fate.

But just because I wanted to defy fate didn"t mean I would start running into lucky encounters or stumble across treasures. It was like gacha or lottery. Everyone wanted to win the lottery, or hoped to get the rarest gacha character/merchandise. Like my friend who played Fate/Grand Order and spending millions of yen on the gacha mechanic in hopes of getting his favorite Servant (mine was Scathach, but because she was only available in limited-period campaigns, there was no point in me getting the game and trying my luck because I had always been unlucky in real life), and in the end committing suicide because he couldn"t get the Servant he wanted.

Good thing I didn"t bother with that game. I was totally against microtransactions. Besides, I didn"t like role-playing games or turn-based games. I was more of a sci-fi horror shooter fan, like Dead s.p.a.ce, or even Alien: Isolation. Which incidentally was getting a cellphone version that I wasn"t going to bother with. Either they make a full PC game or I had no intention of buying it.

I spent the next few hours wandering from corridor to corridor in hopes of getting something, but failing each and every time. Frustration mounted, especially when I saw people scurrying away with treasure in their hands, but I firmly clamped down on the urge to attack them. I was not that sort of person. I was not a villain.

Even so, I couldn"t help but continue to be frustrated by my repeated failure to get anything. Even in the rare occasions that I finally got into a vault, I was overwhelmed by the number of elite martial artists in there, who grabbed the treasures before I could. Obviously I backed off the moment they s.n.a.t.c.hed the artifacts. As I said, I had my moral code. I wasn"t going to s.n.a.t.c.h or rob other people from a treasure or artifact that they seized first.

Readers would call me stupid. But I didn"t care. If I condemned people who robbed others as villainous, if I didn"t approve of their actions, how could I have the conscience to go commit that sort of atrocious deed that I criticized other people of? Fine, I was going to get out of this empty-handed, but at least I would be leaving with my spirit intact. I was a much better person in terms of moral values than others, who allowed their greed to blind them to what was proper etiquette.

"Ha…"

And this repeated over and over until I finally stumbled across a familiar face.

"Zhu Jiao!"

"…?! Oh! Wu! You"re here!"

Zhu Jiao spun around, almost defensively, and relaxed when he saw me. From his cheerfulness and large, silly grin on his face, it was obvious that he had benefited a lot and collected a lot of priceless treasures when we were separated.

"How goes your exploration?"

"Uh, well…" my shoulders slumped a little. "Okay, I guess?"

"Did you find anything?"

Way to rub salt in my wounds. I grimaced, but shook my head. Not known for being tactful, Zhu Jiao laughed and patted my shoulder.

"Don"t worry. I"m sure you"ll find something pretty soon."

He looked as if he wanted me to ask him what he found, so I sighed and indulged him a little. Swallowing my annoyance, I glanced at his spatial pouch.

"Seems like you"ve found quite a lot of treasures."

"Of course!" Zhu Jiao was grinning smugly as he patted his spatial pouch, which shook and jingled a little despite the s.p.a.ce inside being in an alternative dimension. "You wouldn"t believe what I found…!"

"Let me guess, twenty-three thousand Pure Yuan Pills?"

"W…what?!"

Zhu Jiao"s mouth was hanging open, the wuxia/xianxia protagonist gaping so wide that I could probably shove my fist into his jaw without any difficulty. He spluttered and closed his maw before shaking his head.

"How did you know?"

"Because you"re the protagonist."

"Huh?" Zhu Jiao stared at me, stupefied. I suppressed a sigh and continued.

"And let me guess, you also found a whole bunch of demonic spirits…which your spirit pet fed on."

"Huh?! How did you know I have a spirit pet?! I"ve never told anyone!"

Zhu Jiao spluttered again, his eyes wide in disbelief. I smiled and shrugged.

"You"re the stereotypical protagonist of a cliché wuxia or xianxia story. Obviously you would have a pet spirit beast or some sort of mascot character."

"Man…even though I have no idea what kind of reasoning is that, but you caught me." Zhu Jiao winced, but he then smiled knowingly and held up his hand. "Since you"re my bro, I might as well let you know."

A golden glow burst into life and illuminated the area. Before I knew it, I found myself staring at a golden dragon-like creature. It resembled a Kirin (or qilin), but with golden scales, a gleaming horn and a majestic figure.

"This is Little Gold!" Zhu Jiao boasted to me, patting the Kirin and stroking the length of its back. The Kirin purred at his touch. "He"s pretty powerful! He has the ability to blast apart a top-level Flowing Qi pract.i.tioner in a single attack!"

"Heh…"

I pretended to be impressed, though I already suspected that the Kirin was strong long ago. If it was the protagonist"s pet spirit beast, then there was no way it wouldn"t be powerful. Yet another way of making Zhu Jiao a special snowflake.

Furthermore, I knew how rare Kirin are. There were only maybe a hundred of them in existence, according to the monster encyclopedia I read anyway. Entire nations would go to war over just one Kirin. Such was their power that they could tip the scales in any war. No wonder Zhu Jiao kept the secret so closely to his chest.

"Don"t let anyone know, okay? I"ll trust you."

"Yeah, sure."

No matter how envious I was of Zhu Jiao"s status as the protagonist, I wasn"t mad enough to resent him or destroy our friendship over such a frivolous matter. I was going to carry this secret to the grave if I had to. That was what I did for his relationship with his master, Qi Lin, and him being the direct successor to the Golden Kirin Sect, after all.

"Anyway, I"m heading this way." Zhu Jiao pointed down the central corridor, which looked larger than most of the other pathways. "Why don"t you come along?"

"Okay. But why that way?" I asked curiously. Zhu Jiao racked his brain for a moment.

"Uh, well…it seems that the main hall of this ancient tomb is that way." He paused for a moment, as if listening to someone. "That"s where the real treasures are kept. However, we must be careful. The defenses there will most likely be the most powerful."

To his relief, I didn"t ask him how he knew. The answer was evident. His master, Qi Lin, had been feeding him all the various information. I just nodded.

"All right."

"Let"s go!" Zhu Jiao said hurriedly, and then grinned. He turned to Little Gold, who was absolutely preening. The Kirin was exuding a potent aura, most likely benefiting from devouring a lot of demonic spirits earlier.

I suddenly recalled a few screams and the roars of demonic creatures while traveling through one of the corridors. Most likely Zhu Jiao had left some unpleasant surprise for the people who charged into the chamber that held the demonic spirits, so as to reduce the compet.i.tion and keep them off his back. Typical ruthless wuxia/xianxia protagonist…

Little Gold vanished, turning into a golden ball of light that streaked inside Zhu Jiao, who then began rushing impatiently toward the huge corridor.

Shaking my head and sighing, I made to follow them even though I knew there was only a low probability that I would get anything out of this.

In fact, I knew I would only serve as a foil to the protagonist Zhu Jiao, who would get his hands on the most valuable treasures by the sole virtue of him being the main character…