Chapter 343

"Found it! This is the place!"

Tong Shoutian turned around and shouted excitedly to the group, pointing at the half-collapsed wind cave, "Look here, gentlemen! According to ancient texts and comparisons with the terrain maps on the fragments, plus the faint but sharp aura emanating from this entrance... if my guess is correct, this is the entrance to that ruin! That aura is likely residual ancient sword intent!"

Hearing this, the group perked up and hurried over.

Although most could not sense any "sword intent," Tong Shoutian spoke with such certainty, backed by ancient texts, and had proven his foresight and responses to dangers along the way—he had already earned considerable trust in their eyes.

"Young Master Tong is truly remarkable, finding it so quickly!"

"No wonder he's the heir of Ice-Fire Island—his knowledge is vast."

"With Young Master Tong leading us, we will surely succeed."

"..."

Compliments rose one after another, temporarily dispelling the earlier fear.

Tong Shoutian wore a modest smile and waved his hands repeatedly, "You flatter me—it's the ancient texts that guided us, and everyone's shared fortune."

He then grew serious, "There's no time to waste—we enter at once. But the entrance's condition is unknown; to be safe..."

He turned to the guard captain who had been scouting ahead, "Tong Hu, you're experienced—lead the way, proceed cautiously."

The guard captain named Tong Hu responded solemnly, tightened his grip on his weapon, and crouched low to slip first into the half-collapsed cave entrance.

Seeing this, the others suppressed their unease and followed one by one in order.

Chen Mu blended into the crowd, unremarkable and unnoticed, as he entered the cave with the flow.

Though the entrance was half-collapsed, the interior passage was wider than expected—barely wide enough for two to walk side by side, over two meters high, but winding with many side paths, damp and cold, filled with the scent of earth, stone, and decay.

Under Tong Hu's lead, the group advanced through the dim, twisting passage for about half an hour.

The passage sloped up and down at times, and sometimes required squeezing sideways through narrow fissures.

Just as the group began to grow impatient and wondered if they'd taken a wrong turn, Tong Hu, who was scouting ahead, suddenly stopped and whispered.

"Young Master, something's ahead!"

The group perked up again and quickened their pace.

The passage opened abruptly ahead, revealing the edge of a large, sunken pit.

The pit appeared to have formed recently due to geological shifts, its edges jagged and uneven.

Standing at the edge and looking down, the bottom lay about ten meters below—shallow, not deep.

Faint, dim daylight filtered through cracks above, allowing a blurry view of numerous artificial ruins scattered across the pit floor—

Broken Shi Zhu, collapsed walls, shattered roof tiles, and unidentifiable stone components.

"The ruin! It's really here!"

"Right below us! We found it!"

"..."

A burly, impatient man shouted excitedly, unable to contain himself, and leapt first into the pit.

With one person leading, other warriors, their minds clouded by the prospect of the Tiandao Sect's treasure, feared falling behind and scrambled to follow, shouting as they jumped down, terrified someone else would snatch the treasures first.

Soon, only Chen Mu, Tong Shoutian, his guards, and a few cautious Innate Realm hermits remained at the pit's edge.

Chen Mu did not move hastily; his gaze calmly swept over Tong Shoutian.

Tong Shoutian's mouth was still calling down into the pit.

"Everyone be careful, watch your safety, investigate thoroughly before acting!"

His voice sounded full of concern.

Yet Chen Mu sharply noticed the heir of Ice-Fire Island's lips had just curled upward into a subtle, cold, calculating smile!

Tong Shoutian's smile vanished instantly, returning to his usual composed expression as he looked at the few outsiders still at the pit's edge.

Chen Mu, and three or four other Innate Realm hermits who had not jumped down immediately, showing caution.

"They're too eager."

"But understandable."

Tong Shoutian sighed helplessly, "After all, this is the Tiandao Sect ruin—everyone fears falling behind and missing out."

"Hmph, in my view, they're rushing to their deaths!" snarled a tall, scarred hermit with a sinister gaze, clearly wary of what lay below.

"True—the situation below is unknown. Jumping in blindly could mean traps or guardian beasts..." added another short, stout warrior, gripping a pair of short halberds.

Chen Mu did not join their discussion; his gaze casually swept over Tong Shoutian's guard contingent, pausing for half a breath on a silent, middle-aged man around fifty, whose aura was tightly contained, then moved away as if nothing had happened.

"The ruin lies below—we can't delay any longer."

Tong Shoutian steeled his expression, making a decisive gesture, and invited Chen Mu and the others, "Gentlemen, let's go down together—better to watch each other's backs."

"Alright..." the stout warrior hesitated, then nodded.

Yet the instant he uttered the word "Alright"—

Sudden change!

A Tong-family guard standing beside him, who had remained silent until now, flashed murderous intent and without warning thrust a poisoned short blade straight into the stout warrior's back!

Almost simultaneously, several other Tong-family guards launched surprise attacks on Chen Mu and the other hermits!

Blades flashed, ruthless and merciless, all aimed at vital points—clearly long-planned.

Puff! Puff!

Two hermits, slower to react and with their backs turned to the guards, had no time to defend—they were pierced through and died instantly.

"You!"

"Tong Shoutian! You treacherous—"

The two remaining hermits screamed in horror and scrambled to fight back, but they were already matched in strength to the guards, and now lost the initiative—immediately overwhelmed, barely surviving.

And almost at the exact moment the guards struck, a piercing scream erupted from the pit bottom, ten meters below.

Clearly, those martial artists who had leapt down first, brimming with greed, had met with misfortune!

The pit's edge instantly became a slaughterhouse.

Except for Chen Mu!

The instant the steel saber in the hand of the Tong family guard who had ambushed him was about to touch the skin of his nape, Chen Mu's figure shifted aside like a phantom.

The guard's strike missed; the moment a flash of shock and doubt crossed his eyes, his vision blurred, and a palm had already pressed soundlessly against the side of his neck.

Crack!

A teeth-grinding sound of bone splintering rang out; the guard's head lolled to one side at a grotesque angle, the light of life swiftly fading from his eyes, and he crumpled to the ground.

The other two loose cultivators, also surrounded and attacked by the Tong family guards, let out their final screams and perished one after another.

At the pit's edge, apart from the corpses, only Chen Mu remained, along with Tong Shoutian, whose face was dark and sullen, across from him, the guards at his side, and that older burly man who had never once struck, his aura obscure and unfathomable.

【Corpse discovered. Loot?】