Chapter 107

"Senior Sister Tianyi, which path should we take?" someone in the crowd asked.

Yushan Tianyi was about to speak when she suddenly smiled and came to Fang Xu, saying lightly, "You say, which path should we take?"

Let me choose?

Fang Xu frowned slightly; the guide stated that these three forks actually lead to the same place, and in terms of danger level, they are roughly the same.

But this fork ahead on the left clearly has an inheritance that can be harvested.

"Left." Fang Xu said lightly.

Hearing that, Yushan Tianyi glanced at the left fork and smiled faintly: "Then let's take the left."

Their group is strong; the first stage of the relic poses almost no danger to them, so whichever path they take is the same.

Hearing her decision, Fang Xu blinked slightly.

He had thought Yushan Tianyi was teasing him, but he didn't expect she would actually choose the left.

This works out perfectly; I was worried that if she didn't go left, how would I get those inheritances?

Upon seeing the first corpse, Fang Xu pondered briefly, then ran straight over.

His voice wasn't soft, and all the Ascending Immortal Society disciples ahead heard it clearly.

I had already told him that last time I came, but...

Fang Xu, however, continued to search the corpses indifferently; after finishing one, he quickly walked to the next, muttering, "What if something is missed?"

Beside him, the two Ascending Immortal Society disciples tasked with watching him thought he was going to flee and hurried after him, but they saw Fang Xu approach a martial artist's corpse and begin to search it.

Beside him, Huang Qingzhou had already covered his face and turned his head away.

Fang Xu looked up at the two and said, "Searching corpses, see if there's anything good."

The two were stunned.

From the wounds on the corpses, some died from traps, some at the hands of other martial artists, and some likely fell victim to the elusive man-evil spirit's attacks.

Full of confidence in her own strength, Yushan Tianyi strolled toward the left fork as if on an outing, swaying her waist.

Too embarrassing!

Sniffing her faint fragrance, Fang Xu smirked coldly inside.

Including Yushan Tianyi, all the Ascending Immortal Society disciples, upon hearing that, stared in disbelief at Fang Xu as he searched the corpses.

"Kid, this person's been dead for days—any good stuff left for you?" a nearby Ascending Immortal Society disciple jeered.

Stone chambers of various sizes lined both sides of the passageway, their doors all opened, and their contents clearly looted clean by other martial artists.

Seeing Fang Xu's slight hesitation, Yushan Tianyi brought her lovely face close to his ear and exhaled like orchids, speaking softly.

"Such an interesting fellow, this palace will surely give you a chance to choose your burial place..."

Embarrassing!

The group hadn't gone far when martial artists' corpses began to appear in the passageway.

"Let's go..."

"Kid, what are you doing?!"

Those few corpses before him weren't his "friends"; he did this to establish an image in the minds of the Ascending Immortal Society disciples.

That way, when he later harvested the inheritances, he wouldn't raise suspicion.

"Just inexperienced, just inexperienced..."

"Does this guy not realize he has no chance of making it out of the relic alive this time?"

"People die for wealth, birds die for food; someone like him, a miser, probably thinks clutching a few taels of silver before death is a kind of happiness..."

"Hah! In the end, isn't he just making a wedding dress for someone else?"

Watching Fang Xu eagerly search corpses, he actually found a few taels of silver on a corpse and was overjoyed; the Ascending Immortal Society disciples all shook their heads in disdain, their faces full of mockery.

Huang Qingzhou couldn't bear to watch any longer and reached out to pull Fang Xu up.

"Fang Xu..."

"Senior Brother Huang." Fang Xu slowly lifted his head, meeting Huang Qingzhou's gaze, and just stared at him silently without speaking.

Looking into his eyes, Huang Qingzhou froze slightly.

In that moment, he read a phrase from Fang Xu's gaze—"Believe me!"

Does this guy have some scheme?

The hand gripping Fang Xu's clothing loosened slightly, and Huang Qingzhou looked at him again.

Fang Xu chuckled: "Senior Brother Huang, I've been afraid of poverty since childhood..."

Holding up the few taels of silver he'd taken from the corpse, Fang Xu said calmly, "I'll buy a catty of first-grade blood food."

Huang Qingzhou was slightly stunned for a moment, and slightly shook their head.

He didn't know whether it was just an illusion earlier, nor was he clear whether Fang Xu really liked touching corpses or was pretending; at this point, he could only choose to believe Fang Xu.

Let him do whatever he wants.

Everyone proceeded cautiously along the passage; during this time, Fang Xu thoroughly maintained his "touch every corpse" image, touching every corpse they encountered.

Fortunately, after touching the corpses he would immediately catch up with the group, not slowing their progress, and Yushan Tianyi did not stop him either.

Because he had previously watched the guide, the mechanisms in this passage were also very familiar to Fang Xu; while touching corpses and dodging mechanisms, he harvested some scattered money and also collected the inheritances of his twelve "friends".

In the depths of his sea of consciousness, Fang Xu furtively glanced at his own panel.

【Name】: Fang Xu

【Realm】: Martial Disciple Sixth Stage

Additional Strength Attribute: 908

Additional Vitality Attribute: 355

Added Agility: 79

Added Spirit: 0

The added Strength attribute has already exceeded 900; he can clearly feel it, having broken through to Martial Apprentice Sixth Stage, plus the strengthening of the body by that kind of 'Primal Energy' emanating from behind the Neiguan Aperture Stone Gate, his current strength is at least double what it was at Martial Apprentice Fifth Stage!

At Martial Apprentice Fifth Stage, when the added Strength was over 500, a full-force strike could heavily injure a Martial Master Fifth Stage practitioner; now his strength is greater, and if he unleashes his full power, he doesn't know what effect it would have.

Everything in the first stage of the ruins had already been looted clean by earlier martial practitioners, but among the Ascension Immortal Society members who had come this way, the biggest gain was actually Fang Xu.

Besides the 'good friend' inheritance, he also obtained over a hundred taels of broken silver.

"The passage exit should be right ahead; after crossing the plaza of the first stage, it's the entrance to the second stage. From now on we must be extremely careful."

Yu Shan Tianyi, walking at the front, glanced at the end of the passage, then turned their head to look at the people behind and said.

The disciples of the Ascension Immortal Society all nodded.

Their trip had been fairly lucky; they hadn't encountered any attacks by human fiends in the passage, making it relatively easy.

But the second stage is different.

The second stage possesses a strange seal that suppresses strength; whether you are a Martial Master or a Martial Venerable, once inside, you can rely only on your physical power.

Since the ruins opened, no one has heard of a martial practitioner safely passing through the second stage; as for whether there have been any in secret, they don't know.

Everyone gripped their weapons tightly and followed Yu Shan Tianyi onward; soon they arrived at a huge plaza extremely similar to the entrance.

All along the way, aside from scattered martial practitioner corpses, they had not encountered any living martial practitioners.

But upon reaching this plaza, things were different.

The vast plaza was filled with martial practitioners of all kinds.

Fang Xu noticed that, regardless of size or layout, this plaza was similar to the previous one that had several statues; the only difference was that the stone statues on this plaza were missing one.

This might be the basis for the speculation by many martial practitioners that the entire ruins have seven stages.

After scanning the plaza, he then looked at the surrounding martial practitioners.

Among these martial practitioners, some were counting heads and discussing the next exploration plan, preparing to enter the second stage; others had just escaped from the second stage, bearing wounds of various sizes, looking quite miserable.

Standing on the plaza at the entrance to the second stage, Fang Xu felt vibrations constantly coming from the light curtain deep in his sea of consciousness.

Sinking his consciousness into the sea of consciousness, he discovered that at this moment all the arrows on the light curtain were pointing toward the second-stage entrance on the other side of the plaza.

Forty or fifty of the arrows were already flashing, while another twenty or so showed no reaction.

(End of Chapter)