Chapter 276

"After entering the tomb, I will only take one thing, and everything else will belong to Young Master Lin; furthermore, for this competition of the four great families, I guarantee I can let the Dan family get first place."

Liu Yue took off the backpack she was carrying and untied it, revealing nearly twenty demon beast inner cores inside.

"In previous years, the total points for first place among these four families were about sixty, and this time there won't be too many exceptions."

Lin Chen had learned about the points for first place in previous competitions from Dan Muqing, and Liu Yue wasn't lying.

In the last hundred years, the highest points for first place in a single session were only ninety, and the worst session was only forty.

And now, the demon cores Liu Yue took out alone, when converted into points, had almost completed thirty percent of the first place of the past.

"I haven't registered these demon cores for points yet; I can give them to Young Master Lin, and even these demon cores can be given to Young Master Lin."

Liu Yue looked at Lin Chen with a smile; in her heart, since the person in front of her wasn't aiming for the tomb, there was only one possibility: a hero has a hard time passing the beauty test.

That young lady of the Dan family had excellent looks, and this Lin Fei must be aiming for the Dan family young lady.

And to win the heart of the Dan family young lady, there was nothing more suitable than helping the Dan family win first place.

Liu Yue was very generous, but the more so she was, the more cautious Lin Chen became.

A dozen ninth-rank demon cores were not of low value.

If a gift is given to someone, there must be a request.

The more expensive the gift, the greater the request.

"What is the origin of this tomb?"

Liu Yue didn't answer immediately but pondered for a moment, raised her eyes to look at Lin Chen: "Has Young Master Lin heard of the Yan Yan Huang Chao?"

"The Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao?"

Lin Chen directly broke through Liu Yue's veiled words; Liu Yue heard Lin Chen say the three words "Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao," and a look of realization appeared on her pretty face.

This Lin Fei's background wasn't bad either.

Since the conflict between the Xiang Kingdom and the Liang Kingdom in the Snow Region, matters concerning the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao had spread to the upper echelons of all countries; those like them with extraordinary family backgrounds had already learned about it from their elders.

However, this matter only circulated among the upper echelons in the Nine Kingdoms, and ordinary martial artists still didn't know.

"Since Young Master Lin knows of the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao, this little girl won't hide it; the founding ancestor of the Qingtian Sect came from the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao. The Qingtian Sect was passed down to the last generation's sect master, and after that sect master died, the sect fell into internal strife and disbanded, and that sect master's tomb is buried in these ruins."

"And then?"

"It is rumored that that sect master left behind a Sect-Leading Order; if someone obtains the Sect-Leading Order, they can go to the Qingtian Sect's sect in the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao."

Liu Yue ultimately didn't hide it, because she wasn't the only one who knew this secret; that Gao Yongsi also came for this Sect-Leading Order, and it was very likely there were hidden powerhouses.

The Dan family could produce a Lin Fei, and it was hard to say the other two families didn't have hidden experts.

"Sect-Leading Order?"

Lin Chen thought of the Canglan Order he had obtained; possessing the Canglan Order meant possessing the qualification to participate in the Canglan Sect's disciple entry assessment.

"As far as I know, the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao and my Nine Kingdoms land have long since cut off contact; even if you get the Sect-Leading Order, I'm afraid you might not necessarily be able to go to the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao, to the main sect behind that Qingtian Sect."

Could it be that this Liu Yue had a way to establish contact with the sect on the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao side, or had a way to go to the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao?

"Young Master Lin, I'm sorry, this question involves some secrets in my clan; forgive me for not being able to answer."

Liu Yue shook her head slightly; Lin Chen sized up Liu Yue for a long time and ultimately nodded: "Fine, deal."

"Thank you, Young Master Lin."

Hearing Lin Chen agree, a smile appeared on Liu Yue's face.

Choosing to cooperate with Liu Yue wasn't because Lin Chen wanted to play dirty; he already had the Canglan Order, and with the Canglan Sect's overbearing style, he wouldn't dare choose to join other sects.

The reason for cooperation was thinking that following Liu Yue to that tomb place might allow him to have more understanding of the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao.

But a more important reason was that Liu Yue clearly knew a lot about the situation of the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao, and he could find a way to extract more news about the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao from Liu Yue's mouth.

"Young Master Lin, let's be villains first and gentlemen later; although our martial artists' oaths might not necessarily be effective, this little girl still hopes Young Master Lin can swear."

Liu Yue didn't relax her vigilance because of Lin Chen's agreement; since this Lin Fei knew of the Yan Yan Yan Huang Chao, she was afraid that when they entered the tomb later, Lin Fei would suddenly change his mind.

Although there was no such thing as a backlash for martial artists breaking oaths, as a genius aspiring to go far in the Martial Way, one must have an indomitable Martial Way heart, and someone who goes back on their word is hard to go far in the Martial Way.

A powerhouse's promise is heavier than a thousand gold.

"Fine."

Lin Chen nodded; the Sect-Leading Order was worth a fortune to others, but to him, who possessed the Canglan Order, the attraction wasn't great.

There was another reason: what does the oath Lin Fei made have to do with me, Lin Chen?

"I, Lin Fei, swear..."

After listening to the oath Lin Chen made, the wariness in Liu Yue's heart relaxed slightly.

"Thank you for your understanding, Young Master Lin."

After apologizing again, Liu Yue said in a deep voice: "There is still a distance from here to the tomb place; Young Master Lin, follow me."

"Fine."

... Half a day later.

Lin Chen and Liu Yue stopped in front of a valley.

"Young Master Lin, it's inside here."

Liu Yue sized up the surroundings of the valley, especially when she saw the iron trees nearly dozens of zhang high on both sides of the valley entrance; her breathing quickened slightly. Lin Chen glanced at her from the side and could clearly feel it from Liu Yue's undulating chest.

"Is that sect master's tomb inside the valley?"

"Mm."

Liu Yue nodded slightly, her beautiful eyes filled with impatience. Lin Chen scanned the surroundings but asked: "Miss Liu, may I ask if this tomb is guarded by mechanisms or arrays?"

"No, why does Young Master Lin ask like this?"

"Because someone has entered this place one step ahead of us."

Lin Chen's words made Liu Yue's pretty face change instantly: "How did Young Master Lin judge that?"

"The grass here has been trampled by people."

Lin Chen pointed to the grass not far away. Liu Yue looked in the direction Lin Chen was pointing, and after a long while, her expression became ugly.

"Thank you for the reminder, Young Master Lin; since someone has entered one step ahead of us, we can't wait any longer."

Liu Yue's expression was anxious; Lin Chen responded in a deep voice, and the two moved rapidly toward the inside of the valley.

After entering the valley for only two li, Lin Chen saw a palace.

Using a palace as a tomb—Lin Chen hadn't seen this situation before, but shouldn't it generally be built underground? This Qingtian Sect sect master built the palace directly on the ground?

Was he afraid others wouldn't find his tomb?

Or was it like that True Person senior in the Canglan Prefecture, deliberately placing it in the open just to make it convenient for someone to come in and take away the Canglan Order?

"Young Master Lin is right; someone has indeed arrived here one step ahead of us."

Liu Yue looked at the opened palace gate, the anxiety on her face grew stronger, and she galloped directly toward the palace gate.

"Wait!"

Seeing Liu Yue's action, Lin Chen frowned and hurriedly called out to stop her.

Whoosh!

At the same time, inside the palace, a cold light flashed, slashing toward Liu Yue.

Liu Yue's pretty face changed instantly; she hadn't expected someone to ambush at the palace gate.

Since they had already arrived here ahead of time, shouldn't they be looking for the Sect-Leading Order?

In the blink of an eye, a green umbrella appeared in front of Liu Yue, and the sword light fell on the green umbrella. The green umbrella rotated, causing the sword light to deviate by several feet and slash into a towering tree on Liu Yue's right side.

Bang!

The big tree was directly split in two, while Liu Yue used this buffer to retreat to Lin Chen's side, her pretty face carrying a trace of paleness; clearly, the self-preservation means in that blink of an eye had also consumed a huge amount of her energy.

Inside the main hall, two figures walked out slowly from within, and Lin Chen's eyes narrowed slightly.

These two were very strange; their footsteps were extremely uniform while walking...

It was just like... just like two robots.

Lin Chen could be certain that these two were definitely not among the forty people who entered this time; he had deliberately observed the whole scene earlier, and although he couldn't remember everyone's face very clearly, he at least had an impression in his mind, but he had no impression of these two.

"These are battle puppets."

Liu Yue explained to Lin Chen: "The Qingtian Sect was good at artifact refining and pill refining, and battle puppets were things refined by the Qingtian Sect; these battle puppets are already close to the eighth rank."

"Battle puppets?"

Lin Chen thought of the bronze men he had encountered at the special training ground back then, but those bronze men really couldn't be compared with these two battle puppets.

At least judging from the appearance alone, these two were no different from real people, and they actually knew how to hide behind the hall door to set an ambush; this Qingtian Sect's artifact refining means were truly magical.

"Young Master Lin, this time I'll have to trouble you to take action; the two of us will each deal with one battle puppet."

Liu Yue looked at Lin Chen, but Lin Chen shook his head: "Miss Liu, if these battle puppets were left behind by the Qingtian Sect sect master back then, logically speaking, the people who arrived before us should also have been ambushed by the battle puppets; if the battle puppets didn't ambush successfully, they should have been destroyed, and if they did ambush successfully, they should have left corpses behind, and even if these battle puppets would take the corpses away, there should be some blood left on the ground."

A bystander sees clearly.

Lin Chen could feel Liu Yue's longing for that Sect-Leading Order, and it was precisely because of this point that Liu Yue couldn't keep a calm head.

In the current situation, there were clearly strange and unreasonable aspects.

Reminded by Lin Chen, Liu Yue also reacted, took a deep breath to suppress the anxiety in her heart, and after pondering for a long while, she smiled bitterly: "Thank you for the reminder, Young Master Lin; I was too anxious and negligent."

"If I'm not mistaken, these two battle puppets were indeed left behind by the Qingtian Sect, but they weren't meant to ambush and kill those who came; or to be precise, the meaning of the battle puppets' existence is to kill those who don't meet the conditions."

Liu Yue also understood; if one couldn't even block the battle puppets' ambush sword, then one had no qualification to enter the main hall.

And these two battle puppets, after appearing, although they walked toward the two of them, stopped after walking ten zhang, which also verified this point.

Battle puppets test not only strength but also the ability to think in dangerous moments.

In the past, Liu Yue might not have been able to see these subtle points, but firstly, obtaining the Sect-Leading Order was her family's plan for many years, and now that someone had entered one step ahead, her mindset couldn't be calm; secondly, she had just suffered an ambush, so she subconsciously thought the purpose of these two battle puppets' existence was to kill everyone who wanted to enter the palace.

Seeing Liu Yue react, a smile also curled at the corners of Lin Chen's mouth; it seemed that the Qingtian Sect sect master had intended to test those who came later, or these two battle puppets were just the first step, and there were more tests waiting for those who entered inside this main hall.

(End of chapter)