Chapter 901: Not Giving a Damn (1/2, Requesting Moon Tickets)

After moving far enough away, the tail told Fang Yue and the other to wait a moment where they were.

Once the tail had left, Fang Yue asked Jing Yan for details about his imprisonment and some other specifics.

There was Ming around earlier, so it wasn't convenient to ask too much, but now it's fine.

Originally, after Jing Yan was imprisoned and sent to the auction, he remained unconscious the whole time; when he woke up, he was already in the Nian Fu, and he only learned what happened at the auction through Ming's recounting.

"Ye Ge, strange phenomena are rampant in Jingcheng now, and Chen Qing is missing, too. Captain Wu and An Dong Er still have no leads. To be honest, I have a bad feeling."

"Don't worry, those strange phenomena won't last long—this is beneath the Son of Heaven's feet, the place with the most powerful cultivators in all of Qing Guo. The ones above will handle it properly. As for Chen Qing and the others, I'll definitely find a way to rescue them all!"

"... Mm."

To be honest, Jing Yan didn't think Fang Yue could accomplish so much—Jingcheng was too vast, with countless factions converging, and Fang Yue was isolated and weak, with very little he could do.

Just as the two were speaking of this, the tail returned.

"The Fifth Huang Nu has responded to my secret signal—she seems to have just become free, and she's near this area."

That's perfect.

"Let's go to the place where we agreed to meet the Fifth Huang Nu."

The location the tail arranged with the Fifth Huang Nu was a temple.

Probably just a few hours ago, this temple was still very prosperous and grand.

But now, under the Black Moon Organization's release of rampant strange phenomena, the temple has been utterly destroyed, the ground littered with corpses—like a hellish sea of blood.

"Let's go. There's a hidden passage below that leads to many places in Jingcheng, but the password is a special sequence combination. The Fifth Huang Nu is wary of me, so she only gave me one sequence combination, which can open only one specific chamber. We must meet her there."

The tail explained, then led the two toward the temple's main hall.

Before the Buddha statue, she channeled internal energy and tapped lightly several times on the back of the decapitated statue.

Fang Yue carefully sensed it—he noticed each tap on the statue's back had a different intensity, varying in force and always in fixed order; only this exact combination could open the hidden passage, otherwise the password was wrong.

Creak—

After the tail finished inputting the sequence, she waited a moment, then the entrance to the hidden passage opened from the ground.

"Is the hidden passage underground? If I just smash through the ground with brute force, wouldn't I be able to find it?" Fang Yue mused.

This was a thought that often popped into his mind after watching many TV dramas.

Of course, it was reverse-engineering from the outcome—thinking that maybe brute force could reveal the hidden passage.

But the tail's words shattered that idea.

"It's not that simple. After I input the specific sequence, we waited a while before the passage opened, right? That's because the underground passage is shifting its combination, undergoing changes similar to tectonic movement. I don't know about other places, but beneath this temple, the Fifth Huang Nu has set up many tricks. This shifting combination makes the ground beneath the temple normally just solid earth. Only when the correct password is entered does the passage move up from below."

"Of course, if Ye Ge were to blast straight down with enough preparation to pierce several kilometers underground, he might possibly discover the passage's existence."

Fang Yue's lips twitched at that.

Apparently, game traps are far more complex than TV dramas.

Then again, this is a high-cultivation world—strange phenomena that defy all rules can emerge, and arrays and such exist, things TV wuxia worlds could never match. Naturally, hidden passages would be designed far more intricately.

Suppressing his chaotic thoughts, he descended along the hidden passage.

After descending roughly a thousand meters underground, the steep downward slope finally leveled off into a steady corridor.

After walking further, Fang Yue noticed that along the entire route, there was only one path, with stone walls on both sides and no branches.

Had the tail not mentioned it, Fang Yue would have assumed this hidden passage was just a straight line.

But now, he could only say this hidden passage was extremely complex—only with the correct password could branch paths be opened.

Judging by its scale and twists, Fang Yue seriously doubted whether the Fifth Huang Nu herself had designed and built this passage.

As Fang Yue thought this, light appeared ahead.

The three entered and found it was a sealed chamber with no exits except the entrance.

Looking around, the chamber contained nothing but a table, several chairs, and a Human Soul lamp providing illumination.

Fang Yue was about to ask where the Fifth Huang Nu was when one wall of the chamber suddenly creaked open, revealing a passage.

From within the passage, a voluptuous woman was walking toward them.

The passage was dark, making it hard to see her face, but from her silhouette, it looked like she was carrying something that dripped—drip, drip—liquid.

When the woman stepped into the light, Fang Yue and the other two froze.

It wasn't because her appearance was stunning, but because in her hand, she held a severed human head, dripping blood.

"Jibing Shengnyu, you timed your contact perfectly. I just finished dealing with a problem when I received your signal and came straight over."

The Fifth Huang Nu, dressed in a long gown, slammed the head onto the table with a thud.

The head rolled, leaving a trail of blood across the table.

Its wide, unblinking eyes, still open in death, looked terrifying.

But everyone present had fought their way out of life-and-death battles—this was nothing.

The tail frowned slightly and pointed at the head: "Who is he...?"

"Of course, my Fourth Imperial Brother. Didn't I say your signal came at the perfect time? I'd just cut down my Fourth Imperial Brother when I received your signal."

Fourth Imperial Brother... That was the Fourth Prince of Qing Guo?!

Fang Yue and the other two were stunned.

The Fourth Prince was dead—killed by the Fifth Huang Nu?

How could she dare...

Fang Yue knew the Nine Dragons' Succession War meant competition among the nine princes and princesses, but he never imagined it had escalated to this level.

She just killed him outright—could the current emperor still sit idly by and let his children slaughter each other?

Fang Yue sensed something sick and twisted—this Qing Guo, this Jingcheng, was far from the ideal he imagined; there was deeper darkness here.

"Surprised? The Fourth Imperial Brother is just the first step. Stepping over his corpse is how I climb higher. My next target is the Third Imperial Brother."

The Fifth Huang Nu's eyes glinted with madness; her blood-smeared right hand wiped across her face, appearing sinister and deranged under the Human Soul lamp.

Fang Yue paused, then asked, "Your Highness, although it is regrettable to eliminate a rival, have you considered the Emperor's reaction?"

"Father Emperor? He won't care."

(End of Chapter)