The next morning, Meng Ziqiu seemed particularly excited, perhaps because he hadn't been out for a while and was feeling restless.
Because of the pandemic, identity verification is required to enter the highway in Weicheng. Meng Ziqiu was a little worried about this, but when Xu Qian said that he had a solution, he felt relieved and carried his small bag downstairs.
Meng Ziqiu put the luggage in the back seat, and in the blink of an eye, Xu Qian had changed into a different outfit, with one blue and one yellow heterochromatic eye... he looked quite good!
"Let's go! Let's set off!" Meng Ziqiu said cheerfully, completely unconcerned about why he had changed so quickly, nor did he need to. He would say what he could say, and Meng Ziqiu didn't need to know what he didn't want to say.
After getting on the highway, Meng Ziqiu was also amazed by Xu Qian's 'invisibility technique'. Although he was a member of the Meng family, he had been skeptical of cultivation techniques before Xu Qian appeared. Now he was just comforting himself that the world is full of wonders. He had met some strange people when he went out with Fifth Master and the others before, but he felt that Xu Qian was definitely more powerful than them!
The two traveled at a leisurely pace, stopping frequently along the way, and finally arrived at their destination—Chang'ai Mountain—on the morning of the third day.
This should have been the peak tourist season for Chang'ai Mountain, but unfortunately, the entire mountain was deserted after the outbreak of the pandemic, and they were the only car driving along the way.
"The leaders of Chang'ai Mountain are quite something; they all stayed home obediently, and there wasn't a soul around along the way..."
"It's not advisable to go out. This virus... well, it can't really be called a virus, but it's quite harmful to ordinary people."
Meng Ziqiu became interested; he had wanted to ask this for a long time, but hadn't found the right opportunity until now. "What did you find out about Ulan?"
Xu Qian organized his thoughts, "We discovered fossils of the sea hare, but they've already been sealed away."
"Sea Woman?" Meng Ziqiu had obviously never heard of her.
“It’s what you call a ‘mermaid’,” Xu Qian said, changing his wording.
"What! Mermaids?! There really are mermaids?!" Meng Ziqiu suddenly lost his composure.
"Watch your car while driving," Xu Qian reminded him, then continued, "The sea hag isn't some mermaid from a fairy tale; the demon sea hag is deadly."
"..." Meng Ziqiu glanced at Xu Qian quickly, wondering what the Demon Clan was, and whether they were the class enemies of cultivators.
If Xu Qian could hear his inner thoughts, he would definitely nod in agreement. Demons and cultivators were each other's class enemies (or you could say 'food'?), and at the same time, they were both the only way to 'rise to the top'. Killing demons to prove one's Dao and killing immortals to prove one's Dao were the mainstream practices at the time, and it was a fight to the death.
...
Meng Ziqiu parked the car at the foot of the mountain. The entrance to the Chang'ai Mountain Scenic Area was blocked, but fortunately, they didn't plan to go that way anyway.
“A local led me down this road. Last time, I caught up with my brother using this route, even faster than the one in the scenic area…” Meng Ziqiu took off his coat as he walked. In June, the temperature on Chang’ai Mountain was nearly 30 degrees Celsius. “It’s a pity we couldn’t save him, and he even got himself killed… Sigh!”
"We've been discovered?" Xu Qian's breathing was very even.
"That's right, we almost succeeded!" Meng Ziqiu still felt a little regretful when he recalled that he was too impulsive at the time, otherwise so many things wouldn't have happened later.
Xu Qian recalled Hua Laosan's face. On the surface, Hua Laosan was a businessman dealing in antiques, but judging from his physical condition, he must have gone tomb raiding more than once or twice. His body had long been infested with corpse poison, which was why he was looking for the 'Returning Jade Pearl' to save his life.
However, Xu Qian always treated the jade bead as an ornament; it looked pretty, but it was completely impractical. The rumored life-extending ritual also required conditions: besides the person seeking the life-extending ritual, there also had to be a blood relative, exchanging life for life. The "huan" in "huan yu zhu" means to return.
But obviously the other party didn't know, and Xu Qian didn't tell him either.
"By the way, do you know that Hua Laosan?" Xu Qian asked him.
Meng Ziqiu frowned. He had naturally met Hua Laosan, who had kidnapped his brother. If it weren't for his brother's situation, he probably would only know about him.
"That guy is no good; he's done plenty of murder and robbery." Although the tomb raiders always call him Master Hua, to be honest, he's nothing special. If it weren't for the money, who would bother with him?
"I can tell." Xu Qian knew it the moment he saw the other party: 180 points of killing intent and 6 lives.
The higher they climbed up the mountain, the better the air quality became, but breathing became increasingly difficult.
Xu Qian himself was fine, but Meng Ziqiu was not quite used to it, probably because he had been staying at home for too long and hadn't been exercising much.
It was almost noon, so the two took a short rest and ate something.
Xu Qian drank his water and glanced at the mini-map. Two small yellow dots had suddenly appeared on the map, which should have been empty. He put down his water and looked in the direction of the yellow dots; it was also a path leading up the mountain, but on the other side of Chang'ai Mountain. "It seems we weren't the only ones who went up the mountain today," Xu Qian said to Meng Ziqiu, putting down his water.
"Where is anyone?" Meng Ziqiu didn't have a mini-map to look at, so he quickly looked around.
"There are two people, be careful." Xu Qian wasn't sure of their identities, so he simply slung his bag back over his shoulder and continued up the mountain. If he were alone, his great lightness skill would make climbing the mountain much easier, but with two people, the journey wouldn't be boring. In conclusion, there were trade-offs.
Led by Xu Qian, who was a walking map, the two found the entrance in just one hour. It was that familiar narrow passage. If Hua Laosan hadn't had someone blow up the other main road, they wouldn't have had to go through this.
Xu Qian switched to the disguise of Mei Tai. His younger son was thinner, so it wasn't as difficult for him to crawl through the hole.
Halfway through their ordnance, the mountain suddenly shook violently, leaving them covered in dust.
Meng Ziqiu scoffed, "Not again?"
Xu Qian saw that the two small yellow dots were stopped halfway up the mountain, and they probably weren't there for the same purpose. He then urged Meng Ziqiu, "Hurry up, hurry up!"
Meng Ziqiu exerted 200% of his strength, but his plan to see his former self (that stained wall) was also ruined. He climbed out of the tunnel as quickly as possible, with Xu Qian always ahead of him, able to lend a hand when he came out.
Returning here again, Xu Qian felt a pang of nostalgia, even though the place had been completely destroyed by the tomb raiders.
This Changai Mountain was originally a small mountain in Wuqi Mountain. It had moderate spiritual energy and served as the granary of Wuqi Mountain. It was always managed by the thirteenth senior brother. In the past, Xu Qian often came to the mountain with his senior brothers and sisters to plant Nine Spirit Fruits and Green Yang Pomegranates. Every harvest season, this place was the liveliest.
Unfortunately, Wuqi Mountain is gone, but Changai Mountain remains safely intact.
Relying on his memory and the directions on the minimap, Xu Qian found the warehouse.
Nearly a thousand years have passed since then, and the original granary is now completely empty. Although Xu Qian had imagined such a scene, he still felt somewhat emotional when he actually saw it.
The images of Senior Sister Yueyue, who loved sweets the most, Senior Brother Fu Kun, who, like him, couldn't live without spicy food, and Senior Brother Lan Ge, who was vegetarian to outsiders but couldn't live without meat to his family, were still deeply imprinted in Xu Qian's mind. But when he turned around, he only saw Meng Ziqiu.
Xu Qian: I'm... very sad. (Sighs sadly)
Meng Ziqiu: ...? ? ?
After searching the warehouse, Xu Qian couldn't find a single seed, and he couldn't tell whether he was disappointed or if it was just how things were. Meng Ziqiu, on the other hand, was very curious about the place and kept asking Xu Qian what it used to be for, and Xu Qian answered all his questions in a good-natured way.
The two arrived at the place where their fate began—the tomb.
Xu Qian couldn't help but explain, "This isn't a tomb, it's just a place for healing..."
“Okay, the treatment room.” Meng Ziqiu immediately changed his words, although in his opinion this place was no different from a tomb, since it was full of coffins, except that the coffin Xu Qian was lying in was more beautiful than any coffin he had ever seen…
Xu Qian ignored him and switched to the Qi Pure vest on the spot. Fifteen seconds later, a brand new Pure Yang Taoist appeared. The only pity was that his Po Lu school uniform had been stripped down to just his inner layer.
“…Wow.” Meng Ziqiu looked at Xu Qian in front of him and couldn’t help but think of the scene when the coffin was opened. Almost at the same time, everyone was looking at the Taoist priest and the sword in his hand with great amazement…
"Hey, you found it?" Meng Ziqiu stared blankly at the Crimson Lotus that Xu Qian had pulled out from somewhere.
"We found it in the desert," Xu Qian said, offering an explanation.
"Oh...!" Meng Ziqiu watched as Xu Qian plunged his sword into the crevice in the stone. At that very moment, the stone door, which had been so tightly sealed that even a blast couldn't break it open, slowly began to open.
"You can go in now." This healing room was originally designed by Xu Qian and his thirteenth senior brother, so he naturally knew how to open it. However, he did not expect that the group of tomb raiders would use a roundabout tactic and dig a tunnel from the other side to enter. This really surprised him.
Upon entering the room, it was as clean as if it had just been washed.
The ice coffin remained open as if it had been opened, but the gold-embroidered carpet inside was gone. Xu Qian remembered that it was sewn by his senior sister Yueyue, but now he didn't know where it was.
"Are all tomb raiders like this nowadays? They're not picky at all!" Xu Qian couldn't help but complain. This was going too far. Not only did they take his legendary weapon, but they also took his clothes and blanket. If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't take the ice coffin, he suspected they would have tried to take the coffin as well.
"People vary in quality..." Meng Ziqiu chuckled dryly. He had personally witnessed Xu Qian's tomb being robbed, although he didn't know most of the people involved.
Xu Qian used the Crimson Lotus to close the ice coffin again. His gaze swept around; almost everything that could be moved was gone. What remained…
Xu Qian squatted down. Next to his ice coffin was a jade stone stool. In the center of the jade stone stool, there was a spot that was cleaner than the rest of the stool. Something must have been placed on it before. The base was rectangular. Xu Qian compared the size and recalled that this size was somewhat similar to his master's... Ziyang Treasure Box.
The Purple Sun Treasure Box...
"...Did you find anything?" Meng Ziqiu asked him cautiously.
Xu Qian turned to him and said, "When you came here before, wasn't there a box here, painted with purple and gold?"
“A box with purple and gold lacquer…” Meng Ziqiu thought for a moment, “Oh, I think so. They took the box as soon as they arrived, and then they went to touch your coffin.”
Xu Qian ignored his mention of the coffin and continued to press, "Are you sure?"
Meng Ziqiu frowned and continued to recall, "...there was also a string of three-petaled flowers on the box, wasn't there?"
Xu Qian nodded, basically confirming that it was indeed the Ziyang Treasure Box left behind by his master.
He stood up and put the Crimson Lotus away again. "We can go out now and find Hua Laosan."
Meng Ziqiu responded, but before he could even cheer happily, Xu Qian's expression suddenly changed, and he said:
"Hua Laosan is dead..."
On the highway back to Weicheng, Meng Ziqiu called Fifth Master several times, but no one answered.
"What about Sangzi? Do you have his phone number?" Xu Qian asked him.
“I don’t actually have his number. I’ll ask another friend.” Meng Ziqiu said as he drove, looking up the number for the person named 'Du Zhou'.
The two went around in circles before finally contacting Sangzi, but Sangzi's voice sounded very hoarse, as if she were sick.
"...Fifth Master is in the hospital; he has been diagnosed."
Xu Qian looked at Meng Ziqiu, and Meng Ziqiu looked at Xu Qian. The two looked at each other speechlessly, not knowing what to say for a moment.
...
Meng Ziqiu drove back to Weicheng alone, and the highway checkpoints were still very strict on the way back.
He had just returned home when someone knocked on the door. It was someone delivering supplies to the community. The fact that he was wearing full protective gear proved that the epidemic outside had not subsided and was still spreading.
Meng Ziqiu paused for a second, thanked the person outside, and then reached out to close the door.
Meanwhile, Xu Qian was on a plane bound for Yanzhuang, holding in his hand the flower petals he had brought from Ulan, as well as the Rosipper.
He opened his friends list, and Fifth Master's health bar was already critically low. He had to hurry, much faster...
Author's Note: The End!
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