Chapter 85

“You said that Li Guoxian met with that man?”

“Yes, damn it! Li Guoxian really knows how to look for trouble. If it weren’t for him, would we have to let go of the precious treasure right in front of us?!”

The middle-aged man spat at the ground and gritted his teeth: “I remember this old grudge very well. When I catch him, if I don’t drown him to death, then my name isn’t Tang fucking Yihong!”

“Cough…. there’s no use in saying that now.” Tang Jiaming coughed a few more times, leaned against the back of his chair, and gasped for air: “We shouldn’t have underestimated the hypocrite. Li Guoxian has experienced so much, and yet, he hasn’t fallen down. He must have access to a lot of information….”

“That’s for sure. When your father went to the tomb with him, it wasn’t only because Li Guoxian was well-informed, but because your father considered him a brother. However, Li Guoxian was behind all the misfortune his ‘brothers’ went through. Besides, weren’t his disciples’ deaths also thanks to him?”

Tang Jiaming knew best what kind of person Li Guoxian was. Ever since his father died 20 years ago, Tang Jiaming has hated Li Guoxian to the bone. Because of this, Tang Jiaming went to study at X University, to follow Li Guoxian’s work and help him with the research in order to gain his trust and kill him one day with his own hands.

Over the years, Tang Jiaming could see that Li Guoxian knew better than anyone else. Ten years ago, when Li Guoxian discovered that there were Taowu Bones in the great tomb in Ninghua Village, he tried to dig them as soon as possible to secure them. However, that day several students died, but for some reason, this news wasn’t spread. The information was blocked to the point where students today still worship Li Guoxian as a great scholar….

When Tang Jiaming remembered when Li Guoxian had claimed that he wanted to protect the Mausoleum by stopping any direct excavation method, Tang Jiaming couldn’t help but laugh. ‘ Only God knows how much Li Guoxian wants to obtain those Taowu Bones! ’

‘ How could he really advocate for a moderate excavation?! In reality, he couldn’t wait to flatten the tomb in Ninghua Village and take out the treasure! ’

‘ It’s just that both Jiang Bo and Lin Hongxing were fooled. They died without knowing they were caught in Li Guoxian’s trap, exploring the way for Li Guoxian as scapegoats! ’

When he thought about this, Tang Jiaming couldn’t help but think of the day he heard Li Guoxian say that he wanted Qin Cheng to explore the way, be the ‘forerunner’, but that day the results were unexpected….

All those who study archeology know: ‘The dazzling sun in Spring shines as bright as ever, while the flowers have already broken the buds allowing the orchids to sprout its shoots. The only thing I can see no more is the bright color on your face, because your wandering soul has already followed the morning glow ¹ ’. All things in the world are bound to be born and die at a certain point. Some variables may live longer, while others will perish soon. This cannot be changed. There’s nothing in this world that can be eternal or cannot have a change of heart. Li Guoxian knew this very well, and Tang Jiaming knew it the best.

However, Li Guoxian never expected that Qin Cheng would be the kind of variable to survive….

No, not only Li Guoxian. Tang Jiaming also never expected this from Qin Cheng….

Qin Cheng was very independent and had a strange temper. He was always burying his head deep into studying archeology, and he didn’t seem to be the kind to have a close relationship with anyone, not even his friends. To be honest, as a scholar, Qin Cheng was alright, but he also admired Li Guoxian’s ‘knowledge’. It could also be said that for Li Guoxian’s superficial teachings, Qin Cheng had comprehensively inherited it….in an extremely obedient way….

Qin Cheng was Li Guoxian’s pride. On the surface, Qin Cheng was his favorite student, while behind the scenes, he could make a good chess piece in his game.

Unexpectedly, this chess piece had turned into a bomb, turning the whole situation upside down. This, of course, made Li Guoxian extremely anxious.

To tell the truth, Tang Jiaming was also really curious about Qin Cheng. According to the past, Qin Cheng would be the kind of talented student that listened to every word Li Guoxian had to say. But now, this doesn’t seem to be the case. As long as Tang Jiaming can follow the clues, he would be able to find Li Guoxian’s background. Moreover, Tang Jiaming doesn’t have any physiological barriers that would affect him when discovering the shady truth Li Guoxian is hiding.

‘ I used to think that Qin Cheng was just a nerd obsessed with archeology, but now that doesn’t seem to be the case. In reality, he’s very rational, and has an independent mind. ’

But now, the thing that attracted Tang Jiaming’s attention the most….was the relationship between Qin Cheng and the tomb owner…. Since Qin Cheng was hiding close to the Taowu bones inside the tomb everyone was afraid of, it was extremely hard for him to make a move.

“It’s only a matter of time before Li Guoxian’s downfall. The Police should have already discovered something, otherwise, why would Li Guoxian meet with that man?”

“Then, let’s just wait for them to fight each other. Once both sides are defeated, we’ll snatch the treasure!”

“Yes, that’s for the best. But we can’t just sit and wait. I read in a book that to use these bones you need a divine artifact, otherwise, with our ability it’ll be impossible to fuse the Taowu bones onto our bones and blood.”

“Holy shit! Why the fuck you didn’t say it earlier? I don’t know what that thing is! Where can we get it?!”

“What’s the hurry?” Tang Jiaming looked at Tang Yihong with disgust. “The day we had to hide in the mountains, didn’t we see three people rushing to get ‘something’ from Qu Zhiwen?”

“You brat, if you want me to help you obtain the bones you better not look at me like that ever again. The next time you do, I’ll poke your eyes and blind you.” Even though he had said those words, Tang Yihong knew very well that he couldn’t attack Tang Jiaming. Although this young man’s health had decreased immensely due to the spell, and his appearance didn’t look strong, Tang Yihong knew that Tang Jiaming could still defeat him and make him suffer…. So he could only suppress the anger he felt and cooperate with Tang Jiaming.

“Tch, you mean to say that Qu Zhiwen has that divine artifact?”

“He’s a Heavenly Master who wants the Taowu bones for himself, of course he must know that he needs the divine artifact to activate the bones. If you think about it, he must also go sooner or later to prepare everything in advance.”

When Tang Yihong heard Tang Jiaming’s words, his face became even worse. After so many years of stealing tombs, he was still part of a sect, so how could he not know what a Heavenly Master was? In the entirety of China’s territory, there were very few people who could become Heavenly Masters. Now, when he was told that his opponent was a Heavenly Master, how can this go well?

Tang Yihong was annoyed. He took a lighter from his pocket, lit a cigarette, took a hard puff of smoke and said: ”How strong is he?”

“I’m not sure. But, at least, he’s an expert in solving formations. He should’ve been the one who solved the formation in Pingyao.”

“Did he also take the Taowu bone that was inside the tomb in Pingyao?”

Tang Jiaming took a sip of tea in order to suppress the cough that was about to leak out of his throat. As he shook his head, he said: “Not necessarily. I can’t sense the strong qi of the Taowu bones coming from him, but it’s certain that he should have taken a part of it. As for where the rest is, I don’t know. Wu Hai and Qin Cheng were able to leave the tomb without dying afterwards, so they must have a share of the bone…. Besides, who knows if Li Guoxian made a profit that time when he suddenly showed up with those people?”

Tang Yihong took another puff of smoke and then threw it on the ground, stepped on it, and said: “Is that Qu Zhiwen more capable than you?”

“With my previous strength, I would have dared to fight with him.”

“Tsk!” Tang Yihong glared at Tang Jiaming, who was sitting in front of him, and said: “Isn’t it fucking useless to tell me all this? Can I even steal the artifacts from him?!”

“Who said anything about stealing?” Tang Jiaming hummed and continued with a smile: “Do you really think that a bean-sized Taowu bone will be enough? There are more Taowu bones hidden in Ninghua Vilagge’s tomb, where there are countless fierce ghosts, a terrible formation, and the soul of an Emperor who’s been imprisoned for 1600 years. Not even the Immortals dare to enter, so how will Qu Zhiwen be able to obtain them on his own?”

When Tang Yihong heard this, he couldn’t understand what Tang Jiaming was trying to say, so he asked: “Do you…want to cooperate with him? Would he be willing?”

“Why not? There are enough Taowu bones for more than one person in that tomb. Qu Zhiwen must want the Taowu bones to replace his mortal bones and live longer, and this spell doesn’t need that many Taowu bones. If we cooperate together, not only can we benefit from it, but we can also–…. cough, cough, cough.”

Tang Yihong glanced at Tang Jiaming, who was still coughing, and said: “Let’s put these things aside for now. I want to talk about you, Tang Jiaming, I’m afraid you won’t last long, maybe a few more days. Your disease is getting worse by the day, so don’t fucking die before we can act!”

Tang Jiaming sneered: “How could I die before Li Guoxian?”

After a few months, Tang Jiaming’s originally strong body was as thin as firewood, while his face had a yellowish tone, and his smile had a cold intent. Even though Tang Yihong had seen countless corpses in his life, and had been inside tombs tons of times, he couldn’t help but shiver when looking at Tang Jiaming’s appearance.

Tang Jiaming has been following Li Guoxian for several years, so he has learned a lot about him. When Tang Yihong looked at Tang Jiaming’s current smile, he could see it was similar to the smile Li Guoxian had that year….

This made Tang Yihong’s heart tremble, filled with an unexpected coldness.. If Tang Jiaming were to betray them, this could be the end of their sect….

‘ I don’t even know anymore whether it was the right thing to do to find Tang Jiaming in the first place…. ’

So Tang Jiaming wants to cooperate with Qu Zhiwen in order to obtain the bones? What will Qu Zhiwen do? Will he accept? Will he try to be on Su Jingmo’s good side? Or will he act on his own? 👀👀👀👀

.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ ✧

Footnotes

<ol>From the poem <b>《哭曼卿》</b> by ( <b>苏舜钦</b> <b>sū shùn qīn</b> ) Su Shunqin [1008-1049] from the Northern Song Dynasty [960-1127]. The poem recalls a joyful meeting between the poet and an old friend, who he saw last Spring, but it also expresses the sadness for his old friend’s sudden death. Even though the Spring is the same as last year, this time, the poet won’t be able to see his friend’s face ever again.</ol>