Koudai Fang Jin laid on the ground, holding onto his crotch area with both hands and grimacing in pain.

At the side, Sean Wu stood upright with his arms folded behind his back, nodding to himself. This was indeed an exceedingly powerful martial skill. At level 1, the skill had already managed to topple over even a devil sect cultivator at the second step of qi-condensation. Granted, it had not done any lasting damage to Koudai Fang Jin, it just hurt like hell. Sean Wu waved his hand. "Alright. Alright. That's enough. Get up, there is no need to make a big deal out of it."

Ignoring the silent wails of the devil sect practitioner sprawled on top of the ground, Sean Wu walked over to pick up the broken pieces of the Hundred-Epoch Wooden Block scattered about. He pocketed the many shards into his spatial ring and nodded in satisfaction. The plethora of chests and compartments lying around had not yielded anything of interest--merely just a pile of dust and finely grounded medicinal fragrances. Perhaps the tomb had been sealed off for so long that everything of worth in those chests had long since disintegrated into nothing. Sean Wu sighed in his heart and reluctantly turned to leave.

Stopping at the door, he turned his head and made eye contact with Koudai Fang Jin, as if beckoning the latter to follow. Koudai Fang Jin could only grit his teeth and make his way over, struggilng between tears. Koudai Fang Jin swore to himself that once he got out of this place, he would never associate himself with this person ever again.

Sean Wu and Koudai Fang Jin walked in silence beneath the hallowed caverns, occasionally faltering on loose gravel and dirt or climbing over high steps along the path. An indiscernible amount of time passed as they traveled by foot along rough the surface. The path was lit by glowing crystal protrusions and jade gemstones, the sounds of water droplets splintering on chiseled stone danced in rhythm. Sean Wu followed behind Koudai Fang Jin who lead the way out with his patriarch's treasured map; the latter fellow had long-since recovered from the searing pain experienced in his crotch area. Seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, Koudai Fang Jin heaved a sigh of relief as he turned to look at Sean Wu.

"There, that is the way out." Koudai Fang Jin pointed toward the cave entrance.

The outside world was like a watercolor painting. Above a crimson-yellow sky, an orange sun was gradually setting on the western horizon, while a yellow sun gently passed the mountaintops along the east. The woods were serene--birch cicadas came out of their nests in the trees' hollow bark to chirp and sing beneath a sunset sky, and local wildlife passed to and fro between watering holes and grass clearings to drink the dew on the surrounding fauna. Tall grass swayed gently in the breeze and a chilly wind crept over. The twin suns set ever so quietly as evening followed, and the stars in the night sky lit up like lanterns in a spring-summer festival.

A wrecked carriage laid on the side of the road. Three-horned bison-doe and twin-fanged hummingbirds pranced and buzzed nearby, chewing on a patch of flowers. Sean Wu approached the fuming carriage and frowned. It looked like as if someone had done a number on it after eating some T*co Bell the night before.

"Guess I'll have to make do on foot. We should part ways here." Sean Wu sighed. Those deranged companions of his were nowhere to be found. Rough indentions in the ground indicated they were all alive at least, if not quarreling out there somewhere in the back-neck of the woods.

Sean Wu silently shook his head and turned to face the other direction, he didn't have the mind to go out looking for those three lunatics. In fact, one of them tried to kill him just hours before, and the other had two tried to kill each other.

The mission after all, had been a complete and utter failure. Never mind mapping out the area beneath the caverns, Sean had barely managed to escape with his life! Sighing dejectedly in his heart, Sean could only shake his head as he walked along the dirt trail leading back to the city and residential area.

Seeing the other guy leave, Koudai Fang Jin heaved a sigh of relief before turning around and preparing to head down a different path. He had not walked twenty steps when Koudai Fang Jin suddenly felt a firm hand clasp onto his left shoulder.

Koudai turned his head around, only to be met with a deadpan expression hidden beneath a ski mask. Koudai Fang Jin furrowed his brow. He had the mind to ask why Sean Wu had come back, however the latter suddenly exclaimed. "Put your hands up. This is a robbery."

"...What?"

下一章

"Women and children on the left, men on the right. Hurry up and put your valuables in the bag, I don't have all day."

Koudai Fang Jin could not believe his ears. Did this f*cker just come back to rob me?! Just say you want whatever I have on me--we don't have to go about in this roundabout way!! "Senior, if you want whatever I have on my person, I can just give it to you, there is no one else here-"

"Silence, I will not have this back talk!" Sean Wu suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs. Didn't I tell you bunch to separate yourselves and get in line?! Sean Wu suddenly used 'Bone-Melting Palm Grasps the Elephant's Trunk' on a plank of wood leaning on a tree beside Koudai Fang Jin.

Sean Wu pointed to the broken-in-half plank of wood with a palm-sized imprint. "All of you had better shut your mouths and get line up before you end up like that guy over there!"

Koudai Fang Jin was speechless. What the f*ck was going on?

Sean Wu leisurely walked past Koudai Fang Jin and turned around before walking back the other way, as if sizing up a group of people standing in a line. "Now, when I pass by each and every one of you, your grandfather* had better get something nice in the bag, or else."

Sean Wu stopped in front of a flower at the end of the line and held out a bag. A silence came over the surrounding area. Seeing that the little flower had not dared to put anything the bag, Sean Wu leaned himself upright and made an expression as if he were in deep pain. Why do you have to make this hard on yourself? Can't you see your grandfather's pained expression-?! Sean Wu suddenly thrust his hand out, snapping the flower stem in half. Shaking his head, he then walked past the wilted flower, before stopping in front of a little squirrel.

Casting a shadow over the confused animal, Sean Wu slowly held the bag up in front of the squirrel. Koudai Fang Jin, who was standing at the end of the line, sweated profusely. The squirrel looked left, then right. Seeing the confused squirrel toss an acorn into the sack, Sean Wu gave out praise. "Good, very good."

When it finally came down to Koudai Fang Jin's turn, Sean Wu stared at him with raised eyebrows and a domineering look from inside the ski mask, as if to say 'I dare you to defy. Go on, do it.' Koudai Fang Jin didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. He reached into his back pocket and retrieved various medicinal pills as well as the map of the patriarch's tomb, tossing it all into the burlap sack. Seeing this, Sean Wu could not help but smile. "Very good, very good. That will do for now.”

Truth be told, the only thing Sean Wu really wanted was the map that Koudai Fang Jin had used to navigate in the underground tunnels. Sean Wu had felt it embarrassing to come back and ask for the map since he had just left down the road. Wouldn't that tarnish his good image? As an upright and respectable person, Sean Wu would not stoop so low as to ask for a handout from someone he had just met. Thus, he came up with ingenious plan to disguise his identify and leave with both the map whilst retaining face--and Koudai Fang Jin was none the wiser.

With this parchment, he could now turn in his mission and get some contribution points.

Sean Wu closed his sack and slung it over his shoulder. Glancing over at Koudai Fang Jin, he commented. "Young man, let this be a lesson to you. Wandering out in these parts is asking to be robbed. It is a good thing I am here to hold onto these items for safekeeping. Okay, since I am so magnanimous, you can have these medicinal pills. Take care.”

Koudai Fang Jin watched Sean Wu’s departing figure grow smaller and smaller in the distance. When Sean Wu’s figure completely disappeared over the horizon, Koudai looked down at the pills in his palm with a strange expression. In the end, the only thing Sean had taken from him was the map of his sect progenitor’s tomb. Koudai Fang Jin did not know whether to laugh or to cry.