Path of the Sect Leader

Chapter 144: Probing the Depths

The three of them swallowed their impatience and kept searching. The bluestone slabs around the grotto entrance weren’t large; half a day passed in methodical circling and tapping, and they still had nothing.

Eventually they surfaced to catch their breath.

“I’ve been camped here for years and never found the trick,” Duoluonuo said, shoulders sagging as he looked at Shen Gu. “What do you think, Brother Shen?”

Shen Gu rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m no array specialist. If you couldn’t crack it in years, I doubt I’ll do any better…”

Treasure so close, soul contract binding them tight—Shen Gu had already buried any thought of betrayal. His brows stayed furrowed. “Let me be straight with you both. I took Kuai Liangshu’s coin in Bosen City and left contingencies. If we drag this out and the Alliance starts sniffing around, we’re screwed. This can’t wait. We’ve got second-tier Array-Breaking Talismans. Might as well brute-force it. Sooner the better.”

It was the last-resort play. If the talismans failed, they were out of options—no more symbols, no more clever ideas.

Duoluonuo flicked a glance at Qi Xiu, then fell silent, staring at the rippling water. The vault had once felt like a sure thing—only a matter of time. Now Kuai Liangshu was dead, the stakes had twisted into something messier. Hesitation crept in, the kind that comes when the prize stops feeling guaranteed.

Qi Xiu read the look perfectly. He knew firsthand how vicious Array-Breaking Talismans could be. Back when Kuai Liangshu used a first-tier one to silently tear open Immortal Forest Hollow’s damaged mountain-protecting array—helped along by battle damage and Huang Shaoneng’s inside betrayal—the power had been undeniable. A second-tier version? He trusted it far more than either of these two Foundation cultivators seemed to.

Shen Gu’s suggestion lined up exactly with his own thinking. Duoluonuo was only stalling because he needed someone else to say it out loud—to push him over the edge.

Qi Xiu cleared his throat. “Brother Shen makes sense. This array’s ancient. Second-tier breaking talismans pack serious punch. Kuai Liangshu brought them for exactly this reason. The Artifact & Talisman Alliance’s array mastery ranks top-tier even in White Mountain—no way he misjudged the power needed.”

Shen Gu had proposed; Qi Xiu had nudged. Duoluonuo wrestled with it only a short while longer.

“Fine,” he grunted. “Let’s do it.”

Once the decision locked in, Duoluonuo moved fast. They hammered out the brute-force plan in minutes—no more debate. Shielding Qi Xiu between them, he and Shen Gu dove again.

“Watch closely.”

At the bottom, Duoluonuo barked the command. He flicked out several first-tier Array-Breaking Talismans toward the suspected weak points. Qi Xiu and Shen Gu stared hard. The barrier hissed and crackled at each impact—small cracks spiderwebbing across the surface, damage visible but not fatal.

“There!”

“There!”

Both men pointed at the same spot simultaneously, voices rising in excitement. That section had taken the heaviest hit; the barrier there looked thinnest.

“Good. That’s our target.”

No more room for doubt. Duoluonuo slowly raised a second-tier Array-Breaking Talisman and pressed it toward the weak point. Shen Gu followed instantly—hands forming a cradle, the phantom of a towering mountain rising behind him. A colossal stone pestle materialized in his grasp; he slammed it down again and again. Qi Xiu kept the Illusory Moon Spirit Sword ready, eyes on the surface, standing watch.

Two Foundation cultivators poured everything into the assault. The array groaned like dying wood. The whole spring churned, water swirling violently around them.

“Harder!”

Another talisman slapped into place. Duoluonuo’s face flushed crimson from the strain. Shen Gu planted his feet, hips sinking low, pestle rising and falling with desperate force. The Alliance talismans proved their worth—the barrier’s self-repair slowed to a crawl. Victory felt close enough to taste.

“Now! All out—no holding back!”

An incense stick later the array was visibly crumbling. Shen Gu’s hair and beard flared outward; his three-white eyes bulged. He roared. Duoluonuo unleashed talisman after talisman in a blazing stream. Even Qi Xiu joined in—flying sword flashing, stabbing where he could, contributing whatever scraps of power he had left.

Boom—boom—

Duoluonuo’s final talisman struck. Hollow knocks echoed from inside the array like someone rapping on rotten timber. The defensive shroud finally gave up. A ragged, man-sized hole tore open in the barrier.

“Got it!”

The three exchanged glances—raw triumph flashing between them. But the moment passed quickly. Shen Gu shoved Qi Xiu forward.

“You first.”

Classic cannon fodder. Qi Xiu understood his role perfectly. Without some use left, even Duoluonuo’s lingering sentiment over Duoluo Xin wouldn’t have saved him from Shen Gu’s blade earlier. In the deep mountains, blood was the only currency that mattered. Luck or disaster—either way, you couldn’t dodge it forever.

He shrugged inwardly. Fine. He raised the flying sword in front of him like a shield and stepped through the breach.

Beyond the hole lay the bluestone slab—clearly the grotto door. He scraped away moss with the sword tip. Sure enough, a plain metal ring sat dead center—no ornamentation, no flourish. One hard pull and the slab lifted away without resistance, revealing a steep descending tunnel.

His bloodline intuition stayed quiet. No immediate danger. Qi Xiu waved the others forward and stepped inside.

The passage stayed dry despite being underwater—some quirk of the spring. Damp stone underfoot, steep stairs dropping sharply, all plain bluestone. Nothing fancy. He lit a glowstone and walked.

A hundred paces down, the tunnel opened into a spacious stone chamber.

By the glowstone’s weak light, the room looked disappointingly empty. Except for a single crystal coffin resting in the center—nothing else on the walls, no shelves, no chests. More like a tomb than a treasure vault.

“That’s it?”

Shen Gu’s voice echoed behind him. He and Duoluonuo had followed, tossing out more glowstones until the chamber blazed bright. One look around and Shen Gu’s face twisted in disgust. He shot Duoluonuo a venomous glare.

Duoluonuo stared at the coffin, disappointment plain. But he refused to give up entirely. “Treasure vaults value quality over quantity. Let’s see what grave goods came with the corpse.”

“Hmph. They’d better be good.”

Shen Gu rolled his eyes and jerked his chin at Qi Xiu. “You. Go check it out.”

The tone was pure servant-master. Qi Xiu glanced at Duoluonuo. The older man’s gaze slid away—clearly not planning to intervene.

“…Fine.”

Qi Xiu steadied himself and started forward.

Halfway there his bloodline intuition finally stirred. The Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart in his sea of consciousness throbbed steadily—not panic, but warning. Danger ahead.

He couldn’t refuse two Foundation cultivators, though. Step by careful step he advanced, sword and defensive talisman clutched tight, every sense stretched to the breaking point.

Screech—

Halfway across the floor a spirit pangolin materialized—pure energy construct. Dark winds chased it, wrapping around its form, eating away at the spiritual body. The pangolin thrashed for a few heartbeats, then dissolved into nothing.

The yin winds swelled slightly from the meal, keening like distant wailing ghosts. The sound drilled straight into the skull—chilling, unnatural.

The winds circled aimlessly, then turned toward the three intruders. Ghostly entities—rare even in the deep mountains.

The cold hit Qi Xiu first, a nauseating pressure that crawled under his skin. In forty-nine years he’d never seen a true ghost. His heart slammed against his ribs. But he’d come prepared. The Illusory Moon Spirit Sword flashed out in a defensive arc while he slapped up a barrier talisman. Spirit Monkey Steps kicked in—he rolled, scrambled, fled straight toward the two Foundation cultivators.

“Ghosts?”

Shen Gu and Duoluonuo recognized them instantly. Their eyes met—shared alarm, but no panic. Both were Foundation; reaction time and composure far outstripped Qi Xiu’s.

Each summoned a yang-flame spiritual tool. The artifacts bypassed Qi Xiu and slammed into the yin winds. The ghosts melted like snow under summer sun—gone in seconds.

Qi Xiu stumbled to their side, breathing hard.

Shen Gu gave him a contemptuous glance, then turned to Duoluonuo with a cold smile. “Clever, Brother Duoluo. Joint treasure hunt, yet you quietly send a spirit construct ahead to scout. Not very trusting, is it?”

“Uh… heh. Just playing it safe. No need to read too much into it, Brother Shen.”

Duoluonuo’s rough face flushed. He laughed it off. Qi Xiu suddenly remembered—the pangolin looked exactly like the messenger beast Duoluonuo had used earlier. The man had layers of caution he hadn’t shown.

But Qi Xiu kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t in a position to call anyone out.

Shen Gu snorted. “We signed a soul contract. Stow the sneaky bullshit.”

To Qi Xiu’s surprise, he dropped the matter there.

“Ghosts in a secluded spring vault…” Duoluonuo muttered, face darkening as the implication sank in. “Does that mean the thing in the coffin is… some kind of corpse fiend?”

If this place was home to a corpse demon, then years of waiting, scheming, risking everything—it had all been for nothing.

He stood frozen, staring at the crystal coffin.

“No use crying over spilled wine,” Shen Gu snapped. “Hurry up!”

Regret burned in his chest—not just for the Alliance trouble he’d bought himself, but for listening to Duoluonuo in the first place. He flicked his sleeves, sending fire-series talismans sweeping the chamber in a cleansing blaze. No more ghosts appeared.

Impatient, he flew straight to the coffin and began inspecting it closely—done waiting for Qi Xiu to play scout.