novelraw Chapter 172 - 170: A Whore Wants a Memorial Archway?
Chapter 172 - 170: A Whore Wants a Memorial Archway?
A figure walked out from within.
It was a middle-aged man with a face full of stubble.
He wore a durable, khaki-colored windbreaker with multiple pockets of various sizes, which held all sorts of tools and small items.
He wore a wide-brimmed brown hat.
As he tilted his head up slightly, sunlight sprinkled across his somewhat weathered face.
"The air here is nice, but it’s just so boring. There are still four or five days until the end-of-month supply drop.
I’ve been eating fish every day. My mouth has gone completely bland!"
Cao Ping sighed.
As a Martial Arts Family member in the Qi Blood Furnace Realm who was also a wilderness survival expert,
it wasn’t difficult for him to live here, and catching wild game to improve his meals was also easy.
But the problem was, he wasn’t here to challenge himself with wilderness survival.
He was on a mission and had to guard this place, which meant he couldn’t stray too far.
It was fine at first.
He could still catch some game nearby, but over time, the animals seemed to learn this area was dangerous and stopped coming close.
He could only eat fish to fill his stomach.
Other than that,
he was quite satisfied with his job here.
It was easy, and the rewards were generous.
The only drawback was the lack of a signal. He could only pass the time with pre-downloaded TV shows and offline games on his phone.
Staying for a long time always ended up feeling a bit dull.
Fortunately, it wouldn’t be long before someone came to replace him.
Thinking of this,
he walked to the side of the mountain stream.
Water gurgled in the stream, so clear you could see the bottom, and occasionally, fish could be seen swimming within.
Not far upstream was a waterfall a hundred meters high, its water crashing down with a thundering roar.
After a glance,
just as he was about to catch a fish to eat,
his expression suddenly changed. Sensing something, he looked up at the sky.
There, against the backdrop of a cloudless sky, three streaks of Flowing Light were rapidly approaching.
’This... A Qi Dao Grandmaster?!’
A chill went down Cao Ping’s spine.
He didn’t dare do anything else and immediately stood respectfully to the side.
A moment later, the Flowing Lights descended.
Three figures appeared.
Two men and one woman.
A monk, a bald, muscular man, and a stooped old woman with a full head of silver hair who looked to be over sixty.
"Are you the guardian stationed here?"
The lead monk spoke, his gaze falling on Cao Ping, who was standing to the side.
"Greetings, honored sirs. I am Cao Ping, the guardian stationed at Passage 0079."
Hearing this,
Cao Ping hurried forward, lowered his head, and cupped his fist as he spoke.
"Mm, this is the Federation’s access order. We will be going down in a moment."
Fa Ji nodded.
He reached to his waist, pulled out a palm-sized Black Iron Token covered in silver Runes, and tossed it over.
"Honored sirs, please wait a moment."
Cao Ping reached out and caught it.
He held it before his eyes for a careful inspection, then pulled a black, phone-like device from his back pocket and aimed it at the token for a detailed scan.
Only after confirming it was authentic
did he hand it back to Fa Ji.
"Honored sirs, will you be entering the Earth Core now?"
he asked after a moment of thought.
He, Cao Ping, a Secret Martial Artist at the Martial Arts Family level, was stationed here precisely because this place held a passage to the Earth Core.
His job was to guard this place daily, preventing any Black Blood Species from reaching the surface through it.
If he discovered anything amiss, he was to report it to Zhu Xi and notify the Federation immediately.
In addition,
because this passage was relatively hidden,
Secret Martial Artists would occasionally use this main passage to travel to the Inner Earth World.
They were usually Qi Dao Grandmasters.
Although there were some Martial Arts Family members,
they would never go to the Earth Core unless their Lifespan was nearly exhausted or they had some absolutely compelling reason to go down.
There were examples of Martial Arts Family members who obtained benefits there and broke through to the Qi Sect,
but that was just survivorship bias. The vast majority of Martial Arts Family members who entered ended up on a one-way trip.
"No rush. A few others haven’t arrived yet. You can go about your business,"
Fa Ji said with a smile.
Hearing this, Cao Ping nodded in agreement.
That’s what he said,
but with these Qi Dao Grandmasters present, how could he possibly go about his own business? He merely moved a little farther away.
Seeing this, Fa Ji said no more and simply stood there, waiting quietly.
Before long, two more streaks of Flowing Light descended from the sky.
The light retracted, revealing two figures.
One was a short girl who looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old.
On her back, she carried a heavy Giant Sword that was completely mismatched with her small frame.
It created a striking sense of contrast.
Her face was icy, her lips pressed tightly together. Upon seeing Fa Ji and the other two, she simply clasped her hands in a brief salute and said nothing more.
The other person was a handsome young man dressed in a light blue Martial Arts Uniform.
"My apologies, I’m a little late!"
the young man—Wu Yu—said with a faint smile.
"Not at all, we just arrived ourselves. But don’t worry, there’s still one more person who hasn’t arrived,"
Fa Ji replied with a smile.
"Oh? There’s someone else!"
Wu Yu’s expression flickered upon hearing this.
"That’s right..."
Fa Ji nodded. Just as he was about to say more,
he suddenly looked toward the distant jungle.
A figure appeared, moving from the distance toward them.
Golden hair, red eyes, a Long Saber on their back, and an indifferent expression.
"It’s you, Helinta!"
Wu Yu’s expression shifted.
He was a little surprised.
He had naturally been paying attention to this Shexin Sect disciple, who had become quite famous recently.
In truth, he had some dealings with the Shexin Sect.
He just never expected this person would be able to break through to the Qi Sect.
"Hehe, let me make some introductions. This is Changzhu from the Sword Pavilion, Wu Yu from the Holy Rain Sect, and this is Lu Mei from the Black Spider Sect."
Fa Ji spoke up from the side, making the introductions.
"This is Helinta of the Shexin Sect."
Helinta—that is, Hu Qi—nodded, indicating he understood.
His gaze swept over everyone.
He had met Fa Ji of the Golden Buddha Temple and Guo Yi of the Thunder Gate before.
His gaze fell on Changzhu of the Sword Pavilion and Wu Yu of the Holy Rain Sect.
Finally, it rested on Lu Mei of the Black Spider Sect.
Lu Mei was a stooped old woman.
When she saw Hu Qi looking at her, she simply nodded.
Hu Qi impassively withdrew his gaze.
’The Seven Upper-tier Schools. I’ve just met representatives from four of them.’
As for the Black Spider Sect, it was a Middle-tier School.
This sect was very peculiar.
He had heard it seemed to have some sort of connection with the Earth God Hall.
Hu Qi mulled this over, but his face remained expressionless.
He perfectly embodied Helinta’s signature cold and detached expression.
"So you’re that Helinta? I’ve heard of you. They say your saber is fast."
At this moment,
Changzhu, the girl with the Giant Sword, actually spoke up.
A look of keen interest glinted in her eyes.
As for that look,
Hu Qi was no stranger to it.
The original Helinta had been just like that.
Sure enough,
in the next second, she continued,
"How about this: after we get out this time, let’s have a spar. Don’t worry, I’ll seal my True Essence to the same level as yours. I won’t take advantage of you."
Hearing this,
Hu Qi’s eyes narrowed slightly as he glanced at her.
He shook his head but said nothing.
He could sense that, besides being a battle maniac, she also held a faint hostility toward him.
Hu Qi had never met her before, so this hostility felt completely unwarranted.
But regardless, since she was hostile toward him,
he felt no need to give her any face.
After all, the apparent strength of his current identity was merely that of an Initial-Level Qi Sect member who had just broken through.
Yet the aura of the person before him was at least that of a Middle-Level Qi Sect member.
Her claim of suppressing her power to his level was utterly laughable in Hu Qi’s eyes.
For a Secret Martial Artist at the Qi Sect level, an increase in strength wasn’t just about True Essence; their physique would also be enhanced accordingly by the True Essence.
What’s more, as a disciple from an Upper-tier School,
both the Secret Martial Arts she cultivated and her Attack Techniques were bound to be far superior to those of a normal Qi Dao Grandmaster from a Middle-tier School.
Therefore, her talk of a "fair" fight was, in Hu Qi’s view, nothing more than a joke—like a whore demanding a monument to her chastity.
’As for whether it was an unintentional remark?’
’That’s even more impossible.’
’Don’t be fooled by her little girl appearance. Among those who can cultivate to the Qi Sect, besides a cheat like me...’
’...even the most monstrously talented ones are at least seventy or eighty years old in reality.’
’Some are even over a hundred.’
’And to think someone who became a Qi Dao Grandmaster would be a simple-minded, battle-crazed fool? Not even a ghost would believe that.’
Seeing Hu Qi not only ignore her but also shake his head,
Changzhu’s face darkened, and she was just about to say something.
"Since everyone has arrived, I will now go over the points of caution."
Just then,
Fa Ji spoke up, interrupting what Changzhu was about to say.
Seeing Fa Ji interject, Changzhu frowned imperceptibly, but after meeting his calm gaze,
she didn’t press the matter.
Seeing this,
Fa Ji continued.
"First, once we enter the Earth Core, what you can obtain is up to your own abilities.
Second, try to have as little contact as possible with the human Natives in the Earth Core. Do not get into conflicts with the Black Blood Species. Avoid them if you can. If you truly encounter them, then do your best to silence them—kill them all, and leave no one behind.
Third, if we encounter a crisis, as colleagues, I hope we can help one another. This is the very reason we are traveling together. We must do our best not to abandon anyone."
As he finished, his gaze lingered pointedly on Changzhu for a moment.
The meaning was self-evident.
Then, he took out a piece of parchment from his robes and spread it open.
On it, a map was finely drawn with black lines.
"The Inner Earth World is vast, no smaller than the surface world.
It is divided into seventeen regions in total.
Each region is immense.
However, because the rotation of the Earth Core differs from the surface, and due to its unique structure,
the destination of the passage can sometimes deviate slightly.
But under normal circumstances, the deviation won’t be too far.
This passage leads to the Dense Forest Realm. This is a map of the Dense Forest Realm. Memorize it for now..."
Although the map was complex,
everyone present was a Secret Martial Artist who had reached the Qi Dao Grandmaster level. Their physical and mental faculties were extraordinary.
They easily committed it to memory.
Afterward, Fa Ji put the map away.
Then, the group followed Cao Ping’s lead.
They walked a short distance upstream along the creek and soon arrived at a Cold Pool—the location of Earth Core Passage 0079.