The Demon Lords

Chapter 541 50 Bloodline?_1

The entrance to the treasure vault was located on the slope of Fallen Axe Mountain, on its steep side, concealed by the surrounding peaks. Unless one deliberately sent someone to this exact spot, it would be very difficult to notice anything unusual about the place.

"This is the true art of feng shui! Using the mountains and rivers as a medium, the sea of clouds as a conduit! Greatly hidden here, greatly obscured here, greatly treasured here! Borrowing the divine craftsmanship of nature to create one's own treasure trove formation. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!" Yao Zizhan exclaimed excitedly.

"Master Yao, watch your step. Don't fall," Zheng Fan said, walking behind Yao Zizhan and hovering a hand near his back to steady him as he reminded him.

"Oh, oh, oh. It's just this old man getting a bit too excited, too excited," Yao Zizhan responded.

Leading the way up ahead, Xue Three teased, "I bet when you first came here decades ago, you said the exact same thing, didn't you?"

Yao Zizhan nodded, saying, "Yes, back then, to survive, I had to desperately flatter that fellow Helian Xiongbi. Didn't I have to rack my brains for words to praise his keen eye for choosing such a location?"

The Blind Man then asked, "Did Helian Xiongbi build this treasure vault, or was it his ancestors?"

"It's been here for a very long time, but it was expanded under Helian Xiongbi's direction."

"Oh, I see."

The entire group, not one left behind, arrived at a platform formed by a recess in the mountainside.

Before them stood an imposing bronze door.

Zheng Fan glanced up and down, remarking, "This has the feel of 'Tomb Robbing Notes.'"

Xue Three quickly jumped in on the reference, "But, my lord, this time we don't have to hand it over to the court, hehe."

Zheng Fan did not respond.

The Blind Man scoffed, "Still using that old joke."

Xue Three glared at the Blind Man repeatedly, but the Blind Man, being blind, genuinely didn't seem to notice, leaving Xue Three thoroughly frustrated.

A Ming had already advanced, and Fanli was momentarily out of the running, so the current competition was between Xue Three and the Blind Man. Thus, some tension sparked between them.

Yao Zizhan stepped forward, bent down, and began to wipe the ground with his sleeve.

Zheng Fan and Xue Three both moved closer, watching Yao Zizhan meticulously wipe it.

At this moment, the Blind Man, standing two meters away, tapped his foot on the ground and said, "Master Yao, are you wiping the wrong spot?"

Hearing this, Yao Zizhan quickly stood up and walked over to the Blind Man. He found that, due to earlier scraping, something that looked like a bronze mirror had appeared on the ground beneath the Blind Man's foot.

"Oh, I really did misremember the location. It's here."

Xue Three was speechless.

Zheng Fan was speechless.

Yao Zizhan knelt again and continued to wipe the bronze mirror embedded in the platform until it was spotless, so clean that it seemed to reflect a person's image.

"Back then, it was only after he dripped his own blood onto this bronze mirror that the bronze door before us would open," Yao Zizhan recalled.

Fanli, understanding, walked over holding Helian Baozhu.

"Cover her eyes," Xue Three said.

Fanli's large hand covered Helian Baozhu's entire face.

Xue Three took out his dagger, grasped Helian Baozhu's hand, and made a small cut. Fresh blood began to drip onto the bronze mirror.

Helian Baozhu neither cried nor struggled, seemingly feeling nothing at all.

Seeing that enough blood had dripped, Xue Three first applied medicine and then bandaged the wound on Helian Baozhu's palm.

Fanli looked down at the bloodied bronze mirror, then at the bronze door before him, and asked, "No movement?"

Xue Three guessed, "Do we need to wait for the blood to soak in?"

A Ming then said, "Surely the mechanism inside is fine, right?"

The Blind Man suggested, "Let's wait a little longer."

Then, after waiting for about a quarter of an hour, the bronze door still showed no reaction.

Xue Three slapped his forehead and sighed, "Damn it, the mechanism inside must have malfunctioned from lack of maintenance over the years. The Helian Family is so lazy! Don't they send people for regular checks?"

"Could it be that the surface of the bronze mirror has weathered and is no longer sensitive?" As the Blind Man said this, he began to try and use his spiritual energy to inspect the bronze mirror.

Yao Zizhan also clicked his tongue, saying, "It shouldn't be like this. When Helian Xiongbi did it in front of me back then, the door opened as soon as he dripped the blood."

At this moment, Zheng Fan suddenly chuckled twice and said, "There's one other possibility."

Instantly, everyone's gaze fell upon Zheng Fan, including Yao Zizhan.

Zheng Fan turned slightly, pointed at Helian Baozhu, and said, "It seems there's a bit of a problem with our old friend Helian Xiongbi fathering a daughter so late in life, eh?"

Everyone had a sudden realization.

None of them had genuinely considered this possibility before.

They had all been pondering whether the mechanism was broken, but it had never crossed their minds that the young lady, whom the Helian Family's men of sacrifice had died to protect, might not actually have Helian blood flowing through her veins.

"Damn it, isn't that old man Helian Xiongbi just screwing with people!" Xue Three cursed. "This cuckolding couldn't have come at a worse time!"

After saying this, Xue Three walked to the bronze door, poked at the seam with his dagger, and knocked on it a few times. He then said with some helplessness, "My lord, this door is fused with the mountain itself. It's tough. I daren't try to dig an entry tunnel; there's no place to even start."

This was the feedback from San'er, their grave-robbing expert.

The Blind Man narrowed his eyes, glanced first at Helian Baozhu, then at Yao Zizhan, before silently sitting down and pulling a tangerine from his pocket.

"Blind Man, how do you never run out of tangerines?" Xue Three said irritably.

"Just brought a lot, that's all."

The Blind Man continued to peel his tangerine.

Fanli, on his own initiative, walked to the bronze door, picked up his axe, and began to strike the door with the back of the axehead.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

He struck it many times, making a considerable racket, but the door remained utterly unmoved.

Xue Three patted Fanli's calf.

"Don't waste your energy. Save it."

Yao Zizhan sighed, sat down, and rested his forehead in his hand.

Zheng Fan frowned and also sat down.

Having carefully climbed the mountain and then cautiously made their way to this platform, everyone was, to some extent, quite fatigued.

"Sigh, that old fool Helian Xiongbi. When I go down to the underworld in the future, I'll laugh him to death. He even wrote to me when he had his daughter in his old age, saying that he was still vigorous, no less so than in his prime..."

The Blind Man suddenly interjected, "You had firsthand experience of his 'prime' back then?"

"..." Yao Zizhan was speechless.

Zheng Fan looked at the Blind Man, saw his composed demeanor, and suddenly relaxed as well. He looked at Yao Zizhan and said, "Isn't that a given? Otherwise, why would old Master Helian tell Master Yao all the details about 'back then'?"

"Are you people devils?!" Yao Zizhan finally exploded. This was unbearable!

"Alright, alright, you continue your reminiscing, continue your nostalgic trip," Zheng Fan said, raising a hand.

"Sigh, when I go down there later, I'll laugh that old scoundrel to death. Brilliant his whole life, yet in the end, someone laid an egg in his nest without him even knowing! And he still treated her like a treasure. This truly ruins a lifetime's reputation."

Zheng Fan rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to alleviate his fatigue, and said, "That's considered ruined? Then what about being chased a thousand li for ten days by the Earl of North Border and Lord Jingnan, only to be beheaded on the battlefield by Qingshuang, General of the North Border Army? What was that?"

"Brother Zheng, must you argue with this old man?"

"Just stating the facts." Zheng Fan pointed at the bronze door and said, "Relying on a treasure vault to stage a comeback is a bit too fanciful."

Yao Zizhan pointed at Zheng Fan and chuckled, "Sour grapes."

"Can't get it, so yes, it's sour grapes. After all this effort for days, only to come up empty-handed, I feel completely ripped off."

Yao Zizhan immediately said, "Yan needs to recuperate, as does the land of the Three Jin. I reckon that in the next few years, apart from some friction between the smaller nations and the ongoing struggle to seize the throne in Chu State, the three great kingdoms—Yan, Qian, and Cheng—will largely maintain peace.

Once the wars stop, the trade routes will reopen. Although Shengle City is in a remote location, it is also a key fortress in the Skybreak Mountain range. In the early days, there were many merchant caravans. Brother Zheng, if you just nod your head, in a few months, a constant stream of trade caravans will start from Qian State, heading to your Shengle City to do business."

"Hey, Master Yao, here I am, frustrated because I've found a treasure mountain but can't get in, and you're trying to recruit me? That's not very sporting of you, not at all."

"Is this mountain the only treasure in the world?"

"Alright. Since Master Yao thinks so highly of me, I won't hold back. Here's the deal: as long as both Minister Zhong and young Master Zhong of Qian can lead their army to annihilate the Jingnan Army and crush the North Border Army, then, when the forces of Qian are pointing their blades at Yanjing, my Shengle City troops will naturally bring our own provisions and armaments to pledge allegiance!"

"..." Yao Zizhan was speechless again.

At this time, A Ming walked over and said, "My lord, our next step, is it to go back? I think the Cheng State troops aren't far from here."

The Cheng forces destroyed Geda Mountain and turned Gesang. Their objective was clearly this treasure vault, so they wouldn't give up easily.

"Are you out of wine?" Zheng Fan asked.

"It's almost gone, and we didn't see any wild people's encampments on the way."

Yao Zizhan rubbed his aching lower back and said, "Then let's go back. If there's a chance in the future, Brother Zheng, you can bring a large army to blast open this mountain. This treasure vault will ultimately be yours anyway, won't it? As for this old man, I'm already eagerly looking forward to tasting the delicacies of Shengle City. My mouth is watering just thinking about it."

Zheng Fan ignored Yao Zizhan and instead looked at A Ming.

"Then go borrow some blood."

A Ming's lips curved into a slight smile as he asked, "Whose?"

Zheng Fan pointed to Miss Su, who was lying next to Mr. Chen, still in a daze.

"Borrow hers, of course."

Yao Zizhan quickly said, "Miss Su is already so weak; she can't endure any more suffering!"

Mr. Chen also looked at Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan stated directly, "I promised you I would protect Master Yao's safety, but I didn't promise to protect this woman as well. However, I can promise you that as long as this woman doesn't do anything foolish again, I won't take her life. Right now, it's just borrowing a little of her blood."

"My lord, have a tangerine segment."

The Blind Man offered a segment of tangerine to Zheng Fan's lips, and Zheng Fan opened his mouth and ate it.

The Blind Man even used his finger to help wipe the corner of Zheng Fan's mouth before retracting his hand.

Xue Three, watching this from the side, felt his teeth ache with a kind of revulsion and muttered, "Disgusting."

The Blind Man popped a tangerine segment into his own mouth and said disdainfully to Xue Three, "Idiot."

A Ming walked towards Miss Su. Mr. Chen frowned but only asked, "Just a little blood? Mine would also work."

Zheng Fan shook his head and said firmly, "I only want hers."

"Hehehe... Hahahaha..."

Yao Zizhan suddenly let out a series of bitter laughs. Looking at Zheng Fan, he said, "Brother Zheng, this old man is very curious. How on earth did you figure it out?"

Zheng Fan propped himself up on the ground with his hands behind him, shifting into a more comfortable position.

He said, "Actually, I sensed something was off with the three of you very early on.

Mr. Chen, he's foolish, but he can fight. You can't fight, but you're shrewd.

So, what about her?

Why would you bring along someone who is both foolish and can't fight on your journey?"