Chu Xinghe, the Shame of the Sect

This time, he definitely hadn't transmigrated. Chu Xinghe had discovered that all the junior brothers and sisters behind him had appeared along with him, and he was sure a mass transmigration on that scale was too unlikely.

But shouldn't he have walked out of the Spirit Grotto? Why had he ended up here?

"This is the second level! Senior Brother Xinghe, you're incredible! How did you figure out that stepping backward just as the entrance to the first level was about to close would trigger a spatial displacement and bring us straight to the second level without the slightest effort?"

Wan Lin leaped ten feet into the air with excitement, bobbing up and down until watching her made people dizzy.

But Chu Xinghe was on the verge of cursing. Like hell I knew anything about a spatial displacement! I was just trying to screw you all over... I used up so many brain cells, and I'd even thought up an excuse!

"I get it! Senior Brother Xinghe didn't refuse to walk in front because he was worried about safety. He already knew there was a mechanism like this, so he had to walk at the very back to trigger it, right?" Ma Liang filled in the blanks for all of Senior Brother Xinghe's earlier strange behavior.

Hearing Ma Liang's words, all the junior brothers and sisters nodded. At that moment, they finally understood: Senior Brother Xinghe had truly made heaven and earth his chessboard, calculating every move with perfect clarity!

A few junior brothers and sisters who had harbored the slightest doubt even came over to apologize to Senior Brother Xinghe for questioning his strategy.

Chu Xinghe, now on the second level, was miserable. Utterly miserable!

He had only wanted to screw everyone over, so how had he ended up sending them straight to the second level?

The people from the three sects had entered earlier, but they had to explore bit by bit to reach the second level. His group, on the other hand, had appeared directly on the second level and had every possible advantage of timing, terrain, and people.

"This time, all the spirit liquid is ours!" Ma Liang looked as though victory was already in his grasp.

"Right! All the spirit liquid is ours!" Wan Lin and the other junior brothers and sisters chimed in.

Chu Xinghe felt even worse...

Before, he'd at least had opponents, but now he didn't even have those... How could I lose by returning to town on the spot? Now I know: the return went wrong and dropped me into a gold mine.

"Everyone, don't rush to explore. Let's take a look around first." At this point, all Chu Xinghe could do was find a way to stall for time.

Three sects, you'd better come through!

I'm taking on the entire Vast Heaven Sect single-handedly for your sake, so don't let me down!

Before long, following Chu Xinghe's orders, quite a few disciples were sent out in groups of three to five to scout the surroundings. Chu Xinghe told them to be as thorough as possible and never worry about wasting time. After all, safety came first, and as long as even one junior brother or sister had yet to return, they would not leave!

As the junior brothers and sisters set out, Chu Xinghe also chose a direction to explore, taking Ma Liang, Wan Lin, and several others with him.

The Spirit Grotto seemed to have once been a fairly grand city, though no one knew why it had ultimately been buried underground. The eerie green lights flitting around them were the poisonous insects mentioned earlier, whose poison could petrify people.

The things swarmed together like mosquitoes and simply couldn't be cleared away completely. The only option was to endure them with the Stone-Breaking Pills' ability to counteract their poison. That was also why the three sects had needed so many Stone-Breaking Pills.

Chu Xinghe had given every junior brother and sister a full supply of Stone-Breaking Pills. Taking one every ten minutes, each person could keep it up for eight or ten days without any trouble.

After making their way through the swarms of poisonous insects, Chu Xinghe approached the edge of the abandoned ancient city. Two roads lay ahead: one appeared to lead to the left side of the city, while the other led toward its center.

Without a second thought, Chu Xinghe chose the road toward the city center. After all, it looked more complicated and would waste more time, right?

Sure enough, just as Chu Xinghe had expected, the road toward the city was like a maze. Although everyone made it through without trouble by various means, a great many strange statues suddenly appeared ahead. They stood densely packed at the city entrance, like soldiers guarding it.

"Senior Brother Xinghe, we should be able to enter the city through here. The spirit liquid should be inside!"

"Don't act rashly. Something doesn't feel right... Let's go back and discuss it first."

"Ah... all... all right..." Although Wan Lin thought her senior brother was being a little too cautious, she nodded in agreement, and the others followed them back to the previous area.

Meanwhile, on the first level, the people from the three sects were steadily advancing.

"Why haven't the people from the Vast Heaven Sect caught up yet?" Fan Sheng was puzzled. By rights, with his group clearing the way ahead, the Vast Heaven Sect should have had an easy time following and ought to have caught up by now.

"Hmph! My guess is they don't want to spend any effort at all. They're just waiting for us to clear the way down for them," Sun Xueheng said irritably.

"What the hell is Chu Xinghe? If a petty villain like him can become a personal disciple, I'd say the Vast Heaven Sect is nearly finished!"

"Junior Brother Fan, mind your words!" Guo Qizhen hurriedly cautioned him.

Although Fan Sheng still looked displeased, he said no more. The three sects fought their way onward, clearing the first level of insects, mechanisms, and patches of poisonous fog.

They had no idea that Chu Xinghe, the despicable villain they were talking about, was taking on the entire Vast Heaven Sect by himself to buy them time.

So how did that saying go again? No fucking good deed went unpunished!

Chu Xinghe drew a map and left markers along the way, even deliberately leading the group down wrong turns. In short, he used every method he could think of to waste time.

But in the end, they still returned to their starting point.

"Is everyone back...?" Chu Xinghe sighed helplessly.

"It looks like Junior Sister Mi Xue's group hasn't returned yet!"

"Ah! That's great... outrageous! Are all of you just going to stand here waiting? Hurry up and come with me to find Junior Sister Mi Xue!" Chu Xinghe was so excited he nearly cried. Junior Sister Mi Xue is a good person! She's finally given me a chance to stall for a while.

Under Chu Xinghe's lead, everyone split up to search for Mi Xue. They all remembered what Senior Brother Xinghe had said: "I brought you all out of the Vast Heaven Sect, so I'll bring every one of you back. We can't leave a single person behind."

The search for Junior Sister Mi Xue lasted nearly half a day. In the end, they discovered that she had been trapped by some poisonous creatures in a hidden place. By working together, they finally succeeded in rescuing her.

But when they returned to their starting point, they found that the people from the three sects had already come down from the first level.

The people of the Vast Heaven Sect couldn't help sighing at the sight, but there had been no helping it. They couldn't very well have abandoned Junior Sister Mi Xue and her group, could they?

Still, the rescue had cost them their head start.

While the Vast Heaven Sect was sighing, the people from the three sects were dumbfounded.

What the hell? Why were the people from the Vast Heaven Sect on the second level? They had been fighting their way through the first level all this time, while the Vast Heaven Sect was resting on the second?

What Fan Sheng couldn't understand, though, was why Chu Xinghe had led his group to rest here instead of exploring the second level. Could there be a plot?

"Senior Brother Xinghe, it seems you know of a secret passage we don't," Guo Qizhen said, approaching with a beaming smile.

"Hehe... we were lucky, that's all."

"Since you've been down here so long, Senior Brother Xinghe, have you found anything in your explorations?" Guo Qizhen probed, hoping to get some information out of Chu Xinghe.

He didn't hold out any hope, however. Just when Guo Qizhen thought Chu Xinghe would say without hesitation that he knew nothing, Chu Xinghe handed him the map he had just drawn. Then, to everyone's bewilderment, he said, "Junior Brother Fan, Junior Brother Sun, my failure to remember your names earlier really was a misunderstanding. My mind wandered for a moment."

"The two of you were too upset at the time, so it was hard for me to explain. This is a map of the area our Vast Heaven Sect explored earlier. It includes the road to the city and can save you all quite a bit of effort. Consider it my apology to everyone."

At that, the place fell silent.

The people from the three sects held the map, looking completely at a loss.

Fan Sheng and Sun Xueheng in particular had cursed Chu Xinghe as a despicable villain all the way in, only for him to give them such a generous gift the moment they arrived. It... it put the two of them to shame.

"The ten great sects should stand together like branches of the same tree and help one another. Please forgive my earlier misconduct." With that, Chu Xinghe bowed to the three sects, his expression humble.

At the same time, he thought, I've written the whole script for you this time! Don't let me down!

The people from the three sects were puzzled too, especially Fan Sheng and Sun Xueheng, who wondered whether Chu Xinghe was plotting something or genuinely apologizing.

But the map was real. They could tell as much from the surprised expressions on the Vast Heaven Sect disciples' faces when Chu Xinghe gave it away.

"All right, let's continue!" Chu Xinghe waved his hand, and everyone gathered together. The Vast Heaven Sect disciples and the people from the three sects set off together, following the map. This left the people from the three sects even more baffled. They had originally wondered if something was wrong with the map, but now it seemed there wasn't.

Everyone soon arrived at the fork marked on the map. There were two roads: one led toward the city, to the place filled with strange statues, while the other led to the city's left side.

"The road to the city should be the right one!" Fan Sheng declared without hesitation.

Sun Xueheng and Guo Qizhen nodded in agreement.

As the saying went, wherever a treasure lay, danger was sure to be found. Only by overcoming all manner of dangers could one obtain the ultimate treasure. That was practically a law.

So, in the Spirit Grotto, the fastest way to find a treasure was to look for the most dangerous place.

Of the two roads, the one to the city was lined with statues that looked troublesome at a glance. But what was the road to the city's left side supposed to be? There wasn't even a poisonous insect in sight along it. It was definitely a road meant to fool people.

After everyone discussed it, Guo Qizhen spoke. "Senior Brother Xinghe, let's brave this road together. This should be the right one!"

But under everyone's expectant gazes, Chu Xinghe shook his head. "No, no, no... I think the other road is the right one!"

"Huh? You mean that one? Why?"

"Intuition!"

"Senior Brother Xinghe, your intuition might not be very accurate."

"I trust my intuition. If you choose this road, then I'll take the other one. Or we could go together? After all, the road to the city is far too dangerous. One careless mistake..."

"Hehe... Senior Brother Xinghe, you worry too much. What place in the Spirit Grotto isn't dangerous? If a treasure could be plucked as easily as a fruit without facing any danger, could it still be called a treasure? I choose the city!"

"We choose the city too..."

All three sects made their choice. Chu Xinghe said no more, nodding to everyone before leading the Vast Heaven Sect down the other road.

Not a single person from the Vast Heaven Sect doubted Senior Brother Xinghe's intuition. After all, Senior Brother Haotian's intuition had sent them straight to the second level!

The three sects, however, saw things differently. Once the people from the Vast Heaven Sect had gone far away, Fan Sheng sneered.

"Hehe... I thought he was sincerely apologizing, but it turns out he's just a coward who's afraid of trouble. He probably gave us the map because he was afraid we'd report that incident to our sects and get him punished. Now he's even backed down from a little danger like this. A man as timid as a mouse is a disgrace to the Vast Heaven Sect and a disgrace to our ten great sects!"

Although the others from the three sects said nothing, they all nodded silently, evidently agreeing with Fan Sheng's description of Chu Xinghe as the shame of the Vast Heaven Sect...