A Good Seed for Tomb Raiding

What you think tomb exploration is like: Flying swords + Airdrops.

What tomb exploration is actually like: Wilderness survival.

The primeval forest was dense with vegetation, bordering a network of waterways. The air was humid, muggy, and filled with poisonous miasma. Snakes, ants, mosquitoes, and scorpions were of astonishing size, leaving almost no room to stand, let alone walk through.

Fortunately, Zhu Bo was well-prepared. Each person had a poison-repelling bead, which blocked the assault of venomous insects. With She Xuan's team clearing the path ahead, they weren't completely stuck.

The river flowed rapidly around the bend and through the mountains, with treacherous undercurrents creating large whirlpools on its surface. She Xuan led the way upstream to find a calmer section of the river, which cost them a considerable amount of time.

A distance of 150 li was nothing for the cultivators present; they could have covered it with their eyes closed. However, due to the rugged and perilous environment, they were forced to rest by the riverbank for a night.

The next morning, the team was ready to depart. After the final stretch ahead, they would reach the relic's coordinates.

As the saying goes, you won't know if a horse is a horse or a mule until you test it.

Throughout the day's trek, Lu Bei displayed an astonishing level of inexperience. Not only was he incredibly clumsy, but his curiosity was also exceptionally strong, causing Zhu Bo, who was accompanying him, a lot of trouble. She Xuan's opinion of him continued to drop.

Compared to Lu Bei, Luo Ban, who was also brought along as muscle, appeared exceptionally mature and steady. He looked like a promising candidate for tomb raiding.

On the final stretch, everyone stopped at the entrance of a cave to rest briefly.

Trusting his partner in this venture, Zhu Bo left Feng Si to guard the cave entrance. If anything seemed amiss, Feng Si was to immediately jump into the river to survive and then seek out Zhu Ting at Dasheng Pass for revenge.

She Xuan also left someone behind. If anything seemed amiss, they would...

...do exactly what Feng Si did.

Lu Bei pulled out a Hundred Refinements Blade from his Qiankun Bag and began to polish it. According to She Xuan's intelligence, the relic was the cave dwelling of a Demon Cultivator from a thousand years ago. Time had passed, and most of the formations set up back then had failed, causing the dwelling to be ravaged by floods, with much of it collapsing and submerging.

It was precisely because of this that the place was rediscovered.

The last time She Xuan led a team here, they were careless while traversing the caves and activated the guardian formation outside the dwelling. This resulted in hundreds of zombies swarming the caves.

Bad news: The zombies were created by the Demon Cultivator. They were impervious to blades and spears, fire and water. Furthermore, their corpse poison could kill within three steps, easily wiping out the entire group.

Good news: The zombies, crafted a thousand years ago, lacked regular maintenance. They were now vulnerable to blades and spears, fire and water. Their corpse poison had expired. Apart from being numerous and strong, there was nothing to fear.

In conclusion, although this was a tomb-robbing expedition undertaken without the owner's consent, it was a "rescue excavation." The intentions were good.

"Let's go."

Holding torches aloft, the two led the way. The group stepped into ankle-deep water and quickly moved into the darkness of the cave.

Initially, the passage was not narrow, allowing three or four people to walk abreast. After advancing several dozen paces, the water level rose, and the space became more open.

The cave was pitch black, and the torchlight had limited reach. The rocks were slippery, and everyone tread cautiously, their speed involuntarily slowing down.

Perhaps sensing the presence of living beings, or perhaps hearing the sounds, a rustling noise began. Figures hidden in the darkness surrounded them, their pairs of red eyes lighting up.

Lu Bei initially paid them no mind. These were zombies that had been deficient in calcium for a millennium; they would break at a touch, snap in half with a nudge. With his long saber in hand, passing them would be like walking through wooden stakes.

It wasn't until a couple of growls sounded that his expression changed, and he realized something was wrong.

The zombies had consumed flesh and blood, regaining some of their abilities.

As for where that flesh and blood came from, did they even need to think about it? It was She Xuan's former teammates!

"This is bad, these zombies have fed on blood. Let's speed up and charge through, no fighting or lingering," Zhu Bo shouted, reminding them. He took a stride forward and positioned himself behind Luo Ban.

Bang!

It was a bit crowded, and he was pushed back.

Zhu Bo was stunned. He didn't know when Lu Bei had moved behind Luo Ban.

Big brother, don't you have any self-awareness? I brought you here to find a fighter, why are you shrinking back faster than me?

And get out of the way, this is a personal guard sent by my uncle to protect me!

Zhu Bo's eyes widened. Having witnessed Lu Bei's shamelessness, he didn't bother arguing further and quickly waded through the water, following She Xuan. Luo Ban, adhering to his duty, had eyes only for Zhu Bo and stayed close to him, ignoring Lu Bei and the Liu family brothers.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!!"

A foul, putrid wind swept over them as dozens of zombies lunged forward. Their withered forms resembled dried corpses, not even bloating after being submerged in water. Only their pair of scarlet eyes held a spark of life.

They were glistening, as if they could drip blood at any moment.

Lu Bei narrowed his eyes, took a step back to create distance from Luo Ban, and swept his Hundred Refinements Blade horizontally, severing a lunging zombie at the waist.

The blade's wind swept past like a wall, and the zombies that lunged towards him were all sent tumbling like gourds, crashing back into the darkness.

Everyone used their skills to push the zombies blocking their path aside. Just as the path ahead seemed clear, a zombie dropped from above, spewing black mist. Its sharp claws tore through the air with a rustling sound.

Coincidentally, its target was Zhu Bo.

Clang!!

A blade was drawn, and a flash of white light illuminated the cave. The black mist dissipated. The descending zombie was gruesomely split in two, falling to the ground with a lifeless thud.

Luo Ban sheathed his blade, his movements sharp and decisive.

At the same moment, a zombie erupted from an underwater opening, emitting black mist and red eyes. In an instant, it lunged beside She Xuan, its greenish claws mere inches from her shoulder.

A large hand shot out, grabbing the zombie's stiff wrist. Its fingers tightened, clamping down like a vise.

Crack!

A burly man from She Xuan's team, unremarkable in appearance but possessing astonishing strength, tore the zombie's arm off with brute force right before everyone's eyes. Finally, with a powerful kick, he sent the lone head flying far away.

After dealing with the zombie, the burly man glanced at Luo Ban with a hint of provocation.

Unfortunately, it was like casting pearls before swine; Luo Ban had no intention of competing with him, his eyes only on Zhu Bo.

Two experts stepped forward from the group, and since the zombies were indeed past their prime and far less ferocious than a thousand years ago, everyone managed to get through the outer formation without much trouble. They ascended the stone steps, arriving before a half-open stone door.

The group extinguished their torches, switching to luminous pearls for light.

The burly man pushed the stone door open with both hands, and She Xuan led the way inside. Having been here before, the traps and mechanisms had aged and failed, so there was no danger for a long stretch of the path.

On this side, the Liu family brothers brought up the rear. Lu Bei had originally been following behind Luo Ban but was pulled to Zhu Bo's side. Since he was still a bit too thin-skinned, he didn't dare to move back.

After a hundred paces, the stone wall blocked their path, shrouded in a mist that appeared and disappeared, making it impossible to discern clearly.

She Xuan raised a hand to halt them. Zhu Bo stepped forward to converse with her, and the two began discussing how to break the formation.

Previously, She Xuan had led a team to this location. They had passed the outer guarding formation of the cave dwelling, broken through a few slow-moving mechanisms, and were ultimately stopped by this wall.

It was an unknown killing formation, self-created by a Demon Cultivator combining it with an illusion formation. It was extremely dangerous inside. She Xuan had broken it once alone, with very significant results; several teammates who went in never came out.

"The formation still possesses this much power after a thousand years, it can't be maintained solely by spirit crystals. If I'm not mistaken, the formation's core must be related to the underground palace's water system..." Zhu Bo analyzed.

"Commander Zhu has impressive knowledge. I consulted several experts about this formation before, and we came up with three methods to break it: a lower, middle, and upper strategy."

"Sister She, you didn't mention this to me before we came!"

"I thought this formation wouldn't be difficult for Commander Zhu, so I didn't want to embarrass myself."

She Xuan smiled faintly and said, "The formation is divided into eight gates, some leading to life, some to death. After a thousand years, its power is far less than before. There's more than one life gate, so we could just barge through directly. We'll eventually find a way out. This is the lower strategy."

"Indeed, the lower strategy."

Zhu Bo repeatedly shook his head. With the fate of She Xuan's previous teammates serving as a grim warning, this strategy was unworkable.

"The middle strategy is to split into two groups. One group will scout ahead, while the other stays put to observe the formation's changes and break it when an opportunity arises."

"Heh, sacrificing companions for a blood sacrifice to break the formation. I suppose this is why Sister She invited us."

Zhu Bo shook his head again. "Enough nonsense, what's the upper strategy?"

"The upper strategy is quite simple: drain the water and destroy the formation's core. The formation will then break itself."

"What kind of upper strategy is that..."

Zhu Bo was speechless and turned to discuss with the Liu family brothers.

Lu Bei stood to the side, frowning. He felt something was off, and after thinking for a while, he finally realized what it was.

Right, the side quest.

Didn't they say there was a side quest that hadn't been triggered yet?

Seeing as breaking through this wall would almost complete the ruins exploration quest, if the side quest didn't appear soon, he'd be missing out on 200,000 experience points!