Tomb of the Former Dynasty

At this moment, Xiao Hong turned around, clapping his hands to draw everyone's attention.

Kong Wu turned his head, shifting his gaze away.

The big man only reacted then, retreating with a pale face.

Xiao Hong coughed and said to everyone, "Everyone, this door before us is entirely made of Essence Absorption Stone. This material is incredibly tough and can absorb the True Qi from cultivators. The more it absorbs, the heavier it becomes."

Hearing this, Kong Wu's eyebrows shot up, understanding why Xiao Hong had sought him out.

"Therefore, esteemed strongmen, you are all mighty individuals I've selected from countless ordinary people. I hope you can work together to help us push open this door."

As soon as he finished speaking, the broad-shouldered, stout men responded in unison, stepping forward together and standing before the stone door.

These men were all capable of lifting cauldrons; they were skilled individuals the Purple Flame Hall had spent considerable effort to find.

Hopefully, they could push open this door.

Xiao Yunming's gaze swept past these men, his eyes fixed intently on the stone door.

After inadvertently discovering this stone door, they had scoured ancient texts, finally confirming that this place was likely the tomb of a king from a previous dynasty.

The dynasty before the Great Jing Dynasty had implemented a feudal system. At that time, the territory near Purple Flame County was controlled by the Prince Jin of the previous dynasty.

And this Prince Jin was a Golden Core stage expert.

A tomb of a Golden Core expert, and a prince at that, it was imaginable how rich the accompanying burial objects would be.

The Purple Flame Hall had reached a bottleneck in its development.

Within Qingzhou, they had gained some renown.

But to advance further was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

This was because, compared to the top sects in Qingzhou, they lacked a stabilizing force.

Without a True Man at the Golden Core stage to oversee them, their current glory was ultimately an illusion.

For centuries since the founding of the Great Jing Dynasty, the number of first-rate sects in Qingzhou had remained constant.

Occasionally, new sects with astonishing growth momentum would emerge, but they all eventually vanished into the river of time.

Xiao Yunming remembered that when he first started to remember things, there was a new sect called the Black Sand Gang.

They had numerous disciples and a wide distribution, once being hailed as the foremost sect in Qingzhou.

However, even such a powerful sect was wiped out overnight.

Their illusory prosperity had inflated their confidence, leading them to extend their reach into the Blood Talisman Sect's territory.

The Blood Talisman Sect merely dispatched one Golden Core Elder, and in a single night, they were uprooted. From the Black Sand Gang leader to the leaders of various branches, the management of the Black Sand Gang scattered throughout Qingzhou perished overnight.

Currently, the Purple Flame Hall might not even match the Black Sand Gang in scale, but Xiao Yunming knew that in terms of true strength, they had long surpassed the Black Sand Gang.

Yet, even so, the entire Purple Flame Hall maintained an extremely low profile, guarding their small territory in Purple Flame County. Most of their annual income had to be offered as tribute to those first-rate sects, year after year, without interruption.

Relying on the incomplete cultivation method obtained by Xiao Hong, the Purple Flame Hall had developed to its current state.

However, it was also because of that incomplete cultivation method that the Purple Flame Hall's development encountered a bottleneck.

The incomplete cultivation method could only reach the late Foundation Establishment stage at its peak.

Over the years, Xiao Hong had sought countless avenues and spent immense resources, but for those first-rate sects, Golden Core stage cultivation methods were the foundation of their transcendence above other sects; how could they possibly pass them on?

Just as they were about to give up hope, they discovered this royal tomb.

According to ancient records, the Prince Jin's mansion at that time was renowned throughout the entire imperial dynasty for its alchemy.

Among them, there was a pill called the Qi Condensation Pill. After being taken by someone at the late Foundation Establishment stage, it could condense True Qi to form a Golden Core, allowing them to break through to the Golden Core stage without needing a Core Condensation Secret Method.

Upon learning this information, Xiao Hong and Xiao Yunming were ecstatic. They immediately decided to commit all of the Purple Flame Hall's strength to enter the royal tomb, even if it meant death.

Even if the Qi Condensation Pill wasn't there, it was likely that a prince would possess numerous cultivation methods. As long as they could find a cultivation method that led directly to the Golden Core path, it could change the Purple Flame Hall's current situation.

If everything went smoothly, the Purple Flame Hall would become the sixth first-rate sect in Qingzhou.

Therefore, as Xiao Yunming watched the group of strongmen brace themselves against the stone door, every muscle tensed, he was actually more nervous than they were.

"Hah!"

The strongmen exerted all their strength, veins bulging on their foreheads, pushing with all their might against the stone door.

However, the stone door remained unmoving.

It was as if these strongmen were wrestling with a mountain.

As time slowly passed, watching them strain until their faces turned purple with no effect, Xiao Yunming's heart sank.

"We can't do it! Hah..."

The group of strongmen, having exhausted their strength, gave up their attempt.

They looked at the stone door before them, each of them questioning their own existence.

They were confident in their strength, but before this stone door, they felt as powerless as a swarm of ants.

It was worth noting that their selection standard was the ability to push open the city gate of Purple Flame County single-handedly.

With five of them working together, even if the door were made of steel of the same volume, they were confident they could push it open.

But at this moment, they had no way to deal with the stone door.

Xiao Yunming sighed as he watched this scene.

"Ultimately, it's a problem of acting too rashly at the beginning without investigating clearly."

The reason the stone door was so heavy, besides its special material, was that the Purple Flame Hall had previously attempted to push it open.

At that time, two cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage had tried.

All the True Qi within their bodies was absorbed by the stone door, naturally increasing its weight significantly.

Just then, the sweating strongmen suddenly saw Kong Wu standing in the crowd with his arms crossed, watching the show.

"Hey? Why are you over there?"

"You, fellow, though you're a bit scrawny, if you had stepped forward earlier, you could have at least lent us a hand!"

"Exactly, if you had been here just now, we might have pushed it open."

"Now that our strength is almost depleted, adding him definitely won't help."

Although the men were burly, their minds worked quickly. In almost an instant, they united and shifted all the blame onto Kong Wu.

They couldn't afford to offend the experts of the Purple Flame Hall, but what was a skinny ordinary person like this if not someone they could blame freely?

With their words, Xiao Yunming's attention was immediately drawn to Kong Wu.

This person had been personally recruited by his father.

He looked at Xiao Hong, his eyes filled with confusion.

At this moment, Xiao Hong was unconcerned by the failure of the strongmen, still watching the scene with a smile.

"A bunch of trash!"

Kong Wu, after watching the monkeys' show for a long time, couldn't just stand by and do nothing, especially since he had accepted their benefits and had to make a move.

After saying this, he twisted his neck and strode forward.

"You!"

After being cursed at by him, those strongmen immediately stood up, wanting to teach Kong Wu a lesson.

But the next moment, Kong Wu walked in front of them, grabbed one in each hand, and tossed them over a dozen steps away, as easily as throwing away trash.

"No! Big Brother! I'll do it myself!"

The last strongman saw Kong Wu reaching out and quickly shouted, then scurried away sheepishly.

He was the one who had provoked Kong Wu earlier, and he was also the one who remained silent when the others mocked Kong Wu.