The Former Dynasty's Royal Tomb

At that moment, Xiao Hong turned around and clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.

Kong Wu turned his head and looked away.

Only then did the burly man react. His face went pale as he backed away.

Xiao Hong coughed and said to everyone, "Everyone, this door in front of us is made entirely of Essence Absorption Stone. This material is incomparably hard, and it can also absorb the True Qi within cultivators' bodies. The more it absorbs, the heavier it becomes."

Hearing this, Kong Wu raised an eyebrow, understanding why Xiao Hong had sought him out.

"So, strong men, all of you were selected from countless ordinary people for your great strength. I hope you can work together and help us push open this door."

As soon as he finished speaking, the broad-shouldered, thick-waisted men answered in unison. They stepped forward together and stood before the stone door.

Every one of these men possessed the strength to lift a bronze cauldron. Purple Flame Hall had gone to considerable trouble to find these experts.

Hopefully, they could push this door open.

Xiao Yunming's gaze passed over the men, burning as he stared at the stone door.

After accidentally discovering this stone door, they had scoured the ancient texts. Only then had they determined that this place was likely the royal tomb of the former dynasty.

The dynasty before Great Jing had adopted a enfeoffment system. At that time, the lands around Purple Flame County were all controlled by Prince Jin of the former dynasty.

And this Prince Jin had been a Golden Core stage expert.

A Golden Core expert's tomb—and that expert had also been a prince. It went without saying how abundant the burial goods inside would be.

Purple Flame Hall had developed to its current point and reached a bottleneck.

Within Qingzhou, they could be considered somewhat famous.

But truly advancing any further was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Compared with Qingzhou's top sects, they were missing a pillar that could hold up the sky.

Without a Golden Core True Person holding down the fort, their present glory was ultimately a castle in the air.

Great Jing had been founded several hundred years ago, and there were only so many first-rate sects in Qingzhou.

Occasionally, astonishingly promising new sects would emerge, but in the end, they all vanished into the river of time.

Xiao Yunming still remembered that when he had first become aware of the world, there had been a new sect called the Black Sand Gang.

Its disciples were numerous and spread far and wide. For a time, it had even been called Qingzhou's number-one great sect.

Yet even such a powerful sect had been wiped out overnight.

Its false prosperity had inflated its confidence, and it had reached its hands into Blood Talisman Sect's territory.

Blood Talisman Sect had merely sent out a single Golden Core elder, yet overnight, it had uprooted the Black Sand Gang completely. From its gang leader to the branch leaders, every member of its management scattered throughout Qingzhou had died in a single night.

The current 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 since surpassed it.

Even so, all of Purple Flame Hall remained extremely low-key, guarding its tiny corner of Purple Flame County. Every year, most of its income had to be offered as tribute to those first-rate sects. It had done so year after year, without interruption.

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

But it was also because of that cultivation method that Purple Flame Hall's development had encountered a bottleneck here.

The incomplete cultivation method could only reach the Foundation Establishment Late Stage at most.

Over the years, Xiao Hong had searched countless channels and spent countless resources, but to those first-rate sects, Golden Core stage cultivation methods were the foundation that allowed them to rise above the rest. How could they possibly pass them on?

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

According to the ancient texts, the Prince Jin Residence had once been famous throughout the entire dynasty for its alchemy.

Among its creations was a kind of pill called the Qi Condensation Pill. After someone at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage consumed it, they could condense their True Qi and achieve the Golden Core stage. They could break through to the Golden Core stage without needing the Core Condensation Secret Method.

After learning this information, Xiao Hong and Xiao Yunming were wild with joy. They immediately decided to devote all of Purple Flame Hall's strength to entering the royal tomb, even if they had to fight to the death.

Even if there were no Qi Condensation Pills inside, a prince's collection of cultivation methods would surely be considerable. As long as they could find a cultivation method that led directly to the Golden Core Dao Path, they could change Purple Flame Hall's current situation.

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

Thus, as Xiao Yunming watched the burly men brace both hands against the stone door, every muscle in their bodies taut, he was actually even more nervous than they were.

"Haaah!"

The burly men each exerted every ounce of strength they had. The veins on their foreheads bulged as they pressed all their power against the stone door.

But the stone door did not move at all.

It was as if these burly men were wrestling with a mountain.

As time slowly passed, Xiao Yunming watched their faces turn purplish-red from the strain without producing the slightest result, and his heart sank.

"No more! Hoo, hoo..."

The group of burly men exhausted their strength and abandoned the attempt.

They looked at the stone door before them, one after another beginning to question their entire lives.

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

After all, the standard for selecting them had been that each one had to be capable of pushing open Purple Flame County's city gates bare-handed.

If all five of them pushed together, they were confident that they could even push open a gate made of steel of the same size.

Yet now, they were utterly helpless against this stone door.

Xiao Yunming sighed as he watched this scene.

"Ultimately, it was the problem of being too rash at the beginning. We acted without investigating things properly."

The reason the stone door was so heavy was not only the special nature of its material. Another reason was that Purple Flame Hall had already tried to push the door open before.

At that time, two Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators had attempted it.

All the True Qi within their bodies had been absorbed by the stone door, naturally causing its weight to increase considerably.

At that moment, the panting burly men suddenly spotted Kong Wu standing among the crowd with his arms folded, watching the show.

"Huh? Why are you over there?"

"You, even though you're a little on the skinny side, if you'd come forward earlier, you could at least have lent us a hand, right?"

"Exactly, exactly. If you'd been there just now, we might have pushed it open."

"Our strength is almost spent now. Even with him, we definitely wouldn't be able to do it."

Although the men were burly, their minds were not slow. In practically an instant, they formed a united front and dumped all the blame onto Kong Wu.

They could not afford to offend Purple Flame Hall's experts, but this scrawny ordinary man was not someone they could bully as they pleased?

Their words immediately drew Xiao Yunming's attention to Kong Wu.

This man had been personally recruited by his father.

He looked toward Xiao Hong, confusion in his eyes.

At that moment, Xiao Hong was not concerned in the slightest by the burly men's failure. He still watched the scene before him with a broad smile.

"A bunch of useless trash!"

Kong Wu had watched the monkey show for long enough. At this point, he could not simply stand by and do nothing. After all, he had accepted their benefits, so he had to make a move.

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

"You!"

After being cursed at, the burly men immediately rose to their feet, wanting to teach Kong Wu a lesson.

But in the next moment, Kong Wu reached them and tossed them out more than a dozen paces, one in each hand, as effortlessly as throwing away garbage.

"Don't! Big brother! I'll do it myself!"

The last burly man hurriedly shouted when he saw Kong Wu's hand reaching toward him, then scurried away.