Chen Duan's Pressure on the Kong Family, Gu Worms Cleverly Break the Stone Coffin Lock

"Oh?" Chen Duan recognized him immediately upon hearing the sound.

Soon, Kong Tianpeng pushed through the crowd and rushed to the front. When he saw Chen Duan, "Senior Chen! It really is you!"

He was instinctively delighted to see an acquaintance, but then he immediately remembered their current predicament, which wasn't so delightful.

The situation he feared most had indeed happened.

"Third brother, you know each other?"

"Um..." Kong Tianpeng stammered, unsure how to respond.

Chen Duan didn't make him struggle and spoke directly, "Since he's a relative of an old friend, I won't make things difficult for you. That item belongs to me. You can leave now."

Kong Mingcheng and the others were stunned at first, then a surge of anger, fueled by being looked down upon and humiliated, rushed to their heads.

"Second brother, Senior Chen..."

Kong Tianpeng tried to intercede again, but Kong Mingcheng pulled him behind, signaling him not to interfere.

Kong Mingcheng stepped forward, his gaze sharp, and said forcefully, "Your actions, sir, are perhaps not in accordance with the rules. This is my Kong family's ancestral land. By rights, that item should belong to us."

Chen Duan didn't bother with further pleasantries. He straightened his body and stretched his neck.

"Fine, I'll give you a chance. Come at me together."

One incense stick later.

On the tomb chamber wall, another human-shaped indentation had appeared. The "resident" inside was Kong Mingcheng.

Duan Chonghe, who had been feigning death nearby, heard all the commotion outside and couldn't help but feel smug.

Those remnants of the previous dynasty had beaten him up mercilessly earlier; now they deserved it.

As for the others, except for Kong Tianpeng, they were all bruised and swollen. They now sat or lay there obediently, not daring to make another move.

Kong Tianpeng stood rooted to the spot, looking at the scene before him, filled with indescribable shock.

Who exactly was this Senior Chen?

Even his second brother, a master of the Five Levels, was completely powerless against him?

The current situation was incredibly bizarre.

The tomb chamber was filled with elite Martial Artists. This force, if unleashed, would be enough to easily conquer several counties.

Yet, they were all held captive by a single person?

It would be a laughingstock if word got out.

"Still not done?"

Chen Duan turned to Xu Miao and the others, a hint of impatience in his tone.

"Almost, almost! It'll be done soon!"

Pockmarked face trembled all over and answered hastily, his hands moving faster, though he sweated even more.

The second layer of the stone coffin's lock mechanism was much more complex than the first.

Chen Duan's gaze swept over the Kong family members. "Who among you knows this?"

The Kong family members exchanged glances and lowered their heads; no one answered.

Just then, in the crowd, a youth wearing Gu Tribe attire timidly raised his hand. However, a young man from the Gu Tribe next to him immediately noticed and quickly reached out to press the youth's arm down.

But how could such a subtle movement escape Chen Duan's eyes?

His figure flickered, and he appeared beside the Gu Tribe youth, pulling him out of the crowd.

"You know how?" Chen Duan stared into the youth's panicked eyes and asked directly.

The youth's face turned pale with fright, and he instinctively looked towards the Gu Tribe youth.

"Look at me!"

Chen Duan's voice deepened. He reached out and turned the youth's head straight. "Answer me, yes or no!"

The youth was intimidated by the powerful aura. His lips trembled, and he stammered, "Gu worms, I can try using Gu worms."

"Good! Then I'll give you a chance. If you succeed, I'll reward you handsomely!"

Afterward, Chen Duan waved his hand, signaling the locksmith quartet to step aside.

Xu Miao and the other two had been worried, fearing they had angered Chen Duan with their slow progress. Seeing that he seemed to be merely changing who was trying, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief, counting themselves lucky.

Only Pockmarked face's eyes widened, his expression looking somewhat "abnormal"...

"I can do it! I really can! Let me try again! Just once more!" He actually grabbed Chen Duan's thigh, his bloodshot eyes wide open, a flicker of madness deep in his pupils.

"I can feel it! It's so close!"

He spoke incoherently, appearing to be in a state of obsession.

Under the relentless pressure, Pockmarked face seemed to have suffered a mental breakdown.

"Er Gou!" Xu Miao and the others cried out in alarm, rushing forward to pull him away.

But at this moment, the Pockmarked face's strength was astonishing, and he couldn't pull it open no matter what.

Chen Duan glanced at the guy, somewhat surprised.

Opening a lock could actually drive someone mad.

Then he raised a foot and kicked the guy unconscious, replacing him with the Gu Tribe youth.

Xu Miao and the others breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took the Pockmarked face to the corner to wait. At this moment, they couldn't help but feel creeped out just by looking at the stone coffin and kept their distance.

The members of the Kong family, however, gathered around with a hint of curiosity.

"Alas, I didn't expect such a tricky step to be set up at this final moment. It's truly unexpected," Kong Tianpeng said, standing beside Chen Duan, his tone filled with a touch of emotion.

Along the way, the Kong family disciples had already lost quite a few people. Those insidious and cunning arrangements were practically like playing games. If all this effort was spent, only for the stone coffin to be empty...

Kong Tianpeng couldn't help but recall some anecdotes circulating in the martial arts world. Some seniors with profound skills and eccentric temperaments, when bored, indeed enjoyed setting up false tombs to amuse treasure hunters in later generations.

This kind of exploration inherently carried a significant gamble. Not only did it consume manpower and resources, but whether one returned laden with treasures or empty-handed ultimately depended on fate.

Under everyone's gaze, the Gu Tribe youth took a deep breath, unfastened a small bamboo tube from his waist, pulled out the stopper, and a small, earthworm-like insect, entirely snow-white, slowly crawled out of the tube and perched on his fingertip.

The youth's lips began to move slightly, emitting a series of strange whispers, as if communicating with the white insect on his fingertip.

Under the youth's command, the white insect wriggled and burrowed into the gaps of the stone coffin's mechanism.

Immediately, a series of "kacha kacha" sounds came from inside the stone coffin.

Having lived in the Southern Border for a long time and bordering the Gu Tribe, the members of the Kong family were long accustomed to such bizarre methods.

Although Chen Duan had seen them before in Hunxi Valley, he still found it quite novel.

Chen Duan's Wind Listening Ears had captured all the youth's whispers.

It felt very familiar, with a similar effect to the pipa music he had heard in Yingcheng.

In both instances, he sensed traces of internal energy. This Gu worm and the pipa seemed to be of the same kind.

On a whim, he summoned a young Gu Tribe member from the Kong family's team and asked him to explain in detail.

This Gu Tribe youth, named Ainuo, although he felt reverence for Chen Duan, seemed like a different person when it came to the Gu arts his tribe was famous for. His eyes lit up, and his words became fluent and full of pride.

After all, for them, Gu worms were not just a skill for self-defense, but a faith and pride integrated into their bloodline.

According to Ainuo's explanation, Gu worms could be roughly divided into two categories: "Wild Gu" and "Life Gu."

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