The group returned to their original room in the Elegant Garden and sat down. Looking at the cocky Ye Liangchen, they could not help wondering how he had gotten into a conflict with strangers the moment he arrived.
At the question, Ye Liangchen habitually lifted his chin and answered with all the swagger of an overdramatic teenager.
"Those guys were walking ahead of me, and I was driving. I hadn't seen any of you, so I figured I'd rev the engine a few times to let you know I, Ye Liangchen, had arrived! But they turned around and glared at me. So..."
He paused. Li Xingming, Wang Xiaoai, and Fang Xiu all stared at him, until their host, Liu Qing'er, could not resist urging him on.
"And then? What did you do? Stop dragging it out and tell us! We're all waiting!"
Ye Liangchen snorted and said haughtily, "I glared right back, of course, and said, 'What are you looking at?' They said, 'What's it to you?' Then they got angry for no reason. One moment they were staring at me, and the next they wanted a fight. As if I'd be afraid of them! I, Ye Liangchen, have never gone looking for trouble, but I've never backed down from it either. If you hadn't shown up so quickly, I'd have shown them the power of Manifesting Strength..."
Everyone rolled their eyes at Ye Liangchen's theatrics. They were completely lost for words.
Gu Chen, seated nearby, thought back to the three men they had encountered earlier who seemed to be tomb robbers. Most importantly, they carried the aura of an object from the Wu Ming Ruins that he had created through Refine Falsehood Into Truth. Now that the two groups had happened to meet, he saw no reason not to give events a nudge and turn it into a new Script built on coincidence.
Imagine it: the hot-blooded young disciples of Transforming Strength Great Boxers gathered to exchange pointers and happened upon a few tomb robbers. By another stroke of luck, they obtained clues to the Wu Ming Ruins and the Human Immortal Martial Dao from them!
These ambitious youngsters would never ignore a path to greater power. Neither would their masters, the Transforming Strength Great Boxers and Pillaring Grandmasters. With a shared reason to act, those masters would naturally draw the authorities' attention. Bit by bit, they could uncover the Wu Ming Ruins hidden underground and bring the Human Immortal Martial Dao back into the world.
Gu Chen quickly ran through the entire scenario in his head. It seemed nearly perfect—certainly better than his old Script of having his double, Li Hansha, deliberately expose himself and lead the authorities to the Wu Ming Ruins, bringing back the martial path of the human immortals.
After a moment's thought, Gu Chen made his decision. He looked at Li Xingming, Wang Xiaoai, Ye Zhen, Liu Qing'er, and Fang Xiu, who were discussing their insights into Manifesting Strength, then cleared his throat and interrupted them.
"Ahem... There's something I'm not sure I should bring up."
The others quickly stopped and turned toward him. Wang Xiaoai, the muscular man among them, looked especially admiring. "Does Master Beichen have some insight into National Martial Arts to share? We're all ears!"
The others looked at Gu Chen with the same anticipation. Liu Qing'er even clapped and said with a smile, "We've all shared our thoughts on Manifesting Strength and its finer points. At last, it's Master Beichen's turn!"
Gu Chen shook his head. "Manifesting Strength isn't difficult. It takes persistence and diligent practice. Once you can release and rein in your power at will, your talent should let you grasp the true essence of your boxing art. With enough groundwork, you'll naturally break through to Hidden Strength. What I wanted to talk about was the three men who clashed with Ye Zhen earlier. Something about them wasn't right..."
"Their faces were pale with a bluish tinge, and their skin was sallow. If you got close, you could smell damp earth on them. They carried a musty, decaying odor—the kind that clings to someone who spends long stretches in sealed, rotting places underground. If I'm not mistaken, they're tomb robbers!"
Tomb robbers?!
The five of them looked bewildered, unsure what he meant.
"What are tomb robbers?"
At Li Xingming's puzzled question, Gu Chen explained, "People who know how to locate burial sites and dig up ancient tombs. Why would they be here? Surely they didn't come to a high-end club like this to relax. They must be up to something! And judging by the vicious looks in their eyes, they're no decent men."
Everyone grew excited. They were young, full of vigor, and had only recently reached Manifesting Strength. Learning that a band of ruthless tomb robbers might be carrying out some criminal scheme nearby was enough to set their blood racing.
"I, Ye Liangchen, knew they were no good from the start! Maybe they're trafficking national treasures. If I'd known, I'd have found a way to knock them flat back there!" Ye Zhen declared first.
"Too bad they've already left. We don't even know where they are now. Knowing they're hardened tomb robbers won't help us..." Li Xingming shook his head.
As their host, Liu Qing'er smiled and picked up her tablet. "That's easy enough. As long as they're still in this building, I can find out where they are and what they're doing without them ever knowing."
With everyone watching, Liu Qing'er quickly used the management system to locate the three middle-aged men in an Elegant Garden Private Room. She then used her controller to activate the room's hidden pinhole camera and recorder. The video and audio appeared on the wall.
The three middle-aged men sat with a portly man. An old, worn scroll lay on the table, and a gray-haired elder in glasses was studying it.
Liu Qing'er frowned at the portly man on the screen. "That's Second Master Sun of the Sun Family. He deals in shady business, but I didn't expect him to get mixed up with tomb robbers. No wonder Sun's Auction House has so many genuine antiques..."
After studying the scroll for some time, the bespectacled elder finally spoke.
"Second Master Sun, judging by the material and signs of age, this scroll appears to date back several hundred years, to the Ming Dynasty. But what it records is rather strange. It seems to describe a mysterious site called Wu Ming, along with something about a Martial Dao Human Immortal..."
The Wu Ming Ruins? A Martial Dao Human Immortal?!
Second Master Sun's eyes lit up. He knew about the recent appearances of Pillaring Grandmasters and Transforming Strength Great Boxers, and he had seen the terrifying destructive power of martial artists—power that even the authorities feared. That meant some ancient legends might well be true. Perhaps Immortals really had existed in ancient times. A Martial Dao Human Immortal had "immortal" right in the name; he had to be extraordinary.
"Read me what it says!" Second Master Sun urged impatiently.
The gray-haired elder in glasses nodded, then began translating the old scroll.
"...the master established the Human Immortal Martial Dao, drove out the invaders, and restored the Han realm. All disciples of Wu Ming may go... to observe... A Martial Dao Human Immortal transcends the mundane, lives for three hundred years, has blood and vitality like a dragon, and can shatter mountains with a punch..."
In the other Elegant Garden Private Room, the group heard the contents of the Fragmented Ancient Scroll as well.
"A Martial Dao Human Immortal? Transcends the mundane, lives for three hundred years, has blood and vitality like a dragon, and can shatter mountains with a punch!" Fang Xiu repeated, her eyes lighting up.
Gu Chen's eyes flickered, and he offered his interpretation.
"That Fragmented Ancient Scroll records a place called the Wu Ming Ruins. Those three tomb robbers must have stolen it from a tomb. The ruins hold the Human Immortal Martial Dao, a path that transcends the mundane. Someone who cultivates it to its peak can live for three hundred years, possess immense blood and vitality, and do unbelievable things like shatter a mountain with one punch..."
Li Xingming, Wang Xiaoai, Ye Zhen, Liu Qing'er, and Fang Xiu grew excited. Since taking up National Martial Arts, they had experienced its power firsthand. Yet the Human Immortal Martial Dao described in the Fragmented Ancient Scroll was on another level entirely—almost supernatural.
Most importantly, the Fragmented Ancient Scroll that might contain clues to the Wu Ming Ruins was right nearby!
Before you continue