Entering the Ancient Tomb

The next day, Li Cheng's two confidants pulled him out of bed, reeking of alcohol.

In their eyes, this was just another hangover for their young master.

"My apologies for keeping you all waiting."

Li Cheng arrived in the courtyard, where the other cultivators had already been waiting for some time.

He greeted Duan Yong and then smiled and nodded at Yang Lingrui, who returned the gesture.

The place where the ancient tomb had appeared was a low-lying area.

According to Duan Yong's account, this place was once the settlement of several small families long ago.

It disappeared later due to an earthquake and natural disaster.

"It's right over there, you can all see it now."

Everyone followed Duan Yong's pointing finger and saw a purplish-black protrusion in the depression.

As they approached, they could see it was a diagonally raised, square building.

In the center was a circular main entrance that could open to both sides.

"The heavens are round and the earth is square. Interesting. No wonder you needed help to solve this," Li Cheng said.

Duan Yong's eyes showed admiration. "As expected of Young Master Li. You're truly knowledgeable. You saw it at a glance. I spent quite a while studying it."

"Alright, alright, stop with the flattery. Since you called us here, you've found all the required points, right? Let's get started quickly."

"Aye, right away!"

This 'heavens round, earth square' technique was a type of restriction.

It required finding nine locations: the four corners of the square inscribed underground, the four intersection points of the square, and the center point.

By injecting enough spiritual power into these nine points simultaneously, the restriction could be activated.

Duan Yong divided everyone into eight groups based on their cultivation realms. Li Cheng was responsible for the center point alone. They took their positions on the points one by one.

"I wonder what changes will occur after the restriction is activated. Everyone, please be careful."

Duan Yong reminded everyone before shouting, "Activate!"

The cultivators at the eight points simultaneously channeled their spiritual power into the ground beneath their feet. The spiritual power flowed underground, forming the patterns of the restriction, and soon enveloped everyone.

RUMBLE--

As the restriction activated, the entire area began to tremble.

Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi were at the same location. They stabilized themselves and continued to channel spiritual power.

"Senior Brother, look around."

"Mm, I see it. It looks like it's about to finish activating."

At the eight points, beams of light rose simultaneously, enclosing the cultivators who were channeling spiritual power.

"Haa!--"

The next moment, accompanied by sinister, hoarse roars, blue phantoms crawled out of the ground, beginning to condense and manifest within the area.

BANG BANG BANG!

The cultivators attacked one after another, dispersing these ghosts before they could fully form.

But this was only the beginning. As time passed, the ghosts' cultivation realms became more powerful.

"Damn it! They're already Second Level of Qi Gathering?"

"Watch out, fellow cultivator!"

"Don't hold back!"

Most of the cultivators who had come to this place were only at the First or Second Level of Qi Gathering. They dared not be careless when facing ghosts at the Second Level of Qi Gathering.

If anything went wrong, getting injured would be the least of their worries; it could very well cost them their lives.

With Yang Lingrui present, these phantoms posed little threat to his group.

Zhao Qi observed carefully and noticed that each ghost, upon death, turned into a wisp of smoke that drifted towards the ancient tomb's entrance, which was part of the restriction.

He tried attacking the smoke with the Golden Light Technique and found that it could be dispersed.

"Senior Brother."

He quickly called out to Yang Lingrui and informed him of this.

Yang Lingrui looked up and conjured a whirlwind with one hand, hovering above them. Whenever smoke rose, it would be scattered by the whirlwind.

It was at this moment that Duan Yong's voice rang out again.

"Fellow cultivators, quickly disperse the smoke! Don't let it escape!"

Yang Lingrui heard this and looked towards the center of the field. He saw a massive figure vaguely appearing before the entrance of the ancient tomb.

If the smoke was interrupted, its energy supply would be cut off, and it would stop growing.

"Junior Brother Zhao, your perception is truly sharp. You were able to discover the anomaly before Duan Yong."

"It's just a small advantage, nothing worth mentioning," Zhao Qi said modestly.

Though he said that, Yang Lingrui didn't think so.

They were both aware of Zhao Qi and Wu Tong's backgrounds.

When Zhao Qi was five, he fell into a river but didn't drown; he managed to swim ashore by clinging to branches.

At eight years old, he got lost in the mountains for three days and still managed to walk out alive.

During a beast tide, he was chased by two wolves but still escaped.

These were not things that could be explained by mere luck. Zhao Dapeng himself didn't know how capable his child truly was.

After continuously killing ghosts for a quarter of an hour, the restriction's effect finally reached its end.

The light screen dispersed, and the giant figure solidified, transforming into a ghost soldier clad in armor.

However, due to insufficient smoke, it only reached the Second Level of Qi Gathering realm. Li Cheng stepped forward and kicked it into dust.

With the ghost soldier dealt with, the ancient tomb's main gate officially opened.

As the circular gate opened, everyone felt a chill emanating from within.

They slowly descended the stairs. After walking down more than ten meters, the space before them suddenly opened up.

The first level of the ancient tomb was very spacious. After some discussion, everyone decided to explore in small groups. If they found an entrance to the second level, they would inform each other.

Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi chose a direction and began their exploration.

The first level of the ancient tomb was the shallowest, with low danger levels. Any traps present could only affect ordinary people and were useless against cultivators.

During their exploration, they only encountered a few zombies at the First Level of Qi Gathering, all of whom they easily dealt with.

"Senior Brother, there's another piece here."

Zhao Qi found a piece of dark ore weighing about ten pounds.

There weren't many treasures on the first level. As they walked, the best things they had seen were these kinds of refined ores.

Refined ore could be directly exchanged for spirit crystals, so it was considered a good find.

As the two wanted to continue exploring, they suddenly felt a spiritual power fluctuation from behind them.

Turning around, they saw a cultivator from the Li Family.

He walked up and said, "Greetings, fellow cultivators. The entrance to the second level has been found. Young Master sent me to find you two."

"Thank you for the information, fellow cultivator," Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi said quickly, expressing their gratitude.

"Please follow me."

After following him for a while, they arrived at the eastern area of the first level of the ancient tomb.

More cultivators arrived one after another. Everyone looked ahead at a deep, dark, and pitch-black passageway, so dark that even divine sense could barely penetrate it.

Faced with this situation, many cultivators at the First Level of Qi Gathering showed troubled expressions, hesitating whether to proceed.

Li Cheng was talking with Duan Yong. Upon seeing Yang Lingrui arrive, he waved him over.

"Lingrui, you're here. How was it? Did you find anything good on the first level?"

"Greetings, Young Master Li, Town Chief Duan. I didn't find anything particularly special, just some refined ore," Yang Lingrui replied.

"That's normal. The first level is just like that. Unless you can find something from subtle clues, it's hard to find anything valuable," Li Cheng said.

Li Cheng shrugged and pointed at the passageway. "Huang Yan and Zheng Huaming couldn't wait and went down ahead of time. Now that you're here, let's go in together."

"That would be best. Lingrui thanks you, Young Master Li."

"No problem, it's on the way. However, your brother here can't go."

Li Cheng glanced at Zhao Qi. He only had the cultivation of the First Level of Qi Gathering, and it would be dangerous for him to enter the second level.

Seeing this, Zhao Qi waved his hands repeatedly. "It's fine, Senior Brother and Young Master Li, you don't need to worry about me. I'll just stay on the first level and look around."

Yang Lingrui gave him a few instructions to take care of himself, then followed Li Cheng into the passageway.

Duan Yong remained at the entrance. He and Li Cheng had agreed that he would stay here to provide support if anything unexpected happened below.

After the exploration, Li Cheng would share some of the treasures he obtained with him.

Following them, several cultivators at the Second and Third Levels of Qi Gathering also entered together.

The remaining large group of cultivators at the First Level of Qi Gathering began to discuss amongst themselves in pairs.

"Fellow cultivator, we're planning to go down together to take a look. Would you like to join us?"

Just as Zhao Qi was about to leave, someone called out to him.

It turned out that over a dozen cultivators at the First Level of Qi Gathering, unwilling to give up, planned to form a group and enter the second level.

Knowing that Zhao Qi came from the Yang Family and likely had some strength, they wanted to recruit him.

"No, thank you. I'll just stay on the first level."

Zhao Qi decisively refused and turned to leave.

If he had wanted to go down, he would have left with Yang Lingrui long ago; there was no reason for him to wait here.

Seeing him like this, the other cultivators also showed disdain.

"Truly timid as a mouse, not even having the courage to go down and take a look."

"Who says otherwise? Looking at him, he can only be a follower behind Young Master Yang."

After speaking, their group of over ten people entered the passageway.

Duan Yong tried to persuade them a few times, but unfortunately, none of them would listen.

Zhao Qi walked slowly. He heard these words but didn't care.

In the past, Zhao Dapeng often told him that no matter what good fortune one had, they had to be alive to enjoy it.

He could only hope these people would make it out alive.

Without dwelling on other thoughts, Zhao Qi's gaze fell upon a stone pillar.

There were many such stone pillars in the first level of the ancient tomb, seemingly used for support.

However, as Zhao Qi walked down, he noticed their distribution was uneven and quite peculiar.

"Well, since I have some free time now, I'll investigate them thoroughly."