Chapter 401: Discovered

Zhang Xiaohua turned around and saw, on one side of the main hall, atop a flight of steps, the old man with the bronze mask was descending the stairs!

“Damn, how did he discover me?”

Zhang Xiaohua cried out inwardly.

The old man with the bronze mask questioned sternly: “Who are you? How did you trespass into the forbidden grounds of my sect?”

He glanced again at the several coffins that had vanished from within the formation, and was even more shocked. With a forceful step, his body floated forward and landed before the formation, shouting loudly: “Where are those coffins? Was it you who tampered with them? Where did you take them?”

Zhang Xiaohua’s mind raced, and he forced a smile, saying: “Elder, you’ve misunderstood me. I just came down here and had only just reached these coffins. I haven’t figured out anything yet when you appeared. As for the coffins you’re asking about, I really don’t know anything.”

The old man with the bronze mask said: “Oh? Then I must have wrongly accused you. But how did you get in? This main hall has only one entrance, which is beneath my seat. I’ve been sitting there all night without moving. How could you possibly have entered?”

Hearing the old man’s question, Zhang Xiaohua’s heart stirred. He released his divine sense, sweeping across the entire hall while his eyes remained fixed on the old man. However, the old man seemed completely unaware. Zhang Xiaohua frowned slightly, then directed his divine sense directly onto the old man. As expected, this time the old man seemed to sense something, raising his head and glancing around. Zhang Xiaohua understood at once and immediately withdrew his divine sense. It turned out that the old man couldn’t sense the divine sense itself, but when it actually scanned his body, he could feel it. If the divine sense merely hovered around him, he was completely oblivious.

After looking around and finding nothing unusual, the old man fixed his gaze back on Zhang Xiaohua.

Zhang Xiaohua pointed to a spot in the corner and smiled: “Just now I saw a light over there. I entered through that vent.”

“Oh?” The old man looked toward that corner in surprise, deep in thought.

Afterwards, the old man walked as he spoke, saying: “Young man, though your face is covered, from your voice, you sound quite young. I, too, treasure talent. Since you were able to sneak in here unscathed, you must possess some unique abilities. My sect is currently recruiting talented individuals. If you are willing to swear a venomous oath not to reveal the secrets of this place and join our sect, I wouldn’t mind taking you as my disciple and teaching you all that I know. Moreover, I hold an important position in the sect. Your future prospects would be limitless—wouldn’t that be a hundred times better than your current situation?”

As he spoke, he had already come within several dozen steps of Zhang Xiaohua. Yet Zhang Xiaohua seemed not to notice, letting him approach as if still deep in thought. Seeing this, the old man laughed secretly to himself and continued forward, saying: “You can see for yourself, our sect has a profound foundation. Though we do certain unspeakable trades, we treat these goods quite well—even their beds are made of jade. If you agree to follow me, you may choose several of these goods as your personal concubines. What do you think?”

As he spoke, he drew even closer, nearly within ten steps.

Only then did Zhang Xiaohua raise his head and say: “It’s not difficult to agree to your conditions, but how can I trust you? I don’t even know what sect you belong to, or who you are. Why don’t you remove that bronze mask and let me have a look first?”

The old man laughed and said: “You’re quite the crafty one. Fine, since I’ve taken a liking to your talent and wish to accept you as my disciple, I’m not afraid to let you see my true face.”

With that, he stood still, left hand hanging at his side, and reached up to his face with his right hand. But just as his right hand touched the mask, his wrist flipped, and together with his left hand, he struck toward Zhang Xiaohua’s chest.

But Zhang Xiaohua seemed to have anticipated this all along. Before the palm wind could reach him, he floated away, landing beside a coffin and smiling: “Why so impatient, old man? Won’t you let me explain myself first?”

Seeing that things had turned hostile, the old man dropped all pretense and shouted sternly: “What’s there to explain? The coffins in this hall are linked to my spirit. If anyone tampers with them, I will surely sense it. I sat up there all night without anything happening, but as soon as you entered, I sensed something. If it wasn’t your doing, who else could it be?”

Zhang Xiaohua suddenly understood: there must be something in the formation connected to the old man. When he had moved the coffin lids, it hadn’t affected the formation, so the old man hadn’t noticed. It was only because he got greedy and tried to take more that he attracted the old man’s attention.

However, since he was here to uphold justice, he would have to face off against this old man sooner or later. Fortunately, the old man didn’t seem to know his true purpose, assuming he was merely tempted by greed. That was why he hadn’t used Little Orange to threaten him. If he had, things would have been much more difficult.

Zhang Xiaohua’s eyes darted, and he smiled: “Since the elder already knows my intentions, I won’t say any more. If you let me go, I swear I will never reveal the secrets of this place. Otherwise, hehe…”

Zhang Xiaohua’s gaze fell upon the jade coffin at his feet, his face full of sly mischief.

“You!!!” The old man was furious upon seeing this and shouted: “You little brat, if you dare damage this formation even a little, I will skin you alive and tear out your tendons!”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaohua deliberately asked: “Formation? What formation?”

“This…” The old man seemed to realize he had let something slip and could only snort: “A year from today will be the anniversary of your death. What use is knowing so much?”

Zhang Xiaohua put on a look of sudden realization: “So that’s how it is? If I damage this damned formation, you’ll skin me alive and tear out my tendons. But if I behave myself, a year from today will still be the anniversary of my death. So why shouldn’t I touch these coffins?”

The old man was left speechless. Indeed, wasn’t that the truth?

Seeing the old man suffer a setback, Zhang Xiaohua was greatly delighted. He braced his foot, about to kick the coffin beside him. The old man was shocked and immediately leapt up, his right hand like a blade, slashing toward Zhang Xiaohua’s kicking foot as sharply as a sword.

There was a girl sleeping in that coffin; naturally, Zhang Xiaohua wouldn’t really kick it. Seeing the old man’s right hand strike, he burst out laughing, flipped his body, and soared above the old man. His left hand clenched into a fist, and, like a thunderbolt from the heavens, he struck toward the old man’s face.

The old man, seeing this, knew he had fallen for Zhang Xiaohua’s trick, but didn’t mind. His left hand swept upward, using the “Raising Fire to Burn the Heavens” stance to block. Zhang Xiaohua secretly laughed; even if this simple block was filled with inner strength, how could it withstand the force of ten thousand catties behind his punch?

Alas, Zhang Xiaohua had never had the awareness of a true master, always playing the pig to eat the tiger!

However, while Zhang Xiaohua’s concealment worked well against ordinary experts, who was his opponent now? Though he didn’t know, the other was indeed a renowned master in the martial world, with experience far beyond the ordinary. Though he lacked Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense, his inner power permeated everywhere, making his senses exceptionally keen. Even before Zhang Xiaohua’s fist landed, the force contained within had already stirred the surrounding air, the fierce wind of his punch completely unlike the ordinary.

The old man’s expression changed slightly, and he immediately put away his contempt, raising the inner strength in his palm from thirty percent to seventy percent in an instant. In that moment, his palm met the fist, and with a muffled “peng” sound, a gust of wind swept around them. Both of them felt an overwhelming, unstoppable force surge through their arms. The old man’s body bent backward, retreating more than a dozen steps, leaving deep footprints on the ground before he finally stopped. Zhang Xiaohua was the same, flipping through the air more than a dozen times before he could dissipate the force.

The two landed on the ground, both with grave expressions on their faces. Truly, it was beyond both of their expectations.

Zhang Xiaohua knew this old man’s martial arts were superb, making him a formidable opponent, but he hadn’t expected that even in such a hurried exchange, the old man could force him into such a disadvantage. What, then, was the old man’s true strength? Thus, Zhang Xiaohua had no choice but to reassess the old man’s martial prowess.

The old man, too, was surprised. He had not underestimated Zhang Xiaohua to begin with, and after hearing the force of his punch before their blows met, he raised his estimation even higher. Upon experiencing the power in Zhang Xiaohua’s fist, he raised his estimation yet again, now placing Zhang Xiaohua at almost the same level as himself.

This was a different experience. Zhang Xiaohua did not know the old man’s true martial arts background, nor how much inner strength he had summoned in that instant, so he overestimated his opponent’s strength. The old man, on the other hand, had judged Zhang Xiaohua’s strength with near-perfect accuracy.

Of course, this closeness was only in terms of martial prowess.

Although Zhang Xiaohua estimated that he might not be able to defeat the old man, the current situation did not allow him to retreat. Even if the old man wanted to let him go, he might not be willing to leave. Sometimes, the heart of chivalry really is that simple.

The two looked at each other gravely, then both let out a loud shout and attacked almost simultaneously, fighting hand to hand. Though the old man was advanced in years, his fist wind was fierce and his inner strength abundant, not inferior to Zhang Xiaohua’s might in the least.

After exchanging dozens of blows, the old man suddenly laughed and said: “I was wondering which young hero from which sect you were, but it turns out you’re a disciple of the Piaomiao Sect! How strange—hasn’t the Piaomiao Sect been destroyed for so many years? How are you still at large? Moreover, how come I’ve never heard of someone like you from the Piaomiao Sect?”

Zhang Xiaohua laughed loudly and said: “A hero’s origins need not be questioned; miracles are made by men. Why do you care which sect I belong to?”

“Your fist technique is one I have never seen in my life, but your lightness skill and movement technique—aren’t they the Piaomiao Steps of the Piaomiao Sect? However, my sect has no dealings whatsoever with the Piaomiao Sect. Why have you come to make trouble in my sect?”

“Hahaha, if you do nothing to violate your conscience, you need not fear ghosts knocking at your door. If you weren’t committing heinous acts, why would you be afraid of me coming to find you?”

The old man burst into laughter and said: “Very well! I don’t care where you’re from—let’s settle this with your life!”

With that, he drew a short sword from his waist and thrust it straight at Zhang Xiaohua.

Zhang Xiaohua also laughed: “You’re not the only one with a sword—watch mine!”

With that, he pulled out a small sword from his robe, a few inches shorter than the old man’s, shifted his steps, and moved in to engage.

P.S.: I saw “Wanderer’s” post urging the plot forward and feel quite apologetic. It’s hard on everyone to listen to me slowly tell this story. I wanted to come up with some exciting plotlines, but no matter how I look at it, they seem similar to those little gangster harassment scenes in urban novels—who would be foolish enough to add that in? It’s meaningless. Actually, Xiaohua’s combat ability is already very high; for now, it’s definitely enough. Besides, that trope where someone gets injured in every fight and then their strength skyrockets—isn’t that rather unrealistic?

The cheat can’t be developed any faster. The Heavenly Dao and Innate Divine Formation have already begun to show hints. The path of cultivation is rich and colorful. “Plain and simple is always true” is my own feeling. Once again, thank you to “Wanderer” and everyone else for your suggestions. All the highlights belong to you, and the reward points will be distributed to everyone every month—I never keep them for myself. Oh, and thanks again for everyone’s recommendation votes. Please keep voting in the future!