75: Enemies meeting are bound to be filled with hatred.

Sheng Jiyuan, leaning against a stone pillar, gritted his teeth and shouted loudly, "Gu Xiheng, you really are like a ghost that won't leave. How did you find this place?"

"Heh, you want to know? I'm not going to tell you how I found you. I advise you to stop struggling and get out of here. I'll spare your life if you do," Gu Xiheng said with a cold sneer from the shadows.

Gu Xiheng was answered by a burst of gunfire. Then, Sheng Jiyuan's voice rang out again: "In your dreams! Gu Xiheng! It seems you didn't come here by chance; your destination was also here. You're here for that thing too, aren't you?"

"Hmph!" Gu Xiheng did not answer.

A single gunshot rang out, and another person on Sheng Jiyuan's side fell dead.

Watching his numbers dwindle, Sheng Jiyuan knew that things couldn't continue like this. Before long, the men he brought would be picked off one by one. By then, with no one to protect him, his fate would be obvious—he would surely die here. He didn't want to die yet; he still wanted to be the first to obtain the energy stones and gain powerful abilities.

The intense gunfire earlier had started when Gu Xiheng and his group reached this underground passage. They were discovered by Sheng Jiyuan's men, who launched a preemptive ambush, causing four of the ten people to die instantly.

Cheng Siyu had injured her left arm while saving Gu Xitian. Xitian was crying out of heartache. Seeing the four sacrificed men and Siyu's pale face, a surge of rage rose within Gu Xiheng. He wanted to tear the people opposite him into pieces.

The battle between the two groups was on the verge of erupting, and the intense gunfire that followed was the sound Ai Yue had heard in the cavern.

The two sides fought desperately, but in the end, neither could gain the upper hand. Neither side dared to show their heads anymore, and they fell into a temporary stalemate.

"Young Gu, how about this? Let's call a truce. Continuing to fight won't benefit either of us. This place is so big, how about we split it down the middle?" Sheng Jiyuan suggested, leaning against the stone pillar with a trace of ruthlessness in his eyes.

"Heh, sure. Elder Sheng, I agree!" Gu Xiheng's emotionless voice drifted over.

Sheng Jiyuan gave a hideous grin behind the stone pillar before reverting to his appearance as an elegant elder, saying cordially, "Good, Young Master Gu is certainly straightforward!"

"However, we certainly don't trust each other. So, how about each side sends out one person to search for what we're looking for?"

Gu Xiheng's eyes were deep, revealing a hint of disdain as he curled his lips. "Fine! We want the left half. You have no objection to that, right?"

Sheng Jiyuan frowned. Before Gu Xiheng and the others arrived, they had been searching the right side and had collected many mysterious-looking stones. Although they hadn't finished searching, they had already gone through a quarter of it. They hadn't searched the left side at all!

"What? Is Elder Sheng going to go back on his word? It doesn't matter, let's just forget it then. We'll each rely on our own skills. We can afford to wait anyway." Gu Xiheng waited for a while without an answer and said with a sneer.

"No, I didn't mean that. We'll do as you say!" Sheng Jiyuan said hurriedly.

He originally wanted to swap, as they wanted the unsearched left side, but seeing the situation, he decided to let it be. Regardless, they wouldn't be walking out of this cave today anyway.

Gu Xiheng looked at the remaining five people. Aside from the two girls, there were four people left including himself. Cheng Siyu was injured, and Gu Xitian had some basic martial arts skills but no experience. Moreover, he couldn't possibly let his sister take the risk, so he excluded the two of them.

Gu Xiheng was very conflicted. Who should he send to do such a dangerous task?

"Young General, I am willing to go out and search for the energy stones," a young man with a youthful face said to Gu Xiheng.

"No, you're still young. Wait until you've trained for another two years," Gu Xiheng dismissed him without a second thought.

"Young General, please let me go. Brother Wang and Brother Zhang are both sharpshooters with high-level skills. It would be a waste for them to lose their lives here. It's better if I go."

"Shut up! I said no, and I mean no!"

"Young General, I've followed you for a year. You never let me do any dangerous work, always saying I'm too young. But I'm twenty this year; I'm an adult. I don't need to hide behind you anymore. Young General! Please let me execute a mission on my own just once."

"Yan Li..." Gu Xiheng's expression was complex. At this moment, no matter who it was, he couldn't bear to let them go. If he truly were to sacrifice himself unfortunately, Gu Xiheng would surely use all their enemies' heads as an offering to him.

"Fine, we will cover you. Be careful!"

"Yes, Young General! Yan Li guarantees the mission will be completed!" Yan Li was still afraid deep down, but with the Young General and the others there, he wasn't afraid anymore.

"Take these gold and silver items. I don't need to explain the method further. If any stones flash when they come into contact with them, bring them all back, understood?" Gu Xiheng instructed Yan Li with a serious face and gave him a satchel filled with gold and silver items.

"Yes, I guarantee the mission will be completed!"

Yan Li didn't say more and strode out. At the same time, a person stepped out from the opposite side—it was Old Fifth, the one who had made Sheng Jiyuan angry.

He walked to the right side and looked at the stones obsessively. This time he didn't waste time and screened them quickly. Any stone he felt had potential was put into the bag beside him. In a short while, the bag was full.

At this moment, Sheng Jiyuan's voice came over, exasperated: "Old Fifth, what are you doing? We only want energy stones! Throw those other gems away! It's the Apocalypse, what do you want those things for?"

Hearing Sheng Jiyuan's angry voice, Old Fifth curled his lip and helplessly threw out all the stones in the bag.

Afterward, when Old Fifth saw a stone he liked, he still couldn't help but pick it up, stroke it for a while, and throw it away with a sigh of regret.

This scene made Sheng Jiyuan's heart nearly stop. He kept complaining in his mind about where the company had found such a character. It was truly infuriating!

On Gu Xiheng's side, progress was smooth. Yan Li patiently searched, and the other side didn't go back on their word to attack him, which relieved Gu Xiheng quite a bit.

Ai Yue couldn't see the situation of both sides clearly, so she took out binoculars from her space to observe their movements.

With this observation, a cold sneer appeared on Ai Yue's lips. When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with hatred.

She unhesitatingly took out a sniper rifle and aimed at Sheng Jiyuan. It was this old fellow who had made her so miserable and nearly caused her death. If the heavens hadn't suddenly changed the toxic rain into normal rain, she would have surely died. And all of this was thanks to this old man.

Moreover, this old man was still targeting Da Wang, wanting to capture him. This was even more intolerable!

Ai Yue's marksmanship was perfect. She aimed at the incessantly talking Sheng Jiyuan and pulled the trigger. With a "whoosh," Sheng Jiyuan, who was just criticizing Old Fifth, collapsed without warning.

Having succeeded with one shot, Ai Yue quickly pulled her head back and hid inside the cave.

The people beside Sheng Jiyuan, seeing him shot in the head, were shocked and raised their weapons to fire wildly in Ai Yue's direction.

Fortunately, Ai Yue hid quickly.