117: Chapter 117 Whispers at Midnight

"Far away, yet right before our eyes."

Second Master Lei spat out these eight words, his tone exuding an unshakeable certainty.

Dazhuang and Haozi froze simultaneously, looking at each other in dismay.

Yaba also raised his head, looking at his boss with a face full of confusion.

Second Master Lei clicked off the flashlight beam, and the room plunged back into pure darkness.

"This evening in the first-floor lobby, when that young man put his tactical backpack on the chair, I heard a muffled sound of metal colliding."

Second Master Lei's voice sounded exceptionally deep in the darkness.

"I, Old Second Lei, have been rolling around in the underground for most of my life; I can recognize the sound of bronze artifacts colliding even with my ears closed."

"That wasn't ordinary brass; that's the sound only old Western Zhou bronze mixed with extremely yin-cold iron can make."

He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.

"They entered the mountains, heading straight for Laoya Ridge, and they brought a bronze box with them. Where in this world is there such a coincidence?"

"What's stored in that box is definitely King Zhou's Age-Suppressing Key that we're looking for."

Hearing this, Dazhuang's ox-like eyes suddenly burst with two pools of ferocious bloodshot veins.

He stood up from the bench, grabbed the brightly polished double-barreled native firelock, and cocked the hammer with a *click*.

"Second Master, since the item is in their hands, what are we waiting for? The four of us brothers have mixed in the underworld for so many years, what kind of storms haven't we seen?"

"Taking advantage of the dark and windy night, we'll sneak into their room, fire a few buckshots, and no matter what expert they are, we'll turn them all into hornet's nests. Grab the things, and we'll head into the mountains overnight!"

Dazhuang's proposal was filled with the ruthlessness of a desperado.

Killing people and looting goods deep in the mountains and forests was practically a daily routine for this bunch of grave robbers.

The mountains were sealed by thick fog, out in the desolate wilderness, and if a few outsiders died, not even someone to collect their corpses could be found.

"Rob them?"

In the darkness, Second Master Lei stood up and slapped the back of Dazhuang's head with a heavy backhand.

This strike had immense force, staggering Dazhuang's huge body and causing the firelock in his hand to almost slip and fall to the ground.

"Slap!"

The crisp sound of the slap was exceptionally loud in the silent room.

"Is that a chamberpot for nighttime use sitting on your shoulders?!"

Second Master Lei lowered his voice, his tone revealing an uncontrollable rage and extreme fear.

"Rob his things?! Do you have any idea what kind of existence is staying next door?!"

Dazhuang covered the back of his head, standing aggrieved in place, not daring to talk back.

Second Master Lei sat back down on the edge of the bed, his chest heaving violently.

He recalled the invisible confrontation he experienced in the first-floor lobby this evening, still feeling lingering fear.

Cold sweat seeped out from his back again, completely soaking his undershirt.

"This evening in the lobby, that woman dressed in black didn't even turn her head; she merely flicked the wall of that coarse porcelain teacup with a single finger."

Second Master Lei's voice began to tremble.

"Just with that single flick, a crack split open on the teacup, and a blast of chill swept directly across the ground."

"That was simply not the internal energy a living person should have. My Lei family ancestors also practiced the peripheral spells of the Lushan Sect, and that tiny bit of true qi in my dantian instantly froze in the face of that chill, without even the slightest room for resistance."

He turned his head, his single eye staring fixedly at Dazhuang under the dim moonlight.

"That woman has not a shred of living breath. You want to use this broken native firelock to shoot her? You couldn't even scratch her protective aura!"

After hearing this, the three subordinates in the room were completely dumbfounded.

Haozi even forgot to wail, his mouth wide open, his whole body stiff.

Second Master Lei took a breath and continued:

"And that young man, do you think he's some rich young master who can't even tie a chicken? As he sat there, the blood qi on his body was burning hot."

"And that long canvas bag he carried on his back, if I'm not mistaken, what's inside is definitely not some foreign gun or artillery."

"That is a consecrated Taoist ritual sword, with lightning faintly flickering on the blade, and a compelling, oppressive aura."

Second Master Lei closed his eyes, as if making a final, despairing judgment.

"If these two make a move, the four of us, along with this wooden stilted building, will be chopped into a pile of black charcoal by that ritual sword within three seconds."

"If you want to die, don't drag your brothers down to be buried with you."

Dazhuang was completely cowed this time.

He obediently engaged the safety of the native firelock, shoved the barrel back into his lower back, and slumped onto the bench like a deflated ball.

"Second Master. We can't beat them in a fight, and we don't dare rob them."

"Then what do we do? Just watch Haozi wait for death?"

Second Master Lei stood up and walked to the old wooden-latticed window.

Outside the window, the night fog of the West Mountain was as thick as an unmelting white city wall.

The sound of the wind was like ghosts crying, echoing back and forth across the valley.

He reached out and touched the half-sheet sheepskin water system map inside his chest, his single eye once again gathering a glint of deep and treacherous calculation.

"Business in this world doesn't necessarily have to rely on robbing; a mutually beneficial exchange is the long-term plan for survival."

Second Master Lei turned around, looked at the three subordinates in the darkness, his tone turning calm and full of certainty.

"Their trip this time must also be targeted at the Unfading Bone in the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Gu Demon Cave."

"With the Age-Suppressing Key in hand, they can indeed avoid the peripheral poisonous miasma, but how complex is the terrain of the Ten Thousand Gu Demon Cave? The outer perimeter is wrapped in a thirty-meter-deep Ten Thousand People Mud Swamp."

He reached out a finger and tapped his own chest.

"This Ten Thousand People Mud Swamp was formed over two thousand years by rainwater mixed with the corpse mud of mass graves."

"Countless white bones and poisonous waters float on top, without a single solid foothold."

"Even if a great celestial immortal arrives there, without our Mud and Water Travelers' water-parting and mud-avoiding needles, no matter how heaven-defying their methods are, they can forget about crossing that mud pool."

Dazhuang's eyes lit up instantly.

"Second Master means... we use our mud-digging arts in hand to trade with them?"

Second Master Lei sneered.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll pack our bags and follow not too far behind their vehicle."

"When they enter the mountains and are blocked dead in their tracks by that Ten Thousand People Mud Swamp, completely at a wit's end, we'll show up and reveal our trump card."

He picked up his dry tobacco pipe again, toying with it in his hands.

"Providing charcoal in the snow is far more pragmatic than adding flowers to embroidery; we'll use the craftsmanship of the Mud and Water Travelers to pave a mud path for them leading to the underground palace."

"In exchange, they must take us into the core area together, to get the heart blood of that poisonous insect to cure Haozi's illness. Everyone takes what they need, win-win cooperation; this is our only way out."

The atmosphere in the room instantly relaxed.

Having found a shred of vitality in the desperate situation, the eyes of the four grave robbers reignited with a desire for survival.

Haozi leaned against the wall, letting out a long breath.

"We'll follow Second Master's arrangements entirely."

Second Master Lei walked to the table and blew out the half-section oil lamp on the coffee table in one breath.

The entire Room 204 instantly plunged into pure darkness.

Outside the window, the mountain wind, carrying the shrill cries of night owls, lingered and hovered over Laoya Ridge for a long time.

Several bolts of startling thunder rumbled faintly behind the distant ridgeline.