"What is it you want?" James asked instead. Since Old Yu had already made his stance clear — that they stood in a cooperative relationship — there was no longer much need to fear that he would turn on them.

"That is none of your concern," Old Yu said indifferently. "Just say yes, or no. My patience has its limits!"

"Fine!" Old Hei smiled bitterly, thinking: And what choice do we have? If we refuse, we will most likely all die here. An Earth-rank expert — we wouldn't even have the room to resist.

"Good. Then this matter is settled." Old Yu nodded. "You two are sharper than that Little Hao. At least you don't go in for all that hiding and concealing..."

"Did I agree?" At that moment, Wei Zhao suddenly cut in.

"Huh?" Both Old Hei and James were startled.

"Boy, do you want to die?" Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Old Yu felt as though he had been grossly insulted. He turned his head and glared at Wei Zhao in fury. "Don't imagine I don't dare kill you!"

"You can't kill me. At worst, I'll play my true-qi bomb trick once more and blow you straight to death," Wei Zhao said lightly.

"True-qi bomb?" Old Yu was taken aback. "That thing you used just now was a true-qi bomb, not explosives?"

"Are you brain-dead? Who carries explosives around with them?" Wei Zhao curled his lip.

"I never expected it, boy — you've got some skill!" Old Yu frowned. "I don't believe you can pull it off a second time..."

"Feel free to try," Wei Zhao said indifferently. "Why waste so many words?"

"What exactly do you want?" Old Yu had been blown up badly enough by Wei Zhao before, and he was still somewhat wary of that true-qi bomb of his; he did not dare test it lightly. In Old Yu's eyes, he himself was fine porcelain, while these tomb robbers were madmen — who knew whether they might do something that harmed others without benefiting themselves, a business of mutual death? So Old Yu truly did not dare try it a second time.

"First tell me what exactly it is you want," Wei Zhao said.

Old Yu's expression shifted slightly; he looked rather aggrieved. But after brooding for a long while, he said, "It is said that Zhang Liju was highly skilled in medicine, and that he once refined Qi-Gathering Pills for certain cultivators. Very likely, finished Qi-Gathering Pills still remain in his tomb!"

"Qi-Gathering Pill?" Wei Zhao was slightly startled. He seemed to have heard that name before — seen it in some record of strange tales — but it had left no great impression on him. He only remembered that it seemed to be of benefit to cultivators.

"If there is one, I will take it. If there is not, I will take nothing at all," Old Yu said.

"What is this Qi-Gathering Pill used for?" Wei Zhao asked.

"There is no harm in telling you. It can help an expert at the peak of the late Earth-rank break through their bottleneck and step into the ranks of Heaven-rank!" Old Yu said. "Even if you obtained it, it would be of no use to you!"

"Whoa—" Even Old Hei and James, who were no cultivators, showed expressions of astonishment. To be able to help a cultivator at the peak of the late Earth-rank break through their bottleneck and enter Heaven-rank — what manner of formidable medicine was that?

If this pill were placed on the market, it would be no wonder if it fetched an astronomical price; it would not be an exaggeration to call it a priceless treasure! Surely those hidden clans and sects would break their heads trying to obtain this pill, willing to pay any price, however great, to get it in hand.

One might say that the value of all the antiques in this ancient tomb together was not equal to that of a single Qi-Gathering Pill. But this Qi-Gathering Pill — even if you had the luck to get it in hand, you would not have the luck to sell it! The affairs of hidden clans and sects were not something a band of tomb robbers could handle.

These people killed without blinking an eye, more ruthless than tomb robbers like themselves — how would they dare do business with them? So this thing was only something to dream about; if you truly took it in hand, you would only fear bringing disaster upon yourself. If they themselves were also cultivators or members of a clan, then of course business would be done fairly. But if not — well, sorry, the only option was to kill the man and seize the pill.

And over there, Yu Xiaoke, Qiu Lingshan, and Chen Yutian were also stunned, finding it almost unbelievable. In this world there actually existed such a formidable medicine? One that could let an expert at the peak of the late Earth-rank break through their bottleneck?

"Oh." Wei Zhao nodded disapprovingly. "And what if there are two? Would you take only one, then?"

Old Yu's expression changed at once, and he felt somewhat out of sorts. What was wrong with this kid? Did he not know how to behave? He himself had said he would take only one thing, but if there were two pills, then naturally he would take them both as well! "One thing" was merely a manner of speaking — it did not mean he would take only a single item of that thing!

"Nonsense, naturally I would take them both — that counts as one thing," Old Yu snorted.

"Is that so? Then apart from this one thing, you want nothing else?" Wei Zhao said coldly. "You have already gone back on your word. I find it very hard to believe in your credibility. You are a man utterly without honor. If you change your mind then, what recourse would I have?"

"Since you know there is no recourse, why ask?" Old Yu was about to die of rage. Was there something wrong with this kid? He knew there was no recourse, yet he still asked such pointless questions?

"Then you admit it — apart from this one thing, you are still interested in other things?" Wei Zhao sneered. "If I have guessed right, you have other, more important things to obtain, and this Qi-Gathering Pill is merely a blind. Such a precious Qi-Gathering Pill, and yet you announced its efficacy without the slightest scruple — you are no fool, so are you not afraid we will covet it? There can be only one purpose behind your doing this: to divert our attention, to make us ignore something even more important. Am I right?"

Old Yu's expression turned somewhat ugly. He had not expected Wei Zhao to analyze it so thoroughly, to lay his heart completely bare! And Wei Zhao was not wrong in the least. This time, what the Yu family plotted was absolutely not so simple as a Qi-Gathering Pill — there were other things as well!

But this other thing was reproducible. So Old Yu did not wish to speak of it; if the others then proposed that a copy be made for each of them, he would be in an awkward position.

If, after entering the ancient tomb, they could come out smoothly, then Old Yu naturally would not care. What he feared was that once inside, getting out would not be so easy — and at that point he could not afford to offend these tomb robbers, for otherwise, no matter how high his strength, he would not understand these trap mechanisms and secret passages!

Just as today: easy to enter, hard to leave. Even an Earth-rank expert like Old Yu did not dare be careless. So he decided that after entering the tomb, under the pretext of searching for the Qi-Gathering Pill, he would secretly slip that item into his pocket. It was not very large in volume anyway, and with the skill of an Earth-rank expert, such a thing would be as easy as turning his hand.

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