BXBX NOVEL Chapter 492: Someone Is Here
Jumping off the back of the spirit beast, Zhang Xuan took in a deep breath and immediately felt the dense spiritual energy in the surroundings. The concentration of spiritual energy here was indeed much higher than anywhere else.
"It’s nearly twofold!" Zhang Xuan evaluated.
It was no wonder why Jin Conghai and Luo Zhu said that there were many spirit beasts here. With such dense spiritual energy, one’s rate of cultivation would definitely be fast. Under such circumstances, it wasn’t surprising for spirit beasts to be attracted to the region.
Regardless of whether it was a spirit beast or savage beast, just like humans, they preferred areas with high concentration of spiritual energy.
Activating the Eye of Insight, Zhang Xuan surveyed the surroundings.
As expected, he saw the traces of many savage beasts and spirit beasts.
"Hmm? Why are there so many footprints?"
Suddenly, Zhang Xuan’s eyes fell on a particular spot.
No too far away, on top of the claw prints of spirit beasts, he noticed some human footprints as well. There were nearly ten of such trails, and judging from the moisture of the surrounding ground, those footprints seemed to be freshly made.
"Someone has just walked by here. Could they know about the soul oracle tomb as well?"
Seeing those footprints, Jin Conghai’s eyebrows knitted together.
A radius of two kilometers was about the limit of the Demon Cinque Beast’s perception. Before such danger, one should be eager to escape as far as possible. Why would anyone walk in to court their deaths?
Unless there was a greater profit driving them... In other words, there was a good chance that someone knew about the existence of the soul oracle tomb as well.
This ancient occupation might be mysterious and feared, but it was still a trove of knowledge and power. Many experts would definitely rush in if they were to learn of the location of the tomb.
It was just like how the auction of the Soulless Metal Humanoid managed to attract the attention of so many powers.
"Impossible! The location of the soul oracle tomb is deeply hidden. Even I had to spend a very long time searching before finding it despite possessing some hints on its location. Besides, when I left the tomb, I sealed tightly and concealed it..."
Luo Zhu shook his head.
The inheritance of the soul oracles had been severed since ancient times. The only reason why he could find the soul oracle tomb was due to some information he retrieved from another ancient tomb.
The seniors of the ancient tomb’s owner had participated in the building of the soul oracle tomb, and they had left behind some hints on its location inside. It took him great effort to decipher the clues to pinpoint the soul oracle tomb to this area.
He didn’t think that there would be another person who would be as lucky as him.
"Then those footprints..." Jin Conghai questioned doubtfully.
"I have no idea either..." Even though he was certain that the location of the soul oracle tomb wouldn’t be exposed, he couldn’t help but feel slightly worried by those fresh footprints.
"Are these footprints pointed toward the direction of the soul oracle tomb?" Zhang Xuan asked.
After calculating the direction for a moment, Luo Zhu replied, "... That’s right."
"There’s no point thinking about it here. Let’s go up and take a look!" Zhang Xuan waved his hands.
There was no point getting distressed over the matter here. If someone had really beaten them to it, they might as well just go forward to take a look. It would be best if they could share some information regarding the soul oracle tomb, and if not, he would find some way to deal with it then.
Besides, these footprints did not necessarily mean that those people were headed for the soul oracle tomb.
"Un!"
Everyone nodded, and the group proceeded forward.
"The number of footprints are increasing..."
The further they advanced, the more footprints that appeared. It seemed like quite a substantial group was gathered here.
Analyzing the footprints, Jin Conghai said, "These footprints are extremely light, and the distance between every single footprint is almost identical... This means that those people possess a powerful control over the environment. From this, we can conclude the ones who left the footsteps behind were mostly Transcendent Mortal 2-dan or 3-dan experts!"
As a poison master, he was often pursued by his enemies. Thus, in order to protect himself, he had specially studied tracking skills, granting him exceptional acuity in his assessment toward such matters.
"Un!" Zhang Xuan nodded.
Zhang Xuan had never studied books regarding tracking, but based on the feedback from the Eye of Insight, he came to the same conclusion as well.
Knowing that the other party was a large group of experts, Jin Conghai’s face turned grim. As he advanced forward, he sent a telepathic message to Zhao Feiwu.
"Gongzi, if there is any danger, summon the tamed beast immediately and leave along with the rest!"
Zhao Feiwu turned to him and asked, "What about you?"
"Even though my fighting prowess isn’t top-notch in the Myriad Kingdom Alliance, I still do possess some life-preserving skills. If I have to take care of the rest of you while in danger, none of us will survive!" Jin Conghai said.
As a poison master, it wouldn’t be easy to kill him.
The one thing that poison masters didn’t fear at all was encirclement.
"Alright!" Seeing that the other party had already made up his mind, Zhao Feiwu nodded.
Even though plundering was rare under the influence of the Master Teacher Pavilion, it didn’t mean that it didn’t happen at all.
If they were to come under attack in the wilderness, there would be no one to redress their grievances.
Even if she was the princess of the Myriad Kingdom Alliance, considering how difficult it would be to trace down the culprits, it was unlikely that the enemies would give them any slack.
"You all be careful as well!"
Zhang Xuan turned to instruct Zhao Ya and the others as well before walking in front of them.
Even if he were to meet with danger, with the Eye of Insight, Library of Heaven’s Path, and Heaven’s Path Movement Art, he was still able to take care of himself. However, his students had just achieved a breakthrough not too long ago, and they had yet to reach Transcendent Mortal realm as well. Thus, they might be unable to cope.
"Yes!"
Seeing their teacher’s back in front of them, Zhao Ya and the others found their anxiety disappearing.
Their teacher’s silhouette felt like a reliable mountain to them. Regardless of where they were, as long as their teacher was with them, they felt as though there was nothing that they couldn’t overcome.
After carefully advancing forward for around a kilometer, the group passed a ridge and saw a valley before them.
The valley was extremely deep, and they couldn’t see the end at a single glance. It was filled with all kinds of trees and plants, and due to the high concentration of spiritual energy, they were exceptionally lush. At this point, the footprints from before disappeared as well.
Luo Zhu walked forward and said, "Zhang shi, the soul oracle tomb is within the valley..."
"Un!" Zhang Xuan nodded his head. He was just about to instruct the group to be careful when ’huala!’, a few figures appeared from the bushes and blocked the advance of the group.
"Identify yourselves!"
Hostility could be heard the other party’s deep voice.
Zhang Xuan glanced at the few figures before him.
There was a total of six men, and all of them were in their thirties. Vaguely, one could sense an aura no weaker than a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan from them. The strongest of them, a gray-robed man, had even reached Transcendent Mortal 3-dan, Yin-Yang realm.
With this kind of strength, he was on par even with that 4-star master teacher Zhang Xuan met before, Song Chao.
"Who are you all?"
Stepping forward, Jin Conghai revealed his cultivation. "What do you all intend to do by hiding here?"
"Transcendent Mortal 4-dan?"
Upon feeling the immense strength Jin Conghai was exerting, the faces of the men paled. They glanced at one another, and eventually, the gray-robed man said, "Elder, our elders are currently doing something inside and they mustn’t be interrupted now. I beseech you all to take a detour instead!"
"Detour?"
Frowning, Jin Conghai’s face darkened. "We have matters to attend inside as well, I ask of you to give way!"
"Elder, do you intend to barge through?"
Seeing that the other party had no intention to give in, the men’s complexion turned awful.
Hualala!
Crisp sounds echoed in the air as they drew their swords.
Even though they were only Transcendent Mortal 2-dan and 3-dan cultivators, they had no intention of stepping back either.
"Hah! Even if I do intend to barge through, do you all think you can stop me?"
With a powerful and authoritative disposition, Jin Conghai stepped forward.