The winter in Bazhou, especially after nightfall, was both damp and cold, damp enough to easily soak through one's clothes and cold enough to make ordinary people, and even some ability users, shiver.
Although Tang Zhou was enduring through his strong physique, he hadn't eaten for nine hours and had been in a state of high mental alertness and searching, which had greatly depleted his physical strength.
Fortunately, after he had slain a demon bear, he had tidied up its cave, which should allow him to spend the night with his uncle.
However, when he returned to his original location, he couldn't see Tang Shuntian from a distance.
Tang Zhou frowned slightly. He crept closer to the thicket but couldn't spot Tang Shuntian's conspicuous military uniform.
"Oh no... could he have been attacked by a beast?" Tang Zhou's heart tightened. He hurried forward until he noticed a few peculiar spots.
"What is this..." Tang Zhou gently took out his phone, which had little battery life left, and examined the ground closely with the faint light. He saw several deep but relatively narrow holes, resembling those dug by rats, but the soil color around these holes was clearly different from the surrounding soil.
It was evident these were traces left by some kind of demon beast.
Just as Tang Zhou was about to activate his spiritual sense to scan the surroundings, a thin hand suddenly shot out from the bushes and pulled the completely focused Tang Zhou, who was watching the distance, into them.
Tang Zhou was about to struggle when he met Tang Shuntian's serious gaze.
"Uncle?! You're alright..."
"Shh..."
Tang Shuntian covered Tang Zhou's mouth and then gestured for Tang Zhou to look forward.
Tang Zhou peered closely in the moonlight and saw a strange scene: a monster, a fat man, and a thin man were watching several ghastly figures digging pits.
"Uncle... what is this?"
"These are two of the Ten Kings of Yanluo Hall, the King of the Metropolis and the King of Biancheng," Tang Shuntian whispered. "As for that thin man, I seem to have seen him before, but I can't recall who he is..."
"People from Yanluo Hall?!" Tang Zhou almost summoned his ability weapon upon hearing this. "What should we do?"
"Hide. We can't beat them if we fight now. Let's see what they're trying to do, and then figure out a way to leave here without alerting them."
Tang Shuntian held his breath, waiting for whatever was happening in the distance, his mind racing to understand Yanluo Hall's purpose for being there.
...
Meanwhile, after the three had moved to several more locations, the King of Biancheng suddenly spoke, "King of the Metropolis, why are you taking so long to find this thing? Aren't you just blindly groping around?"
"What do you know? It's because the Wu clan bloodline within me is still too thin, otherwise, I could have found it directly."
"What we're looking for is related to the Wu clan?"
"The relics of the first Wu King."
Although the King of Biancheng said nothing outwardly, he was already calculating how many benefits he could reap.
The Wu clan was one of the "Eastern Demons, Western Devils, Southern Witches, Northern Monsters, and Central Hundred Ghosts" of the Dragon Country. In their prime, they were a great clan on par with the demon, devil, monster, and ghost clans.
Although the Wu clan looked human, their source of power was different from humans, more akin to demons – bloodline became the key to their strength.
Legend had it that most of the ancient Wu clan looked like taller and stronger humans. They had appeared when humans were still eating raw meat and drinking blood. They mostly possessed powerful physiques and abilities, and they could also communicate with specific deities, thus invoking divine punishment or bestowing divine blessings.
Such means could help the Wu clan grow strong rapidly, but it also had a fatal drawback – once a large number of Wu clan members, who were the inheritors themselves, died, the Wu clan would rapidly decline and find it difficult to rise again.
The last truly formidable Wu clan in history was Meng Huo, the King of the Southern Barbarians who revolted with blood sorcery during the Three Kingdoms period, but in reality, Meng Huo was a mixed-blood of the Wu clan and humans.
Therefore, no one knew where the true terror of the Wu clan lay anymore.
"Wait a moment."
The two looked over as the King of Biancheng spoke, "I sense an extremely powerful and familiar spiritual energy nearby."
"This operation must be conducted in secret. We either wait for the aura to disappear or find a way to eliminate it," said Adjutant Zhuang.
"You guys keep digging, I'll go check."
With that, the King of the Metropolis extended his claws and slowly walked towards the surroundings.
...
Seeing the King of the Metropolis approaching him, Tang Zhou could only slowly and laboriously retreat deeper into the bushes to avoid attracting the attention of her companions.
Tang Shuntian, meanwhile, looked at his broken saber, calculating if he could escort Tang Zhou back to Badong City alive.
However, in the end, Tang Shuntian's blood smell attracted the King of the Metropolis's attention.
Her six spider eyes glanced discreetly into the bushes, then pretended not to see anything as she continued to search around the mountaintop. In reality, she turned and circled behind Tang Shuntian and Tang Zhou.
...
Mo Chuan arrived at the mountainside and was about to land when he heard the automatic voice left by the system:
"Beep! Mission issued: [Bashu Ruins · Two · Bronze Mask].
Mission Description: Within the mountains of the barren hills northwest of Badong City lies an ancient bronze mask, which seems to hide a great secret.
Stage Two Reward: Random Hero Card."
After reading the information, Mo Chuan subconsciously scanned his surroundings and happened to detect two extremely powerful yet chaotic spiritual energies, both of which were very familiar to Mo Chuan.
"What? The King of the Metropolis... and the King of Biancheng? What are they doing here?" Mo Chuan squinted slightly, staring at the mountaintop through rocks and moss.
"It seems the system has given me a big task..." Mo Chuan looked at the gold coins that had automatically arrived in his account and pondered what to do.
"It's possible that our goals are the same. I'll get the mask first and then see if I should confront them."
With this thought, Mo Chuan pointed in the direction indicated by the mission and said to Ronnie, "Dig here, we need to find something."
Ronnie, being a professional in civil engineering (not!) and a sand and stone elementalist, handled the earth and rocks with ease.
However, just as the two were halfway through digging, a strong spiritual energy collision attracted everyone's attention.
"Father-in-law?!" Mo Chuan looked up in disbelief. "Why is he here??"
"Let's go, stop digging, quick, let's go see what's happening!"