Chapter 1 The Art of Dead Men

A person who spends enough time in the martial world learns how to communicate with the dead.

The dead don't speak, but they can still tell the living many things.

Moreover, the dead are often more honest than the living...

At that moment, Song Wuqi was already dead, and standing around his corpse were all living people.

These living people had come to examine the corpse after seeking Yuan Mengzhu's (Alliance Master Yuan's) instructions.

Without a doubt… they were all experts in this field.

In just a few minutes, these people gleaned a great deal of information from the body that had been broken into two pieces.

"If I remember correctly… fifteen years ago, Song Wuqi was already thirty-seven years old."

"Yes, he was already thirty-seven years old."

"He practiced hidden weapons."

"He only practiced hidden weapons."

"Hidden weapon skills are easy to learn but difficult to master."

"Reaching the pinnacle of hidden weapon skills is extremely difficult."

"For those who practice hidden weapon skills, after the age of forty, their external skills and cultivation realm usually don't improve any further."

"But now, this fifty-two-year-old Song Wuqi's external skills are even better than before..."

"Internal energy… likewise."

After examining the corpse, those people began to chatter amongst themselves in front of Yuan Mengzhu.

Their conclusion was obvious—during these fifteen years, Song Wuqi must have received guidance from an expert, which was why he was able to elevate his martial arts to a new realm at an age when his physical strength and energy had already passed their peak.

Of course… even if Song Wuqi had transformed from a quasi-first-rate expert into a first-rate expert, he still couldn't escape the fate of being instantly killed by Yuan Qi.

"Esteemed heroes!" Before long, Yuan Mengzhu had organized his thoughts, and using his internal energy, he spoke loudly to his fellow martial artists, "Everyone has seen…" His tone was clearly inflammatory, "Not to mention how that 'Yan Wang' (King of Hell) has shielded countless martial arts scoundrels and beasts in human clothing over the years, just look at this Song Wuqi… fifteen years after entering the valley, his martial arts have actually greatly improved!"

At this point, the crowd had already begun to murmur amongst themselves.

"From this, it seems… that Burial Heart Valley is simply a place to hide filth and cultivate evil!" Yuan Qi had been the Martial Arts Alliance Master for ten years, and based on his experience, some things had to be spelled out; because there were indeed many people who were so stupid that they wouldn't understand unless you made it clear to them, "Presumably, the other scoundrels who have fled into the valley are all like this Song Wuqi… they have already received the guidance of that 'Yan Wang' and greatly increased their power. Heroes… you must not be careless!"

When the words were spoken to this extent, naturally everyone understood.

"Thank you, Alliance Master, for the reminder!"

"Alliance Master is insightful and far-sighted, I admire him!"

There were also quite a few people who seized the opportunity to flatter him.

As for the Hell Frontline party…

"Let's go," Feng Bujue suddenly suggested.

"Eh? Aren't we going to follow them?" Hua Jian asked suspiciously, "So many free cannon fodder."

"These people can't be relied on at all," Jue Ge (Brother Jue) shook his head, lazily replying, "They gathered here, some are for the 'art of immortality,' which is for 'profit'; and some are to stand out in this operation, which is for 'fame.'" He paused, "Whether it's for fame or for profit, in the final analysis, they are all pursuing desire, not belief. When people reach the critical moment of life and death, even belief may not be reliable, let alone desire… Simply put, if the situation starts to worsen, being with these people… will instead be a hidden worry."

His teammates listened to his words, pondering for a moment.

A few seconds later, Ruoyu was the first to speak, "That makes sense… the alliance formed by these gangs is already very fragile. Every sect, every person has their own selfish motives. Now they feel that the situation is advantageous, so they follow behind Yuan Mengzhu, flaunting their power, thinking that they can get a share of the spoils afterwards… but once the situation changes, these people will show their true colors." She paused for half a second, looking at Xiao Tan and Hua Jian as she continued, "For example… the sects that have a better relationship may unite to frame some sects that are at odds with them, or take advantage of small sects with little power… forcibly making the other party act as cannon fodder."

"Uh…" Xiao Tan's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, "'Small sects with little power'… then that must be Broken Sword Teahouse…"

"What is Broken Sword Teahouse?" Hua Jian asked suspiciously.

"Hehe… we are the Broken Sword Teahouse," Feng Bujue replied with a smile.

"Huh?" Hua Jian was stunned for a moment, but she quickly thought of what Ruoyu had said earlier… about having been to this world before, and she immediately said, "Oh… is that the identity you used the last time you came to this world?"

"That's right, I'm the master, and you're all my disciples," Feng Bujue said, and he even raised his hand to gesture towards Ruoyu, "This is the master's wife."

"Isn't the setting of 'master's wife' no longer necessary now?" Ruoyu said.

Indeed, in Cang Ling Town, Ruoyu had only acquiesced in order to cooperate with Feng Bujue in creating an excuse to kill.

"Don't worry about those details~" Feng Bujue spread his hands, responding with an expression that was enough to raise his cheapness value by ten percentage points.

"Alright, didn't you want us to leave the main force? Then hurry up and lead the way." Ruoyu didn't want to argue with him on this topic, so she brought the topic back, "I'm sure you've already thought about where to go before making this suggestion, right?"

"Hmph… of course," Feng Bujue tilted his head, glancing with his eyes at a patch of forest to the left of everyone, "Song Wuqi should have come from this way."

The teammates all looked over there, only seeing a jumble of trees and no obvious path.

However, after a few seconds, Xiao Tan widened his eyes and said, "Oh! There are indeed traces left behind!"

"What are you shouting for!" Feng Bujue quickly stepped forward and covered his mouth, "Are you afraid that others won't notice us?"

To be honest… no one was paying attention to them. The martial arts bigwigs in front were either solo experts who roamed the martial world, or sect leaders who controlled large sects, and the followers they brought with them were all the disciples or confidants with the highest seniority and martial arts in the sect. It could be said… that everyone gathered here today was the best of their generation. With such a group of people, where would they have the time to pay attention to a few unknown juniors like you? Who knew which remote sect you came from… people were rushing to show their faces and curry favor with the Alliance Master, you birds should stay wherever it's cool.

And so…

After a brief detour and observation, Feng Bujue and the others imperceptibly left the large group of several hundred people, and also left the main road that ran through the valley, turning into the mountains and forests.

…………

Like most experts who are good at using hidden weapons, Song Wuqi's lightness skill was not bad. In the complex terrain of the mountains and forests, it was difficult to trace the traces he left behind. Although Yuan Qi could use his internal energy to detect the other party's real-time location, he could not find out the route the other party had previously taken.

However… this matter was easy for Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzi.

One had a data perspective, and the other had eagle-eye vision. For them, the more complex the terrain, the lower the difficulty of tracking.

In short, after more than twenty minutes of trekking, the four members of Hell Frontline finally emerged from the dense forest and arrived at a relatively wide mountain depression.

At this time, the sun had completely set.

The light mist that had lost its sunlight presented a soft, cold tone similar to moonlight.

This mist light was bleak and beautiful.

The players' hearts seemed to have calmed down with the change in the surrounding colors.

"Tch… did he disappear…"

Finally, next to a small river, the traces left by Song Wuqi disappeared, and Brother Jue immediately spat unhappily.

"I don't think it matters," Hua Jian said at this time, "People live in this valley all year round, and those people's lives must be inseparable from water sources. As long as we walk upstream along the river, we should have a high chance of reaching the manor in the opening CG."

"That's right," Ruoyu also agreed with her deduction, "Perhaps the disappearance of Song Wuqi's traces here is precisely to imply… that he came along the river."

"That makes sense!" Xiao Tan also continued, "Maybe he has the kind of martial arts that can skim over the water, crossing the river with a single reed."

Feng Bujue heard this sentence, and immediately narrowed his eyes to look at Xiao Tan and said, "That's why you can't be a detective."

"Eh?" Xiao Tan replied, "Why?"

"Because people with a little bit of reasoning ability will consider… whether the other party came by raft or boat before thinking about crossing the river with a single reed," Feng Bujue's answer was to the point.

"That's not right," Xiao Tan asked again, "If Song Wuqi came by boat, then… where's the boat?"

"It was taken away by someone," Feng Bujue replied, "Who said that Song Wuqi had to row the boat down alone? It's normal for there to be other people on the boat, right?"

"Um…" Xiao Tan smiled awkwardly, "Hehe… that's right."

After complaining about his teammates, Brother Jue led the team upstream.

On this late autumn night, walking in the humid mist, the players' hair, faces, and clothes were naturally gradually covered with a layer of frost.

These waters quickly turned into wisps of coldness, making their spirits more refreshed.

Because the terrain by the river was relatively flat, the four people's speed was much faster than in the forest, and they walked several kilometers in less than half an hour.

Then, in front of them, a clear spring appeared.

It was a small pool surrounded by all kinds of strange rocks, with the river passing through both ends of the stone pool, with the terrain suddenly increasing at the upstream and gradually becoming gentler downstream.

At this moment, there was a figure… standing alone by the stone pool.

It was a thin figure, wearing a white long衫.

His left hand was placed behind his back, clenching his fist and supporting his waist, and his right hand… was holding a wine pot.

He silently looked at the stone pool in front of him, occasionally picking up the wine pot and taking a sip.

In the middle of the stone pool, there was only water, and there was no moon in the water. No one knew what he was looking at, and no one thought there was anything good to look at here.

But… he had been standing here with great interest for a long time, and he didn't seem to want to leave at all.

"Hmm?" When they were still a hundred meters away, the man noticed the players' presence.

But it wasn't until Feng Bujue and the others approached within ten meters that he slowly turned his head and said, "It really is… there are reunions everywhere in the world."

Before the other party opened his mouth, Brother Jue had already recognized him, so at this moment, Brother Jue calmly cupped his fists and bowed, "Feng, has met Cao Gonggong (Eunuch Cao)."

That's right, the person standing by the stone pool drinking wine was none other than Cao Qin.

"More than ten years have passed since we parted in the Forbidden City…" Cao Qin said, "Liao Zhu Feng (Master Feng) is indeed a peerless oddity, able to hide his name in the world and disappear without a trace for decades at a time… and each time he appears, he still looks the same, with his youth unchanged."

As he spoke, he turned around.

However, in the next second, Cao Qin's expression changed, and he let out a soft "Huh?"

"Hehe…" Feng Bujue smiled, he knew that the other party was confused because he saw that his teammates hadn't aged either, so he took the opportunity to explain, "Cao Gonggong guessed right… the martial arts of my Broken Sword Teahouse lineage do have the effect of prolonging life, so my disciples are also like me…"

Unexpectedly, before he could finish his words, Cao Qin interrupted him, "Isn't your wife already dead?"

"Uh…" Feng Bujue suddenly remembered that when he fought Xu Huaishang one-on-one in the Forbidden City, in order to show off, he did say lines like "bury me with my wife," "...Well, actually she's not dead."

"Hmm?" Cao Qin asked suspiciously again, "Then that Miss Xu Huaishang back then, was she obsessing over you knowing that your wife wasn't dead?"

As soon as these words came out, the whole world… was silent.

About five seconds later, all the live broadcast platforms were like oil pots that had exploded, ushering in perhaps the most terrifying round of barrage outbreaks in the history of game competition live broadcasts.

"Oh?" Ruoyu glanced sideways expressionlessly, casting a murderous look at Brother Jue, "There's such a thing?"

"Yeah…" Hua Jian looked at him with some schadenfreude, "...There's such a thing?"

"Eh?" Xiao Tan curiously continued, "...There's such a thing?"

"No… that… actually…" Feng Bujue stammered to Cao Qin, "She didn't know she wasn't dead yet."

"Then why did you hide it?" Cao Qin said, "If you told that Miss Xu… that your wife wasn't dead, perhaps she wouldn't pester you anymore." He said to this point, as if he suddenly thought of something, "Wait… could it be that you were playing hard to get? Intentionally not telling her that your wife was still alive?" He paused, "Or… did Miss Xu already express to you that she was willing to be a concubine? So you went the other way?"

"Fuck…" Feng Bujue was shocked at the time, and he cursed inwardly, "Can't you shut your dead eunuch mouth? Are you going to grow another organ if you say less? You're so gossipy and melodramatic at such an old age, and your memory is so damn good… are you trying to kill me?"

"Hmm…" At this time, Ruoyu muttered thoughtfully from the side, "I seem to suddenly understand… why you would casually call her the Fourth Concubine in the Harem City."

In fact, she probably already guessed that this matter was just a misunderstanding by the NPCs, but… the opportunity to tease Feng Bujue in public like this was really rare, and Ruoyu didn't want to miss it.

"That… Cao Gonggong ah…" Feng Bujue held back for a long time, and finally squeezed out a sentence, "...Can we talk about something else? Like the weather or something?"

"Weather?" Cao Qin was stunned when he heard this, and then he looked up at the glowing mist above his head, and then "Hehe…" twice, and took a sip of wine, looking up. Then, he actually continued with a complaining tone, "...I'm also drunk."