Chapter 152

After listening to Gongyi Tianheng's words, Gu Zuo let out a long, long sigh.

Tianheng smiled and said: "This time is all thanks to Ah Zuo. If not, I'm afraid I really would've died here."

Gu Zuo also felt it was very dangerous, but after calming down, he didn't feel that Tianheng would've really died. After all, this big brother of his possessed the Tiandu Body. Because Huangfu Zhanghao, who'd been touched by his light, had that kind of luck, Tianheng's innate luck was naturally even stronger. There should've been many matters where misfortunes would turn into blessings.

But then he thought better of it. Perhaps, Gu Zuo himself being able to sense it this time was considered a type of "luck"? But that kind of matter was truly too far-fetched, and he couldn't think of a reason why. If he was given a choice again, he would still come to the rescue — No matter how good one's luck, if a person didn't do their best nor grab every opportunity, it would've all been in vain.

After thinking about this, Gu Zuo asked: "What about Bao You?"

A slave could obey an order outwardly, but reject it inwardly. Because of Bao You's small-mindedness, he hadn't reported in time, which caused them to meet this tribulation. They couldn't let him off so casually.

When he thought about it, he almost lost the chance to see his dear big brother ever again. His mood was very gloomy up until now.

Gongyi Tianheng's eyes revealed a trace of coldness: "Even though we're out of danger this time, he should also receive punishment. When a subordinate acts of their own accord during inappropriate times, they can negatively affect larger matters. One cannot be excessively tolerant."

Gu Zuo saw Tianheng act this way and asked curiously: "Did he give a report to big brother afterwards?"

Tianheng faintly nodded: "I already suspected that he'd gone wrong. While you were cutting open that wild beast, he came to speak to me in detail. Right now, I'm punishing him so that he can't carry medicinal pills. If he wants to make an exchange, he must do double the work. Once we return, I'll also have Dragon One give him fifty lashes."

Gu Zuo's little heart trembled.

Fifty lashes… It would be really painful. Ah, that punishment wasn't light.

Merely, he also understood. If the deceit within Bao You's nature couldn't be suppressed, when instructing them to handle matters in the future, the one to suffer harm would be his closest person.

However, Gu Zuo didn't know that after Bao You received this kind of punishment, he instead let out a sigh of relief.

Because of his dereliction of duty, he almost caused his master's death. If he was another person's slave, perhaps he would've been immediately beheaded. Here, he still had the opportunity to make amends for his wrongdoing. This was really rare. Although he couldn't get those top-notch medicinal pills, wasn't he able to use other ways to exchange for them? Fifty lashes also wasn't a big deal. After being punished, he could endure for half a month.

But in his heart, he indeed suppressed some small thoughts.

He truly didn't want to encounter such a situation again… His life was connected to his current master. A moment of neglect would cause him to drop dead. Then, it would be over!

After this matter pa.s.sed, Dragon One and Dragon Two didn't need to dwell on it. Liu Bao and He Wu were even more careful — Bao You's experience also served the purpose of setting an example.

They were all people who had a clear view of things. This was further proof that they could only follow Gongyi Tianheng on his journey to the end.

Gu Zuo was thinking just then, but as he saw Tianheng suddenly turn to the side and walk away, he couldn't help staring blankly: "Where's big brother going?"

Tianheng pointed towards that direction: "That Spirit-Grade wild beast had entrenched itself here for a long time. Ah Zuo, could it be that you don't want to take a look at how big of a h.o.a.rd it has?"

Gu Zuo's eyes shined: "I want to look!”

Gongyi Tianheng smiled: "Then, let's go!"

Gu Zuo naturally scampered over, and hurriedly followed after him.

Two slaves were sent first to guard the cavern previously packed with over a hundred wild wolves. Dragon Two, Liu Bao, and several wild bears guarded the area outside of the beast's cave lair. Meanwhile, Dragon One followed Tianheng and Gu Zuo into the cave itself.

The Spirit-Grade wild beast's lair was very large. It looked like it had been excavated into the mountain wall, but it also appeared naturally formed. After going in, both sides had many dim, flickering lights. Their noses could also smell the faint stench of blood.

Gu Zuo took a cursory glance to the left and right, and discovered that those lights were a type of medicinal herb called Luminous Gra.s.s. Luminous Gra.s.s was a kind of medicinal primer that could raise the pill success rate. Normally, it was a rare sight, but at this time, its growth blanketed the mountain walls. The illumination of the entire cave made so it wasn't dim or hard to see things.

Gongyi Tianheng patted Gu Zuo's head: "Ah Zuo, what are you looking at?"

Gu Zuo pointed at the mountain walls: "Luminous Gra.s.s. It's useless to me, but it can be sold!"

Tianheng broke into laughter: "Then will Ah Zuo go to harvest them now?"

Gu Zuo hurriedly shook his head: "I'll look elsewhere first, and harvest these at the end!"

Tianheng patted his head again, and moved forwards with large strides: "Alright."

Gu Zuo covered his head and followed after with small steps.

The cave was very big, but it wasn't too deep. After Gu Zuo used his psychic power to sweep through the interior, he immediately found that there were many precious herbs, which were usually quite rare.

Gu Zuo promptly dashed over, and used harvesting methods he already learned. With the utmost care, he plucked them one by one. Then he delivered them into the storage s.p.a.ce, which had an automatic preservation function.

One stalk, two stalks, three stalks…five stalks…ten stalks!

Gu Zuo's eyes shined as he relentlessly plucked clean all the medicinal herbs that were already mature!

There was no need to tempt fate.

This was also an opportunity! Ah, the Tiandu Body's luck was really too powerful!

Tianheng watched that eager look of his and raised an eyebrow.

Following which, Tianheng walked straight to a sunken area.

This sunken area was undoubtedly where that Spirit-Grade wild beast slept. There was a touch of fire qi that couldn't be missed down below. A Spirit-Grade wild beast wouldn't build its own lair arbitrarily. If it was built, there was certainly something that attracted it here. Although this place had lots of medicinal herbs, they weren't ones that the Spirit-Grade wild beast had to guard over. In that case, why did it build a nest here?

Tianheng jumped, plunging into that sunken area. He started to slowly search. It was a higher probability that what should've been concealed in the depths here was a ley line…

On that side, Gu Zuo had already finished harvesting all the mature medicinal herbs. He turned his head and looked to Tianheng: "Big brother, what did you find?"

Gongyi Tianheng murmured somewhat: "Ah Zuo, come here."

Gu Zuo naturally came over without delay.

Tianheng said: "Ah Zuo, try using your psychic power to probe underground."

Gu Zuo nodded his head. His thoughts moved and the s.p.a.ce between his eyebrows heated up. A strand of intangible power surged out and instantly formed a large net along the ground. Then, it sank straight down.

Facts had shown that novices couldn't work as stably as veterans… Or to say, they were too impulsive. After Gu Zuo's psychic power continued going down, it suddenly ran into something and was promptly extinguished by that something. This caused his head to feel extreme pain, and he immediately toppled backwards and fell down.

"Ah, it hurts!" A miserable shout also promptly escaped his lips.

Fortunately, Gongyi Tianheng reacted quickly. The instant that Gu Zuo fell down, Tianheng used an arm to catch him. Soon after, he extended his fingers to press against Gu Zuo's temples, and exerted some strength to ma.s.sage them.

"Ah Zuo, what happened? Headache?"

Gu Zuo urgently panted: "Psychic power, my psychic power was destroyed!"

Tianheng startled slightly: "Is that important?"

Gu Zuo shook his head: "It's nothing. It just hurts a little. I'll be fine in a moment. Anyway, I came across a similar situation before…"

Tianheng's expression changed slightly: "Before?"

Gu Zuo responded with a chuckle. He talked about his own arrival here, being attacked by that Spirit-Grade wild beast's thoughts, and the resulting situation of having his probing psychic energy destroyed.

In fact, he already realized that he needed to be more careful at that time, but he didn't think that looking for an object in a place with obviously no danger would've led to his psychic power receiving an injury.

Tianheng's expression relaxed as he tapped Gu Zuo's forehead: "After this, you can't be so careless." Then he sighed, "This is also my fault. I shouldn't have told you to go."

Gu Zuo heard this, and hastily shook his head: "No, being able to help big brother makes me happy! What does my own carelessness have to do with big brother? If I just watch while big brother's preoccupied with a matter that I can do, then I would be too shameless."

Gongyi Tianheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I could say the same about myself."

Gu Zuo became a little embarra.s.sed, and his face reddened.

After the two had blamed themselves, this matter was uncovered.

Their attentions then returned to the matter at hand.

Gu Zuo said: "Something that can destroy my psychic power is certainly out of the ordinary. We'll need to dig it out to see if it had any use." He saw that Tianheng didn't oppose this, and boldly continued to speak, "Probably six… Oh, six and a half meters underground. When digging, we need to be extremely careful."

Tianheng nodded: "Ah Zuo, step back."

Gu Zuo obediently took many steps backwards.

No matter how substantiated his psychic attacks were, they weren't suited to manual labor. Let alone his own little arms and legs… As a result, he diligently waited on the side.

On the contrary, Dragon One immediately came over to help. At the same time, he let out a whistle to call in Dragon Two who was outside.

— This kind of matter was indeed one that he could only let the capable and devoted Tianlong Guard handle.

The movements of the three people were very fast.

Gongyi Tianheng grasped a long spear and only needed to send out qi energy. The frightful power promptly drilled into the ground, creating a pile of earth as he excavated. Meanwhile, Dragon One and Dragon Two both held hoes given by Gu Zuo and dug through the earth at speeds that weren't slow.

One could only hear clattering sounds while the numerous lumps of earth seemed like pieces of metal as they landed outside in a scattered heap.

Gu Zuo discovered that these pieces of soil appeared especially hard?

In other words, for some unknown reason, it had become very dense… This made him increasingly certain that there must've been a good thing below!

A long time later, that pit grew larger and deeper.

Gu Zuo took out an extremely thin strand of psychic power and extended it down in advance.

This time, he made some preparations and was very careful. After barely sensing that mysterious power, he quickly withdrew his psychic power!

"Big brother, be careful. It's only a meter away!" Gu Zuo couldn't help giving a warning.

Tianheng made an affirmative sound.

At this moment, the bodies of him, Dragon One, and Dragon Two were all already in the pit. While they could hear Gu Zuo's voice, they couldn't see his figure.

At last, a few minutes later, the silhouettes of those three suddenly appeared from that pit!

Their speed was extremely fast. Gongyi Tianheng fished up Gu Zuo, who was staying beside the hole, and carried him in a rapid retreat. They directly retreated to near the entrance of the cave!

Gu Zuo widened his eyes in amazement.

He saw it clearly. In that pit, a gout of incomparably hot and bright light shot out. In just the blink of an eye, it transformed the entire cavern into an ocean of heat!

Hot, too hot!

This kind of temperature seemed like it would roast them all up!

Almost instantly, everyone's clothes were drenched through.

This was the sweat they were perspiring. This was also the water within their bodies that had been steamed out under such a frightening power. It was something out of their control, where a moment of inattention would've… It was a sign that they would've been roasted alive.

Gu Zuo wanted to withdraw. He felt his parched throat, but still did his best to speak: "Big brother, let's get…" Out of here.

These words were never spoken. He found something out of place.

At this moment, Gongyi Tianheng's body seemed to be enshrouded in a layer of reddish-gold power!

Gu Zuo was about to cry out: "Big brother—" But he promptly swallowed his voice back.

Because Gu Zuo discovered that this layer of reddish-gold power, which seemed to be the heating agent that filled the cavern, had turned into a surging torrent that covered Gongyi Tianheng's body.

And these powers weren't stationary ones. Rather, they were continuously absorbed by Tianheng. They submerged into his pores and were a.s.similated.

At the same time, the heat within the cavern seemed to gradually wane bit by bit…

Gu Zuo slowly let out a breath, and said to Dragon One and Dragon Two, who were hesitating as if they didn't know how to handle this: "You guys, don't move big brother. This might be big brother's chance!"

At this moment, he remembered something.

Gongyi Tianheng had six sets of bone pearls. Among them, one set had absorbed poison. It was within Tianheng's predictions that the other four complete sets also should've been able to absorb some special powers.

For instance, did the reddish-gold power today happen to satisfy the bone pearls' requirements?

Whatever the case, since Tianheng didn't show the least bit of discomfort, Gu Zuo would let him continue absorbing it until his awakening!

Meanwhile, Gu Zuo slowly walked over to that big pit.

The heat ahead was still astonishing, but with Gongyi Tianheng gobbling up the power in the back, there were some cracks between the heat flows that weren't so hot. This allowed Gu Zuo to pa.s.s through.

Eventually, Gu Zuo arrived in front of that big pit. He lowered his head to take a look.

Tss! — He was blanketed by a wave of intense heat.

However, this didn't affect his line of sight.

Beneath the swathes of steaming heat that seemed to warp the air, at the bottom of that big pit was an unmoving chunk of stone.

It was a reddish-gold stone with a magnificent l.u.s.ter.

It was only about the size of the palm of his hand, but the heat it was emitting would shock a person to their core.

Unfortunately, Gu Zuo didn't recognize what this chunk of stone was. He thought back to those many item books of his, and found that this stone wasn't included in any book. In other words, it didn't have any medicinal value.

In that case, this was beyond his knowledge or authority.

Nevertheless, he understood that this chunk of stone was certainly extremely precious.

None of the ores that he'd seen previously were anything like this chunk of stone. After being exposed, just the unintentional emission of heat energy was practically able to roast them. If the bone pearls within Tianheng didn't take the initiative to gobble it up, they basically wouldn't have been able to approach the stone!

A little more than three hours pa.s.sed.

At last, the heat within the cavern dropped thoroughly and the entire cave had become cool and refreshing just like before the ground was excavated.

Of course, while Gu Zuo stood in front of the big pit, he could still sense the heat emitted from that reddish-gold stone at the bottom of the hole. Merely, this heat was considerably lower than just a while ago.

Gongyi Tianheng also finally opened his eyes.

Gu Zuo abruptly turned his head and their eyes locked gazes.

In a split second, Gu Zuo covered his own eyes!

— This wasn't right. How could his big brother's eyes be so glaring?! It made his tears want to flow out!

Very quickly, a pair of hands hung onto his shoulders. A warm voice echoed next to his ear: "Ah Zuo, open your eyes. It's alright."

Gu Zuo then slowly raised his eyelids and lifted his head to look.

Sure enough, although he still felt that his big brother's eyes were particularly bright, he didn't feel any piercing pain in his eyes again — The only strange thing was that there was a weak layer of reddish-gold light in big brother's eyes. It gave his originally pitch-black eyes a tint of color. It was a type of beauty that approached resplendence.

Gu Zuo unwittingly started laughing: "Haha, big brother's eyes…"

Without any better option, Tianheng flicked a finger at his forehead: "Are you laughing at me?"

Gu Zuo covered his forehead and shook his head fiercely: "No, no no… I wouldn't dare…"

Tianheng flicked another finger: "You better not have."

Gu Zuo was speechless: Since I didn't, why did you still poke me…

Whatever. In any case, he really had been laughing at his big brother before!

After that, he watched as Tianheng bent his body slightly and jumped into that big pit.

Gu Zuo: "…Ah, Big brother, be careful of the heat!"

Gongyi Tianheng: "Ah Zuo, rest a.s.sured."

Although Gu Zuo was still worried for Tianheng, Tianheng's movements were very smooth. He directly used a hand to grab that chunk of reddish-gold stone. Unexpectedly, it seemed that he didn't feel any heat from the stone in his hand.

Gu Zuo thought it was strange. He curiously extended a finger, wanting to touch it. However, just as he got close, he felt a heat wave crashing into his face. That stone was something he absolutely couldn't touch! The temperature hadn't diminished even a little bit!

Tianheng laughed and said: "Ah Zuo, watch carefully."

A little puzzled, Gu Zuo watched Tianheng spread out his fingers… This time, he discovered something. Originally, the area outside of his palm was covered by a golden layer of power. This was the reason why he hadn't been burned or repelled by the heat.

However, did this mean that his dear big brother was already capable of controlling this type of power?

Thinking up to here, his eyes shined.

Tianheng smiled: "This is only a superficial application, but it will be a type of power for me in the future."

Gu Zuo asked further: "And that poison?"

A trace of dark light flashed in Tianheng's eyes: "The poison and this power have formed a system where they don't negatively affect each other. I can…smoothly switch and manipulate them."

Gu Zuo's heart suddenly exulted.

The stronger his big brother became, the safer they would be!

Following that, under Tianheng's request, Gu Zuo received the reddish-gold stone into a region of the storage s.p.a.ce. It wasn't that Tianheng didn't want to carry it himself. It was only that his current inter-spatial tool wasn't as convenient as Gu Zuo's. If the reddish-gold stone was put inside, it would've damaged the other goods. And if he wanted to use another inter-spatial tool, he needed to pack it away first. Yet, he hadn't found an inter-spatial tool that could smoothly store the reddish-gold stone without damaging it.

Hence, he could only use an unoccupied region of Gu Zuo's storage s.p.a.ce.

Once the chunk of reddish-gold stone was put away, the temperature within the entire cavern was lowered completely. Not a bit of warmth remained. Gu Zuo rapidly searched the cave again. First, he handled all the Luminous Gra.s.s. After discovering that he hadn't overlooked any medicinal herbs, he relaxed.

Meanwhile, Dragon One and Dragon Two were busy. In a corner, they'd found lots of skeletons. There were even some Fangcun Cloths and inter-spatial tools among the skeletons. The things stored in the inter-spatial tools were certainly a harvest of golden banknotes, medicinal ingredients, resources, and so on.

Only, it was a pity that because a long time had pa.s.sed, some herbs and resources were unusable. On the contrary, when those banknotes were put in order, there was more than ten million in gold.

Gu Zuo couldn't help lamenting: "Slaying a Spirit-Grade wild beast is still truly profitable." After that, he looked to those skeletons, and gave a sigh for those poor sods. Ai, if it wasn't for this time's good luck, they would've also become members of those poor sods… As human beings, this could likewise be considered as taking revenge and wiping out a grudge for them.

Following that, Gongyi Tianheng and company walked out of the cavern.

Liu Bao hastily welcomed them: "Young master."

Tianheng waved his hand: "We'll go fetch the wild wolves."

The others naturally responded: "Yes, young master."

That cave was a bit distant from here. Moreover, it was quite concealed — After all, there were many opportunistic people in the Twilight Tiger Mountain Range. If it couldn't be hidden well, what would be done about the people it attracted?

They detoured through several small roads. Finally, hidden between trees and boulders, they saw a jet-black cave entrance.

And behind the boulders to the sides of the cave entrance were He Wu and Bao You, who vigilantly kept watch.

This time, Bao You didn't dare lower his guard in the slightest.

Gongyi Tianheng faintly lowered his head and walked into that cave first.

Once he went in, he extended a hand: "Ah Zuo, come."

Gu Zuo hastily reached out to grab Tianheng.

Tianheng then used a bit of strength to pull him inside.

The interior was very dark. Gongyi Tianheng's palm unfolded, and a ball of reddish-gold power slowly rose up. It brightly shined upon the entire cave.

Gu Zuo promptly saw the scene within the cave, and couldn't help letting out a low cry: "So many!"

Knowing was one thing, and seeing was another.

There were few wild wolves that were two to three meters long. Many were actually four to five meters long. There were no less than a hundred beasts lounging around the cave. They were still unconscious, but even though it was like this, they still emitted a strong suppressive force and valiant qi energy.

This was truly…too incredible!

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