Chapter 276: Preparing for the breakthrough

"Only Qi Emperor can appear on the test. That is some harsh requirement. Are a Qi Monarch's treasures that valuable?" Li Meng couldn't help but ask himself.

"In general, when a powerful cultivator looks for inheritors to his legacy, they search for talent rather than cultivation realm. The reason behind such a choice is for the inheritor to be able to continue the legacy to a higher realm than the previous possessor."

"The only reason why a cultivation realm is specified is because of an absolute need to inherit whatever he left behind for you. This would mean that emperor realm power is required to get hold of whatever treasure is inside the cave. You need to be careful while attempting this test. The very fact that an emperor is required to control the power of the treasure signifies that the treasure is quite dangerous."

"I have a battle strength which could surpass levels of cultivation directly. I think I should be able to get my hands on the treasure once I enter the peak of QI King level."

"That might not be the case here. Emperor power signifies many things. You can surpass the level due to a multitude of reasons. Be it the three types of Qi which practice together or the body cultivation you have achieved by opening up all the acupoints, they together help to push you through the limits."

"But if a test is present just to let you have a try on that treasure means that it required to power on the equivalent level of Emperor in all aspects. If it had been a fairly common Qi Monarch, I might not be suggesting such drastic measures for you. Hell-Fire monarch seems to be a fairly powerful character of his time. He is someone who has connected with Heavenly Fire law. We are not even sure as to what other laws he might have connected to."

"What is your estimation on the level of cultivation this guy might have achieved in his life?"

"I would say, he should be fairly near the peak of the monarch realm."

"He was that strong!" Li Meng couldn't help but be surprised at the Keeper's guess. A peak Qi Monarch was no joke. Even the Thunder Academy might not own a peak Qi Monarch. They might not even have someone who is in the advanced Monarch realm. The very fact that this Hell-fire Monarch was a peak Qi Monarch changed the whole scenario. The news of a peak Qi Monarch's inheritance would paint the whole central plains red with blood.

Li Meng couldn't help but think seriously about this matter. If he wanted to appear on the test, he would need to become a Qi Emperor at the very least. That changed the whole scenario. He thought to kill every single bandit in the whole group and take their heads to claim the completion of the task. But things have changed now.

...................

At the borders of the Taiwan mountains. The avatars were hiding within the group awaiting the bandits to ambush them. As soon as the group is annihilated, they would personally kill every single bandit who was part of this attack group and claim the prize. All the preparation was ready and Long Tao had planned the process perfectly.

The group of explorers proceeded through the same path which they came in from. The speed of retreat was extremely fast. The damage incurred due to the last ambush was too severe for them to stay in this place any longer. The bandit group could easily annihilate them with their current strength.

As the group proceeded towards the end of the border area, the avatars began to worry. If no one attacked the exploring group, they would have wasted their time by playing along with the flow. They should have just rushed back directly and annihilated the remaining troops.

Fortunately for them, the attack arrived just before the explorer group was about to reach the end of the border areas. The attack was extremely sneaky, but who could avoid the detection of the Crimson world artifact. The Keeper warned them about the incoming attack and they decided to play it slowly.

The group gathered some losses, but eventually, the avatars began to actively participate within the fight and the explorer group began to gain momentum. The initial choice was to finish the matter and return to the subsidiary power and deposit his kill number. Given the amount of contribution he was showing, there was no way anyone would have denied his claims.

But Li Meng's message arrived right when they were about to begin the killing. The plan had to change. The avatars began to help the bandit finish off the explorer group. It wasn't late when someone found out about the avatar's unnatural activity, but Long Tao didn't care about these things. Every single person in the explorer group was about to be killed. There is no way they would be able to report this matter back to the city.

The killing ended quite quickly. While the Bandit group did manage to finish off every single one of the explorer team, they still incurred some losses on their side. It was not easy to fill the ranks of a group such as them. When they found out that the three people had helped them carry out their mission, the leader of the ambush came forward and raised his sword towards Long Tao.

"Who are you? Why did you help us?"

"There are certain things that shouldn't be exposed. All you need to know is that your master sends me here to help in carrying out the mission."

The vice-leader immediately released his energy and pointed the sword in a threatening manner. "Do you take us to be fooled? There is no way that you know who our leader is, much less him having an acquaintance with you. I will give you one last chance. Spill the truth or you die." 

Killing the leader would have been an extremely easy task for the avatars as the vice-leader was only a peak initial Qi King who had connected with an earthen law. But the situation seems to have changed for now. He required the assistance of these people to hide the location of this inheritance cave. There is no way he would allow this chance to fall into someone else's hands.

"I already know about your hide-out within the mountain cave. My master is a friend of your master and he had sent me to assist you. They are waiting for you to return." Long Tao detailed out the exact path which leads to their hide-out and the bandits had no choice but to believe him. There was no one except their group who knew about this location.

If what the man is claiming seems to be true, they would have no problem. Even if he lied, they would just kill him within the hide-out.

.........................

Within the cave-

Li Meng sighed out a breath of relief. He didn't want the situation to get too messy and the outcome lived up to his expectations. He then looked at the Bandit leader.

"Let's start from the beginning. How did you manage to get your hands on the key to this place?"

"I discovered this place while exploring this area. As I said earlier, my blood sword was something that requires blood essence to grow in strength. This region was perfect for me to hunt down cultivators without anyone hindering my path. I accepted the task for this very reason."

"When I was hunting down bandits, I came across a small group of people who had managed to sneak off and live through my attacks multiple times. This location was the spot where I would always lose their trails. After a long time, I came to think that there might be a hide-out nearby this mountain. To my luck, after a long period of wait, they decided to show up once again, right out of this mountain."

"So you are saying that you are not the first person who came across this place."

"I certainly am not. A group of people came across this place first." The Bandit leader admitted.

"Are you sure that the group of people didn't leak the information about this cave to outsiders?" That would complicate the matter in this place. There is no way they would be able to hide the news for long in that situation. If the group which reached here was able to find the details mentioned on the site, it might lead to a catastrophe. The inheritance of a Qi Monarch was no small deal.

"I am not sure about the group earlier, as they didn't have many records of what they did while being here. They also didn't possess much equipment or powerful cultivators. I even waited for some time before deciding to create my own group. If this news had been leaked, they would have appeared by now, but no one did.

Li Meng still felt restless in his heart, but the matters of the future were not something he could control.