Chapter 419 - A Friendly Reminder
The one talking was a woman with a fair skin tone, hair to her waist and a curvy physique. Despite that, her face was like a ten thousand year old block of ice, cold to the extreme.
Beside the woman stood a young man, whose face was covered with acne, giving him a hideous appearance.
“This is Yan Zihan, ranked fourth among the custodians, and this is Zhou Liqing, ranked fifth among the custodians.”
Sima Kong transmitted his voice to Qin Nan.
Following Yan Zihan’s words, Zhou Liqing began speaking in a sinister tone, “Sima Kong, forgive me for saying this, I do agree that Qin Nan has great talents but our destination is the Cave of the Bloody Serpent, which is surrounded with great hazards. What use does he have to us?”
“Guys, don’t you worry. I guarantee you that he would be a great assistance to us. There is no way he would drag us down.” Sima Kong shook his head and said in a firm tone, “If he ends up being useless, I’m more than happy to give him my part of the loot instead!”
“Whatever!”
Yan Zihan said coldly after glancing at Qin Nan.
Zhou Liqing, too, had shut his mouth. He would not care if Sima Kong brought a Martial Emperor Realm cultivator along, as long as his ratio of the loot was not affected.
Qin Nan was not too surprised seeing this.
Both of these geniuses had reached the peak Martial Ancestor Realm and he could easily tell that they also had some hidden cards up their sleeves. On the other hand, he was merely a peak Martial Emperor Realm cultivator. Even if his real strength was comparable to an eighth-layer Martial Ancestor Realm expert, there was still a great difference compared to their strength.
As such, he chose not to speak out. He would prove his strength to them in action.
“Let’s move out!”
Sima Kong took out a map and inspected it carefully for a moment before the team moved out.
Along the journey, they had encountered numerous peak Martial Ancestor Realm beasts, but they all ended up getting one-shot by Yan Zihan, unable to pose any threat to the team.
On the other hand, Qin Nan sharply noticed that the woods they were in were incredibly extraordinary. The deeper into the woods they went, the spookier aura became.
“There exists one of the forbidden grounds of the Qinglong Mystical Ground in the deep region of the woods, with the name ‘Eternal Darkness Woods’. Each of the top ten beasts could be found there.” Sima Kong explained.
Qin Nan immediately came to a realization.
There existed various forbidden grounds inside the Qinglong Mystical Ground, like the cultivation grounds where the past Sacred Leaders had their trainings. he places where the powerful beasts cultivated were also classified as forbidden grounds, completely out of reach of Martial Ancestor Realm cultivators.
After half the time it took an incense to burn, Sima Kong uttered in a groan, “We’re here!”
Qin Nan immediately raised his head and glanced forward. In his sight was a small mountain in the middle of the woods, covered in a bloody glow while a chilly aura could be felt emitting from it. A ten-zhang long entrance could be seen, and it felt like it was carved in detail by an artisan as it looked extremely exquisite despite its age.
“So this is why Sima Kong asked me to join the team…”
With his left eye of the Divine God of Battle, Qin Nan discovered the presence of countless forbidding auras inside the cave. Each aura compromised the strength of peak Martial Dominator Realm, which would instantly explode with just a soft touch. Although the cave was not huge, each step inside was like walking through a minefield!
It was highly possible that Sima Kong specifically found him so he could crack these auras to avoid the hazards.
After being aware of Qin Nan’s glance, Sima Kong let out a hollow laugh while feeling slightly embarrassed.
“I’ve got a fragmented map here, which was apparently left by a Senior Brother who possessed an outstanding eye-technique. We could avoid putting ourselves in danger by following the map!”
Yan Zihan suddenly spoke as an aged scroll made of lambskin appeared in her hand. She then prepared to move after looking inside it twice.
“Zihan, hang on a second.”
At that moment, Zhou Liqing suddenly spoke while glancing at Qin Nan with a mocking expression, “Junior Brother Qin Nan, I believe you do have some tricks up your sleeves since Sima Kong is so fond of you joining the team. Why don’t you have a say regarding which step we should take as our first?”
Yan Zihan halted in her tracks while staring at Qin Nan with a cold look.
“This step should be landed here!”
Qin Nan wore a calm expression as he pointed to the center of the ground at the cave’s entrance.
Zhou Liqing gazed at Yan Zihan with a doubtful look, while the latter wore a hint of surprise on her icy face, “He is right about that.”
Zhou Liqing slightly shuddered, it seems like I have underestimated Qin Nan.
“How about the next step?”
Yan Zihan asked this time.
“One step to the left.” Qin Nan wore the same expression as he said with a smile.
“The next one?”
“Three steps to the right.”
“After that?”
“Two steps to the right.”
“……”
In the blink of an eye, Yan Zihan asked the same thing ten times in a row. Each time she asked, the hint of surprise on her icy face grew stronger.
It appeared that the answers Qin Nan gave were exactly the same as those in the map in her hand with a tiny margin of difference!
Zhou Liqing was stunned, too.
These are traps laid down by the peak Martial Dominator Realm Bloody Serpent. Ordinary geniuses who focus on practicing eye-techniques would not be able to crack them.
And Qin Nan managed to do it?
Gasp!
Zhou Liqing took a deep breath. It appeared that he had underestimated Qin Nan’s capabilities by a ridiculous margin!
Yan Zihan’s expression gradually recovered, which remained icy as she spoke, “It seems like you do have some uses here, but there are still a few tiny mistakes! These mistakes might cost us our lives!”
After saying this, she went ahead into the cave, as if there was still no Qin Nan’s place in her eyes.
Zhou Liqing was about to say something, but he chose to remain silent in the end and followed his companion behind.
“Cough cough, Qin Nan, I did not expect them to look down on you so much…”
Sima Kong felt slightly awkward.
He clearly knew the power of Qin Nan’s eyes. There was no doubt that he could easily peek through all the forbidding auras inside the cave. He could even crack them all with ease, but now he was getting looked down upon by Yan Zihan and Zhou Liqing.
“Don’t mind!”
Qin Nan let out a smile.
The two did not say anything further, as they proceeded into the cave.
Yan Zihan and Zhou Liqing led the way by following the map, taking each step carefully.
On the other hand, Qin Nan followed behind them with a calm expression on his face, as if he was only taking a peaceful stroll in the park.
“Seven Steps of Death, covering an area of three zhang, with a total of thirty-four steps. A wrong step would place one in extreme danger. This one here is the Formation of the Blood Dragon’s Kowtow. The entire formation covered an area of one zhang, and one could navigate through it by stepping on the Formation’s Eye. A tiny mistake would instantly trigger the formation…”
Qin Nan observed the various formations and forbidden auras around him while walking forward.
He had seen many formations previously at the Nine Symbolic Words, allowing him to gain experience regarding the art of formation. Therefore, it was easier for him to crack the formations now.
The cave was not huge at all, covering merely an area of more than fifty zhang. Despite that, the team advanced slowly at the speed of turtles in a careful manner.
Along their way, they almost triggered some of the formations while following the directions on the fragmented map. The aura leaking from the formations sent chills down their spines.
Obviously, the two leading the way did not realize that the map was wrong and Qin Nan was right instead.
After half an hour, the team finally advanced over twenty zhang forward.
On the wall in front of them hung a shiny rock emitting a colorful glow, lighting up the area before them.
“There is a dangerous formation in front of us, known as ‘The Bridge of Life and Death’. Once triggered, it could kill us all in just a second. None would survive. Follow me closely, and be extremely careful!”
Yan Zihan suddenly said as she slowly moved her footstep forward, aiming at the ground before her.
“Wait!”
Qin Nan frowned and snapped, “There is something wrong with your map. You can’t take that step!”