BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 60 The Copper Needle

Yang Xiao froze for a moment. He had been so focused on the tomb’s mechanisms and formations that he had forgotten something important.

He immediately took out the copper coin again and blew through the square hole. This time, however, no response came no matter how long he waited.

Frowning, he turned to Sun Desheng.

“There are only three dead people? Does that mean everyone else is still alive?”

“Who are you asking? You think I know?” Sun Desheng glanced at him and continued, “Isn’t it a good thing if no one else died? If dozens of people really died, that would be a huge headache…”

“Great Sage, you misunderstand.” Yang Xiao shook his head.

“This tomb’s Life-Severing Formation has already been activated. Unless someone took precautions like I did, anyone who entered should have had no chance of coming back. Huang Ran’s group having protection is understandable, but would the others have had such safeguards?”

“I’ve seen six ancient tombs where the Life-Severing Formation was triggered. In five of them, everyone died. Only in one case…”

He suddenly stopped.

His eyes widened.

“That tomb belonged to Elder Sun Daohe of the Hehuan Sect. And the owner of this tomb, Lu Ruji, was also an important figure in the Hehuan Sect. Both cases are connected to the Hehuan Sect…”

As he spoke, Yang Xiao returned to the third corpse and carefully examined it again.

Finally, he extracted a copper needle no bigger than a toothpick from the dead man’s mouth.

The moment he saw the needle, he fell silent. Then he turned to Sun Desheng.

“Besides us and Huang Ran, there’s a third expert here.”

“And not just any expert—a major one.”

Sun Desheng found the needle oddly familiar. Then recognition struck him.

“Old Yang, isn’t that a miniature version of those giant copper spikes you carry?”

Staring at the needle, Yang Xiao replied:

“Back then, when I wanted to deal with Director Wu, I took the copper spikes and their diagrams from the Land of Ultimate Darkness. There had originally been a set of copper needles and a corresponding diagram as well, but someone else took them first.”

“The one who took them was a remnant of the Hehuan Sect.”

“For all these years, there has been no trace of the needles. I never imagined I’d see them here.”

“This tiny place sure is lively…” Sun Desheng shifted his gaze from the needle to Yang Xiao.

After a pause, he asked:

“Tell me honestly, Old Yang. If you run into this needle guy again, how confident are you of killing him? Otherwise, lure him out, and I’ll set up an ambush and blow him away with the shotgun.”

Yang Xiao smiled.

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Back then, our abilities were about even. But ten years have passed. I’m no longer the Yang Xiao I used to be.”

“I have a fair amount of confidence now. As long as he dares show himself, I can deal with him.”

As he spoke, Yang Xiao opened his palm.

To Che Qianzi’s astonishment, the copper needle began smoking, gradually glowing red before melting into liquid copper.

With a flick of his hand, Yang Xiao threw the molten copper away.

The glowing liquid suddenly exploded in midair into over a dozen red droplets.

The droplets collided with each other, altering their trajectories, before all converging on a single point—

The forehead of a figure painted on the mural.

They struck with enough force to leave a deep indentation.

Sun Desheng chuckled.

“You’ve never shown us that trick before. No wonder Judge wanted you so badly when he rebelled.”

Then he added:

“Let’s keep moving. Our oxygen masks won’t last forever. If we don’t find Huang Ran and the others soon, we’ll have to go back and replace the tanks.”

Now that they knew another expert was lurking nearby, Yang Xiao became far more cautious.

Before setting off again, he used his fingernail to cut open his palm.

Then he reached into the air as though grabbing something invisible.

When he opened his hand again, countless tiny white insects squirmed across his palm.

The sight made Che Qianzi’s scalp crawl.

He had no idea what they were for.

Yang Xiao blew gently on them.

The insects rose into the air and instantly vanished.

Clapping his hands together, he smiled at Sun Desheng and Che Qianzi.

“That’s done. These little fellows will scout ahead. Whatever’s waiting for us, we’ll have time to prepare.”

“Let’s continue.”

Yang Xiao walked toward the passage ahead.

As Che Qianzi was about to follow, Sun Desheng suddenly leaned over and whispered into his ear:

“Brother, if something happens later, keep an eye on Old Yang.”

“Don’t let him run.”

“That fellow is crafty. At the slightest sign of danger, he’ll disappear first.”

Although Che Qianzi had witnessed Yang Xiao’s Blood Escape technique before, he still felt Sun Desheng was exaggerating.

No matter what, Yang Xiao was an expert. Surely he wouldn’t flee at the first hint of trouble.

Not long afterward, they reached an exit.

The previous explosion had caused a cave-in, but fortunately, a narrow opening remained.

The hole was so small that only one person could crawl through at a time.

Standing before it, Yang Xiao looked inside and waited a moment.

Then he turned back.

“The other side is safe. I doubt you brothers will be polite and let me stay behind.”

“So I’ll go first. One person at a time. If something happens, at least the rest can retreat.”

“No objections?”

Sun Desheng grinned, resting the shotgun on his shoulder.

“Go ahead, Old Yang. I’ll cover you. If anything happens, just shout and I’ll blast the bastard.”

Yang Xiao smiled.

“Then make sure you aim well. Don’t blow me away too.”

With that, he crawled through.

Moments later, his voice came from the other side:

“It’s fine. Just a burial pit. Nothing unusual. Come over and see for yourselves.”

Che Qianzi was about to follow when Sun Desheng grabbed him.

In a low voice, he said:

“Brother, I’ll go first.”

“I always feel Old Yang is hiding something from us. You’re too honest. Don’t fall into his trap.”

As he spoke, Sun Desheng squeezed into the hole.

Even while crawling, he kept talking:

“This hole was designed by a bastard. If I get stuck halfway, neither advancing nor retreating, that’ll be awkward.”

“Old Yang, you’d better pull me out.”

“Old Yang, say something.”

“Old Yang! Don’t do this to me…”

Halfway through, Yang Xiao stopped responding altogether.

Sun Desheng felt uneasy.

After hesitating for a moment, he climbed through anyway.

Suddenly, from the other side came the thunderous roar of a shotgun:

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Che Qianzi’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

Over the past days, he had grown genuinely attached to Sun Desheng. He couldn’t let anything happen to the fat man.

Without thinking, he sprang into the hole like a monkey.

As he crawled rapidly, he shouted:

“Fatty! Are you alright? Find cover! I’m coming to kill whatever it is!”

When Che Qianzi emerged, he found Sun Desheng standing there perfectly fine, smiling at him.

Blood pooled around his feet, though it was impossible to tell whose it was.

Still shaken, Che Qianzi asked: “Did you hit it? What did you shoot?”

Sun Desheng answered: “Nothing.”

“I was just trying to boost my own courage.”

“Old Yang really did run away.”

“The road ahead… looks like it’ll be up to us brothers to figure out.”

“Yang Xiao escaped? No way!”

Che Qianzi pointed at the blood on the ground.

“Looks more like something got him and dragged him away.”

Sun Desheng laughed bitterly.

“That’s because you don’t know him.”

“Old Yang has spent his whole life hiding behind others. He never likes taking the lead.”

“I forced him to walk in front this time, and he had no choice.”

“So he simply disappeared.”

“And besides, he always carries blood packs with him. That pool on the ground isn’t his blood at all—it’s Type O blood he brought himself.”

“Don’t think he’ll worry about us.”

“In this world, aside from his wife, nobody matters to him.”