Chapter 362: 362
Unfortunately it was not as simple as they had expected . The underground world was immensely tricky and unless they managed to somehow unlock the mechanism that released the exit, they would be trapped within forever .
Xue Wei glanced at them, but he paid them no mind as he began opening the different doors that were lined at the side of the hall .
He had already guessed that these doors would lead into treasure rooms, that they would be able to get their hands on even further resources if they managed to enter them, but he was also aware that the more treasures they got, the more greed and difficulty the other team would have with holding back .
Knowing that Bai Tianyi wanted to fight them, but was agaisnt being the one who made the first move, this would be the perfect way to bait them into attacking!
A snicker appeared on his lips as he placed his palm on the first door and pushed .
The door lit up with a red pattern, a pattern that was clearly answering the bloodline of the Vermilion Bird within Xue Wei's body .
When the door opened he looked at the small chamber in front of him . It was not very large, it was just a few meters wide and three meters deep .
The walls of the room had shelves all over and on these shelves were old books . These old books were all martial arts techniques, some were made for protection, others were made for attacks .
These skills were ancient and their strength far outstripped the skills of the current day and age, so although Xue Wei did not feel the biggest attraction towards them, he still stored them all in his storage treasure . If nothing else then he could always sell them later .
As they exited the door, they went to the next chamber, and this one was filled with weapons . All the weapons were at a point where they nearly had formed a consciousness . They were all forged with superior ingredients, they were not in any way something that others could even dream about owning, but Xue Wei had just stored twenty seven of these weapons in his storage treasure .
The third room contained herbs . All of the herbs had been placed in jade boxes . These jade boxes were made from ten thousand year old ice jade, a jade that could keep anything looking exactly as it was when it was placed within the box .
Although the herbs were immensely rare, the boxes were no less so, so it was getting a double treasure by entering this room, and Xue Wei's eyes had brightened with excitement .
He quickly took everything down and placed it within one of his storage treasures, before the turned around and was about to leave the room .
When he left he found that the other group, the Dongfang family, were looking at him with greed and having a hard time holding back their urges to attack him .
Seeing this Xue Wei flashed a very friendly, but also immensely provocative, glance at them . A group of them nearly lost their reasoning at this time and wished for nothing else than to advance and rip him to pieces .
The next chamber contained ores . These ores were filled with energy and they were very rare .
The room after was filled with gems and essence stones . Although there was not a lot of essence stones, all that were there were of the highest grade .
Even though Xue Wei was not needing these essence stones, he was not a wasteful person and he quickly picked up everything and placed it in his storage treasure .
The next two rooms contained pills and inscriptions . Truthfully Xue Wei was able to guess what wsa going on at this current point in time .
The treasure that he was currently looting were all treasures that should have been given as rewards for the trials, but since Xue Wei had won the final challenge and had merged with the blood, he was now the inheritor of this underground world .
As such, every item within this trial ground were given away to him, instead of just wasted . As to why the other group, the Dongfang family, had arrived here when they had not managed to get through the final trial, Xue Wei was not too sure .
After entering every room and emptying them of even the smallest treasure, Xue Wei felt rather happy and lightheaded . These resources should last them for a long time, and he would not have to worry about being able to provide for his friends .
While Xue Wei and his friends were happy, the Dongfang family had not given up looking for the exit, but their eyes were filled with jealousy and hatred .
Xue Wei did not care . Even if they spread the news of Xue Wei having gotten his hands on all these treasures, would it really be easy to locate him in the future? The Ascended Realm was so big, it had already been quiet difficult to meet someone, so searching for a group of five people was like searching for a needle in a haystack .
"Let's look for the exit," Xue Wei said as they had emptied all rooms . He did not believe that there would be no exit from the underground world, and rightfully so .
The moment he asked for an exit a tremor ran through the entire underground world . The ceiling opened up, and the many experts within the hall were stunned when they suddenly saw the sunlight that was blinding them .
They had been underground for quite some time by now, and the sun was as bright as they remembered it, their eyes squinting and their heads throbbing faintly, but they were all ecstatic .
As they saw the ceiling opening, they all felt the tremors in the underground world becoming even more intense and soon they were standing on the ground above again .
They were no longer in a desert, neither were they in a jungle, instead they were on a large meadow .
Lush grass was swaying in the wind, a stream was running by their side and the sounds of nature were all around them .
As to where they were, they had absolutely no idea .
Sensing the temperature of the surrounding air, Xue Wei had a guess that they were somewhere in spring . Although it was not cold, it was not summer weather, and the grass which was green, looked as if it had just bloomed .
"We are heading west," Xue Wei said after considering for some time, "Southwest . "
The Dongfang family leader was cursing under his breath . He too had wanted to move southwest, but he was not interested in moving the same way as Xue Wei, and hence he could only move directly west instead . Then they could change their direction later on in time and go towards summer .
"This place is very tranquil," Luoluo said with a happy expression on her face and sniffed the fresh air that was surrounding them .
"Yes," Xue Wei agreed . "But because it is tranquil I am a little worried about what might hide here . "
"Why so?" she asked confusedly .
"To keep a place tranquil you need to have someone of massive strength," Xue Wei said with a sigh . "You need to hold an overwhelming power to be able to keep a place this tranquil . If you are around the same strenght as others, then you will be challenged time and time agian, and then it is never this tranquil . "
Hearing his argument, the others were feeling quite worried . At first they had not thought too much about this place, but after hearing his words, they suddenly wanted to leave instantly . If there really was such an entity that was able to strike fear in the beasts and humans living in the Ascended Realm, how would they ever stand a chance against it?
Xue Wei was also a little confused . If there really was such a strong being here, why had it not shown up yet? But if there wasn't why would it be so peaceful here? Everywhere he had encountered so far had been filled with marks of fighting between some beasts .
"Well, no need to dwell on it," he finally decided and started walking, "Let us get going . "
The Dongfang family had already sat out, many of them were glancing at Xue Wei and the others with hatred and greed, but because of the leader of their group, none of them did anything extreme .
"Leader, why don't we kill them?" one of the more aggressive members asked, but their leader just glanced at him .
"They are stronger than us," he said honestly . "If we fight them like this we are likely to lose . However we are not alone . Although the Eight Great Families are always competing, we can also work together . Let us find the Ouyang or the Du families . We can team up together with them, and then we can take them down . I would especially prefer the Ouyang family, since our family works the best with them and they too are sword masters . "
"Will they agree?" Someone asked but when the leader glanced back at them, he snickered, "they'll agree if we tell them about the amount of treasures they have taken . "
"But how do we find them?" another could not help but ask .
"Don't worry about it . I have a token that lets me find the other Eight Great Families," The leader was not stupid, he knew they stood no chance alone against Xue Wei and his team, but together with the others they would be able to get at least some of his resources .
When hearing his words, the others all praised their leader, but they were unaware that Xue Wei, who had just unlocked his new bloodline, had an immensely good hearing now, and he heard every word loud and clear .
HEaring that they were planning on working toghether with two other families to deal with them, he could not help but snicker .
They were not so easy a target .
"I have used the tracking powder on their leader," a small figure suddenly said . He was unremarkable and when in a crowd no one would notice him .
"It is smeared all over his clothes . Even if he wash it the scent wont vanish . I have the tracking bugs, and we will be able to find him fast if we wish to do so, these bugs can track the tracking powder from more than ten or twenty thousand miles away . "
Xue Wei was pondering for some time on what to do . Should he change his clothes and leave these garments for them to find later, or should he keep the tracking powder on himself and then turn the hunter into the hunted?
Contemplating he kept the clothes on for some time and not before they were far away from the Dongfang Family did he tell them what had happened .
"They plan on attacking us with the Ouyang or Du families?" Bai Tianyi asked his brows furrowed .
"This might be troublesome," he continued . "Although we can deal with the families independently, we might not be able to deal with them if they are working together . "
"If we raise our strength we can," Xue Wei smiled and then his eyes landed on Hei Gou .
"Do you want to try something?" He suddenly asked Hei Gou, who was puzzled .
"What?" he asked, unsure of what Xue Wei had planned, but looking at his shining eyes, it was nothing good .
"Well my bloodline has evolved, why don't we see if you can mutate once more?"
Hei Gou's eyes widened in shock when he heard this . Another mutation?
Although the pain that came with a mutation was severe, the truth was that the benefits far outdid the pain .
"Let's try!" he said decisively, not even having to think about it for a moment, and Xue Wei found one of the daggers he had taken from the underground world and cut a long wound on his arm . He then did the same on Hei Gou's and started to let the blood mix .