Su Hao This is our only chance

Do you want to live?

These words, spat from Zhao Tianyang's shriveled lips, were spoken lightly, yet they smashed into Su Ji's heart like a massive boulder.

He leaned against the doorframe, his already bloodless face growing even paler.

"Old Zhao, what... what do you mean by this?"

Su Ji's voice was weak, carrying just the right amount of bewilderment.

Zhao Tianyang did not answer immediately.

His murky eyes looked past Su Ji's shoulder, glancing deep into the courtyard, but found nothing unusual.

Then, he turned sideways and squeezed inside, backhanding the courtyard door tightly shut.

With a soft click, the courtyard was completely isolated from the outside world.

"What do I mean?"

Zhao Tianyang turned around, his deeply wrinkled old face displaying a nearly numb sense of mockery.

"It means that your sweet dream of reaching the heavens in a single bound is over. It is time to wake up."

He walked over to the stone table in the courtyard and sat down uninvited. His thin, withered body looked somewhat frail on the crude stone stool.

"Did you think they would actually give you back your freedom? Did you think I would take you in as a disciple and teach you everything I know?"

Zhao Tianyang sneered, the laughter hoarse, sounding like a battered bellows being pulled.

"Boy, you are too naive."

He lifted his eyelids, and in that moment, his murky eyes were terrifyingly clear.

"To them, you are nothing but a key."

"A key that will be immediately thrown away, or even ground to dust, the moment it has served its purpose."

"The two people outside, one is the current patriarch of the Zhao family, Zhao Wuji."

"The other has an even greater background. He is the Pavilion Master of the Wind Listening Pavilion, a genuine True Immortal."

Zhao Tianyang's voice was neither rushed nor slow.

"You should have already guessed what they are here for."

"Once they use you to open that Immortal Venerable's tomb and take the things inside..."

Zhao Tianyang extended a withered finger and pointed it lightly at Su Ji.

"You will be the first to die."

"Because you are the biggest variable."

"Only the dead can keep a secret forever."

Su Ji naturally knew of this possibility.

"I don't believe it!"

"That is not what you told me before!"

"How long has it been? And you are already going back on your word?!"

"How can I believe that what you are saying right now isn't just another lie?!"

Facing Su Ji's interrogation, not only did Zhao Tianyang not get angry, but he also let out a long sigh.

That sigh was long and drawn out.

"You can guard against a thousand things, but a thief within the house is the hardest to defend against... Everyone knows this principle."

Zhao Tianyang muttered to himself, his voice low and carrying a hint of self-mockery.

"Not to mention an old dog like me, who joined halfway and does not even have the qualifications to enter the ancestral tomb."

He raised his head, his murky eyes looking at Su Ji with nothing left but the sorrow of mutual misery.

"Do you think I don't want to keep lying to you?"

"If I could continue to lie to you, to continue being that fiercely loyal old dog of the Zhao family, why would I bother telling you all this?"

Zhao Tianyang's voice grew even hoarser.

"A few days ago, when I was preparing to steal from within and secretly take you down the mine ahead of time, I realized someone was watching me."

"It was the Patriarch's men."

"They don't trust me."

"From the very beginning, they have never trusted me."

Zhao Tianyang slowly raised his hand.

"Never mind you, I suspect that once the deed is done, even I... won't survive."

"People who know too much usually do not meet a good end."

He looked at Su Ji, his old face bearing the tragic realization of someone who had seen through the ways of the world.

"A dying man's words are always spoken in earnest."

"Boy, I am not joking with you, nor am I testing you."

"I am simply... trying to find a way out for myself as well."

The courtyard fell into a dead silence.

Only the endless, whimpering wind of the wasteland remained.

Su Ji looked at the old man who had suddenly turned his coat, his mind racing.

How credible were Zhao Tianyang's words?

Was he truly driven to a dead end and forced to seek cooperation? Or was this yet another, deeper scheme?

Su Ji pondered carefully for a moment.

It seemed that nine times out of ten, this old thing was genuinely forced into a corner.

The anger on Su Ji's face slowly faded, returning to that weak appearance.

"I am merely at the Golden Core stage; I don't have combat strength like yours."

Su Ji's voice was feeble.

"There is a True Immortal outside."

"Even if we add the two of us together, we aren't enough to withstand being crushed by a single one of his fingers."

"How do we find a way out?"

"It is more like a dead end."

He spoke these words with utmost dejection, like a death row inmate who had completely given up resisting and was ready to offer his neck to the executioner.

Looking at his demeanor, a sharp glint flashed through Zhao Tianyang's murky eyes.

"No."

He shook his head and leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice to a whisper, as if sharing a world-shattering secret.

"You are wrong."

"We have a chance."

"And it is our only chance."

"The Patriarch thinks I am just an old dog he raised."

The corners of Zhao Tianyang's mouth curled into a sinister arc.

"But he doesn't know that this old dog has stayed in this mining area for far too long."

"I have been studying that Immortal Venerable's tomb every waking moment."

"I discovered long ago that the map passed down through the Zhao family's ancestors is fake."

"Or rather, it isn't entirely true."

"What is marked on it is merely a dead end leading to the outer regions. At most, one could only find some leftover scraps scattered when the Immortal Venerable fell."

Zhao Tianyang's voice carried an uncontrollable excitement.

"The true legacy is buried in another place!"

"A place that only I know of!"

He stared fixedly at Su Ji, his gaze like that of a drowning man grasping at the last life-saving straw.

"And that place is shrouded by endless baleful aura. It is immune to all spells, and even immortals would find it difficult to enter."

"Only you!"

"Only you, a person possessing the Flawless Body, can walk in safely!"

Zhao Tianyang's voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"Su Hao! This is our only chance!"