The Old Man on the Throne

"Xu Mu?"

Ye Chen stared at the distant figure, suddenly realizing what had happened. "It was you who attacked me just now? You're courting death!"

"What the hell? This is my first time seeing you, when did I attack you?"

Xu Mu paused and sneered, "However, I'm going to start now."

"Just you?!"

Ye Chen's eyes turned sinister. He then looked at Li Chenshuang beside Xu Mu. "I brought you in here, so it's time you paid your debt. Join forces with me and kill this kid!"

Li Chenshuang looked at Ye Chen indifferently. "You brought me in and almost got me killed. Xu Mu saved me, and you want me to kill him?"

"You..."

Ye Chen clenched his fists tightly.

Hearing this, Xu Mu couldn't help but laugh. "Ye Chen, the one dying today is you!"

As soon as his voice fell, Xu Mu unleashed his Demon Guardian, wielding his longsword, and charged toward Ye Chen.

"If you need me to step in, just say the word."

Fu Jinyu said with her arms crossed, her expression calm.

Ye Chen looked at the two women beside Xu Mu, and his body erupted with golden light. "Dragon Wings!"

Swoosh!

Golden wings appeared on his back. He didn't even bother fighting Xu Mu; instead, he flew high up toward the distant palace.

Seeing Ye Chen enter first, Wu Cang also followed suit.

"Xu Mu, if you had let me intervene, he wouldn't have been able to enter the palace."

Fu Jinyu said indifferently.

"Heh, I let him in on purpose."

Xu Mu looked at Chen Xuan behind him. "Old Chen, let's go!"

"Brother Mu, let me get this straight first. I have nothing to do with him. When the poisonous mist hit earlier, I was going to hide in a building and happened to find him lying inside."

Chen Xuan explained from the side, "He crashed through the roof. I saw that the light shining through the hole in the roof could ward off the poisonous mist, so I broke the roof as well, and we just stayed in that house until it was over."

Hearing this, Li Chenshuang sighed slightly. She hadn't expected the solution to be so simple.

If she had known earlier, why would she have gone looking for Xu Mu? But it was too late. Her entire body had been seen, leaving her unsure of how to face him now.

"Of course I believe you. Let's hurry and catch up. This is the third floor; the treasure is right in front of us."

Xu Mu also marveled at Ye Chen's luck. As expected of the male lead, being smashed into the ground actually helped him avoid the poisonous mist because of the broken roof.

Of course, Chen Xuan was the same. He happened to see Ye Chen's method of evasion and simply copied it.

Led by Xu Mu, the group all stepped into the palace before them.

Once inside, they found that it was very similar to the palace on the first floor.

It was completely resplendent with gold and jade. If there was one difference, it was the distant steps where a person sat on a golden throne.

That person wore dark red armor adorned with golden stripes.

He was an old man with somewhat sparse, long silver hair. His face was full of wrinkles, his eyes were dim, and his red pupils were somewhat dull.

Seeing the armor the old man wore, both Li Chenshuang and Wu Cang's expressions turned incredibly solemn.

The main color was red, with golden stripes on top.

Then the person before them was at least a patriarch-level figure of the Jiuli Tribe.

"Senior."

Wu Cang had already arrived at the bottom of the steps and bowed respectfully.

Li Chenshuang quickly followed. "Leader of the Second Tribe, Li Chenshuang, pays her respects to Senior."

Xu Mu closed his eyes to sense it, feeling incredibly shocked in his heart. This person possessed life.

But it wasn't his own life; it was the Gu worms inside his body.

Through his perception, Xu Mu discovered that the man's bones were already hollow, crawling with bugs inside.

Densely packed, like an ant nest.

"I didn't expect anyone else to break in here. It shouldn't have been long since the last time."

The old man sitting on the throne rested his cheek on one hand. "Your strength is far inferior compared to the person from last time."

Hearing this, Wu Cang immediately said respectfully, "Senior! The one who broke in here last time should be our Jiuli Tribe's patriarch, Chi Ting!"

"That's right, I recall that was his name. He mastered the Holy Gu, the Nether Servant Worm, and enslaved the corpses of many experts. However, by the time he got here, those expert corpses were pretty much all gone."

The old man said expressionlessly.

"Brother Mu, this person remembers what happened before, unlike the formation figures we met earlier. Could he be a real person?"

Chen Xuan asked softly beside Xu Mu.

"He definitely has life. What I'm not sure about is whether he is currently a human or a Gu worm."

Xu Mu explained, "Because his own bodily functions have ceased, meaning the person himself is already dead."

"You are clearly not of our Jiuli Tribe, yet you understand me so well. You're right, I am already dead, but I am currently living relying on the Gu worms in my body."

The old man fixed his gaze on Xu Mu. "I'm not even sure myself whether my current thoughts are the former me or the Gu worms inside my body. Either way, our minds have long since merged into one."

"Senior! When our Jiuli Tribe's patriarch, Chi Ting, came here before, did he take the treasure?"

Wu Cang looked up and asked.

"How insolent! Our Jiuli Tribe only has one patriarch, and that is Chi Ji. When did Chi Ting, a defeated younger brother who fled, ever get to represent our Jiuli Tribe?"

Li Chenshuang glared angrily at Wu Cang. "Stop embarrassing us! Chi Ting couldn't even defeat a single member of Salvation. He threw away all the face of our Jiuli Tribe!"

"Over twenty years ago, when the leader of the First Tribe was killed by Salvation, did Chi Ji dare to even utter a word? How many tribes mocked us back then?"

Wu Cang questioned, "If Chi Ting were the patriarch, he would have led our experts to kill them long ago. Our Jiuli Tribe was born for battle, we are not cowards!"

"What do you know? At that time, our Jiuli Tribe..."

"Enough!"

The old man sitting on the throne interrupted Li Chenshuang. "As a dead man, I have no interest in the state of the Jiuli Tribe. Ever since our ancestor died, the infighting within our tribe has never ceased. My ears have grown calluses from hearing about it."

"Senior, how should we obtain the treasure next?"

Ye Chen asked expressionlessly.

He currently had absolutely no interest in the Jiuli Tribe; he just wanted to get the item quickly and leave.

He wasn't afraid of Xu Mu, but Xu Mu had so many experts by his side, while he was all alone.

Right now, Ye Chen certainly wouldn't foolishly confront Xu Mu.

"That Chi Ting who came here last time didn't even get the treasure, let alone you lot."

The old man rested on his cheek and spoke slowly, "The formations in this inner realm were built jointly by our ancestor Chi You and the Great Shaman. The purpose was to provide us with a safe zone, so the outer formations are not killing formations; they all have keys."

The few people here nodded in agreement. That was indeed the case.

Otherwise, just those boundary-breaking experts on the first floor would have been enough to stop them.

"This is the end point. The Jiuli Tribe can rest and recuperate here, but the final floor is where we store our supplies, and it contains killing formations."

The old man explained, "There are no tricks; you can only rely on your own strength to get through."

"Senior, what treasures are inside?"

Xu Mu asked with a smile.