Chapter 28 - Empty Grave
Song Qingshu, along with forty Song Jia Sect disciples stopped at an empty place.
At the forefront, Song Jia Sect tracker grabbed a handful of crystalline blue powder from a parcel.
HOO!
As the powder was sprinkled out, it suddenly bloomed with glittering blue twinkles. When it landed on the ground, a layer of blue light covered everything. Amid all the glittering, three sets of dark footprints suddenly appeared.
"Martial Uncle, since the Death Qi Powder is scattered, their trails simply cannot be hidden. These three sets of footprints were made just a few hours ago, and as such there is still a large amount of vitality remaining; the aura of Death Qi Powder is completely lost. They simmply cannot run away!" a Song Jia Sect disciple exclaimed excitedly.
"Humph, run? I'll see where they can run, they are just three people and we are forty. When we catch up with them, no matter what he says, kill them immediately!" said Song Qingshu with a cold look on his face.
"Martial Uncle, is it necessary to kill them?"
"Humph, it's Sect Chief's order. The reason I didn't kill them because there were many people before, we cannot reveal our purpose. But now that there is no one, we should avenge Pang Tianlong! Whoever kills Gu Hai, I will request Sect Chief to give him a ‘Golden Boosting Pill'; as for the others, twenty low-grade spirit stones for everyone!" stated Song Qingshu coldly.
"Yes, they are just three, all of them can forget about escaping alive! No, there is also that snake demon!" the congregation of Song Jia Sect disciples agreed, their eyes becoming bloodshot.
"However, Martial Uncle, we need to hurry up. Our whereabouts may have been exposed!" the man who had previously scattered the Death Qi Powder said with a furrowed brow.
"Oh?"
"At the lakeside, I saw a bunch of millet and some birds that were foraging. When we got there, the birds flew into the sky. Previously, I didn't pay much attention to it, but now when I thought about it, I feel more and more that something isn't right. Millet? How can there be millet there?"
"It's bad, we are exposed! Chase, quickly chase them!" Song Qingshu said as his eyes opened wide.
"Affirmative!” “Yes!"
Forty Song Jia Sect disciples quickly charged their way into the forest. They simply didn't need to worry about getting lost as they had the Death Qi Powder for scouting. They chased Gu Hai's party anxiously.
------
Elsewhere, Gu Hai ordered Gao Xianzhi to quickly dig a huge pit.
"Throne Master, what is Your Grace planning to do? Is Your Grace digging the pit to make Song Qingshu and the others fall? But, this pit is still too shallow, isn't it?" Chen Tianshan asked as a bewildered look blanketed his face.
HOO!
Gu Hai, on the other hand, stretched out his hand and retrieved a coffin from the small space of the token.
"En?" Chen Tianshan and Gao Xianzhi showed a perplexed look.
A coffin to deal with Song Qingshu and the others? What kind of play was this?
Gu Hai placed the coffin inside the pit gingerly and opened the lid thereafter.
"This is? Charcoal, saltpeter, sulfur? Moreover, they are quite pure!?” Gao Xianzhi observed thoughtfully.
Gu Hai did not pay attention, but very carefully took out a fuse wire and connected its one end with the charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur even more carefully. Then he slowly and carefully buried it.
At last, connecting the other end of the fuse wire to a flint, Gu Hai picked up an empty plank from nearby and inserted it vertically with the flint into the ground before coffin.
Very carefully, he covered it all with mud. Slowly but surely, it seemed no different than a grave with an empty wooden tombstone before it.
"This?" Gao Xianzhi was perplexed.
Gu Hai took a long deep breath and once again took out a brush and ink with the flip of his hand.
Dipping the brush in the ink, he started to write on the tombstone.
"Song Qingshu, This Throne Master orders you to turn away immediately, don't follow us or this grave will be your burial ground!"
Chen Tianshan's eyes went wide as he said, "Is… is this okay? What's the use?" While speaking, Chen Tianshan seemingly wanted to touch it to check.
"Don't move!" Gu Hai burst out with a shout.
"Uh?" Chen Tianshan glanced at Gu Hai, puzzled.
"Gao Xianzhi, sprinkle millet around here, then we will leave!" Gu Hai shook his head and didn't bother to explain.
"Yes!"
---
After two hours, Gu Hai and his entourage were already halfway up on another hill.
"Benefactor, look, look, the birds are flying up, they have chased us to that mountain valley!" Little Rou shouted suddenly.
"Oh?" the three stopped and turned their head.
The three together gazed towards the far away mountain valley which now had a fair share of birds flying around it.
"They came?" Gao Xianzhi's eyes lit up.
Although Gao Xianzhi could not understand what Gu Hai had done before, he believed that it would certainly be beyond his expectations.
"They have chased us, but what's the use of the tomb? Is Your Grace truly trying to scare them?" asked Chen Tianshan in disbelief.
---
In the mountain valley...
"Martial Uncle, look, there is indeed millet scattered everywhere around. It must have been put there by Gu Hai's group. Oh, right, they fled in this direction!" a Song Jia Sect disciples said excitedly.
"You think these flocks of birds can help you? Naive, truly naive. At this point, your death is just a matter of when!" said Song Qingshu as a hideous look distorted his face.
"Martial Uncle, let's chase them quickly!" the congregation of disciples shouted excitedly.
As the saying went, rewards lure men to danger. They just had to hunt down an early-level Xiantian Stage cultivator and they could get a Golden Boosting Pill; who would not work themselves to the bone? What was a Golden Boosting Pill? It was a pill that could help peak-level Xiantian Stage cultivators attack the Golden Core Stage. It was an immeasurably precious, third-grade pill. Many people’s eyes became red with excitement.
"Martial Uncle, there is a grave, huh? It's made for you by Gu Hai!" a Song Jia Sect disciple's countenance became bad as he spoke up.
"En?" Song Qingshu's face became black with rage as he walked over.
The forty Xiantian Stage disciples also came over; a curious look reflected on their faces.
"Song Qingshu, This Throne Master order you to turn immediately, don't follow us or this grave will be your burial ground!"
When they read the words on the tombstone, everyone's eyes opened wide.
"Did this Gu Hai go crazy? Does he think an empty tomb can scare us?" a Song Jia Sect disciple asked, smiling coldly.
"Gu Hai? He is just so-so; he still thinks this is all a game; we better turn around or he will bury us alive!?"
"He actually had the gall to curse Martial Uncle!"
The congregation of Song Jia Sect disciples burst into laughs of disdain one by one.
In contrast, a chilling look blanketed Song Qingshu's face upon seeing the words on the tombstone.
"Throne Master? You still think you are a Throne Master? Who do you think you are!?" With a gloomy look on his face, Song Qingshu walked up to the tombstone and struck out with his palm to shatter it angrily.
BANG!
The cursing Song Qingshu tombstone broke into pieces. Whereupon, the moment the tombstone broke into pieces, a kacha came from the bottom of the tombstone as the flint ignited the fuse wire.
---
Halfway up the distant hill...
"Throne Master, what's inside the coffin?" asked Gao Xianzhi inquisitively.
"That's right, benefactor; there was sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal inside the coffin. What’s there use?" Little Rou's interest was also piqued.
"That's gunpowder!" Gu Hai answered, a smile appeared on his lips.
"Gunpowder? What's the use?" Chen Tianshan said disdainfully. In his opinion, those were common materials and as such, wouldn't the combination of them be ordinary as well?
(TLN: Gunpowder hasn’t been invented in this world, as such, they don't know what it is.)
"It can explode!" stated Gu Hai, smiling.
"Explode?" Chen Tianshan questioned as he stared in disbelief.
BOOOOOOM...
A thunderous sound rose from the far away mountain valley.
Even if it was far away, Chen Tianshan could feel the land shaking.
As he turned his head to look, he saw a cloud of dust and smoke rising from the valley. Accompanied by a cloud of dust, flames had shrouded the broken trees. As for the Song Jia Sect disciples, a group of them were hurled into the sky from the explosion.
AHHHHH!
AHHHHH!
A series of distant blood-curdling screams rang out in that mountain valley. Although Chen Tianshan, Gao Xianzhi, and Little Rou could not clearly hear the heart-wrenching screams as they were far away, a fair share of Song Jia Sect disciples were blown to pieces by the explosion.
They could clearly see broken limbs and body parts flying everywhere in the sky amid the cloud of dust and smoke before they fell away into the surroundings.
Chen Tianshan became completely muddled. At the same time, his back was suddenly drenched in cold sweat.
The scene of him trying to touch the tombstone lingered in his mind. What if I had touched at that time? Watching the scene with body parts flying everywhere, Chen Tianshan felt goosebumps explode all over his body. As he turned his head to look at Gu Hai, he could not help but feel a chilling cold gripping his heart.
"Damn, that explosion is terrifying!" Gao Xianzhi said excitedly as he stared with wide-open eyes.
"The effect is better than I thought!" Slowly, a smile appeared on Gu Hai's lips.
"Ah?" Little Rou was also caught by surprise.
"At Xiantian Stage, they could guard their bodies using Aura Qi. But too bad, they were too relaxed, no one thought that there would be an explosion. It was too late for them to guard their bodies with Aura Qi. I reckon they should be cursing me! If they are so relaxed, it will not be any better even if they survived," said Gu Hai, smiling.
Far away, the billowing smoke and flames covered the mountain valley. Everything there was a mess...
"Let's go!" Gu Hai ordered, calm and unmoved.
"Yes, Your Grace!" Gao Xianzhi couldn't help but gaze at the remains of the brilliant explosion from afar.
Little Rou's eyes were filled with awe as she looked at Gu Hai.
Chen Tianshan swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Gazing at Gu Hai's back, a sliver of a bitter smile appeared on his lips before he chased after his Throne Master.
---
At the mountain valley where the explosion took place...
Amid the flickering flames and billowing smoke, the sky was covered with body parts before they fell down. In the blink of an eye, Song Qingshu's entire body was charred. After all, Song Qingshu's foundation was pretty solid and as such, he survived the explosion.
However, the impact of the huge explosion broke all the bones in his body. His Five Zhang and Six Fu could also not remain unscathed and were crushed into pieces. Furthermore, the coffin also had countless nail fragments inside it. At the moment of explosion, these shrapnels flew in all directions, creating deep gashes and tearing countless wounds. Blood spattered in all directions, bones were exposed, bodies were charred; the scene was too ghastly to look at.
"Puff! Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Amid the flames, Song Qingshu spat blood while coughing. His entire body quivered as he gazed at the razed mountain valley, shivering.
"AHHH!"
"Save me!"
"Martial Uncle!"
"I don't want to die!"
The surviving Song Jia Sect disciples in the surrounding cried incessantly...
At this moment, those who could even shout numbered not even ten. Furthermore, a majority had lost limbs in the explosion, their condition was countless times more miserable and terrifying than Song Qingshu's.
The ground was littered with corpses, along with sticky flesh and blood.
Song Qingshu weakly turned his head to look at the surroundings.
They were almost annihilated, either dead or crippled!
BUZZZZ!
Song Qingshu's ears were ringing; he could not hear anything.
Song Qingshu gazed at the direction at which they were going to give chase.
Do I still have to hunt Gu Hai down? Just a trick of Gu Hai has annihilated my whole team. He is a devil, a devil!
"Devil Lord Gu, Devil Lord Gu!" Song Qingshu gazed at the direction where Gu Hai's group had left in trepidation.
---
Not so far away from the mountain valley...
A curly-bearded fellow along with a bunch of subordinates stared at the explosion in the nearby mountain valley; his eyes wide with shock.
"Throne Master, it seems that Song Qingshu's group was on Gu Hai's trail...!?” a subordinate said, an ugly look on his face.
The curly-beard fellow raised his head and furrowed his brow to look away into the distance before he answered, "I have underestimated that Gu Hai!"
"Throne Master, does Your Grace wants to save Song Qingshu's group, those wastrels?"
The curly-bearded fellow narrowed his eyes and replied, "Let's stay. Although they are a bit stupid, at the end of the day, they still have some value!"
"Yes, Your Grace!"