Chapter 22: Stop!

  The chubby young man smiled awkwardly, his face suddenly turning red. He scratched his head in embarrassment: "I... I'm a tomb raider, this is stolen!"

  "Grave robbing?" Ye Chen was taken aback, staring blankly at the tattered ancient scroll in his hand, muttering: "You mean to say that this thing I'm holding right now is something you dug up from a dead person's grave?"

  The chubby young man replied with a sheepish grin: "You could say that..."

  Ye Chen took a deep breath, smiled and shook his head, consoling himself: "It's okay, it's just the belongings of the dead, anyway, I didn't rob the tomb, nor did I steal them!"

  Then Ye Chen thought for a moment and continued to ask: "Is there anything else inside the tomb?"

  The chubby young man thought for a moment, and said somewhat uncertainly: "It seems like there's nothing else, except that after I found this in an old wooden box, there was nothing else. At the time, I even complained that apart from this thing, there wasn't any money."

  "Think about it!" Ye Chen continued to ask, he now eagerly wanted to know if this enlightenment skill had any connection with the martial skills that had been passed down.

  The fat young man blinked: "Really nothing left, don't believe me, ask my second uncle, he went with me."

  Upon hearing this, Ye Chen turned his head and asked the thin young man who was still kneeling on the ground: "Really nothing else?"

  "It's really gone, we were so angry at the time. The younger generation of this family is really petty. When their own elder died, they built an underground tomb like a palace, but only buried a wooden box with them!"

  As soon as he mentioned the last tomb raid, the thin young man began to complain, with a resentful look on his face.

  Ye Chen's eyes flashed with inspiration as he continued to ask: "That... that wooden box, where is it?"

  Ye Chen felt as if he had grasped a huge clue, and for some reason, he always felt that the secret room he discovered in Lianyun Sect was connected to the tomb where the two young men were going. Moreover, he always felt that the wooden box was not ordinary. If what the thin youth said was true, then apart from this Wuji, there was nothing else in the entire tomb. Then that wooden box must be no ordinary object.

  "A wooden box?" The thin young man furrowed his brow, then looked at the fat young man and stuttered again, "C-cousin, wh-where is th-that w-wooden b-box?"

  "Ah, a wooden box? Is this the wooden box that holds the scroll?" The fat youth asked Ye Chen immediately.

  Ye Chen nodded slightly: "Yes, where is the wooden box?"

  The chubby young man replied truthfully: "After taking out the things in the box, I directly put the wooden box back. The thing has been taken away, we can't take that away again, or it would be too unkind!"

  Immediately, the fat young man looked at Ye Chen being so concerned about this thing, and his heart moved. He hastily stepped forward and said: "Expert, as long as you follow us back once, no matter whether you can help us or not, I will give you this scroll. Additionally, I'll take you to that tomb to take a look. How about it?"

  "Alright!" Ye Chen furrowed his brow, thinking about the pros and cons, and said: "However, I must make one thing clear, I'm only going to take a look. If I encounter a power that I cannot handle, I will prioritize my own safety first, and this scroll can be considered as interest!"

  As soon as he heard that Ye Chen was willing to accompany him, the fat young man's face lit up with joy, and he quickly scrambled to his feet, stood beside Ye Chen, and pulled on Ye Chen's sleeve, ready to leave.

  Ye Chen watched the fat young man's movements, shook his head, smiled slightly, and followed the fat young man walking westward.

  "Tell me what's going on before it's too late!"

  Ye Chen followed behind the fat young man, looking at the fat young man who was on high alert and looking around everywhere, and smiled slightly.

  Listening to Ye Chen's question, the fat young man stopped in his tracks and looked around again, saying cautiously: "My original name is Wang Shan, he is my second uncle Wang Zhi Gang. We were originally from Wangjia Village not far away. My father, who was also his older brother, was the village chief of Wangjia Village. In the past, I was considered a honest and down-to-earth person. However, since a month ago, three black-clad masked men suddenly appeared in our village."

  Here is the translation:

  "Up to this point, Wang Shan's face was actually sweating, took a deep breath and continued: 'Originally, we were hospitable people, prepared to treat them well, who knew that on the first night, I accidentally saw them sucking other people's blood. At that time, I was scared out of my wits, hurriedly went to find my father, my father led the nine people with cultivation in our village to catch them, but unexpectedly, except for me, Second Uncle and my father, the other six were killed. Those people seemed to be injured themselves, then hastily ran away. Originally thought that this matter would end like this, but who knew that from that day on, they came every night, each time sucking a few people's blood, finally, the villagers were in a state of panic, which led to Second Uncle and me coming out to rob.'"

  "Drink human blood?" Ye Chen frowned and asked in doubt: "What about the people who were sucked dry? Are they all dead?"

  Upon hearing Ye Chen's inquiry, Wang Shan swallowed a mouthful of saliva and continued: "Yes, the person who was sucked dry would directly turn into a withered corpse... extremely frightening!"

  At this point, Wang Shan and Wang Zhi Gang both involuntarily shuddered, as if they had seen that scene again.

  Ye Chen's eyebrows furrowed, and he fell into deep thought. "Drinking human blood?" It seemed to be an evil cultivation method. Those three people mentioned by Wang Shan were probably severely injured and needed to drink human blood to recover. Thinking of this, Ye Chen felt slightly more at ease. After all, from Wang Shan's words earlier, it could be inferred that those three people were not extremely powerful; otherwise, they would not have let Wang Shan and the others live.

  After a moment, Ye Chen nodded slightly and looked at Wang Shan and the others, saying softly: "I understand, since I've accepted your things, I'll do my best. Let's go!"

  Wang Shan and Wang Zhi Gang heard this, the two of them looked at each other and smiled. Wang Shan felt relieved and said to Ye Chen: "Thank you, sir. We should hurry up now. Who knows, we might be able to return before they come back today."

  After a brief conversation, Ye Chen followed Wang Shan and the others, hastening his pace towards Wangjia Village.

  Before long, a village appeared on the horizon, and from afar, it looked somewhat frightening under the illumination of the night sky.

  A moment later, Ye Chen and the three of them entered the village. Ye Chen looked at the desolate streets and shook his head slightly, feeling a surge of sympathy in his heart. He made up his mind that if he could really help them, he would definitely do his best to help them.

  "Father, father, I've found a great man!"

  Wang Shan rushed into his own courtyard and shouted excitedly, while pulling Ye Chen towards a dark hut on the side without any lights.

  "Shh, keep your voice down, they're coming!" A middle-aged man pushed open the door, cautiously looked around and quickly pulled Wang Shan and the others into the house.

  Inside the room, Wang Shan's father, also the village chief of Wangjia Village, Wang Wanshan, looked at Ye Chen with a serious face and asked in doubt: "Are you a disciple of Lianyun Sect?"

  Ye Chen was taken aback and asked in confusion: "Do you know me?"

  Upon hearing Ye Chen's affirmative response, Wang Wanshan's face lit up with joy and he hastily said: "I once had the fortune of meeting a disciple of Lianyun Sect before, that was an unforgettable experience for me. I see that your attire is quite similar to theirs, which is why I dared to make a guess."

  Ye Chen smiled slightly: "Alright, I didn't come this time just to chat with you. When are they coming, and what kind of cultivation do they have?"

  Wang Wanshan let out a light sigh and sat down on the chair with a dejected expression: "As for the specific cultivation, I'm not clear about it. All I know is that the three of us can roughly match up to the weakest among them at the Great Completion stage."

  Ye Chen furrowed his brow: "Are all three of you at the Refining Body First Layer?"

  "Ah!"

  The three of them nodded simultaneously, indicating their consent.

  Ye Chen rubbed his chin, furrowed his brow, and thought to himself: If we estimate based on what they said, the three people with the lowest cultivation are probably at least at the second level of Body Refining. As for the highest, it's hard to say how high they can go. If that's the case, relying on my own martial skills' advantage, I still have a chance to win this battle. Thinking of this, Ye Chen looked up at the three people and said in a low voice: "You all get ready, if they come later, I'll need your help."

  Upon hearing this, Wang Wan came over with an excited look on his face and said firmly to Ye Chen: "Expert, what do you think we should do? We'll all listen to you!"

  "Right!"

  Wang Shan and Wang Zhi Gang also echoed in agreement.

  Ye Chen looked at the three people's determined appearance and nodded: "When they come, we'll launch a direct frontal attack. You three will join forces to resist one of them, and I'll try to resist the other two! However..."

  "What's wrong?" Wang Wanshan asked hastily upon seeing Ye Chen's hesitant look.

  Ye Chen took a deep breath and looked at Wang Wanshan and the other two: "You guys should prepare for the worst, I'm not sure if I can beat them, but I'll do my best."

  "Good!"

  The three of them also understood that after all, Ye Chen was not someone from their village, and it was already good enough that he could help them, they couldn't force him to risk his life for them.

  Just as everyone had just finished discussing, a heart-wrenching cry for help came from outside: "Save me!!!!"

  Ye Chen suddenly turned his head around and looked at Wang Wanshan and the other two, nodded to them, then charged out first on horseback.

  Wang Wanshan and the other two exchanged a glance, then rushed out together. All three of them understood that this time it was related to the fate of Wangjiavillage, if they didn't succeed today, the other three people would probably slaughter Wangjiavillage in anger.

  Ye Chen rushed out of the room and quickly identified the direction of the sound, then charged towards it.

  After a moment, Ye Chen saw three black-clad men not far away on the ground, each of whom was half-kneeling and hugging someone in their arms, sucking out the other person's vital energy.

  Ye Chen's face darkened with rage, and he thundered loudly: "Halt!"

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