Chapter 119: King Against King

In the vast, hallowed underground palace:

"Open, my ice coffin, let me behold your true face..." Gong Jiu’s impassioned cry echoed and reverberated through the air.

It was much like the moment right before a Saint Seiya character, on the brink of exhaustion, would scream: "Burn, my Cosmo! Let me defeat my enemies!"

At that exact moment, Aguna’s arrows turned toward her head, a masked figure emerged from the doorway, and Lin Feng lunged toward her with a ferocious expression...

Before everyone’s eyes...

She gave the lid a mighty heave!

"Open!"

*Clap!*

The lid remained unmoved. Gong Jiu silently clutched her hand, her expression twisted, her entire body trembling...

"So cold!"

Icy air, a bone-chilling frost, began to radiate from her. In the blink of an eye, a layer of white rime coated Gong Jiu’s brows.

*Gasp!*

Even Lin Feng was startled. His lunging momentum distorted in mid-air, and—*thud!*—he sprawled onto the ground.

"This ice coffin..."

"The cold is so intense!"

"Miss Nine!"

"Nine, you idiot!" Hua Yaofei’s shout was the most resonant.

Sui Yi’s heart sank. She knew this ice coffin would not be easy to open. It was clear that the cold was one thing, but the weight was another matter entirely.

Gong Jiu was stomping her feet on the ninth step to stave off the chill, but she could not drown out the heavy footsteps approaching from the entrance.

The masked man.

"It seems you are truly not the fated one, unable to open this ice coffin," he said calmly, looking toward Gong Jiu on the high platform. "Even with the map in your hands, you are not... As for the rest of you..."

His gaze swept over Lin Feng and the others.

"You are even less so. What a pity..."

His tone was full of regret, yet heavy with murderous intent.

"It was a waste of the efforts I took to bring you all here..."

Hearing this, the group was stunned. Damn it! So this guy wasn't the guardian of the palace at all? He was just another greedy scavenger after the treasures within the ice coffin?

"I thought you were something special, turns out you're just this kind of trash!" Brother Ma cursed, but before he could finish, a flash of movement left him in agonizing pain in his gut!

*Bang!*

He was sent flying, landing with fresh blood spilling from his abdomen.

*Pfft!*

Brother Ma coughed up blood as he tried to sit up, but when he looked forward, his face shifted in horror.

Ahead, a monster lay prone on the ground. It was a size smaller than the others, appearing almost like an elderly creature.

Sui Yi took one look, and her expression darkened.

It was the one she had encountered earlier in the green pool...

It was clearly far more formidable than the other monsters—its speed, strength, and lethality were many times greater. If she had been in her prime, she might have barely managed a draw, but now, severely wounded, she was no match.

The masked man’s intent to kill was obvious. At his command, the "people" and the monsters launched a frenzied attack.

Whether they were Gong Jiu’s subordinates, Hua Yaofei’s, or Lin Feng’s, they were all gripped by a bloodthirsty rage.

In truth, Sui Yi now realized that the previous monsters had been restrained, never attacking with full force. Perhaps this was tied to the masked man’s ambition: he had spent the whole time gradually wearing down the strength of Gong Jiu and the others, driving them into this underground palace, only to emerge and claim the spoils once they had opened the coffin.

"Damn it!" Lin Feng and the others realized they had all been played. They were filled with resentment, but having come this far, they refused to be slaughtered like dogs!

"Ah!" Lin Feng and Zhang Wei both lunged forward, attempting to lift the coffin, but they failed just like the others!

"Together!"

Seeing Brother Ma and the others being pushed back while the masked man advanced step by step, Gong Jiu and her group didn't hesitate. They joined forces to lift the coffin!

They poured in every last bit of their internal energy!

They used every ounce of their strength!

"Lift!!!"

It didn't budge an inch!

They were spitting blood—all ten or so of them felt like they were about to burst!

"Fuck! Is this ice coffin glued shut?" Gong Jiu pounded on the wood!

*Bang, bang, bang!*

The sound echoed sharply. Sui Yi’s eyelids twitched, and her heart hammered.

However...

A chill ran through her body.

The masked man had turned to look at her.

His eyes were deep, as if contemplating something...

Sui Yi stared back, lost in thought.

On the high platform, a dozen people were frantically trying to lift the coffin. Below, the others were locked in a bloody, brutal slaughter.

Only the masked man and Sui Yi remained locked in a gaze.

A static confrontation amidst the dynamic chaos. It was a surreal sight.

Even more surreal was the fact that the masked man suddenly smiled.

The laughter was low and sinister.

"Ah, I seem to have forgotten you... Compared to that little girl with the map, you seem to have a greater connection to this place... Perhaps you can open the coffin."

Gong Jiu and the others froze, their efforts to lift the coffin coming to a halt.

Leaning against the wall, Sui Yi’s eyes dimmed. Her palm pressed against the rough, uneven surface, her fingers curling slightly.

After a long silence, an unspoken agreement was reached between the two.

The masked man gave a ghostly smile and whistled. The monsters and the "people" stopped abruptly, frozen in place.

Brother Ma and the others were drenched in cold sweat—though not as much as the blood they had shed.

Seeing this, Sui Yi nodded slightly. "Fine."

Supporting herself against the wall, she stood up and walked toward the platform, dragging a long trail of blood behind her.

The masked man watched blankly, his mask glinting with a cold, eerie light.

Sui Yi didn't seem to mind him, nor did she show fear. She walked past him, with barely a meter of distance between them.

As she passed, she looked at the masked man, and he stared back.

His eyes were slightly clouded, with fine lines at the corners of his eyelids... revealing a hint of gloom.

Gong Jiu and the others thought Sui Yi would take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack. They also saw the nine monsters silently gathering behind the masked man.

Yes, nine. If you counted the ugliest, smallest one.

The nine monsters followed slowly behind Sui Yi. There was no doubt they were there to monitor her, or to kill her the moment they received the order!

Sui Yi climbed the steps slowly, a drop of blood falling with every step.

Gong Jiu’s heart turned cold; she intended to go down and help, but one of the monsters let out a harsh, rattling hiss.

"Fuck!" Gong Jiu cursed.

Compared to the desperate sprinting of Gong Jiu’s group earlier, Sui Yi’s ascent was agonizingly slow, yet she was being forced up.

Gong Jiu and the others found it deeply ironic.

Fortunately, Sui Yi finally climbed the ninth step.

Leng She sneered, "Let me see, you strange woman, what kind of connection you have to this ancient tomb!"

Lin Feng said blankly, "I never thought our lives would end up in your hands."

Hua Yaofei added, "I don't even know what to say... Fine, if you really have a connection to this tomb, just share a little bit of the treasure with me later."

Gong Jiu said, "Don't listen to them... Anyway... if there's treasure, we’ll split it fifty-fifty!"

It was truly remarkable how these women could remain so "shameless with their lives" even in such a moment.

Sui Yi glanced at them, the corner of her mouth curling slightly, and she walked before the bone-chilling ice coffin.

Before her hands touched the frost-covered surface, Sui Yi pressed her lips into a thin line. She was silent for a moment, then lifted her eyes to look at the masked man below.

"After all the times you blocked me from reaching this tomb, even going so far as to weave a perfect, seamless rumor and sending your subordinates to steal my data and intercept Gong Jiu’s plans... your current attitude tells me that you are truly out of options, don't you think?" Sui Yi narrowed her eyes, fixing them on the masked man.

The masked man’s eyes narrowed as well, a flash of icy coldness crossing them.

Gong Jiu was stunned.

What did Sui Yi mean by that?

Then, everyone heard Sui Yi sigh with a chilling, desolate tone: "Isn't that right, Great-Uncle Seven?"

Great-Uncle Seven!!!

Feng Sha’s eyes widened.

"Sui Yi, who did you say he was? That old man from the village?"

Great-Uncle Seven—Feng Sha had seen him many times in their village. He had always seemed like an ordinary old man, expressing hatred toward them, even once hitting the scumbag Ye Zhang with his cane, and panting after walking just a few steps...

That old man was this masked man? The masked man who had played them all like puppets?

Fuck!

You can't be joking like that!

The masked man didn't respond at first. A moment later, he said in a rough, gravelly voice: "You knew I wasn't destroying that data, but stealing it?"

Stealing the data? Gong Jiu raised an eyebrow. It seemed the first document she sent to Sui Yi was a file on her computer. It felt discordant to say that an old man from a village like Great-Uncle Seven had stolen it, let alone a mindless monster.

So Gong Jiu was very confused by Sui Yi’s words.

Sui Yi did not elaborate, perhaps due to some reservations. She simply changed the subject: "Every legend and rumor in the village served to keep the villagers away from the tomb, to prevent them from discovering the truth, and to scare off outsiders. That way, this deep, hidden tomb remained undiscovered for all these years. But you didn't count on a man like Ye Zhang shattering that peace."

"He brought Gong Jiu and these people, several factions with strong military force and advanced equipment. You struck time and again, infecting people with corpse poison to solidify the rumors, yet you couldn't scare them off. You even let them take the venom. You were terrified that they would discover things you didn't want known, breaking the rumors and exposing the secrets of this tomb. But you learned through other channels that Gong Jiu had a treasure map, and so, the idea of monopolizing the tomb's treasures took root. Therefore... you finally set this plan in motion, luring us all here, weakening our strength layer by layer, forcing us step by step to this very spot... Of course, this tomb wasn't built by you alone; it was inherited from the Ye family ancestors. The underground world already existed, but the tomb itself was built by Ye Zhang’s father in the name of his own death... You told me that when he died, his body mysteriously vanished. Perhaps he wasn't dead at all, but had joined forces with you to set up a massive, sky-covering lie."

Rumors? Feng Sha’s face darkened. Damn it, the tricks in that village were truly endless!

They had underestimated them far too much!