Tomb raiding: A mere 20 is nothing!

"What's wrong?" Xie Yuchen, who was closest to her, was the first to notice something was wrong: "Did you encounter something up ahead?"

Upon hearing this, the previously lively group gradually fell silent again, as everyone assumed they were in danger.

Seeing this, Shen Mingchao quickly explained, "No, no, you guys continue your discussion. I took a quick look and there's no danger around here. We can get out in about ten minutes."

"Okay, be careful."

Xie Yuchen clapped his hands, and Shen Mingchao gave a soft "hmm" and didn't say anything more, but his mind was far from calm.

[What did you just say?]

Want to try the power of the phoenix?

The other person repeated it again, and Shen Mingchao, making sure he hadn't misheard, replied indifferently:

[What you're saying sounds like you're talking about a pyramid scheme.]

Now that you know the whole story, there's no need for this place to exist.

[so what?]

【Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, let it all burn. The remains of the divine bird will transform into divine power in the fire, flowing back into my body, where I will temporarily keep them.】

[...although but]

Shen Mingchao was somewhat embarrassed; she remained a law-abiding citizen.

[Arson in the forest is illegal; what if the fire gets out of control?]

Don't worry, leave everything to me.

Upon hearing this, Shen Mingchao frowned, sensing an underlying meaning in the words. What did he mean by "giving it over"? A fragment of consciousness?

In a flash of inspiration, she suddenly realized something.

[Wait, you're not going to possess me, are you?]

【You're overthinking it. The Phoenix's fire can be controlled; it won't burn trees, only the miasma and insects that blot out the sky. But you don't know how to control it. I can teach you.】

Oh, is that so?

Shen Mingchao understood.

However, I still advise you to avoid having outsiders around. Too many people will talk, and you might cause unnecessary trouble. It'll only take a few minutes.

Since the other party said that, there must be a reason. After leading everyone out of the Blind Tomb, she saw the Zhang family members who were waiting on the perimeter to provide support.

It will take some time for everyone to regain their sight, and although the wounds on their bodies are not fatal, they still need further treatment to prevent infection.

Shen Mingchao looked at everyone and said loudly, "You all go back first, I have something else to do."

These words immediately alerted everyone.

"What is it?"

"Is it dangerous?"

"My injuries are minor, so I'll stay and keep you company."

They all talked at once.

Shen Mingchao felt a warmth in his heart, but firmly declined, "It's not dangerous, don't worry, it's just burning something, it'll be quick, just a few minutes."

The words were vague, but everyone could tell from Shen Mingchao's tone that he had made up his mind. The fact that he gave a specific timeframe indicated that he was confident in the matter, but simply didn't want to tell them. Everyone has secrets, and they didn't want to interfere too much.

When most of the people had left, Shen Mingchao stretched his limbs, his face showing a solemn expression.

Come on, tell me what to do.

Suddenly, a faint, ethereal voice echoed in my mind. The voice was ethereal, seemingly both near and far, gently entering my ears.

Shen Mingchao felt as if a sudden inspiration had struck him.

It was as if my body had awakened muscle memory, and waves of heat kept surging from my palms.

next second.

The ball of fire leaping in his palm reshaped itself, transforming into a burning longbow.

Hold the bow in front with your left hand, pull the bowstring taut with your right hand, and nock the arrow formed from flames.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze sharp, her mind completely focused—a posture that seemed almost instinctive.

"Awesome!"

As the sound faded, the arrow flew from the bowstring, tracing a bright arc as it soared into the sky above the thick fog.

Like water droplets spreading across rice paper, the flames, like wildfire, gradually devoured and melted away the thick fog.

The fire burned quickly and died out just as fast. Without the thick fog to cover it, the Blind Tomb was completely exposed to the sunlight. It was no longer the place where the gods had fallen, but just an ordinary wasteland.

Shen Mingchao watched this scene in silence.

The sunlight illuminated her face. She didn't know what lay ahead of her, but she knew that the Blind Tomb would never exist again.

This also marks the end of this trip.

Without looking back, she turned and left.

The whole process took less than five minutes.

The matter of the Blind Tomb couldn't be kept secret from those shrewd people. Shen Mingchao returned to the Zhang family's base, knocked on the door, and went straight to the point: "The Blind Tomb is gone."

Unexpectedly, apart from Zhang Xiaoshe almost falling off his chair, the others remained quite calm.

Zhang Qilan: "What did you do?"

"Burn all those unclean things."

After considering the size of the blind tomb, everyone was slightly alarmed.

Zhang Haiyan was the quickest to react, rushing over to Shen Mingchao, grabbing his hand, and starting to ask him about his well-being:

"That sounds like a huge project. How's it going? Feeling tired? If you are..."

Looking at Zhang Haiyan's expression, Shen Mingchao had a bad feeling. The next second, his premonition came true. The man smiled strangely and said, "I'm not tired. I can do it."

?

If he's tired, shouldn't he rest? What is he doing?

Shen Mingchao swore she didn't want to overthink it, but she couldn't control herself. One sentence and she was on the highway; no wonder she laughed earlier, it really wasn't anything good.

"Clang—"

The knife hit the corner of the table.

Zhang Qilin held a knife in one hand and a cloth in the other, raised his head, and glanced at Zhang Haiyan's direction as if he were not.

Zhang Haiyan silently twitched the corners of her mouth.

He thought to himself: What the hell? Even though my eyesight hasn't fully recovered, I can still feel a chill running down my spine.

The air felt a little condensed.

"Are you hungry?" Zhang Haike asked, trying to smooth things over.

Zhang Haixia quickly chimed in, "Fatty just said he wants you to come to him when you get back, probably because he wants to get cooking ingredients from you."

After explaining the matter of the blind tomb, Shen Mingchao didn't want to stay there and continue this awkward topic, so he simply said, "Oh, okay, I'll go find him."

Hearing the footsteps fade away and confirming that Shen Mingchao had gone far away, Zhang Haiyan could no longer hold back and turned to Zhang Qiyu, who was standing silently, and started talking.

His tone was full of frustration and resentment.

"Clan leader, to be honest, we shouldn't let the good stuff go to outsiders. Shrimp Boy and the guy surnamed Wang have special identities, so let's leave that aside for now. If our godmother knew that we had the advantage in numbers but let an outsider beat us to it, she'd laugh at us to death."

Zhang Qilan didn't speak, and Zhang Haike was speechless: "It's one thing to talk too much, but why do you always bring up the most sensitive topics?"

"well--"

At that moment, a sigh came out perfectly.

Listening closely to the sound, Zhang Qianjun sensed something was off. He turned to Zhang Xiaoshe, whose expression was grim, and asked, puzzled, "None of us sighed, so why are you sighing? This has nothing to do with you, right?"

"Who said it doesn't matter?" Zhang Xiaoshe and the snake coiled around his hand drooped their heads. "Sigh, Blind Tomb is gone, I'm going to lose my job. Tell me, shouldn't I sigh?"

Others: ...

They're upset about completely different things!