Chapter 163: Big Brother! I got pricked
After the slaughter that befall upon the ’strongest’ lot of the Gu Clan younger generation by the Ironback Abyss Crocodiles, the atmosphere within the Gu Clan’s expedition team had become exceedingly gloomy.
The disciples who had survived the ambush walked in silence, their expressions heavy as they left behind the corpses of their fallen brothers buried in the swamp.
But the smell of their blood still lingered on their bodies.
Some disciples occasionally stole glances at Gu Chen who walked with a solemn expression on his face, his robes stained with the blood of both beasts and comrades alike.
Meanwhile others quietly whispered among themselves in confusion and fear. They might have screamed at the top of their voices earlier that they would die for the Gu Clan, but with every step they took, doubt began to creep in their hearts.
But all throughout, there was only one person who seemed completely unaffected. He was none other than the guy who recently became the shining star of Madam Li’s eyes, Gu Fan.
The seventh Young Master of the Gu Clan was still at the very front of the group.
With his hands clasped behind his back, as he leisurely walked through the poisonous fog while softly whistling an unfamiliar tune.
His relaxed appearance looked entirely out of place amidst the mournful atmosphere.
Every few moments, he would even bend down to pick a herb or kick a stone off the path.
The disciples who witnessed this scene nearly coughed up blood from anger.
Three brothers had died. Yet this shameless fellow looked as though he were taking a casual stroll through the clan gardens.
"Does this bastard even possess a heart?" one disciple muttered through clenched teeth, and Gu Fan naturally heard it. But instead of fighting back, he merely grinned.
His mood was excellent. After all, from his perspective, the expedition had already achieved remarkable success. Three of Gu Chen’s loyal dogs had been sent to meet King Yama.
The Golden Boy’s assassination attempt had failed spectacularly.
And most importantly...
The slaughter array prepared by Bai Haoran was drawing ever closer.
The deeper they ventured into the Miasma Woods, the wider Gu Fan’s smile became.
Meanwhile, Gu Chen’s expression grew increasingly grave. As they got deeper into the forest, the Blood-Tracking Compass hanging from his waist had begun trembling more frequently.
Each vibration indicated that they were approaching closer and closer to the location where the Emperor’s tribute had supposedly been hidden.
Until then Gu Fan can only enjoy the view.
After another quarter hour of travel, the surrounding mist suddenly began to thin, and the dense forest gradually opened before them.
Soon, an enormous open area appeared in the depths of the woods.
The moment Gu Fan saw it, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"We have arrived." Gu Chen announced placing his hand over the violently shaking compass to muffle its loud buzzing.
At the very center of this barren open area stood an absolutely gigantic tree that looked like it was over a hundred feet tall.
The thick stem of the tree was entirely black with not a single leaf on it and it made the tree look exactly like a massive, skeletal hand reaching up toward the gloomy sky.
Its thick, twisted roots dug deep into the hard earth while the ’Blood-Tracking Compass’ attached to Gu Chen’s leather belt suddenly began to vibrate intensely.
The depressed Gu Fan disciples immediately gripped their weapons with fear and anticipation, while Gu Fan simply stood at the forefront, slowly moving towards the back of the group making sure no one noticed him.
Bai Bing had already warned him of this and he had already activated his ’Eye of the Void Shatterer’.
This barren ground wasn’t a bandit hideout at all, but rather the lethal Earth-Grade Slaughter Array that Bai Haoran had explicitly set up to harvest the Golden Boy’s life.
But Gu Chen saw Gu Fan walk through the back and immediately his lips curled up in a pleasant smile.
"Ahh! Younger Brother Gu Fan. You seem eager as always."
"Now since you bravely took the vanguard position earlier, I think it is only right that you continue to lead us."
"How about you inspect the surroundings?" Gu Chen ordered smoothly, actively trying to force the trash to trigger whatever deadly traps were heavily guarding the bandit’s vault, "Look for any hidden paths or mechanisms that might be perfectly hiding the entrance."
But exactly as Gu Chen finished words, Gu Fan suddenly let out a highly dramatic, incredibly loud gasp of pain and agony, as he threw his sword onto the dirt before dropping directly down onto his right knee to clutch his boot with both hands.
"Ahhh! Heavens above! My foot!" Gu Fan cried out with a shameless expression that twisted his handsome face, "Thorn! A fucking thorn just poked me."
"It pierced straight through my sole. My leg! I can’t feel it! Brother Chen! I can’t feel my leg!" Gu Fan looked at Gu Chen with a sad face, "Please help me! Support your dear younger brother!"
Watching the trash young master’s exaggerated performance, the Gu Clan disciples looked at Gu Fan in unadulterated disbelief, their eyes completely wide with shock as they watched the tall, muscular youth shamelessly roll around in the dirt like a pathetic, crying child complaining about a tiny invisible thorn.
"Are you completely out of your mind?!" a bandaged disciple yelled, pointing his spear directly at Gu Fan with pure, boiling anger, "You didn’t even take a single step forward, so how could you possibly step on a thorn?!"
"I took a step back, you fucking moron!" Gu Fan stopped crying for a second, "If you have eyes for a button, than fucking zip your mouth. Aaahh!"
"Look at this absolutely shameless bastard!" another disciple grumbled, spitting a thick bloody phlegm directly onto the ground in contempt, "How in the heavens did this pathetic, whining coward actually manage to beat Young Master Bai Yun?! He must have cheated somehow. He doesn’t have a single bone in his spine."
"Young Master Chen bravely slaughtered an entire pack of massive Ironback Abyss Crocodiles for us, yet this absolute trash violently cries over a mere prick!" A loyal lackey sneered, his respect for Gu Chen skyrocketing as he looked at Gu Chen’s righteous posture in stark contrast to Gu Fan’s pathetic acting, "We should have just left him behind to rot in the swamp!"
Gu Chen’s jaw tightly clenched as his eyes narrowed, realizing that the slippery bastard was blatantly ignoring his direct orders. But since he needed to maintain his benevolent image in front of the highly devoted disciples, he forced a forgiving sigh past his lips.
"Do not curse our injured brother, for our absolute priority right now is not to waste precious breath on internal squabbles, but to actively find the hidden lair of those thieving scums and successfully retrieve the Emperor’s tribute!" Gu Chen loudly reprimanded his men, gracefully sweeping his arm out to gesture toward the barren clearing.
"Everyone! Maintain your defenses and thoroughly look around the immediate area for any hidden paths or that concealed the entrance to their underground lair!"
"We obey your command, Young Master Chen!" the elite disciples shouted passionately in absolute unison, aggressively thumping their chests with their fists as they eagerly fanned out across the barren ground to actively search for the bandit hideout.
As the highly loyal disciples confidently scoured the dirt, one of them marched directly toward the massive, skeletal tree right in the center of the clearing to inspect its thick roots.
But exactly as the boy stepped towards the twisted dead wood, an ominous, chilling sensation rushed up Gu Chen’s spine.
He could not help but feel that something was deeply wrong about the ambient Qi completely surrounding this specific open ground.
Refusing to take any reckless chances, Gu Chen quickly circulated his Spiritual Qi to activate his ’Righteous Eyes’ technique, which instantly placed a terrifyingly heavy, painful strain onto his mind as his blue pupils brilliantly flashed with blinding golden light.
And the absolute second his enhanced vision forcefully pierced straight through the gloomy physical world, Gu Chen’s heart violently skipped a heavy beat in sheer terror.
Hidden entirely beneath the thin layer of barren dirt was a massive, and incredibly complex network of runes that was dimly lit in bloody crimson light.
It looked exactly like as if thousands of swollen pulsating blood veins were crawling through the ground.
In front of his eyes, the dense spiritual veins were throbbing with incredibly sinister, deeply corrupted Qi.
And as Gu Chen actively followed the glowing runes toward the center, he saw a massive, thick pool of dark red blood heavily soaking the twisted roots of the massive black tree, which the pulsating veins were aggressively drinking and seeping straight into the earth.
"This is not the hideout," Gu Chen muttered to himself as he realized that their entire group was currently standing right smack in the absolute middle of this massive, highly lethal trap.
"You! Gu Lin stop!"