Chapter 1801 - 2103: Soul Stone (6)
"Ling Cheng, should we go up too?" Qiu Yong walked over to Ling Chen and asked in a low voice.
Ling Chen hesitated for a moment and said, "Let’s go up. Now that they’re in trouble, we can’t just sit by and do nothing. Besides, they’ve been good to me. Even after I made such a big mistake, they didn’t try to take my life."
Upon hearing this, Qiu Yong nodded and said no more. A few hours later, the group, with no time to rest, hurried to the peak of Qiu Nanshan.
Entering the stronghold of the Guardian Clan, they occasionally saw the bodies of its members along the way. Du Yunzhi quickly walked towards the front of the passage, her face as cold as ice. The people following her didn’t dare to speak a word, fearing they might anger their clan leader. Not long after, the group arrived directly outside the graveyard of the Guardian Clan.
Ling Chen fixed his eyes ahead and saw that the stone gate of the graveyard had already been opened. Beside the gate lay many corpses, not only members of the Guardian Clan but also many outsiders, presumably members of the Dark Pavilion and Netherworld Snake.
This is bad!
Ling Chen frowned slightly, thinking to himself. The stone gate had been opened, indicating that He Honggang and his team had already succeeded. The Soul Stones inside must have been stolen. Although he already knew the outcome, he still followed Du Yunzhi into the graveyard. Passing through the cave of the graveyard, he saw that all the coffins inside had been destroyed, and the remains inside were thrown on the ground, with the abdomen of each one hollowed out.
Seeing this scene, Ling Chen couldn’t help but shake his head. He Honggang and his group had no bottom line. It was bad enough that they stole Soul Stones, but to desecrate the ancestors’ remains was unforgivable.
At this moment, a man quickly ran to Du Yunzhi and reported, "Clan leader, we’ve found a few brothers, and they’re still alive."
Du Yunzhi replied with a sound and turned to walk out of the graveyard. Seeing this, Ling Chen gestured to the group and then followed behind Du Yunzhi. Soon, the group arrived at a spacious stone chamber, where the injured members of the Guardian Clan had already been brought over. Judging by their miserable state, with severed limbs and blood all over, one could tell how fierce the previous battle had been.
"Speak, what exactly happened?" Du Yunzhi suppressed her anger and asked in a cold voice.
"Clan leader!" A member knelt to the ground with a thud, tears in his eyes, and said, "You must avenge the brothers. Except for a few of us, everyone else is dead, even the two elders sacrificed their lives."
Upon hearing the news of the elders’ deaths, Du Yunzhi’s face twitched slightly. However, she managed to contain her emotions and asked, "I know, I just want to know who did it."
"Not long after you dispatched reinforcements, they launched an attack. There were about thirty or forty people, led by four individuals. Besides the three who trespassed our ancestral tomb last time, there was another person, though I don’t know his identity."
Four people? Ling Chen’s heart skipped a beat, a hint of doubt flashed across his face. Wasn’t it just He Honggang, Chen Younian, and Su Cheng’en? So who was the fourth person?
While pondering, he heard Du Yunzhi ask, "Besides He Honggang, who are the other three?"
The man didn’t know the names of Chen Younian and the others, but he roughly described their appearances, which was enough to identify the intruders. However, when Ling Chen heard the description of the last male intruder’s appearance, his face changed drastically. At the same time, Du Yunzhi’s cold gaze fell on him.
"Ling Chen, if his description is correct, the last leader should be Ling Gengqiu. Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?"
Hearing Du Yunzhi’s icy voice, Ling Chen thought to himself, "This is not good." How could this happen? Why would Ling Gengqiu show up here? Could it be that he was also drawn by the Soul Stones and joined forces with He Honggang? No! Impossible! He shook his head inwardly. Although he hadn’t known Ling Gengqiu for long, he trusted that Ling Gengqiu wasn’t like that.
"Lady Du, there might be some misunderstanding here." Ling Chen explained, "My brother would never do such a thing."
"Alright!" Du Yunzhi nodded and said, "Since you’re so sure, I’ll give you a chance. If you can make him appear in front of me immediately, I’ll believe you."
Without another word, Ling Chen quickly took out his phone and dialed Ling Gengqiu’s number. Ling Gengqiu’s phone had been unreachable before, and he didn’t know if it would connect now. To be honest, Ling Chen felt a bit uneasy. Quickly, a series of ’beep’ sounds came from the phone, indicating the call had gone through, which made Ling Chen breathe a sigh of relief.
However, just then, a faint phone ringtone suddenly echoed in everyone’s ears.
"Clan leader, that sound seems to be coming from outside."
Du Yunzhi glanced at Ling Chen, then stepped outside the stone chamber. As the group returned to the passage, the phone ringtone became clearer. Soon, they arrived at the corridor filled with corpses. Following the ringtone, Ling Chen moved a corpse aside, revealing a phone underneath—it was Ling Gengqiu’s.
This is terrible! Looking at the phone still ringing, Ling Chen felt a chill run through his body. Ling Gengqiu’s phone was here, which meant he had definitely been here before. This was just great, Lyn Chen had just guaranteed that Ling Gengqiu wasn’t involved, and now even if he jumped into the Yellow River, he couldn’t clear his name.
At this moment, Qiu Yong and his group realized the gravity of the situation and slowly gravitated towards Ling Chen, aligning themselves against the members of the Guardian Clan.
Probably, a bloody battle will ensue shortly.
"Ling Chen!" Du Yunzhi shouted, her face grim, "What do you have to say now?"
"I..." Ling Chen opened his mouth, but apart from a bitter smile, he didn’t know what to say.
"I’ve always trusted you, yet you? Not only did you betray my trust, but you also conspired with He Honggang and the others to kill my clansmen, destroy my ancestral tomb. This enmity must be avenged with blood. Kill them!"
With Du Yunzhi’s order, the members of the Guardian Clan immediately charged forward, surrounding Ling Chen and the others.
Seeing this situation, Ling Chen sighed helplessly; at this point, words were superfluous. Other than fighting to death, there was no other choice. He drew the Wave-cutting Sword and slowly stepped forward in front of the group.
"Stop!"
Just as both sides were about to engage in a deadly battle, a weak voice suddenly reached everyone’s ears.
Upon hearing that familiar voice, Ling Chen quickly turned his head and saw Ling Gengqiu, pale-faced, supporting himself against the wall, slowly appearing in everyone’s view.
"Brother?" Ling Chen was startled and hurried over to support his arm, asking, "What happened to you?"
"I’m fine, won’t die." Ling Gengqiu took two breaths and looked at Du Yunzhi, saying, "This matter has nothing to do with them. Let them go. Whatever happens, I’ll bear it alone."