Chapter 569
The dust has settled
The first thing Song Youfu did after rushing out of the mausoleum was to look up at the sky. Only after he found that everything was normal in the small world of the lost pearl did he breathe a sigh of relief.
This means that there is only a problem with the underground mausoleum and not the entire small world. Escaping from the mausoleum is like escaping from death, and safety is guaranteed.
On the contrary, if something went wrong in the Lost Pearl World and affected the underground mausoleum, then they could be declared dead. Fortunately, the most worried scene did not happen.
"It's a pity for this ancient city." Song Youfu's tone was full of regret.
Because the royal city and the underground mausoleum were interconnected, as the underground world collapsed, the entire royal city also sank directly, as if it had experienced a major earthquake. The Qi Royal City, which had a history of more than ten thousand years, was destroyed at this moment.
The majestic palaces, magnificent pavilions, and splendid palaces in the inner city were all reduced to ruins.
First the inner city, then the outer city, the raised dust covered the entire sky. All the monks who escaped from the underground mausoleum were quietly witnessing this moment in the air.
"It's better to bury them all, so that we can live in peace." Song Youfu murmured softly.
So far, more than half of the people present did not know that the city that was falling before their eyes was the last legacy of the Great Qi Dynasty. They only thought that this was a country established by a false king.
And now, all are buried in the dust.
This was a good thing in Song Youfu's eyes, as the Da Qi cultivation world had avoided another war.
Even if the Tianmai Sect becomes aware of this in the future, Qi Wang City and the royal mausoleum are both destroyed, and the seal was shattered in public, everything is settled, and they have no reason to make trouble because of it. At most, they can continue to play the game in the upper circle, and this has nothing to do with the Song family.
Thinking of this, Song Youfu suddenly felt relieved.
Looking around, he saw unfamiliar faces everywhere. Just when he was about to contact Song Changxuan and others, the [Communication Badge] hanging on his waist suddenly vibrated. When he picked it up, he saw that it was the assembly order issued by Song Qingxi.
"Aunt and the others also escaped safely." Song Youfu was even more surprised and hurried over to meet up with Song Qingxi and the others.
The rest of the Song family had already retreated outside the royal city. Although the aftershocks were still there, they no longer had much impact on them.
Song Youfu was far away and was the last one to arrive. When he arrived and saw the scene, his heart skipped a beat.
There were fifteen people from the Song family who came on this trip, seventeen in total including the Qin brothers. Four of them were injured in the previous battle with the four sacred beasts. Song Qingxi sent Song Youhe and Yan Li to escort the wounded back. He also sent Song Lutong and Song Youlin to leave the small world with the gains in the royal city.
All in all, there were only ten people who actually entered the underground mausoleum, and eight of them were monks with the surname Song.
And now, except for the two family guards in black robes and evil ghost masks on their faces, there were only five people at the scene - Song Qingxi, Song Qingxing, Song Changxuan, Song Changxue and Song Qinghong.
Song Youhua and his previous partner Song Qingyu disappeared.
"Uncle, aunt." Song Youfu hurried forward to greet them.
Seeing that Song Youfu was safe and sound, Song Qingxi and others relaxed their tense faces a little, but they were still very solemn.
Song Youfu suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart, and couldn't help but ask tentatively: "Youhua and Uncle Qingyu..."
Song Changxuan did not answer his question directly, but said in a deep voice: "Wait a little longer."
Several people stood in the ruins, watching the majestic city sink bit by bit, and along with it, everyone's hearts sank.
No one knew how much time had passed before the dust settled and the world returned to peace. The outline of Qiwang City had completely disappeared from everyone's sight, and in its place was a giant tiankeng. The dust flying in the sky fell like rain, and everything was buried inside.
Song Qingyu and Song Youhe still did not show up, and Song Qingxi and the others had completely given up hope. They knew that two more of their clansmen had left them forever.
They couldn't even be sure of the cause of death of these two people. It might be that they evacuated too slowly and were crushed under the city, or they might have been killed while fighting for treasure.
Tianmai Sect, Tianjian Sect, Luoxia City.
Everyone could be the murderer.
The atmosphere at the scene was a bit depressing, but everyone was no longer a rookie, and they quickly adjusted their mood and began to inquire about the cause of the collapse of the underground world.
Song Qingxing suspected that it might be because he took away the nameless ancient sword, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed unlikely, and he was not sure for a moment.
In fact, this matter has little to do with him.
The story begins after they passed through the bronze gate and entered the interior of the pyramid. There were five forks in the road. Apart from Song Qingxi and the other person, the Tianmai Sect and the Tianjian Sect each occupied two of the forks.
At the beginning, their experience was similar to that of Song Qingxi and others. They encountered many coffins used to bury human kings. It was also at this time that they realized that they had actually entered the mausoleum of a "fake king".
These coffins contain the ashes of ministers who were buried with the king.
This discovery made them extremely excited and aroused their strong desire to explore.
But one thing that is different from Song Qingxing and his team is that each stone chamber here has two completely different passages.
Jian Chen and Xue Wanjun were both worried that the other side would seize the initiative and get the legacy left by the "fake king", so they had no choice but to divide their forces continuously. In the end, almost everyone was separated and each person had his own way.
Some monks had low cultivation and were not careful enough, so they fell into the mechanisms and traps set up in the pyramid and died. Other monks were also blocked by the mechanisms and traps and could not move forward.
Only a very small number of cultivators, like Song Qingxi and Song Qingxing, reached the stone chamber at the end of the corridor, and these cultivators all gained huge benefits.
Jian Chen and Xue Wanjun were no exception. Among them, Xue Wanjun obtained a set of golden chain mail, which was a powerful spiritual treasure. Even though tens of thousands of years had passed, the spirit of the weapon still had a faint consciousness and used up its last strength to launch a full-strength attack on Xue Wanjun.
This was also the first vibration of the pyramid that Song Qingxing and his team felt.
Although Xue Wanjun blocked the full-strength attack of the weapon spirit before it fell asleep, he himself was also seriously injured. He could only hurriedly leave the pyramid with the golden chain mail that was suspected to be worn by the Human King during his lifetime.
Compared to the difficulty that Xue Wanjun and Song Qingxing had in obtaining opportunities, Jian Chen was undoubtedly much luckier. He successfully found the tomb of the Human King Qi Zhenghuan.
Only after entering did he realize that everything they had experienced was designed from the beginning. It was a test set by the owner of the mausoleum in order to find a suitable successor for himself.
The teleportation gate to the outside world exists to limit the cultivation level of those entering. The four sacred beasts, the puppet army, and the various hardships they encounter after entering the pyramid are all to test the strength of those entering and find the most suitable successor.
After seeing this information, Jian Chen almost jumped up with excitement. It was obvious that he was the "successor" who had passed many tests.
"A 'pseudo king' must at least be a Jindan Zhenren, right?" Jian Chen thought, and was full of expectations for this inheritance. After all, he had seen the wealth and power of this human nation along the way, and the importance of this inheritance was self-evident.
Although Jian Chen is an outstanding disciple of the younger generation of the Tianjian Sect, he was not appointed as the young sect master. He can only be regarded as the sect's "Sword Son", and there are a total of two "Sword Sons" in the younger generation of the Tianjian Sect.
The future young leader of the Tianjian Sect will be chosen from between the two of them.
However, Jian Chen did not have much confidence in winning, because his opponent was Jian Xiu, the direct disciple of the current sect leader Jian Xu.
Although his master's master Jian Wuyou is the sect's supreme elder, he is old and has not much time left, so he can't provide him with much help.
But now it is different, as long as he can bring this inheritance out, this merit will be enough for him to completely crush Jian Xiu. As long as Jian Wuyou gives him a slight push, he can directly sit on the throne of the young sect leader.
When Jianxu abdicates in the future, he will be able to directly sit on the throne of the sect leader and hold power from then on!
With this mentality, Jian Chen took away the jade slip placed on the tribute platform, which recorded the cultivation method of the royal family of the Great Qi Immortal Dynasty.
But he was still not satisfied and even set his sights on Qi Zhenghuan's coffin.
In his opinion, there must be more funerary objects in the coffin, which could be the owner's magical tools or precious treasures.
If he could take these things out with him, whether to hand them over to the sect or keep them for his own use, he would never have to worry about resources again in his life.
Human greed is endless, and Jian Chen was destroyed by this greed. The moment he touched the coffin of the Human King, he was knocked away by an unrivaled force, and the jade slip in his hand turned into pieces.
Jian Chen was naturally unwilling to give up, but before he could make a second attempt, a large formation that had been set up in advance under the pyramid was activated, and the entire pyramid began to self-destruct.
After the destruction of the pyramids, the entire underground mausoleum was destroyed.
Because he was seriously injured and was too close to the destruction formation, Jian Chen was ultimately unable to escape and remained in the mausoleum forever.
At the moment of death, Jian Chen realized that this was also part of the test, and this part tested the human heart.
Unfortunately, he only understood this truth now. It was too late. People need to pay the price for their greed. Unfortunately, this price was difficult for Jian Chen to accept...
"Jian Chen is dead."
Song Youfu, who volunteered to go and gather information, told everyone this after he came back. He did not feel secretly happy, but just felt sad. Even the "Sword Son" of the Tianjian Sect had fallen, so how could Song Qingyu and the others have a chance of survival?
"It seems that all parties have suffered heavy losses."
Song Changxuan sighed quietly. He had just gone around to check, and found that more than half of the people were missing.
Among them, the Tianjian Sect suffered the heaviest losses. Including the cultivators who entered to chase Song Youlin, they sent in three groups of people in total, the largest number among the several sects. The total number of Qi-refining cultivators and foundation-building cultivators was close to forty.
When facing the first attack of the puppet army, the dozen or so Qi-refining monks who followed from the Tianjian Sect were all killed. Later, some of them were lost in the breakout, leaving only a dozen or so people.
Another group of people died in the pyramid, and in the end only eight people escaped, which was a heavy loss.
The Tianmai Sect and Luoxia City also suffered heavy casualties. There were already some wounded when they besieged the Four Sacred Beasts, but in order to fight for the opportunity, except for a few seriously injured ones, the rest of the wounded were not repatriated.
This group was almost wiped out under the siege of the puppet army. Later, in order to compete for treasures and explore the pyramid, another group was killed. In the end, only 18 people survived from the Tianmai Sect, with a loss of more than half, and 17 people survived from the Luoxia City, with a loss of more than one-third.
In comparison, the Song family's loss is not worth mentioning at all.
This was all thanks to Song Qingxi. She restrained her inner "greed" very well. She first sent away all the wounded, and then stayed away from the pyramid. This prevented the Song family from being surrounded by the puppet army like the other three families, and allowed the manpower to be preserved.
If they had not been dispersed due to the fight for the seal fragments and the burial objects that escaped from the pyramid, they might even have had a chance to escape unscathed.
In the final analysis, it was all due to "greed". Song Qingxi restrained himself, but Song Changxuan and others did not.
But can Song Qingxi blame them for this?
No, because they are completing the tasks assigned by the family, not for their own selfish desires.
"It's over." Song Changxue said softly.
Yes, it’s all over. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief but also felt a little lost. Was it all worth it?
"It's worth it." Song Qingxi said secretly in his heart.
Their gains this time are enough to bring about earth-shaking changes in the Song family.
Even if half of them died here, it would be worth it.
Everyone reunited with the surviving monks in Luoxia City, and Song Qingxi vaguely revealed to Lian Siyu the news that the Song family also had some fragments of the seal.
The two parties understood each other tacitly and returned to the cave together through the portal.
Looking at the team which was missing more than half of its people, Song Changsheng and others all looked unhappy.
Among them, Jian Wuyou was almost going crazy because he did not see Jian Chen in the team.
"What happened? Why did it become like this? Where are the others?" Jian Wuyou suppressed the anger in his heart and questioned a disciple of the Tianjian Sect angrily.
The disciple, with a pale face, narrated everything they had experienced in the underground mausoleum.
After learning that Jian Chen did not escape from the underground mausoleum, Jian Wuyou felt a rush of blood and actually vomited a large amount of blood and fainted.
Once upon a time, Jian Wuyou had high hopes for Jian Chen's master, who was also his son. Later, he died in the battle of Tianniu Mountain.
So Jian Wuyou could only place his hope on Jian Chen.
This time he went against everyone's opinion and let Jian Chen lead the team, also in order to help him gain prestige within the sect.
But I didn't expect that the old man would send off the young man again...
……
ps: Song Qingcheng was injured during the siege of the Four Sacred Beasts and has been sent out. The person who was with Song Youfu before should have been Song Qingyu. This has been modified now~
(End of this chapter)