Chapter 12

Zong Zi Heng broke into the room next door. A small figure sprung up and sat on the bed and said: "Who’s there?!"

Zong Zi Heng felt slightly relieved: "Xiao Jiu, it's me. Put your clothes on quickly."

"...Ah?" Zong Zi Xiao was still confused.

The sound of fighting suddenly came from outside the door. Zong Zi Heng could not care about his clothes. With one hand holding a sword and one hand carrying Zong Zi Xiao, they ran out of the guest room: "Huang Hong, Huang Wu..." He stopped moving and froze on the spot.

Their guest room was on the second floor. Although it was in the southernmost part of the inn, this inn was very small. The stairway should only be a few steps away, but the two could clearly see that the corridor in front of them was being stretched out like a rope by a mysterious power, becoming much longer, and the flight of stairs was now located at the far end.

Zong Zi Xiao rubbed his eyes and thought that he was still half asleep. Even Zong Zi Heng wondered for a moment if this was a dream.

"Your Highness!" Huang Hong's voice brought both of them back to their senses.

Huang Hong was downstairs. When Zong Zi Heng looked down, he felt even more creeped out. Originally, it was only two stories high. How could the gap be at least 10 to 13.32 meters wide?

"Your Highness, we were ambushed. You must hold on to Ninth Highness. Do not get separated from him."

"What...What is going on here?" Zong Zi Heng followed the sound of the fight, trying to find Huang Wu, "Where is Huang Wu?" It sounded very close, yet he couldn't see him.

Huang Hong gritted his teeth and said, "We are all in this inn, but we can't touch each other. This is the magical treasure of Lu Ban, Gong Shu Ju."

The Zong brothers looked at each other. They were so surprised that they couldn't speak.

The magical treasures in the cultivation world can be divided into three categories. The most powerful ones were naturally the four ancient magical treasures. The second category was the magical treasures created by the earth deities who wanted to leave their mark in future generations. These treasures have been passed down from generation to generation. The last category was the magical treasures refined by the heroes from the present age.

Even if the ruler reached the peak of perfection and was fortunate to find one of those four ancient magical treasures, the power it could exert was only skin deep. Otherwise, Shen Nong Ding would not need a hundred high-ranking cultivators to keep the fire going. A million years have passed, and there were only two things that have made their appearances in the world. One was Shen Nong Ding, which transformed into an immortal mountain, while another one was the Shanhe Sheji Map, which no one could control because it was in the Zong clan's treasure grove after the emperor fled the capital.

The new magical treasures refined in the present had various functions and varying effectiveness. Some were only available to the great immortal families, some were specially made for a certain person, and some were owned by everyone, like the Qiankun bag. Some came from the hands of top masters, such as rare and priceless things.

The magical treasures handed down by the earth deities had no masters and were priceless. They all had great powers. Therefore, cultivators spent their entire lives searching for them. Those who had the ability would kill to obtain such magical treasures, and they were never less skillful than core thieves.

Gong Shu Ju was a divine ruler left behind by Lu Ban. It could change the size of dead things within a certain time and range. The deeper the user's cultivation level, the greater the range. Anyone within the range of the ruler would fall into its trap. Even if the exit were near, they could not escape.

Previously, they had read about Gong Shu Ju in books, but they never thought that they would experience first-hand the power of this magical treasure one day. It's not easy to get this treasure and control an inn. Who was the other party and what did they want to do?!

Zong Zi Heng calmed his mind and ran towards the stairway, but it was as if the corridor was having a race with him. He couldn’t get closer no matter what he did. When he looked down, it was not that the stairs were getting further away, but that he was running on the spot. He wanted to jump off from the second floor, but he wasn't sure how far the caster would widen the distance from the ground floor.

"Big brother, just put me down." Zong Zi Xiao started to struggle.

"No. The attacker wants to split us up." Zong Zi Heng said, "Xiao Jiu, big brother will carry you. No matter what happens, you must never, ever let go, understand?"

Zong Zi Xiao laid on Zong Zi Heng's back: "Got it. Big brother. What is this..."

"I don't know what is going on. Don't be afraid, big brother is here."

Don't be afraid, big brother is here.

It seemed that hearing those words put Zong Zi Xiao's mind at ease. In his mind, his big brother was omnipotent. With big brother around, there was no need to be afraid.

Huang Hong tried to run upstairs but also failed to do it. That caster was very clever by separating them from each other to make them unable to protect each other. Otherwise, with their abilities, ordinary people couldn’t do anything to them. Huang Hong shouted, "Your Highness, I'll go find the spell caster. He must be inside the inn. You guys be careful."

"Ok." Zong Zi Heng thought about it and decided to return to the guest room. Although he didn't know what the purpose of the attacker was, it was obvious that he was here for the two of them. With Zong Zi Xiao here, guarding him was his main priority.

However, they suddenly felt spiritual pressure behind them. Several masked men in black jumped into the guest room from the window and came straight at the two brothers.

Zong Zi Heng swished his sleeves, and the two doors closed with a bang. He bit his finger, drew a talisman with his blood in midair, and pasted it on the door. This blood spirit talisman was the medium that could maximize the power of the talisman. The same talisman drew with blood, as compared to drawing with cinnabar, had a huge difference in terms of effectiveness. Of course, the consumption of the caster was also huge. That door was fortified and temporarily became a barrier, but with the people inside taking turns to ram against it with their bodies, it couldn’t last long. They were trapped in this narrow corridor, and the situation was very unfavorable.

"Big brother, look. The corridor has become shorter." Zong Zi Xiao said, "That spell caster must be moving around in order to trap us in three different places. He must also be struggling."

"That's right, this spell drains a lot of spiritual energy. I'll see how long he can last." Zong Zi Heng tried once again to go downstairs. The two high-ranking cultivators Huang Hong and Huang Wu were not easy to deal with. This ambush would not last for long. As long as they held on until the opponent put away the magical treasure and revealed his true form, it would not be too late to counterattack.

This time, he was finally able to get to the stairway's exit after running for a long time. He wanted to go downstairs as soon as possible to join them, but just as he stepped down the stairs, the gap between the two steps widened. He missed his footing and fell, while the ground beneath his feet sank deep down and turned into a black bottomless hole. The hole was narrow, which was simply tailored for them.

Zong Zi Heng swung his sword and stabbed the handrail. Using the force from the swing, he twisted his body in the air and temporarily slowed down the fall. He swung Zong Zi Xiao's arm and threw the boy up.

Zong Zi Xiao's body spun half a circle. His two legs hooked onto the handrail, and his other hand grabbed tightly onto Zong Zi Heng's sleeve, dragging him back.

In an instant, the steps began to close and turned into two thick and long, large planks of wood. With one look, Zong Zi Heng knew that he was about to get trapped in between. But Zong Zi Heng's gaze remained calm and steady, and under the dancing sword light, the big wooden boards were sliced into a pile of wood chips in the blink of an eye.

"Big brother!" Zong Zi Xiao exclaimed.

Zong Zi Heng turned his head and saw that Zong Zi Xiao's ankle was entangled in the deformed stair railing, and his whole body was yanked backwards. When they loosened their grip, Zong Zi Heng's expression suddenly changed. He lunged forward recklessly and grabbed his younger brother's hand again. He swung his sword and cut the handrail. He held Zong Zi Xiao tightly in his arms, and his heart was pounding nervously: "Xiao Jiu, are you okay?"

Before Zong Zi Xiao could make a sound, he saw the pieces of wood that had been cut to pieces by Zong Zi Heng turning into stalks of 33.3cm long sharp wood, and they were raining down on the two brothers from all directions.

Zong Zi Heng grabbed Zong Zi Xiao's belt and threw the boy back to the second floor. With a body that flourished with spiritual energy, and the momentum from using Zongxuan sword technique, he cut down the sharp pieces of wood one by one.

However...

"Big brother--"

Zong Zi Heng felt a sharp pain. A sharp piece of wood plunged into his thigh. Although it did not hurt the bone, it passed through the flesh and blood flowed out.

At that moment, the barrier broke. The door fell apart and flew out. Several masked men in black rushed out of the guest room.

Zong Zi Heng gritted his teeth and pulled out the piece of wood: "Xiao Jiu, come here quickly."

Zong Zi Xiao jumped down from the second floor. This time the distance to the floor did not change because those masked men in black also came down at the same time. Zong Zi Xiao looked at Zong Zi Heng's pants that was full of blood and cried anxiously: "Big brother, big brother..."

"It's okay." Zong Zi Heng made a hand gesture and did a blood-coagulation enchantment with one hand. He then pulled Zong Zi Xiao up and ran.

The running affected the wound, so the blood wouldn’t stop flowing out. Every step was painful. Zong Zi Heng tried to find his guards by following the sounds. The sound of fighting came from the back of the kitchen. Although there were only a few tables and chairs away, it became unreachable once again due to the magical treasure.

There were new pursuers waiting for them at the ground floor, and they caught up with them in no time. Zong Zi Heng kept Zong Zi Xiao behind him as he shouted sternly, "Who are you, and do you know who we are?"

"Well, both of you are the imperial sons of Emperor Zong." A man in black sneered, "It is the both of you that we want."

"What do you want!"

"The, golden, core."

Zong Zi Heng's pupils contracted, and he felt chills all over his body. They actually ran into core stealing demonic cultivators? Could this be related to the death of the cultivator who they had been investigating for the past two days? "You guys want my golden core? After taking my core, you will be hunted down by the entire immortal cultivation world."

"Hehe, I'm afraid that Your Highness has not understood. What I want is both of your golden cores."

Zong Zi Heng was extremely angry: "My younger brother just formed a core, what use do you have for the golden core of a nine-year-old child?!"

"Although His Little Highness's golden core is shallow in spiritual power, he has good roots. This innate superior root is much rarer than decades of cultivation. Besides, when he grows up, it will take too much effort to get it."

Having heard that, Zong Zi Heng subconsciously blocked Zong Zi Xiao with his body, wishing he could turn him invisible to this group of people.

"Beasts!" Zong Zi Xiao shouted angrily, "You beasts, I will never let you go even if I turn into a fierce ghost!"

The men in black laughed wildly and pounced on him.

Zong Zi Heng's right leg was already injured, and he still had to protect one person. With one against the majority, he was forced to retreat one step after another. If it wasn't for the fact that these people wanted to take his golden core while he was alive, he wouldn't have lasted this long.

Soon, Zong Zi Heng's injuries multiplied. His white clothes were soaked in blood. Zong Zi Xiao wanted to rush out several times, but Zong Zi Heng forced him to stay behind, and only his cries could be heard. However, Zong Zi Heng had lost too much blood. His eyes became blurred, and he gradually lost his ability to hear.

"Xiao Jiu, don't be afraid..." Zong Zi Heng retreated until he could no longer move back. He held his sword across his chest, sandwiching Zong Zi Xiao between himself and the wall. He said while trembling, "Big brother is here."

 

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Translator Thoughts:

PS: I think I started using mtl to assist me in speeding up my translation from this chapter onwards (somewhere around these chapters), so any chapters before this are translated word by word from my brain and dictionaries xD

Editor Thoughts:

Wow if I had Gong Shu Ju I'll change the size of food and save so much from meals... Heck I would make my screen longer to see multiple windows to make editing and translation easier LOL

What would you all use it for? 

What do you guys think will happen next? My guess is someone will appear to save them xD 

As usual, leave a like and comment if you liked the chapter! See you in the next one~ let's find out what happens together! 

 

Edited on 12 Mar. 21 (Emzie)

Edited on 11 Jul. 21 (Ari)

Edited on 30 Jul 21 (Limit)

 

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