CHAPTER 43: WEAK

Yu Tian and Xueling landed in an open area.

"Is this the place?" Yu Tian asked, observing his surroundings. He didn’t think it looked anything special.

"No," Xueling responded.

"Then why did you stop?" he asked. "Is it tiring to fly?" he asked. He thought to himself that that shouldn’t be a problem though, since she had already stabilized her cultivation and had even entered the middle stages of Core Formation. She wouldn’t even be tired if she flew for a whole day.

"Umm... no," she said, twitching nervously. "Since it’s our first time going out, I felt we should take the time to enjoy the moment," she said.

"Enjoy the moment?" he asked.

"That’s right," she said.

He held his finger on his chin. "I see..." he began, her eyes brightened. "You want us not to go early since it’s probably flooding with people, right?" he asked, causing her to almost stumble.

"Ah... yes..." she said.

She glanced to the side. What people flooding? She’d be surprised if even a single person showed up. The Twin Tombs weren’t seen as all that impressive. People had already tried multiple times and eventually gave up, concluding that the test of the tomb was way too difficult and wasn’t made for people to pass. There was probably no inheritance, and the twin sisters just wanted to play some twisted joke on the next generations.

She glanced at Yu Tian. She felt that he was quite excited for it - he really might pass the test given his abilities. Even so, what if it turned out that there really was no reward and it was all a big joke by the twin sisters? What then?

Yu Tian, on the other hand, just looked at her. He thought to himself that he understood her feelings. He had suspected this and used his calculation ability to confirm it. Even so, he couldn’t reciprocate her feelings.

"Strange, it feels as though something in me has changed," he thought. He looked at her, thinking to himself that before, the previous him would’ve been happy that a rich woman liked him, but now, it felt more like a drag.

He studied her, wondering if his ability had anything to do with this. It’s true that after receiving the ability, he had changed to become more obsessed with the numbers. He hadn’t expected it to even interfere with other aspects of himself.

He looked at Xueling. Before, he had thought that she was a strong woman that could help him.

He remembered the event with the Grand Elder - the way she had acted, it was this feeling. The emotions were interfering with her judgment. She wasn’t being rational. Right now, they should’ve arrived already and did their business. That was efficient. But what she was doing... she was being held back. She wasn’t a strong woman... she was just a weak...

"Yu Tian?" Xueling called out.

"Ah, sorry, I got lost in thought. Was I staring?" he asked, scratching his head.

"No. It’s fine," she said. She looked to the side, thinking to herself that she didn’t really mind if he stared. It’s just that his expression was really scary just now.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"How about having lunch first?" she asked.

"Lunch?" he questioned.

"That’s right," she said, pulling a tent from her spatial pouch.

"You seem prepared," he said.

"That’s right, I worked extra hard to ensure that..." she paused. "Uh, I mean... it just happened. I brought some items just in case. So... you know... so we don’t end up like last time in the Black Forest," she said.

He smiled. "It’s okay, I understand," he reassured her.

She blushed. "I... I... I’ll go set it up now," she said, running.

Yu Tian watched her leave with a smile.

After she wasn’t looking anymore, his expression returned to his usual blank expression.

...

Some hours later, Yu Tian and Xueling finally arrived at the area of the Twin Secret Tombs.

There were two huge monoliths that faced each other.

Yu Tian wondered if those were the Twin Secret Tombs - they looked relatively normal.

"I’ll take us down," Xueling said.

"Wait!" Yu Tian said.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Something is weird. Even if we are late, could it be so barren?" Yu Tian asked.

"Ah, I didn’t tell him about this yet," she thought. "Actually, the Twin Secret Tombs aren’t that po..." before she could finish, Yu Tian suddenly shouted, "It’s an ambush. Run!"

She was shocked by this, but instantly believed him and was about to escape. But right before she could, they found themselves surrounded.

"Would you look at that," Su Jiang spoke as he came into view. "I was wondering what was taking you so long in there. Turns out, you were out having fun with your boyfriend and never went in in the first place," he said.

"You..." Xueling began to panic. She looked around her. She was surrounded.

But they weren’t that strong. Even so, she wasn’t by herself. If she wanted to fight and still protect Yu Tian...

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She raised her gaze. "Yu Tian..."

He smiled reassuringly. "Are you going to let them bully us despite all the training we did?" he asked.

She clenched her fist. That’s right, she wasn’t the same person from before. She had grown strong. Even if there are many of them, she didn’t think she’d lose.

Yu Tian smiled at her confidence.

He then nervously glanced at the number at the corner of his eye.

[40%]

...

Outside the Drifting Cloud Sect, the two men and the woman were looking around for any signs of someone leaving the sect.

At that time, one of the men noticed someone flying out of the sect.

"That’s... it’s Su Ming. We should report this to the master," the man said, but just as he was reaching for his communication device, he saw his vision suddenly shift. His head...it was no longer attached to his body.

"Eh?" He looked at the woman before him who wore a satisfied smile.

The other man instantly drew his sword after noticing what had happened.

"You... who are you?" he questioned.

The woman merely smiled, pointing behind the man. "What?" the man asked, only to see a sword suddenly appear before him, having gone through his back and protruding on his chest.

Su Ming pushed the man off his sword and he fell with a thud.

"Your skills have improved," the woman said in a seductive voice, walking over to him.

"So have yours," he responded flatly. "Let’s go, they should be about done," he said, taking to the air.

"Hmph, how boring," the woman said before she also flew after him.