Chapter 406: Protagonist’s Halo

Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Qiao WuShuang’s words instantly eased the atmosphere that was on the brink of becoming tense.

HuangFu Li clearly heard what he implied and with his understanding, he immediately put away his anger and asked, “Qiao WuShuang, what do you mean by saying this?”

Qiao WuShuang replied, “What I said just now was only just one of my speculations, but the probability of this conclusion is extremely low, at less than one percent. This is because it is impossible for someone to know the structure of the underground palace in advance, otherwise, the Cang Alliance would have received the news.”

“Look, Brother Yi Qiao. What kind of reason is that?” Xiong Xiao asked.

“It should be related to the Metal Swallowing Beast.” Qiao WuShuang rebutted in a flash, “Think about it, who has seen the Metal Swallowing Beast ever since we started chasing after it? No matter how capable and how familiar it is with the underground palace, it is impossible it to completely escape our pursuit unless it has fallen into the hands of some other people.”

Everyone was shocked once this statement was out.

You Ming’s expression was obscure. He recalled when he had chased the Metal Swallowing Beast to a mine and discovered the corpses in the cave were obviously those of his men. If this was true, the Metal Swallowing Beast must have fallen into the hands of the person who killed those people.

You QingShan was evidently thinking along the same lines as him and his expression was very unsightly.

Qiao WuShuang noticed their expressions but did not bat an eyelid and continued, “So, there are two possibilities according to my assumptions. The first is that the Metal Swallowing Beast has been subdued and it brought the person who subdued it here to take the Metal Elemental Essence. The second is that the Metal Swallowing Beast took the Metal Elemental Essence away by itself, but the possibility of the latter is only five percent. This is because it’s inconceivable for it to deliberately wait until this moment if it wanted to take the Metal Elemental Essence away. Thus the first possibility is the most probable.”

Xiong Xiao agreed, “Brother Qiao’s analysis is very reasonable. Then, I have to take advantage of the time before that person leaves the underground palace to find him. Otherwise, the sky would be the limit if he leaves, and it would be even harder to find him again.”

Qiao WuShuang nodded with a smile.

HuangFu Li was very much in agreement with Qiao WuShuang’s words. However, he gave a cold snort again when he caught sight of You Ming.

Qiao WuShuang knew that the elderly man was still unhappy with what had just happened. His gaze shifted to You Ming as he faintly smiled, “Elder HuangFu, don’t be angry. I believe that Old You does not think this way anymore. Maybe they even know who the Metal Swallowing Beast had been subdued by.”

His words immediately drew the attention of everyone onto You Ming.

HuangFu Li immediately asked, “WuShuang, what do you mean by saying that they know the situation of the Metal Swallowing Beast?”

Qiao WuShuang smiled, “Just now when I said that the Metal Swallowing Beast may have fallen into someone else’s hands, Old You’s expression had a very obvious change, as if he had thought of something. So I believe that he should know.”

You Ming was unable to deny this even if he wanted to do so now, as everything that Qiao WuShuang said was very logical. If he denied it, others would think that the Vermillion Blood Clan colluded with that person to steal the Metal Elemental Essence.

You QingShan narrowed his eyes. This Qiao WuShuang was really difficult to deal with.

With his road of retreat blocked, You Ming could only tell them of the matter that happened in the caves of mine. However, they also did not know who had taken the Metal Swallowing Beast. Their words could only prove that Qiao WuShuang’s conjecture was correct.

HuangFu Li was sarcastic, “You Ming, I can also say now that you could have recognized that person and reached an agreement with him. So, you deliberately lied to us about not knowing who he was to let him bring it out of the underground palace.”

“HuangFu Li!” You Ming’s expression slightly twisted as he unwaveringly glaring at him.

This was the so-called trying to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it. Retribution fell onto his own head instead!

t/n: steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it means to try to gain an advantage only to end up worse off.

HuangFu Li finally felt pleased when seeing that You Ming’s expression twisted malevolently after being unable to make a single retort.

Qiao WuShuang did not stop HuangFu Li this time and only waited until he said his piece before interjecting, “Elder HuangFu, Brother Xiong, let’s quickly chase after him.”

HuangFu Li and Xiong Xiao both nodded.

As soon as they left, the Mage Trade Union and the people from the Vermillion Blood Clan also knew that they could no longer linger here. They immediately followed behind to leave this ruins.

This time, it was Qiao WuShuang who led the way.

Although they were not as capable as Ling Xiao, it did not take long for them to guess what could be hidden in uncharted depths of the underground palace. However, may had probably deduced that there may be an Eye of Golden Earth here.

At this time, Qiao WuShuang chanced upon the realization that there was also an Earth Elemental Essence in the underground palace in addition to the Metal Elemental Essence. It was just that their object had always been the north side of the underground palace. So they did not discover that the direction opposite them was pervaded with the aura of an Earth Elemental Essence arising from the phase of Earth bearing Metal.

As for why they had to bring other people along – if he can find it, it’s likely that other people had also found it too.

“Oh yes, I have one thing to remind everyone of.” Qiao WuShuang suddenly turned his head back, “Though we currently assume that a certain someone has already taken the Metal Swallowing Beast, this merely nothing more than a conjecture. There is likely to be more than one person involved in this but not more than four according to my estimations.”

Xiong Xiao said, “Are you referring to the ancient well?”

Qiao WuShuang nodded, “That’s right. The diameter of the ancient well is only two meters wide. It can accommodate up to four people at most. If you have more than four people, it would be hard to move around. However, if they have are more than four people, there should be some people remaining on top. Since we didn’t see any people, this indicated that, all of them should have been at the bottom of the well at that time.”

“You really deserve to be called WuShuang-gongzi, as expected you’re really smart.”

WuShuang(无双) in his name means incomparable; matchless; unique; unrivalled. Gongzhi means the young master.

At this time, You QingShan who was at the rear suddenly let out a peculiar tone that did not sound much like a compliment, but more like jealously instead.

Qiao WuShuang gave a slight smile, “You flatter me, You-gongzi. For these things, many people will be able to think of them as long as they ponder on it. This one merely said it for the benefit of my people from the Beast Trade Union.”

You QingShan coldly snorted.

……

On the other side, You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao once again fell down a slideway. The feeling of a rapid drop emerged once more and the descent time was longer than the first time. Fortunately they had experienced this before and You XiaoMo would not panic like before.

After who knows how long, You XiaoMo suddenly discovered that Ling Xiao’s hand on his body was touching him all over. He could not refrain from flying into a rage out of humiliation as he slapped the back of Ling Xiao’s hand, even at this time you’re… … “What are you doing?”

Ling Xiao unperturbed replied, “You dunce, the transmitter stone you’re carrying has a response.”

You XiaoMo was immediately embarrassed. What’s this feeling of a row of crows flying overhead? But it had really been a long time since he heard this phrase of ‘dunce’.

You XiaoMo promptly fished out the transmission stone. Sure enough it was shining. SheQiu and the rest must have some news.

Just as they were getting ready to converse with SheQiu and the rest, the transmitter stone dropped onto the slide with a ‘bang’, producing a cheerful and lighthearted beat of ‘boom boom boom’ as it rolled down at a speed faster than they were travelling at.

You XiaoMo, “… …”

PiQiu covered his face with his hands as if he couldn’t bear to look directly at You XiaoMo.

The Metal Swallowing Beast imitated PiQiu and used its meaty paws to cover its face.

Ling Xiao was silent for a few seconds, “Never make, but always mar!”

You XiaoMo was sullen. He did not dare to retort knowing that he was in the wrong. However, he also did expect this to happen. There was wind resistance with them sliding down the slide at such a rapid speed and he was over-excited. As a result, the transmission stone accidently flew out of his hands

Fortunately, the transmission stone was only just a step ahead of them. When they reached the end of the slide, they should be able to get it back. Hopefully!

Nearly one and a half hour later, just as they started to think that this slide was endless, the sound of a stone moving was heard from the front. They had heard this sound several times and were very familiar with it.

But it was still pitch-black ahead… …

Though You XiaoMo was puzzled, could it be that it’s still quite long until the exit, Ling Xiao suddenly tightly hugged his waist as his legs opened and pushed on both sides of the slide. The severe friction between his shoes and the slide created an extremely loud noise. Before long, the two were thrown out of the slide and fell onto a soft thing.

Ling Xiao hugged him and took the opportunity to roll two rounds forward. Then they heard the sound of a certain heavy object falling on the ground.

You XiaoMo turned his head for a look. It was PiQiu. He had fallen at the place where he and Ling Xiao had just dropped. The Metal Swallowing Beast was also upside down as he fell on PiQiu’s body with an obvious look of enjoyment.

Then the body of the Metal Swallowing Beast let off a light blue glow. They could finally see their surroundings.

“Eh… ….”

For an instant, You XiaoMo did not know how to react.

This was a narrow room. Like the ancient well, all four sides were walls and the top of the room was just pitch-darkness. The only difference was that the floor was soft.

After You XiaoMo’s hand touched the soft thing beneath himself, he discovered that this tactile sensation felt quite familiar. It was clearly clay. Not only that, but there seemed to be a very strong Earth Elemental Essence here. Count it be that they arrived at another ancient well?

To think that their destination was actually an ancient well after sliding down for more than an hour. This was just too dramatic. No, no, no, it should be said that the Heavens assisted them, for them to have found their second objective with such ease. Sure enough, this was the protagonist’s halo.

“Master, the transmitter stone is just behind you.” The sound of PiQiu’s childish voice suddenly arose.

You XiaoMo turned back, Ling Xiao had already picked up the transmitter stone that was still shining. Before he could speak, SheQiu’s voice came through first.

“Master, we have already found the ancient well that that Earth Elemental Essence is located in.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep