Guo Ran’s smile practically glowed as he took out an iron bead. He randomly tossed it into the passageway.

A miserable scream rang out. That fellow had only gotten halfway down when Guo Ran’s bead struck the wall.

Countless pikes had instantly pierced countless holes into that person’s body. He had died immediately after screaming.

“Bastard!”

Both the Righteous and Corrupt disciples were infuriated. Guo Ran had actually followed their example, using the same method they had used against Long Chen on them. Now it was their turn to suffer.

“Go fuck yourselves! You caused my boss to die! Don’t even think about getting any of the treasures out of here!” Guo Ran sneered.

Long Chen had already consumed a healing pill and was currently recovering from his injury. It was an injury that looked frightening, but in truth, it was just an outer wound that would quickly recover.

“Little brat, even if we can’t obtain it, do you think you can keep those treasures? We’ll just guard here. Ask yourself, how do you plan on ever leaving?” said one of them disdainfully.

“Hehe, who cares if I can’t leave? If you have the ability, then go ahead and waste time with grandpa Guo here! At most you’ll only have to wait a year without searching for any other opportunities!” mocked Guo Ran.

That immediately caused a chill in their hearts. If Guo Ran really did plan on being obstinate, then with these terrifying mechanisms, there was no way for them to pass through.

This tomb had been preserved extremely perfectly. Some disciples had already found some precious ores.

Those precious ores seemed to have been treated as just trash by the tomb’s owner. They had just been randomly left lying around. In other words, there was definitely an even greater treasure beyond this passageway.

But with Guo Ran guarding it, even Chosen would probably die. None of them were willing to risk it.

Furthermore, the people present were split into two parties, each harboring their own ulterior motives. There was no way they could work together to handle Guo Ran.

“Little fellow, let’s discuss this. Long Chen raped and killed an innocent woman and is despised by the entire Righteous path. Now that he’s already dead, the punishment for all his crimes has solely landed on his shoulders. I, Zhao Mingshan, will use the seventeenth monastery’s name to swear that as long as you let us pass, we will testify that you are innocent so that you don’t receive any injustice.”

The person speaking was a Chosen from the seventeenth monastery. His status was quite high, so his words did have weight.

“... Really?” Guo Ran’s voice was clearly trembling.

“Of course. I, Zhao Mingshan, swear not to investigate any of your previous crimes and will also help you testify that everything was done only by Long Chen. Everything you personally did was all because Long Chen forced you to do.” Zhao Mingshan’s voice clearly held some excitement now.

Guo Ran sneered inside, “Even now, you want to play these word games with me? You won’t investigate ‘my crimes’ at that time, but you can just throw me to the Corrupt disciples to kill me instead.”

“Then I’m relieved.” Guo Ran hesitated before saying this. He looked at Long Chen. Seeing the wound was quickly healing, he purposely stalled for some time.

He didn’t dare mess around as Long Chen focused on healing. He decided to stall for as long as he could. In any case, playing around with them was more fun than just waiting around.

“Are you looking down on me? How could, Zhao Mingshan, a grand Chosen, possibly try to trick an ordinary disciple?” Zhao Mingshan’s voice contained some offended anger.

Guo Ran was silent in response to that, seeming to hesitate. Zhao Mingshan looked at one of the core disciples.

That core disciple nodded and jumped into the passageway.

Suddenly, a scream rang out. That Righteous disciple had been stabbed to death by the flying pikes.

Guo Ran was stunned. He had yet to even throw out a bead. How had he died?

“You… what are you doing?!”

Zhao Mingshan was furious. He was glaring at the Corrupt disciples’ Chosen.

It had been one of the Corrupt disciples that had shot out an attack to activate the mechanisms, killing that core disciple.

“What do you think?” the Corrupt Chosen indifferently replied. “If your disciples pass, then all the benefits will be taken by you. What about us?”

The Righteous disciples were infuriated. At the same time, they also understood they had run into a thorny problem. Obviously, the Corrupt disciples wouldn’t let them do as they wished.

“What do you want? Do you think I’ll let your disciples go down first?” raged Zhao Mingshan.

“How about this: we’ll send our disciples in one by one. We’ll also make sure their cultivation bases are similar, so that neither party suffers,” suggested the Corrupt Chosen.

“Keep dreaming! It was us Righteous disciples who discovered this passageway and who found the way to enter! Why should we have to split it evenly with you?!” a Favored from the Righteous path cursed back.

“Long Chen is a Righteous disciple? Hehe, how come I can’t tell? So a Righteous disciple died to the hands of Righteous disciples? It seems the Righteous path really doesn’t care about face anymore,” sneered the Corrupt Chosen.

That person’s words immediately caused the Righteous disciples’ faces to burn as if they had been slapped. Their enemies were now laughing at them for the internal strife within the Righteous path.

“Long Chen is a traitor of our Righteous path. Our killing of him was just cleaning up our path. But no matter what, Long Chen is still a disciple of our Righteous path, and so his accomplishments are the Righteous path’s accomplishments,” quibbled Zhao Mingshan.

“Haha, I really have to admire you Righteous disciples. You’re clearly being contemptible and shameless, and yet you still try to act devoted to righteousness.

“Even if us Corrupt disciples tried for ten thousand years, we still wouldn’t be able to do something like that. Of course, it’s beneath our dignity to learn such garbage.

“Right now, I won’t talk reason with you. Let me just say this: if you don’t consent, then let’s start fighting. The one alive at the end will decide who gets the treasure.”

The Corrupt Chosen’s expression was icy, and the disciples behind him all took out their weapons and released their auras. They seemed like hungry, bloodthirsty wolves as they stared tightly at the Righteous disciples.

“Do you think we Righteous disciples fear you? All you’re doing right now is causing both parties to be injured. There’s no meaning behind that,” raged the Chosen beside Zhao Mingshan.

The Righteous disciples were filled with fury, but at the same time, it was impossible for them to conceal their panic.

The Corrupt disciples were different from Righteous disciples. Being savage was their nature, and they were not afraid of death. If they really fought, it would be an extremely bitter fight.

Everyone had gone into the Jiuli secret realm in search of opportunities. They all knew that if they could find a heaven-defying opportunity in the secret realm, they would immediately be able to soar to the heavens, their radiance lighting up the world.

So they didn’t want to fight here. Even though one of their comrades had died, as long as they weren’t closely related, they would still choose to ignore it.

And that was why the Righteous path was just like a pack of loose sand. Although there were many of them, they rarely fought back, causing them to be suppressed by the Corrupt path.

Furthermore, in Zhao Mingshan’s eyes, this kind of fight had no meaning. No matter who won, they would still have to pass through this terrifying passageway in the end. Guo Ran was still blocking them.

But the Corrupt Chosen didn’t care the slightest bit about this reasoning. His attitude was simple. Either listen to him or have a decisive fight.

“Senior apprentice-brother Zhao, fighting here isn’t smart. It’d be better to do what they say. It won’t be too late to fight once we find the real treasure,” advised someone quietly.

Zhao Mingshan had a stomach full of anger. Their side had two Chosen, so they definitely suppressed their opponents in terms of total strength. But they all knew how vicious Corrupt disciples were. Even if the two of them were able to kill the Corrupt Chosen in the end, he would likely leave them with heavy injuries in his final moments, and perhaps even drag them down with him.

That was also why the Corrupt disciples were so unbridled. The Righteous disciples had always had to endure everything since their two Chosen didn’t want to fight.

“Fine, we’ll take a step back. Both of us will send one disciple down at a time. But you have to swear that before we see the true treasure, none of you will start a fight.” Zhao Mingshan finally compromised.

“No problem.”

The Corrupt Chosen was smiling indifferently. But his eyes were filled with ridicule.

Zhao Mingshan was furious, but before seeing the true treasure, he didn’t want to go all-out. Who knew whether that treasure would be worth suffering losses?

The monastery had instilled a certain ideology in his head: as a Chosen, he was a pillar of their monastery, and his life was more important than others’. He couldn’t fight for no reason.

In the eyes of the two Chosen, the others were just plebeians, unable to compare to grand existences like them. For them to fight with others was like using precious porcelain to smash rats.

The two sides quickly chose two ordinary disciples. With a wave of their hands, two Favored sent them dropping into the passageway.

“Hey! Wait a sec!”

Suddenly, Guo Ran voice rang out, followed by the sound of an iron bead. Then, the sounds of the mechanisms activating rang out, followed by the now familiar-sounding screams.

“Bastard, what are you doing?!” both Zhao Mingshan and the Corrupt Chosen raged at the same time.

“Uh… you’re too hurried… I… feel it’s not proper.” Guo Ran’s apprehensive voice rang out from below.

“What’s not proper?!”

Zhao Mingshan’s eyes were about to spit flames. If Guo Ran was in front of him, he definitely would have slapped him to death.

“Uh… I’m afraid,” replied Guo Ran’s worried voice.

“What are you afraid of?” Zhao Mingshan did his best to restrain his temper.

“I’m afraid you’ll break your word. If you end up reneging, wouldn’t I instantly die?”

All the Chosen were infuriated, and a merciless light shined in their eyes. Guo Ran was definitely trying to anger them to death.

“What do you want?” Zhao Mingshan suppressed his fury.

“You have to swear,” said Guo Ran.

“Fine, we swear.”

The Chosen were all helpless. They could only swear an extremely poisonous oath so they could hurry this along.

But the two of them were extremely smart. They swore that the two of them definitely wouldn’t investigate what crimes Guo Ran had done and that they also wouldn’t take their anger out on him.

“Fine, I’ll believe you then.”

Guo Ran’s reply finally caused the Chosen to sigh with relief. Both Zhao Mingshan and the Corrupt Chosen purposely each glanced at one of their people.