Chapter 143: The Past of the King of Thieves

At the mention of the title "King of Thieves," everyone present finally realized that the master of this Immortality Tomb was none other than the legendary King of Thieves!

Ye Dong asked coldly, "Weren't you guys dead for over two thousand years? How do you know the master of this tomb is called the King of Thieves?"

"Hah, the five of us have lived right outside the Gates of Hell for two thousand years, what haven't we seen?" The white-faced figure chuckled. "That day, he went down to the border of the netherworld and rounded up a huge group of wicked ghosts—turns out it was to guard his tomb?!"

"That's right, that's right!" The black-faced figure also laughed. "The King of Thieves was so fierce that day, he snatched ghosts right out of the hands of the underworld guards! It's the first time I've ever seen a Taoist priest with such swagger!"

"What? He went down to the netherworld to capture ghosts?!" Ye Dong found it utterly absurd and pressed on, "And he even snatched ghosts from the underworld guards?!"

"That's why I'm saying, you little brat haven't seen anything of the world yet you dare to talk back to veterans like us who have witnessed the grand spectacles. You truly have a death wish," the black-faced figure said coldly. "That day, he captured at least three hundred ghosts, and even some demons who had failed their heavenly tribulations!"

"Good grief, this King of Thieves has zero regard for the laws of the underworld!" Ye Dong was inwardly astonished. "He actually dared to snatch ghosts along the Path to the Underworld?! And he even dared to capture demons that failed their tribulations?"

Yet he quickly reasoned, "If not for someone of such extraordinary prowess, how could he have built these bizarre and wondrous arrays? It's just astonishing that this formidable expert turns out to be Huang Wuchang's ancestor."

He glanced at Huang Wuchang, whose face bore a mix of pride and embarrassment, and felt a surge of smug satisfaction inward. "Fortunately, Huang Wuchang didn't inherit the King of Thieves' true skills; otherwise, countless more people in this world would have died at his hands!"

Ye Dong asked respectfully, "Master, while we have some time, tell us about the King of Thieves so we can broaden our horizons!"

Huang Wuchang stroked his beard and smiled. "The King of Thieves is the patriarch of the Thief-Spirit sect. He can be said to be a master who integrated all knowledge of tombs and crypts, and this Immortality Tomb is his masterpiece. Over two hundred years ago, the King of Thieves was already renowned across the martial world. However, he always preferred to travel alone and was especially fond of studying mechanical arts and the metaphysics of defying destiny. Very few people actually saw his true face, so apart from our sect, no one else knew the secrets of this tomb. Later on, during the wartime era when the situation was volatile, the King of Thieves took the opportunity to vanish without a trace. He's probably ascended to immortality by now."

Ye Dong laughed inwardly, "A villain like him would cultivate either as a demon or a fiend, how could he ever cultivate to become an immortal? What a joke."

"What was the King of Thieves' purpose in sparing no effort to build this tomb? Was it, as Master said, to utilize the power of the nether spirits imprisoned by Sikou Xuan to practice demonic arts? Although the Immortality Tomb is fraught with peril, we haven't encountered a single genuine monster yet. While the mud-dragon was bizarre, it was ultimately just a 'giant mechanism' created by an array combined with a 'dragon soul bestowed by talismans'—a pseudo-creature. Strictly speaking, it's not a monster at all."

Ye Dong's thoughts were numerous and chaotic. He desperately wanted to know Huang Wuchang's true motive for entering the Immortality Tomb, and now he had an additional curiosity: where on earth had the King of Thieves gone?

"If he really died, a crime like snatching wicked ghosts from the underworld guards is something even falling into the Eighteenth Level of Avici Hell wouldn't wash clean. Besides, he's not stupid; he wouldn't allow himself, steeped in monstrous crimes, to go down to the netherworld to suffer after death."

Ye Dong rubbed his chin and continued thinking, "The leaders of the Thief-Spirit sect are all ambitious schemers harboring their own secret agendas. Huang Wuchang is like that, and his ancestor, the King of Thieves, is cut from the same pathetic cloth. Yet the King of Thieves possessed far greater skills than Huang Wuchang, so his ambitions must be set much higher than Huang Wuchang's. You cannot judge the King of Thieves' goals with ordinary thinking. Pushing it to the highest possibility, he truly must be aiming to become a fiend. Becoming a fiend is reaching the level of an 'immortal,' so Huang Wuchang's claim that the King of Thieves has 'ascended to immortality' actually makes some sense."

"Then, if he really did become a fiend, why didn't he come to stop us when we came to ransack his lair? Or did he simply not care about this old home after becoming a fiend? Or did he go out on vacation?"

"Oh, this is such a mess and so annoying," Ye Dong sighed softly. "My current goal is Huang Wuchang. As for everything else, I'll leave it to Master to handle."

Seeing that the Five-Ghost men were knowledgeable, the mercenary leader Chen Yong, despite his admiration, harbored some grievances. "Master, why did you only bring them out to help now?"

A strong man behind Chen Yong muttered, "If you'd called them out earlier, our brothers wouldn't have had to die in vain."

"Everyone, keep calm,"

Hearing this slightly complaining query, Huang Wuchang smiled faintly and explained, "You don't understand. This Wicked Ghost Pass before us is no ordinary place. Not only are there wicked ghosts guarding it, but there is also a high possibility of malevolent souls of demons that failed their heavenly tribulations. Such entities cannot be dealt with simply by bullets stained with human blood or dog's blood."

Ye Dong was also calculating in his heart, "Huang Wuchang is right. True fierce and wicked ghosts cannot be handled by ordinary bullets and weapons; they must be repelled with the aid of talismans and incantations. And if there really are malevolent demon souls inside—"

At this thought, the image of the "human-snake" entity that had almost cost them their lives flashed instantly through Ye Dong's mind. "Even with Nianxue stepping in, she was no match for that foul snake entity. I wonder if these Five-Ghost men possess the true ability to subdue those fierce demons?"

Hearing Huang Wuchang's explanation, the slight sense of relief the group had just felt bubbled up into tension once again.

"There is no need for you to worry excessively," seeing the difficult expressions on everyone's faces, Master Wei quickly spoke up to comfort them. "The Five-Ghost men have long resounded across the martial world for their unmatched bravery in battle. Today, with their assistance, we will surely turn peril into safety!"

"That goes without saying!" The black-faced figure seemed extremely confident, slapping his chest armor and loudly proclaiming, "We'll clear the path ahead for you, that shows enough sincerity, right?"

Ye Dong knew in his heart that these five were cowards who bullied the weak and shrank from the strong. He cast a sidelong glance at them and smiled. "Since you talk so big, this junior greets you!"

He cupped his hands and bowed respectfully. This gesture made Huang Wuchang and the Five Ghosts feel immensely flattered.

Lixing drew out the "Right-and-Wrong Key" and handed it to Huang Wuchang. "Master, the key."

"Twenty minutes have passed, we must begin!"

Huang Wuchang took the key, led the group across the stone path littered with blades, arrows, mud, and rocks, and walked right up to the gate of the Wicked Ghost Pass.

Ye Dong had no mind for the chaotic scenery around him; his eyes were fixed straight on the key in Huang Wuchang's hand.

"Once inside, do not lose your composure. Hold the talismans in your hands and listen to Master Wei's commands!"

After receiving affirmative responses from the group, Huang Wuchang took a low breath and inserted the key into the keyhole of the stone door.

"Click!"

Unlike the previous massive stone doors which opened with a deafening crash, this door emitted only the faint, friction-like sound characteristic of a wooden door.

"There's something fishy. The more unassuming something is, the more terrifying it becomes."

This was an ironclad rule Ye Dong had discovered that never failed.

As the door opened, a biting chill slowly seeped out. In an ancient tomb, anything icy cold always jolted one's spirit awake first, preparing them to face a deeper terror only after their vigilance was heightened.

These, too, were rules Ye Dong had summarized.

"It's pitch black, I can't see a thing!"

Ye Dong held his breath, following closely behind Master Wei, sweeping his gaze alertly back and forth across the dark surroundings. Monsters didn't announce themselves before leaping out to attack; if those things carried corpse venom, they were in deep trouble.

"Flashlights up, turn them all on! Don't let down your guard!"

Although the beams shone inside, they could illuminate a distance of at most five meters; anything slightly farther remained completely out of reach.

"Why is this wind getting more and more chilling..."

Ye Dong looked at the Five-Ghost men walking ahead, and seeing them appear so utterly calm, he felt even worse inside. "Shouldn't they be growing more alert in this gloomy environment? What's with this calm demeanor?"

Just as all of them entered the Wicked Ghost Pass, the massive door behind them slammed shut swiftly without the slightest warning, emitting a thunderous roar!

"Boom!"

Startled, everyone instinctively turned back to look. At that very moment, powerful searchlights pierced through the gloom from all around, instantly forcing their tense nerves to squint tightly against the glare!

"Pay attention, everyone! Listen closely to the commands of Master and the Five-Ghost men!" Even Master Wei had to narrow his eyes under such intense light. Anyone who had ever been to a movie theater knew that suddenly encountering blinding light in a dim environment was an extremely agonizing experience.

While everyone else was forced to close their eyes involuntarily, Ye Dong suddenly discovered something amiss with his own body!

"Why... why aren't my eyes afraid of the strong light?"

"Did my eyes develop a new function after being soaked in that water?"

He blinked a few times fiercely and looked back toward the blinding lights, discovering to his amazement that they didn't bother him at all!

"The Five-Ghost men and Huang Wuchang aren't afraid either?"

He glanced at the Five-Ghost men and noticed that the whites of their eyes had vanished, leaving only pitch-black pupils!

Huang Wuchang, too, had pupils that gleamed with an eerie, dark luster under the glaring lights.

"Good lord, what terrifying eyes!"

Seeing the frightening pupils of the Five-Ghost men, Ye Dong's heart skipped a beat. "So this is their secret skill for raiding tombs?"

The dazzling lights grew denser and denser, forcing even Master Wei to keep his eyes shut. Faced with this situation, Huang Wuchang also seemed to find it immensely tricky, gripping his ancient coin sword tightly as he prepared to face any sudden attacks from fierce ghosts.

"After waiting for nearly two hundred years, some people with a death wish have finally arrived."

A bizarre voice slowly echoed through the surroundings. Master Wei and the others tried to open their eyes, but the glare was simply too ferocious. Unable to see a thing, panic gripped their hearts all the more.

Ye Dong cast his gaze outward and saw a white-haired, red-robed female ghost with a thick iron chain bound around her neck staring right at him with hollow pupils. The corners of her scarred mouth curled upward, revealing incomplete, filthy, pointed fangs!

"Is this a human or a ghost?!"

Ye Dong directed his terrified gaze toward the source of the voice. To his absolute shock, beneath the intense glare of the lights, that half-human, half-ghost entity actually cast a shadow!

A sensation weirder than anything he had ever felt before washed over him instantly. At that moment, Ye Dong had only one thought in his mind: "Mommy, I want to go home!"