Chapter 77

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Ding Qi looked at these martial artists, his face showing no expression.

These martial artists were extremely delighted by the treasures of the martial world, but Ding Qi could not muster any interest. Perhaps these treasures were invaluable to the martial artists, but to Ding Qi, they were worthless. He came to this ruin to understand the issue of innate martial arts.

This made Ding Qi somewhat disappointed.

Thinking about the innate martial arts, Ding Qi cast his gaze towards the exit of the hall. Since there were no clues about innate martial arts in this hall, the things he wanted to understand must be in one of the places behind the hall.

The Qingyun Sect members, after admiring these treasures of the martial world and being pleasantly surprised by their gains, now many of them were already looking towards the rooms behind the hall's exit.

Since such astonishing gains could be made in this hall, the gains from the other rooms would naturally not be less. Now, many people were already eager, their faces showing a mix of anticipation and excitement.

The higher-ups of the Qingyun Sect also understood the thoughts of their disciples, so after tallying the gains, Elder Guan began to arrange the manpower and prepare for the next exploration.

Not long after Elder Guan arranged the exploration, the Qingyun Sect members opened the stone door and entered one after another.

This was also a large hall. Ding Qi stood not far from the stone door, observing the situation inside.

The hall was quite spacious, twice as large as the first hall. It was unclear what purpose this hall originally served. Inside the hall, more than ten desk-like objects were placed in a messy manner, with wooden chairs behind them. There were also five or six shelves placed irregularly in the hall.

When the Qingyun Sect members saw the situation inside the hall, everyone's eyes immediately became fiery.

In the first hall, they had already made a very rich harvest from just one table. Now, this hall was filled with tables and shelves, and the harvest this time would definitely be even richer.

Under the eager gazes of the Qingyun Sect members, Elder Guan was grouping the members. This hall was extremely large, and with many desks and shelves, they needed to split up to search.

However, during this period, an embarrassing situation occurred for Ding Qi. Now, Elder Guan stood in the center of the hall, glanced at Ding Qi, and then looked at the other Qingyun Sect disciples.

"Is there really no one willing to be in the same team as this person?" Guan Qiu asked the Qingyun Sect disciples.

The Qingyun Sect disciples all glanced at Ding Qi, then showed a look of disinterest, and some even sneered, showing disdain for Ding Qi.

The Qingyun Sect's exploration of the ruins required all found items to be handed over to the sect, and rewards would be given based on contributions. The more items each person found, the richer the rewards they would receive later.

To find enough valuable items, one needed considerable knowledge and discernment.

Letting these Qingyun Sect members search with someone who had no experience in the martial world would only hinder them. These Qingyun Sect members were not foolish and would not be willing to do such a thing.

Guan Qiu understood the thoughts of the other Qingyun Sect disciples, but after the incident in the first hall, he was extremely wary of Ding Qi and would not let him act alone.

After a moment of thought, Guan Qiu scanned the Qingyun Sect disciples. The Qingyun Sect members seemed to realize what Guan Qiu was about to do and all lowered their heads to avoid his gaze.

Finally, Guan Qiu fixed his gaze on two of them: "Since that's the case, then Su Mei and Li Hao, you two will be in the same team as this person."

Guan Qiu ultimately named two disciples.

Ding Qi saw that he was like a plague, with everyone trying to avoid him, and he could only bitterly smile. He then turned his head to look at the two who were chosen to be in his team.

Upon realizing that he was the unfortunate one chosen, the disciple named Li Hao, after a speechless glance at Ding Qi, could only stand up from the crowd and stand beside Ding Qi. At the same time, Su Mei, who had been sticking to Zhang Tao, pouted in dissatisfaction, stepped away from Zhang Tao, and glared at Ding Qi fiercely.

Previously, she was supposed to be in the same team as Zhang Tao, but now she had to be in the same team with this unremarkable boy, which made the charming girl feel very frustrated.

After dealing with Ding Qi's situation, the Qingyun Sect began their search.

At this moment, Ding Qi stood beside a wooden table, examining a bamboo tube-like object in his hand. This bamboo tube was previously in a drawer of the table and had been taken out by Ding Qi to examine.

"A mere bamboo tube, what's so interesting about it? You must be a country bumpkin who has never seen the world."

As Ding Qi was examining the bamboo tube, a very pleasant and charming voice came from nearby, criticizing his actions, clearly dissatisfied.

However, Ding Qi ignored the cold words from the person beside him and did not respond. He just continued to examine the bamboo tube with a blank expression. After confirming that the bamboo tube was just an ordinary object, he put it back on the table.

Then, Ding Qi began to search a box beside the table. He looked very cautious, as if he was afraid there might be some danger inside the box.

Seeing that Ding Qi did not react to her words at all, Su Mei became even more angry.

This girl had a crush on Zhang Tao, and they had known each other for five or six years. Over the years, their relationship had developed well, and with this trend, it would not take more than a year or two before they could discuss marriage. However, in the past year, Zhang Tao's attitude had suddenly changed, becoming distant, which made the girl very troubled. Originally, they were supposed to be in the same team, and the girl was very happy about it, but now the person nearby had ruined it.

Now, she found this country bumpkin boy very annoying.

"Just opening a box, and you're so nervous. You're such a coward. I can't believe the elders let you join the search team."

The girl was dismissive of Ding Qi's cautiousness, thinking he was just making trouble for himself.

While the girl was criticizing Ding Qi and he remained indifferent, some members of the Qingyun Sect had already made discoveries in the hall.

Someone found several long-lost martial treasures on a few tables and shelves.

This new discovery greatly motivated the other Qingyun Sect members, and they searched even more diligently.

Li Hao, who was in the same team as Ding Qi, was just an ordinary disciple of the Qingyun Sect. He was now near a table, opening a drawer.

There was nothing in the drawer, which made Li Hao slightly disappointed. However, he quickly regained his spirits and looked at the remaining two drawers.

Although he was just an ordinary disciple in the sect, he had a habit of reading various obscure books and was interested in martial world curiosities and secrets. In the Qingyun Sect, he even had the nickname 'Little Know-It-All.' Many core disciples would often come to him when they encountered something they didn't understand.

In the first hall, thanks to his extensive reading and broad knowledge, Li Hao identified a martial treasure that had been lost for a hundred years.

With this contribution, he would definitely receive many rewards after the merit-based distribution.

This made Li Hao very excited.

When searching the second hall, he was unfortunately paired with someone who had no martial world experience, which made him quite depressed. However, Li Hao believed that with his knowledge of various martial world secrets, if he searched carefully, he could definitely find something of great value, just like last time, to gain an advantage in the merit-based distribution.

After checking the two drawers and finding nothing, Li Hao prepared to move the chair behind him to another table to check.

However, when he moved the chair, Li Hao suddenly froze.

"Mechanism." Li Hao looked at the chair in his hands, surprised.

Li Hao was surprised to find that he could not move the chair, which looked ordinary.

However, instead of being alarmed, he was delighted. He understood that the chair was a mechanism.

Li Hao happily felt the chair, guessing what valuable item might be hidden inside the mechanism, and tried to open it using methods he had heard about in martial world secrets.

Finally, Li Hao's face showed a smile.

He held the chair and slowly slid it to the left.

When Li Hao discovered the hidden mechanism and was looking for a way to open it with a joyful expression, Ding Qi immediately noticed something was wrong.

Soon, Ding Qi realized what was happening and his expression changed.

"Slow...," just as Ding Qi was about to say something to the person, it was already too late.

An arrow shot out from the hole revealed after the chair was moved. The Qingyun Sect disciple did not have time to react, and his head was instantly pierced by the arrow.

Li Hao's face, until the moment of his death, still showed the immense joy of expecting another discovery.

(I originally thought I could update two chapters yesterday, but the plot got stuck, so I had to delete everything I had written and spent the whole night rethinking it, which was really frustrating.)

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