The eleventh day of the twelfth lunar month, early morning.
Outside the Twelve Sect Branches mountain stronghold.
Li Miao looked at the several short men in front of him, and when he smelled the faint, cold, earthy stench emanating from them, he couldn't help but frown, his fingers twitching.
He felt a bit like killing these people with a single Xuantian Finger.
Because these individuals were precisely the grave robbers—the earth-diggers from the Moving Mountains Sect—invited by the various major sects.
Whether in Li Miao's previous life or this one, what the Central Plains people valued most was the inheritance of bloodlines. Grave robbing and disturbing the ancestors' rest had always been a mortal enmity since ancient times. In terms of deserving death, grave robbers were not much different from human traffickers.
However, Li Miao thought about it and decided against it.
These grave robbers had a lineage; they didn't care for ordinary people's graves, only aiming for the tombs of high officials and kings.
If it was an upright official, with nothing much in the grave, these people wouldn't bother digging. As for those corrupt officials and kings who were buried with a pile of things... let them be dug up. Anyway, those things were all extorted from the people, and someone had to reclaim them.
"This is the place, right?" Li Miao asked.
"Yes, sir, the Miao people's secret passage is here."
A leading earth-digger replied, "We inserted some steel rods to probe it. It's about two or three people wide, and there's wind, so it's an active passage, not a sealed-off one."
"Alright, go down then."
Li Miao waved his hand, and the men nodded in agreement, scurrying away hastily.
Li Miao turned to the sect masters and spoke.
"Sirs, I'll go in and take a look. You don't need to attack this stronghold; just surround it and don't let these people escape."
"Yes, sir."
The sect masters all nodded.
Only then did Li Miao look at the secret passage dug open by the earth-diggers and leisurely walked in.
Previously, he had asked the Southern Great Sects to handle the Witchcraft matters for him, mainly to be lazy, thinking that by luring everyone over, he could save himself some trouble.
But now, Li Miao no longer wanted these people to go in.
Because this stronghold was no longer just about the inheritance of Witchcraft. Ji Tianrui's background, the Ming Cult's schemes, and all the truths that had continued from fifteen years ago might all be answered here.
Perhaps, even more than that.
Before Ji Tianrui left the An Family, she left a stack of practice calligraphy paper on the desk in the secret room. Li Miao, of course, didn't believe it was left by accident. Could what was written be called her true thoughts? It was clearly left for him to see on purpose.
There were a few words that stood out.
"Great Shuo. Zhu Family."
"Emperor, Celestial Being."
"Ming Cult, Founding."
Facing these words, even Li Miao had to be cautious and seriously seek out the truth behind them.
In the first thirty years after coming to Great Shuo, he had gained enough martial prowess to protect himself. However, pure martial power had its limits; he was not a lone wolf and couldn't charge in recklessly like a brute. He couldn't die, but Zhu Zai, Wang Hai, and Xiao Si might not be so lucky. He had to gain a thorough, deep understanding of this Great Shuo to know his own standing and what he could do.
Moreover, the fewer people who knew about these matters, the better.
After walking about a hundred zhang along the secret passage, Li Miao frowned.
Because the passage indeed extended towards the stronghold, but the slope became increasingly steep, plunging downwards.
After walking another hundred zhang, the stone walls on both sides subtly protruded, as if something was embedded within them.
Li Miao observed carefully, but found it strangely familiar.
On these stone walls, a pile of rat bones was clearly embedded, identical to the situation in the Miao King's Tomb. And on the stone walls ahead, chicken, dog, pig, sheep, and cow bones were also embedded in sections.
Li Miao did not understand the beliefs of the Miao people. However, such primitive beliefs were interconnected; tombs often carried a certain religious significance, and the various imageries appearing within them held unique meanings.
If these stone walls were identical to those in the Miao King's Tomb, it meant that this place, in the Miao people's primitive beliefs, was on par with the Miao King's position. The Miao King was a human deity in the Miao people's belief, an almost supreme existence. What could be on par with her?
Li Miao continued forward, and indeed, on the stone walls on both sides, human and various animal bones began to appear mixed together, identical to the situation in the Miao King's Tomb.
After walking a few more dozen steps, he saw a vertical cave entrance, pitch black and bottomless.
Li Miao jumped directly in, using the stone walls for leverage as he slid down for several dozen zhang before landing on the ground.
This was also a karst cave, but unlike the one in the Miao King's Tomb, it wasn't densely packed with coffins. Instead, the ground was extremely flat, with faint traces of light-colored paths, as if people frequently walked there.
Li Miao followed this path forward, and after a short while, he saw a firelight.
There was a building there.
Li Miao concentrated and looked. The exterior seemed empty, but there were subtly disharmonious shadows hidden in several depressions in the stone walls. Furthermore, countless faint breathing sounds surrounded him, not just from humans.
Not a single mistake, every first character, every character, every internal content, all in one look!
Judging by the level of defense, they must have found the main target.
Li Miao walked along the stone wall, and the internal circulation of his cultivation instantly changed its path, his footsteps and breathing becoming almost imperceptible.
This was the light footwork and internal energy of the Shen Thief Sect, most suitable for stealth.
Walking all the way to a stone wall depression, Li Miao flashed, appearing in front of the person inside.
"!!!"
The person's vision blurred, and before he could even speak, he lost consciousness.
Li Miao bypassed this area, doing the same to the others. In a short while, he had eliminated all the hidden sentries in this direction.
After completing all this, he flipped onto the roof, walked to the door of the highest room, and listened intently.
He heard a clamor inside, as if an argument was taking place.
"I said we shouldn't have been soft-hearted back then! Afraid of both wolves and tigers, letting those few families escape, and now they've come looking for us! What do we do?!"
"You make it sound easy. Even if we had put all of them under Witchcraft back then, and controlled the major sects, could we have stopped the imperial army's advance?! Don't forget how Ge Pu Tianrui died back then!"
"So what? Do we still have the right to be picky? Either way, we're going to die. Dragging a few people down with us would at least let us die in peace! It's better than being so cowardly now!"
The several people argued heatedly, sounding as if they were about to come to blows.
Suddenly, an old voice sounded.
"Stop arguing. Since the clues we left didn't work, talking about this now is useless."
"Now, we need to think about how to get through this predicament."
"If not... then we'll just have to release 'that one'."
As soon as these words were spoken, the people who had just been arguing all spoke in unison.
"No!"
"Absolutely not!"
"We are rebels! Haven't you seen that Yong Nu? If we release her, we'll die a hundred times more miserably than Yong Nu!"