Almighty Genius

Chapter 2262 - 1756: Let's Go Rob Them!

Second update, asking for subscriptions and monthly votes~~~~...

As for whether something like the Thousand Mechanisms Manual actually existed, Qin Fang had even specially asked Lin Qian about it, but even Lin Qian, born of the Lin Family, one of the Thousand Gates Five Great Families, spoke vaguely on the matter and didn't seem sure it existed.

Because of that, Qin Fang had already started to feel this thing was just some legendary object…

Yet unexpectedly, Qin Fang actually found it here in this Underground Palace that had existed for who knows how many years… Although it was only a copy, it was definitely transcribed from the original; the original might even already be damaged or destroyed, in which case this copy could be considered the original now.

"The Qianji Ring, the Thousand Mechanisms Manual… of the three tokens of the Thousand Gate, I've actually got two of them in my hands!"

After stowing away the Thousand Mechanisms Manual, Qin Fang couldn't help muttering to himself.

The Thousand Gate had three great tokens, representing the supreme authority of the Thousand Gate. With any one of them, you could command the Thousand Gates Acolytes; with two, you could rule the entire Thousand Gate… As for all three, there was no point even hoping. That last token was the Qianji Order, held in the hands of the Five Great Families.

Each Family held one, and they'd always treated them as their most precious treasures, never to be brought out unless the Family was facing annihilation… If you wanted to gather all five Qianji Orders, you'd basically have to wipe out the Five Great Families in one go.

Given the thousand-year heritage of the Five Great Families, wanting to eradicate them was nothing but a fool's dream… Forget the bizarre Thousand Skills of those terrifying Thousand Gate experts; just the Supreme Realm experts alone were already untouchable.

Besides, although the Five Great Families didn't get along very well, that was only when there was no external crisis. Once someone made a move against the Five Great Families, the five would definitely unite immediately, forming a terrifying power beyond imagination.

Some of the secret techniques of the Five Great Families could complement each other. If the Five Elements were united, their power could increase countless times… Otherwise, how could the Thousand Gates Five Great Families have intimidated the Thousand Gate for thousands of years?

There was no point thinking about the Qianji Order; the only ones that could be fought over were the other two. Yet both had landed in Qin Fang's hands at the same time. In theory, Qin Fang was already capable of holding and commanding the entire Thousand Gate, except…

"This kind of thing is better left to those death‑seeking idiots. I'm definitely not doing it anytime soon…"

Qin Fang muttered calmly in his heart.

The Thousand Gate of today was not the Thousand Gate of centuries past. The interests involved were immense, and all sorts of entangled relationships were extremely complicated. Charging in recklessly would absolutely not end well… You only had to look at Yang Tianlin's methods back then.

At that time, Qin Fang had the Qianji Ring in his hand, yet Yang Tianlin still wanted to kill Qin Fang on the spot and snatch that Qianji Ring from him, didn't he?

Yang Tianlin was only a Peak Great Grandmaster-level Expert, and he'd already almost sent Qin Fang's soul back to the sea. If a few more Families and those Supreme Realm experts joined in, Qin Fang would really die without even a place to be buried.

When it comes to treasures, if you have the strength to control them, then of course you can act without scruples. But if you don't have that strength, then they're just bombs that could go off at any moment…

Right now Qin Fang's strength was only at Grandmaster Level. Under normal circumstances he could still protect himself, but once those terrifying Families and powerful experts got involved, Qin Fang was far from enough. Even if he played every trump card he had, it'd be hard to contend with a monstrous power like the Thousand Gates Five Great Families.

Since he currently didn't have the strength to protect these treasures, it was better to hide them away and wait until his strength was sufficient before bringing them out. Only then could he maximize their benefits…

"Just these three things…"

After putting away the Thousand Mechanisms Manual, Qin Fang searched Gagarin's corpse for a bit longer, but didn't find any more treasures. That left him a little disappointed, making him hate that this guy hadn't been greedier.

But complaining was useless. Gagarin's corpse had already begun to rot. The African Dark Witchcraft had backfired; although Qin Fang had driven away the black miasma, the Corpse-Eating Insects hidden in Gagarin's body had begun to move, devouring his corpse to keep themselves alive.

Of course, once Gagarin's corpse was completely eaten away, these Corpse-Eating Insects would still die off one after another… unless someone else had also cultivated African Dark Witchcraft, allowing the Corpse-Eating Insects to reside in their body.

Obviously, such coincidences didn't happen all the time. African Dark Witchcraft was a vicious forbidden art to begin with; very few people truly knew how to cultivate it. Running into one Gagarin was already surprising enough. To have another appear… you might as well go buy a lottery ticket.

Under Qin Fang's gaze, Gagarin's corpse was gradually devoured by the Corpse-Eating Insects, while the exposed insects died off one after another. In the end, only a pile of ash emitting a strange smell remained…

Charlie and the others had been watching the situation over here as well. When they saw those Corpse-Eating Insects, their faces all turned green… They'd witnessed a lot of terrifying scenes, but even they were scared stiff by those ferocious, ghastly bugs.

Fortunately, the bugs quickly died one after another, allowing them to let out a long sigh of relief, though their faces still looked rather pale and they didn't recover for quite a while.

"Young Master Qin, those bugs are way too terrifying…"

Noticing Qin Fang's contemptuous gaze, Charlie couldn't help but give a sheepish explanation. After all, having a bunch of burly tough guys scared like this by a few bugs was pretty embarrassing if word got out. Charlie and the others might be foreigners, but they still cared about their pride.

"Cut the crap… hurry up and clean this place up. We've still got something very important to do next!"

Qin Fang gave Charlie a kick, sending him flying, and scolded him with a grin.

"Er, what else is there?"

Charlie and the rest were stunned for a moment and asked in confusion, "Breaking into the Fourth Layer of the Underground Palace?"

"I'm afraid the Fourth Layer of the Underground Palace has nothing to do with you anymore..."

Qin Fang, however, shook his head and said, "Gagarin just led so many people in, and yet they fled out in such a sorry state. That probably means the environment inside is far more vicious than on the Third Floor of the Underground Palace. If you go in, you'll just be throwing your lives away. I might not even be able to look after you properly..."

"Then we..."

Charlie and the others froze for a moment, then looked at Qin Fang in utter confusion.

"In a bit I'll send you out from here..."

Qin Fang pointed at the remaining Gate of Life and said, this path should lead outside the Underground Palace; this could be considered a special feature of the place... otherwise, there'd be no need to deliberately put a Inches Apart, Worlds Away secret technique at the entrance.

"Leave..."

Hearing Qin Fang's words, Charlie and the others all froze, clearly a little at a loss.

Back when they first stepped onto the First Level of the Underground Palace, what they wanted most, deep down, was to escape alive from this terrifying place, but after everything they'd experienced, they actually wanted more to follow Qin Fang and keep adventuring with him.

"What, you can't bear to leave?"

Qin Fang smiled and asked, "If you're really not afraid of dying in there, I don't mind taking you on... but you better think this through, there might not be any path of survival left to choose once we're inside!"

"Uh..."

Charlie and the others naturally knew Qin Fang meant what he said. For the Underground Palace to have such a mechanism already counted as giving outsiders a chance; if they blindly pressed on out of greed, they'd have to be prepared to pay the price.

This was a very tangled multiple-choice question...

Pa~~

Qin Fang slapped Charlie on the shoulder and laughed. "Alright, I was just messing with you... If I really took you in there, you'd most likely just drag me down. I'd be better off simply kicking you out!"

"And don't overthink it... While I can't take you further in this time, there is one thing I need you brothers to help with!"

Seeing their embarrassed expressions—wanting to explain or argue yet unable to find any decent reason or excuse, almost suffocating from holding it in—Qin Fang finally drawled this out.

"What is it?"

Charlie's faces eased a little, and they couldn't help asking curiously.

"We're going to rob people..."

Qin Fang said it very calmly.

"Rob... people?"

When Charlie and the others heard this, they were all dumbfounded, each one like they'd been hit with a body-freezing spell...

"That's right, rob people..."

Qin Fang grinned wickedly. "Gagarin should've been the strongest among these batches. Since even he's dead, the rest will be much easier to deal with... and every one of them has picked up some goodies along the way. Leaving that stuff in their hands is a complete waste; better we take it for ourselves..."

Charlie's group all looked much better now, their eyes growing brighter and brighter, faint excitement already showing through.

People who mix in the Underground World are all the type that fear neither heaven nor earth. As long as the profit is big enough, there's nothing they won't do...

Don't be fooled by how they bowed to a powerhouse like Gagarin—that was just being stuck under someone else's eaves, weaker than him. Give them the right opportunity and they absolutely wouldn't be polite; they wouldn't hesitate in the slightest to start Hitting Someone When They're Down against Gagarin.

Just like Charlie and the others: once they fell out with Hand of the Demon, they went at those guys ruthlessly. Those few didn't even get a chance to scream before Charlie and his people quickly strangled them...

"Young Master Qin, just give the word, we'll be your lackeys..."

Precisely because of their personalities, once Qin Fang brought it up, Charlie and the others immediately snapped to, each of them speaking excitedly.

As for robbing those competitors, Charlie and the others had already wanted to do that long ago; it was only because Qin Fang didn't want to waste time on it that they hadn't acted...

But now it was different. Anyway, once they scored, they'd immediately leave through that Gate of Life, so it no longer mattered whether they offended anyone. Naturally they had to grab as many of those treasures for themselves as possible.

Even if they couldn't use those treasures personally, Qin Fang wouldn't shortchange them. Just getting a few extra Blood Replenishing Pills—elixirs that could literally pull you back from the brink—was enough to make them thrilled out of their minds... (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you're welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)