Martial God Development Plan

Ji Zhao was about to attack again when Gu Zhibai suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist. She frowned, as if lost in memories.

"This kind of fox... Fengzhou seems to have a legend about it. The locals call it the God of Fortune. They say this fox understands human nature and will definitely give back after eating human food. Many people have seen it and wanted to feed it, but it won't eat..."

Gu Zhibai was familiar with the customs and legends of various parts of China. He had also heard a story about the god of fortune. The story went something like this: a young boy who was doing odd jobs shared his lunch with a god of fortune. Later, when he was down and out, the god of fortune took him to dig out the gold hidden underground by a rich but unkind man. From then on, it became an old story that the common people loved to hear. The boy became rich overnight and married a beautiful woman.

All in all, it’s a nice little story that you can just unwind and enjoy.

As a native of Qingzhou, Ji Zhao had studied in Lizhou, so he naturally had not heard of the folklore and legends of Fengzhou. He immediately asked, "Do you believe this?"

Gu Zhibai said vaguely: "My elders have met the God of Fortune... Some things are better to believe in."

As soon as these words came out, Ji Zhao's heart shuddered... Intellectually speaking, he didn't really believe in these supernatural things, but who knows what kind of messed up settings the mirror will restore. For example, the Feng Ji thing, normally it is a superstitious product of the feudal era, but if it really exists, Ji Zhao feels that he will not be too surprised.

Gu Zhibai's words really added a bit of magical color to the world.

Ji Zhao had no choice but to stop, but he still couldn't help but secretly complain.

[“This god of fortune looks as abstract as Mara and Hollow Mask…”]

It was obvious that this god of fortune had no ability to read minds. It glanced at Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai and waved its tail, signaling them to follow.

"Go, go, go!" Gu Zhibai became interested instantly. It was obvious that her elders had really had similar adventures, which made her believe in such events. She immediately grabbed Ji Zhao's hand and was about to drag him over - this level of physical contact was no longer a taboo for the two of them.

Ji Zhao was dragged away by Gu Zhibai, feeling vaguely uneasy.

"Are you sure it's a good thing? I just tried to attack it, it won't lead to our death."

"Although I have never heard of the God of Fortune taking revenge on people, it is not impossible." Gu Zhibai did not deny Ji Zhao, but smiled and said, "Are you scared?"

"I'm not afraid of it." Ji Zhao said honestly, "I'm afraid of my luck."

"You finally admit that you have bad luck." Gu Zhibai grasped the key words, and he put one hand on his waist, with a slightly proud posture, "But it doesn't matter, you don't have to be afraid when you are with me. I have always had good luck. The fact that we are still alive and standing here is proof... Let's go!"

After saying this, he and Ji Zhao followed the God of Fortune.

The fox moved very fast, relying on its small size to shuttle through the forest like a flash of lightning. Fortunately, Ji Zhao had the Scarlet God Robe and Gu Zhibai had recovered some of his condition, so they could barely keep up with it. The two of them and the fox ran for nearly an incense stick of time, and walked for several miles. The God of Fortune stopped halfway up the mountain. In front of Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai was a cave entrance. Gu Zhibai had a venomous look in his eyes and concluded at a glance: "This is a robber's cave!"

"I think so." Ji Zhao squatted down, glanced inside, picked up the soil beside him and sniffed it, then looked at Gu Zhibai, "This cave has been opened for a few days, and no one has come to do the post-work. The tomb robber must have died inside."

"It's possible, but not necessarily." Gu Zhibai crossed his arms and pondered, "The Changchun Mountains are deserted, and it's possible that the tomb robbers were tired and left directly after finishing their work... I don't know much about Feng Shui, but the Changchun Mountains are in the wilderness, and a decent person would not build his tomb in such a place. The owner of this tomb is probably not a simple person..."

Ji Zhao stretched out his voice and said: "Since it is not simple..."

Gu Zhibai smiled and said, "Then his burial objects must be extraordinary!"

Ji Zhao sneered and said, "You want his burial objects, but he wants our lives."

"If you don't take what God gives you, you will suffer the consequences." Gu Zhibai encouraged, "Besides, one's destiny should be in one's own hands. It's unrealistic to expect that after falling off a cliff, an old man will save you and teach you peerless magic skills. People can't indulge in such beautiful dreams all day long. We have to dig up the old man's grave ourselves."

"...Isn't this jump a little too big?" Ji Zhao sighed, "Besides, this kind of thing is not very moral."

"Then let's go catch this tomb robber." Gu Zhibai smiled. Having spent so much time with Ji Zhao, she knew that Ji Zhao's tone meant that he had agreed. "If he is really dead in there, wouldn't it be a great deed if we collect his body?"

Ji Zhao glanced at the god of fortune, his mind in turmoil.

[“Look at her. This god of fortune might really have some strange abilities…”]

[“Maybe there are some special events arranged in the game... It can’t be that all good things are inaccurate and all bad things are accurate, right?”]

Thinking of this, Ji Zhao nodded and said, "Go in and take a look, but if there is any danger, you must retreat immediately."

Volume 5: The Escape of Man: Chapter 25: The Treasure of Zhitian Pavilion

The two men took some measurements around the area to make sure the hole was solid and would not collapse at any time, then went outside to find a source of fire before entering... The previous tomb robber had extraordinary skills, and the hole was spacious and solid, so the two men entered the tomb easily.

After landing, Ji Zhao observed the environment inside. It would have been better if he hadn't looked at it. Once he took a look, he was shocked. This tomb chamber was extremely large. Just one room was nearly thirty or forty square meters. The floor was made of many stones, forming a huge yin-yang fish. In the middle stood a huge stone tablet. The surroundings were hung with eternal lamps, which were still emitting light.

[“It’s still on…?!”]

Ji Zhao couldn't figure out for a moment whether this was the magical setting of the mirror or the previous group of tomb robbers had nothing better to do and replenished their fuel.

Gu Zhibai didn't care about these things. She walked quickly to the middle and looked at the stone tablet in the light of the fire. Unfortunately, it was empty and there was no words on it.

"There's nothing written on the merit tablet..."

Ji Zhao had been in this world for more than a year, and he was not completely unfamiliar with the cultural customs of this world. For example, people who were qualified to build such a mausoleum would often erect a merit stele for themselves to record their life achievements. People believed that after arriving in the underworld, these things would become their bargaining chips so that they could be reborn into a good person in the next life. Many emperors were ambitious and built huge merit steles for themselves, writing countless miscellaneous things on them... But in the end, the one that was passed down to later generations and is still talked about today is the merit stele of Wu'an Gong Wei Huo, which has only four words on it, "pacifying the world".

People who erected a monument to their merits but didn't write anything on it, either were hated by others after their death and wanted to damn them to eternal damnation, or they felt ashamed of themselves in front of the world and didn't have the face to write anything on it... No matter which one it was, it was not good news for Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai. Originally, they could tell who the tomb owner was by looking at the monument to their merits, but now they are still confused.

The two men fumbled around in the room for a while and didn't find anything valuable, so they walked forward along the tomb passage. When they passed a tomb passage, the lights on both sides actually lit up automatically as they walked past, just like the voice-controlled lights of later generations. This scene made Ji Zhao's scalp numb with shock. This scene was so classic that he even felt that even if the Dong Taoist appeared at the end of the passage while clapping his hands the next second, he could accept it.

“What…what is this?!”

"You don't know." Gu Zhibai was very calm. With a smile, he took down the lamp from the wall and turned it on. There were some insects emitting fluorescent light inside. "This insect is called the millennium bug. It sleeps on weekdays. If it keeps sleeping, it can live for a long time, hence the name. If it is awakened, it will emit light like this. They can also reproduce by themselves, and their corpses will be eaten by children. As long as you put some food under the lamp, this lamp can be used for hundreds of years..."

————In the game, there was a CG like this. When the protagonist and his companions entered a tomb, the lights on both sides lit up automatically. There was no clear explanation of "why" in the game, so Jing had to create this creature called the Y2K bug to make this scene appear "reasonably".

Ji Zhao also figured this out and calmed down: "I've never heard of it before."

"The Y2K bug is rare. In the previous dynasty, some died and some were caught. It's normal that we don't know." Gu Zhibai paused and said playfully, "If you are scared, you can shrink into my arms."

This kind of empty talk is as meaningless as Han Gongqiu's catchphrase. Ji Zhao rolled his eyes, too lazy to pay attention to Gu Zhibai, and walked forward alone.

After passing through the tomb passage, at the end is a half-closed stone door with a mechanism lock next to it, but it has been cracked.

Ji Zhao observed it for a while, but because he was not an expert, he couldn't tell exactly how long ago it was cracked.

"I don't know whether we are lucky or unlucky." Ji Zhao observed the lock, thinking about what natural law the mirror added to make it work, and said casually, "I didn't encounter any trouble, but I might lose my things."

"Who knows..." Gu Zhibai responded and pushed open the door, but raised his brows slightly. The scene inside was really unusual... Hundreds of bows and arrows were either nailed into the wall, or broken and crushed by the terrible force. A huge rock was stuck in a pit, which was filled with a faint strange smell. Anyone who knew the smell would know it was poison, but after a few days, it had dissipated a lot and was no problem for people of Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai's level of cultivation.

"So many traps." The two walked into the room. Ji Zhao's eyes swept around and finally landed on a wooden man in iron armor that was blown in half in the corner. This was mechanical engineering, a very rare skill. In such a vast country like China, there were only a handful of people who mastered this ability. He heard that in Liu Hanying's generation, Luohe Pavilion once had a master who was proficient in mechanical engineering, but no one knew where he went later.

"Thanks to the pioneers who have blazed the trail, if it were you and me, we would have been in trouble." Gu Zhibai picked up the arrows scattered on the ground, but frowned slightly, and walked to an area in the room, "There are no arrows here, all of them were bounced off... Could it be that the tomb robber used protective qi to protect his body all the time? What kind of internal strength does this require?"

"I'm afraid this man has great cultivation." Ji Zhao also spoke at this time. He walked to the side of the wooden man without knowing when, and whispered, "Look at this wooden man. This armor, if I'm not mistaken, is made of tempered iron. Even if a master came, he might not be able to break through it with one palm. But this wooden man was hit by just one blow and was broken into two pieces... With this destructive power, I'm afraid that when attacking the city, one punch can blow up the city gate."

Gu Zhibai was slightly startled, walked to Ji Zhao and glanced at the wooden man, hesitated for a moment and spoke, but his tone was slightly serious, "Young Master Ji, do you think you should continue to move forward?"

Gu Zhibai had a special trust in the God of Fortune because of the past events of her elders in her family. In addition, she had survived in the wild for some time, freed from the constraints of the world, and took off her disguise. Her wildness grew, and she acted as she pleased. Therefore, she pulled Ji Zhao into the tomb. She thought there was no danger, but she never expected that there were so many mechanisms inside. Although most of them had been triggered by previous people, no one could say what would happen next. Under heavy concerns, reason took over again and suppressed the adventurous instinct, which made her feel like retreating.

However, Ji Zhao did not respond to her immediately, but stared at the wooden man.

【Teaching Heart Iron Man】

[The work of Taoist Dengyun, the last heir of Zhitian Pavilion. The outer armor is made of tempered iron. It is invulnerable to swords and spears and has infinite power. It guards one third of the treasures of Zhitian Pavilion. ]

Volume 5: Escape from the Realm: Chapter 26: Demon-Suppressing Coffin

Zhitian Pavilion...the most mysterious existence in the world.

Among the twelve eternal gates, no one can figure out where the stone is.

The thirty-six divine artifacts from outer space are too old to be verified.

Only the biographies in the twenty-four celestial books are clearly stated there, and they were created by the Zhitian Pavilion.

As the creator of the Heavenly Book of Three Days, Zhitian Pavilion is shrouded in mystery.

Ji Zhao even suspected that the "mirror" might be in the hands of Zhitian Pavilion... This organization reeks of charlatanism, and it's possible that some people calculated some messed up things, hid the mirror, and took it to their own tomb.

Although the possibility is not high, Ji Zhao sincerely feels that one of the mirror and bell is in the hands of Zhitian Pavilion... If the mirror is one of them, he will pass the level directly!

Ji Zhao could not refuse the possibility of ending everything, and said, "Since our predecessors have paved the way for us, what is there to be afraid of... There are many traps, which means there are many treasures behind. How can we give up halfway?"

When the two of them first came in, Gu Zhibai was in higher spirits and Ji Zhao was just dragged in by her. But now, the situation has turned against Tiangang and Ji Zhao is more active.

Gu Zhibai had never heard of the Heart-Lian Iron, but she could sense from Ji Zhao's attitude that the iron was of great value. She did not say much and just nodded slightly... She had Ningren blood in her bones and was born to be an adventurous person. She was really reluctant to give up and retreat like this.

————If the Ning people were not adventurous, how could they have transformed from a savage tribe into a vast country in just a few decades?

After discussing for a while, the two tried to dismantle the wooden man, wanting to put the armor on themselves. This action was like stealing equipment after defeating a monster, except that the monster was not killed by them.

However, the difference between wooden men and humans may be even greater than that between humans and pigs. The equipment that wooden men can wear can basically not be worn by humans. Fortunately, the mysterious master slapped the wooden man in the face, and the heart-training armor also shattered. Gu Zhibai picked up a piece, strung it with a thread, and barely used it as a heart-protection mirror - but this thing can only protect against sharp weapons. If it is a strong force, it cannot be removed at all. In Ji Zhao's opinion, it is indeed not as good as the Crimson God Robe.

Putting an iron plate on the chest is a ridiculous action no matter how you look at it. It is really not graceful at all. However, Gu Zhibai and Ji Zhao have lived in this wilderness for so long. To put it bluntly, they have seen all kinds of embarrassing situations. At this point, they really don't care about these things anymore.

The two continued to move forward... There were many mechanisms in the remaining tomb passages, but they were all triggered by the previous person. This person's cultivation was incredibly high, and he had no intention of avoiding or cracking the mechanisms according to common sense. He relied entirely on brute force to push forward all the way, and directly stepped on all the landmines that could be stepped on. Thanks to him, Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai's journey was very smooth.

Half an incense stick later, the two arrived at the deepest part of the tomb. The coffin of the tomb owner was placed in the center. The strange thing was that the coffin was extremely large. Ji Zhao estimated that it was about ten feet long and three or four feet wide, but the height was normal... The coffin was hung in mid-air. It was extremely thick, and the chains that were comparable to those of an adult's arm tied the coffin tightly, hooking the octagonal parts above and below, corresponding to the eight stone pillars in the room.

"...What happened?"

Even Gu Zhibai felt his scalp tingling at this moment: "It looks like they are imprisoning something terrible."

"..."

Ji Zhao didn't say anything, just stared at the coffin.

【Demon-suppressing Coffin】

[Cut down thousand-year-old immortal trees for materials, bind them with the two-element immortal ropes, and suppress the best choice of evil creatures. 】

[You don't want to know what's inside.]

If Gu Zhibai was just guessing, then Ji Zhao was really sure that there were some strange things in it. But before he could say anything, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew behind him, causing the chains on the coffin to rattle continuously.

ding ding ding...

The chains collided with each other, making a sharp sound of metal clashing, and the huge coffin suddenly trembled!

"......ah!"

Gu Zhibai had boasted before that if Ji Zhao was scared, he could hide in her arms. But when something really happened, he was so scared that he trembled and took several steps back, and bumped into Ji Zhao's arms.

Ji Zhao hugged her subconsciously, but some thoughts flashed through his mind for no reason.

If this had happened before this misfortune, Ji Zhao would probably have thought that this was a despicable beauty trap by Ning Ren, and that he was still playing tricks even at this time. However, he didn't think so now.

Before this, he had always viewed Gu Zhibai with a symbolic and labeled perspective, thinking that since she was Ning Ren's spy and was so powerful, she must be scheming and that everything she did was the result of careful consideration... Perhaps Ning Ren did want to cultivate Gu Zhibai into this symbol, but people are not symbols after all, and cannot become a symbol.

This was the case with Gu Zhibai, who was only sixteen or seventeen years old, and Ji Zhao was also like this...but now Ji Zhao only realized the former, but not the latter, because the most difficult thing for a person to see clearly is often himself. But it doesn't matter, he will understand it sooner or later.

Therefore, at this moment, Ji Zhao was not angry when he saw Gu Zhibai's appearance. Instead, he found it a little funny. If the two of them could become friends, this would be a topic that could be laughed at for several years... But facing the shaking coffin, Ji Zhao really couldn't laugh.

This kind of environment, this kind of atmosphere, this damn coffin suddenly started to vibrate. Not to mention the underage girl Gu Zhibai, even Ji Zhao, an adult man, felt a chill in his heart, but he seemed a little calmer.

After a moment of stalemate, Ji Zhao decisively turned around while holding Gu Zhibai. He didn't know whether the entry of the two triggered the appearance of some strange thing in the coffin, but he was not a highly professional villain who would watch the magical girl and the Kamen Rider slowly complete their transformation, so he wanted to run away immediately.

However, as soon as he turned around, he saw a figure appeared at the entrance... The figure was not tall, even shorter than Gu Zhibai, and was wearing a black robe that tightly covered his whole body. The only thing Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai could see, which might be related to the identity of the man in the black robe, was the two strands of snow-white hair hanging from under the hood.

This person appeared in front of the two of them like a ghost, blocking their way to escape.

Volume 5: Human Escape Part 1: Chapter 27: Heavenly Weapon: Blood Battle Pendant

Ji Zhao's hair stood on end... He had no sense of the black-robed man's presence at all, and just by looking at his posture he knew that this guy was extremely strong.

At this moment, the guy who appeared here is probably an enemy, not a friend...

Ji Zhao did not act rashly and stopped.

Boom boom boom————!

The vibration of the coffin behind him became more and more intense, but the frequency was completely different from before. He didn't know if it was Ji Zhao's illusion, but he even heard a bit of panic and...fear in the vibration?

That's right, if the previous vibration was the predator looking for an opportunity, then after the appearance of the white-haired man in the black robe, the vibration turned into fear and trembling of the creatures at the bottom of the food chain.

"Quiet."

The man in black robe spoke. His voice was extremely ethereal and carried a sense of fantasy that did not belong to this world. It seemed as if it came from the sky, illusory and unreal.

After her voice fell, the coffin that was still shaking a second ago immediately stopped responding... Ji Zhao's guess was correct.

The man in black robe never looked at the coffin from beginning to end, as if it was just a trivial matter. Her eyes fell on Ji Zhao... or maybe on Gu Zhibai in Ji Zhao's arms. The two of them were not sure who she was looking at.

Gu Zhibai reacted at this moment and came out of Ji Zhao's arms as if nothing had happened. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the man in black robe say first: "Go and get it... This is for you."

Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai were slightly startled, but they did not understand what the man in black robe was saying at all. The other party did not explain anything, but just stretched out his finger and pointed in a certain direction... Her hands were as white as jade, like fragile jade objects. They were so slender, but there was not a single blood vessel visible inside. Although it was extremely beautiful, it also revealed a weirdness that made people feel cold in their hearts.

The two looked in the direction of her finger, and saw a treasure chest behind the coffin. Most of the grids were empty, with only four things left in them, two books and two small brocade boxes... These four things all had panels, but because they were far away and the light was dim, Ji Zhao didn't dare to look too closely for a moment. He just glanced and quickly looked away.

Gu Zhibai looked at the man in black robe and said calmly, "What do you mean, Senior?"

In fact, the man in black robe had already made his words very clear, but she suddenly appeared and said this, just like a detective novel with only the murderer's crime methods but no motive for the crime, which really made people confused... Why did she appear here and help Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai?

However, the person in black robe didn't even have the intention to explain. She was not even willing to say "you will understand sooner or later". She enjoyed being a riddler for once. After leaving those words, she didn't even look at the two of them and disappeared without a trace.

......Of course. In the original plan, she should have ended the life of the thing in the coffin so that Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai could take the four things smoothly along the way. However, she thought that the thing, like herself, was a spirit of heaven and earth and it was not easy to practice, so she did not do it. But the other party did not have complete wisdom like her, and was more beastly and uncontrollable. As a result, she had to take action herself to remedy the situation. After returning, she did not know what kind of punishment she would face.

Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai looked at each other, both of them were confused, but they agreed on one thing, that is, neither of them wanted to stay in this ghost place for long. Who knew if the things in the coffin would be opened after the black-robed man left. So they hurried forward, rolled up the four things on the treasure box, and left the tomb... After crawling out of the tomb, Ji Zhao looked up and around, but still could not see the black-robed man, and there was not even her footprints in the surrounding land, as if everything just now was just a dream of Ji Zhao and Gu Zhibai.

[“Who is that person…?”]

[“‘This is for you’…Why did you leave something for us? It looks like you knew we would come…”]

Ji Zhao frowned, puzzled. This was too fantastic... Although he had encountered various things that were hard to accept before, none of them made him so confused as this one.

【“…Could it be related to Zhu Hongyue?”】