Chapter 98: The Emperor's Tomb

"Hao!" Covered in blood, Man Man crept close to Ji Hao, carefully pulling at his sleeve.

Ji Hao patted Man Man's little head, smiled, and shook his head. "It's alright, don't be afraid!"

Torrential rain poured down as dark storm clouds blanketed the endless sky, and bolts of lightning, like raging dragons, struck down furiously from above. On the peaks near and far, giant trees were struck by lightning. Amidst deafening explosions, the massive trees burst into flames, standing between heaven and earth like colossal torches.

From somewhere unknown, the frenzied roars of giant beasts echoed. The long, continuous cries pierced the heavens. Against the deafening thunder and lightning, and the backdrop of burning trees, the storm swept across the land. The Southern Wasteland laid bare its wild, brutal, savage, and primeval nature before everyone.

*Clack, clack.* The sharp legs of the Blade-edge Spiders struck the boulders on the riverbank. Escorted by over a thousand servant soldiers, dozens of Blade-edge Spiders leapt up from the riverbed behind them, slowly closing in on Ji Hao and Man Man.

Large groups of Jia Clan warriors, leading thousands of servant soldiers, surrounded this stretch of the riverbank so tightly that not even water could trickle through.

Jiang Yao, as gorgeously dressed and alluring as a poisonous poppy, wore an exceptionally magnificent and luxurious purple silk gown that was completely out of place in the Southern Wasteland. Swaying her slender waist, she held Di Luo's hand and walked toward Ji Hao with an elegant, coquettish air.

Di Luo kept one hand behind his back while supporting Jiang Yao with the other. A savage, deep-seated hatred warped his fair, youthful face as he glared at Ji Hao with venomous malice, stepping forward in lockstep with her.

Yet, both of them were extremely cautious and wary. They were flanked by thirty of the most powerful Jia Clan warriors, each gripping their weapons tightly, their sharp, glinting eyes watching Ji Hao and Man Man with absolute vigilance.

It was not that these warriors of the Blood Fang Troop were cowardly, but rather that during the past few days of pursuit, they had been driven to near madness by the utterly unreasonable battle record of Ji Hao and Man Man. In a mere five or six days, more than a dozen Jia Clan warriors had been killed by them!

In the Blood Fang Troop's five hundred years of warfare, nothing like this had ever happened. They had raided tens of thousands of tribes, large and small, in the Southern Wasteland, and slain over ten thousand Senior Magi. Yet, even those Senior Magi had never inflicted such losses upon the elites of the Blood Fang Troop. And Ji Hao and Man Man were just two children barely over ten years old! Man Man was not even ten yet!

"Ji Hao, you miserable little bastard!" Jiang Yao stopped less than a hundred feet away from Ji Hao, her very first words a vicious curse.

"Are you saying your own son is a bastard too?" Even in a war of words, Ji Hao never let anyone get the upper hand. He sneered even more viciously, "I am absolutely certain that I am the true son of my father, Ji Xia, and my mother, Qing Fu. But what about your son, A Wu? Jiang Yao, are you sure he is Ji Shu's son? Or is he a... hehe, bastard born from you and this three-eyed outsider?"

Jiang Yao's beautiful face twisted instantly. Her nostrils flared wide as she gasped and panted in fury.

Di Luo gave Jiang Yao's hand a firm tug. With a savage yet smug sneer, he said, "Little brat, your mouth is as venomous as your strikes. But you actually made a good point. Perhaps, in the future, it is possible that I will have a bastard child of Southern Wasteland blood? Now that I think about it, that doesn't sound too bad at all!"

Man Man spat heavily on the ground and shouted, "You shameless, stinking woman!" Pausing for a moment, she delivered another vicious blow: "Cheap hussy!"

Jiang Yao's face turned pale green with rage, her lips trembling uncontrollably. She glared at Man Man and said in a sinister voice, "Little girl, curse all you want. The happier you are cursing now, the more horrific your death will be! Can you guess what I'm going to do to you?"

Man Man kept her mouth tightly shut and said nothing. Ji Hao suddenly spoke up, "Di Luo, is it really worth it for this woman? Your Blood Fang Troop has already lost so many men. Perhaps, because of your stupidity, you will lose even more. How are you going to answer to those behind you? All just for this woman?"

Di Luo's eyes flickered as he looked at Man Man with hesitation.

Ji Hao quickly pressed on, "That's right, Man Man comes from an extraordinary background! Because of your foolish actions, your Blood Fang Troop might be completely wiped out in the Southern Wasteland, all for a woman like Jiang Yao... To put it bluntly, with your background, you shouldn't be short of women, right?"

Just as Di Luo was about to speak, Jiang Yao gritted her teeth and barked, "Di Luo, do not listen to this boy's instigations. I can give you ample compensation for the losses of your Blood Fang Troop, compensation beyond your wildest imagination. In addition to our original agreement remaining valid, I can give you even more extra compensation!"

Ji Hao immediately sneered, "More extra compensation? What, are you going to send one of your sisters or nieces to these three-eyed outsiders too?"

Di Luo frowned, looking at Jiang Yao with great displeasure. "I am not short of women, my dear Priestess. Clearly, what I have done for you has already exceeded what you can offer me."

Jiang Yao gave a cold laugh, staring at Ji Hao. "Ji Hao, know why I must exterminate you and your father?"

Ji Hao fell silent for a moment, then asked with a hint of suspicion, "The position of the Fire Crow Clan's warrior leader? Ji Shu's collusion with the Blood Fang Troop in the slave trade? Controlling the Fire Crow Clan on behalf of your father, Jiang Bo, to give him more power in the Bi Fang Clan? What else? How much benefit can any of this bring to Di Luo?"

Jiang Yao glanced at Di Luo, whose expression had darkened further, and suddenly pulled a square-foot piece of gold-red beast skin from her sleeve.

A sphere of blazing fire light surrounded the beast skin. The moment Jiang Yao pulled it out, as if sensing a familiar aura, it floated up and drifted slowly toward Ji Hao, eventually pressing itself flat against his chest.

Ji Hao felt a pure, grand heat continually surging into his body. Something hidden in his shirt suddenly throbbed with a light, rapid pulse.

Raising his eyebrows in pleasant surprise, Ji Hao smiled. "This is...?"

Jiang Yao stared deeply at Ji Hao and said flatly, "As expected, this is an heirloom that only direct descendants of your lineage can trigger a reaction from. It is a map—a map leading directly to the tomb of an ancient Magus Emperor."

An ancient Magus Emperor's tomb? Ji Hao shivered. An ancient Magus Emperor's tomb? And it could resonate with him? Was this the attraction of their bloodline aura?

Although everyone shared the surname Ji and inherited the power of the ancient Three-legged Golden Crow lineage, the Fire Crow Clan was actually divided into hundreds of branches of various sizes based on true bloodlines.

Although Ji Hao and Ji Xia's branch was now sparsely populated, with only the father and son remaining—the rest of their close kin having fallen in the successive wars against the Black Water Serpent Clan—this lineage had once been gloriously prominent in the history of the Fire Crow Clan, producing countless powerful Magus Emperors among their ancestors. The peak of Ji Hao's lineage coincided with the most prosperous era of the Fire Crow Clan in the Southern Wasteland.

"To open the tomb of an ancient Magus Emperor, one must use the essence blood of a direct descendant," Jiang Yao said, looking coldly at Ji Hao. "That is why I must kill you and Ji Xia. Aside from using your life essence blood to open the emperor's tomb, only when both of you are dead and your bloodline aura is completely erased from this world can the inherited Magus treasures within the tomb be claimed by me!"

Jiang Yao looked at the dumbfounded Di Luo and smiled, gently straightening his collar. "Lord Di Luo, this is the tomb of the most powerful Magus Emperor among the first three generations of Magus Emperors of the ancient Fire Crow Clan. Just imagine what kind of treasures lie inside. What do the lives of a few warriors matter compared to that?"

Di Luo took a deep breath and pointed fiercely at Ji Hao and Man Man.

"Kill that little girl. Hack her into pieces, burn her to ashes, and throw them into the river to be washed away."

"As for this boy, capture him alive. I must have him alive!"