Chapter 148: Three Major Difficulties

While Yang Fan was enduring immense agony, a conspiracy was brewing inside another mansion belonging to the Bashan Tribe.

Bashan Hong and three others were plotting in secret.

After Bashan Wujiang increased the output of his mental energy, the other three followed suit. Bashan Wujiang then spoke: "That kid from the outside world, the one called Yang Fan—before Bashan Mo heads to the outside world, I assume he will treat this kid quite well. After all, he is a disciple of a major external faction. Although we don't know his exact background, once we are out there, he could at least serve as a guide. Knowing Bashan Mo's temperament, he won't kill the donkey the moment the millstone is removed before achieving his goal. Recently, he will surely grant this kid whatever he asks for! Moreover, Bashan Mo personally promised him the treatment of a young patriarch. You must know that a young patriarch is entitled to take whatever resources he wants from the clan's treasury. As long as this kid asks Bashan Mo for something that can only be found in the treasury, our opportunity will come! If we can manage to send one of us down just like this time, there is a chance to lift Elder Hua's seal and rescue him from the depths of the earth!"

Having said this, Bashan Wujiang looked at the other three with a hopeful expression, waiting for their response.

Bashan Gui pondered for a moment and spoke first: "This plan has a certain degree of feasibility, but the uncertainties are also massive. First of all, Bashan Mo has already given this Yang Fan quite a few resources. Bashan Hong was the one who brought him down to the treasury, so pills and the like must have been given to him, right?" At this point, Bashan Gui looked at Bashan Hong.

Bashan Hong nodded and replied: "Aside from the weapons he requested, I gave him twenty Qi-Replenishing Pills and twenty Body-Sculpting Pills. Under normal circumstances, these things are more than enough to cultivate this kid all the way to the fifth rank."

Bashan Cangmang looked at Bashan Hong with a helpless expression. You were already in contact with Elder Hua and had your own ideas, yet you still gave this kid so many things? The Qi-Replenishing Pills and Body-Sculpting Pills are the finest pills available for the fourth rank in the Bashan Tribe. Although there weren't many, their medicinal potency is extremely strong! At least for the near future, Yang Fan probably won't lack any cultivation resources.

After Bashan Hong finished speaking, Bashan Gui continued: "In that case, this kid won't be asking for cultivation resources anytime soon. As for other things, according to his own description, he comes from the outside world, where battle techniques and cultivation methods are presumably not lacking either. Besides, the cultivation methods in our treasury belong exclusively to the Bashan Tribe; given Bashan Mo's temperament, he likely won't give them to Yang Fan. As for weapons, the kid just got his hands on some, so he won't ask for more either. This is our first obstacle: how to make this kid open his mouth and ask Bashan Mo for resources.

"The second problem is the issue of Elder Hua. Elder Hua has been trapped underground for a hundred years, and in all these years, we have barely seen him. Do you remember a century ago? The reason we were able to break Bashan Mo's seal back then was because we were assigned to guard Elder Hua at that time. Through the passing of time, we came to understand the seal of that era, which allowed us to break it and release Elder Hua. But none of us understand the current seal. According to Bashan Hong, Elder Hua is now sitting in solitude in the passage with nothing around him. Where is the eye of the formation? Even if we go down there, we cannot stay long and must resolve the matter swiftly. This is the second obstacle!

"The third obstacle is the one that plagued us a hundred years ago. Relying solely on Elder Hua is not enough to overthrow Bashan Mo. Elder Hua is no match for Bashan Mo, and the four of us are merely at the peak of the ninth rank. On a battlefield of the tenth rank, we are completely useless. If we want to help, we must do as Elder Hua said a hundred years ago: break the seal, save him, and simultaneously breakthrough to the tenth rank. All four of us must break through at the same time so that Bashan Mo cannot cope with us all.

"During that brief window, as long as Elder Hua comes out, we will have a chance. Once the eye of the formation is found, breaking the seal takes very little time. In such a short duration, Bashan Mo won't be able to kill all of us. If we are lucky, perhaps none of us will die; if we are unlucky, at most two might die in that brief span. With the remaining two plus Elder Hua, that should be enough to contend with Bashan Mo. But if an accident happens, who will die? This is the most crucial question! To speak bluntly, I don't want to die, and none of you do either; otherwise, the four of us wouldn't have squandered our opportunity a hundred years ago. Now, a century has passed, and this question is placed before us once again. How shall we decide?"

Bashan Gui's words left the other three utterly speechless.

Indeed. A hundred years ago, the reason they did not fight side by side with Elder Hua was precisely because none of the four wanted to die. None of them trusted the others, each believing that whoever broke through first would be the first to die, while the one who broke through last might survive. Consequently, the four of them, stationed at the four cardinal directions, waited for the other three to reach the tenth rank first. And the result? Until the end of the battle, when Bashan Hua was driven underground by Bashan Mo, not a single one of them had made a move!

Bashan Hua's roars from beneath the earth back then had chilled their blood. That was followed by a hundred years of lingering regret shared by all four.

Bashan Mo had not pursued the matter too harshly. In Bashan Mo's eyes, the four of them were mere ants, not even remotely in his league. Back then, Bashan Mo even remarked that it was fortunate the four of them had not taken that final step; otherwise, even if all five of them joined forces, they would still be no match for him. Although the four of them all felt that Bashan Mo was merely bluffing in hindsight, they could not deny that Bashan Mo was truly formidable. As the only acknowledged tenth-rank powerhouse on the surface within the entire Bashan Tribe, he had still managed to firmly secure the tribe's position among the top twenty. That strength was undeniably real.

...

The four of them fell silent, all deep in thought.

Bashan Gui looked at the other three while pondering the very questions he had just raised. Was there a way to resolve them?

Yang Fan's matter was relatively easy to handle; at worst, they could resort to coercion. Getting Yang Fan to ask Bashan Mo for certain items wasn't too difficult. Judging by Yang Fan's behavior in the main hall earlier, the kid was not someone ready to die for a principle. On the contrary, he seemed to understand that those who adapt to circumstances are wise.

However, the second and third obstacles were genuine, formidable hurdles. None of the four currently understood Elder Hua's situation, and none dared to make rash assertions. As for the strength of Bashan Mo's seal, they had witnessed it firsthand a hundred years ago—it was immensely powerful, truly formidable. Back then, all four of them were at the peak of the ninth rank, with cultivation levels similar to today, yet it had taken them an immense amount of grueling effort to barely crack the seal and release Bashan Hua.

Now, a century later, had Bashan Mo become even more powerful? After all, the Kunlun Secret Realm had a limit at the tenth rank; since one could not break through to the eleventh rank, many peak tenth-rank powerhouses dedicated themselves to researching other ways to enhance their combat prowess.

Such as battle techniques, movement techniques, body-refining arts, bizarre esoteric skills, or formation seals! These were all pathways to augmenting one's strength.

With a century of research, who could possibly know where Bashan Mo's limits lay today? Who could know what new breakthroughs Bashan Mo had achieved over the past hundred years?