The next morning, Xiao Jie arrived at the entrance of the auction house.
To his surprise, there were quite a few people, at least twenty or so.
Xiao Jie thought, indeed, wealth had the power to move hearts, with the majority of the Outer Circle members joining in the mix.
The main attraction was the items inside the Ancient Tomb, which were truly enticing. The seals left by Immortals would definitely contain excellent treasures. If one were lucky enough to snag an Immortal Technique Secret Manual or an ancient treasure, it would be a real jackpot.
Moreover, since it was a gold team, this meant that as long as one had the money, they could get their hands on the good stuff. It wasn’t like the previous guild activities where everything was based on contribution, without special performance, one could only get that pitiful basic score, not knowing how long it would take to get their hands on something valuable.
Among the crowd, Xiao Jie also spotted a familiar figure.
"Huh, Ye Luo, you’re here too?"
"Nonsense, how could I miss out on such a good opportunity."
"Aren’t you afraid of encountering danger?"
"Hehe, even if danger arises, can’t I just run? How does that saying go? When facing a tiger, you just have to run faster than your teammates. I can confidently say that I can outrun all of you."
Xiao Jie was speechless, Ye Luo’s words weren’t wrong. As a Nightwalker, she could stealthily move in the darkness, and truly, no one could outpace her in the Ancient Tomb should they need to escape.
But things didn’t seem quite right. They hadn’t even entered the Ancient Tomb yet, and already everyone was considering escape plans. Surely not everyone was thinking this way? If they really encountered a BOSS, what would they do? Probably, the fight wouldn’t start before everyone had already run off.
He felt more and more unsure about the whole thing and hoped that it was just as Salted Fish had said, that there were no BOSSes in the Ancient Tomb.
Salted Fish was actually the last to arrive, and, to his surprise, he didn’t come alone but brought a Taoist with him, and it was someone they knew.
Bai Ze (Taoist): Level 28, Life Value 620.
Back when Xiao Jie and I Want to Be Immortal traveled to Xuanxu Palace to seek apprenticeship, and a tiger blocked their path, it was this very person who helped them up the mountain and even charged them two taels of silver each.
Unexpectedly, Salted Fish had brought him along.
Salted Fish proudly said, "Good morning, everyone, look who I brought with me, Master Bai Ze, the leading disciple of Xuanxu Palace, proficient in Daoist Skills, my old friend. How about that? Now everyone can feel at ease, right? With this Level 28 great Taoist here, what’s there to fear even if there are dangers? Plus, with Dida La, the dual caster combo, there’s no need to fear any demons or ghosts."
Salted Fish’s tone was very smug, whereas Bai Ze was quite humble.
"Salted Fish is too generous with his praise. I’m just an ordinary disciple of Xuanxu Palace, but I do know some Daoist Skills. I’ll definitely do my best to Find your next favorite novel on NovelHub today! However, business is business, friends are friends, so Salted Fish, don’t forget my one hundred taels appearance fee."
The group’s morale was boosted by the presence of two Masters of Magic, giving everyone a strong sense of confidence.
Now, there were concerns about the value of the spoils. Two hundred taels for each Master of Magic, four hundred taels budgeted before the start, and if nothing valuable was excavated from the Ancient Tomb, the math wouldn’t add up.
"Salted Fish, can we really make our money back?" Dida La asked worriedly.
"Don’t worry, there’s no problem at all. There are plenty of treasures in these Ancient Tombs. It’s not impossible to dig up several thousand taels worth of them. Those willing to go, pay up quickly so I can buy spirit stone seals."
Everyone paid up quickly.
Counting the two Masters of Magic, there were a total of twenty-five people present, and without a doubt, these were some of the finest among the Outer Circle members, since the weaker ones wouldn’t dare to join in.
Two hundred taels of silver, at eight taels per person, were enough, and soon two spirit stone seals were purchased from the auction house.
"Let’s go, we’re heading into the Ancient Tomb, time to strike it rich!"
With the call to action, everyone mounted up and headed straight for the Ancient Tomb in a grand procession.
Half an hour later, everyone arrived at the entrance of the Ancient Tomb and dismounted.
A few high-level melee fighters took the frontline, entering the cave first—before encountering any BOSSes, everyone still displayed bravado.
However, this bravery was clearly not going to have a chance to show, as everyone descended into the mine and discovered that all the Little Monsters along the way had already been killed off.
All that was left were corpses.
These were the core group members!
Xiao Jie immediately realized that, as expected, upon arriving at the first floor’s Dumping Area, they saw Hidden Dragon Do Not Use leading his team to clear Little Monsters and mine the ore deposits, including fourteen core team members and seven or eight Outer Circle members, even some who hadn’t participated in the activities yesterday.
No matter how dangerous a map might be, once it had been successfully pioneered, the risk factor plummeted straight down.
That’s why the initial attempt is called a pioneer. Subsequent tries are just farming.
Now that it was the farming stage, even the timid dared to follow for some experience gains. These few unashamedly followed the core group to farm the Little Monsters and leech experience.
When the two groups met, it was a tad awkward.
But they still greeted each other.
"Leader, good afternoon, farming monsters?"
"Yeah. Salted Fish, are you sure you want to explore the Ancient Tomb?"
"Of course, I already said yesterday that I’d organize my own group. You wouldn’t go back on your word and forbid it, would you?"
"Hehe, of course not. Since it’s your decision, you should bear the consequences, good or bad, it’s your choice."
Hidden Dragon Do Not Use’s tone was very calm, seemingly unconcerned with Salted Fish’s venture into the Ancient Tomb.
This made Salted Fish somewhat nervous, but with the situation being as it was, there was no turning back. He immediately called out and led everyone toward the next level down.
As they ventured deeper, they finally started to encounter Monsters.
But with yesterday’s experience under their belt, the team naturally had a plan in place. The front row equipped themselves with all sorts of axes, hammers, and big chopping blades, assaulting the Mining Zombies with fierce smashes.
Whenever Earth-burrowing Zombies appeared, they made sure to kill them several times over to ensure they wouldn’t resurrect before advancing further.
Against Corpse Giant Rats, they relied on remote weapons.
Although they lacked the tight coordination of core members, relying on sheer numbers and thorough preparation, they progressed smoothly and reached the second floor, where the density of Little Monsters was noticeably lower than the day before.
The group easily made it to the entrance of the thief hole, facing the dark cavern ahead. Salted Fish took a deep breath.
"Brothers, whether we’re going to strike it rich depends on today. Everyone get on YY, let’s go down into the hole!"