Volume 1: National Treasure Chapter 76: Exploring the Treasure

  Busan. Long Xing and Long Ji finally found Long Teng and Su Rui after several days of hiding and chasing, originally set to meet in Busan City, but unfortunately changed the location at the last minute, which made Long Xing and others waste a day before finding Long Teng and others.

  It wasn't until later that they found out Long Teng and Su Rui had also changed their route to avoid other official eyes and had been here for a day. According to Long Teng and Su Rui, the other side of the mountain was close to the sea, and based on their speculation, the other end of the treasure must be openable, and it was very likely that if they accidentally opened the switch on the other side, seawater would rush in, possibly drowning all four of them in the cave.

  So the four of them must think of various countermeasures and strategies to ensure that they can safely find the treasure, even if it is temporarily impossible to bring it back to their country, they must know the exact direction of the hidden treasure.

  After Su Rui and Long Ji discussed the route, Long Teng jumped onto a tree and took out four backpacks, handing one to each person: "Inside are various communication equipment, camouflage clothing and food, as well as some mountain-climbing essentials like military knives and other weapon facilities. You should all know how to use them. Get equipped quickly and head into the mountains immediately." This was Long Teng's final request.

  It's already around 4 pm, and Long Teng is still asking to enter the mountain. Doesn't he know that he and Long Xing have been running for several days? Although they came by car, it's just as tiring. Is this guy not considering his subordinates at all?

  Here is the translation:

  After glancing at Long Di, Long Teng felt a bit depressed, as if the two of them had become more and more lax in carrying out their orders since they returned. After thinking for a moment, Long Teng still pulled out three medicinal pills from his pocket, handing one to each person: "This is something good for quickly replenishing your physical strength; after eating it, sleep for two hours, and we'll set off at night."

  Long Teng said this, then took out four maps, distributing one to each person. He continued to say: "These were copied from the original on the steel plate, with each person getting a copy, in order to avoid someone getting lost later. After all, this is a national treasure, so everyone must be careful."

  Long Teng finished speaking and ignored everyone else, shouldering his backpack and slipping alone into a large tree, disappearing from view.

  At this time, Longji glanced at Su Rui and Long Xing, seemingly having a realization, then put away the medicine pill and quickly climbed up a large tree with his backpack, finding a comfortable spot to rest.

  Long Xing finally had the opportunity to be alone with Su Rui, but before he could take action, Su Rui stopped him first and pulled him to a big tree, meaning was very clear: send me up.

  Although Long Xing was a bit puzzled, he still hugged Su Rui and grabbed two backpacks, flashing onto the big tree. As soon as Su Rui stood firm on the tree, she burst into tears and crawled onto Long Xing's body. This was not the first time Long Xing had saved her, and to this day, she couldn't remember how many times he had rescued her. Moreover, she didn't have anything to repay him with, not even finding the treasure of Hua Guo, which was her lifelong dream. Yet, Long Xing still helped her, risking who-knew-how-much danger. As soon as Su Rui thought about this, she couldn't control herself and burst into tears again, sobbing quietly.

  Long Xing thought he had done something wrong again, but then he saw Su Rui didn't have any blaming actions so he put his heart at ease. Soon Long Xing saw Su Rui taking off her clothes, just when he thought Su Rui was going to sacrifice herself for him, he quickly stretched out a pair of demonic claws ready to grab onto her. But before he could do that, Su Rui slapped his claws away and glared at him with a pouty expression saying: "What are you doing? I'm changing clothes, can't even change in front of another man?" Su Rui gave Long Xing a white eye, but Long Xing didn't care about these things. He still decided to take down Su Rui first, then he wrapped his arms around her and pressed their lips together, not giving Su Rui any time to react...

  Before long, two hours had passed. After checking the time, Long Teng whistled and called all three of them to his side, ready to embark on their treasure hunt.

  Everyone was ready, all four of them had changed into a set of forest camouflage uniforms, looking exceptionally spirited. Afterwards, they each took out their communication devices, military watches, assault rifles and one military flashlight per person. The back of the legs of their camouflage uniforms were inserted with military knives, and on both sides of the legs were inserted handguns, fully equipped for jungle warfare. It was just unknown where Long Teng had gotten all this from, after all, this was someone else's country, but he seemed to have brought very little with him, yet what he took out was the most.

  After a while, Long Teng took out the previous medicine pill and indicated that the three of them should take the medicine pill first before entering the thicket. Although he was the first to eat the medicine pill, he drew his military knife with one hand and swung it with one hand, indicating that the action had begun. The three men saw the boss eating first, and without caring about anything else, they swallowed the medicine pill in one mouthful, holding their guns in one hand and grasping their military knives as they walked into the thicket.

  The mountain forest at dusk still looks exceptionally beautiful, but the four people walking in this dense thicket can't see a single ray of sunlight. Gradually, the sky darkened. However, it's worth mentioning that after taking the medicinal pill, the three of them clearly felt as if they had an inexhaustible amount of energy, and also had a refreshing feeling. In fact, they still didn't know that this was a kind of elixir from the mysterious school of Long Teng, which quickly restored physical strength and prevented toxins in advance, called Qing Suo Wan.

  The forest at night was extremely mysterious, with various flying birds being startled from time to time. The sounds were enough to startle Su Rui, after all she was a girl and although she knew it wasn't any ferocious beast, girls' hearts still had some fear towards these things. However, it was okay, as Long Xing who was closely following behind would definitely take care of her.

  Just as the four of them were struggling to climb up the mountain, Long Teng and Long Ji suddenly stopped at the same time. The two behind them were stunned, unclear why they had stopped.

  The two men who stopped exchanged a tacit glance, and then they could see a hint of worry between their eyebrows. Long Teng stopped because he discovered that the four people had walked into an array as soon as they started walking. Long Ji stopped because he found that after walking for two hours, the group had returned to the original starting point, which made him feel uncomfortable. It had only been a short while, and such a problem had already occurred. Moreover, Long Ji was not sure if Long Teng had a way to break through the current situation.

  Long Teng's eyes flashed with a hint of solemnity, and it was clear that the person who set up this formation was estimated to be at the same level as himself. However, he still had confidence in breaking through the formation, but his heart felt somewhat uncomfortable. He almost guessed that this formation came from whose hand.

  Very soon, Long Teng made the three of them retreat a few steps back and stood in place, gesturing at something. Before long, a loud "bang" sound came from ahead, similar to the sound of a balloon being popped and exploding. Suddenly, Long Xing discovered something was off and quickly pushed Su Rui and Long Ji down, rolling on the ground several times before stopping behind a large tree in one direction. Meanwhile, Long Teng up front also flashed several times, with a faint golden light emanating from his body as he deflected the fine needles shooting from afar.

  It wasn't long before the golden needles stopped shooting out, and where Long Teng was standing, there were no more golden needles shooting out. Only where Long Xing was standing, those golden needles that he had dodged were corroding the flowers and grass on the ground, even scorching the ground into a patch of dark blackness, showing just how highly toxic they still were.

  It wasn't until they realized there was nothing else that Long Teng called the three of them out. He too found this place full of mechanisms to be a headache, as every inch of it was filled with danger. Before the four of them had entered, he had already mentally prepared himself for the fact that since this was a national treasure, the level of danger would definitely not be ordinary. However, he hadn't expected that just as they were entering, they would encounter such a vicious mechanism, leaving him feeling like there was no way to defend against it.

  Actually, Long Teng didn't know that this mountain was almost a forbidden mountain locally. Everyone who entered the mountain would inexplicably return to where they started, and those who insisted on going forward would be sent out on the second day after entering the mountain. However, after being sent out, their bodies would appear as if they had been gnawed by some animal, with no whole corpse left.

  There were also local police who sent people into the mountains to find answers, but without exception, they all died in the mountains. Either that or they were sent out like the villagers, bitten by some animal, so after a long time, this place was forbidden. Although there is no signboard, everyone understands that this mountain cannot be entered.

  Although he hesitated for a moment, Long Teng still didn't say what was on his mind. He led the three of them to continue advancing into the mountains.

  All the way, Longji relied on his understanding of the mechanism and broke through many ordinary mechanisms, such as the entwining vines he had used before, the suddenly flying sharp trees in the air, and the ground knives that popped up without warning...

  It will surely amaze everyone, but these mechanisms are clearly useless against Long Teng and Long Xing. They can only be effective against ordinary people like Long Ji and Su Rui.

  Just as Long Jie was about to break the mechanism of a rope tied with an oil barrel, a strange beast suddenly jumped out from the front. It had a face like a tiger, a body like a lion, and a head as big as a cow's, but it also had two long, green fangs.

  Long Teng was certain that this monster was the work of that despicable person as soon as he saw it, but he was also very familiar with this monster. The monster's name was Mountain Cat, and although its name sounded ordinary, it was actually an ancient family's term for it. Its true name was Qing Yi, a spirit beast specifically used to guard hidden places. This monster did not attack people normally and would not leave its post, but as soon as someone entered the place it guarded, it would attack them. It was a favorite among some high-ranking individuals.

  This monster has another characteristic, that is, it can live for hundreds of years, and even if it doesn't eat food for a hundred years, it won't starve to death, because it's a spiritual beast that can absorb the essence of heaven and earth.

  At the same time that Long Teng was thinking about this, three more mountain cats appeared from their original location, looking almost identical to the first one. Although they didn't seem as powerful as the first cat, this was still a serious situation. Long Teng began to worry, believing that he and Long Xing could definitely handle these four mountain cats, but it would take time. However, mountain cats had another characteristic: when they launched an attack, they would always target the weak first. This meant that Long Di and Su Rui were likely to be in trouble.