That bridge could be crossed with strength or with willpower. And what kind of willpower did the Ancient Battlefield demand?
An unyielding will to advance, ruthless decisiveness, and an overwhelming killing intent.
Possessing just one of these was enough to cross the wooden bridge unharmed. Jiang Zuo had them all.
The obstacles here were a joke to him.
He had spent a very long time in the Ancient Battlefield. Was there any place he couldn't overcome?
And he hadn't had much of a Cultivation back then, either.
Just as Jiang Zuo was about to press on, Xu Dong suddenly shouted, "Hey, are you just going to leave like that? We're your employers."
Jiang Zuo glanced at Xu Dong. "My part of the deal is done. Was protecting you part of the agreement?"
Xu Dong said, "We can commission you again right now. Name your price. Just help us get the final Spiritual Talisman."
"Not interested. You can all wait here to die. Oh, and by the way, there's no retreat. If you don't press forward, you'll just end up dead anyway." With that, Jiang Zuo prepared to leave.
Xu Qing yelled, "Who the hell do you think you are? With a Cultivation of 1.1, do you really think you're so special? If you run into other people up ahead, you think you can fight back? Don't be ridiculous. We're all adults here, not idiots."
Kun Tai frowned and quickly interjected, "Friend, my associate was a bit blunt, but she has a point. Your Cultivation is only 1.1, after all. This bridge must have involved an Array, right?
You must be quite proficient with Arrays. If you help us this time, we'll help you when a higher Cultivation is required.
It's a win-win situation. Why insist on going it all alone?"
Xu Dong added, "Friend, your Cultivation level is a major handicap. You just saw for yourself that people have set up ambushes here. With your power, you won't be able to fight back, will you?
Even if you wanted to team up with those ambushers, could you really trust them?
But we're different. We came in here together, and you're already working for us.
That's a much better bet than teaming up with total strangers, isn't it?"
Jiang Zuo watched them impassively. 'These three… the woman's intelligence is in the negatives. She's arrogant, her words are grating, and I'm half-tempted to just kill her.'
'As for the two men, their intelligence seems to flicker on and off, blinded by their own arrogance and preconceived notions.'
'All in all, they're not qualified teammates. There's no reason to drag them along.'
Then Jiang Zuo turned to leave. There was no need to waste words on dead men. That's right—if they couldn't cross this bridge, they were all going to die.
Seeing Jiang Zuo turn to leave without another word, they were enraged. How could he be so arrogant, so conceited?
Was he an idiot?
Just then, the Water Qilin Yaya cried out, "Wait! If you get Linglong across, I can give you a Spirit Beast—one with an absolutely pure bloodline."
Jiang Zuo looked at the Water Qilin. "I want a Qilin Egg."
The Water Qilin was speechless. "..."
'Isn't that asking for a bit much?'
"That's impossible. But we could let you summon a Qilin, provided you join the Beast Taming Sect."
Jiang Zuo considered this for a moment. "What kind of eggs do you have?"
'I raised Spirit Beasts in my past life, but none of them were particularly impressive to look at. I don't want to raise one in this life either, but I could always sell it.'
'And for a very high price, at that.'
"Hold on," the Water Qilin Yaya said to Ximen Linglong. "Linglong, summon my Treasury Number One."
Ximen Linglong nodded, a little surprised herself. She was taken aback that the Water Qilin was actually asking for help.
Ximen Linglong then bit her finger and pressed it to the ground. An egg instantly appeared before them.
A dark look crossed Jiang Zuo's face. 'This summoning feels so familiar.' He asked with surprise, "Can your Summoning Technique work in reverse?"
Ximen Linglong didn't hide it. "It can, but my Cultivation isn't high enough. Otherwise, I could have gone straight back home."
'Fair enough.' Jiang Zuo was speechless. He turned his attention to the egg.
He could faintly hear a heartbeat from within, and ethereal flames seemed to burn on its shell. This was indeed an excellent egg.
"It's the egg of a descendant of the Vermilion Bird, one of the Four Great Sacred Beasts," the Water Qilin said, its voice lacking conviction.
Jiang Zuo narrowed his eyes at the Water Qilin. "I thought you said it had a pure bloodline."
"I was talking about a pure-blooded *Spirit Beast*. Who knew you'd ask for an egg? Besides, this egg has the bloodline of a Holy Beast. You're not getting a bad deal here, you know? Don't be so greedy."
He wasn't getting a bad deal. He stepped back onto the wooden bridge, and the river water below began to churn once more. "Come on."
At that moment, the Water Qilin added, "I'm not finished with my terms. You must guarantee Linglong leaves this place safely."
Jiang Zuo replied nonchalantly, "No problem."
He said it with such ease, as if he were truly some great expert.
Just then, Ximen Linglong chimed in. "Can all of us cross? After all, we're a group. And the customer is always right! If you provide good service, they'll leave a good review, and we'll get more jobs."
Jiang Zuo scoffed inwardly. 'Do you really need to point that out?'
The others were already trying to rush across the bridge.
And so, all four of them made it across the wooden bridge.
Jiang Zuo didn't stop them. For the sake of the Holy Beast egg, he could afford to ignore them.
As soon as the Water Qilin and Ximen Linglong were across, Jiang Zuo took the egg. It was faintly hot to the touch.
The egg wasn't very big—only about the size of a duck's egg. Jiang Zuo simply slipped it into his pocket.
Fortunately, he was wearing casual clothes today.
As for the other three, Jiang Zuo paid them no mind. He now had to compete for treasure with the people deeper inside, all with a Cultivation of 1.1.
He had no time to bother with them.
Walking behind him, Ximen Linglong curiously asked the Water Qilin, "Yaya, did you give him the wrong egg? I have a feeling that egg was very valuable."
"You don't understand," Yaya said. "But we might be in real danger this time. It's a gamble worth taking. Besides, that egg is useless to me."
Ximen Linglong truly didn't understand. She had plenty of protective treasures on her, so the chance of her being in real danger was quite low.
Otherwise, why would she be so calm?
Jiang Zuo led the way, with Ximen Linglong following close behind. The other three trailed off to the side, watching with cold detachment, eager to see how long this guy with a 1.1 Cultivation could maintain his arrogant act.
A time would come when he'd be begging them for help.
Jiang Zuo's group passed through the cavern and came to the edge of an abyss. Far below, bones were piled up like mountains, and some of those skeletons were shuffling about.
When Jiang Zuo and the others appeared at the edge of the Abyss, many of the skeletons looked up, as if they had spotted a delicious meal.
'Skeletons from the Ancient Battlefield…' Jiang Zuo was surprised. 'To think these things are here.'
'It seems this place isn't far from the Ancient Battlefield, or these things wouldn't have wandered this far. I need to get out of here as soon as possible.'
'The last thing I want is to enter the Ancient Battlefield right now. Even though I know the Ancient Battlefield like the back of my hand, at level 1.1, it would be suicide.'
Ximen Linglong asked, "Is this a dead end? Did we take a wrong turn?"
Just then, Xu Qing suddenly raised a hand to point. "Look, there's a Duan Qiao over there— AAAAAH!"
The instant she raised her arm, a skeleton shot up from below and sliced it clean off.
"Xu Qing, are you alright?!" Xu Dong and Kun Tai dragged her back, terrified.
It had all happened in an instant; they hadn't even had time to react.
"Land of the Dead. The living are not welcome. Trespassers will have their flesh devoured, their bones gnawed, their blood drunk."