Chapter 1353 — You Go On Ahead: Of Course, It Is Not Simply That the Path Is Impassable—Within This Path There Are Forkings, and Forkings Within the Forkings, Splitting and Merging in Bewildering Tangles; Once You Enter, You Are Very Likely to Lose Your Way Inside, Yet There Is No Danger of Any Kind; the Only Way Out Is to Retrace Your Steps, For Otherwise, Having Entered, Whichever Fork You Choose, You Will Only Circle Endlessly Within...

Old Yu frowned but said nothing. In a situation like this, there was nothing he could do either.

"There's no difference between these two paths... huh?" Yu Xiaoke had just started to say that the two paths were no different when Old Hei pulled the searchlight nearer, and she saw that on the passage walls at the mouths of both tunnels, someone had written words in chalk — or rather, irregular symbols!

"There are markings here!" Qiu Lingshan had spotted the symbols on the wall as well.

"Maybe they're secret marks left by the tomb robbers who entered this underground palace passage before us!" Old Hei came over too and nodded. "But forgive my poor eyes — what do these symbols mean?"

Old Hei counted as a seasoned tomb robber of the Thief Sect, yet these symbols on the wall he had never seen before.

"I haven't seen them either..." After studying them carefully, James shook his head as well. His store of knowledge was no match for Old Hei's, so he could make even less sense of it.

"Male Thief, weren't you the capable one? You picked the right path before — why so silent this time?" Old Yu turned to look at Wei Zhao. "Boy, you take us in, and you certainly won't go without your reward!"

Wei Zhao had kept silent all along because he himself was not entirely certain which path could be taken! He had stood before each of the two tunnel mouths in turn. At one of them, the jade pendant space gave off no warning signal at all, which meant there was no danger inside.

But the other path sent out a powerful warning signal — proof that it was very dangerous.

By ordinary logic, Wei Zhao would certainly have chosen the path that gave no danger warning, yet Liu Bojia's materials had made him hesitate.

And the other path, the dangerous one, was clearly not a dead end — for a dead end had no danger in it.

For a moment Wei Zhao found it hard to choose. After all, if he did not take that safe dead end, he would have to take the dangerous path — which was to say, knowing there were tigers on the mountain, he must still walk toward them.

"This path has no danger, but I'm afraid it's a dead end, impassable." Wei Zhao pointed at the tunnel without danger, then pointed at the one beside it. "That path carries a thick reek of danger, but it should be the right one, because the road to the underground palace cannot possibly run smooth all the way."

"What do you two think?" Old Yu asked Old Hei after hearing Wei Zhao out.

"This..." In his heart Old Hei favored trying the safe path first — after all, if there was no danger, there would be no harm in turning back, and that was the more prudent course. So he hesitated before saying, "Since there's no danger, why don't we walk a ways and see? If it's impassable, we'll take another path. There's nothing to lose either way, is there?"

"Fine, then you go. I'll wait here." Wei Zhao spoke flatly. "If there's anything inside, I won't take a single coin of it. It's all yours."

Wei Zhao felt Liu Bojia had no reason to deceive him; between them there was only a debt of kindness and no conflict of interest. So he could not be bothered to walk a pointless round with them.

"Then let's go have a look!" Old Yu's eyes lit up. Wei Zhao's words seemed to make some sense, but nothing in this world was absolute — what if that path really was the right one? Wei Zhao was no immortal who could divine the future; and without Wei Zhao along, he might find it all the easier to get what he wanted.

So Old Yu agreed almost without a moment's thought.

With Old Yu's approval, though they lacked the support of the husband-and-wife thieves, Old Hei and James still chose to go and explore that path. But to keep from losing their way, they decided to scatter quicklime powder along the route as a trail marker, so that they could retreat without trouble.

Yu Xiaoke was in Old Hei's employ, so she naturally had to follow him on the trip. Wei Zhao did not stop her — there was no danger in there at all; as long as they marked the route well, the worst that could come of it was a wasted walk.

Old Hei and his group took the searchlight with them. After they left, Wei Zhao could only switch on a flashlight and set it carelessly to one side. The light was not as bright as before, but Wei Zhao was not going far — it was only for a bit of illumination.

"What do we do now?" Seeing Old Yu and Old Hei's group walk off into the distance, Qiu Lingshan lowered her voice and asked Wei Zhao.

"Sit here and cultivate, and wait for them to come back. They probably won't return for a day or two." Wei Zhao curled his lip and spoke with derision. Liu Bojia's materials had mentioned that this path had simply been dug out of the gaps in the mountain body other than the main underground palace passage; it was hopelessly tangled, and without a day or two one would never realize one had gone the wrong way.

"Are you sure that path is the wrong one?" Qiu Lingshan asked, a little uneasy.

"Fairly sure." Wei Zhao smiled. It was not that he trusted Liu Bojia, but that the road to the underground palace could not possibly be without a trace of danger — so that path was plainly problematic.

Qiu Lingshan nodded. "This mission is rather trying. Are you confident you can deal with that Old Yu?"

"No." Wei Zhao answered bluntly. "But if he tries to take the medical notes and won't give them to me, then I'll have no choice but to fight with everything I have and keep him here."

As Wei Zhao said this, a flash of resolve crossed his eyes. The medical notes were Feng Xiaoxiao's only hope; no matter how formidable the opponent, Wei Zhao would do battle with him.

"Is coming here with us all for the sake of those medical notes?" Qiu Lingshan had never understood why Wei Zhao had suddenly changed his mind. He had agreed at first that he would not come, then went back on his word just before they set out. So it really was for that book of medical notes.

"Xiaoxiao's illness — the cure should be found in it." Wei Zhao did not hide it; there was no need to hide such a thing.

"So that's how it is..." Qiu Lingshan nodded, not without envy. As for that girl Feng, Qiu Lingshan thought her very fortunate. For Wei Zhao to treat her like this — even if she could not live again, she ought to be deeply comforted...

"Never mind that. Your strength is too low — only the peak of the late Yellow Rank. When the time comes you won't be able to help me; worse, you'll be a drag on me. That's a problem." Wei Zhao had been thinking all along about how to deal with Old Yu.

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