10x Rewards: Novel's Extra's Cultivation Stealing System

Meanwhile Gu Chen did not stop there, as his frustration had taken over as he brutally stomped his heavy boot onto her wrist, snapping her fragile bones.

"Hahaha..." Under the pain, the woman finally snapped, "You... You are too late..."

"What?" Gu Chen instantly grabbed her by the collar, "Speak."

"Gone!" The woman smiled through blood. She had no idea what happened to all the treasure in the vault, but with the Phantom Sirens all dead, she only cared about rubbing salt where it hurts.

"Who took it?" Gu Chen asked, only to meet with silence.

Gu Chen slapped her.

"Answer! damnit!"

But the woman merely laughed.

"You righteous cultivators..." She grinned through her bloody teeth, "You are always one step behind..."

Gu Chen’s patience snapped, as his spiritual Qi exploded around him.

"I will ask one last time."

"Who took the tribute?"

The woman slowly spat blood onto his boots, "Your mother!"

Gu Chen’s face became expressionless, "Very well."

And for the next several minutes, the cavern echoed with the woman’s screams

Again and again there were questions, but no answers.

He broke her fingers one by one, slashed deep cuts into her arms and ribs. But no matter how much pain he inflicted, the woman could not give him answers she simply did not possess.

Finally... There was silence. Gu Chen stood beside the lifeless corpse, his sword dripped with fresh blood.

Nothing. He had learned absolutely nothing.

His entire expedition had ended in complete failure as his breathing grew heavier.

"Useless trash!" Gu Chen finally spat as he stood panting in the center of the empty vault.

He had lost dozens of elite Gu Clan disciples, suffered a humiliating ambush, and exhausted all his energy, only to end up standing in an empty room with absolutely nothing to show for it.

His eyes slowly shifted back to Gu Fan, who was leaning casually against the obsidian wall while picking his teeth with a small wooden splinter.

Gu Chen took one slow step forward. Then another as Gu Fan looked up.

"Oh?" Gu fan smiled pleasantly, "Brother Chen, are you done?"

"You’ve caused me trouble from the moment this expedition began." Gu Chen spoke quietly.

Gu Fan smiled, "What can I say... They all just love me."

"..." Gu Chen ignored him, his hand slowly gripped his sword.

Perhaps... If Gu Fan disappeared here, everything would become simpler. He then took another step.

"Brother Chen?" Gu Fan tilted his head, "You look like you are about to do something regrettable."

"..." Gu Chen said nothing.

"Ah..." Gu Fan suddenly sighed, "I understand."

Gu Chen paused slightly as he placed a hand over his chest dramatically, "You have fallen for me."

"...What?" Gu Chen froze dead in his tracks.

"It explains everything." Gu Fan nodded with a serious expression, "The way you keep looking at me. The tension between us. The emotional turmoil."

"..." Gu Chen’s face began to distort.

"But Brother Chen..." Gu Fan continued, completely shameless, "I must refuse."

"I am devoted to the Dao."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"And though I appreciate the intentions you have shown. It will be inappropriate."

"I hope you give up on your feelings soon, and..."

"And find true happiness."

’Devoted to Dao?’ Gu Chen’s sword trembled in his hands, ’Inappropriate? True happiness?!’

He has had enough. He can’t take it anymore. This bastard had to die. But exactly as Gu Chen raised his blade to strike, the heavy sound of frantic, dragging footsteps echoed loudly from the dark tunnel behind them.

"Young Master Chen?! We heard screams!"

And three heavily battered, and deeply exhausted Gu Clan disciples stumbled out from the tunnel, their robes torn and their bodies covered in fresh wounds since they had barely survived their own brutal skirmish with the Phantom Sirens and the traps.

Gu Chen’s jaw clenched in absolute disbelief as he stopped himself from chopping off Gu fan’s head as he absolutely couldn’t murder the Patriarch’s son right in front of the witnesses.

’Damn! He is lucky!’ Gu Chen quickly masked his murderous rage as he turned to face the surviving disciples.

"We finally found you!" All of them bowed immediately in front of Gu Chen. After greeting Gu Fan when they looked up, only then did they notice Gu Fan.

"Young Master Fan is safe too," One of them sighed in relief, "Heavens have truly blessed the Gu Clan."

"You arrived too late," Gu Chen sighed heavily, playing the role of a tragic commander to perfection, "These bitches have already moved the tribute some place else, and now they are all dead."

"We fought through hell, but the vault was entirely empty when we got here."

The three disciples stared at the empty chamber behind Gu Chen and a heavy, deeply suffocating wave of pure dejection completely washed over them.

They had watched their brothers get slaughtered and ripped apart by traps, and now they were leaving with absolutely nothing but trauma and broken bones.

"It is gone?" a disciple whispered, dropping his broken spear onto the stone floor as his knees buckled, "Heavens above... what did we even bleed for?"

"My brother died for this!" another disciple yelled, his voice cracking with grief and simmering anger, "He got ripped in half by those demonic sluts just to buy us time to push forward, and we sacrificed his life for what? Nothing?"

"How are we supposed to face the Patriarch and the punishment hall?" the third disciple panicked, clutching a deep gash on his shoulder, "We lost almost the entire elite vanguard today. So many of our sworn brothers are rotting in the mud, and we don’t have a single Spirit Stone to show for their sacrifice. The elders will skin us alive!"

"The elders will not blame us, because the fault lies with these demonic thieves," One of them quickly interjected, wanting to believe his own words, but it was hard, "We will report the truth. We fought bravely, but the enemy was simply too cunning."

And with that, all of them turned their heads towards Gu Chen for him to say something.

"Brother Chen." Gu Fan spoke, "Shouldn’t you say something?"

Gu Chen forced a smile.

"Nothing."

"We are leaving."

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