Chapter 1354 - 1030: All Spent

"You—"

Though he was suddenly aggressive, the anger did not come out of nowhere. As the Turkic Khan, he had naturally experienced countless dangerous battles and predicaments, but being plotted against and almost dying in the underground tomb still made him utterly furious. Ashina Zhuxie gritted his teeth, grabbed Zuo Tian violently, slammed him against the opposite wall, and then overturned the altar, candlestick, and other items on the ground.

Only a "bang" was heard, and Zuo Tian was nearly smashed against the wall, his bones seemed to be on the verge of breaking.

But he wouldn’t show weakness, in the next moment as he hit the wall, he immediately reversed his hand to grip Ashina Zhuxie’s wrist, seized the other’s shoulder, and with a backward push, somehow managed to force Ashina Zhuxie back several steps!

Seeing this, everyone was taken aback.

No one expected this frail-looking Zuo Tian to have such skills. Although Ashina Zhuxie was fierce and skilled in battle, his martial prowess was clearly lacking. But he wasn’t flustered, he stepped back two steps, then grabbed Zuo Tian’s collar with both hands, stretched his long arms, and literally lifted Zuo Tian up.

"Great!"

The other Turkic soldiers in the room just came to their senses and gathered around, seeing this scene, they all loudly cheered.

In the Turkic tradition, the Khan, although the ruler, was not unapproachable. During wartime, he had to charge into battle alongside the soldiers, and day-to-day, he trained in equestrian skills and martial arts with his subordinates, so seeing Ashina Zhuxie’s skills, even if the soldiers had just had a brush with death at Ghost Gate, they immediately regained their courage. Some were even angered enough to rub their fists and join in to teach Zuo Tian a lesson.

However, Zuo Tian was obviously not an ordinary person. He was lifted by Ashina Zhuxie, flipping in midair but did not embarrassingly fall to the ground; instead, he leapt and landed steadily behind Ashina Zhuxie, quickly changed direction, gripped Ashina Zhuxie’s wrist, seized his other shoulder, and raised his leg, using his knee to pin the opponent’s lower back.

This stance actually made Ashina Zhuxie strangle himself with his own hand!

Ashina Zhuxie, in terms of movement technique and martial arts, was clearly somewhat inferior, but he was physically strong, courageous, and aggressive, embodying the saying "one strength suppresses ten skills". Just with his power alone, he could absolutely crush the slender Zuo Tian. He forcefully bowed his back, pulling Zuo Tian against his own back, and reversed his hand to grip his throat!

The two of them were thus locked together!

As the two’s faces grew increasingly unsightly, and the surrounding Turkic soldiers recovered, they immediately intended to rush up to help. Shang Ruyi suddenly rose: "Everyone, stop!"

"..."

The two didn’t move, nor did they let go, but it was clear they had stopped exerting force.

The sitting Lei Yu finally caught her breath. She looked up at Shang Ruyi, then at Ashina Zhuxie and whispered, "Khan, ’a thousand gold sons do not sit under their hall.’"

Upon hearing this, Ashina Zhuxie’s hand lightly trembled, then he slowly released his grip.

When he let go, Zuo Tian also released him.

Ashina Zhuxie stepped back two paces, then looked at Zuo Tian with a cooler gaze—he indeed shouldn’t have acted out himself, he should have let his men swarm in and whatever anyone said, just chop this Zuo Tian into mincemeat, but now having acted and not won, Lei Yu having spoken, he couldn’t continue anymore.

But the offense and anger of almost being killed wasn’t easily suppressed.

He coldly said, "You—"

Zuo Tian didn’t speak, just glanced at him, panting heavily, visibly exhausted. And only now did Shang Ruyi notice his one cheek’s beard was completely burned off, while its cheek was blistered from the flames. During the earlier skirmish, the skin broke, and blood flowed down alongside the charred beard and neck, looking quite gruesome.

Of course, he wasn’t the only one injured.

Even Shang Ruyi had scorch marks on her body from the flames, Wo Xue and the others also had wounds of various sizes, and some soldiers were groaning in pain. Shang Ruyi stepped forward and said to Zuo Tian: "You’ve been here for a long time, you should have prepared some medicine for injuries."

"..."

Zuo Tian glanced at her and didn’t speak, just raised his hand to point at the box at the end of the bed in the western room.

Shang Ruyi signaled Wo Xue with her eyes, she immediately went to open the box and indeed saw some medicine inside, along with two sets of clothes and a few books.

Zuo Tian’s days on Skytop Mountain were indeed poor and monotonous.

Wo Xue took out the medicine, treating Shang Ruyi and everyone’s wounds, and explained the situation below to the guards outside, finally calming their restless emotions. Once everything was settled, the Turkic soldiers and guards retreated from the small wooden house, leaving only the previous people inside.

Only Wang Shaoqiu was absent, replaced by a sobered Shang Ruyi.

She returned to sit by the bed, Lu Xiao was at the foot of the bed, Wo Xue guarded behind her, while Lei Yu, who had been with her previously, sat alongside Ashina Zhuxie in the living room, Zuo Tian sat in a corner elsewhere.

Everyone had just returned from Ghost Gate, still rattled, none were in the mood to speak, so the room was extremely quiet.

So quiet that even the sound of the wind blowing through the pine forest outside, creating waves of pine wind, could be heard clearly.

Eventually, it was Shang Ruyi who first spoke.

She said: "Master Zuo Tian."

"..."

The room sank into an indescribable, even suffocating silence again, after a long while, Zuo Tian seemed to regain his soul floating in the air, slowly raising his head, but said nothing to her.

Shang Ruyi said: "Left General’s tomb, is it really completely lost?"

Everyone’s scattered spirits immediately tightened again.

Though everyone in it dejected when hearing about the Left General’s Tomb being buried deeply due to a seismic movement over a decade ago, they hadn’t had time to think deeply due to the life and death experience afterward.

Even if they thought deeply, there was almost no way out.

Zuo Tian coldly looked at Shang Ruyi, as if staring at a greed-infested monster, but Shang Ruyi was greedily calm, and asked again: "When you returned here, did you never try finding it again?"

Zuo Tian coldly said: "No."

Shang Ruyi said: "Why?"

"..."

"That is your father’s tomb, you entirely haven’t wanted to—"

Zuo Tian interrupted her, coldly saying: "Do you mean, are you entirely unmoved to honor your father as a son, unfilial; or are you saying, inside the ’treasure’ holds no appeal, quite unusual."

Shang Ruyi said nothing, but silence was an answer.

Zuo Tian sneered: "What if I said, my stay here is just to finally guard the Skytop Mountain, the unknown tomb of my father, and as for the treasure within, it was spent long ago?"