Chapter 170  : Missing One Out of Four

He exploded…

Liu Jufen actually self-destructed!

His body was reduced to minced flesh that splattered all over the ground in a shower of blood.

The shockwave generated by the explosion forced the besieging crowd backward. They felt suffocated in the chest, and some of them even suffered severe internal injuries, with blood trickling down the corner of their lips.

Even so, they were in no mood to pay attention to themselves. Instead, they stared at the hole left behind by Liu Jufen’s self-destruction with wide eyes and blank expressions.

Self-destructed?

They didn’t even use their full strength; they didn’t want Liu Jufen’s life, so why did he self-destruct?

Why not just surrender and admit defeat?

Why did he self-destruct?

They couldn’t figure it out!

They weren’t alone. Ma Shifeng, Liang Yiqing, Han Zong, and the others were puzzled too.

They were even prepared to rescue him.

In the end, Liu Gufen self-destructed, and they couldn’t save him in time even if they had wanted to.

He self-detonated out of the blue.

The group couldn’t wrap their heads around it. Why would Liu Jufen blow himself up all of a sudden?

Great. Now that Liu Jufen was dead, no one knew where he had hidden the True Energy for Beginners.

There wasn’t a single piece or shred of paper where Liu Jufen self-detonated.

This meant that he did not carry the True Energy for Beginners on him.

If it wasn’t on him, where could it be?

Silence.

Silence.

The place fell into a dead silence.

With Liu Jufen’s self-destruction, the clue was gone.

Be it the people who ganged up on him, or Ma Shifeng, Liang Yiqing, and the others, they all felt troubled and helpless.

Only Su Jingxing, who was standing on the top of a tree about 40 to 50 meters away from the crowd, could not help but smile in pleasant surprise.

Liu Jufen was dead; his self-detonation had reduced him to pieces. To others, any clue to the ancient manual, True Energy for Beginners was gone.

However, the card Su Jingxing had extracted from Liu Jufen’s corpse had easily given him the location of this ancient manual..

That’s right. After Liu Jufeng died, Su Jingxing extracted a Memory Card.

It contained 50 years of memories of Liu Jufen’s lifetime!

At the fourth-grade, the True Energy Cards extracted would have at least ten years of cultivation.

The Skill Cards would either contain advanced martial arts or powerful secret abilities.

And Memory Cards would contain only one section of memory.

Learning Liu Jufen’s martial arts through his memories was several times more difficult than directly absorbing Skill Cards.

Su Jingxing held Liu Gufen’s Memory Card in his hand. After reading the information, he couldn’t help but let out a sincere word of praise.

The extraction was worth it!

Not only had he learned where the True Energy for Beginners was hidden, the First Look At Spirit Weapons that was lost 200 years ago was also in Liu Jufen’s possession and hidden somewhere by him.

From his memories, Su Jingxing found out that the first ancient manual that Liu Jufen had obtained was First Look At Spirit Weapons.

Half a year ago, he had bought it on a whim at a black market stall in the capital. He had gotten it as an extra item to round up the price when he was buying an ancient piece of jade.

The person who sold it didn’t know its value and only thought that the First Look At Spirit Weapons was an ordinary ancient book. Even though it contained a lot of information about ancient spirit weapons and blood spirit weapons, it wasn’t very useful. There were even more detailed records about spirit weapons in other ancient books.

Therefore, when Liu Jufen bought this copy of First Look At Spirit Weapons, he thought nothing of it and casually tossed it on the table in his private treasury.

Three days later, he borrowed a treasure from an old friend. It’s ability was similar to the big white goose’s innate ability—it allowed certain concealed contents to reappear.

The reason why Liu Jufen had borrowed it was to inspect an antique porcelain vase. He did the inspection right in the underground treasury. As it turned out, the ability of the treasure affected the First Look At Spirit Weapons, revealing the secret of this ancient manual.

The exact process was similar to when Su Jingxing broke the seal on the Simple Explanations of Array Formations.

Liu Jufen was stunned then.

After that, he returned his old friend’s treasure and carried out a series of inquiries with the First Look At Spirit Weapons. Then, he personally went out to look into the relevant information.

In the end, he found a shocking piece of news——the existence of the Mausoleum of Prince Qin.

years ago, people had divided the map that led into the Mausoleum of Prince Qin into four portions. These four portions were hidden in four ancient books respectively.

And the First Look At Spirit Weapons was only one of them.

After figuring out the source, Liu Jufen was ecstatic.

From the information he had gathered, he learned that there was a treasure that would allow one to advance to the third-grade in the Mausoleum of Prince Qin!

That night, he went to his old friend’s house to kill him while he was unprepared.

That’s right. Liu Jufen killed his old friend who lent him the treasure.

The reason was simple——he wanted to obtain the treasure that could activate the ancient manuals.

Treasures that could stimulate concealment methods to reveal the hidden contents were rare.

If Liu Jufen wanted to crack the other three ancient manuals, he would have to rely on it.

Furthermore, the number of uses of this treasure was limited. Each use meant that he had one use less.

He couldn’t possibly borrow it four times or keep it for himself for a long time.

On top of that, his old friend was his love rival. He had snatched Lin Jufen’s first love.

Of course, through Liu Jufen’s memories, Su Jingxing discovered that his so-called first love was actually a crush. The girl had never liked him since the beginning.

Liu Jufen had stayed single his entire life because he blamed himself. In other words, he was a stubborn man.

Becoming friends with this old friend who “stole” his first love was also an intentional act by Liu Jufen.

In short, in order to advance to the third-grade, Liu Jufen found an excuse for himself. He killed his old friend and took away his treasure. Before leaving the capital, he even forced himself onto the “first love” who had maintained her appearance very well and still retained her charm.

That was also why Liu Gufen self-destructed.

That old friend was an official with a rather high position.

Even though Liu Jufen had completely destroyed the corpse, and no one could associate anything with him in a short period of time, as time passed, they would definitely make the links to him.

The reason why Liu Jufen had made up an excuse to leave the main campus of Xuantian and go to various branches to relax was to hide.

Of course, his real goal was to come to Qinghe City and find the remaining three ancient manuals that contained the parts of the map to the Mausoleum of Prince Qin.

However, when he was personally investigating the Mausoleum of Prince Qin, some information leaked out. As a result, Lu Chen and Tian Huaizhao, who happened to be in the capital at that time, both learned about it.

And the young man who had transformed into a golden human learned of the existence of the Mausoleum of Prince Qin from Lu Chen.

The four groups of people arrived at Qinghe City almost at the exact same time. They carried out a secret investigation in the dark and searched for a map that could lead them to the Mausoleum of Prince Qin.

Compared to Lu Chen and Tian Huaizhao, Liu Jufen no longer had any route of retreat.

He had to level up to the third-grade within a short period of time!

He had killed his old friend and forced himself onto his “first love”. Once caught, Liu Jufen would be dead meat.

Therefore, Liu Jufen attempted to break into the top floor of the Xuantian University Library several times.

However, Liang Yiqing kept him at bay, and he did not dare to use force.

Liu Jufen was only an ordinary fourth-grade martial artist. In terms of strength and cultivation, he was inferior to Liang Yiqing, let alone Han Zong.

As such, he had no choice but to search carefully for the remaining three ancient manuals.

The last time Su Jingxing visited the library, Liang Yiqing was drawn away temporarily. That was Liu Jufen’s idea. He also paid someone else to help break into the top level of the library.

In the end, he bumped into Lu Chen’s group, and even helped Su Jingxing to take away the Simple Explanations of Array Formations by accident.

After the previous incident, Liang Yiqing guarded the top level of the library every day, and Liu Jufen couldn’t even get close even if he wanted to.

Until the He Family exposed the existence of the Mausoleum of Prince Qin and that the four ancient manuals were the key to entering it.

Liang Yiqing had gone out of his way to find out more about the situation. When he got news of the Mausoleum of Prince Qin and subsequently found out that there was only one of the four ancient manuals left, Liu Jufen, who had endured for several days, finally made his decision.

He took the opportunity to steal the True Energy for Beginners!

He couldn’t wait any longer.

If he waited any longer, his crimes might already have been exposed back in the capital.

Therefore, he found a chance to take the wooden box from Liang Yiqing that night, and stole the True Energy for Beginners.

As for cracking the secret?

The treasure he had looted from his old friend was more than enough for him to reveal the map in the True Energy for Beginners.

The only thing Liu Jufen did not expect was for Ma Shifeng and Han Zong to find out his escape route so quickly.

And they immediately gave chase and intercepted him midway.

His final choice was to self-destruct.

As his theft of the True Energy for Beginners had fallen, Ma Shifeng would definitely contact the Xuantian main campus and report him.

Once he was reported here, his crimes back in the capital would naturally blow up with this.

Once captured, Liu Jufen would be executed.

He would die anyway, so he might as well blow himself up right now.

Once he was dead, no one would know where the True Energy for Beginners and First Look At Spirit Weapons were.

Not to mention entering the Mausoleum of Prince Qin and obtaining the treasure left behind by the Rising Dragon Saber King.

This was exactly what Liu Jufen wanted.

Once he was dead, no one would be able to benefit from it!

Unfortunately…

He had run into Su Jingxing.

A single Memory Card sent all of Liu Jufen’s calculated ideas down the drain.

Now, Su Jingxing owned both the True Energy for Beginners and First Look At Spirit Weapons!

…

He did not finish watching through all 50 years of Liu Gufen’s memories.

Su Jingxing, who was in a hurry to get back, temporarily sealed the memory.

Then, he turned around, soared into the sky, and flew back to Qinghe City.

As for what would happen to Ma Shifeng, Han Zong, and the others, Su Jingxing had no say in it.

Liu Jufen had hidden the two ancient books——True Energy for Beginners and First Look At Spirit Weapons in two different places.

The First Look At Spirit Weapons was placed inside the wall of a house in the Southern District of Qinghe City.

Liu Jufen had rented the house. After disguising himself, he rented the place as another person. Then, he dug a hole in one of the walls and put the ancient manual inside.

If Liu Jufen did not return to retrieve it, no one would discover the ancient manual as long as the house was not demolished.

As for the True Energy for Beginners, due to time constraints, Liu Jufen had placed it on the rooftop of a shop on the streets of the university town, under a water storage device.

Su Jingxing’s first destination was the rooftop of this shop.

He flew like the wind, staying out of everyone’s sights.

Upon reaching the university town, Su Jingxing made a beeline for his destination and successfully obtained a package from beneath the water storage device.

He opened the package to reveal a metal box. Inside was an ancient manual.

The True Energy for Beginners!

Flipping through the pages, he felt the material and charm of the ancient text, confirming that it was the same as the Simple Explanations of Array Formations.

Su Jingxing nodded in satisfaction and stored the ancient manual in his palm space.

Then, he soared into the sky and headed straight for the Southern District.

Expending his true energy, he pushed the speed of the Eight Steps Rising Dragon to its maximum. From a high altitude, Su Jingxing traversed Qinghe City and arrived at the rooftop of the residential building where his target was.

Using the Ghost Python Breath-holding Technique to conceal his aura, Su Jingxing silently entered the corridor and unlocked the door.

After entering the house, he found the wall where the ancient manual was stored. At the bottom, he removed a brick and took out a package.

He opened it to reveal an ancient manual.

It was the First Look At Spirit Weapons!

Similarly, he flipped through the pages to get a feel for the material and its charm to confirm that the manual was real.

Su Jingxing let out a long breath.

Now that he had obtained three of the four ancient manuals, he was missing the last, the Introduction To Pills, to enter the Mausoleum of Prince Qin!

According to the loan records released by Xuantian University, the Introduction To Pills had been loaned to someone named Gu Huanxi 70 years ago, and it had yet to be returned.

Therefore, if he wanted to get the Introduction To Pills, he had to find Gu Huanxi first.

The problem was, no one knew where Gu Huanxi lived or whether he was still alive.

There was no such information in the loan records released by Xuantian University.

After 70 years, Ma Shifeng, Liang Yiqing, and the others probably did not know the whereabouts of Gu Huanxi either.

Su Jingxing could guess this without even needing to probe and ask.

The reason was simple; Ma Shifeng, Liang Yiqing, and the others were younger than 70 years old.

They hadn’t even been born when Gu Huanxi borrowed the Introduction To Pills.

By the time they took over the Qinghe City Xuantian University branch campus, decades had passed.

Therefore, he had to think of another way to find Gu Huanxi.

For example, asking the Li Family?

The Li Family was a local hegemon in Qinghe City. With a history of 300 years, they had great numbers and a wide range of influence. If Gu Huanxi was a famous figure, they should know of him.

Of course, before that, Su Jingxing would search the Internet for himself.

Since it concerned the Introduction To Pills, he had to try his best not to expose himself.

Once Su Jingxing went to the Li Family to ask about Gu Huanxi, the Introduction To Pills would definitely come to mind for Li Lilou and the rest.

In the end, if he really managed to find Gu Huanxi, the ownership of the Introduction To Pills would be another problem.

Even though the Introduction To Pills would be the only one of four manuals that appeared, Su Jingxing couldn’t guarantee that the Li Family wouldn’t be tempted to take it for themselves.

Therefore, his considerations were for safety, and also to avoid trouble.

Su Jingxing decided to search the Internet and hack into Qinghe City’s family register system. If that didn’t work, he would hack into the national one.

That was what he thought and did.

In the end, he really found someone named Gu Huanxi.

A total of 13 people!

They shared the same name, but were of different ages, and genders.

According to the Yu Nation’s census, a detailed study had been conducted 83 years ago after the catastrophe caused by the appearance of the Extraterrestrial Devil Insect.

years ago, after the generalization of computers, the data was put into a specialized system.

Gu Huanxi borrowed the Introduction To Pills 70 years ago. If he had lived to this day, he would have been around a hundred years old.

At this age, only one of the 13 people fit the bill.

Su Jingxing pulled up this person’s information and relatives.

When he saw a name, Su Jingxing’s gaze froze for a moment, then a strange expression formed on his face.

“It can’t be that coincidental, can it?”