Chapter 177 - 177: Offer
Long Chen reached the front of his mansion, but he was stunned as he saw someone standing in front of his doors. It was a girl, but not the one he had expected to come to his doors.
Long Chen looked at the girl and began walking towards her.
The girl was about to knock on the door when she was tapped on the shoulders by someone. She turned back only to find Long Chen standing behind her.
"Do you need something, Miss Meng?" Long Chen asked as he looked at her. The girl was Meng whom Long Chen had met when he was having dinner with Princess Mingyu.
"That's right. I have something that I want to talk to you about. By the way, that's an interesting cat, you have there. I've never seen one like it before." Meng let out with a thoughtful look on her face.
"It's a little guy I found in the wild. It's called Little Snow. Quite cute, although it's weak." Long Chen let out with a smile as he looked at the Ethereal Moon Cat in his hand.
"Come on inside. We can talk inside as well" Long Chen walked towards the door as he knocked.
Although Long Chen knocked, there was no response. He knocked again as he waited for over 5 minutes, but the door didn't open.
'Is she not inside? 'Long Chen thought as he faced the door. He brought out his personal key as he opened the door and entered inside. Meng followed him as she entered inside.
Long Chen led Meng to the hall of his mansion.
"Can you sit here for a minute? I'll be right back." Long Chen let out as he looked at Meng.
"Hmm" Meng nodded in confirmation as she walked towards the chair and sat down.
Long Chen left the hall and began walking towards the Room of Princess Mingyu.
"Soon he was standing in front of the door of Mingyu's room. He again knocked on the door, but similarly, there was no response. Long Chen tried opening the door and found that it was not locked.
The door opened easily as he entered inside with a serious look on his face.
"So you're busy with Cultivation..." Long Chen muttered softly as he breathed in relief. He left the room as he lightly closed the door.
He walked back to the hall in a much-relaxed manner. Meng was still sitting in the same position as Long Chen entered the hall.
"You look much relaxed now" Meng commented as she saw Long Chen entering the hall.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Long Chen asked as he changed the topic.
"It's about something that we talked about" She answered Long Chen.
"And what was that? " He asked back.
" About the adventure..." She said as a smile appeared on her face.
"Now that's somewhat interesting. Tell me more" Long Chen said to Meng with an answer expression on his face.
"The thing is that we have discovered a secret place which we think contains quite a lot of artifacts and treasures. We want you to join us in its exploration" Meng said to Long Chen.
" Tell me the reason..."Long Chen asked with a straight face.
"What reason?" She asked with a confused look on her face.
"A reason as to why would you tell a stranger about your exploration and even invite him when it involves some precious artifacts and treasures." Long Chen asked with an interested look on his face.
"A few weeks ago, we found a map. On that map, it was mentioned that it was a man that pointed to a tomb that belonged to a cultivator. It was clear that the Cultivator was at a higher realm than the Heavenly Realm. We were curious and excited at this discovery so we followed the map and left the Sect. We found an excuse to go to Ling's country for vacation and came to this city as this was the nearest to the location pointed on that map. " Meng explained as she looked at Long Chen.
" And that location was? " Long Chen inquired with curiosity on his face.
"The mountain range on the outskirts of the City of Thunder" She let out as she looked towards the door.
" Hmm? " Long Chen frowned as he thought about how close he had been to that tomb.
"Nothing you said explained why you told me about it. I don't think you have fallen in love with me at first sight and you don't look like a charitable person either."Long Chen let out with a straight face.
"It's because we can't enter that tomb with only the three of us. We didn't know about it before, but after our first visit, it was clear that this tomb can only be entered with four or more people. We only have three as of now." Meng let out as she looked at Long Chen.
"You could've picked any random person to take with you? Why come to me? Although I said that I'm only after adventure and not after the reward, what makes you trust me? If you chose a weaker person, the chances of betrayal would be way less as he would be easy to kill." Long Chen said with an amused smile on his face.
" Everything you said is true. If we chose a weaker person, he would be killed easily if he ever thought about betraying us, but that's something that can be bad for us as well." Meng said as she looked to be thinking about something.
" How so?" Long Chen inquired as he became curious.
"Just think about it. The place that needs at least four to enter... isn't there a good chance that it would need at least four to exit at well? Although the chances of that being the case are really low, We don't want to take the risk. We don't want to get trapped inside because the fourth person was weak and died too easily. Also, if we got you to come with us, your girlfriend will come as well... She is quite strong and would be quite useful and even if one of us died, there would still be four left to exit safely" Meng explained to Long Chen.
" That's quite a thorough plan, but it is based on an assumption" Long Chen let out as he heard her reasoning.
"Why didn't you go back to the Thunder Giant Sect and bring another person in this endeavor? There must be many cultivators as strong as you. You could've picked someone you knew and trusted" Long Chen asked again.
" We don't have the time that is needed to travel back and forth as we believe that this kingdom is starting to get suspicious. We can't leave that tomb uncharted for long as they might find that place" Meng said to Long Chen.
" Still... what if we betrayed you?" Long Chen asked with a laugh.
"All the treasures we find will be divided equally amongst us five. I feel like that's a pretty good offer. Also... I trust you and believe that you aren't a person, who will betray us" She let out as she smiled.
' Although her reasoning sounds good enough and she sounds like she's not lying but... I have a strange feeling about all this. A feeling that something is not right. It's a similar feeling to the one I had when Long Su invited me before betraying me... Fortunately, I'm not the same weakling I was at that time.' Long Chen smiled as he looked at Meng. He didn't let his thoughts show on his face.
"So... What do you say about my offer?" Meng asked as she saw the smile on Long Chen's face.
"My initial thoughts are quite on the positive side but I'll have to talk to her at well." Long Chen said to Meng.
"You mean you have to ask your girlfriend?" Meng couldn't help but chuckle as she said.
" You can say that... Anyways, I'll answer you tomorrow. So where can I find you?" Long Chen inquired as he laid back on his seat.
"It's fine, I'll come tomorrow to get your answer. I hope that both of you agree. Anyways, I must take leave now. There are more preparations that need to be done" Meng said as she looked at Long Chen and stood up.
" Alright," Long Chen said as he stayed seated. Meng frowned somewhat, but her expressions soon recovered as she smiled and turned back. She walked towards the exit and left
Long Chen closed his eyes as he thought about everything.
"Meng...Ling...Thunder Giant Sect... A strong Cultivator's tomb... treasures... things are about to get interesting" Long Chen muttered as a smile always on his face.
Long Chen stood up and walked towards his room. He passed by Mingyu's room and opened the gate to take a look inside. She was still deep in cultivation thus he left silently. He entered his room and lay on the bed as he finally separated the cat from him and placed it on the bed beside him. Little Snow was already asleep by now. Long Chen also fell asleep.
After a full night's sleep, Long Chen woke up in the morning as he got ready.
He brought out the Heavenly Dragon Cauldron that he was gifted by the Branch Master Gu of the Alchemy Hall branch of Greyfall City.