Vol 11: Chapter 3-1.
Ardeth was much better than Zheng at leading a large number of people since he was the head of a tribe. That was not to say his leadership abilities were better but they each had their strengths. Zheng would be stronger leading a small group of less than twenty people in a fight.
Zheng was quite happy that Ardeth was willing to lead the workers. O’Connell and the others would take over ten days to arrive so he began practicing his Qi and blood energy. He realized his lack of strength during the battle with team devil. He was inferior to the clone in pure strength, mentality, willpower, and techniques.
The desire to survive wasn’t powerful enough on its own. He needed a stronger desire. A desire for victory, to protect the people important to him, to never lose them again!
Qi could grow with training. Blood energy could become more flexible and its uses were more than simple burning. When he burst a large quantity of blood energy in an instant, its color would turn darker. Zheng could reach a deep red currently. When he thought about it, the clone was just using the same Red Flame. However, he could burst such a high amount of energy that the flame turned black.
Enhancements and abilities from God were just the basics. The user could alter them to better suit himself. This was the key to becoming stronger. Using the enhancements as is would never be able to beat those that altered them.
Zheng’s pool of blood energy wasn’t big enough so he had to merge qi into the Red Flame. The fusion of these two energies created a slight amount of golden flame among the red. Even though he hadn’t tested it, he believed this golden flame should be more powerful.
Then he tried channeling qi into his weapons, like what he saw from wuxia movies. Although he had not exchanged any martial art techniques, the usage of qi should be universal.
However, the only weapon that could sustain the corrosiveness of his qi was the axe. All other metallic weapons would break apart. The most important thing was this method consumes a lot of qi. But of course, it was equally powerful.
Ten days quickly passed. Zheng was cultivating qi in a tent. Ardeth entered the tent with a petite hawk on his arm. “O’Connell had arrived. They are doing preparations in Cairo and will come along with the next group of supplies. They should be here in a few days.”
Zheng said delightfully. “Really? That’s great. Ok, I am going to pick them up. How is the progress of the excavation?”
“We have gotten to the middle of the first layer of Hamunaptra. Since the outer area has a lot of rocks to clear, it will get easier as we reach deeper. We have unearthed a lot of gold.”
Zheng interrupted him with a laugh. “I told you, all the gold from Hamunaptra are yours to keep. Use them to improve your tribe’s living conditions and send the children to school. The tribe will grow stronger once the children get education. Ok, I will go pick them up now.” He took out the Sky Stick from the dimensional bag.
Ardeth and the group of people around watched in a daze as Zheng flew away on the Sky Stick. That speed was faster than the airplanes at the time and he soon disappeared from the horizon.
“See, foreign technologies are so amazing. Even a metal plate can fly.”
“Bullshit, that’s a skateboard. I’d seen someone play it. I heard every kid has one in western countries.”
Ardeth laughed out loud when he heard the crowd talking. Then he turned around and walked toward Hamunaptra.
The feeling of flying was soothing to Zheng. It cast all the gloom in his mind away. He couldn’t help but want to shout as he flew between the blue sky and yellow desert. Furthermore, the Sky Stick’s speed was impressive. It only took him an hour to arrive at Cairo.
Zheng landed on the entrance to the museum and instantly heard voices from the inside. It seemed like Jonathan was arguging with someone.
“Stop kidding. I spent 1,000 pounds for this antique. You can’t just tell me to hand it over. Aren’t we friends? I can sell it to the museum for just 1,500 pounds. How about 1,000 pounds, you can’t have me at a loss.”
The one that was arguing with Jonathan was the curator.
When Zheng entered the reception room, Jonathan was waving a short golden staff. He immediately ran up and seized the staff then studied it carefully. He twisted the staff like how he remembered from the movie.
The front of the staff extended out and became a spear. God’s voice also sounded in his head.
“Obtained quest item Spear of Osiris. The power of the throw will be determined by the user’s energy amount. Requires the user to have qi, blood energy, magic, Nen, or xian energy.”
Zheng was shocked by this voice until Jonathan grabbed his shoulders. “Great. Finally get you see you. You still owe me three gold bars from last time. Can you pay them now? Oh and gold had risen in value so its five gold bars now.”
Zheng twisted the spear again to turn it back into a short staff. Then he laughed and began pouring gold from the bag. He gave Jonathan a hug and said. “Shit, I like you, bro. Haha!”
Jonathan was also shocked as he stared at the gold on the ground. He picked one up and bang it on his head, then he fainted. However, his face looked so happy. It was probably a pleasure for him to get killed by gold.
“My god.” O’Connell cried when he saw it. “Did you rob the Bank of England? And what is this bag? How can it store so much gold?”
Zheng put the spear in his ring then sat down on the sofa. He said to O’Connell and Evelyn with a laugh. “Want to go on adventure with me? Want to find the Scorpion King’s treasure? Come with me to search for the Scorpion King!”
Evelyn cried in excitement. “Yeah, you know where the treasure is? I thought it was just a lie. So that Scorpion King in Egyptian history really existed? My god. This is thrilling!”
O’Connell’s expression changed. “Sorry, Zheng. We can’t go on adventure with you. I can see that you don’t need any more money when you have so much gold. Why are you still going on adventures? Can’t we live a peaceful life. Adventure comes with great risks. Evelyn is pregnant. I don’t think this is the time for adventures.”
Evelyn said. “What are you kidding, O’Connell. Don’t make decisions for me. I am only two months pregnant. The doctor never mentioned anything about the need to take things easy. I warn you. You are invading my personal rights.”
O’Connell turned to her and said in a fierce tone. “Because no other women will do such dangerous things when they are pregnant! God knows why I agreed to go to Africa with you for honeymoon. Which made Jonathan stole someone’s golden staff and you were crying to go on adventure in the canyon. I almost wanted to kill myself back then!”
Zheng smiled bitterly then sighed. “Looks like this is not happening. I will go search for the Scorpion King’s treasure myself then. O’Connell, I don’t need gold but I need something more important than gold. My comrades died in the last mission so I have to revive them with the Book of Amun-Ra and also find the Scorpion King’s treasure.”
O’Connell laughed. “Even though she can’t go, I can go with you. Haha. It’s time to pay back the debt I owe you last time. Right? Comrade.”
Zheng paused for a moment then laughed. “Right. Comrade. Let us go find the Scorpion King’s treasure.”
They didn’t notice the sly smile on Evelyn’s face.