Chapter 27 – Anomaly

Below the grave-robbing tunnel was a burial passage, with water pooling up to the ankles. Qiao Shan Ke led the way holding the Night-Luminescent Pearl, the splashing of water echoing in a hollow chorus through the damp and frigid corridor.

“Some of the mechanisms have already been triggered—saves us the trouble,” Qiao Shan Ke said as a square stone pit appeared ahead, filled with upward-facing blades.

Zhan Changfeng glanced at it and saw no bloodstains. She figured that given Zero-Three’s group’s level of ability, they would have advanced much farther and wouldn’t have fallen into a simple trap like this.

They pressed their backs against the wall and carefully edged around the pit. Beside it was a carriage and horse vault.

Songshi Zi felt along the wall for a moment, and the faint sound of gears turning rang out as the tomb door slowly opened.

“Move aside, move aside! Ptuh!” Songshi Zi got a mouthful of sand and grit from behind the door. Zhan Changfeng and the others had already stepped well back.

“Whoa, a whole chamber full of sand!” Qiao Shan Ke looked at the torrent of sand pouring out with a grave expression. Suddenly his eyes sharpened; he stepped forward, thrust both arms into the sand, and hauled out a corpse.

“Is this one of your people?”

Jiang Wei’s face was taut. “He’s one of our brothers.”

“This doesn’t look good,” Qiao Shan Ke said. “They must have triggered the quicksand mechanism inside the chamber—the sand that came crashing down from the ceiling suffocated them alive.”

“A quicksand mechanism is an enormous undertaking—it requires tens of thousands of loads of sand to be stored above. Once triggered, it destroys everything: people and tomb alike. Yet for a small carriage vault like this, there’s no need for such extravagance.”

Songshi Zi picked up where Qiao Shan Ke left off. “There’s likely an important hidden chamber behind the carriage vault.”

No matter how important the chamber was, it was now buried under a mass of sand and there was nothing to be done about finding it. Besides, Zhan Changfeng recalled that outside the original tomb entrance there had been no trace of sand—only some disordered scratch marks.

At that time, part of the group must have entered the carriage vault, triggered the mechanism, and the tomb door had sealed shut automatically as the quicksand came pouring down.

But the people outside would have in all likelihood attempted to open the tomb door again, yet they had not done so—which meant they too had come under some kind of attack.

As if in response to her thoughts, Xiao Zhao, who had gone ahead to scout, waved his hands urgently and called out, “Come quick—there’s something here!”

The carriage vaults lay on either side, and following the standard layout of a burial palace, ahead would be the main burial chamber or the front hall.

The two bronze doors of the burial chamber were already open. At the center of the room coiled the statue of a fearsome beast, crafted with such artistry that every hair and whisker was rendered in vivid detail, radiating a fierce and imposing aura. At its feet lay a toppled bronze cauldron.

Looking around, each of the four corners held a warrior clay figure bearing a great sword, each standing a full ten feet tall, glaring down at them with wide, furious eyes. The chamber felt cramped because of them, and the stale, murky air added to the suffocating pressure.

Songshi Zi told everyone not to touch anything, then lifted the Night-Luminescent Pearl to get a closer look at the towering, fearsome statue. “Strange—why would an otherwise ordinary burial chamber have a statue of a Zhu Yan?”

“Maybe it was the tomb owner’s personal taste,” Qiao Shan Ke said offhandedly, then turned his attention to scrutinize the corridor behind the three walls. “Look at this one.”

He was pointing to the burial passage behind the fearsome beast statue. It was pitch-black and its depths were impossible to judge, but chaotic splatters of blood spilled out from within.

Qiao Shan Ke stepped inside a few paces, dragged his fingers along the wall, and his expression changed drastically. “This is…”

He raised the Night-Luminescent Pearl higher. Something like swirling mist seemed to move within his line of sight. “There’s a Rotting Jade mechanism ahead!”

Zhan Changfeng was not particularly surprised. She guessed that Chong Mingxian had taken this route. “There should be even heavier black smoke residue further in. Let’s take a different path.”

Qiao Shan Ke’s heart tightened. He looked past Zhan Changfeng and fixed his gaze on Jiang Wei. “Young master may not be aware, but did you not notice anything? This tomb is truly sinister!”

“A quicksand mechanism is already one of the hardest mechanisms in the world to construct—even a feudal lord’s mausoleum might not have one. And yet this tomb, of all places, has even employed the most mysterious of all things: Rotting Jade.”

Just then, Songshi Zi sucked in a sharp breath and scrambled back several steps. His gaze was locked onto the bronze cauldron, filled with dread. “Gu—there were gu insects inside!”

“The cauldron lid is open. Those things have definitely escaped!” Songshi Zi stood on his tiptoes and looked around desperately, wishing he could float in midair, not touching a single thing in the burial chamber, preferably wrapped up head to toe with not even a breath to spare.

“What kind of gu? How can you tell?” Qiao Shan Ke had forgotten all about the Rotting Jade and pressed him urgently.

Gu was a rare and secret art of the world, and the ways to be infected were myriad and bizarre—for all they knew, simply breathing in could plant a gu seed within the body.

In their world of grave robbing, they would rather encounter a rice dumpling corpse than have anything to do with gu.

At least with a rice dumpling corpse you could fight back—but with gu, there was no way out!

“This should be a worm gu of the Gaotian Tribe,” Songshi Zi said, recalling the patterns on the bronze cauldron, feeling more and more that this tomb was unfathomably deep.

Quicksand. Rotting Jade. Worm gu. Deadly traps at every step, a complete death trap—who knew what awaited them in the remaining two burial passages!

Jiang Wei saw Zhan Changfeng give a small nod and said, “You two—if you wish to withdraw, I have nothing to say against it. But if you are willing to stay and help, you may take one-tenth of whatever treasure is found.”

Qiao Shan Ke and Songshi Zi were tempted.

Qiao Shan Ke spoke first. “When have I ever left empty-handed? Besides, we had an agreement from the start. To turn and run just like that—wouldn’t that ruin my reputation?”

“Qiao Shan Ke is right—fearing death and clinging to life is not our way,” Songshi Zi said, then quickly asked, “Young master is a descendant of the tomb owner—do you have any means of bypassing these mechanisms? It would help us complete your task all the sooner.”

Never mind whether she had any means—she was already wondering if this tomb even belonged to her family at all. “Traps are unavoidable. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t have needed to ask you two to come out of retirement.”

The expressions of both men changed. Did that mean they could only feel their way through with their lives?

“However,” Zhan Changfeng pointed to the passage on the left, “this one should be the safe path.”

Songshi Zi and the other had no reason to doubt her, imagining that this descendant surely held a map left by her ancestors showing the route.

“Then what are we waiting for—let’s go!” Qiao Shan Ke took the lead. Just as he was about to step into the corridor, a great sword two palms wide came slashing past his face and crashed to the ground with a resounding clang.

Following the great sword upward with his gaze, he saw the face of the mighty clay warrior figure shift slightly—and out of nowhere, a killing intent materialized.

Qiao Shan Ke’s eyes went blank. By the time he came to his senses, his legs had gone weak.

“No good, this—this—”

“Kill!”

With a series of thunderous booms, the four warrior figures seemed to come alive, their paint-chipped, dust-laden bodies surging forward in attack.

Without needing to be told, everyone fled toward the left burial passage.

“Run, run! What the hell, how did those things come to life?!”

“Damn it, we’ve really stepped in it this time—it’s going to cost us our lives!”

Amid the stream of curses, Zhan Changfeng glanced back, her gaze passing through the four relentlessly pursuing warrior figures—and suddenly met a pair of eyes.

Those eyes were deep and hauntingly mysterious, their living light seeming to burst from within, spreading across the head, neck, body, four limbs, and tail.

A white head and red feet, shaped like an ape. The legendary war beast of myth—the Zhu Yan!

It was alive!

The Zhu Yan let out a long roar, so tremendous that the burial passage itself shook.

Everyone looked back, caught a glimpse of the fearsome beast charging after them, and felt their guts split with terror.

“I must be dreaming!”

Qiao Shan Ke spat at Songshi Zi. “What dream? If we don’t come up with something, we’re all dead.”

This corridor was riddled with branching paths everywhere, and Qiao Shan Ke had already run himself dizzy with no sense of direction—yet the monstrous thing behind them refused to be shaken off.

In desperation, he called out to Zhan Changfeng who was leading the way. “Young master, are you sure this is the right way? Have we gone wrong somewhere?!”

“Just follow me.”

As Zhan Changfeng’s words fell, the Zhu Yan surged past the warrior figures and came charging in—like a wolf among sheep, it scattered the group in an instant. Songshi Zi let out a cry of agony as he was carelessly pinned under one of its paws!

Zhan Changfeng did not hesitate. She drew her sword and drew its attention, working together with Jiang Wei to hold the Zhu Yan in check, while Qiao Shan Ke on the other side reached out with his long arm and hauled Songshi Zi free.

From the corner of his eye, Qiao Shan Ke saw the ferocious warrior figures swinging their great swords toward him and let out a long groan. “It’s over!”

At that moment, Xiao Zhao was swept by the Zhu Yan’s tail and stumbled into the stone wall—he must have hit something, because a series of clicking sounds rang out and a small door was revealed.

Qiao Shan Ke’s eyes lit up. He quickly pulled Songshi Zi inside with him.

Xiao Zhao called out urgently to Zhan Changfeng and Jiang Wei, “Hurry, get in here!”

At this point, Zhan Changfeng was separated from the small door by half the Zhu Yan’s body, and the four warrior figures had already caught up from behind, raising their great swords to slash down.

“Stay hidden!” Zhan Changfeng seemed to be forced back by the Zhu Yan, retreating several steps, and Jiang Wei followed in retreat in order to protect her.

“Your Highness.”

“Go.”

Xiao Zhao quietly watched as the people, the fearsome beast, and the clay figures all disappeared further into the fray, then closed the door.

Rounding a bend, Zhan Changfeng’s speed suddenly surged as she raced through the intricate web of passages.

“Your Highness, you…” Jiang Wei could now clearly see that she had held back a portion of her strength during the fight with the Zhu Yan.

“This is not the burial palace I am looking for.”

The words struck like a blade. Jiang Wei’s eyes went wide.

“How can that be?”

“It’s too crude. It doesn’t match the Yi Family imperial style at all.”

Jiang Wei stared at the utterly composed former Crown Prince and suddenly found himself at a loss for words. These mechanisms and secret arts that had nearly killed them at every turn were considered crude?

He said drily, “But the map was correct—could there possibly be two burial palaces here?!”

Zhan Changfeng’s gaze was cold, her thin lips pressed into a sharp line. “Quite interesting, isn’t it.”

(End of Chapter)