Chapter 53: Cremation Turned into Soup

Commander Wang and his group were the first to enter the passage. Following closely behind, Zhao Xiayang waved his hand and the disciples of Clear Water Gate followed. There were more than twenty strong and robust individuals, and they all disappeared behind the light curtain before the remaining people made any moves.

The middle-aged scholar was wary of Commander Wang's deep scheming and worried about the large number of people with Zhao Xiayang. He temporarily recruited a few lone wolves, so that they could provide mutual support and take care of each other.

Lu Bei and She Xuan politely declined the middle-aged scholar's proposal to team up. While having more people would indeed be safer, they understood that what the middle-aged scholar needed was not teammates, but cannon fodder to block disasters.

There were unexpected guests behind the tunnel, so the two of them didn't dare to delay. They entered the water curtain at the end of the passage one after another.

In an instant, it was pitch black ahead. She Xuan held a night pearl in her hand, but it couldn't illuminate the surroundings clearly. She only knew that they were inside a huge cave.

"There's no way back. Was that a teleportation formation just now?" Lu Bei took a few steps back, unable to jump back and forth in the water curtain.

"It should be."

She Xuan furrowed her brows and put away the night pearl. Her golden snake pupils flashed with a strange color as she sniffed the faint, imperceptible smell in the air. She led Lu Bei to the right and walked quickly.

Without the night pearl illuminating the surroundings, the phosphorous fragments on the cave walls emitted faint light. Although they were underground, it gave people the feeling of looking up at the starry sky.

Lu Bei followed closely behind She Xuan and entered a winding tunnel in the mine. The cave was pitch black and lightless. He placed his hand on She Xuan's shoulder, ready to sacrifice his teammate in case of a crisis, unable to offer immediate help.

She Xuan didn't know what Lu Bei was thinking. She thought he couldn't see in the dark and subconsciously placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Aunt She, you're an experienced tomb raider. Analyze the situation in this mine tunnel."

Lu Bei asked curiously, "There's a mine tunnel outside the teleportation formation. It can be said that it was dug by the local factions for wealth. Inside the formation, it's already on the edge of a large tomb. Why are there obvious signs of excavation?"

"It could be a secret tunnel, or it could be dug by accompanying burial personnel..."

She Xuan gave two answers that she herself didn't really believe. After that, she fell silent. Ever since she learned that she had been calculated by Commander Wang and became one of the five keys to open the door, she had a vague sense of foreboding.

Since Commander Wang could determine her Monster Cultivator bloodline, he could naturally find out her true identity. Wearing a human skin mask felt lonely, and her mood was extremely bad.

Lu Bei was about to say something when suddenly there was a movement of air in front of them. Accompanied by the damp air, there were several screams of misery.

Without hesitation, Lu Bei held his knife and quickly followed She Xuan towards the source of the sound.

The light and shadow were blurry, and a huge space that had been lurking underground for many years came into view.

At a height of a hundred meters, a blue dome covered the top, with dark currents swirling beneath it. The light shone through, and several swimming fish could vaguely be seen. Judging from their size, each one was astonishingly large, all of them being water monsters that Lin Yu had seen with great excitement.

Under this blue sky, the ground was covered with neatly arranged stone slabs. One hundred and eight stone pillars were distributed in a formation, and a pyramid-like building stood in the center. There were also four channels connecting the boundary moat, dividing the entire underground area into four sections.

"A circular heaven and square earth, guarded by four spirits, a scattered star pattern, and spiritual veins converging into a river..."

Lu Bei was dumbfounded and tightened his hand on She Xuan's shoulder. "I would believe it if you said this was the tomb of the Qingqian Emperor. Did we enter the wrong teleportation formation?"

She Xuan was also shocked as she looked at the pyramid-like building that resembled a giant beast. Her headache cleared up, and she furrowed her brows, slapping away Lu Bei's paw on her shoulder.

"Be gentle. Don't you have any idea of your own strength?"

"I do. Let's see if we're dreaming."

She Xuan fell silent, her snake pupils locking onto Lu Bei's gaze. Both of them remained silent for a moment before speaking at the same time, "What do you think?"

The scale of this tomb was far beyond what an ordinary royal family member could enjoy. It could be called a relic, and the identity of the tomb owner in Qingqian must be extraordinarily noble. The mechanisms and formations inside the relic were not something the two of them could easily attempt.

Lu Bei didn't want to take risks, and She Xuan didn't either. They both decided to retreat, waiting for the other party to back down first, and then follow suit.

Just as the two of them silently agreed on their plan to return the way they came, a new problem presented itself.

Where is the road?

The teleportation array is one-way only, there is no way out even if you want to retreat.

"There's nothing we can do, let's take another look. We're outside, we don't have to go in."

Lu Bei pointed to the distant pyramid and suddenly thought of a possibility: "I heard that after the fall of Qing Qian, the imperial tombs located within the Wu Zhou territory were protected by stationed troops, prohibiting anyone from stealing or exploring, even the Zhu family themselves. Is it possible that we are in one of them?"

The rule of dynastic succession is that the tombs of the previous dynasty are forbidden grounds and must be properly protected.

Firstly, respecting others is respecting oneself, and secondly, everyone will have their turn in a hundred years. Once the precedent is set, if you dig into someone else today, tomorrow it will be someone else digging into you.

"It's impossible, do you really think so?"

She Xuan shook her head. "The protection by stationed troops is just a superficial excuse. I don't believe it. I suspect that the burial in front of us is fake, but the treasure is real. The Zhu family would not be unaffected. The ruins have been well-preserved until now, so they must not have been discovered by anyone."

"That's good then."

Lu Bei breathed a sigh of relief. "I was really afraid that when we found a way out, we would be faced with a heavily guarded military camp, with dozens of siege cannons and crossbows firing at us. I wouldn't be able to stop you if you rushed ahead."

She Xuan: "..."

She rolled her eyes and walked briskly towards the direction of the pyramid.

Lu Bei hurriedly followed, stepping on the footprints left by She Xuan. After a moment, they saw two bodies next to a coiled snake pillar.

The previous screams came from them.

The exposed skin on their bodies was dark and purplish, blood flowing from their seven orifices. Their facial expressions were grim, their bodies twisted. It was clear that they had experienced great pain before their deaths.

"What a pity."

Lu Bei shook his head. The Universe Bag was right in front of them, but they couldn't pick it up.

"They died from snake bites. The antidote beads were useless. If you don't want to die, stick close to me."

She Xuan reminded Lu Bei. As soon as they stepped out of the teleportation array, she smelled the scent of snakes in the air. Sure enough, apart from the larger scale of the ruins and the higher risks, the layout of the Four Spirit Array was not much different from what she had expected.

Upon hearing this, Lu Bei nodded and moved closer to She Xuan. With her snake tail, she emitted a similar aura and safely maneuvered through the stone pillars.

Halfway through, the coiled snake pillar hissed softly, and black-scaled snakes crawled out from the hollow inside the pillar. These venomous snakes ranged from half a meter to twenty centimeters in length, with red patterns on their foreheads. The black scales shimmered with a cold metallic light, and their red tongues flickered like fire. In no time, the ground was covered with thousands of them.

[Side Quest: Defeat the King Snake Formation, reward 100,000 experience points]

Lu Bei felt a chill down his spine as he watched. He took two steps closer to She Xuan again. Having a snake by his side felt much warmer.

"Step aside, don't get so close!"

She Xuan's face was full of disdain. She took a step away from Lu Bei. As the encirclement grew smaller, her aura couldn't deceive the surrounding venomous snakes anymore. She raised her wrist high.

The golden bracelet moved, and a small golden snake stood proudly in the palm of She Xuan's hand. It calmly spat out its tongue, and the black snakes dispersed in waves, flowing back into the stone pillars like a tide.

"Snake Auntie, you still haven't answered my question from last time. Can I touch this snake sister?" Lu Bei's eyes lit up. He should have fed this snake more along the way, knowing that it held such a prestigious position.

"You can, but let me make it clear first. If it dies, it's not my problem. You brought it upon yourself."

"No need to worry, if Snake Sister ever turns into soup one day, let it come to Three Pristine Peak to find me. I promise I won't let it go hungry." Lu Bei said seriously.

"No need to bother, if I have a breath left before I die, don't expect to survive either!"

"Oh, you have such a rustic sense of humor."

(End of this chapter)

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