Chapter 130: The Luxurious Palace

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I got to my feet and walked around the tomb chamber. I discovered that it had been built almost entirely from tightly fitted stone bricks, without a trace of cement.

The people who built this chamber must have possessed considerable skill.

Still, I felt that the only clues left to us were inside this tomb chamber. There was surely nothing outside.

I went around pressing the walls while searching for any hidden mechanisms.

Unfortunately, the entire wall was perfectly ordinary. There was no sign of the mechanism I had imagined.

As everyone’s spirits sank, I stood by the entrance and gazed up at the sky.

If there was nothing in the walls, why not look at the floor?

With that thought, I turned and walked toward the spot where the coffin had been smashed.

Some wood shavings were scattered there. I kicked them aside and, sure enough, noticed something unusual.

Beneath them was a round button about the size of a bottle cap. It protruded only slightly—if my eyes had not been sharp, I would never have noticed it.

I bent down to examine the tiny button, then called everyone over.

“Ha! I knew it had to be me. Looks like we didn’t choose the wrong person after all. Hahaha…”

“Come on, press it. I want to go home as soon as possible.”

Indeed, we had no other options. Without hesitation, I pressed the button.

Suddenly, with a deep rumble, a small crack appeared in the wall directly before me.

I hurried over. The crack was only about a meter high, and it seemed to be a hidden passage.

Chen Chen eagerly joined me in prying the crack wider. At last, I could see what lay beyond.

Though the entrance was only a meter high, the passage inside was more than two meters tall. From the way it sloped, it was clearly leading downward.

I was overjoyed. At last, we had discovered something different.

I took out my flashlight and entered, with everyone else following close behind.

The downward passage was deeper than expected. Even after several minutes of walking, we still had not reached the bottom.

It was pitch-black inside until everyone took out their phones and used them to provide some light.

The farther down we went, the more clearly I felt cool air brushing against me. It seemed the passage did not end in a dead end; there was probably a vast space below.

This reminded me of the cemetery in the woods behind the school, where Chen Chen and I had once gone.

That place had also been an underground cemetery, but it had not been especially dangerous. Could this place be the same?

I became even more convinced that the tomb chamber above was merely a decoy. The real destination lay below.

The building materials here were much the same as those above. The walls were made of stone bricks, and the steps beneath our feet were as well.

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At last, I saw a faint glow below us. It seemed we were finally nearing the bottom.

I quickened my pace, and a stir ran through the students behind me.

Only when my foot touched the lowest step did I realize that the passage continued forward.

It was a straight, narrow road whose end could not be seen. But once we reached this point, the surroundings began to change.

The passage was more than two meters high and wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

Most importantly, the walls were no longer made of stone bricks. Instead, they were covered in patterns.

I was unfamiliar with the designs. At first glance, they seemed chaotic, yet they possessed a certain grandeur. Amid them, I could vaguely make out a huge dragon, depicted with astonishing lifelikeness.

Moreover, a stone hung from the very top of the wall. It emitted a faint glow. I remembered someone once telling me what the stone was called, but I had forgotten. All I knew was that it had been created by cultivators of an earlier age.

The students behind me had never seen anything like it, and their gazes were immediately drawn toward it.

I called for everyone to keep up while continuing to observe our surroundings.

Before long, I could make out what lay ahead. We had not yet reached the end; the passage appeared to turn.

We continued for quite some time before finally reaching the corner.

I cautiously leaned out to look around it. Only after confirming that there was nothing ahead did I signal everyone to move on.

The environment beyond was exactly the same as before. I had no mind to admire the paintings on the walls and focused solely on pressing forward.

Although the passage was dim and damp, and carried an oppressive atmosphere, the cool breeze constantly blowing from ahead kept us alert.

Fortunately, we reached the end without incident. A massive stone door stood there.

The door was rather imposing. Judging by its structure, it seemed to rise upward from the ground.

A hexagonal design was carved into it, each side glowing a different color. It was quite beautiful.

“How do we open this thing?”

I muttered under my breath, then noticed the circle in the center of the hexagon.

By now, whenever I saw a circular shape, I instinctively wanted to press it. This one was no exception.

The moment I pressed it, the colors on the hexagon suddenly vanished, gradually turning black. At the same time, the stone door opened.

The sudden movement startled me, and I hurriedly retreated several steps.

The door descended extremely slowly. It took nearly five minutes before it had lowered completely.

I was the first to enter, and the first to see what lay inside.

The space within was enormous, resembling an underground castle.

“Good grief…”

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I was not the only one stunned. Chen Chen, who entered immediately afterward, also widened his eyes.

Suddenly, all the lights inside flickered to life, illuminating the already magnificent tomb chamber and making it even more breathtaking.

A lamp hung from the wall every few meters, while the walls themselves were covered in ornate designs.

At the very top hung a suspended lantern. On closer inspection, I saw that it was slowly rotating.

A gigantic coffin floated in midair. It measured a full three meters by one and a half meters, and golden chains extended from all four sides to the walls, creating the appearance of a levitating coffin.

Off to one side stood a spiral staircase that seemed to lead up to the coffin suspended in the air.

“I’ve never seen anything like this…”

Even Li Zijian, a man who had seen and experienced much in life, could not help sighing in amazement.

For a moment, I had no idea what to do or where to begin looking.

Just then, the patterns carved into the coffin began to glow. I frowned as I studied them, but in the next instant, I was utterly dumbfounded.

After flickering several times, the designs transformed into ten black-clad figures, who leaped down from the coffin.

“Everyone, draw your weapons!”

The others had been admiring the scenery, but my shout brought them back to their senses. When they saw the ten black-clad figures ahead, they drew their weapons from their rings.

The ten figures were identical in every way—their height, their build, even the weapons in their hands and the manner in which they held them.

Their cultivation levels were identical as well. Every one of them was at the third rank of the Spirit Flower realm.

Fortunately, that was not particularly high. We should be able to handle them.

I summoned my Snow Blade and fired a Thunderbolt Art at one of the figures.

They were all extremely fast. They twisted aside and dodged the attack, then raised their blades and charged at us. Their assignments were perfectly clear: one opponent for each of us.

“Everyone, be careful! If you don’t want to die, kill them!”

At my shout, everyone’s fighting spirit blazed to life.

I gathered strength in both legs and shot forward several meters in an instant, reaching one of the black-clad figures with ease.

The figure seemed to possess neither emotion nor intelligence. When I brought my blade down, it dodged, then counterattacked purely on instinct.

In fewer than two exchanges, I had figured out its pattern and entered the state of the Wing Shadow Saber Technique.

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