Chapter 409 Death Place

When everyone heard Pei Jingyun's voice, several roars came from far above their heads.

The sound was very dull, like two huge rocks colliding, and it occurred every five breaths. At first, it was just like the hum of a mosquito, very faint, but then it gradually grew louder. Shen Yuexi couldn't make out what was going on for a moment and looked at Xiao Zhuo in confusion.

Xiao Zhuo looked up and said, "Let's go down quickly."

Seeing Xiao Zhuo's serious expression, Shen Yuexi knew that the sound above her head was probably not a good thing, so she hurried downstairs.

Everyone hurried down a distance. There were still dozens of steps away from the corner where Pei Jingyun made the sound. The roar coming from above their heads became clearer, and the ground under their feet began to shake slightly.

"Come down quickly," Pei Jingyun's voice sounded again, "If you're any later, the last door will fall and you'll be stuck between the two doors."

"That's the sound of the gate falling," Mei Dai waved from the front, "Hurry up, the last gate is ahead."

Only then did Shen Yuexi realize that it was the sound of a door closing above her head, and she hurriedly ran down the stairs with the others.

As they reached the platform at the corner, the roaring sound overhead rang out again. This time, it was so loud that it seemed to resonate through a layer of stone slabs above everyone's heads, shaking the cracks in the stone wall so much that dust fell.

Shen Yuexi held the parrot Liuli in her arms. Xiao Zhuo took her hand, crossed the slowly lowering gate in front of them, and followed Mei Dai and Shen Lan into the house.

The last gate slammed to the ground behind everyone, completely cutting off the retreat.

Shen Yuexi pushed the heavy iron gate, but it was cold and hard and did not move at all. She could only turn around helplessly.

Unlike the narrow corridor just now, the space before him suddenly opened up into a spacious square hall, approximately seventy steps long and wide. The ceiling above was over three meters high, carved with a starry sky pattern, with nine golden dragons with bared fangs and claws evenly distributed across the starry sky. The surrounding walls were carved with exquisite murals, and every three feet there was a recessed platform, where a glass lamp burned.

In the center of the hall was a platform, upon which stood two white stone coffins, the right one uncovered. Pei Jingyun stood beside the left coffin, gently brushing away the dust with her sleeve.

Xiao Zhuo pulled Shen Yuexi and signaled to her with his eyes.

No matter what danger he was in, Xiao Zhuo would never forget what he had to do. This was the case when Ji Zhong was chasing him, and now, facing Pei Jingyun, he still remembered the proper greetings.

Shen Yuexi nodded, and the two of them stepped forward and bowed to Pei Jingyun, saying, "Greetings, mother."

"Do you believe in the existence of the soul?" Pei Jingyun said calmly, her back to them. "Do you believe in an afterlife?"

Shen Yuexi looked at the two coffins before her. Pei Jingyun had just said that this was the tomb of Emperor Ming of Qi. The one on the left should be Emperor Ming of Qi, Xiao Ming. The other coffin, which could be placed alongside Xiao Ming, could only belong to Pei Jingyun.

Xiao Zhuo also noticed it, and after greeting Pei Jingyun, he pulled her to kneel down and kowtow in front of Xiao Ming's coffin. During this time, Pei Jingyun did not even look back, but just wiped the surface of the coffin.

The two of them stood up, and Chen Lan said in a trembling voice beside them: "Mrs. Pei, have you locked yourself and us in this tomb?"

Pei Jingyun's voice softened, but with a hint of a lonely smile, she said, "That's right, I should have followed my husband to the Anzhou hunting ground. But I had other things I had to do, so I've put it off until now. My husband is waiting for me on the road, he must be getting impatient."

Seeing that her tone seemed to indicate a firm belief in the soul and the afterlife, Shen Yuexi said, "Mother, I believe that there is no soul in this world."

"Really? I didn't believe it at first, but now I do." Pei Jingyun turned around and looked at Xiao Zhuo and Shen Yuexi in front of her. "Just as I expected, the descendants of that bitch are here."

She let out a sinister laugh, which was both triumphant and miserable.

Xiao Zhuo's face turned cold, and he said to Pei Jingyun, "Don't insult my biological mother."

Shen Yuexi also showed anger on her face. She said to Pei Jingyun, "Mother, I know you hate Queen Wen. But she has been dead for over a year. The dead are the greatest. How can you speak ill of her?"

Seeing that both of them were angry, Pei Jingyun not only did not stop laughing, but laughed even louder. She said, "I know why you came here. You want me to give up revenge. But I tell you clearly, that is impossible. You are all going to die here soon."

Mei Dai was checking the iron gate. Upon hearing Pei Jingyun's words, she turned and asked, "Mrs. Pei, were you planning to lure us here and then close the gate from the beginning?"

Pei Jingyun stopped laughing and said to Mei Dai, "That's right. I knew you would come looking for me, so I lured you down here on purpose. Nineteen iron gates have been lowered into the passage. In a quarter of an hour, seawater will flood into the passage, completely sealing it off... Even if you have extraordinary abilities, you won't be able to escape this deadly place I've set for you."

Shen Yuexi was horrified. Nineteen iron gates were located at the corners of each descending staircase. Including the first flight, they had climbed a total of twenty stone steps, a depth of three hundred meters, definitely deep beneath Guiyun Island. If the passage were flooded, this would become an isolated underwater cavern, with no outsiders able to rescue them. They would also be unable to breathe and would suffocate to death.

She didn't expect that Pei Jingyun would use herself as bait to lure them here.

Mei Dai and Shen Lan exchanged a glance and hurried toward the tomb wall. Xiao Zhuo held her trembling hand and said to Pei Jingyun, "Once the seawater pours in, Mother will die too."

"I just said it," Pei Jingyun glanced at him fearlessly, "I should have died a long time ago."

She turned to watch Chen Lan and Mei Dai groping up and down the wall for a mechanism, and smiled, "Don't worry. I designed this mausoleum myself. There are no mechanisms on the wall, only a hole for ventilation, which will be sealed by seawater later. I've already told you, if you have any last words, you'd better tell each other quickly."

Shen Yuexi looked at the ceiling and saw a one-foot square air hole, which seemed to be used for ventilation and must lead to the ground. However, people could not enter or exit through it.

Xiao Zhuo said, "Mother, my brother and sister-in-law are still in the city. Don't you want to go see them?"

Pei Jingyun said coldly: "Why do you want to meet them? They have been helping you all the time. I have already stopped recognizing them. Otherwise, why would I let the musketeers attack them as well?"

Shen Yuexi asked, "In order to avenge Queen Wen, are you going to kill even your own children?"

Pei Jingyun laughed heartily, opened her arms and said, "Yes, I am a woman without any humanity. I trained Heng'er because I wanted him to kill the man next to you with his own hands. But Heng'er is too weak, he can't do it. It doesn't matter, I can do the same thing."

Shen Yuexi was so angry that her body was shaking. She said, "You've gone too far. My sister-in-law is such a good woman. Do you know what torture and humiliation she has suffered for my brother? And you actually wanted to let the gunman kill her!"

"Of course I know," Pei Jingyun's expression suddenly became excited. "Heng'er gave her to King Duoma of Xirong in order to save his life. As for me, not only will I give that bitch to Brother Ming, I will also watch from the window with my own eyes."

Only then did Shen Yuexi realize that what Xiao Beiheng had done was exactly what Pei Jingyun had done. She didn't know if it was true, like mother, like son, or if Pei Jingyun had made Xiao Beiheng like that. Xiao Beiheng had already emerged from the abyss and earned Su Mo's forgiveness. But with Pei Jingyun, there was no room for maneuver.

Xiao Zhuo's face turned pale as he gripped the long sword at his waist and said, "My biological mother said she didn't want to be the queen. She only endured for twenty years because she was pregnant with me."

"Did that bitch tell you in Yu Zhongling?" Pei Jingyun's eyes flushed, and she raised her voice. "She endured it for twenty years? What a joke! She was just the daughter of a poor family, and I gave her the life of an empress for twenty years. What right does she have to say she doesn't want it? When she was living a life of luxury in the Duke's Mansion, I was the one who took care of that dilapidated home for her... What about her? What did she do?"

When Pei Jingyun talked about the sad things, her whole body trembled slightly, and she grabbed the white hair hanging on both sides of her cheeks with her hands.

"When I learned from Doctor Hua that she was pregnant, I almost went crazy. But I had to endure it. I hadn't sent her to the palace to replace me yet. So I endured all of this. This was my careful arrangement. I wanted to hand over a clean and innocent self to my husband. However, that... bitch, she shamelessly stole my husband's heart... Look at me, look at me, I am the little girl that Brother Ming saved, not that bitch, no!"

She tore at her hair in anger, pulling clumps of gray hair out from her scalp.