From the moment the light in the "cocoon" went out, the circular dome began to disintegrate, with fluorescent sheets constantly peeling off.

Zhang Fan and Qiu Wanlan quickly jumped down the suspended ladder, and after exiting through the hexagonal opening, the two worked together to pull open the spirit coffin, put the box containing the Tang King's brain inside, and then closed it.

"What do we do now?" Qiu Wanlan asked anxiously. She could feel the tremors coming from underground, and the roof of the main hall was also collapsing.

"Let's get out of here first." Zhang Fan grabbed Qiu Wanlan's hand and ran.

After running out of the main hall, the two looked up and found that the edge of the sinkhole above was also collapsing, with huge rocks constantly falling from above and crashing onto the top of the underground palace below.

When the Tang Dynasty imperial tombs were first built, the collapse of the top rock layer was not taken into consideration. When the sinkhole was first formed, the falling rocks and soil did not immediately crush the underground palace, but they did put pressure on it.

As the soil and rock gradually accumulated, their entry into the underground palace became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

The "cocoon" has been extinguished, and the dome can no longer support the weight above, so it is the first to collapse.

Zhang Fan ran down from the South Heavenly Gate, picked up his backpack, and looked back. The underground palace where he had been standing had completely collapsed, forming a large pit on the ground. Moreover, the edge of the pit was still expanding, and water was gushing out from the bottom of the pit like a fountain.

The two quickly ran down the stone steps and into the cave, then sped along the path they had come from, not daring to stop for a moment.

When the water in the pit rises to the level of the cave passage, the water will flow into the cave and be sealed underground by the water flow, making survival impossible.

Surprisingly, we didn't see any Yaksha demons along the way. Could these insects also foresee danger?

When Zhang Fan reached the "Ghost Hand Hell," he heard a drum-like sound behind him, indicating that groundwater had flooded into the cave.

The original spiral stone steps on the stalactite pillars had collapsed. Zhang Fan didn't have time to think, so he pulled Qiu Wanlan up a hole dug by insects and started walking upwards.

The water quickly filled the entire underground cavern floor, and the waterline rose at a visible speed. Many Gu people were also floating in the water, scattered and broken by the violent current.

After running for a while, the two were dumbfounded. Ahead lay a wide cavern, several tens of meters in diameter, but there was no other exit. Retreating was impossible, as the passage they had come from was now filled with rising water. The cavern's ceiling had also cracked, with water gushing out from the fissures. It was estimated that the cavern would collapse soon.

"What do we do now?" Qiu Wanlan was completely dumbfounded by the scene before her.

"There's no other way, we can only try to swim out of the water." Zhang Fan pointed to the surging water in the cave behind him.

"Have you forgotten? I can't swim!" Qiu Wanlan had already told her that she couldn't swim before entering the Water Curtain Cave.

"In the current situation, whether you can swim or not doesn't really make much difference," Zhang Fan said with a wry smile.

In the underground, turbulent waters, let alone swimming, even a ship would be torn to shreds; you'd probably need a submarine.

But rather than staying in the cave and waiting to die, drifting away with the current would at least offer a glimmer of hope. The problem is that Qiu Wanlan can't swim, and in such a turbulent current, he can barely take care of himself, let alone her. This time, they are truly at their wits' end.

boom!

A section of the rock wall above the cave collapsed with a loud crash, and a boat-shaped object slid down with the rocks and soil, splashing water everywhere and startling the two people.

"Isn't this the stone coffin from the general's tomb?"

Qiu Wanlan looked up at the rock wall above; the original tomb chamber had been filled with collapsed rocks and soil.

Zhang Fan stared blankly at the fallen boat-shaped stone coffin for a moment, then was overjoyed.

"It seems the general wants to save us." Zhang Fan inserted a dagger into the hole, pried open the mechanism, and opened the stone coffin.

The female general was indeed lying inside.

"Come and help me out," Zhang Fan said as he moved the burial objects out of the stone coffin.

"What are you doing?" Qiu Wanlan asked as she helped Zhang Fan move the female general's body out of the stone coffin.

“The stone coffin is too small; it can only fit two people.” Zhang Fan gently placed the female corpse on the ground.

"Is this the right thing to do?" Qiu Wanlan asked hesitantly. "Are we just going to leave her here like this?"

“Perhaps this is what she wanted.” Zhang Fan looked at the female corpse on the ground. “She wanted to stay here and continue to protect the Tang King.”

Qiu Wanlan remained silent for a moment, then nodded.

The two of them pushed the stone coffin into the cave, then squeezed inside and closed the lid.

Click!

After the coffin lid closed, everything went black before their eyes, and then the world began to spin.

The cave had completely collapsed, and a large amount of groundwater rushed in, pushing the stone coffin forward in the torrent.

Thud, thud, thud—

Along the way, the stone coffin kept crashing into the rock wall. The two people inside the stone coffin could no longer distinguish east from west, so they could only huddle together and hug each other tightly, burying their heads together to prevent their heads from hitting the stone coffin.

On the western slope of Lingshan Mountain, the small hill where the Tang Dynasty Mausoleum was originally located has disappeared, replaced by a lake in Meishuangping.

The lake was initially filled with water from the Qinglongjian River, but as the underground space completely collapsed, a huge whirlpool formed in the center of the lake, and like flushing a toilet, the lake water was pumped out through the holes at the bottom.

The boat-shaped stone coffin was swept along by the rapids in the underground river. The two people inside were dizzy and disoriented, unable to do anything but drift with the current.

After an unknown amount of time, the two felt the water flow slow down and the stone coffin stopped churning, as if it had stopped somewhere underwater.

The two men's rapid breathing could be clearly heard inside the stone coffin. Zhang Fan hurriedly reached out to feel for the switch inside the coffin.

"We don't know what the situation is outside. Should we open it?" Qiu Wanlan was a little worried, mainly because it was all water outside and she couldn't swim.

"If we don't get out of here soon, we'll suffocate. We have no choice but to take a gamble. Take a deep breath."

Zhang Fan pushed open the coffin lid, and a torrent of water immediately poured in.

After the coffin lid was pushed open halfway, Zhang Fan crawled out first. When he turned back to pull Qiu Wanlan, he found her struggling in pain, with bubbles constantly coming out of her mouth.

It seems that after being flushed by the water that entered the coffin, Qiu Wanlan exhaled all the breath she had been holding in.

Having no other choice, Zhang Fan swam over and gave her half a breath of air, then pulled her upstream quickly.

Fortunately, the water wasn't deep; from underwater, the surface was dotted with tiny specks, like a starry sky.

After rising more than ten meters, the two finally surfaced.

"Cough cough—"

Qiu Wanlan hugged Zhang Fan tightly in the water, coughing incessantly; she had already swallowed several mouthfuls of water while underwater.

As Zhang Fan waded through the water, he observed his surroundings. A thin mist covered the water's surface, and many lights floated on it.

"Boatman! Boatman!" Zhang Fan saw the shadow of a boat in the fog and quickly waved and shouted.

The people inside the cabin seemed to hear Zhang Fan's shouts. They looked out of the porthole, gave a few instructions to the boatman, and the boat immediately turned around and rowed towards the two of them.

The boatman moored the boat nearby and then threw down a rope to pull the two men from the water onto the boat.

"Second Miss, Young Master Zhang, how did you fall into the water?" asked the person who came out of the cabin.

"Huh?" Zhang Fan looked up and saw Bingbing and Mimi, whom he had met once before. "Where...where am I?"

"This is Qiandeng Lake."

"Qiandeng Lake?" Zhang Fan was taken aback. "Are we going straight back to Xiliang City?"

Zhang Fan suddenly realized and slapped his forehead. Qiandeng Lake was an artificial lake dug by the Tang Emperor during his lifetime, so it was normal for Qiandeng Lake to be connected to the Tang Emperor's tomb.

The entrance to the Tang Emperor's Tomb is in the Water Curtain Cave, and the exit is at Qiandeng Lake.

"Second Miss, Young Master Zhang, should I call someone?"

"No need, we just accidentally fell into the water." Qiu Wanlan shook her head. She didn't want to explain, and she couldn't explain.

Could it be that the two of them came from hundreds of miles away, crossing underground?

Bingbing and Mimi exchanged a glance, knowingly refraining from pressing the matter, and no one knew what they were imagining.

"Boatman, come ashore."

Zhang Fan waved to the boatman. He still had many questions in his mind, and all he wanted to do was get back to the Qiu family as soon as possible and ask Mr. Qiu.