Chapter 408 Imperial Tomb
As Shen Yuexi stepped onto the last jade step, Pei Jingyun in the Golden Palace slowly turned around.
After going through countless twists and turns, she and she finally looked into each other's eyes again.
The two first met in Shengjing. Pei Jingyun was dressed in an exquisite palace gown, covered with a veil, and surrounded by attendants, furious and ready to execute her. After Su Mo pleaded for her, Pei Jingyun instantly smiled, her every move revealing nothing. Even when she drank the poison, her expression remained flawless.
Now Pei Jingyun was wearing linen mourning clothes, her face was bare, pale and haggard, and with a head full of white hair, she looked like a person made entirely of ice and snow, standing alone in the magnificent hall, isolating herself from all the splendor and complexity. She was so white that it was dazzling, and so icy that it made people feel that even the warmest sunlight could hardly melt her shell.
When Shen Yuexi looked at her, she was also looking at Shen Yuexi, her expression as cold as ice, without any emotion, neither joy nor sorrow, nor any surprise or confusion. She was as calm as if she had known Shen Yuexi would come here. But her eyes were extremely complicated, as if there was admiration, surprise, and appreciation...
Until her eyes fell on Shen Yuexi's lower abdomen, all the emotions that had been ignited before were drowned out by an emotion called hatred.
Shen Yuexi did not avoid Pei Jingyun's hateful gaze, and faced him without fear.
The inland war has subsided, and civil officials, led by the Prime Minister, and military commanders, led by General Zhao Mu, are now fully committed to Xiao Zhuo's leadership. Everyone awaits Xiao Zhuo's return to the capital to ascend the throne. To the west, the rebellious King Duoma of the Western Rong has been executed. Qiang Lin will be the unanimously elected new king, ruling over all of Western Rong. With her relationship with Qiang Lin, the Western Rong will no longer be a problem for Western Liang.
All internal and external troubles have been resolved. As long as she can resolve the grudge from many years ago, she can let her children have a bright future without disputes and wars.
This was her goal, and she had already overcome so many obstacles with Xiao Zhuo. Even if Pei Jingyun proved to be even more formidable, she was confident she would emerge victorious.
Xiao Zhuo also walked up the jade steps. His tender gaze rested on her for a moment, and then he walked towards Pei Jingyun calmly.
Shen Yuexi also wanted to follow, but Mei Dai grabbed her hand from behind and whispered, "Sister, Madam Pei is waiting for us here alone. It's a bit strange. Don't get close yet. Let Prince An talk to Madam Pei."
Hearing this, Shen Yuexi looked towards the Golden Palace vigilantly.
The entire hall was spotless, emitting the smell of lingering paint, as if it had only recently been built. Two rows of tall white stone pillars supported a lofty roof emblazoned with dragons and phoenixes. The midday sun streamed into the hall through the side windows, leaving no room for an assassin to hide.
Only behind the emperor's throne was a strange sight. There was no screen there, but rather a plain white wall with a doorway about a man's height and a half, wide enough for three people to walk side by side. The doorway seemed deep, and a pale yellow light shone from within, illuminating the wall.
Who would have a door like this in their throne room? Could it be that there were many soldiers hiding here, waiting for Pei Jingyun's order to rush out?
Just as she was wondering, Shen Lan quickly walked up the stairs, took her hand and said, "Sister, let's catch up with my brother-in-law. The pursuers are coming."
Shen Yuexi looked back and saw that the gates of the imperial city had been pushed open. A large group of soldiers, swords and guns raised, were pouring into the square and rushing towards the Golden Palace. Many of them were still wet in their clothes and hair. They were soldiers who had been washed up on the beach by the waves and had obtained weapons from somewhere.
She hurriedly followed Mei Chen and the others and ran forward, calling out to Xiao Zhuo, "Husband, the pursuers are coming! The pursuers are coming!"
Xiao Zhuo also heard the shouts from the square, quickened his pace, and stretched out his hand to Pei Jingyun, shouting, "Mother, please stay."
Pei Jingyun glanced at them, did not answer Xiao Zhuo's call, turned around and walked quickly behind the throne, and disappeared into the doorway.
Xiao Zhuo stopped and said to Shen Yuexi, "Yuexi, let's follow."
"That's a must," Shen Yuexi ran up to him, "There's such a large group of soldiers behind us, I can't deal with them anymore."
On the beach, Big Bear used the collected seawater to create huge waves. Now there was no seawater to deal with the many soldiers.
The four of them walked quickly across the altar, ascended the steps in front of the throne, and walked around the imperial desk before arriving at the doorway. Xiao Zhuo rushed forward, drew his sword, and leaned inside to take a look. He turned to the three and said, "It's a corridor leading down, illuminated by candles on the walls."
Mei Dai said, "There's no place in the entire hall that can defend itself. Let's all go in here. Prince An will block the entrance with his sword. Even though the enemy outnumbers them, they won't be able to break in easily." Xiao Zhuo nodded and stood at the entrance, saying, "You guys go in quickly. I'll hold off the pursuers."
Shen Yuexi thought: "Is there any trap in there?"
These narrow tunnels of ancient times were always filled with oddities. For example, there were movable planks on the floor, and stepping on them would send people plummeting into a pit filled with sharp iron spikes, resulting in a gruesome death. Or, while walking, the wall would crack, and iron arrows would shoot out from the holes, impaling people like arrows. Or, the stone slabs beneath your feet would give way, and a massive boulder would fall from above...
The more she thought about it, the more she felt that the cave was full of danger. She couldn't help but hesitate and stood there without moving.
Seeing that she didn't move, Chen Lan pulled her and said, "Sister, we can't resist so many enemies outside. Even if there is danger inside, we just need to move forward carefully."
Seeing both sisters say so, Shen Yuexi had no choice but to nod.
Mei Dai drew a dagger and blazed the trail ahead. She followed behind Mei Dai, with Chen Lan at the end. The three of them entered the corridor. Liuli, the parrot, seemed curious and left her shoulder to perch on Mei Dai's arm, gazing around and quacking.
Entering the corridor, Shen Yuexi discovered that it was paved with smooth stone walls. Every three meters, a lamp burned brightly, ensuring that there was no dark spot in the entire corridor. Steps led down, smooth and exquisite, seemingly newly constructed. After about seventy steps, it reached the end, and a light shone from the left side of the end.
The three of them walked down the stone steps carefully. Mei Dai and Shen Lan touched the wall from time to time to see if there were any ambushes or other traps.
Shen Yuexi turned around to look at Xiao Zhuo who was guarding the cave entrance. As she heard the shouting getting closer and closer, she couldn't help but feel worried. She said to Xiao Zhuo, "Husband, come quickly too."
Xiao Zhuo didn't look back. He stood there holding his sword and said, "You go down first."
Mei Dai had reached the end by then and turned back to say to her, "Sister, this is still the same downward staircase."
As Shen Yuexi walked down, she counted the steps and found that there were exactly 75. She hurried to Mei Dai's side and saw that the steps down just made a 90-degree right-angle turn, and then went down another 75 steps to the end, and at the end, there was light on the left.
She calculated in her mind that if each step was twenty centimeters high, seventy-five steps would be one thousand five hundred centimeters, or fifteen meters. They had already walked down fifteen meters from the height of the throne in the Golden Throne Hall, and there were still fifteen meters to go. It seemed like they were walking underground all the time.
Shen Lan said to Mei Dai: "Queen, did you see Madam Pei just now?"
Mei Dai said, "She should have kept walking. Let's catch up with her."
Shen Yuexi said to the two of them, "Sisters, where do these stairs lead to?"
Xiao Zhuo's voice sounded behind the three of them: "It should be used for shelter, right?"
Shen Yuexi turned around and saw Xiao Zhuo standing behind her. She was surprised and said, "Husband, you are coming down too. Where are the pursuers?"
"They all stopped at the entrance of the Golden Throne Hall and didn't come in," Xiao Zhuo said, "It seems that Mother has forbidden them from setting foot in this place. I saw that they didn't chase after us, so I came down to find you."
Shen Yuexi felt relieved when she saw that the pursuers hadn't come after them. At this point, regardless of whether this downward passage was used for refuge or for some other purpose, it was the only way to go.
If she encountered danger along the way, she would have Big Bear clear the way. Just like when she saved someone in Yuangu, she would just clear a path to the surface. As for what Mei Dai and Shen Lan would think, she didn't care. Saving her life was the top priority.
To be on the safe side, she called out to Big Bear in her heart: "Big Bear, are you there?"
"Dear Master, Big Bear is here. What are you going to build?" Big Bear's cheerful voice sounded, followed by another sentence, "Big Bear's stored energy may not be enough to support the next construction. Master, please replenish it in time."
Shen Yuexi was stunned for a moment. Big Bear’s energy was about to run out.
Come to think of it, Big Bear had saved her and Xiao Zhuo at the bottom of the ocean, and had scattered the soldiers on the beach with the waves. All of this was extremely energy-consuming. All the way to the Golden Throne Hall, Big Bear hadn't had time to recharge.
Exiting the passage is impossible. Enemies abound outside, so we can only continue down. I wonder how much energy the Universal Fabricator has left. It's heartbreaking! Why didn't they design a remaining battery indicator?
She was feeling frustrated when she heard a few rattling sounds from the bottom of the passage, as if small stones were rolling on the steps. The sounds were particularly clear in this dark corridor.
"Let's go on." Shen Yuexi called to everyone.
Regardless, Pei Jingyun walked down from here and didn't find any secret doors or other traps along the way. If he wanted to see Pei Jingyun, he had no choice but to continue down.
The four of them went down another seventy-five steps, turned a right-angled corner, and went down another seventy-five steps... and so on, always with the same corridor and the same lamp before them. At the end, they turned left and there was another set of stairs going down.
As she walked to the back, Shen Yuexi couldn't remember how many times she had turned, she just felt the air getting hotter and hotter.
"The passage is so long," she couldn't help but shout, "where is it going to lead to?"
She didn't want to ask Xiao Zhuo, Mei Dai or Chen Lan specifically. She just felt that the stairs were too long and she was dizzy, so she wanted to vent her dissatisfaction.
"It leads to my husband's tomb."
Pei Jingyun's cold response came from the end of the stairs.
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