Underground tomb
Xuanzhou is located in the northernmost part of the empire.
In the depths of winter, snow blankets the land.
As soon as they entered Xuanzhou territory, it started snowing. Cang Jingqi's folding fan was not very stable in the air, so they chose a flat spot to land and the two continued on foot.
The location given by Gui Xu was not easy to find; it was not easy to find a small tomb in the vast Xuanzhou.
Fortunately, the villages near the markers have equipment that makes it easy to glide in the snow.
Cang Jingqi rented a sled, and the two of them squeezed onto the small sled, which was pulled by some kind of animal.
Hanjiang squeezed next to Cangjingqi and asked, "What kind of animal is this?" At first glance, she thought it was a snow dog, but it wasn't a canine.
Cang Jingqi turned to the side to make room for Han Jiang: "The local spirit beasts of Xuanzhou can travel freely in the snow."
Starting from the village, we headed north.
The snow was heavy, and Cang Jingqi took out his folding fan to block the wind.
With the arrival of winter, one has to admire the many ingenious uses of this folding fan.
Cang Jingqi seemed to see through her thoughts: "I already said I'd give you one, do you want it?"
"Forget it, I wouldn't know how to use it even if you gave it to me." Han Jiang felt an unprecedented sense of frustration.
Deep within a snow-covered pine forest, there stands a small temple.
The tomb they were looking for lay beneath the temple.
Cang Jingqi tethered the spirit beast and the sled near the temple.
The snow in the temple was cleared cleanly, so someone must come to clean it regularly.
The statue was spotless, with its eyes closed, and sat on a high platform.
There wasn't even dust on the lintel.
Strangely, there were no traces of anyone walking along the path they had come from. If people frequently came to make offerings, there should have been a path worn down by people walking on it.
The three dishes of fruit offered on the table were still fresh, looking shiny and even smelling delicious.
As the cold winds approached, I felt something was off. I picked up a fruit and held it in my hand; it was incredibly light, like a fake fruit made of plastic.
She pried it open with all her might, but the shiny outside of the fruit was already rotten inside, leaving only a shell.
"Han Xiaoman, there's a secret passage beneath this statue. It was recently opened, and the marks haven't disappeared yet." Cang Jingqi circled the deity once.
Hanjiang grabbed two or three fruits and stuffed them into his pocket, thinking that if he encountered any enemies later, he could hit them a couple of times and buy himself some time to escape.
"You mean someone arrived right before us?" Han Jiang asked.
Cang Jingqi nodded: "Yes, the statue wasn't moved by someone, but I couldn't find the mechanism."
The statue is raising one hand, as if greeting someone, or waiting for someone to give a high five.
When Han Jiang pressed his palm against the statue, it could actually be pushed inwards.
The statue's eyes slowly opened, the base rotated open, revealing a circular opening leading down a stone staircase.
After the two walked away, the statue slowly returned to its original state, and its eyes closed again.
"Han Xiaoman, are you afraid of ghosts?" Cang Jingqi walked behind Han Jiang.
The cold wind made it hard to see the path, so he cautiously took one step at a time, cautiously navigating each step: "Ghosts? I'm not afraid."
She's incredibly brave; when she went to haunted houses with her friends, she was always the first one to rush in.
"You usually seem quite timid."
"That's different. I'm just afraid of trouble. What, are you afraid?" Han Jiang doesn't like troublesome things. She's afraid that if she gets involved, she won't be able to get out. So if she can leave it to someone else to handle, she'll quietly slip away and never get involved.
No matter what it is, whether it's giving a presentation on stage, participating in a competition, or even going on a trip, she won't go. It's not that she's timid or stage-frightened; it's simply that she's lazy and afraid of trouble.
Giving a report requires writing a draft, participating in a competition requires preparation, and traveling requires planning. Most of her choices are to stay in her dormitory or cooped up in her room, even if she has nothing to do and can only sleep.
Thinking about it, it seems like she hasn't gone out with her friends in a long time.
It's cold outside in winter and hot outside in summer. Outdoor activities are greatly reduced.
They reached the bottom of the stone steps. Han Jiang stopped and waited for Cang Jingqi to go ahead.
She still habitually delegates tasks to others.
"You go first." Cang Jingqi remained behind him without moving.
"No, you go first."
"Scared?"
"Who's the one who's scared? You go first."
He held the folding fan behind Han Jiang's back: "I'm behind you."
Despite the cold and desolation, he boldly stepped forward. Holding the glowing stone, he carefully observed the surrounding stone walls.
Unlike the ancient tombs in tomb raiding novels, there are no terrifying creatures in TV dramas.
The corridor was very wide, with solid walls on the left and a hollow space on the right. There were no intersections, only one path to walk through.
There have been no security measures in the areas we have visited so far, making it exceptionally safe.
The corridor was not straight, but rather formed a huge arc, very long and without end.
You can see people's shadows in the distance.
While in the temple, Cang Jingqi said that someone had come here not long ago. Unexpectedly, "not long ago" really meant not long ago, as that person had not yet left.
Both of them paused. As the other person approached, Han Jiang subconsciously took a step back.
Cang Jingqi asked, "Amo? What are you doing here?"
The visitor was none other than Cang Jingmo.
"After arriving in Yinzhou, Chicheng discovered that you two were missing and got quite angry. I said it was nothing and I was leaving, but someone happened to find new clues about the previous batch of books, so I came here," Cang Jingmo said.
"What clue?"
Cang Jingmo kept a distance from the two: "I asked Chicheng, and neither of the two shadowy figures appeared during our trip to Manzhou. I still suspect you."
"Fine, don't tell me then, Han Xiaoman, let's keep looking." Cang Jingqi tried to pull Han Jiang away from Cang Jingmo.
Although Han Jiang didn't want to miss the opportunity to get to know Cang Jingmo, the warm crystal coffin was something she couldn't afford to delay any longer.
"You'll come back around in a bit. This underground area is a huge circle. The only opening is the stone steps leading down. However, the walls are hollow inside, probably the core of the tomb. But I couldn't find the door to go in," Cang Jingmo kindly reminded him.
"Second Prince, if you have any clues, please share them. I can also tell you what I know, such as why we came here." Han Jiang tried to negotiate with Cang Jingmo. "You may not trust the First Prince, but you can trust me. I am someone who has seen two shadowy figures at the same time."
"Then tell me," Cang Jingmo said.
Han Jiang asked with delight, "You believe me?"
"After all, with your limited magical power, you could never be those two shadowy figures."
Damn it, even though I was believed, I'm still so angry. Han Jiang silently gave the middle finger in her mind.
"We were entrusted by the owner of Feng Huo Ying Shuang Lou to find something."
Cang Jingqi yanked Han Jiang's arm: "Han Xiaoman, you've already revealed your secrets so quickly?"
Han Jiang broke free from Cang Jingqi's grasp and handed the blueprints Gui Xu had given her to Cang Jingmo. (Just kidding, Cang Jingmo is the male lead; who else would she trust if she didn't trust him?)
“It seems we have different goals. I came here to find a book.” Cang Jingmo returned the blueprints to Han Jiang. “Whether it’s the transformation between humans and demons or the book about the Spirit Gathering Altar, the related books are actually from the same set, meaning they were written by the same person.”
Han Jiang: "Who? The dynasty in the desert dates back at least a thousand years, so the Spirit Gathering Altar has existed for over a thousand years. The exact year of the human-demon transformation is still unknown."
“The materials we have about human-demon transformation are all fragmented, excerpted from many books, and none of them are the original versions. The record of the Spirit Gathering Altar that Han Tian has is also a later version; the original one should be buried under the yellow sand.” Cang Jingqi joined the discussion.
“We don’t need to know who that person is, we just need to find what she left behind,” Cang Jingmo said. “I found another book written by that person, a travelogue. In her early years, she traveled all over the world, collecting and organizing countless books, and in her later years, she spent the rest of her life in Xuanzhou. That book was written by her and her descendants. The first half is about her leisurely life in Xuanzhou, and the second half is about her adopted daughter’s longing for her.”
"Where is the book?" Cang Jing asked.
"They sent it back to the Demon Palace—oh no!" Cang Jingmo belatedly realized that there was a traitor in the Demon Palace, and how could such an important clue be left there?
Previously collected information was personally delivered by Cang Jingqi to Cang Jingmo's residence. This time, it's being transported by his guards, and there's always a chance something might go wrong.
“It’s too late to rush back now, let’s continue,” Han Jiang said.
Cang Jingmo: "In the book, her adopted daughter mentioned that she wanted to build a temple in the pine forest to worship herself before she died."
"Who in their right mind would worship themselves? I thought it was some kind of deity."
Cang Jing retorted, "Who knows, she might really be a deity."
"So she built this temple herself?"
Cang Jingmo: "No, she died after completing half of the cultivation, leaving a will. The second half was completed by her adopted daughter."
"But this temple is very new, it doesn't look like it was built many years ago, it must have been built within the last hundred years. And the temple is very clean, it must be cleaned regularly by descendants." If Wen Xu were here, he could ask what it says in the book. Of course, it's also possible that that tattered book didn't write anything at all.
Since the male lead is here, and if this is part of the main storyline, there's no reason why the female lead shouldn't be here.
"What about Hanqi?" Hanjiang changed the subject.
"She's gone back to the Four Provinces Sect. She was also seriously injured and went back to rest."
Is this a side story?
Undeterred by Han Jiang's interruption, Cang Jingmo continued, "Her adopted daughter had a daughter, but she died very early. After the tomb was completed, she went with her daughter. She had no other descendants."
"Let's find her tomb first, examine its style, and then deduce which dynasty it belongs to," Cang Jingqi said. "Or we could just blast a door open."
"Bombing someone's grave? That's not a good idea, is it?" Han Jiang said.
"Han Xiaoman, are you really that afraid of trouble? Even if something happens, there are two princes of the Demon Clan here. How can you be blamed?"
"So you're saying you two are princes of the Demon Clan, and that's why you're blaming me when something goes wrong!" Han Jiang said angrily. Of course, he'd drag powerless cannon fodder into taking the blame; how could he let them take the fall?
"Don't worry, none of us need to take the blame, he will." Cang Jingqi pointed at Cang Jingmo, and Han Jiang stepped aside, urging Cang Jingmo to blow up the wall.
Cang Jingmo seemed used to his subordinate's constant amusement at the spectacle. He knocked on two walls, chose a spot, and unleashed a powerful strike.
The wall did not react at all; instead, the spiritual energy rebounded, shaking Cang Jingmo away.
Cang Jingqi stepped forward to examine the wall: "I can't sense any spiritual energy."
"Yes, I was repelled by my own spiritual power," Cang Jingmo said.
"It seems there's a spiritual energy barrier on the other side of the wall." Han Jiang suddenly thanked Wen Xu for forcing her to read so many books. "But spiritual energy can only be preserved for a short time after leaving the human body. Even if there was a spiritual energy barrier, it should have dissipated by now, given how long the tomb has been built. What's inside? Could there be a living person inside?"
As the cold winds rise, I can't help but think of the "living dead" from horror novels.
"Now that things have come to this, we can only resort to the most simple and unpretentious method." Han Jiang looked at the two of them.
Cang Jingqi: "What method?"
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