Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 70 - 68: Vermilion Bird Bureau, Tomb within a Tomb

Chapter 70: Chapter 68: Vermilion Bird Bureau, Tomb within a Tomb

Chaos!

Upon entering this underground palace and seeing its layout, everyone’s first impression was chaos.

The kind that makes your head spin.

Under the illumination of torches.

Some areas of the tomb passage were wide, and others narrow, twisting like pretzels. To Wang Yuan, it resembled the intestines of some giant creature.

Because in his "Unsightly Observation" vision, there was no longer any "clean" area before him; everywhere was filled with a "Weird" aura.

Moreover, it was all upside down and slanted, with the stone-paved ground above his head and what should have been the original tomb ceiling under his feet.

The chambers built on both sides, one opening was slanted towards the upper left, and the other towards the lower right.

At intervals on the floor lay shattered colored glaze lanterns tied with rusted iron chains; the fuel had deteriorated into pools of black residue due to the inversion.

Only the cold emerald light still emitted from the luminous pearls embedded on the ground, in the walls, and the ceiling alike, yet they looked like dead eyes.

Clearly, everything here should have been normal before the "Construction Director" suddenly revived today.

Not until the "Weird" power spread did this underground palace seem to suddenly come alive, stretching lethargically.

By his side, "Pangolin" Fan Zhang, coming from a learned family of Earth Scholars, noticed even more details:

"Something’s not right. The specifications of this consort mausoleum are wrong; it’s just too large!"

Wang Yunhu, as a Tomb Guardian himself, also nodded and said:

"Brother Fan is correct.

After Yili King was stationed in Luoyang, he died just six years later at the young age of twenty-six.

Even if construction of various consort underground palaces started right away, even during the strongest period of Great Yan Kingdom with Magicians and Daoist Soldiers speeding up the construction.

The scale of these nine tombs meant as consort mausoleums could not possibly be large, as evidenced by the previous eight."

Normally, prince-level royal tombs and those of higher levels are built according to the living accommodations of the alive, adhering to the principle of ’Treat the dead as if they were alive’.

However, building an underground palace purely by manpower is a colossal project that consumes enormous amounts of money and food, not a small matter even in an era when Daoist Magic is prevalent.

"The previous tombs, though complex and illogically laid out, were not actually large in scale, hence we were able to breach two tombs a day.

But this tomb is completely different.

Just the height of the tomb passage is nearly ten meters, with extraordinary carvings and decorations; I could believe it’s a prince’s tomb.

Therefore, this is likely a ’tomb within a tomb,’ originally belonging to someone else but taken over by Yili King for the ’Owl God Snatching Food Array’."

Even a standard prince’s tomb is usually composed of a tomb passage, four stone doors, and three main chambers, generally forming a "主"-shaped main structure.

Though they hadn’t even entered the first gateway, the "Covered Gate."

But from the eaves and statues on the gate’s arch, it was evident that the specifications here were likely even higher than those of ordinary royal mausoleums.

Only because of the passage of time, there were no longer any architectural remains on the ground, it was impossible to discern to whom the original tomb belonged.

"Let’s go in and see; everything will become clear."

Earth Scholar Fan Zhang summoned his utmost alertness, as normal, being the first to walk up to the "Covered Gate."

Placing his hand on the stone door, and using the Bouncing Force, Shaking Force, or Pulling Force acquired from his cultivation of the "Weasel Military Technique," he repetitively tested and confirmed there were no deadly traps on the door.

He also confirmed that just one door away, the tomb passage behind should still be properly aligned, as he could distinctly feel a heavy object still firmly pressing against the door.

"It must be a tomb-sealing stone sphere.

In the dynasties before Great Yan, such as Great Yong and Great Yu before that, the use of tomb-sealing stone spheres was very common.

According to regulations, in tombs of princes and higher, each tomb door had two wings, with copper-wrapped hinges fixed onto a copper base.

Behind the door base, right near the bottom corner of the stone door, two stone pits were chiseled, with two heavy stone spheres placed a bit farther away.

Once the burial rites were completed and the stone door was closed, these two wings remained slightly apart, leaving a gap of three inches at the top.

Then using a long iron hook, they would reach through the gap of the stone door, hook out the stone spheres from the shallow pits, which would then roll into the deeper pits beside the door, along the grooves that had been chiseled in advance.

Once the slots matched, they could just prop up the stone door perfectly.

After that, unless destroyed by force, the stone door could never again be opened."

Fan Zhang explained to the crowd behind him while pointing to several uneven scratch marks on the ground:

"The ’Construction Director’ from two hundred years ago likely used Daoist skills to fully open this existing tomb, rearranged it, and then restored it to its original state.

It’s strange though; looking at the marks on the ground, about ten or so years ago, this door was opened again, and the traces are still very fresh."

Hearing this, Wang Yuan was invigorated.

What could have been placed inside ten years ago?

The most likely possibility was the "Elixir" that he had been tracking!

Fan Zhang naturally didn’t know these details and pondered for a while, a bit confused.

But he was not concerned about who had previously opened the tomb, as it was not entirely impossible that the deceased themselves had come out for a walk.

"Unless we can move the stone sphere through space, we have no choice but to break through the door forcefully."

No sooner had he spoken,

"Cui Tong" whose character was known for ambitions akin to those made manifest before the crowd, directed "Mr. One-Eyed" to use the "Five Ghosts Moving the Mountain" Divine Skills to stealthily extract the stone spheres from behind the door.

Boom—!

Like the tremor of a heavy crossbow string, the Ma Brothers, redolent of the stench of decay and akin to zombies, remained motionless in their legs, yet the whole body bounded upward on the spot and slammed violently into the stone door.

The ground shook, and debris flew.

As tough as refined steel!

With the force of a cannon!

The two thick stone doors were blasted apart by the two Daoist Soldiers.

Immediately afterward, an even stronger stench of decay emanated from behind the door.

Wang Yuan’s ears twitched, his sharp senses immediately catching the low growls coming from behind the door.

Soon, through the broken door, everyone saw pairs of blood-red eyes lighting up in the darkness, swaying as they walked towards the first "Covered Gate."

Those with better eyesight, like Wang Yuan, could even discern that they were a group of emaciated corpses dressed in tattered clothes, holding shovels, hammers, and chisels.

"Craftsmen? Perhaps those who had helped King Yili construct the ’Owl God Snatching Food Array’ were buried here, becoming the first meal of the [Owl God Tomb] after the array was initially set up?

The official ’Heavenly Facing Householders’ and various compensations granted by the Court... these people really died in silence."

Seeing them,

The Ma Brothers exchanged a glance, and as if by telepathy, both stepped through the first gate simultaneously.

With a single kick, they sent the two stone spheres behind the door flying.

Boom!

The two stone spheres bounced uncontrollably like rogue cannonballs within the winding tomb passage, smashing all the gaunt craftsmen along the way into a mess of limbs.

"Go in."

Everyone followed the Ma Brothers into the tomb passage.

Under the light of the fire, this long, forbidding passage that stretched out of sight was flanked by asymmetrical ear chambers on either side.

On the door of each ear chamber were engraved a line of seal characters, respectively:

Qifu, Earth Master, Junmen, Qingqiu, Right Governor, Left Governor, Changsha, Zhen.

Each chamber’s ceiling seemed to bore many deep holes, numbering from one to thirty-two.

Wang Yuan, most enthusiastic about the "things" in this tomb, constantly asked Fan Zhang and Brother Lang, who were observing closely:

"Brother Fan, Brother Lang, have you discovered anything?"

Fan Zhang focused on the tomb’s regulations:

"The ear chambers are adorned with phoenix murals and decorated with peonies, items generally only suitable for use by an Empress if they are adorned in peony colors, with crabapple hues reserved for consorts of the fifth rank and above.

This place might originally have been the tomb of a highly esteemed concubine dating back at least five hundred years.

It seems that the original tomb owner may have been ousted by King Yili and her body discarded in the wilderness.

Whether the treasures buried with a concubine remain here is unknown.

A glint of greed flashed in his eyes.

In such grand tombs, the entombments aren’t limited to gold, silver, and jewels; they might potentially include Daoist magical materials and Divine Skills, which are precisely the goals pursued by the Fan family through the generations."

Brother Lang continued:

"This underground palace seems to align with celestial patterns, forming an array.

The eight ear chambers correspond to the eight Star Officials of the seventh mansion, ’Zhen’, of the southern constellations.

One of the four celestial spirits governs each cardinal direction, with ’Zhen’ representing the tail of the Vermilion Bird of the South.

If my judgment is correct, as we continue forward, we will encounter Wing, Zhang, Star, Willow, Ghost, Well— the remaining six mansions of the South."

Upon hearing this, Wang Yuan and Lady Peach Fairy were moved.

They knew that the top-grade ’Elixir Head’ used in the ’Six Beasts Bizarre Grid’ fits perfectly with the ’Vermilion Bird Riding the Wind’ of the [Owl God Snatching Food]!

King Yili likely had a long-standing intention in occupying this mausoleum, using it as a consort mausoleum.

At that moment, the Ma Brothers at the forefront suddenly shouted:

"Wait, those craftsmen’s corpses are... melting."

Wang Yuan looked in the direction of the shout and saw that the previously emaciated corpses were slowly melting like heated wax, seeping into the ground.

Meanwhile, all forty-six people who had entered the tomb had already passed through the "Covered Gate" into the tomb passage.

"Be on guard!"

Wang Yunhu had just shouted.

Boom, boom, boom...

The ground under everyone’s feet trembled again, and soon they felt as if they were standing on a giant spinning disk, with cracks appearing in the walls and the chambers moving rapidly, some to the left and some to the right.

In an instant, the forty-six people were completely separated.

As Wang Yuan felt the tomb passage pulling him away, he heard Brother Lang urgently shout:

"This ’tomb within a tomb’ must be a ’Vermilion Bird Bureau’.

The [Construction Director] must adhere to the rules of celestial movement to move the underground palace.

If one lacks the ability to tunnel through mountains and break rocks, one can only follow the palace as it moves, ear chamber by ear chamber to the deepest chamber, ’Jingsu’, where we will meet..."

As the scene before Wang Yuan abruptly changed, Brother Lang’s shout also came to an abrupt halt.