Chapter 97: Imperial Mausoleum
Giant rocks kept falling from above. The cracks on the ground looked so serious that it seemed the whole world would be torn apart.
Bang!
Another blast. Suddenly, they lost their balance and started to fall, then reached solid ground and started to tumble.
The demons’ crazy attacks went on. Jiang Chen came to know what desperation really was, but soon he found a stone ladder under the crack.
By then, the shaking was getting weaker. Jiang Chen ran down the ladder with others, although he was in pain and didn’t know what was ahead. They couldn’t think of a thing, but kept running, because the demons had also swarmed onto the ladder. They would in no way give up their pursuit.
They saw a long corridor at the end of the ladder. The space was illuminated by torches on the walls.
Soon, they came to a three-way fork, so they split into three groups.
So did the demons. They ran into different passages respectively to hunt their prey.
Jiang Chen suddenly realized he had separated from Wen Xin and Meng Hao. He knew none of the people around him.
“There’s a door!”
The guy running in front shouted in delighted surprise and ran even faster to get there as soon as possible.
That door was of the same height and same width as the corridor, made from darksteel, plated with rose gold and carved with a pretty pattern.
Jiang Chen and his companions pushed the door. Without too much effort, the door was open.
They flocked into the room at the quickest speed and closed the door.
“Find something to block the door!”
Jiang Chen and a few others were pushing against the door. The demons were banging on it from the other side. Fortunately, they were just pushing blindly, having no idea that it would work better if they made an effort at the same time.
“Bar! There’s a bar!”
Some people found a piece of wood on the door. The door could be locked if they put the wood down.
“Will it work? It’s only a piece of wood.”
Those who were pushing against the door didn’t dare to be careless. They didn’t ease up until they confirmed how hard the wood was.
“It’s surprising this place is below the prison. Could the treasure of the Vermillion Bird State be hidden here?”
Once the crisis was alleviated for the moment, greed started to spread again.
By then, they were in a stone cave of a reasonably large size. There was a sacrificial altar opposite of the door, about 20 yards high.
There were many fresco paintings on the walls around the altar and some big boxes scattered around it.
They saw some rusty weapons and worthless copper ware in the boxes when they opened them.
However, they weren’t disappointed, since this could be a sign of treasure.
On the left side of the altar, there was a stone door. Although they didn’t know where it led, they were curious to know what was behind it.
Some people ran onto the altar and saw a giant rectangular rock in the middle of it. In the center of the rock, there was a crack that split it that looked like it could be opened.
Could there be treasure inside the rock?
They became excited and opened the rock right away and saw an open book inside it.
A guy picked the book up with a disappointed expression. He turned the pages roughly and found nothing but characters he couldn’t understand.
Soon, other people started to complain. They thought that could be treasure, but it was only a stupid book.
“Let’s take a look.”
Jiang Chen took the book. He understood the characters in it and started to explain to the others what the book was about. “They’re characters used before the Era of the Hero. The book is about the history of the Vermillion Bird State. Where we are is its imperial mausoleum.”
It wasn’t the imperial mausoleum of just one of the kings, all kings of the Vermillion Bird State were buried there.
The prison above had been used to keep sacrificed slaves.
When the demons had invaded, the state had turned that place into a prison to extract demon blood.
“They used the prison as the entrance of the imperial mausoleum so that the demons kept there could prevent others from robbing the tomb. Clever,” Jiang Chen thought to himself.
“Imperial mausoleum? So there must be treasure in the coffin chamber.” The others’ eyes lit up. There must have been lots of valuable things buried with those kings.
Some short-tempered people had already walked towards the stone door, others staring at the book in Jiang Chen’s hands.
“Here you are.” Jiang Chen knew what they were thinking. They were thinking the book could be a priceless thing whose value they didn’t know yet.
They handed the book around, but none of them saw anything special in it.
However, they didn’t want other people to have it.
What if it was priceless?
“Burn it,” someone proposed.
“There could be instructions of how to find the exit as well as maps of secret tunnels in it. Are you sure you want to burn it?” Jiang Chen said.
They hesitated.
“Read through it now. If you don’t find anything special, we’ll burn it.”
Jiang Chen said discontentedly, “If this were priceless, I wouldn’t need your permission to take it. Do you think you’re any stronger than me? Translation takes time. A word could mean many things. You want me to read it here until the end of the world?”
They had to give up when they saw Jiang Chen was irritated. Then they walked towards the stone door.
Unbelievable.
Jiang Chen put the book into his mustardseed ring, not because it was priceless, but as he had said, it could contain instructions on how to leave.
However, something suddenly occurred to him. He felt he was being targeted specially by the demons during the escape.
In the beginning, he had thought it was only an illusion, but this feeling became even stronger when they were pushing against the door.
“Low-level demons are loyal to demon lords. I killed the demon lord. Do they want revenge for his death? But how did they know that I killed the demon lord?”
Jiang Chen tried to search for the answer in the books he had read and soon figured out why.
It was because of the blood bead of the demon lord!
Only demon lords could form blood beads. It was the source of their great power.
Whoever kills a demon lord will take his blood bead. If the energy of the blood bead isn’t absorbed in time, other demons will sense it.
He recalled what he had read in a book. Jiang Chen immediately examined his body and found a blood bead in his Qihai.
No wonder. If I don’t absorb it in time, it will be an invitation to those demons. They’ll know wherever I’m hiding.
Jiang Chen looked over to the door still under attack by the demons and took some panaceas immediately. Then he sat down to exert his martial arts method.
Little by little, the bead started to melt. At the same time, he felt a weaker hatred from the demons.
His state had also enhanced thanks to the bead.
No wonder so many people kill demons in the Alien Battlefield.
Jiang Chen was really lucky. He would in no way have been able to kill a demon lord if that one hadn’t been that weak. And he received a blood bead of the demon lord that even those in the Mental Wander State lusted for.
I’m already very close to the completed late stage.
Jiang Chen stood up. Suddenly, he saw a split on the wood lump on the door. He was given a scare and hurried to walk towards the stone door.
Behind the stone door was a passage that had never been finished. Only half of it was paved with flagstones. In the second half, the ground was quite rough and difficult to walk on.
Where is everyone?
Jiang Chen felt uneasy, since his companions had suddenly disappeared. He couldn’t hear a thing.
“Hello!” Jiang Chen shouted, but no one responded. He could only hear his own echo.
“Stay calm.” Jiang Chen took out his Redcloud Sword. He kept walking slowly, staying in the light emitted from his sword.
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