157: Underground Palace

Chapter 156 Underground Imperial Palace

"What monster?"

"Get out of the way!"

"Crap!"

Several exclamation sounds rang out, and the team of twelve death row prisoners immediately panicked. Linghu Cang, who was at the lead, even thrust his sword directly toward the rushing monster Dragon.

"Boom!"

A muffled explosion rang out. Amidst everyone's terrified and incredulous gazes, this monster Dragon actually rushed directly through their bodies.

A fierce wind struck, mixed with a large amount of smoke and dust, rushing straight out and blinding everyone's eyes all at once.

The entire team immediately panicked, and many people staggered backward.

But they quickly discovered that something was wrong; this was not any monster Dragon at all, but a strange gust of wind!

Mixed with a large amount of dust, this hurricane swept over and almost blew the dozen or so people down to the ground.

"What monster is that?"

"It's not a monster! It seems to be a gust of wind?"

"What should we do...?"

Behind them, Hu Bafeng's voice rang out: "Everyone, do not be afraid. That is not a monster, but dust formed by the weathering of the paint on some carvings in the mausoleum over hundreds of years."

"When we open the tomb door, that dust will rush out; it is completely harmless!"

"Continue forward!"

The twelve people looked at each other, carefully checked their own bodies, and indeed found no problems, so they immediately continued forward.

This was a dim, wide staircase leading all the way down, resembling a coiled giant python. The twelve people brandished their weapons and carefully groped their way forward.

And behind them, there wasn't a single person!

In front of the great tomb gate, Hu Bafeng was lying on the ground, listening intently to something.

Beside him, Chen Liancang stood quietly.

"Father-in-law, they are still going down. The tomb passage should be a downward spiral staircase... Still going down... Huh?"

"Not good! They have triggered a mechanism!"

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh, whoosh!!"

Right at this moment, bursts of piercing sounds of breaking through the air suddenly came from within the tomb passage, followed closely by the screams of the death row prisoners and the clashing sounds of weapons.

Before long, several panicked footsteps rushed out from the tomb passage.

Chen Liancang waved his hand, and immediately over a hundred Jinyi Guards appeared behind him, drawing their bows and nocking their arrows, pointing at them from afar.

Originally there were twelve death row prisoners, but at this moment only nine remained, and every single one of them was injured.

As for the three death row prisoners who didn't come out, they must have already died.

"You are not allowed to come out! All of you, get back in there for this servant!"

"Father-in-law!"

Linghu Cang walked out from the crowd. His left shoulder had an obvious injury, clearly having been hit by a mechanism inside the tomb passage.

"The inside of the tomb passage is full of mechanisms, we..."

"What?"

Chen Liancang said indifferently: "If it were safe, what use would we have for you? All of you, get in there for this servant and cross the tomb passage!"

"Otherwise, do not blame this servant!"

As soon as his voice fell, the longbows in the hands of the over a hundred Jinyi Guards had already been drawn to a full moon.

Linghu Cang's lips twitched, and he really wanted to charge out and kill his way through.

But seeing these sharp arrows one after another, as well as the several eunuchs with gloomy auras hidden in the dark, he immediately extinguished the thought of charging out.

The eunuchs here included at least one Grandmaster Realm Martial Artist.

The twelve of them were simply no match.

Let alone there being so many fully armed Jinyi Guards.

"We encountered mechanisms in the tomb passage, and countless rain of arrows attacked us."

Linghu Cang said: "In order to fulfill Father-in-law's commission, can you provide shields for us?"

Chen Liancang said: "Give them shields."

"Yes!"

The leading Jinyi Guard Chiliarch Zhang Jianping waved his hand, and immediately a team of Jinyi Guards found several shields and threw them to them.

These shields all belonged to the Imperial Guards. They were half-body shields, about three chi long. As long as the user bent over and hid behind the shield, it was enough to protect the whole body.

Looking at the nine shields thrown on the ground and the fully armed Jinyi Guards waiting around, Linghu Cang could only helplessly grab a shield.

"Everyone, if you want to stay alive, continue going down."

"Dammit!"

"Isn't this taking our lives!"

"Staying in prison is death, and here it is still death..."

"Who says that? At least there is a glimmer of survival!"

Several people whispered among themselves, and finally, under the coercion of the Jinyi Guards' bows and arrows, they had no choice but to pick up the shields on the ground and retreat back into the tomb passage.

Hu Bafeng continued to lie on the ground, listening to the movement inside the tomb passage.

"They have gone in!"

"They hit a mechanism again!"

"It is the simplest crossbow mechanism, which can shoot powerful crossbow bolts from the wall!"

"They made contact..."

The piercing sound of arrows striking the shields didn't even require lying on the ground to hear; everyone present standing at the entrance of the tomb passage could hear it.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

Occasionally, a few screams rang out, but this time no one ran out from inside.

This sound continued for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea before gradually weakening.

"The sound has weakened; they have successfully passed this mechanism."

Chen Liancang immediately said: "Everyone, enter the tomb passage!"

"Yes!"

Over a hundred Jinyi Guards immediately entered the tomb passage one by one. The sides were entirely composed of Jinyi Guards carrying shields to fend off suddenly appearing traps.

And the people in the middle were Chen Liancang, Chen Zhong, Hu Bafeng, and other Shadow Guards and Mojin Captains.

The stairs led downwards, and the surroundings were silent, with only the sounds of everyone hurrying along.

Before long, a monster appeared before everyone's eyes, and the front team suddenly stopped.

"Father-in-law, their corpses have been found, along with a large number of arrows."

"How many corpses are there?"

"Seven!"

"Throw them aside, everyone continue downwards."

"Yes!"

The team soon continued forward, and Chen Liancang and the others also encountered this pile of corpses.

The ground was covered in arrows, and these corpses had almost been shot into hedgehogs.

And on the walls and ceiling on both sides were dense, dark holes, behind which were hidden all kinds of crossbow mechanisms!

"Where are they?"

"In front!"

Everyone continued forward, and the death row prisoner team ahead, which now only had five people left, also discovered them.

The few people looked back, their eyes strange, but they still bit the bullet and continued forward.

There was an interval of about a hundred meters between the two teams, slowly crawling forward.

The death row prisoner team walked very slowly, testing their way forward almost every step.

Chen Liancang didn't rush them either, just walking quietly like this.

Finally, after the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the speed of the death row prisoner team ahead suddenly increased, as if they had discovered something.

Everyone also accelerated their speed, and soon rushed out of the tomb passage, entering another world.

"Whoosh...!"

The sound of commotion immediately rang out, and many Jinyi Guards present could not help exclaiming aloud.

This was because what appeared before their eyes turned out to be a massive underground palace!

The underground palace was shaped like a city, vaguely resembling a scaled-down version of the capital.

As Chen Liancang, who had lived in the capital for over fifty years, he saw what it was at a glance.

The underground palace before them was the capital!

However, it was scaled down countless times, an underground palace replicated according to the appearance of the capital over three hundred years ago!

Everyone instinctively looked into the distance. The underground palace was dark and visibility was limited, but they could still faintly see that there was an even taller building in the distance, standing right before them.

"Where are the death row prisoners?"

"Where is that group of death row prisoners?"

"They are gone!"

"This subordinate seems to have seen them just run into the underground palace!"

Chen Liancang frowned and said: "Never mind them for now, let them be."

"Night pearls!"

A team of Jinyi Guards ran out from the back of the team, pulled out goose-egg-sized night pearls from their bosoms, took a deep breath, grasped them in their hands, and forcefully threw them around into the distance!

With the help of the faint light of the night pearls, everyone was finally able to see clearly that this place was indeed a huge underground palace.

And Chen Liancang personally took out a night pearl, circulated his True Qi, and then fiercely threw the night pearl in his hand toward the huge building hidden in the darkness directly ahead.

The night pearl almost turned into a flash of light, vanishing in an instant, and then with a 'bang', it heavily smashed against the wall.

Even embedding itself into it!

At this moment, Chen Liancang's pupils suddenly shrank, because the night pearl he threw out was actually embedded on a huge stone staircase!

That was... a huge sacrificial altar built surrounded by the capital!

Under the faint light, upon those tall stone steps, there was unexpectedly a miniature palace.

That was... the palace where the founding Emperor of Great Yu, Zheng Mingsen, had lived over three hundred years ago. Who would have thought it was also replicated here!

Founding Emperor Zheng Mingsen, not only did he want to be emperor when he was alive,

but even after death, he still wanted to be emperor!

"An underground palace shaped like the capital, and the sleeping quarters where the founding emperor lived. Could it be that the founding emperor's mausoleum is inside the palace on the sacrificial altar?"

Chen Liancang pondered for a few breaths, only to find several Mojin Captains running over from not far away.

"What did they go to do?"

Hu Bafeng explained: "Father-in-law, this is the previous custom of our grave robbing... Mojin Captains, passed down by our ancestors."

"Whenever entering a great tomb, before opening the coffin, a candle must be lit in the southeast corner of the tomb chamber."

"When opening the coffin, if the candle goes out, it proves that the owner of the tomb does not welcome us. The coffin must be sealed and we must leave quickly, otherwise something major will happen."

"But if the candle does not go out, it proves that the tomb owner already knew we were coming, and has also prepared some gifts for us. We can take one or two..."

Chen Liancang sneered: "You grave robbers still believe in these things?"

Hu Bafeng explained sheepishly: "Father-in-law, for those in our trade, seeking blessings is just for peace of mind."

"Believe it or not, it is a rule passed down by our ancestors, and it really has saved the lives of many people."

Chen Liancang said: "this servant doesn't care if you light candles, but... we haven't even reached the tomb owner's coffin yet, what kind of candle are you lighting?"

Hu Bafeng swallowed his saliva, instinctively looked toward the huge altar in the distance, and then looked toward the underground palace not far away, saying in a low voice: "Father-in-law..."

"This is not only the tomb of the founding emperor, but also the tomb of many eunuchs, palace maids, guards, and even the craftsmen who built this underground palace mausoleum."

"This here is the real great tomb!!!"

"Hmm?"

Meanwhile, inside the underground palace.

Linghu Cang was leading the other four lucky survivors walking inside the underground palace. All five of them carried injuries on their bodies, all pierced by crossbow arrows.

Even Linghu Cang at the lead was the same, his face extremely pale.

Finally, Linghu Cang found a house with its large doors wide open, and after observing for a few moments, he walked in.

"Brother Linghu, are we going to stay here?"

"Correct!"

Linghu Cang tore off his sleeve, wrapped up his wound, and said: "Those Jinyi Guards' target is the depths of the underground palace. No matter what they do, it has nothing to do with us."

"Fortunately, there are many houses here. We will hide here, and after they go in, we will quietly run back out the way we came."

"In this imperial mausoleum, we have a ten-to-one chance of death with zero survival!"

"Although that old eunuch promised to let us go, who knows if he was lying to us?"

"No matter what, I will not hand my life over into the hands of others."

"Once they go in, we will kill our way out of Tianshou Mountain; that is still better than dying here!"

The four of them wrapped their wounds in silence when someone suddenly said: "Brother Linghu, this is the imperial mausoleum of the Great Yu founding emperor! Do you think there will be a lot of gold and silver treasures?"

"There definitely are! Perhaps there are also many martial arts manuals!"

"Rumor has it that Emperor Zhengyong is single-mindedly devoted to cultivating immortality. When he excavated the founding emperor's mausoleum, could it also be for the legendary Cultivation Technique of immortal cultivation?"

The more the four talked, the more excited they became, and their eyes were filled with greed.

Linghu Cang also thought about it for a moment, but quickly snapped back to reality.

"Our purpose is to stay alive. We must never go deep into the underground palace... Click!"

All five of them froze. Linghu Cang swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said: "What did you guys do?"

"Just now, what... was that sound?"

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