Chapter 868: Coffin
Bi Linglong’s face paled, but she still gripped her sword tightly. The emperor had once been the absolute symbol of unrivaled power, so she couldn’t even produce a single thought of rebellion.
And yet, her time together with Zu An seemed to have had an influence on her. She had gradually discovered that the emperor wasn’t all that terrifying after all. He got angry, and there were times where he would fly into a fit of rage, and yet was powerless to do anything. He got injured just like everyone else, and bled like everyone else…
She suddenly realized that the emperor was still only human! She was curious how Zu An was going to reply, but she knew for sure that he wouldn’t be scared.
Zu An didn’t disappoint her. He raised his Tai’e Sword confidently and said, “You don’t look so good right now. Maybe not even at half of your usual strength, I reckon?”
Zhao Ruizhi harrumphed. “You’re right. I’ll give you credit for your courage, but even if I only have half my strength left, killing you will just be too easy.”
But he suddenly frowned and asked, “Who’s that red-clothed woman behind you? Is she an immortal from this palace?”
He had been extremely disappointed when he found that the palace was just another construct built by mortals. But the instant he saw Mi Li, his emotions were stirred up.This woman was beautiful and graceful. That look in her eyes, of seemingly looking down on everything, suited his tastes perfectly. Only someone like this had the right to be his empress! He didn’t care if she was some female immortal. He would find a way to obtain her.
Mi Li laughed lightly. “Fine, since you’ve spoken so nicely, I’ll spare your life today.” She twisted a dragon head knob on the imperial throne, and the ground atop the platform suddenly opened up. Zu An’s group fell straight through.
Zhao Ruizhi was alarmed. He rushed forward, but the ground had already closed up again. He slammed his fist down. With his strength, forget about the floor, not even a mountain would be able to handle his full-strength strike! Unfortunately, the ground surface was still smooth and unbroken. He could feel his strength dissipating in every direction.
Suddenly, the entire palace rumbled.
“Huh?” Zhao Ruizhi suddenly noticed that the entire palace seemed to have become one body through a myriad of rune formations. That was why brute force would never be able to destroy the mechanism.
That phenomenon put him on guard. This was definitely not an ordinary palace; otherwise, it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to destroy the entire thing if he really wanted to. But now, his fist didn’t even leave a mark.
Zhao Ruizhi repeated what Mi Li had done, twisting the dragon head knob on the throne. Unfortunately, there was no reaction at all. His expression darkened, He waved his sleeves, gesturing for He Li and the others to start searching for any hidden mechanisms. He had to find Zu An no matter what.
At the same time, there was something else that he was even more hesitant about. The red clothed beauty carried a strange aura, unlike that of a still-living person. Was she someone from this immortal palace? Things would be really troublesome if Zu An obtained her acknowledgment and obtained the elixir of immortality before he did.
Even though his reason told him that the chances of the dungeon having an elixir of immortality were extremely low, he refused to let anyone else have an edge over him no matter how low the chances were.
…
While Zhao Ruizhi’s group was busy looking for hidden mechanisms, Zu An’s group slid through a long secret passage. Eventually, they appeared in a completely new room. Mi Li walked over to the wall and twisted something that resembled a light fixture. This room immediately lit up.
“You were acting all tough earlier, but you ran away. How embarrassing,” Zu An said sarcastically.
Mi Li gave him a sidelong stare. “Wasn’t it for your sake? Even though he’s injured, there’s still no way in hell you could win. Even though I could deal with him, that would waste up too much of my soul power. The poison in my body could flare out again if we really fought, so why the heck would I fight him?”
Bi Linglong’s eyes widened. It sounded as if the red-clothed woman could actually defeat the emperor, but she chose not to, solely because she didn’t want to waste her power. Was she really that formidable?
“Haha, my master is absolutely brilliant!” Zu An exclaimed. “Wait, is this a luminescent pearl?” He saw a pearl that was giving off warm light on the wall. He reached out to grab it, but Mi Li smacked his hand away.
“Things like oil lamps aren’t very convenient in these sealed spaces. Of course we’d use luminescent pearls,” Mi Li explained while slowly walking forward.
Zu An followed her and asked, “Are you familiar with all of these mechanisms?”
Bi Linglong looked at her fearfully. This woman was someone from the ancient era after all! Could it be that she came from this place? She was incredibly confused, but now wasn’t the time to ask such questions. She could only quietly follow along, staying by Zu An’s side. She felt a strange sense of ease while she was at his side.
Mi Li replied indifferently, “I already told you that the layout of this place is pretty much the same as the Qin Imperial Palace. The Qin Emperor created that secret escape tunnel out of fear of a rebellion happening.”
“This place is more like an underground palace for the deceased. What if this sort of thing hadn’t been made? They’re already dead anyway, so why would they fear something like assassination?” Zu An said with a laugh.
“You’re still too young and haven’t experienced the inevitability of death,” Mi Li said calmly. “Whether it was the emperor or the common people, they believed in life after death. They believed that the way one lived before should be maintained even after death, because a new world awaited them after death; just that they would live through a different method.
“It’s just that it would be hard for an ordinary person to achieve something like that, but an emperor is different. An emperor really could replicate everything from when they were still alive, like an army or an imperial palace. In that case, why would they skimp on something like the imperial palace’s emergency escape tunnel? You need to understand that for people who treasure life to that extent, they worry that they might be assassinated even after they die.”
Zu An replied mockingly, “Wasn’t the Qin Emperor really formidable anyway? Did he have such little confidence in his own cultivation? Did he really have to be worried about any assassinations?”
Mi Li turned around and gave him a look. “Even for the smallest chance, he would still prepare just in case. Someone like him wouldn’t let the slightest possibility go. Take that Zhao Han outside, for example. He clearly knows there’s no chance of this place having the elixir of immortality, but it was because he wasn’t willing to give up on even the slightest possibility that you led him right by the nose the entire time.”
Zu An couldn’t help but say with a sigh, “Your distinguished self really is long-winded.”[1]
Bi Linglong could barely hold in her laughter. Mi Li rolled her eyes. She was already used to Zu An’s weird style of speaking.
Suddenly, a loud rumble erupted, and the three of them almost lost their footing.
“What the hell? Is there an earthquake?” Zu An exclaimed as he grabbed Bi Linglong and Mi Li.
Mi Li flung his hand away and rose into the air. She frowned, saying, “I can sense that our surroundings are changing.”
Sand and dust began to fall from above as she spoke. Then, the walls around them began to quickly rise, fall, and slide horizontally. The room continuously moved and shifted. The entire palace around them began to change quickly like a rapidly changing Rubik’s cube, while they seemed to be the small square at the very center.
The entire room had ended up lying on one side. Zu An could only hold on by grabbing a candlestick. He quickly turned to Mi Li and asked, “Was your palace this crazy too?”
“I don’t know what’s going on either. The Imperial Palace obviously didn’t do this.” Mi Li’s figure became a bit unstable. For fear that the changing room might separate them, she chose to float a bit closer to Zu An.
The rumbling continued for roughly fifteen minutes before the surroundings gradually calmed down.
The group jumped off the wall… No, it was now the ceiling. Then, they walked through a newly formed door.
Mi Li frowned. “The layout has changed completely. I don’t even recognize anything now.”
Zu An laughed and replied, “Who cares? Let’s just go straight ahead. I’ve always been pretty lucky.”
But his smile quickly froze as they arrived in a giant room. The interior was wide and spacious, but there was a grand and imposing bronze coffin floating in the center. There were large chains binding the coffin, their ends extending toward the walls all around them.
Zu An felt his heart thud. “Did we somehow end up stumbling into the Qin Emperor’s tomb?”
. This is actually an interesting pun/slang phrase in Chinese. There’s a phrase that goes ‘a sentence from the ruler saves you ten years of reading’, but here, it says ‘a sentence from the ruler only saves you a sentence’, meaning it saves nothing. In other words, ‘you’re wasting time’. ?