Chapter 870: Reunion
Mi Li’s expression became serious when she saw who was inside as well. Bi Linglong cried out in alarm. They reacted that way because the figure was someone who shouldn’t have been there at all: Han Zhong!
They had met Han Zhong on the first sacred mountain, but they were now already on the third sacred mountain. Furthermore, they had seen Han Zhong die with their own eyes not too long ago. With their cultivation and knowledge, they knew his death wasn’t fake. But the weed monster who had died on the first sacred mountain had actually arrived here before them, waiting for them in this coffin.
Bi Linglong pursed her lips and asked with difficulty, “Are we seeing things?” Compared to Mi Li, who felt at home here, she instead found the place eerie and creepy. The earlier she could leave, the better.
Mi Li frowned. “Could it be that the Han Zhong we saw earlier was fake? Or perhaps this one is fake?”
Zu An reached his hand to feel the corpse. He shook his head and said, “I fought with him earlier, so I can still sense some of my ki on him. Judging from the condition of the corpse, it’s apparent that it hasn’t been long since it died. It would already be dried bones if it had died during the Qin Dynasty.”
“Then why is it here?” Bi Linglong wrapped her arms around her knees. She felt a chill run through her body.
“He might’ve been brought here by those vines.” Mi Li gave the vines in the room a look. “This place is rich with the wood element. It’s definitely an abnormal situation.”
“Then is there a chance of an elemental creature appearing again?” Bi Linglong gripped her sword handle. The humiliating stance she had been in before hurt her whenever she thought about it. She really didn’t want to go through that again.
Zu An shook his head. “I already checked when I first entered this room. Even though this place is rich with the wood element, there are no signs of any elemental creatures.”
Mi Li explained, “It might be because of Han Zhong’s death, so the density of the wood element here hasn’t accumulated long enough to create any elemental creatures. Let’s keep looking around.”
“Do you think this palace is being used to activate some kind of sinister formation?” Zu An asked Mi Li along the way.
Mi Li nodded. “There’s a good chance. Ying Zheng was willing to try anything to obtain eternal life. I wouldn’t be surprised if he created some sort of evil formation to achieve this. We need to be careful.”
That possibility immediately made the atmosphere somber. None of them could relax when there was such a possibility.
A while later, BI Linglong subconsciously tugged at her collar, asking, “Do you two feel hot at all?”
Zu An voiced his agreement. “It is a bit hot.” Even he felt the urge to take off his shirt. Wait… isn’t it a good thing that it’s getting hot?
Mi Li’s expression became serious as she said, “I can sense the fire element stirring. Everyone, be careful.”
Zu An could already see faint red glimmers coming out of a room in the distance. That was probably where the feeling of the agitated fire element came from. All of them continued carefully. The closer they got, the hotter they felt. They could clearly feel waves of heat hit them in the face as soon as they opened the door.
Just like the previous two rooms, there was a coffin at the very center of the room. Beneath the coffin were all kinds of complex runes that extended out in all directions. The room was much taller than the previous two, and even the coffin and the surrounding funerary objects were similarly taller.
But something above them drew their attention. Densely packed red lights flickered around on the ceiling, as if countless eyes were opening and closing. Even Zu An, who had seen all sorts of things, felt a chill when he saw them. Someone more claustrophobic might have already passed out from the sight.
“What is that? Is it some thousand-eyed monster?” Zu An asked Mi Li cautiously, for fear of alarming the thing.
“Won’t we know if we give it a try?” Mi Li immediately swung her sleeves. A strong gale swept toward the ceiling.
Zu An was speechless. Why the hell does this woman always have to be so headstrong?!
The entire room lit up. The flickering red lights all became bright red, as if countless monsters had opened their eyes at the same time. Then, the red eyes rushed toward the party. They could finally see that the creatures weren’t eyes, but rather brightly burning butterflies.
Bi Linglong seemed to have remembered something when she saw the flaming butterflies. “Be careful; those are Blazing Devil Butterflies! Once, a teacher from the Royal Academy led a group of outstanding students into a small dungeon. In the end, their entire party was wiped out from an encounter with these butterflies! They can burn your body on contact, and you won’t be able to put the fire out no matter what you try; it’ll continue until all of your flesh is burned away…”
She suddenly froze, a blank expression on her face. She saw that there were already several embers on Zu An’s body.
Zu An frowned. Just as he was about to put up some resistance, he saw the flames suddenly begin to tremble. Then, they grew weaker and weaker before extinguishing on their own. Then, as if the Blazing Devil Butterflies had encountered something terrifying, they quickly shrank back. They attached themselves to the farthest wall and dimmed the flames around them as much as possible, as if they had gone back to sleep.
“Huh? How did you do that?” Forget about Bi Linglong, even Mi Li looked at Zu An in confusion. They hadn’t seen him do anything, so why had those flaming butterflies been scared off?
Zu An took out a flame-shaped pendant that hung around his neck. It flickered with a faint radiance as warmth spread out from it.
This was the pendant Pei Mianman had given him because she was scared that her black flames would hurt him. He hadn’t expected it to help him again today, that even the Blazing Devil Butterflies would be scared of the pendant. Even though it was light, it felt extremely heavy in Zu An’s hand. It represented Pei Mianman’s unconditional trust in him, as well as all of her love.
Mi Li chuckled when she saw his expression. “Hmph, it’s probably a gift from one of your lovers.”
Bi Linglong’s ears pricked up. She wondered who it was that had given him the pendant. She remembered that Zu An had many beauties around him. This man was nothing but a womanizer after all!
But she soon remembered her identity, which immediately helped her calm down. Even if they did leave this dungeon successfully, the emperor was still waiting outside. What future did she have left? Such thoughts were completely meaningless.
Zu An snapped out of his daze when he saw the Rage points appear. He changed the topic with an embarrassed smile. “Let’s take a look inside the room. Hm? The coffin looks like a crystal coffin. We might be able to look inside.” He jumped over to the crystal coffin after he spoke. But when he got up close, he was surprised. “Huh?”
Bi Linglong arrived next to him. She couldn't help but exclaim in alarm, “Is this person dead or alive?”
There was a young man lying inside. He had handsome features, even though his face was a bit pale. Everything else about him looked fine, and even his eyelashes could be seen clearly. It was as if they were looking at a living person! It was no wonder that Bi Linglong had been surprised.
Zu An was about to ask Mi Li if she recognized him, but he saw that her lips were trembling slightly. Her face was extremely pale. “What’s wrong?” he asked out of concern.
“This is my nephew, our Great Qin’s crown prince, Fu Su…” Mi Li’s fair fingers caressed the coffin. Her eyes were filled with sorrow.
“He’s Fu Su?” Zu An was shocked. “Just how many years have already passed? Why is his body still perfectly intact?!”