Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 52

Thinking this through, I shared my idea with Huang Zhihua, who agreed. Instead of racking our brains at the tomb entrance, we might as well try it out. He first drew his military bayonet and plunged it into the qilin's mouth—

The military bayonet slowly sank into the Qilin's mouth, but there was no activation of the mechanism or opening of the stone door as we had hoped.

"Useless!" Huang Zhihua shook his head, and was about to draw his military bayonet when he suddenly screamed and fell backward.

"What happened!" I exclaimed in shock. I rushed over to help Huang Zhihua up, only to find his face as pale as snow, his lips trembling. He pointed at the stone door and said, "There's an electric current on the stone door. It's a very strong current. If he hadn't dodged quickly, he would have been electrocuted to death."

Electricity… How could there be electricity on this stone door? Aren't electrical devices something invented only in the last few centuries? How could there be such a strong current in this underground tomb? Before I could finish my thought, the young master suddenly cried out in alarm. I looked up and was instantly terrified. I quickly pulled the young master away, and with my other hand, I grabbed Huang Zhihua. The three of us crawled on the ground. The tomb, which had been deathly quiet, began to crackle and pop. The military bayonet that Huang Zhihua had plunged into the mouth of the Qilin emitted a dazzling white light. Then, this titanium alloy bayonet slowly disappeared in the white light…

Only after the white light completely disappeared did I muster my courage to get up from the ground, carefully walk to the stone gate, and look at the strange Qilin stone sculpture. Suddenly, I was startled to see that its eyes actually moved. I quickly looked over again, but there was nothing there.

Am I seeing things? Was I blinded by that dazzling white light? I couldn't help but rub my eyes and look at the Qilin relief again. It was still the same, a stone was still a stone. Where did it blink?

"Old Xu, be careful!" the young master called out to me urgently.

I agreed and looked closely at the Qilin relief. I saw some yellow spots in the groove that was originally about two fingers wide. These were clearly traces of intense electric current burning, confirming the power of the current and proving that it was not an illusion or a deliberate attempt to mystify.

Strange—where did this electricity come from? Could it be that this underground tomb actually has a small power plant? Utilizing lightning from the sky? That's even more impossible; even with modern technology, humanity can only watch helplessly as powerful currents are wasted. But how could ancient people know how to use electricity? Could it really be, as Huang Zhihua said, a lost civilization? Did people of that era possess a more advanced technological civilization than we do now?

“Old Xu, perhaps… the key to this slot is your ancient bronze sword,” the young master suddenly whispered.

"An ancient bronze sword?" I thought to myself. Indeed, this ancient bronze sword was extremely unusual, and it was bound separately in the Bagua formation and found in the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum.

The Eight Trigrams Formation—could it be that the Eight Trigrams Formation in the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum is related to the sixteen characters I saw? The Eight Trigrams and the Sixty-Year Cycle, divine mechanisms and hidden secrets, the transformation of snakes and dragon bones, the flaws of heaven and earth…

Although we don't know what the so-called "divine mechanism and ghostly hiding place" really means, it seems that the two monsters, the snake-transformation dragon bone, have already appeared. And does "heavenly blemish and earthly defect" refer to the ancient bronze sword in my hand, or to that ancient seal? Is that ancient seal the River Suppression Seal, or the treasure seal used to suppress the demon king Chi You?

"Old Xu, what are you thinking about?" the young master asked when he saw that I hadn't spoken for a long time.

“You’re right. Maybe this ancient bronze sword is the key to opening the stone door to the tomb. I’ll give it a try,” I said. Huang Zhihua had warned me to be careful of the electric current, and he was still quite shaken.

I pulled out the bronze sword, hesitating whether to insert it into the slot. We had all seen Huang Zhihua insert the military bayonet, and his bayonet should have been melted by the strong electric current, leaving not even a trace. If the bronze sword were inserted into the slot, it would eventually be melted by the high temperature generated by the electric current. Wouldn't this ancient divine weapon be destroyed in my hands?

But then I thought, if we can't open the stone door of the tomb, it's questionable whether we can even get out alive. Besides, the girl's fate is currently unknown. What do antiques... swords... ancient divine weapons have to do with me? With that thought, I picked up the bronze ancient sword and slowly inserted it into the groove in the mouth of the Qilin relief.

As I watched the ancient bronze sword slowly sink into the groove in the mouth of the Qilin relief, a strange and inexplicable feeling rose within me. I couldn't describe the sensation; it was a mix of emotions, along with a strange sense of dread...

Fearing that the Qilin relief might generate a large amount of current like before, I hurriedly pulled the young master back a few steps after inserting the bronze sword into the slot. However, to my surprise, this time the Qilin relief did not generate a large amount of current. A soft click came from inside the stone door, as if something had fallen down. Then, the bronze sword that I had inserted into the slot slowly came out, as if some resistance inside was pushing it out.

With a snap, the bronze sword fell to the ground. I hurriedly picked it up and gripped it tightly in my hand. For some reason, I felt a sense of security when I held the bronze sword.

"Looks like we made the right bet; the stone door has opened," Huang Zhihua said in a low voice.

Sure enough, the moment the bronze sword fell to the ground, the previously perfectly sealed stone door slowly cracked open, but it didn't open completely like the original door. I gripped the bronze sword and slowly walked towards the stone door, one step... two steps...

In those few short steps, my vest was soaked with cold sweat again. I don't know why, but I was incredibly nervous, every nerve in my body was taut, and I was on the verge of collapse. I pressed my bronze sword against the stone door and pushed hard. With a creak, the stone door, sealed for thousands of years, was pushed open. It was truly unbelievable that after thousands of years, the inside of the stone door was completely intact.

The young master stood beside me and first shone his flashlight inside. It was indeed a tomb chamber. The beam of the flashlight was not bright, but I could vaguely see what looked like pavilions and terraces in front of me, though I couldn't make them out clearly at first.

I was focused on what was ahead and didn't notice what was under my feet. Suddenly, I felt like I stepped on something round, and I slipped and almost fell to the ground. Luckily, Huang Zhihua caught me.

"What is that?" I quickly looked down at the ground.

"Ah...isn't this the girl's bracelet?" The young master held up his flashlight and shone it on the entrance of the stone gate. Two broken pieces of jade bracelets lay on the ground. Since these were ancient jade bracelets, they were originally perfectly round. Now that they were broken, it was no wonder they were so slippery when I stepped on them.

This is indeed the girl's bracelet. I remember it clearly. That night, the old man from Nanpaizi invited me for drinks and gave the girl a pair of antique jade bracelets. The girl loved them very much and always wore them. But how did they break and end up here? I was more worried about the girl, so I bent down to pick up the bracelets from the ground. Just then, by the faint beam of the flashlight in the young master's hand, I clearly saw, behind the door, a pair of small green feet...

Is someone behind the door? A chill ran down my spine, and I straightened up abruptly. Huang Zhihua and the young master looked at me in confusion. I gestured to the young master and pointed behind the door.

Huang Zhihua's military bayonet was already broken. I took out my gun and carefully turned around the stone door. I kicked the stone door open with a heavy kick, almost crushing my toes. Then, the young master rushed in and shone his flashlight behind the door.

There is indeed a person behind the door of the tomb chamber—we can see it clearly now—but it is not a real person, but a dummy. It looks like a five or six-year-old child made of leather, with a very innocent expression. Its face is painted with color, and after thousands of years, it is still lifelike and has not faded at all. It is wearing green clothes and green embroidered shoes. Of course, nothing on it is made of cloth, otherwise it would probably have rotted away long ago. How could it have been preserved until now?

The three of us involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief, and only then did I realize that my palms were damp. The young master asked in a low voice after a long pause, "What does this mean? Putting a mannequin behind the door?"

I thought to myself, who knows? Ancient people's thoughts are different from modern people's. Maybe it's just children playing hide-and-seek? But before I could finish the thought, the stone door that I had kicked hard closed silently. Then I heard a click from the stone door, as if something had locked it.

"Oh no..." I realized the purpose of the dummy. The person who designed this tomb trap wanted us to discover the stone door, walk behind it, and have our attention drawn to the dummy while the door closed, trapping us inside. As I thought this, I turned to look at the other half of the stone door. Behind that side, there was another leather dummy, but this one was a boy in green, and the other a girl in red, both around five or six years old. Were these the children buried with us in the ancient tomb?

The young master rushed to the stone door, wanting to see if it could still be opened. However, the outside of the stone door had raised reliefs, and the inside was polished stone with no handle. The stone door was tightly closed, so there was no way to open it!

The young master complained that I shouldn't have kicked the stone door so hard. I understood that the stone door was closing automatically and had to be turned to a certain angle. If I hadn't kicked it, it probably wouldn't have closed. However, the designer of this mechanism had put two dummies behind the stone door to attract our attention. Under such circumstances, we would unconsciously close the stone door to study the dummies behind it. In this way, the stone door would naturally close and lock securely.

However, the mistake has already been made, and it's too late to regret it now. Huang Zhihua comforted the young master, saying, "It's alright, at worst we can just use explosives to blow open the stone gate later."

"Didn't you say we couldn't use explosives?" the young master muttered, complaining.

"Stop talking, finding the girl is the priority." I was upset and couldn't help but glance at the boy in green again. I felt that something was wrong. Suddenly I remembered that when I was on the water platform, I saw a floating corpse in the distance. Wasn't that the boy in green in front of me?

Oh, right, the story my grandma told me—sixty-one years ago, before the Yellow River dried up, there was a child wearing a green cotton-padded jacket, shouting everywhere that the Yellow River was going to dry up and that everyone should store up clean water…

Could it be that the green-clad child is the same green-clad child standing before us? And he can sneak out of the ancient tomb to get some fresh air and wander around whenever he wants?

I was stunned by my own thought. Looking at the child in green again, I felt there was an inexplicable evil about him...

"Old Xu, come here..." Huang Zhihua called to me. I quickly composed myself, ignoring the mannequin in green, and turned to walk towards Huang Zhihua. Just as I turned, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sinister and eerie smile tucked into the corner of the mannequin's mouth...

I was so scared that my vest was covered in cold sweat. I looked at the green-clothed child again, and it was still standing there, not moving at all. There was no more of that hideous and eerie smile!

"Old Xu, come here quickly!" the young master called to me urgently. I ignored the child in green and hurried over. This tomb chamber was even larger than we had imagined. We couldn't see from one side to the other. I estimated it to be about twenty to thirty meters long. Rows of carved stone pillars supported the middle and looked up, reaching a height of seven or eight meters. The top was paved with perfectly polished pure white stone, and on the ceiling, there were tiny specks of cold light, seemingly in openwork shapes.

“It’s a star map…” Huang Zhihua said in a low voice as he saw me looking at the top of the tomb.

“Yes, it is indeed a star map…” I nodded. Although the beam of the flashlight only allowed me to see a part of the top of the tomb chamber, I could still tell at a glance that it was indeed a star map. The highlights of these openwork carvings were definitely not abstract art pieces made with modern techniques, but standard star maps. When I thought of the image of the golden-clad girl behind the star map on that rainy night, I couldn’t help but hold up my flashlight and shine it around.

But I was disappointed. There was only a pure starry sky picture here, and no image of a girl. The picture of the starry sky on a rainy night was not from this location, but was formed elsewhere.

I withdrew my gaze and began to look around. Everything here was so magnificent, with rows of buildings in the middle, though I couldn't make them out clearly at first glance because of the distance. I glanced at Huang Zhihua, who was also looking at me. The young master was about to rush over in a flustered manner, but I quickly pulled him back and whispered, "Be careful!"

"This was built according to the principles of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams!" The young master said first as we approached the buildings.

Indeed, although there are some buildings here that we do not know, their orientation and scale are exactly eight sides, each with a stone door. All the stone doors are open, and you can see the general shape inside from the outside. The four sides are surrounded by walls. The eight sides have eight gates, which perfectly match the orientation of the Bagua formation.

The wall is about four meters high and is also made of pure white, translucent stone. I don't understand. I've never seen this kind of stone before, nor have I ever heard of any place where there is such a jade-like stone. How come there are so many here? There are stones used for paving the ground, paving the ceiling, building walls, and even building coffins in the Yellow River... although those things probably can't be considered coffins.

What saddened me was that, compared to the grandeur of the entire wall and the tomb chamber, it wasn't particularly tall. But the problem was, four meters wasn't high, yet... even if two people were stacked on top of each other, they still couldn't reach inside. Fortunately, there were stone doors on all eight sides, and the young master had already been peeking inside with his flashlight, but because the area was so large, we couldn't see the specific scene inside.

The beam of the flashlight shone down, revealing countless ghostly figures, exuding a musty, stale atmosphere that weighed heavily on our hearts.

I examined the stone gate entrance more closely. There was no door; both sides were adorned with intricate stone reliefs. This time, however, the stone reliefs weren't of the Qilin (a mythical creature), but rather of a monster with a human body and a wolf's face, standing at the stone gate—

A human body with a wolf's face—I was startled. I remembered that when I entered the ancient tomb, I turned around abruptly and saw a shadow with a human body and a wolf's face. Could it be that this place, like the Guangchuan King's Tomb, has some kind of guardian spirit beast?

"Should we go in?" the young master asked me in a low voice.

Now that things have come to this, do we have any way out? If we don't go in, the stone door to the tomb is already closed. Are we just going to stand here and wait to die? Huang Zhihua, holding a gun, whispered to me, "I'll go in front, young master in the middle, and Lao Xu will cover the rear."

I agreed and handed the flashlight back to the young master, while simultaneously drawing my bronze sword, ready to fight to the death at any moment.

But at that moment, a cold wind suddenly blew by. Although I was wearing thick protective clothing, I still felt as if the cold wind had penetrated into my bones and chilled me to the bone. I couldn't help but shiver.

"Where did this wind come from? It's so cold!" the young master standing in front of me said in a low voice.

I looked back, but there was nothing around me, and we were underground in a sealed environment, so where was the wind coming from? I was full of doubts, but I didn't say anything.

Huang Zhihua told the young master to be careful.

The three of us walked into the stone gate together. To our surprise, the stone gate, which was surrounded by walls on all sides, was completely empty. The only thing we saw was a white jade platform that wasn't very tall. It was also an octagonal shape and looked like a Bagua formation.

The three of us walked step by step toward the platform, but at that moment, a sound like a broken gong came from the deathly silent underground world. The sound was indescribably strange.

"What was that sound?" I asked in surprise.

"It sounds like a gong..." the young master said softly.

Huang Zhihua, who was walking at the front, suddenly turned around with a pale face. Without saying a word, he grabbed the young master and ran desperately toward the entrance of the tomb chamber.

"What's wrong?" I asked in surprise. I was afraid of being left alone after they ran away, so I had no choice but to run after them.

"Old Xu, don't ask, hurry up and go... This is weird!" Without saying another word, he grabbed the young master and ran forward desperately. But just as we approached the stone door of the tomb, I was shocked to see that the two dummy children who were originally standing quietly in the corner of the stone door had somehow stood straight in front of the door.

Chapter Five: Reappearance

"Damn it, get out of here, or I'll kill you two brats first." Huang Zhihua said, and his gun had already fired a burst of bullets. The two brats swayed and fell to the ground at the same time.

Just as I was about to scold Huang Zhihua for making a fuss, all the stars on the star map, which was originally inlaid with countless sequins, suddenly flashed with extremely bright light, and countless bright spots fell from the sky.

"Old Xu, be careful, that one's electrified..." Huang Zhihua exclaimed. I hurriedly brandished my bronze sword to protect everyone.

"What do we do?" the young master asked urgently. The only stone door to the tomb chamber was now tightly shut, and lightning was flashing overhead; if it struck us, it would surely scorch us to the core...

Damn it, lightning again! How did the ancients know how to use lightning... Strange, the ancient bronze sword in my hand doesn't conduct electricity? I discovered that the ancient bronze sword in my hand was actually guiding the lightning that struck down into the ground.

"Damn it, I'll risk it all..." Huang Zhihua roared, quickly pulling out several grenades from his backpack. He had really gone all out to explore the Kunlun Wind Eye this time. He threw several grenades at the same time, and several beautiful sparks immediately appeared in the already lightning-filled tomb. The tomb, which had been silent for thousands of years, became extremely lively for a moment.

I don't know if the grenade blew open the stone gate, but at the same time as the explosion, I was thrown far away by the blast wave. Because I was afraid that something might happen to the young master, I held on to him desperately. At that moment, my chest was churning with blood and I almost vomited blood on the spot.

After the explosion, what was originally just lightning and thunder in the tomb chamber was suddenly filled with a colorful meteor shower... no, not the kind of meteor shower full of poetic beauty, but meteors of various colors, carrying devastating disaster, crashing down on our heads.

"Old Xu, this way..." Huang Zhihua exclaimed from the side.

Without thinking twice, I grabbed the young master and followed closely behind, but I couldn't help but grumble in my heart. This guy must have seen a ghost. He actually ran away like that. Damn it, he's a People's Liberation Army soldier. How can he be more cowardly than a rabbit? He messed up a perfectly good thing. If he hadn't fired his gun and thrown explosives randomly, there wouldn't have been shooting stars in the sky.

It was probably the power of the explosives that led us into an underground tunnel. I didn't have time to check my surroundings; I just followed behind him. In the distance, I could still hear the sounds of explosions and see things collapsing... I guess the entire tomb chamber was destroyed by his indiscriminate blasting.

"Oh no!" I stopped abruptly, and Shao was pulled hard by me, falling to the ground with a thud.

"What's wrong?" Huang Zhihua stopped and asked anxiously.

"Wang Ruonan is still inside. Now that you've blown up the tomb, what will happen to her?" I roared. Huang Zhihua didn't seem like a reckless person to begin with, so how could he...?

“Girl…I’ve already seen it!” Huang Zhihua shook his head and said, “Why do you think I’m running away with you? Let’s not talk about it now, let’s get out of here first.”

The young master had been secretly in love with the girl for a long time, but unfortunately, his feelings were unrequited. Even so, he remained obstinate. Upon hearing this, he grabbed Huang Zhihua and angrily said, "Since you saw her, why didn't you bring her out with you? What are you planning to do?"

"Where is this place?" Ignoring the young master and Huang Zhihua, I took the opportunity to survey our current situation. This should be an underground tunnel, but strange plants were growing on both sides. They had no leaves, only finger-thick vines, which covered the tunnel walls densely, completely obscuring its original color...

I looked up, but the tunnel seemed endless, and I had no idea where it led.

"How would I know where this place is?" Huang Zhihua yanked the young master away. He was a soldier, and if it came to blows, even if the young master and I joined forces, we wouldn't be a match for him.

"Hurry up..." I suddenly felt a chill. Underneath these strange vines were piles of white bones... Heavens, could this have been a burial pit? We've actually wandered into one?

As I spoke, I quickly pulled the young master over, ignoring his objections, and dragged him away. The young master was still preparing to fight Huang Zhihua to the death, but I couldn't help but angrily say, "Find a way out first. If you're going to fight to the death, you have to find out why. Otherwise, you might as well die here without knowing why."

Hearing my words, the young master, also seething with anger, mustered his spirits and charged forward. But just then, I heard Huang Zhihua's exclamation from behind. I quickly turned around and saw that the vines, as if alive, had wrapped around his ankles. I was shocked; these vines were indeed strange. I immediately swung my ancient bronze sword and slashed fiercely at the vines.

Several vines broke off, and I could clearly smell the stench of rotting corpses. I was horrified; my initial guess seemed to be correct—these vines had grown from dead bodies…

"You all go first, I'll cover the rear," I instructed.

Huang Zhihua didn't say a word, grabbed the young master who was eyeing him menacingly, and rushed towards the front of the tunnel. Behind me, the vines on both sides of the tunnel were like tentacles, wrapping around me. I swung my bronze ancient sword, slashing wildly, closely following behind Huashu and the young master, running quickly forward.

Unfortunately, the tunnel was filled with these vines that clung to corpses. The young master, caught off guard, had his ankle caught in one of the vines and fell heavily to the ground. Huang Zhihua tried to pull him up, but he was too slow and was also entangled by the vines. I rushed up from behind and swung my sword wildly, finally managing to cut through the dense vines. I helped the young master up; he was already pale with fright and couldn't even speak.

“I’ll lead the way, you guys follow…” I said immediately.

“Okay, don’t worry about us, I’ll keep up!” Huang Zhihua took out a dagger from his backpack and followed closely behind me. I brandished my bronze ancient sword and slashed my way through, clearing the path ahead.