Volume 2 The Assassin's Nightmare Chapter 335 Burial Goods
As the power of his soul extended, Zhou Ziwei's sense of touch slowly penetrated into the thick stone wall.
Then Zhou Ziwei was surprised to find that the stone wall here was more than three meters thick. No wonder even the most ordinary soul bead could not be blown open by it.
However, it wasn't as Zhou Ziwei had imagined. This wasn't the edge of the entire mausoleum. Behind that three-meter-thick stone wall, it was still clearly within the mausoleum's boundaries. Moreover... it seemed that this was where they had truly reached the relatively core of the mausoleum.
Opposite the stone wall was an extremely spacious tomb chamber, and inside this spacious tomb chamber, Zhou Ziwei finally saw for the first time the bizarre murals on the walls.
Around the tomb chamber, various burial objects were scattered around, among which was a jade tree that was more than three meters tall.
This is a lush tree carved entirely from a single piece of jade, and the quality of this jade is clearly not low, at least reaching the level of icy jade.
It's almost unimaginable how enormous such a large piece of jadeite would have been before it was carved into a giant tree, and how much it would have been worth...
Zhou Ziwei clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking to himself, "What a spendthrift!"
Without a doubt, the value of this giant jade tree must be extremely high. However... the amount of jade wasted in carving this giant tree must be considerable. Just by looking at the lifelike yet well-proportioned branches and leaves, one can tell how much jade residue had to be removed.
According to the customs of that era, these remnants left after being carved would never be collected and reused; they would simply be wasted.
Zhou Ziwei swept his soul power around the giant jade tree several times before swallowing hard and turning away.
Although if this jade tree could be sold, it would definitely fetch an astronomical price.
However... this thing is just too big. If Zhou Ziwei wanted to carry this thing and run away by burrowing underground, there would be absolutely no way he could do it.
Therefore, this is simply a treasure that can only be admired from afar; one can only look on with envy.
After moving his soul power forward and scanning around a few more times, Zhou Ziwei discovered several ornaments made of jade. Each one was made of top-quality jade that could fetch astronomical prices at auctions, making Zhou Ziwei's eyes light up.
No wonder that old bastard Qiao Mulin would stop at nothing to get the secret map of this tomb. Zhou Ziwei was certain that if anyone could dig out all the burial objects in this tomb, they could become rich overnight.
Putting everything else aside, if that giant jade tree were to be auctioned at a world-class auction house, it could potentially fetch over a billion dollars.
In this tomb chamber, there were also several other ornaments of comparable quality to the jade tree.
The value of these items here is therefore self-evident.
Of course, if someone were to bring all of these things to an auction house and put them up for auction... that would probably greatly reduce their value.
As the saying goes, things are valued for their rarity... If you have a unique and wonderful item in the world, its value is immeasurable. But if there are hundreds or thousands of such items... then even the best item won't be worth much.
If anyone were foolish enough to auction off all the jadeite buried here at once, it would not only greatly reduce the value of these items, but it would also likely cause the entire jadeite market to collapse.
Zhou Ziwei sighed inwardly, quickly scanning the area with his soul power, and a bitter feeling began to rise in his heart.
Judging from the appearance, even if this is not the tomb of that Burmese king, it is not far from the center of the mausoleum, otherwise there would definitely not be so many burial objects here.
This means that Zhou Ziwei's choice of direction was extremely poor. It seems that his reckless journey not only failed to bring him closer to the edge of the tomb, but instead led him further and further in.
If he wanted to get out as soon as possible, he would probably return by a long route and go straight in the opposite direction. This time, he would reach the edge of the tomb very quickly.
However… there was still a large swarm of terrifying flying insects capable of devouring souls chasing after them, so Zhou Ziwei dared not turn back…
Just as Zhou Ziwei was hesitating whether to continue along the original straight road to the end, or to turn around and walk in either direction... the soul power that was still scanning around the tomb chamber ahead suddenly caught sight of something on the wall opposite that tomb chamber.
The object looked like an ancient bronze oil lamp, but there was clearly no place to put oil inside, nor was there a wick. Instead, in the center of the lamp, there was a small piece of golden jade...
Oh my god... it's the Heart of Flame.
When Zhou Ziwei saw this, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. It was truly an unexpected turn of events... Originally, a large part of the reason he entered this tomb was to see if he could find the Heart of Flame.
Unexpectedly, when he had already lost all confidence and was being chased like a stray dog by a swarm of insects, only thinking about getting out of this hellish place as soon as possible, he unexpectedly discovered a Heart of Flame.
Although this Flame Heart wasn't large, even about half the size of the one Zhou Ziwei had left, every little bit counts... For Zhou Ziwei, this thing was practically an inexhaustible source of soul power, the wellspring of his energy. Despite its small size, this Flame Heart could provide Zhou Ziwei with at least 30,000 to 50,000 units of soul power.
Moreover, Zhou Ziwei's heart stirred immediately after scanning the vessel containing the Heart of Flame.
Without a doubt, judging from the shape of that thing, someone must have used this Heart of Flame as an energy source to release light and heat. Although the Heart of Flame itself does not emit light, if someone were to light a small oil lamp in this tomb, and the faint light from the oil lamp were to shine on the Heart of Flame, the Heart of Flame would immediately burst into flames and emit a light far exceeding that of the oil lamp.
This is because the light emitted by the Heart of Flame is not only due to the energy it absorbs from the light of the oil lamp, but also partly due to the energy it contains within itself as it burns.
Most importantly, Zhou Ziwei could tell from the location where the Heart of Flame was placed that it wasn't the center of the entire tomb chamber, so... he bet that there couldn't possibly be only one bronze lamp fueled by the Heart of Flame in this tomb chamber.
As expected, when Zhou Ziwei scanned the opposite stone wall with his soul power, he was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a bronze lamp like this every five or six meters. The flames inside each bronze lamp were all about the same size. After quickly and roughly scanning the wall with his soul power, Zhou Ziwei found seven or eight such bronze lamps.
I'm rich! Haha... I've really struck it rich this time.
For Zhou Ziwei, a treasure that could provide him with a continuous source of energy was a true treasure, its value immeasurable by money. If Zhou Ziwei could only take one thing from this tomb, he would rather choose a small piece of the Heart of Flame than take the potentially priceless Jade Tree.
He hadn't known which direction to go, but now Zhou Ziwei didn't hesitate at all. He immediately flicked his wrist and threw out two low-grade soul beads, which struck the stone wall that had been partially opened. In one go, he forcefully broke through the stone wall and then rushed into it like a gust of wind.
In order to quickly determine the exact location of those Flame Hearts, Zhou Ziwei simply stopped using his soul power to scan them bit by bit and instead took out a lighter from his pocket and lit it with a snap.
The tiny flames danced gently on the lighter's nozzle, and in just a moment, Zhou Ziwei saw golden flames suddenly ignite in more than thirty places on the stone walls of the vast tomb chamber.
Hearts of Flame... they're all Hearts of Flame...
Zhou Ziwei could no longer conceal the greed in his eyes. He didn't care about anything else and immediately ran to the nearest bronze lamp. With a sweep of his soul power, he completely enveloped the still faintly burning heart of flame, and then grabbed it with a wave of his hand.
As soon as the Heart of Flame entered Zhou Ziwei's soul power, the flames burning on it immediately went out, and strands of pure energy were instantly absorbed by Zhou Ziwei into his vast sea of soul.
Zhou Ziwei, however, did not pause for a moment. He quickly moved to the front of another bronze lamp, and in the same manner, took out the heart of flame from it. Then he ran towards the third bronze lamp.
As Zhou Ziwei took down five Flame Hearts in one go, he suddenly heard a faint buzzing sound behind him. Zhou Ziwei's nerves, which were in a state of extreme excitement, suddenly stiffened slightly, and his mind immediately became much clearer.
Damn... they caught up so quickly... these wretched little bugs... couldn't they let me collect a few more dollars?
Zhou Ziwei cursed the persistent, soul-devouring insects in his heart, but no matter how reluctant he was, he rationally chose to leave. Even though the sixth bronze lamp was only two meters away from him, Zhou Ziwei did not look in that direction again.
He immediately extinguished the lighter in his hand, and at the same time, he wrapped a high-quality soul bead with his soul power and suddenly smashed it towards the stone wall opposite.
With a "bang," this was a high-quality soul bead that had condensed at least a dozen souls. Although it was a bit wasteful to use it to smash a three-meter-thick wall, Zhou Ziwei couldn't care less about that at this moment in order to save time. Otherwise, with a soul bead condensed from just one soul, he would have to smash the wall three times in a row to completely break it open. If he was delayed like that, he might lose his life here.
This time, the hole in the opposite wall was exceptionally large, and even the ground was carved out into a huge hole.
Zhou Ziwei could no longer run across on two legs, otherwise he would surely fall into that huge hole and be buried by countless stone dust.
So he simply activated the force field space, lifted his feet off the ground, and flew directly over in a flash.
Using force field space for flight is a wasteful act that consumes a lot of soul power. Even if the situation was just as critical, Zhou Ziwei probably wouldn't have been willing to do it. However, he had just acquired five Flame Hearts and knew that he could absorb at least two or three hundred thousand soul power from them.
Therefore, they are no longer so stingy when using their soul power.
While maneuvering his energy field, Zhou Ziwei continuously threw out one soul bead after another, blasting through the walls blocking his path. His speed increased dramatically. Even though he couldn't possibly increase his speed much under these circumstances, he didn't slow down much either. After passing through at least a dozen walls, he was not caught up by the swarm of soul-devouring flying insects behind him.
Zhou Ziwei continued to release his soul power in the direction in front of him to explore the path. At this time, Zhou Ziwei no longer needed to conserve his soul power, so the soul power he released in front of him always explored the furthest distance of sixty meters.
A moment later, Zhou Ziwei's expression suddenly changed, revealing a look of wild joy.
Just sixty meters ahead, the scent of fresh earth entered Zhou Ziwei's keen senses.
And this only requires passing through five more walls.
Only the outermost wall is over six meters thick, but beyond that, it's all soft soil.
Zhou Ziwei was overjoyed and immediately increased his speed slightly again, breaking through all the walls in front of him in one go.
When Zhou Ziwei arrived at the last wall surrounding the tomb, he finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
By this time, he had already left the swarm of annoying soul-devouring flying insects far behind him. Even with Zhou Ziwei's hearing, which had been enhanced tenfold, he could only faintly hear the sound of the insects flying, indicating that the distance between them must not be short.
Now, Zhou Ziwei only needs to throw down a few soul beads to break through the last stone wall in front of him. Once he burrows into the outer soil layer, he will be free to roam the world.
Although those little flying insects were very powerful, and it seemed that they could still relentlessly chase after Zhou Ziwei by following his scent all the way.
However, Zhou Ziwei didn't believe that these damned insects could have the same ability to move through the mud as he did. So... Zhou Ziwei was no longer worried at all and was completely confident that he had escaped this time.
However, just as Zhou Ziwei was about to use the Soul Pearl to pierce through the six-meter-thick stone wall opposite him, he suddenly discovered that there was an aura that made him very wary, located more than ten meters away to his left.
Zhou Ziwei was slightly taken aback, then quickly directed a surge of soul power in that direction, and then suddenly froze...
Under the probing of his soul power, a white, mist-like thing was crouching motionless in a corner. Whenever Zhou Ziwei's soul power collided with that thing, it would be quickly and far away.
A solidified soul.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Ziwei was overjoyed. Although this thing was also a terrifying artifact, with bullets capable of collecting such souls, these lone souls were like a great tonic for Zhou Ziwei.
Zhou Ziwei's original purpose in entering the underground tomb was to capture one or two souls at random. Although he now has the Heart of Flame, which replenishes soul power faster and more effectively, who would complain about having too little of such a good thing?
If those damned insects behind him had caught up close by now, Zhou Ziwei wouldn't have bothered with anything more. However, the swarm of soul-devouring insects was at least a hundred meters away from him, and the exit from the underground tomb was right in front of him. Zhou Ziwei naturally didn't care about anything anymore. He quickly floated over and arrived directly in front of the round, humanoid soul body that looked like it was formed from a cloud of white mist.
What puzzled Zhou Ziwei was that the soul, which usually displayed fierceness and aggression whenever it saw him, was unusually docile today. Even as Zhou Ziwei approached, the soul did not react at all and remained motionless.
Zhou Ziwei scratched his head in surprise, wondering what this soul was up to.
If he hadn't just used his soul power to probe it, and it hadn't shown that it would automatically be repelled by the energy of this soul entity upon approaching, indicating that this thing was clearly composed of highly condensed soul energy, Zhou Ziwei would have doubted whether he had mistaken it for something else.
However, Zhou Ziwei didn't have much time to waste. Although the group of soul-devouring flying insects was still quite far away, it would still take a little time to absorb all of the soul with the bullet. So, despite some doubts, Zhou Ziwei immediately took off the bullet pendant from his neck and smashed it directly into the soul's body.
With a "whoosh," the bullet pierced through the outer layer of white mist without any hindrance and penetrated deep into the soul body. Then... Zhou Ziwei didn't see the mist being absorbed into the bullet as quickly as before, but suddenly felt a chilling sensation so intense it made his whole body go cold...
Volume 2, The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 336: Big Trouble!
A strong soul force can bring a strong sense of danger, and Zhou Ziwei has always trusted his intuition in this regard. So far, his premonitions have not been wrong.
A sense of unease suddenly arose in his heart. Moreover, even though he had already smashed the bullet into the white mist-like soul, he did not see the soul being absorbed or contracted in the slightest. On the contrary, it seemed to be gradually expanding.
Without any hesitation, Zhou Ziwei immediately pulled the bullet that had been flung into his soul body back, and then turned and fled without hesitation.
Although Zhou Ziwei still doesn't quite understand what's going on, why the bullet's attraction to the soul has failed, and why the soul is acting so stupidly, showing no aggression even though it sees him, a living person, walking around in front of it.
However, the premonition of danger left Zhou Ziwei with no time to consider these things. He immediately rushed towards the outermost stone wall of the tomb at top speed. And the moment he moved, he swiftly hurled a soul bead containing more than twenty souls at the stone wall, which was still more than ten meters away from him.
Zhou Ziwei originally planned to use six low-quality soul beads to break through the six-meter-thick stone wall, which would be the most economical method. Otherwise, if he wanted to break through the entire six-meter stone wall with just one soul bead, he would need to condense more than twenty soul beads to accomplish the task.
It's important to understand that the area destroyed after the Soul Bead explodes isn't a straight line, but a spherical area. So, a Soul Bead formed from one soul can release a spherical area with a radius of one meter, but destroying a spherical area with a radius of two meters is something that two Soul Beads formed from two souls cannot accomplish.
Therefore, the most cost-effective way to blast through a wall that is six meters thick is to use soul beads formed from a single soul to blast it repeatedly. This way, only six low-quality soul beads are needed to completely destroy it.
However, under the stimulation of that strong sense of danger in his heart, Zhou Ziwei dared not waste time to save soul beads, even though the time difference between the two would only be one or two seconds at most.
However, sometimes, a difference of one or two seconds can be enough to determine whether a person lives or dies.
As it turned out, Zhou Ziwei's choice was correct. Just as the soul bead, which had fused with more than twenty souls, slammed into the thick wall surrounding the tomb under the protection of Zhou Ziwei's soul power, producing a slight explosion, the soul entity behind Zhou Ziwei, which had been appearing extremely dull, also emitted a muffled explosion.
When the explosion rang out, Zhou Ziwei felt an even stronger and more direct alarm surge within him. Startled, he hurriedly increased his speed again, risking crashing into the decomposition rays being released by the soul orb, and desperately rushed forward.
However, out of curiosity, Zhou Ziwei did not forget to probe the direction behind him with a few strands of soul beads while he was fleeing.
Then, as if bitten by something, he trembled in terror, cried out in surprise, and fully activated the force field beneath him, causing his already extreme speed to increase slightly again...