King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 264

"I... forgot what the man looked like, only vaguely realizing that he was a remarkable person, someone who would be very important to the future of Earth, someone who would do everything in his power to save the planet... He fell in love with Shui Lan from the very first moment he saw her..."

Tang Xin's eyes were half-closed, and each sentence she spoke was broken into two or three segments; her energy was rapidly depleting.

"Tell me his name. Did he tell Shui Lan who he is? Who is he—" I took a deep breath, increasing my inner strength tenfold, which made her drowsy eyes open wide.

"He is...he is...I forgot, there's no more of the story...And, I have to tell you, I have to tell...you..." Her voice disappeared, her body went limp, she slid out of my hand, and curled up into a ball.

I reached out and lifted her eyelids; her pupils had already dilated rapidly. I checked her breathing; she was barely breathing.

In some of my hallucinations, I've dreamt of the distant and desolate Arctic more than once, and even in the sweltering heat of summer, I can deeply feel the bone-chilling cold. Therefore, I'm certain that a part of my life is connected to the Arctic. It's a pity that if I had heard Tang Xin tell these secrets sooner, I could at least have compared the man she saw with the older brother I met through the scalpel—my intuition tells me that the older brother is related to this story.

Tang Xin was already petite, and now, curled up in a ball, her chin touched her knees, and her back was bent like a bow.

"Qianji? One of the top-tier poisons of the Tang Clan in Sichuan?" I suddenly became alert. Only the highly poisonous "Qianji" could cause her to look like this.

The door opened silently, and the gust of wind rushing in from outside, along with the murderous aura of the person standing in the doorway, caused the fire in the fireplace to flicker and almost go out. As the flames began to leap and burn again, she closed the door, crossed her arms, and slowly walked toward me. Her face was no longer covered by a thin black veil, but instead wore the same golden mask as Alpha.

"Tang Qing? The Dragon Witch? Or some kind of mutated monster? What should I call you?" I released Tang Xin, the hope that had just ignited in my heart was extinguished once again. Not only had she lost her memory, but she had also lost her life. If everything was caused by Tang Qing, this time I could no longer tolerate it.

"A name is just a code, isn't it?" she sneered, her long black robe trailing on the ground.

"You carry the blood debts of too many people on your shoulders—" I was still able to remain calm.

She shook her head, interrupting me: "That's meaningless. If frequent killing can stop fools from constantly entering the 'Mirror Illusion Abyss,' you'll eventually believe it's worth it. Now step aside if you still want her to live."

I hesitated for only a second before stepping aside and standing behind the recliner to make room for her. At this crucial moment, all talk was unnecessary. She was a master of the Tang Clan; if she could kill with poison, she must also possess unique methods of healing. Of course, by only moving one step, I could prevent her from doing anything detrimental to Tang Xin.

"You are very smart, but there are too many fools in the world who can make smart people lose their minds and do some foolish things." She stared straight at me, her cold eyes as cold as ice and as sharp as a knife.

"Please save her." I tried to soften my tone. Tang Xin was the key to solving the mystery. We had already made a mistake here, and we couldn't afford to make another one.

"You're begging me? Begging me for a girl? What's so great about her that you're so nervous, huh?" Her eyes shifted strangely, and beneath the mask was undoubtedly a mocking sneer.

"She can't die, please save her." I repeated my words, neither furious nor begging. If Tang Xin dies, this time I will make Tang Qing die with her, to comfort the souls of those who were killed.

Tang Qing stepped forward, standing five meters away from me in front of the recliner. As her robe rustled across the ground, I couldn't help but think of the four extra arms on her back, ugly and ferocious, more unbearable than alien monsters in science fiction movies.

"What are you thinking about, young man?" she still wouldn't let me off the hook.

Tang Xin's chest stopped rising and falling. I reached out again to check her breathing, but I couldn't feel anything anymore.

"The 'Tracing Machine' poison is exceptionally potent. Once it takes effect, it first severs the heart meridian, then travels along the blood and breath like a thousand-foot waterfall, making it impossible to resist. There's no need to try; she's clearly already dead." She sneered, as if I were doing the most ridiculous thing.

"Yes, she's dead." After checking Tang Xin's pulse, the flame of hope in my heart was completely extinguished, replaced by a raging inferno of fury. The blade hidden under my left arm was also infected by my killing intent, and the blade trembled, emitting a series of "clanging" sounds.

"Perhaps—we can sit down and talk, just like you were drinking and chatting earlier. Actually, what you truly care about is Suren, isn't that right? Back when we first met, you already confided your deepest secret to me, a secret so profound that I still remember it to this day."

She cleared her throat, tightened her robe, and walked to the recliner on the right.

"Wait a minute, there are only two chairs in this room, enough for only two people to sit down." I reached out to stop her.

"What? You don't welcome me?" She held her head high, the golden mask reflecting the firelight, flickering on and off.

"You guessed right. So many people have died at your hands along the way, including Tang Xiaogu. With each death, you accumulate more debt. Go away. I don't want to see you again." I suppressed my anger. Tang Xin's death was a heavy blow to me. Only when I calmed down could I continue the search for Su Lun.

"Don't want to hear any more news about Suren from me? Young man, you've probably heard the saying 'Great things don't concern themselves with trifles' thousands of times. Why worry about some fools? They're nothing but ants under a giant's feet. What difference does one more or a hundred more make? Do you know? It's precisely this large group of ignorant and incompetent fools who are dragging down the Earth's development, and they're constantly devouring the Earth's limited energy. Perhaps the day these fools completely disappear will be the day when the Earth's development can truly leap forward."

She reached out to push my arm, and in the blink of an eye, we exchanged more than a dozen blows, neither of us able to grab the other's wrist, resulting in a draw. However, neither of us had used our full strength yet; she hadn't used the murderous red light on her fingers, nor had she revealed the other six arms behind her back; and I, my knife remained sheathed.

"Young man, didn't your teachers teach you to be single-minded in everything you do? Your purpose in coming to the southwestern border is only to find that girl. It's best not to meddle in other things, understand?" She glanced at the silent Tang Xin, then suddenly let out a shrill, bizarre laugh. "Hahahaha, Hundred Deaths Divine Skill... Hundred Deaths Divine Skill... Can humans really survive a hundred deaths? The Tang Clan ancestors who created this martial art were truly insane. They will die, everyone will die, even those who practice the 'Hundred Deaths Divine Skill, Thousand Deaths Divine Skill' will die, hahahaha..."

She suddenly raised her arm and swung her long robe like a dark cloud, which flew down onto Tang Xin and covered her from head to toe.

"She's dead. The rising star, revered and respected by everyone in the Tang Clan of Sichuan, is dead just like that, and by 'Qianji' no less! It's an absolute joke. Young man, do you know that 'Qianji,' 'Heart-wrenching,' and 'Soul-melting Flower' are the introductory poisons required to cultivate the 'Hundred Deaths Divine Skill'? Each time you take one, your life comes close to death, and you're revived just when you're on your last breath, then you try the next one. Before, when you were practicing, you were fearless and undying, which is why you didn't die; now look what's happened, the lingering poison in her body has flared up, and it's very likely that dozens of toxins are rebelling at once. Hmph, she died a worthy death, a worthy death, hahahahaha..."

"You'll die too, won't you?" I stared coldly at the flames.

"No, you're wrong. I won't die. There's only one person in the world who can cure the residual poison of the 'Hundred Deaths Divine Skill,' and it's not Alpha, nor the 'Sweet Smile Doctor' Tang Jixiang from the Tang Clan, but Yang Tian, the 'King of Tomb Raiders,' whose mere mention makes heroes from both the righteous and the wicked bow down in awe. He has already neutralized the twenty-three residual poisons in my body and used his internal energy to open up my Ren and Du meridians—"

"Really?" I asked skeptically, staring at her face, wishing I could rip off the mask and see the expression on her face.

If her elder brother once used his internal energy to remove the poison from her body, where is he now? Is he trapped behind the sealed gate? How did she become the enemy's puppet?

"Of course, without him, I'd still be trapped in those eerie pillars of the Pentagram Array, unable to escape." She turned and sat down, and I was astonished to find that her back was completely flat, with none of the four arms present. Last time, when she fought Tang Xin in front of the Epang Palace, I had definitely seen those ugly arms growing from her back.

"You're not Tang Qing or the Dragon Witch?" I stood in front of Tang Xin, staring at her throat. When a liar is exposed, they often swallow rapidly, which is the biggest suspicious sign.

She responded with a sneer: "No? Oh, who do you think I am?"

I heard a continuous "rustling" sound coming from the snow outside the door, as if some animal was slowly crawling by, and it was getting louder and more frequent.

"Where are your other four arms? Like your master, the six-armed monster—" I glanced at the doorway, a bad feeling creeping into my heart.

"Arms? What arms? That's all an illusion! That's all an illusion!" She suddenly sprang up, twisting her arms to touch her back, then burst into laughter. "Just an illusion, young man, you're having illusions too. Here, everyone is immersed in illusions all day long, unable to extricate themselves. But one day, the innocent will be proven innocent, and the guilty will be proven guilty, won't they?"

I can say with 100% certainty that when she appeared with six arms, it was real and not an illusion.

"Then tell me, where is Fifteen Ridge? You once said that my friend was trapped there, could it be somewhere in that part of the cave?" The rustling sound suddenly became louder, circling around the triangular building, sending chills down one's spine.

She retorted with a cold laugh, "Are you begging me?"

I silently took three deep breaths, swallowing all my anger and resentment, and slowly forced a smile onto my face before nodding gently: "Yes, please enlighten me, senior." She was Tang Xin's elder, and also knew her older brother Yang Tian, so it was perfectly reasonable to address her as "senior."

"This child is teachable, this child is teachable." She laughed smugly.

Amidst the rustling sound came a faint hissing sound, the sound of venomous snakes flicking their tongues. Judging from the sound, there were at least several hundred venomous snakes surrounding the area, all extremely agitated. Breaking through with Tang Xin in my arms wouldn't be difficult; I just wanted to seize this last opportunity to get accurate information about entering "Fifteen Ridges" from Tang Qing.

"Please enlighten me, senior. If you can save my friend, I will be eternally grateful."

Venomous snakes crowded the doorway, causing the two wooden doors to sway slightly. Meanwhile, the reflection of thick, writhing snake bodies could be seen on the window paper, with occasional triangular heads flashing by. Fortunately, the small building only had one door and one window, limiting the snakes' attack routes.

"Alright, for Yang Tian's sake, I'll be a good guy this once. 'Fifteen Ridges' is indeed beyond the sealed gate. It gets its name from the fact that the route to that place involves fifteen twists and turns, all within absolute silence and darkness. The chances of an ordinary person entering 'Fifteen Ridges' are almost zero. The unknown magnetic fields densely packed in the darkness will cause abnormal changes in a person's mind, often leading them down a path completely opposite to their goal, ultimately resulting in their demise. Young man, are you interested in taking a trip?"

She pointed to the doorway, and as the door swayed slightly, the dark body of a snake could be seen through the crack.

Su Lun is the person I worry about most, so no matter how dangerous it may be, I have to give it a try. As for Tang Qing's kind advice, I feel only one percent gratitude; the remaining ninety-nine percent is just calm wariness.

"I'm interested, but we have to take Tang Xin with us." I reached out to lift the black robe.

Taking Tang Xin away and handing her over to Alpha might be the best option right now. If the "fate" she kept talking about refers to this sudden death, it's hard not to feel a sense of sorrow and regret. The moment I touched the black robe, I was reminded once again of the tiger's expectant expression before entering the golden egg.

When love runs deep, heartbreak sets in. The tiger, who never wavers in the game of love, gives his heart away for the first time, only to be met with the most devastating defeat.

"Don't touch her—" Tang Qing jumped up, seemingly trying to stop me.

Suddenly, the person in the black robe began to move silently.

I was taken aback, a slight chill running through me: "Tang Xin has come back to life? Wasn't she not breathing just now?" Her death came too quickly; before I could even recover from the shock, she gave me an even more horrifying surprise.

With a flick of her black robe, Tang Xin sat up abruptly and raised her hands to rub her eyes.

"So tired, Mr. Feng, how long have I been sleeping?" The resurrected Tang Xin showed no surprise or alarm, simply stretching lazily as if she had just woken from a beautiful dream. She ran her fingers through her hair, lifted her black robe, looked at me, then at Tang Qing, and suddenly sprang up, letting out a long, sharp cry that shattered rocks and pierced the clouds.

We were less than a meter apart, and the whistling sound nearly deafened me. It kept making a buzzing echo, and my eardrums were throbbing with pain.

Part Two: Asian Gears, Chapter Six: Heavenly Spin and Earthly Twist - Dragon Control Array

"What are you doing here? What are you doing here?" Tang Xin shouted, reaching for her waist. With a "click," the safety mechanism of the crossbow casket was activated. The movement was swift and precise, and her body had fully recovered.

I pressed down on her shoulder and said in a low voice, "Miss Tang, something's strange. Don't rush into anything."

The fight between them was pointless. Even if she had the chance to kill Tang Qing, she might not have the heart to do it. What was the point of continuing like this?

"Why can't I be here? The power of the Tang Clan doesn't belong to you alone. Even if all three thousand people in the Tang Clan dote on you and fawn over you, you're still an unknown bastard, forever!" Tang Qing rebuked angrily, his finger almost touching Tang Xin's nose.

"I didn't...I didn't--" A puff of purple smoke shot out from Tang Xin's belt with a "whoosh," emitting a faint rose scent. I jerked back and immediately held my breath. That was the legendary "Five-Step Kill," said to be fatal if more than ten milliliters were inhaled.

"Of course you are the bastard child that Yu Baifan brought back—'Sweet Smile Doctor' said that Tang Junshi has a congenital disability and cannot have children with other women, but he married your mother and gave birth to you before the due date. Everyone in our Tang Clan understands that you are definitely not Tang Junshi's daughter—" Tang Qingpiao stepped back, avoiding the poisonous smoke.

Their conversation involved matters of the Tang Clan, which I, as an outsider, could not interfere with.

Just then, the door burst open with a "whoosh" as the venomous snakes pounced, and a flurry of snowflakes began to fall, blanketing the sky in white. The ground was already covered by swarms of dark blue venomous snakes; the snowflakes that fell from the sky melted instantly upon landing on their bodies, leaving no trace.

The swarm of snakes surged in like a tide, struggling and lunging at the fireplace where the three of us stood.

Without the slightest hesitation, I bent down, grabbed seven or eight burning pieces of firewood from the fireplace, and hurled them, killing the dozen or so snakes that were at the forefront. The doorway was impassable, but at least we could still use the wooden window through which snake shadows flickered. Having experienced the snake pit beneath the Turkic pyramids and the sea of snakes within the five-pointed star array, I could now easily dismiss even the most ferocious and bizarre attacks from swarms of venomous snakes.

"Miss Tang, let's go out first--" I reached out to take Tang Xin's hand.

Tang Qing also let out a sharp, long whistle, like the sound of an Indian snake charmer's bamboo flute, with a captivating tremor. The venomous snake, which was charging forward, suddenly stopped its attack and lay down abruptly, only its blood-red tongue still flickering.

"I'm not leaving. Since this is my fate, why hide anymore?" Tang Xin sneered, her left hand on her belt, her right hand inside her robes, a strand of long hair tucking into her lips. She bent slightly, poised to strike. Instinctively, she seemed like a different person, brave but lacking in depth, unlike the calm and collected Tang Xin I knew before.

Tang Qing kept sneering. With a shake of her shoulder, a snow-white spider the size of a fingernail crawled out of her collar and climbed upwards along her hair.

"Tang Xin, I must congratulate you. You've truly mastered the 'Hundred Deaths Divine Skill' to the point of 'dying and living, living and dying,' a feat unmatched among the recent ten generations of disciples. However, you should know that once the cycle of life and death begins, you'll need the Thousand-Year Snow Spider to drain the toxins from your blood vessels, preventing the poisonous blood from flowing back into your heart. Moreover, after the 'Tracing the Mechanism,' at least fifteen more poisons will leave you in a state of near-death. During this time, you cannot fight anyone. You really shouldn't have come. The martial world is vast; this isn't your secluded retreat in the Tang Clan's back mountains. No one will pamper you anymore..."

The spider climbed onto Tang Qing's head and then lay still.

The strangeness of the "Hundred Deaths Divine Skill" has long been a hot topic in the martial arts world. Only someone with lofty ambitions would choose to take this path. Yet, the two women in front of them have both stepped onto this narrow bridge.

"Who I am, my life and death are unimportant. You must die, because you are the key to unlocking disaster. I understood this the first time I saw you at birth. My existence is to destroy the key, so that the sealed gate can never be opened."

Tang Xin blew away the hair at the corner of her lips, slowly inhaled, and bent her back even more deeply, about to unleash a devastating attack.

"At this moment, you are not Tang Xin, and I am not Tang Qing. We are all just puppets for others to charge into battle, aren't we?" Tang Qing sighed, suddenly reaching out to remove her golden mask, revealing a pale but delicate face. Judging from the deep and shallow crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, she was at least over forty years old, but her eyebrows still retained a certain charm.

Tang Xin was taken aback: "What?"

I could sense that at this moment, some kind of powerful force or several kinds of forces had taken control of their minds, making them feel that everything they did was out of necessity.

"I will cure you of the poison. You must immediately return to the Tang Clan and destroy the golden cauldron enshrined on the ancestral altar. As long as it exists, the Tang Clan's fate will inevitably be to befriend poison and to be at odds with humanity. Do you hear me? I must die, but you cannot die. You must live well and pass these words on to your disciples—"

With a flick of her long hair, Tang Qing sent the snow spider flying, landing precisely on Tang Xin's Baihui acupoint on the top of her head. Two strange, clanging sounds rang out, the sound of the snow spider's fangs grinding against each other, ready to mercilessly suck human blood.

Tang Xin was already in a daze, as if she was stunned by Tang Qing's action of taking off his mask, and she stood there motionless.

I could only draw my blade, its edge so precise it separated the snow spider from Tang Xin's hair, holding it level before my eyes. This strike was made on instinct, because I didn't believe Tang Qing, already controlled by the monster, would be so kind. The snow spider reared up agitatedly, its fangs making a constant "snap, snap" sound, revealing a thin, arrow-like black line on its abdomen.

"Mom...Mom..." Tang Xin murmured, staggering forward.

Tang Qing immediately opened her arms, making a gesture as if she wanted to hug the other person.

"This isn't a snow spider, but a 'gut-piercing arrow' from the South American jungle. You want to kill, not save, right?" I sighed, and with a swift movement of my blade, the snow spider was sliced into more than a dozen pieces, which were then tossed onto the fire, where they sizzled and turned into wisps of smoke. My intuition never deceives me; no matter what Tang Qing does, her wolfish ambitions remain unchanged.

"How could I kill her? She is the most beautiful and the most—" Tang Qing hugged Tang Xin, but couldn't finish her sentence. Suddenly, she screamed, and a sharp, emerald-green knife appeared right in the center of her heart.

Tang Xin took a step back, rubbing her hands together, and smiled with a hint of regret: "Your 'soul-capturing technique' is still not refined enough; it always leaves flaws. And this time, your disguise as my mother was utterly ridiculous. No woman in the world can compare to her in such nobility and aloofness. You can't even compare to a single hair of hers, and you never will. That's why you're so jealous of her, spreading all sorts of baseless rumors to slander her, isn't that right?"

I anticipated this treacherous turn of events. Tang Xin's wisdom is far beyond what Tang Qing and his ilk could imagine. Moreover, she repeatedly said that she had foreseen the inevitable ending, which of course included Tang Qing's schemes.

"Of course, you won't die. This 'Broken Jade Blade' is soaked in the poison of 'Flower Wither Seed,' which will only prevent your wound from healing and cause it to bleed continuously. Your master will let you live, after all, he still needs you to drive away these 30,000 venomous snakes. However, I hope you remember that Tang Junshi, the most skilled snake-driving expert in the Tang Clan, is my father, and this skill has been completely passed down to me."

She whirled around, raised her hands above her head, a rapid tremor running through her body, and suddenly let out a long howl, like the roar of a lion or tiger. The snakes that were lying on the ground immediately leaped up, rolled backward and fled, struggling to squeeze through the gate and escape far away, leaving only the dozen or so headless snake bodies that I had shot dead on the ground.

Tang Qing shook his head in frustration and slowly walked towards the door. Suddenly, he turned back to look at Tang Xin: "You are not Tang Junshi's daughter, I dare to swear on my life. Do you know? When you were born, your first sound wasn't the cry of an ordinary baby, but the recitation of an ancient poem. At that time, everyone went out, including 'Sweet-Smiling Divine Doctor' Tang Jixiang. Only I, the nominal disciple of the divine doctor, was responsible for the delivery. You were born with memories of your past life, have you forgotten?"

Tang Xin snorted but didn't reply.