Xu Liren had been lying in wait here for several days, secretly sending countless spies to watch Gu Huaibi and his group's every move. Naturally, he knew about the bronze door and that they had already moved chests full of jewels. He didn't care about those small pieces of treasure; his sights were set on the big prize behind the bronze door. So, once Gu Huaibi and his group reached the underground, he immediately sent troops to guard the area, first eliminating the people on the surface. Once they blew open the bronze door, he would then deal with the people below, taking care of everything himself.
Even he hadn't anticipated that things would take such a sudden turn for the worse, that such an unexpected turn of events would occur.
He frowned in thought, but then heard Chen Sihai urging him from the side: "Your Majesty, this place is not safe to stay for long. We should leave here first and then make further plans."
Dou Akou heard their conversation clearly. Her mind was sharper than ever before, and after analyzing for a moment, she concluded that Fu Jiuxin was in the underground labyrinth. Taking advantage of Xu Liren's momentary lapse in concentration, she lowered her head and bit down hard on Xu Liren's hand that was gripping her wrist. She used all her strength in that bite, leaving a deep tooth mark that revealed the bone. Xu Liren cried out in pain and instinctively let go.
Seizing the opportunity, Dou Akou jumped off the imperial carriage in three quick steps, grabbed Tang Xunzhen's hand who was still in a daze, and shouted loudly, "Senior sister, let's go!"
Tang Xunzhen snapped out of her daze and hurriedly ran towards the tower with Dou Akou.
Chen Sihai gestured for the guards to intercept Dou Akou. After all, they were the Imperial Guards of the Huang Dynasty, and even in such a dire situation, they remained calm and followed Chen Sihai's orders to pursue Dou Akou. One of them, who was closer to Dou Akou, caught up with her in a few steps, grabbed her arm, and tried to pull her away.
But then Xu Liren shouted, "Don't hurt her!"
The guard was taken aback and immediately released his grip. Dou Akou stumbled, but quickly regained her balance. Amidst the rising dust, she glanced back at Xu Liren.
This was the last time Xu Liren saw Dou Akou. In the countless days and nights that followed, he would be awakened by that look in his eyes in the middle of the night.
He overthrew the entire city to earn her one glance, but it was already a final, poignant moment.
Share hardships
Stones and dirt rained down from the sky, covering Tang Xunzhen and Dou Akou in dust and dirt.
While dodging the large chunks of rubble from the explosion, Tang Xunzhen anxiously shouted at Dou Akou, "Akou! Are you sure Xiao Gu and the others are at the bottom of the tower?"
Dou Akou wiped her face and said in a muffled voice, "I don't know either, I'm just guessing."
This is the only place Fu Jiuxin might be.
The ground was still trembling. The series of violent explosions had stopped, but a muffled rumbling sound could still be faintly heard. It was the sound of the destroyed maze collapsing. First, it was one corner, and then it spread out in patches. In the enclosed underground, the rumbling of falling earth and rocks sounded even more terrifying.
Tang Xunzhen watched Akou running unsteadily on the unstable ground and couldn't help but worry about the baby in her belly: "Akou, let's find a place to hide first, and come back to find Gu Huaibi and the others when it's safe here, okay? Even if you're not worried about your own safety, you have to think about the baby."
Dou Akou ran forward with her head down, only saying, "He's gone, what's the point of having a child?"
Such a simple sentence brought tears to Tang Xunzhen's eyes instantly. The words she had just spoken were against her will. If she hadn't been worried about Dou Akou's child, she would have made the same choice as Akou, venturing alone into the bottom of the tower, even if it meant dying together.
Faced with this sudden turn of events, and with her beloved not by her side, it would be a lie to say she wasn't panicked. After trying to remain calm for so long, she was finally moved by Dou Akou's heartfelt words. The junior sister who used to need protection in every way actually harbored such a resolute willingness to live and die together.
Tang Xunzhen sniffed and said in a nasal voice, "Yeah! I'm going to find Xiao Gu Zi too. I don't believe he would dare to leave me behind!"
As they spoke, they approached the tower. Because of the earth-shattering explosion, the tower, which had stood upright, sank slightly and tilted to the left, barely managing to stay upright.
The further you go into the tower, the more people you encounter running out in a panic. These are people who survived from the bottom of the tower and made their way to the surface. Once on the ground, they wander around like headless flies, disoriented and without any sense of direction.
"Don't go! The area under the tower has collapsed!" they shouted, gesturing wildly at Dou Akou and the other girl, then ignored them and continued to flee for their lives.
Dou Akou and Tang Xunzhen exchanged a glance and tacitly ran together toward the small door at the base of the tower.
The stone gate was half-slanted, and people kept pushing and shoving their way out. Dou Akou and Tang Xunzhen crouched down and squeezed through the gate. They saw that the stone steps leading to the underground labyrinth were damaged in three or four parts, and the remaining stone slabs were broken and intermittent, barely enough to lead to the underground.
The two girls tiptoed and hopped across the broken stones, finally reaching the last step. Along the way, loose stones and sand kept falling, but they dared not delay for a moment, running forward without stopping, shouting Fu Jiuxin and Gu Huaibi's names as they went.
As they passed through the cave oozing grease, the ground had collapsed, and what had previously been a trickle of grease now covered the ground in a dark, greasy liquid. Their shoes and socks were immediately soaked black with the thick, oily substance seeping into them.
Dou Akou was completely unaware of this. She only knew that the further she went in, the worse the situation became. There were even corpses buried by sand and stones along the way, but she still couldn't find Fu Jiuxin.
Dou Akou was burning with anxiety. She took a deep breath and tried to speed up her pace with her inner energy, but unexpectedly, she bumped into someone. Dou Akou was accelerating, and the person was also rushing to escape. The two collided and were thrown back in opposite directions. Dou Akou staggered back several steps, but fortunately, Tang Xunzhen pulled her back to steady her. Even so, Dou Akou was still hit in the lower abdomen by the person. With Tang Xunzhen's help, she clutched her stomach and gasped for breath.
When Tang Xunzhen saw Dou Akou's appearance, his face changed drastically, and he cursed angrily, "Are you in such a hurry to be reincarnated?! Are you blind?!"
When the person looked up, Dou Akou and Tang Xunzhen were taken aback; it was actually Ding Zisu.
If it were the Ding Zisu of the past, after being bumped by Dou Akou and scolded by Tang Xunzhen, she would definitely not let it go and would have to make a scene before she was satisfied. But now she looked strange and didn't say a word. She just glanced at Tang Xunzhen and then hurriedly ran away.
"Crazy." Tang Xunzhen cursed under his breath, then turned to Dou Akou with concern: "Akou, are you alright?"
Dou Akou shook her head, signaling Tang Xunzhen not to linger, and continued walking forward.
At such a critical moment, she displayed an astonishing composure and calmness, shedding her former childishness. At this moment, Dou Akou finally had the right to speak and stand shoulder to shoulder with Fu Jiuxin.
Passing through the cave covered in grease, the two finally stepped onto the seemingly endless "Path of the Dead." The walls on both sides of the long passage were riddled with cracks, and the reliefs on the stone walls were broken and peeling away piece by piece. If this palace hadn't been the location of a treasure trove, and if the former lord of Haohui City hadn't built it so sturdily, it would probably have collapsed into ruins by now.
At the end of the road, people kept stumbling and running out to escape, making Dou Akou and Tang Xunzhen, who were still recklessly walking in at this time, look like two madmen.
Just as they were getting anxious, another group of people surged out from the end of the road. The leader was giving instructions in a deep voice: "Everyone, don't panic. Xiao Mu, you take them and go first. There are still people inside. I'll go in and look for them. I'll rescue as many as I can."
Upon hearing that voice, Tang Xunzhen felt a lump in her throat and almost choked up, her voice trembling as she cried out, "Huaibi!"
The group of people following Gu Huaibi looked up upon hearing this and were immediately surprised to see the two young women.
Gu Huaibi's expression first brightened with joy, then turned annoyed: "Why are you here?"
He was pleased that she had gone to such lengths to find him, risking her own life, but he was also annoyed by this. When the explosion happened, his first thought was that he was glad Tang Xunzhen hadn't followed him down, but who would have thought that she and Dou Akou were now standing here alive and well.
Gu Huaibi didn't say much, and immediately said, "You two stop fooling around now, and go up with Miss Pi and the others right away."
Dou Akou wouldn't listen to any of that, and asked in a trembling voice, "Senior brother, where is Axin?"
Gu Huaibi fell silent, and his silence only deepened Dou Akou's panic. Her heart trembled violently as she stared at Gu Huaibi expectantly.
“He was behind the door…” Gu Huaibi said with difficulty, then paused and added, “The door has collapsed.”
Dou Akou felt the ground shake violently. Had another explosion occurred? She felt as if the whole world had been turned upside down.
After a long while, she saw that everyone was looking at her with pity, and realized that it wasn't an earthquake, but rather her own dizziness.
Pi Xiaoli looked guilty and said in a low voice, "I was responsible for burying the flint next to this door. I didn't check carefully and didn't see that there was a wire behind the flint that led all the way to the place where we stored sulfur flint in our hall. After it was lit, the wire ignited our warehouse."
In order to destroy the Bronze Gate, the Pangbo Hall had brought over a dozen boxes of flint from its branch near Longfeng Town. The sect leader and several senior disciples were there discussing what kind of explosives to use, how much to bury, and how to bury them. After deciding on the plan, the rest were simply piled up in a stone chamber on either side of the corridor in front of the Bronze Gate. Who would have thought that something like this would happen?
Dou Akou composed herself: "I'm going to find him."
Gu Huaibi grew anxious: "Akou, stop fooling around. Jiuxin's martial arts are so high, he might be alright. Besides, I'm going inside to look for someone later, so I'll definitely help you find Jiuxin. Why don't you go up with Xunzhen first?"
"I'm going to find him!" Dou Akou suddenly shouted, her eyes filled with tears, crying out, "If he lives, I want to see him; if he dies, I'll take his body with me!"
Her face was covered in tears, but behind her eyes shone a clear and unwavering determination.
Gu Huaibi had never seen his usually obedient junior sister like this before, and he was immediately stunned.
Tang Xunzhen tugged at him: "Let Akou go."
Gu Huaibi snapped out of her daze, gave a blank "oh," and then took out a small porcelain bottle from her bosom: "Akou, take this, swallow one first."
Tang Xunzhen asked in bewilderment, "What is this?"
Gu Huaibi said angrily, "Antidote pills. That woman Ding Zisu probably feared we would steal some of her medical books, so she secretly drugged us. Several people in the team were affected, and within an hour they were weak and powerless, unable to circulate their qi. Fortunately, I was prepared and brought antidote pills with me, but there weren't many. We shared them and prepared to carry out those who were affected by the drug."
Tang Xunzhen glanced around and, sure enough, saw that Pi Xiaoli and the others were supporting or helping several seemingly weak people, including veterans like the head of the Li family.
She quickly and briefly explained the situation on the ground, then stopped dawdling, took a girl from Pi Xiaoli's shoulder and walked out, but when she turned back, her voice was a little choked up: "Gu Huaibi, I'll wait for you to come back."
Gu Huaibi was the young master of Xilie Fortress, and he could not abandon everyone to escape at this moment. His conscience and morality would not allow him to do so, so he could only give Tang Xunzhen a reassuring smile: "I will."
They left, and Gu Huaibi and Dou Akou continued walking inside. The door had mostly collapsed, and the thick, ancient bronze fragments piled up in one place, which had originally blocked the entrance, but now a gap had been blasted open in that pile of ruins, allowing people to pass through only by crouching.
"This is the entrance that I had Pi Xiaoli blast open. When the explosion happened, Jiu Xin was in front of the door. It all happened so fast, I didn't see anything. The door collapsed, and a corner of the palace was also destroyed. I never saw him again after that. He was with us at the time, and he was most likely drugged by Ding Zisu and buried inside..."
Gu Huaibi didn't say what he was going to say next. The consequences of someone buried under rubble and then poisoned with a drug that weakens their muscles and prevents them from circulating their qi were obvious.
Dou Akou raised her head, wiped away her tears, and without a word, bowed and crawled into the entrance that had been blasted open.
To live and die together
Dark, bloody, and cold.
The dry underground palace was filled with a thick, sticky, and uncomfortable dampness due to the human blood in it.
Behind this bronze door lies an unknown place for Dou Akou. She holds a tinderbox in the pitch-black darkness, the faint light only illuminating a square foot around her. All around are collapsed ruins and rubble, and someone has died under these piles of stones, with a bloody hand hanging down.
“Sir! Asin!” Dou Akou’s trembling voice echoed back and forth between the empty stone walls, weak and helpless.
She took a step forward, but her foot slipped and she almost fell. When she looked at the tinderbox, she realized that she had stepped on a person's palm. It was soft and slippery, and the already bloody hand was made even more blurry by her stepping on it.
"Ah—" Her scream was cut short, barely halfway through before it was abruptly cut off, the abruptly cut-off sound echoing in the dark passageway, leaving a few scattered echoes.
Dou Akou's heart raced, her mouth went dry, and she was covered in cold sweat. She felt her eardrums thumping and bulging from the violent pounding of her heart, as if they were about to burst.
She slowly squatted down and looked up from the bloody, mangled hand. Along the hand was a section of arm, with a bloodstained piece of clothing attached to it. It was a young girl's dress, its pale yellow color now completely filthy. Dou Akou suddenly exhaled. It wasn't Fu Jiuxin.
Many people have died here, but not Fu Jiuxin.
The tinder in his hand grew weaker and weaker until it finally shook and went out with a "poof".
Dou Akou was only briefly startled before regaining her composure. In the darkness, her five senses became exceptionally sharp.
She groped her way forward, stepping over the rubble where corpses were buried, while holding her breath and searching for any signs of life.
Behind the bronze door was not the magnificent and splendid palace one might imagine, nor were there countless priceless treasures piled up for anyone to take. Behind the bronze door were branching paths and layers of mechanical stone doors.
Of course, Dou Akou was only at the entrance at this point and had not yet encountered any branches.
A warm glow emanated from the darkness, and the person's footsteps were so light they were almost imperceptible. But Dou Akou, due to her extreme sensitivity and nervousness, as well as her inexplicable intuition, knew someone was approaching.
Without making a sound, she slid her hand down to her waist, letting it fall naturally onto the sword at her waist like an oar gliding across water. The sword was chosen for her by Fu Jiuxin. He wouldn't allow Dou Akou to wear the imperial sword bestowed by Xu Liren, so he personally asked Gu Huaibi for a good sword from the Xilie Fort armory and then personally put it on Dou Akou.
Dou Akou gripped the hilt of the knife, feeling slightly more at ease. She recalled Fu Jiuxin's focused profile as he bent down to give her the knife, as if Fu Jiuxin were right beside her. She slowly inhaled and exhaled, gathering her strength.
Perhaps the visitor is well-intentioned. But the situation is currently very complicated. Ding Zisu drugged so many seasoned veterans with a single dose of sleeping pills, and all her own people were rescued. So, anyone who can approach silently now is definitely not a good person.
Dou Akou knew that her martial arts skills were not good. If they fought for a long time, she would probably become more and more exhausted, which would be more disadvantageous for her.
She gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, determined to strike first and then kill.
The handle fit snugly against my palm, its contours perfectly conforming to my skin; it felt as if the knife was an extension of my own hand.
Dou Akou took a deep breath, roughly judged the distance of the other party, and decided to take the initiative.
With a lowered shoulder, a horizontal elbow strike, and a slash, Dou Akou leaped into the air and, without warning, slashed at the dark figure. This strike contained all her power, creating a whistling sound as it cut through the air.
At such close range, with such a desperate attack, Dou Akou had already calculated in her mind that even if the person was agile enough to dodge, her blade was extremely long. With a single slash, even if he could dodge the fatal blow, she would definitely be able to sweep some part of his body.
She gritted her teeth, and in the instant she landed, a variety of backup plans flashed through her mind. However, to her horror, her knife did not touch anything substantial.
Dou Akou's knife missed its mark. The strike she had gathered with all her strength went awry. She staggered, almost losing her balance, but quickly regained her footing. At the same time, she heard footsteps running from another direction. The footsteps bounced lightly on the ground, but Dou Akou's heart sank with each bounce—there was more than one person!
The man's footsteps felt like they were pounding on her heart, growing heavier and closer. Dou Akou almost immediately chose the thought of killing as many as possible and continued to brandish her knife.