Commander Wang and his entourage were the first to enter the passage. Then, Zhao Xiayang waved his hand and the Qingshui Sect disciples followed closely behind. There were more than 20 strong men and horses. Only after they all disappeared behind the light curtain did the remaining people take any action.
The middle-aged scholar was afraid of Commander Wang's deep scheming, and was also worried about Zhao Xiayang's large number of people, so he temporarily gathered a few lone rangers so that everyone could gather together and take care of each other.
Lu Bei and She Xuan politely declined the middle-aged scholar's proposal to form a team. It is true that there is safety in numbers, but putting themselves in his shoes, they felt that what the middle-aged scholar needed was not teammates, but cannon fodder to ward off disasters.
There were uninvited guests behind the tunnel, so the two did not dare to delay and stepped into the water curtain at the end of the tunnel one after the other.
Suddenly, it was pitch black ahead. She Xuan couldn't see clearly the surroundings with the luminous bead in her hand. She only knew that she was in a huge cave.
"There's no way out. Was that a teleportation formation?" Lu Bei took a few steps back, unable to jump back and forth in the water curtain.
"It should be."
She Xuan frowned and put away the luminous beads. A strange color flashed in her golden snake pupils. She sniffed the faint scent in the air and walked quickly to the right with Lu Bei.
Without the illumination of the luminous beads, the phosphate ore fragments on the stone walls of the cave glowed. Although it was clearly underground, it gave people the feeling of looking up at the starry sky.
Lu Bei followed She Xuan and walked into a winding tunnel. It was pitch black inside. He raised his hand and placed it on She Xuan's shoulder in case of a crisis and he couldn't sacrifice his teammates in the first place.
She Xuan had no idea what Lu Bei was thinking. She just thought that since he was in the dark and his eyes were not clear, he subconsciously put his arm around her shoulder.
"Aunt Snake, you are an old tomb robber. Analyze the situation of this mine."
Lu Bei was surprised and asked, "There is a mine outside the teleportation array. It can be said that it was done by a local gang seeking wealth. The inside of the array is already at the edge of a large tomb, so why are there obvious signs of excavation?"
"It could be a robbery hole, or it could be dug by someone buried with the deceased..."
She Xuan gave two answers that she herself did not quite believe, and then remained silent. Ever since she learned that she had been tricked by Commander Wang and became one of the five keys to open the door, she had a vague foreboding premonition.
Since Commander Wang was able to confirm her demon bloodline, he could naturally find out her true identity. She felt lonely wearing the human skin mask and was in a terrible mood.
Lu Bei was about to say something when he suddenly heard flowing air in front of him, along with the humid air, several shrill screams.
Lu Bei did not hesitate, knife in hand, and followed She Xuan to quickly find the source of the sound.
The light and shadows blurred, and a huge space that had been dormant underground for many years came into view.
A hundred meters high, with a blue canopy covering their heads, waves and undercurrents were swirling, and light shone through them, revealing several swimming fish. Judging from their sizes, each one was of astonishing size, and without exception, they were at the level of water monsters that Lin Yu was ecstatic to see.
Under the blue sky, the square ground is paved with neatly arranged stone slabs. One hundred and eighteen stone pillars are arranged in an array. A pyramid-shaped building is located in the center. There are four ditches connected to the border moat, dividing the entire underground area into four parts.
"The sky is round and the earth is square, the four spirits are guarding, the stars are scattered all over the sky, the spirit veins gather in the river..."
Lu Bei was dumbfounded and tightened his hand on She Xuan's shoulder. "Such a large-scale mausoleum, I would believe it if you said it was the tomb of Emperor Qingqian. Did we open the wrong teleportation array?"
She Xuan was also surprised to see the pyramid building that looked like a giant beast. She woke up with the pain in her shoulder, frowned and slapped Lu Bei's claws away.
"Be gentle, don't you know how much strength you have?"
"I know. Let's try to see if I'm dreaming."
She Xuan was silent, and her eyes looked at Lu Bei, who also remained silent. After a moment, they both spoke at the same time: "What do you think?"
The scale of the tomb is definitely not something that ordinary royal members can enjoy. It can be called a relic. The status of the tomb owner in Qingqian must be extraordinary and noble. The mechanisms and formations within the relic are not something that two people can easily try.
Lu Bei didn't want to take the risk, and neither did She Xuan, so they both backed down, waiting for the other party to give in first and then go along with it.
Just when the two of them tacitly agreed to return by the same route, a new problem arose.
Where is the road
The teleportation array is one-way, you can only enter but not exit, and you can't find the exit if you want to retreat.
"No way, let's wait and see, we're just outside and won't go in."
Lu Bei pointed at the pyramids in the distance and suddenly thought of a possibility: "I heard that after the fall of Qingqian, all the imperial tombs located in the territory of Wuzhou were protected by garrisons, and no one was allowed to steal or explore, not even the Zhu family. Is it possible that we are one of them?"
According to the unspoken rule of dynasty change, the imperial tombs of previous generations are forbidden areas and must be properly protected.
Firstly, respecting others means respecting yourself. Secondly, everyone will be able to wait for a hundred years. Once you set a precedent, if you poach others today, others will poach you tomorrow.
"No way, you really think so."
She Xuan shook her head. "The garrison protection is just a superficial excuse. I don't believe it anyway. I suspect that the tomb in front of me is not a fake tomb, but a real treasure. It is impossible for the Zhu family not to be tempted. The ruins have been well preserved until now, so they must have never been discovered."
"That's good."
Lu Bei breathed a sigh of relief: "I was really afraid that when I found a way out, I would be facing a military camp with dozens of siege artillery and crossbows firing at the same time. I would push you to the front but you wouldn't be able to stop us."
She Xuan: “…”
She rolled her eyes and strode towards the pyramid.
Lu Bei hurriedly followed, following the footprints left by She Xuan, and the two of them stepped into the Four Spirits Formation. After a moment, they saw two corpses next to a coiled snake column.
The screams before came from them.
The skin of the two men exposed outside their clothes was dark purple, blood was oozing from all their orifices, their facial expressions were hideous, and their limbs were twisted. It was obvious at a glance that they had experienced great pain before death.
“What a pity.”
Lu Bei shook his head. The Qiankun bag was right in front of him but he couldn't pick it up.
"They died from snake bites. The poison-avoiding beads are useless. If you don't want to die, follow me closely."
She Xuan reminded Lu Beidao that she smelled a snake in the air just after leaving the teleportation array. As expected, except that the ruins were a little bigger, the risk was a little higher, and the layout of the Four Spirits Array was a little more magnificent, other aspects were not much different from her expectations.
Upon hearing this, Lu Bei took two steps towards She Xuan, who transformed into a snake with a tail, exuding the same aura as the other, and passed through the stone pillars without any danger.
Halfway through the journey, the snake column hissed softly, and thin black-scaled snakes crawled out from the hollow stone column. Some of these poisonous snakes were half a meter long, and some were twenty centimeters long. They had red lines on their foreheads, and their black scales glowed with a metallic cold light, and their red tongues were as red as fire. Soon, they were densely packed all over the ground, gathering in the thousands.
[Side quest: Defeat the King Snake Formation, reward 100,000 experience points]
Lu Bei felt a chill on the back of his neck and took two steps closer to She Xuan. Although it was also a snake, the one next to him was much warmer.
"Get out of the way! Don't get so close!"
She Xuan's face was full of disgust. She took a step away from Lu Bei. Seeing that the encirclement was getting smaller and smaller and the aura she emitted could not confuse the surrounding poisonous snakes, she raised her wrist high.
The golden bracelet moved, and the little golden-scaled snake stood with its head held high in She Xuan's palm. As it slowly spit out its tongue, the black poisonous snakes scattered in groups and poured back into the stone pillar like a tide.
"Auntie Snake, you haven't answered my question last time. Can I touch this snake?" Lu Bei's eyes lit up. If he had known this snake had such a prominent status, he should have fed it more often along the way.
"Okay, but let me be frank. If you die, it's none of my business. You asked for it."
“Then please tell Sister Snake that if you are cremated into soup one day, let it come to Sanqing Peak to find me. As long as I have food to eat, I will never let it starve.” Lu Bei said seriously.
"Don't bother. As long as I have a breath left before I die, you won't be able to survive alone!"
"Eh, it smells so earthy."