Volume Three - The Tomb of the Fox Immortal Chapter Fifty-One: The Unknown Space

Entering the grand hall, Li Kun took a turn around the right side and reported, "No enemies found on the left, clear."

I replied, "No enemies found on the right, the hall is secure."

With that, Li Kun walked over to me with a smile and said, "Old Liu, it feels just like the old days when we used to go on missions. I really miss those times. I wonder how Old San is doing now."

I nodded and said, "Indeed. Ever since the few of us retired, we haven't seen each other at all. I wonder how Old San is doing. Later, we should give him a call and ask what he's up to."

Li Kun nodded and said, "Old Liu, if Old San comes over, let's not rope him into our trade. Our line of work is far too dangerous."

I replied, "Rest assured, even if Old San comes, I won't drag him down into the tombs with us. Since Old San knows a thing or two about the antiquities market, we can have him help us out from above. His family isn't short on money, so we can just bring him in as a financial backer."

Li Kun said, "That's a good idea. His family are dyed-in-the-wool country squires; I bet their house is practically paved with cash."

After a few moments of idle chatter, Xu Tian and Da Gou also walked into the hall, and it was only then that we began to examine our surroundings closely.

The scale of the entire hall was massive, easily twice the size of the tomb chamber housing the Five-Element Dispelling-Evil Formation. If my guess was correct, this hall was the very core of the Fox Immortal's tomb.

The hall was square-shaped, and its sky-blue walls were covered in dense, countless dragon-shaped candle stands. These holders illuminated the entire hall brightly.

Curiously, the vaulted ceiling featured three exhaust vents, each about as thick as a child's arm. Looking straight up, I could clearly make out the current weather conditions outside.

The sky was covered in thick, dark clouds, and snowflakes had begun to drift down. A few scattered flakes drifted inward through the three ceiling vents.

The floor of our chamber was higher along the edges and dipped lower in the middle, creating a completely sloped angle.

The most eye-catching feature in the center of the hall was a towering stone statue, five or six meters high. This massive statue depicted the same alluring woman, indicating that it was yet another representation of the Fox Immortal.

The statue's feet rested upon a high platform, around which were several drainage holes, evidently designed to accommodate the exhaust vents in the dome above.

On the left and right sides of this statue stood a pair of massive, double-leaved stone doors. The moment we laid eyes on these two doors, all of us held our breath.

I turned to look at the two men beside me and said, "It seems our destination is finally at hand." With that, I slowly walked toward the stone door on the left, wanting to examine it up close.

Seeing my actions, Xu Tian and Li Kun followed closely behind me.

Standing before the stone door, Xu Tian carefully inspected it and said, "We must really be approaching our ultimate destination. Two stone doors, and we must choose one to enter. Now, it all comes down to our luck."

"If fortune favors us, the benevolent immortal's sanctuary might lie behind this door, and we can walk out safe and sound. But if we encounter the malicious immortal instead, we are likely doomed. What do you two think? Which door shall we take?"

Hearing Xu Tian's words, Li Kun and I fell silent. Li Kun had a specific flaw: he suffered from severe indecision. Asking him for a choice would yield no definitive answer, so the decision ultimately fell to me.

I pondered for a moment, pointed at the stone door right in front of us, and said, "Since we've arrived at this very door, it must be destiny telling us to enter it. Let's take this one; whether we live or die is up to our fate."

After I spoke, the three of us prepared to push the stone door open. But the moment I turned back, I suddenly felt as though something was missing.

Realizing this, I quickly glanced around the hall. Seeing my panicked expression, Xu Tian asked, "Old Liu, what is it?"

I blurted out, "This is bad. Where is Da Gou? Da Gou!" With that, I raised my voice and shouted his name.

Seeing my panic, the other two were stunned. I immediately ran behind the stone statue to search, but the result was grim: Da Gou had truly vanished.

I walked back to the other two and asked, "Did either of you see Da Gou just now?"

Li Kun asked with a puzzled expression, "He was right behind me a second ago. How did he disappear in the blink of an eye?"

Xu Tian's expression turned solemn. "Old Liu, could it be the work of the headless ghost?"

Hearing this, I froze for a moment. "Oh no, it must have been that headless ghost that took Da Gou away. Otherwise, he wouldn't have vanished without a sound."

Xu Tian said, "Old Liu, what do we do now? Neither of the stone doors has been opened yet, so the headless ghost probably didn't drag him through them. It's very likely it took him back the way we came."

Li Kun asked, "Then how are we supposed to find him? Are we supposed to go back and search every single tomb chamber? By the time we find him, Da Gou will have been killed by the headless ghost ages ago."

Hearing Li Kun's words, I turned to look at the stone door before us and muttered, "Bad luck indeed. We only have one option left now."

Both of them turned their gaze toward me, and I continued, "We find the benevolent immortal. Her divine arts are boundless, and since this is her domain, she will surely know where the headless ghost took Da Gou. We can seek her help."

Xu Tian nodded. "That's right. The murals we saw all depicted scenes of the benevolent immortal saving people, which proves she is relatively friendly toward humans. She will definitely be willing to help us."

Hearing this, Li Kun said nervously, "What if we end up at the malicious immortal's place instead? Wouldn't that mean..."

I interrupted, "Whichever one we encounter, we have to go in anyway. It's up to fate now. Let's hurry inside."

After I spoke, the two of them nodded. Li Kun and I simultaneously reached out and grabbed the bronze rings on the stone door. We braced our arms and exerted all our strength. A harsh grinding sound echoed as the stone doors slowly parted.

The moment the doors opened, we saw a sky-blue corridor ahead, and lining both sides of the corridor were the jade rabbit lamps we had previously seen in the bathing chamber.

Seeing these lamps, Li Kun no longer had the urge to pry them off and take them with him. Yet, to his absolute surprise, the jade rabbit lamps in this corridor could actually be detached quite easily—a mere gentle upward lift was enough to remove the entire lamp. Perhaps this was simply destined to be.

The three of us walked briskly down the corridor. Before long, we came upon a pair of large red double doors. True to form, these doors were crafted entirely from red agate.

Upon seeing these doors once again, any thoughts of treasure hunting had vanished from our minds. Our sole objective was to find the benevolent immortal as quickly as possible and rescue Da Gou. Any later, and he might not survive.

With this in mind, Li Kun and I grabbed the handles on the doors. These agate doors were exceptionally heavy, and it took us two combined heaves to create an opening just wide enough for a single person to squeeze through.

Once the doors were ajar, the three of us quickly stepped inside.

Upon entering, however, we were not greeted by a brightly lit scene, but rather by a vast, hollow expanse.

Staring at this sight, the three of us stood frozen for a moment before pulling out our flashlights and sweeping the beams across the space.

The area we stood in was a massive circular chamber. When we shone our flashlights forward, the beams failed to reach the opposite side. Blame it on the limited range of our flashlights, which could only pierce about ten meters before dissolving into absolute darkness.

Moreover, the light emitted by the flashlights was dim and yellowish, barely enough to make out details close by.

The entire space was circular. Directly ahead of the stone door we had emerged from, there was no path—only pitch-black void. However, on both our left and right sides ran long flights of stairs. The stairs on the left led upward toward the ceiling, while those on the right descended into the depths below.

These long staircases wound along the curved stone walls of the chamber. The walls themselves were smooth, but a stone walkway had been carved directly into the perimeter of the circular room.

We were currently standing right upon that carved walkway along the chamber wall.

The entire space was pitch-black, utterly devoid of any light. Li Kun peered downward, but the flashlight beams only illuminated a faint, feeble glow before swallowing it whole in the profound darkness.

Seeing this, Li Kun felt a shiver run down his spine. Humans naturally harbor a fear of the unknown, especially when none of us had any idea what lurked down below. If it happened to be some primordial monster, we would simply be delivering ourselves to its doorstep as a meal.

Li Kun looked back and forth, searching for a small stone to toss down and gauge the depth. After rummaging around for a long time, he couldn't find anything loose to throw, leaving us completely in the dark regarding the depth or what might reside at the bottom.

Turning to me, Li Kun stammered, "Old Liu, I have a bad feeling about this. This doesn't look like a place where a fox immortal would live. Why is it so creepy?"

I shook my head and replied, "Judging from the corridor we just came through, this place is undoubtedly the dwelling of one of the two fox immortals."

Xu Tian also looked downward, though the unknown darkness made him deeply uneasy as well. He said, "Since we've already come this far, we might as well go down and take a look. Unless you want to turn back?"