Chapter Seventy-One: The Third Breach

With just a little thought, I understood immediately—Peanut was denying what my father had said about the “Blood Lock.” In other words, the connection between my blood and this ancient tomb might not be as my father described. But then, why would he lie to me? Was he afraid the truth would reach Peanut’s ears? That didn’t make sense either, because if Peanut wanted to suggest my father was lying, he must also know the reason behind it… Wait, if Peanut did know the truth, then my father would never have lied to me in front of him.

Or perhaps Peanut wasn’t hinting at this at all, but something else entirely? That didn’t seem likely either; I’ve never considered myself especially clever, and Peanut must have seen that. He couldn’t possibly have expected me to understand any complicated message just from a shake of his head. The more I thought about it, the more my head throbbed.

“Phew…” I shook my head hard, deciding to stop thinking altogether. It looked like we’d be out soon enough anyway, so I might as well wait until my father woke up and ask him properly.

With that settled, I turned to Fatty and asked, “Hey, how long was I out?”

Fatty estimated, “Four or five hours, give or take.”

That sounded about right. My father needed to get to a hospital, so I wondered if I should wake him now. But seeing him sleeping so peacefully, I couldn’t bring myself to disturb him.

While I was still hesitating, Fatty suddenly said, “Oh right, while you were asleep I asked around—turns out the people who shot at us before were from another group altogether. Your second uncle and his people ran into them, they recognized each other, and as soon as those guys saw your father was missing, they turned and left. I heard they lost seven or eight men on their way here, which is probably why they shot at us. Your second uncle said they’re likely waiting outside to see if we find your father, hoping to ambush us. I reckon they’re also after the Blue Blood Dragon Pattern.”

I felt uneasy at this, thinking these people had arrived much too quickly—Barely had the mongrel drawn his last breath, and already someone else was after my father. I considered taking advantage of my father’s sleep to get him out of here directly.

But before I could decide, my second uncle had already walked over and woken my father.

He opened his eyes slowly; though freshly awakened, he looked even more pallid than before.

“Brother, let’s get out of here first,” my second uncle said, evidently not in favor of pressing deeper into the main tomb.

My father took the water Qin Feng handed him and drank a couple of sips. “Don’t worry, it won’t take long.”

“Sir, it’s still too dangerous. Why don’t I take a few men inside first while the rest of you head out? If we hurry, we’ll catch up,” Er Lengzi suggested.

My father shook his head. “None of you can do this.” Then he told Qin Feng and Er Lengzi to help him up, and looked at me and Fatty. “You two come with me; the rest of you wait here.”

“Just me and Fatty?” I was startled. “Dad, that’s not right. If it were just the two of us, that’d be one thing, but without others to help, if something happens in there, you—”

My father smiled faintly. “Too many people, and something is bound to go wrong.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Fatty asked.

My father glanced around at everyone. “There’s a gravity system in the main tomb chamber. If more than three people enter at once, something will happen.” He turned to me. “That’s how your grandfather and his group survived in the past.”

Fatty’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh… No wonder you didn’t say anything before entering the main tomb. You wanted us all to go in together.”

“All right… Enough.” My father gestured for Fatty and me to help him. But as we reached for him, Qin Feng and Er Lengzi still hesitated.

My father said to my second uncle, “No matter what you hear, don’t come inside.”

His words had the opposite effect—everyone immediately took a step forward, as if determined to follow.

“That’s enough.” My father’s face showed a rare trace of impatience, his voice tinged with sternness. At his expression, everyone froze in place.

Ha, I thought to myself, this old man may be on his last legs, but he’s still terrifying when he gets angry. Realizing no one here could best my father, I wasted no more time, grabbed some gear, and, with Fatty’s help, supported him toward the main tomb.

Once we passed through the huge stone door, we soon saw a stone-carved screen. On it were countless twisted little faces, each the size of a palm, merging together to form a single enormous, grotesque face. I wondered if this was what the King of Yelang had looked like—no wonder he’d needed to hide away.

Fatty shone his light across the floor, muttering, “Damn, I think this is where I fell down before. What the hell…”

Only then did I recall Fatty’s previous ordeal. Looking around, there was no sign of the hole he’d fallen through; the floor was spotless, as if newly swept, and there were no corpses from the mongrel’s group either.

“Stop looking…” my father said hoarsely. “Let’s go, while I still have the strength.”

We truly had no time to waste. I patted Fatty, urging him forward. After we passed the screen and walked a few steps, a bronze-colored glint suddenly caught our eyes. Fatty switched his headlamp to full power, and there, looming ahead, was a wall built entirely from bronze bricks.

I’d tried to picture that wall in my mind before, but seeing it now, I realized my imagination hadn’t done it justice.

The wall was at least twenty meters high and more than forty meters wide. Every bronze brick bore a raised design, but they weren’t uniform. Each brick’s relief was different, and none seemed related to the others. After a while, I spotted one brick that depicted a woman in imperial robes.

If those TV dramas I’d watched hadn’t lied, her robes—and the attire of the people around her—weren’t from the Han Dynasty.

So I called Fatty over. He took one look and exclaimed, “Whoa, isn’t that Empress Wu Zetian?”

“Wu Zetian?” I gasped. “But… but isn’t this tomb from the Western Han?”

“Strange, isn’t it? But judging by the hats on these officials, this is definitely from the Zhou Dynasty under Empress Wu,” Fatty said, turning to my father.

My father, dazed and not really listening, said, “A-Jin from the Cao family, take out those three bronze bricks.”

Before leaving, Peanut had given the three bronze bricks to Fatty. Hearing my father, Fatty pulled them out from his long trouser pocket.

“See where a brick is missing, and slot one in—once all three are in place, the wall will open,” my father said, his eyes barely open. Fatty and I didn’t delay. We sat my father down against the screen, then quickly began searching the wall.

I hadn’t found anything yet, but Fatty spotted two spots at once. He slotted in two bricks, and we continued searching for the third. Yet after scouring the lower part of the wall, we found no other gap. Fatty looked up and said, “Don’t tell me it’s up there?”

I looked at the wall, as tall as a two-story house, and was immediately stumped. If the last gap was right at the top, even if we saw it, how would we ever reach to insert the brick?

“That can’t be,” I reasoned. “This must be some kind of mechanism. If the three gaps were too high up, no one could reach them. My grandfather’s group came here several times—they couldn’t have hauled a ladder every time.”

“True…” Fatty agreed, and called me back to search again in case we’d missed something. I combed the wall three more times—still nothing.

“Master Yuan, are you sure you’re not mistaken? Your daughter and I only found two gaps,” Fatty said impatiently to my father.

My father took a deep breath. “There are definitely three.” After that, he said no more.

I went over to give my father some water, then told Fatty, “Let’s not bother him; we’ll find it ourselves.”

Fatty protested, “But it doesn’t make sense. Either it’s really up there, or we would’ve seen it by now—I’ve practically pressed my eyes into this wall.”

I sighed inwardly. But suddenly, something Fatty had just said made a spark go off in my mind. “Fatty, what did you just say?”

Fatty glanced at me, miffed. “What, did I say something wrong?”

“No, you said…” I tried to recall, and then, as if struck by lightning, I understood. “Damn, maybe that’s it!”

Fatty noticed my change of expression and walked over. “What did you realize?”

I hesitated, then said, “It’s nothing much. You just said you had your eyes right up against the wall but still couldn’t find it. So I started thinking—maybe we’re too close, and that’s why we can’t spot the third gap.”

Fatty turned to glare at the wall. “That could be it.”

“So let’s step back and try again,” I suggested.

Fatty adjusted his lamp to the brightest setting. We pressed ourselves against the screen opposite the wall and slowly swept the light from west to east, eyes wide open, scanning every detail. The first pass turned up nothing. My nerves were starting to fray, but I forced myself to try one more time, this time east to west.

I’d barely taken a step when Fatty suddenly grabbed me in excitement.

“There it is,” he said, pointing to the eastern corner of the bronze wall.

At first, I couldn’t see any sign of a missing brick. But following the straight edge down, I saw it—right at the very bottom, nestled in the corner, was the third gap.

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(The recent chapters are crucial—please pay close attention to the details.)