Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
The Royal Tombs were in the west of the Sacred City. It was in an open mountain ridge. Looking from afar, it was pitch black and very eerie.
There were layers of dark clouds in the sky that covered the stars completely.
Before the Sacred Central Empire was destroyed, the Royal Tombs had been a forbidden zone. It had been heavily guarded and no Monk could approach it.
Eight hundred years had pa.s.sed. Now, the land outside was covered in acc.u.mulated snow and fallen leaves. Weeds grew freely, giving off an abandoned and desolate feeling.
Actually, the Royal Tombs weren't only a forbidden zone. It was a place where killing was forbidden too.
The ancestors of the royal Zhang Family had used great emperor-level techniques to construct more than one Emperor-level formations and protect the tombs.
When the Sacred City had been conquered, some Saints had tried to break into the Royal Tombs and steal the treasures inside. However, none of them had come out alive.
As the Crown Prince of the Sacred Central Empire, Zhang Ruochen naturally knew how to enter it. He could avoid the formations' attacks by following some special paths.
"Follow me closely and don't make mistakes," Zhang Ruochen reminded. "Otherwise, there will be big problems."
After entering the mountain range where the Royal Tombs were, the air grew colder and eerier. Will-o'-wisps flew out of some places, transforming into skulls, dragons, snakes, and soldiers.
"These aren't regular will-o'-wisps. They're the flames formed by a great emperor-level formation. Any Saint who gets touched by them will be burned to ashes."
Hearing this, the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit's limbs trembled. Its legs turned to jelly and it didn't dare to make any missteps.
The Royal Tombs took up a vast s.p.a.ce. It was boundless. Zhang Ruochen's group walked for dozens of miles, but they'd still only traveled across a tiny portion. The surrounding mountains, gullies, and forests were silent. It stood in stark contrast to the liveliness of the Sacred City.
Suddenly, the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit let out a strange cry. Everyone stopped in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Ruochen hurriedly activated his Holy Qi and formed palm prints with his hands. He was ready in defense.
The Elephant-swallowing Rabbit pointed into the near distance. "There are footprints."
Qing Mo let out a breath. She'd been very nervous and thought they'd really run into danger. "Guoguo, those are only footprints. Don't freak out over nothing. I almost died from fear."
Qing Mo stuck out her tongue and twisted the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit's ears, almost lifting it up.
Zhang Ruochen didn't lower his guard though. He walked to the footprints to investigate them. The surroundings were covered in dense verdure, so the footprints weren't covered in snow.
"The footprints are still fresh. Someone must have come during the past two days. Who could enter the Royal Tombs?"
The footprints were of varying sizes and depths. They didn't come from one person. Clearly, they weren't Kong Lanyou's.
"Everyone, be careful. Some people probably broke into the Royal Tombs." Zhang Ruochen's expression was serious.
One must know that the Royal Tombs were an extremely dangerous area. Anyone who could avoid the various great emperor-level formations and reach this area were above-average people.
The group continued forward.
A while later, they found blood on the ground. A battle had occurred not long ago.
The Elephant-swallowing Rabbit sniffed powerfully. It rushed into an open s.p.a.ce and dug out a bunch of dirt, sending the thick snow flying.
It dug out six bodies from the ground. They'd been burned black and had become scorched corpses. They were like six man-shaped matches.
Zhang Ruochen walked to one and cut open the top layer with the Abyss Ancient Sword and revealed the skeleton inside.
The skeleton gleamed like metal and was extremely hard. Strands of pure Holy Qi poured out too. It was evident that these people had very strong cultivations when they'd been alive.
"Huh?" Zhang Ruochen had a new discovery.
There were some strange patterns on the bones that s.h.i.+mmered with gold light.
"Those are corpse patterns," Huang Yanchen said. "Only Monks from the Necromancer Race and Death Zen Sect can inscribe them. You can produce powerful battle corpses after carving them onto a corpse's bones, skin, and meridians."
Zhang Ruochen's eyes darkened. After slicing open the other five burnt corpses, he discovered corpse patterns on all their bones.
"These must be the battle corpses produced by the Necromancer Race."
Zhang Ruochen had seen that the Death Zen Buddhist Way had records about the corpse patterns. They had a Buddhist style and were completely different from the corpse patterns on these six burnt bodies.
The Necromancer Race had a very deep heritage and was skilled in many ancient and secret spells. They could enter all sorts of dangerous relics and steal the corpses of ancestors of many clans.
One could only create powerful battle corpses by using powerful bodies.
The Necromancer Race didn't only rob Saint graves. Apparently, at their peak, they'd even entered an ancient G.o.d's grave and stole half of a deity's corpse.
"Did the Necromancer Race break into the Royal Tombs to steal the corpse of Emperor Ming?"
Other than the emperor's corpse, there was nothing else that was worth it for the Necromancer Race to risk everything and break into the Royal Tombs.
Zhang Ruochen clenched his fists. Fury burned in his eyes.
His ancestors' spirits shouldn't be disturbed. His ancestors' bodies shouldn't become battle puppets of other people.
The Necromancer Race's actions were clearly more despicable than the Lingxiao Heavenly King Mansion.
"There are six battle corpses here," Huang Yanchen said. "They were probably created with Saint bodies, but were disabled by some type of fire. It's evident that there's a powerful guard in the Royal Tombs."
"Guard?"
Zhang Ruochen immediately thought of Kong Lanyou.
Of course, it was possible that it wasn't her.
With Kong Lanyou's cultivation, if she attacked, the battle corpses would probably have been burned to ash. How could they be preserved so completely? The corpses didn't have Kong Lanyou's aura either.
Zhang Ruochen had the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit and Demon Ape bury the six burnt corpses again. "We've only discovered six destroyed battle corpses but no Monks of the Necromancer Race. Where did they go?"
"Perhaps…they've already escaped," Qing Mo said timidly.
"That would be great if it's true," Zhang Ruochen said.
He'd already made a note of this in his mind. If the Necromancer Race dared to offend his ancestors, then he would make them pay no matter what.
As they continued forward, their view grew wider.
There were various huge stone tablets between the mountains, as well as tombs scattered all over.
Each tomb was taller than a mountain and emanated an intimidating aura. The eerie Qi released from the tombs solidified into clouds with purple, silver, and gold light.
Zhang Ruochen crossed a dark green stone bridge and went toward a shorter tomb. Even though it was shorter, it was still around 100 feet tall and built from huge boulders.
There was an ancient stone tablet before the tomb. It was hundreds of feet tall. Standing before the tablet, Zhang Ruochen was like a speck of dust.
There were lines of words inscribed on the back of the tablet. On the front, there were only two powerful words: Empress Tomb.
There was no specific name.
It was empty and there were no fallen leaves before it. The snow that fell down didn't cover the dark green stone completely. Clearly, someone had come to sweep it recently.
"Mother, I'm sorry. I haven't come to see you in 800 years."
Zhang Ruochen knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the tomb. Huang Yanchen walked to his right and also knelt down to kowtow.
Behind them, Qing Mo, the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit, and Demon Ape all knelt down to face the tomb with serious expressions.
In the near distance, at the edge of the square, a beauty with white hair walked out of a huge parasol tree.
It was Kong Lanyou.
Staring at Zhang Ruochen who was kneeling on the ground, her beautiful eyes were filled with complicated feelings. Crystal tears flowed out.
She'd received Zhang Ruochen's letter long ago and knew that he was still alive, but she'd still suffered. She was afraid that the letter had been forged.
Thus, she stayed before her aunt's grave and never left it.
She was only sure that her cousin was still alive when she personally saw Zhang Ruochen enter the Royal Tombs and kneel before her aunt's grave.
After kowtowing to his mother, Zhang Ruochen stood up again. He looked to the edge of the square and stared at Kong Lanyou.
The Elephant-swallowing Rabbit's eyes widened. It shook in fear and then forced itself to be calm again. "Someone actually broke into the Royal Tombs! Lord Chen, you all retreat and I'll go meet her."
It didn't dare go against Kong Lanyou alone, so it dragged the Demon Ape along.
Standing before Kong Lanyou, the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit clenched its claws into fists. Its demonic Qi flared as it thundered coldly, "Are you a human or ghost?"
Kong Lanyou didn't reply. Her resentful eyes kept staring at Zhang Ruochen who was walking towards her. Tears fell down like a curtain of beads.
"You think I can't do anything about you if you don't talk? You're forcing me to attack!"
The Elephant-swallowing Rabbit didn't attack personally. It pushed the Demon Ape to test Kong Lanyou's cultivation.
The Demon Ape charged and extended a huge palm to smash down on Kong Lanyou's head.
Kaboom!
The Demon Ape crashed against an invisible wall and flew out like a huge leather ball. It fell onto the ground with a boom.
Kong Lanyou remained standing in place.
The Elephant-swallowing Rabbit gasped. Its teeth chattered as it realized it was facing a great enemy. It retreated immediately.
"Lord Chen, this is a strong cultivator. What should we do?" It was ready to run for its life.
Zhang Ruochen ignored it. He walked straight toward Kong Lanyou. The distance between them kept shortening—ten steps, nine, eight…
Terrified, the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit yelled, "Lord Chen…be careful, she's really a strong cultivator… Don't underestimate your enemies…"
