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墨書 Inktalez
Trouble seemed to follow trouble!
I had just felt relieved about rescuing Big Mouth Lee, but little did I know that a greater danger lurked behind us. The noise that erupted was far more terrifying than the battle with the Yin Soldiers. Big Mouth Lee and the others were still unconscious, and I had no time to tend to them. I hurriedly shook them awake.
They stirred, confused, and were startled by my sudden actions. Big Mouth Lee instinctively reached out to hug me, but I quickly pushed him away. Dong Tong let out a cold laugh and was about to speak when I made a gesture for silence. "There's movement!" We exchanged wry smiles; what kind of place was this? It felt like walking on eggshells!
Given the current situation, staying in the tomb chamber made us anxious about Murmur's relentless pursuit, fearing another attack. If we ventured outside, we had no idea what awaited us. Zhengyang, our strongest fighter, was nowhere to be found. Caught in a dilemma, I glanced at the scattered boxes around us; leaving wouldn't be easy, so I shook my head.
This tomb had no exit. There was only a hidden opening in the dome concealed by the Poplar Coffin, and no gaps could be found within the chamber itself. Another passageway clearly led to a side chamber meant for burial companions. The fighting inside grew increasingly fierce; from the sounds of battle, it was evident that formidable spirits with killing intent beyond ten segments were clashing.
Clang!
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
...
Suddenly, two dark figures were blasted into the tomb passage. As they steadied themselves, I took a closer look—wasn't that Zhengyang and Uncorrupted Bones? My face turned pale as fear gripped me; the fighting in the passage continued unabated, and each sound felt like a death knell, straining my nerves to their breaking point.
"What are we going to do? How many times do we have to say this?"
Big Mouth Lee shouted in panic, "We can't stay here! If there's no way out, we should escape quickly!" I couldn't help but chuckle bitterly; wasn't that obvious? If we could escape, we would have done so already!
Even Zhengyang and Uncorrupted Bones had been sent flying—what on earth was going on over there? Yet the cacophony continued in the passage without any sign of drawing closer. I sensed something was off but couldn't quite grasp it. I turned to Big Mouth Lee and asked, "It looks like we're stuck here for a while. What happened to you guys?"
"What do you mean, what happened to us?!"
"Stay here. Those things have been disturbed by the Eerie Energy. I will go with Uncorrupted Bones to hold them off for a while. Once you decide, run!" Zhengyang interrupted my question, slightly shifting his body before entering the tomb passage with Uncorrupted Bones. The sound of clashing weapons echoed again.
"Sister Dong, how did you end up in the tomb chamber?"
"We were just tricked!"
"I'll handle this!" Bald Qiang diverted the topic, clearing his throat. "While you and Zhengyang were out battling the Yin Soldiers, a group of foreigners came in from outside the tomb. We noticed them in time and hid behind Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. That group of foreigners smashed open Listening to the Truth and jumped in one after another..."
Hearing this, I thought it was no wonder there were foreign corpses among the Poplar. But something felt off; logically, those foreigners should have all been inside the tomb. Why was one left inside?
"So you followed them in?"
"This is your fault! If you hadn't come back and made us hide in the tomb where it was safer, we wouldn't have gone down!"
"Nonsense! When did I come back?"
"You idiot! At that time, we didn't know; it must have been a ghost impersonating you. Only now do I realize we were tricked."
"Go on!"
"I didn't want to go down at first, but Sister Dong insisted... When I went down, I saw a huge beehive. We continued forward and saw those foreigners opening the Poplar Coffin, jumping in one by one without coming out for a long time. When we finally opened the coffin, a black hand pulled me down."
"When we got down, we didn't see any ghosts or monsters. We only saw a palace with a woman sitting in the center. We smelled a special fragrance. That woman invited me to a feast, and then I passed out!"
"You must have been possessed! I clearly saw a corpse covered in gold and jewels. Just as I was about to take it, I was enveloped and then fell into unconsciousness." Big Mouth Lee seemed quite dissatisfied with Bald Qiang's account and interrupted him!
"This must be an illusion. Why did I see a princess commanding a group of ministers in a hall draped with white curtains? There was no sign of you all!" I thought to myself, "Sister Dong is indeed clever!" Then she added, "I can be sure that Dirty Things manipulated our minds, controlling our consciousness so that we all saw different things!"
"What is its purpose, then?" the four of us asked in unison.
If such an event happens to one person, it might just be a coincidence. But when it occurs to many, it can no longer be described as mere chance; it must be organized and premeditated.
The sounds of weapons clashing in the tomb passage grew more intense, and even a chilling wind swept into the chamber. In the face of this atmosphere, I could feel that even that gust could injure me. The noise was getting closer, and we had no more time to ponder. The question of why we returned here was clearly less important than our lives.
At that moment, Dong Tong suddenly spoke up, "If we go to the tomb passage now, we might attract those things over! With our abilities, not only would we be unable to help Zhengyang and the others, but we might also become a burden! Xia, take a good look; this tomb designed by a mathematical genius surely has some secret passages!"
There was likely indeed a secret passage. This kind of Nine Palaces format tomb was unheard of to me. In ancient times, there were indeed some projects and tombs designed using mathematics.
Take the Bagua commonly used in Taoism; it completely derives from the Magic Square. The Nine Palaces Bagua formation is also known as the Five Formation, Five Elements Formation, Five Elements Bagua Formation, Eight Formation Diagram, Nine Armies, and so on—all stemming from the same theoretical origin with similar formation principles. For example, the famous Shanhaiguan, known as the First Pass Under Heaven. When this pass was built, the craftsmen calculated the number of bricks needed precisely, and after completion, they indeed had one "fixed city brick" left over.
Our ancestors' understanding of mathematics was not merely a few formulas. Whenever it involved formations and important tombs, mathematics was always employed. The Magic Square is a complex yet simple formula that can vary from nine to fifteen; moving different formations could trigger different mechanisms.
For instance, using our mnemonic device to apply the principle of fifteen in both vertical and horizontal directions allowed us to deduce the positions of four Bronze Boxes. Similarly, it could be inferred that this tomb chamber definitely had more than just that one exit in the passage. By manipulating the Magic Square, new exits could be discovered.
With this idea settled, we began to think deeply.
We converted numbers above ten in the Magic Square into negative numbers, effectively creating two Magic Squares. This way, with yin and yang being equal, life energy naturally emerged.
We carefully examined the numbers in the Bronze Boxes: three, five, negative seven, one, seven, negative three, nine, negative five, negative one. These nine numbers were filled into the nine squares of the diagram so that the sum of all three numbers in each row, column, and diagonal remained equal. The eight corners were six, two, eight, four, three, negative five, seven, negative one.
To be honest, if Dong Tong hadn't been present, I wouldn't have figured it out either. From these numbers alone, we only needed to select two central numbers from two sets of boxes. This left us with nine on the left and negative seven on the right. As stated in the Book of Changes: "Nine two: seeing a dragon in the field is beneficial for meeting great people!" Clearly, this meant we could only choose negative seven since seven represents fullness in yin numbers. Thus in yang there are head seven, two seven, and three seven.
Looking around the chamber, the position of three seven was right beneath that Bronze Coffin. The Uncorrupted Bones had already departed; I had no choice but to grit my teeth and escape from that Bronze Coffin for survival. I tore off a piece of cloth to leave a message for Zhengyang. Afterward, the three of us jumped into the Bronze Coffin.
The coffin appeared suspended in air but held much within. It was bone-chillingly cold inside—much colder than Sinking Wood. The sweat on my body instantly turned into frost. I shivered! "Damn it! This is colder than Antarctica! I should have worn Antarctic thermal underwear!" The tense atmosphere was lightened by Big Mouth Lee's remark.
The coffin, though not very large, was sufficient to accommodate five or six people and stood about two meters tall. It could easily hold our entire bodies. The walls of the coffin were painted with glowing designs, embedded with numerous mica and shells that sparkled brilliantly. The scene resembled a starry sky, akin to swarms of fireflies. The light was enchanting and captivating.
"Eh? Xia, are you mistaken? It seems there’s no exit in this coffin!"
"There's no mistake. Although there are many skilled craftsmen among our ancestors, they wouldn’t easily change tradition. Since we are at the Nine Palaces and Seven Positions, it naturally means there’s something within this coffin; it can’t be wrong!"
"Haha! Finally found it! Look! There’s a button over here!"
At the head of the coffin hung a massive Tiger Head, its mouth wide open. Such decorations were rarely used in tombs; they were typically carved to curse the tomb owner. The saying goes that the tiger's mouth creates wind, ensuring that the tomb owner would never attain rebirth. The left eye of the tiger was slightly loose; if one didn’t touch it carefully, they would never suspect it was a switch.
"Ouch! The ingenuity of our ancestors is truly remarkable! If we could take this coffin away and sell it for a hundred or eighty thousand, we’d be rich!"
"Shut up, Big Mouth Lee! This is national property; you can’t take it!" Bald Qiang had a higher sense of awareness. I thought to myself, "Damn it, at such a critical moment, he still has the mood to joke!" I shouted, "Hurry up and open the mechanism!"
Big Mouth Lee twisted the switch and gave it a hard turn; the tiger's mouth slowly opened. Sure enough, a secret passage appeared, connecting inside the coffin. Just as we were about to enter, a shadow darted in ahead of us. That familiar scent was unmistakable—it was Murmur. How did it get in? We had no time to ponder.
As the tomb chamber opened, an extremely cold Eerie Energy surged out. All three of us shivered involuntarily.
To be honest, I was filled with dread about this tomb chamber; I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something foolish might suddenly emerge. With a swift motion, I drew my Azure Dark Sword and remained on high alert as we cautiously stepped into the tomb passage. Taking a glance around, I noticed that this passage was entirely constructed of blue bricks, unlike traditional tombs from the Western Regions.
Finally reaching a fork in the passageway, we all froze in place simultaneously.
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