Chapter 269 The Battle is Yet to Come
He wouldn’t even let go of her corpse? Qin Yunuan looked afar as if she could see the desire and determination in Chen Jingrui’s eyes through the rock gate. Could it be possible that he insisted on entering the arsenal not only for the weapon blueprints but also to seize Chen Wan’s corpse?
“He’s just a psychopath, a demon.” A Mo continued fiercely. “In order to approach our master, he pretended to be an ordinary smith to steal the work of our master and force our master to marry him. Later, there was an accident in the arsenal, and our master was dead. But he still wouldn’t give up. He settled down near the arsenal and used the evil poison of the south-western regions on the others who escaped with him. They became idiots who couldn’t even speak, and they became dumber generation after generation. He himself had become the leader of these idiots, and he planned to re-enter the arsenal with his men.”
“Who told you these?” Qin Yunuan was unlike the others, who would criticize Chen Jingrui immediately. She was just curious that if A Mo had never left this tomb, who told her about the news in the outside world?
A Mo suddenly became silent. She lowered her head with a flickering glance.
“In fact, you’ve left the tomb before, right?” Qin Yunuan softened her tone, with a bit of tempting in it. “You must have, or else you couldn’t know so well about the outside world. Also, even though everything here is old, there’s one new thing, which is your hair flower. A normal one would be worn out in several years. If you’ve never left the tomb for the past twenty years, how would you have a new hair flower?”
A Mo was shocked. She looked at Qin Yunuan numbly, but she didn’t want to explain anything.
Qin Yunuan tilted her head and looked at A Mo, looking interested. “Your glance reminds me of someone, Hu Shiniang in the Ghost City. I have to admit that it’s reasonable if there are triplets who look exactly the same, but their motions would vary slightly after all. How long do you want to deny it, Hu Shiniang?”
A Mo suddenly raised her head and squinted her eyes cautiously, “Don’t mention that traitor’s name in front of me.”
Qin Yunuan ignored her and continued, “If I was right, Hu Shiniang of the Ghost City and Mrs. Du at the capital of North Di are just your different identities. You’ve planned it very well. You are guarding the tomb of your master and collecting news from the outside world at the same time while spreading the news that the Yeren Valley is a haunted place. It’s all for stopping people from coming, right? There are so many traps in this tomb, yet you’ve never wanted to hurt my husband and me since we came in. It means that you know us.”
A Mo raised her head, looked at the stone ceiling and said with a relieved tone, “But you still entered the tomb after all. As long as there’s interest, people will find their way in eventually. I’ve guarded this tomb for twenty years, but since the very first day, I knew that someone would come sooner or later.”
Saying this, it meant that A Mo was just admitting that she was Hu Shiniang and Mrs. Du. Qin Yunuan only found her more extraordinary that she was able to travel between Yeren Valley, the Ghost City and the capital of north Di so quickly.
Right then, Leng Changxi, who was guarding the rock gate, came quickly with his light skills. As he landed, he said towards A Mo, “It seems that they’ve figured out a way to come here.”
“That’s impossible.” A Mo couldn’t believe it. The corrosive liquid had stopped countless intruders. How could Chen Jingrui have such an ability to walk past that?
After that, A Mo rushed towards the rock gate. Qin Yunuan was following her. Leng Changxi took the chance to ask Qin Yunuan, “Did she cure your poison yet?”
“No,” Qin Yunuan shook her head, “It’s just that I know something that’s more important.” After saying that, Qin Yunuan handed a pill to Leng Changxi, which was what A Mo gave her earlier. She deliberately saved one. If the air in the tomb was really toxic, she didn’t want anything happening to Leng Changxi.
A Mo touched the rock gate to make sure that it was shut, and then opened up a well-hidden hole on the top right corner of the gate. From this hole, she could see what happened on the outside clearly. To her surprise, even though the strong acid was still flowing, they were approaching slowly.
There were some corroded leaves and branches in the acid. Apparently, Chen Jingrui wanted to lay these on the acid so that he could walk through. However, it was useless. Compared to these, thick human flesh and sturdy human bone could last longer. So, he came up with this cruel idea to let his slaves make a way for him so that he could cross the acid on the bloody bodies. Chen Jingrui didn’t act uneasy at all. As soon as they reached the end of the human bridge, the slave at the front would be pushed into the acid. Together with the painful scream, the great troop could move further.
This time, it seemed that Chen Jingrui wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted.
A Mo was looking uneasy. By the first time, she was feeling stressed.
“Could they come to this side of the rock gate?” Qin Yunuan asked, looking at A Mo.
“I don’t know.” A Mo was looking at what happened on the outside. She was unsettled. The corridor was very long, and it was uneasy to walk through it with the acid. It was not a good way for Chen Jingrui to sacrifice his own people, but it was the quickest way, nonetheless.
“You two should go in first, to the crystal coffin.” A Mo turned her head to Leng Changxi and said.
“What about you?” Qin Yunuan felt that she couldn’t leave A Mo here alone.
“I have my way naturally.” A Mo looked at Qin Yunuan and suddenly looked soft. She had stayed in the tomb and the outside world for a long time, but few people actually cared of her, not mentioning that it’s a dangerous situation. “As for your poison,” A Mo sighed, “I couldn’t cure it.”
“What did you say?” Leng Changxi raised his tone.
“Don’t panic.” A Mo frowned and said towards Leng Changxi. In the Ghost City, when she was using the identity Hu Shiniang, she remembered that Leng Changxi was a calm man. That was why Leng Changxi attracted her so much. Apart from pity, it was also because of Hu Shiniang’s personal feelings toward Leng Changxi which made her help them. It was the first time she saw Leng Changxi so anxious, and it was for a woman. It made A Mo upset and emotional.
“It was a very cold poison on her. I’ve said that before, because the feeder of this poison had rare cold blood, normal people couldn’t feed this poison. The usual way is to pull the poison out with the same cold blood, but we couldn’t find such blood now. However, there’s another way that I heard our master talk about once. It was to balance yin-yang with warm blood. If we couldn’t find cold blood, we could find the warmest blood to neutralize it and force the poison out.”
A Mo was talking a lot, but she ended with, “Don’t General Leng know that you have the warmest blood?”
“Are you serious?” Leng Changxi didn’t want to risk Qin Yunuan’s life.
“Huh,” A Mo smiled coldly, “Why do you think you could master the Qigong of Tongming Gate in such a short time? Apart from the fact that Jing Donghua, who gave you Qi, was the best West Xia Qigong master, it was because of your blood. It was fully supplementary with the Qigong of Tongming Gate. No one else could reach your level even with hard work for their whole life.”
“Then how could I...” Before Leng Changxi had finished the question, a powerful thunder sounded outside the rock gate. At the moment, the whole tomb was shaking as if the sky is falling.
A Mo peeped through the hole and gritted, “Damn, they’re using dynamite now.” As a matter of fact, Chen Wan invented dynamite. It was just that the method of producing it was leaked later on. Chen Wan would never have thought that her own invention would be used against her after her death.
“Go, you two.” A Mo urged Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan, “Remember that as soon as you reached the crystal coffin, turn the leftmost candlestand to shut the second rock gate. That gate was very sturdy. Even with dynamite, they couldn’t blow it open.”
“What about you?” Qin Yunuan was still very worried about A Mo.
“I belong to the tomb.” A Mo smiled faintly, “Guarding the master’s tomb is my responsibility since I was born. I’m a living dead in this tomb. How bad could it be even if I die?”
Qin Yunuan wanted to say something else, but A Mo pushed her away. Leng Changxi didn’t want to leave A Mo alone, but he dragged Qin Yunuan towards the space with the crystal coffin A Mo showed them before. On their way, the whole tomb was trembling. It seemed that Chen Jingrui was adding the amount of dynamite he used.
As they arrived, Leng Changxi settled Qin Yunuan down and reached out his hand for the candlestand. Right then, he saw the rock gate from afar shattering. A Mo was guarding the gate with a thin blade in her hands. She was prepared to fight till her death with the intruders. Her life-long belief was to defend the tomb. She had no choice.
Leng Changxi gritted his teeth and turned the candlestand. Soon, the second rock gate fell. Qin Yunuan peeped through the slit on the gate. Seeing the chaos outside, she felt extremely uneasy.
After the rock gate fell, the world seemed separated from the outside. Leng Changxi held Qin Yunuan, whose fingertips were chilling, in his arms, and comforted her continuously, “It’s alright, Nuan. I’m here. Don’t be afraid.”
“I... I’m fine, and I’m not afraid.” Qin Yunuan’s voice was calm, but she was still trembling uncontrollably.
“But you’re very cold,” Leng Changxi held Qin Yunuan face in his hands and looked at it carefully, “And you’re looking pale and shaken.”
“Am I?” Qin Yunuan was shocked, “But I’m not shaking, nor afraid.” After saying that, Leng Changxi felt that Qin Yunuan was shaking even more terribly.
Looking at Leng Changxi’s serious expression, Qin Yunuan suddenly thought of something. She rolled up her sleeves, only to see that the black line on her arm had reached her fingertips.
“Is it midnight now?” Qin Yunuan asked numbly.
Leng Changxi didn’t say a word, but they both know that it was midnight, and the poison on Qin Yunuan was effecting.
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