"Sss—"
"What's the story with this woman, what kind of power does she have!"
Luo Yu hadn't sensed the woman's breath, and besides the chill, there was no sign of life emanating from her body, but if this woman was alive.
He felt that just the terrifying coldness alone could indeed finish them off today.
At this moment, he had used up seventy percent of his Spiritual Power, the Five Emperor Flames began to flicker dimly, and the chill seemed ready to burst forth.
Luo Yu didn't dare delay any further, quickly replacing the lifted coffin lid.
"Great one, hello, great one, goodbye, great one, rest in peace!"
His sincere feelings were almost written on his face.
Strangely enough, when the coffin lid was replaced, the chill in the room dissipated as quickly as duckweeds that had lost their roots.
"Huff—"
Luo Yu, using the realm's "Shrinking Earth into Inches," rushed back to the side of Bai Xiao'e and Zhen Fu'er at the tomb's entrance in no time.
Seeing the seriousness and wariness on Luo Yu's face, Zhen Fu'er, despite being full of questions, didn't speak out to disturb him, waiting for him to start the conversation.
Luo Yu took a breath and then turned to the two women with concerned expressions and said, "Don't worry, I'm fine."
"But if that woman in the coffin was to come back to life, then we'd really be goners."
Bai Xiao'e, shocked, but lowering her voice, urgently whispered:
"What kind of power could pose a threat to you!"
"There was a woman in that coffin?"
Luo Yu nodded and with a simple gesture, poked his two fingers on the foreheads of Bai Xiao'e and Zhen Fu'er, transmitting the scene he had just seen to them with his Spiritual Power.
"Beautiful, so beautiful," Bai Xiao'e's eyes were somewhat dazed, obviously stunned by the beauty as well.
Zhen Fu'er also nodded, "Does Gongzi know the origins of this woman?"
Luo Yu immediately widened his eyes:
"You don't recognize her either? I was hoping to learn something from you."
Zhen Fu'er shook her head with a wry smile.
"I have never seen this woman before, and judging by the style of her attire, it's not from our era."
"You mean she's not from your era?" Luo Yu asked.
Zhen Fu'er nodded, "Exactly, and I'm familiar with the attire from the Great Zhou and Qin and Han Dynasties, but they don't match the style of this woman."
"Could it be from after the Han Dynasty?" Luo Yu guessed.
"No, it shouldn't be," Bai Xiao'e suddenly interjected, "Have you guys noticed something?"
"Every piece of clothing should have seams where it's stitched together, in ancient times even the most skilled tailors couldn't make clothes without seams."
"But the clothes on that woman, they're exquisite, without any seams at all."
"Plus, since this woman is already dead, the clothes must not be an illusion, they must be real."
"You mean, this woman isn't a mortal, hence her clothing is so extraordinary," Luo Yu said.
Bai Xiao'e nodded, "You've heard the tales of 'seamless celestial clothing,' haven't you?"
Luo Yu turned his gaze toward the coffin and muttered, "This seamless celestial garment and the astonishing chill just now, it seems this woman is likely no human."
"Then what is she?" Zhen Fu'er asked.
Luo Yu turned back to look at the two women, a peculiar smile spilling from the corner of his mouth, "What do you think, could she possibly be a slumbering deity?"
The heartbeats of Bai Xiao'e and the other woman sped up a notch.
"No way."
"It should... probably not be."
"Brother Luo, why are you looking at me so weirdly?" Zhen Fu'er suddenly noticed that Luo Yu kept staring at her.
"This coffin here is so frightening, why... aren't you..." Luo Yu couldn't bring himself to continue.
Zhen Fu'er's face flushed red, but she understood what he implied.
Bai Xiao'e murmured under her breath, "Brother Luo, there's no need to be so sarcastic. If you think my sister is weak, just say it."
"That's your words, not mine," Luo Yu replied.
However, the three of them didn't continue on the topic but discussed what to do next instead.
The two women didn't make their own decisions and considerately gave Luo Yu, the strongest member of the team, full authority to decide.
Luo Yu rested his chin in his hand.
"Opening the coffin is out of the question, that's just asking for trouble. It's better to wait until we're stronger before studying it, there's no need to risk it."
"And as for taking it with us, forget it. Carrying it around would be like having a time bomb on us. Let's just leave it here honestly, I don't think she will run away on her own."
As Luo Yu spoke, the air fell silent, and everyone's gazes grew strange.
They remembered that Zhen Fu'er herself had run out already.
The coffins in the other two side chambers were also empty, having long since been bereft of their occupants.
"Damn!"
Luo Yu massaged his brow, feeling that he never should have come. Everything had been so comfortable and worry-free before.
If the two other coffins had released antiquely dressed beauties like Zhen Fu'er, that would be one thing, but if a formidable big BOSS were to emerge, the danger would be enormous.
"Luo Gongzi, perhaps we should retreat for now. We shouldn't let my problem become your burden," Zhen Fu'er sensibly suggested.
Bai Xiao'e also nodded, "Better to retreat and preserve the green hills than to worry about having no firewood. Brother Luo, there's no harm in waiting until your strength has improved before we return."
Luo Yu shook his head.
"With the Power of Heaven and Earth to suppress us, no beast or monster can exhibit battle power beyond the First Rank Summit. If we can't beat them, I still have the confidence to take you two and flee."
"With the gradual revival of Spiritual Energy, the secrets of this place will be uncovered sooner or later. It's better to explore in advance and be prepared."
"We will follow Luo Gongzi's (Brother's) command."
Luo Yu waved his hand: "Let's go take a look at the main chamber."
The ancient stone door to the main chamber had already been tampered with by Zhen Fu'er and the other woman, allowing direct entry; the ground was littered with bronze arrows inscribed with runes.
They were likely not ordinary arrows, and Bai Xiao'e surmised she couldn't withstand them. It must have been thanks to Zhen Fu'er's recently restored partial Qi Refiner's powers that they had made it this far.
"Click, click."
In the area where the corridor arrows were located, ahead were two rows of soldier statues standing with weapons, a much larger setup than the side chambers.
Luo Yu didn't rush in immediately but took some time to restore his Spiritual Power first.
Then, just like in the side chamber's corridor, he refined the unknown red mist and harvested dozens of earthy yellow orbs.
Add to those he had obtained previously, Luo Yu now had a total of one hundred and eight earthy yellow orbs in the Great Cauldron.
Proceeding onward, he had expected to see walls full of holes inhabited by countless poisonous insects, but there were none. Instead, a grave stele and a mound obstructed the path in the middle of the passageway, blocking the way.
"Hm?"
Without Luo Yu saying a word, the three of them stopped automatically.
"Not playing by the rules?"
Luo Yu smiled nonchalantly, "Wait here, I'll go break through this mechanism and see what's odd about it."
He walked to the front of the murky tomb passage, wondering why there wasn't the slightest sound of any mechanism activating.
His gaze settled on the inscriptions on the stele.
In an instant, he felt as if struck by lightning, rooted to the spot, his eyes bulging as he stared fixedly at it.
"What's the matter, Brother Luo!"
"What happened?"
Zhen Fu'er and Bai Xiao'e saw Luo Yu standing motionless in the darkness and immediately felt a bit scared, unable to help but speak up.
Luo Yu turned stiffly, his face looking extremely unsightly: "You two... come and look at this."
Zhen Fu'er trembled, knowing that even when they faced the terrifying white-haired woman earlier, Luo Yu had not shown such an abnormal demeanor.
What on earth was in front of them?
When the two women arrived at the stele and saw the inscriptions, they shuddered violently, goosebumps rising all over their bodies.
The ancient stele exuded an aura of great age, its inscriptions covered with dust, clearly ancient markings from countless years ago.
But astonishingly, the inscriptions were not in ancient script but in modern language.
What truly chilled Luo Yu and the others to the bone was that the stele clearly stated that two thousand years later, on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, at noon, three people would arrive here.
"This... how is this possible?"
Bai Xiao'e took out her phone to check the date, her voice shaking. The stele was correct; today was indeed the ninth day of the ninth lunar month by the lunar calendar.
"You two couldn't be playing tricks on me, carving these words to mess with my head, could you?" Luo Yu glared at Bai Xiao'e and Zhen Fu'er.
"No, how could that be!" Zhen Fu'er shook her head, also frightened.
Seeing the pale faces of the two women, the clearly aged ancient inscriptions, and the undamaged terracotta soldiers from before, Luo Yu didn't think they were just trying to spook him.
"Could it just be... a coincidence?" Bai Xiao'e's voice was tremulous, although even she didn't believe what she was saying.
"Impossible."
Luo Yu immediately denied it.
The precise prediction of the time and number of people, written in modern script.
Fuck this.
He couldn't help but curse inwardly, regretting getting involved in this mess. As he looked towards the large mound behind the stele, he suddenly found it incredibly eerie.
Behind the mound was a deep, dark passageway...
——————
Just having a car isn't thrilling enough. Let's serve up something more for the brothers. Do you like this flavor, brothers? It's an outline I designed long ago.