The tomb passage slanted downward, the angle becoming steeper. The胖子 and I shone our flashlights down, but there was no sign of an end; the terminus was forever shrouded in deep darkness. I started to feel a bit anxious. We had already walked a long distance down, deep into the heart of Changbai Mountain. If we continued like this, where would we end up? The center of the Earth?

But even if it led to the center of the Earth, we had to keep going, because the guiding symbols left by the dull oil bottle clearly indicated that he had gone in this direction. With every step we took, we were getting closer to the truth of the matter. We had no choice but to press on. After walking for more than twenty minutes under the flashlight’s beam, the胖子 said to me, “Xiao Wu, have you noticed that it’s getting a bit warmer in this tomb passage?”

I nodded and replied, “Maybe our destination is near an area of volcanic activity, where there are lava or hot springs, which would explain the rising temperature. What exactly did Wang Zanghai dig up back in the day?”

The胖子 couldn’t answer that question either.

After advancing for a while, the胖子 suddenly turned around and asked me, “You have to tell me honestly, what kind of special relationship do you have with that guy?”

I was caught off guard by the胖子’s question and didn’t know how to respond. Then I realized I had misunderstood; he wasn’t asking about the kind of relationship I was thinking of. The series of events that had just happened unfolded too quickly for me to fully process. Now that I thought about it, the胖子 didn’t know that my blood had exhibited the same phenomenon as Lao Men’s blood in the Qinling Mountains. It was his first time seeing this, so how could he not be surprised? To avoid revealing any weaknesses in front of A Ning, I hadn’t asked him about it then. Now that it was just the two of us, he naturally wanted to inquire. However, given his personality, it was unlikely he would ask me directly; his question about my relationship with the dull oil bottle was probably just out of curiosity about why my blood could “drive away insects.”

According to Liang Shiye, the peculiar ability of my blood should be related to having consumed the blood of a smoked corpse, but I really couldn’t recall whether I had eaten such a thing. I knew nothing about the blood of the qilin and couldn’t provide him with a definite answer. Besides, my earlier reaction was purely instinctive; I couldn’t simply conclude that it was my blood that was at work.

Seeing that I didn’t respond, the胖子 assumed I agreed with his line of thought. He said, “Maybe he’s your long-lost brother, or cousin, or even your father’s illegitimate child. Your family must have inherited this special ability.”

I scolded, “Don’t talk nonsense. I’m my old man’s only son. If that kind of scholar had an illegitimate child, then there wouldn’t be a trustworthy man left in the world.”

The胖子 still believed there was definitely something fishy going on. I didn’t want to discuss this further, so I changed the subject.

After walking for a long time, we finally reached the end of the tomb passage. As we stepped out of the passage, a warm breeze suddenly blew in, refreshing my spirit. I quickly turned on my flashlight to look around and discovered that we were on a corridor built on a cliff, similar to the sacrificial altar of the fake spirit palace we saw in the ice dome when we arrived. The floor beneath us was supported by columns suspended over the cliff, and in the center of the corridor stood a massive black cauldron, one of its legs already sunk into the stone floor, leaning dangerously as if it might topple over. Clearly, we had to be cautious as we moved around this platform, as the stones beneath had aged.

The edges of the platform were all cliffs, and the area above was pitch black, making it impossible to see the ceiling. The Fatty grumbled, “Why is it that… we’ve reached the end again, with no way to go? And there’s still a coffin here. Where on earth has the King of Ten Thousand Slaves hidden himself?”

I replied, “This isn’t even the strangest part. We followed the little brother’s markings here, and there were very clear clues along the way. But look, there’s not a single person here. Did they all realize this was a dead end and go back? Or…?” I glanced into the darkness beside us, “Did they fly away?”

We walked to the edge of the corridor, and suddenly a signal flare ignited high in the air, illuminating the pitch-black space like a small sun and revealing the scene before us.

With the light of the flare, I saw that we were actually in a massive mountain fissure. The corridor we stood on was built against one side of the cliff of the fissure, while directly across from us, over two hundred meters away, was the cliff on the other side of the fissure. It felt as if we were perched on a cliff in a gigantic rift valley in Africa. We couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.

As the flare gradually descended, it fell below the corridor, illuminating the situation beneath us. Another shocking sight appeared: deep in the unfathomable chasm below, countless bronze chains, as thick as a bowl, spanned across, connecting both sides of the fissure.

With the descending light source, about twenty meters below the corridor, in a chaotic depth of the chasm, there were countless chains almost everywhere, with only sparse gaps. Moreover, on the chains deeper down, many objects hung densely, resembling a multitude of bells. It was too far to see clearly.

At that moment, the Fatty found a climbing rope at one end of the corridor. He lowered it down from one end of the platform until it reached just above the nearest bronze chain below, securing it there.

Frowning, the Fatty said, “That’s sufficient. The little brother is indeed persistent; it looks like he climbed down. Should we also follow him down like monkeys?”

I replied, “Considering the density of the chains below, it probably won’t be hard to climb. But what exactly is this place? Why is there such a strange setup? Could the coffin of the King of Ten Thousand Slaves be down in this chasm? Have you thought about how they could have transported that enormous coffin down here?”

The Fatty said, “There’s indeed a possibility, but the ancients always had their clever ways. Should we go up to inform those foreigners, or should we descend first?”

I said, “Once we go down, we may not be able to come back up. There’s no need for us to act as their scouts. Calling them down would only benefit them, as their equipment and technology are better than ours. Besides, Panzi is still up there; anyway, Uncle Three has already found it, so spending a bit more time is fine.”

The fat guy thought of Kirk’s muscular build and agreed with me. We returned the way we came, and knowing the road was long, we unconsciously quickened our pace.

A Ning and the others had been anxiously waiting and thought something had happened to us. When they saw us return, they finally breathed a sigh of relief. I took Panzi’s water, had a sip, and recounted what we had seen.

Upon hearing that there were bronze chains lying across below, A Ning quickly pulled out the photos she had taken from the underwater tomb and pointed to one of them. In the photo, many Eastern Xia warriors were seen carrying bows and arrows, climbing a sheer cliff, with a background filled with numerous chain-like objects. Clearly, it depicted the Eastern Xia people exploring the giant underground chasm.

I said, “It seems that those chains weren’t set up by the Eastern Xia people. They must have been curious about what was beneath those chains sealing off the chasm.”

The fat guy said, “Could these iron chains be some sort of defense mechanism set up by the ancestors who built this place to prevent something from climbing up? Like that giant black, soft-bodied creature depicted in the mural?”

I nodded, “That’s possible.” Then I asked A Ning, “Which mural is this? What’s the next one?”

A Ning replied, “According to the usual sequence of the murals, this should be the sixth from the last, with five more behind it, in order…”

A Ning spread out the last five photos. In the last mural, many Eastern Xia warriors were seen drawing bows and shooting arrows, seemingly engaged in a fierce battle, yet there were no visible enemies in the mural, leaving us wondering what they were fighting against. I thought of that strange bird that couldn’t be seen while flying in the air, and my heart tightened. Could there be something like that below as well?

The next mural depicted many evil spirits emerging from the rocks.

It seemed that there wasn’t much of a narrative connection between the murals, but they gave rise to endless associations, creating a very conscious feeling.

A Ning asked me, “Did you notice something odd again, Wu Chaoren?”

I chuckled self-deprecatingly, “It’s not that I’ve figured something out. Look, the mural of climbing the cliff is followed by the battle scene. I feel like this might be telling us what dangers we will encounter once we descend into the chasm. Those with weapons should prepare their arms.”

The others regarded me as their spiritual leader; whatever I said was taken as truth. Kirk quickly picked up his M16 and made a gesture as if to wrap it around himself. We packed our bags and headed towards the tomb passage that led deeper into Changbai Mountain.

I fell to the back of the line to check on Uncle Three, but he was still unconscious, and I couldn’t tell what terrifying things he had witnessed here. Panzi reassured me, saying that even if he had to crawl, he would drag Uncle Three out of this hellish place with him.

Walking through the tomb passage, I looked at the nervous crowd in front of me. A strange feeling welled up inside me; with Chen Pi, Ah Si, and my third uncle absent, I had to take on the role of leader for these people. This was a sensation I had never experienced before, a kind of inexplicable thrill. But were my thoughts and decisions truly correct? Was I leading these people towards death? As I pondered this, I felt a wave of hesitation wash over me.

Soon, everyone arrived at the corridor. The fat guy fired a flare, allowing everyone to see the spectacular scenery surrounding the rift. Panzi and I pulled out ropes, preparing to climb down. It was an extremely risky decision, but our escape route had been completely blocked, leaving us with no other options.

I had no idea what awaited us below. An Ning and his group were not trustworthy either. After pulling out all the ropes, I signaled the fat guy to be careful. We were all in trouble now, and everyone appeared cooperative. However, once we reached the bottom and found a way out, we had to be wary of that nasty woman turning against us.

The fat guy patted my shoulder and gave me a knowing glance, implying that he had already kept something in reserve. To ease my worries, he tugged at the corner of his shirt, revealing the remaining ten detonators strapped to his waist.

We tested the rope, and it was very sturdy. Panzi took the lead and was the first to climb down. Once he reached the chain, he hung his body like a gymnast on the horizontal bar and effortlessly jumped to another chain below. He repeated this five or six times and had descended over ten meters, giving me an “OK” hand gesture.

An Ning’s team was much better equipped than we were. Kirk brought a diffuse headlamp, turning himself into a moving light bulb. He was the second to climb down, and we used Kirk’s head as a guide, gradually descending the corridor and entering the suspended world of chains.

The density of the chains made climbing quite convenient. Regardless of what the original purpose of the bronze chains was, they provided us with a handy ladder. As we climbed for a while, our movements became more proficient, and we picked up some tricks, feeling very much like Spider-Man.

Like spiders, a dozen of us slowly descended, and there were no unexpected incidents along the way. The sturdiness of the chains was astonishing. Four hours later, the corridor above had shrunk significantly, and we had entered the depths of the rift, far beyond the reach of our eyesight from above. The giant bronze chains that had been unclear from above were now visible to me.

To be cautious, I blew the bat whistle, signaling Kirk and Panzi at the bottom to stop. Using An Ning’s night vision binoculars, I looked down. In the dim green view, I saw what hung from the chains—bodies that had been hanged there. A black, hair-like thread extended from the back of their necks, hanging from the chains. Judging by the numbers, the chains below were densely packed, almost impossible to count.

The dragon fish cipher from Wang Canghai reveals that the headless bird-like monsters we encounter, which are invisible while flying and only appear when they land, like to hang their prey on branches to dry for later use. With so many corpses here, could it be that this is their nest? No wonder the silent oil bottle warned us not to go down, but we have no other way to go now. If we don’t take the risk and go down, we might just die anyway. I suppressed the fear in my heart, made a gesture to signal everyone to be on guard, and continued downward. We’ve come this far; even if it’s hell below, we have to brace ourselves and go down.