Chapter 7: Sealed

Zuo Qingcang then followed the Old Man into the crack. The split from the earthquake was very narrow. A person walking inside could only see what was ahead and could not even turn their head, feeling very oppressed.

Luckily, this crack was not long. Zuo Qingcang walked for about ten meters and came out of the crack. Before his eyes was a huge hall.

The hall was several hundred meters long and wide. At the far end stood a stone door over five meters tall, completely blocking the way forward.

In the hall, eighteen massive pillars rose from the ground. Coiled around each pillar was a creature that looked like a dragon but not quite, like a tiger but not quite. Their eyes glowed with green light, staring intently at Zuo Qingcang as if they might pounce at any moment.

The Old Man patted Zuo Qingcang’s stiff body and laughed. “Don’t be nervous. None of them are alive. It’s Luminous Pearls glowing in their eyes.”

After hearing the Old Man’s explanation, Zuo Qingcang relaxed. He had no choice; he had already encountered two groups of monsters on this island. Now, looking carefully, he saw that the creatures on the pillars were indeed carvings. They were just carved so vividly, and the Luminous Pearls’ light was dim, giving him the illusion they were alive.

“The entire tomb originally ran on Dao Arts, but too much time has passed, and there’s been no maintenance. Especially after the earthquake, many mechanisms and arrays here have stopped working. There’s basically no danger.” As the Old Man spoke, his torch finally burned out. He casually threw it on the ground and, using the light of the Luminous Pearls, walked toward the deeper part of the hall.

“The passages behind are all sealed. Through the rock cracks, we can only come this far. If we want to go further, we’ll have to find another way.”

“This room holds burial items and sacrificial objects. It’s a custom of Western Wei nobility. They also have a habit of recording the tomb owner’s life story in the Sacrificial Chamber. Come and look with me.”

Zuo Qingcang followed the Old Man, and as they walked, he saw the room was filled with various pots, jars, statues, gold, silver, and such things.

The Old Man explained, “The owner of this tomb was also a Dao Arts practitioner, so among his burial items, besides various vessels, there are also many materials used for practicing Dao Arts.”

Zuo Qingcang nodded, his gaze suddenly falling on a crystal coffin. The coffin was vertically embedded in the wall. Zuo Qingcang could clearly see inside it a mummy with a human head and bird body, its wings curled up.

“This is called Liang Bo,” the Old Man said. “During the Western Wei period, Taoist Priests had a burial custom of making specimens of the monsters they defeated during their lifetime to be buried with them. They hoped that although they could not ascend, when they went to the underworld, they would still have followers and countless demons accompanying them.”

“The Yin Woman you encountered earlier is the same. Because the owner of this tomb was very remarkable, there are especially many sacrificial items.”

Zuo Qingcang walked on, as if coming to an exhibition center of monster mummies. There was a giant serpent with a human head, a centipede as big as a small car, a tiger with three heads, and so on.

They had all turned into mummies, but their faces remained ferocious. Even curled up in crystal coffins, they gave off a terrifying, eerie feeling, as if they might come alive at any moment.

Walking and looking like this, Zuo Qingcang and the Old Man finally came before a mural. The mural covered a wall over a hundred meters long. The figures in the mural were lifelike, but due to the passage of time and earthquakes on the island, there were many cracks and fading.

The Old Man pointed to a child at the beginning of the mural. “This is the tomb owner.”

The child in the mural had his hair tied in a bun and wore Taoist robes. He was following an old Taoist Priest, walking into the deep mountains. With the Old Man’s previous explanation, this picture was easy to understand. It clearly showed the child following the old Taoist Priest into the deep mountains to practice Dao Arts.

The next mural showed a youth sitting cross-legged on a mountain peak. An old man held a book, teaching him something.

The following murals were all about the man’s life. They told how after mastering Dao Arts, he went down the mountain and was recruited by the ruling Imperial Court of the time. The man shone brilliantly in the army with his amazing Dao Arts, defeating all kinds of monsters and foreign tribes, conquering regions south and north for the rulers.

In the murals, black, ribbon-like things emitted from his body. No matter what monster, Martial Artist, or hostile Taoist Priest was wrapped by those black ribbons, they would be defeated.

Then, from the murals, it could be seen that all these defeated were subjected to cruel punishments. They were beheaded, their bodies chopped up, piled into a throne made of corpses. The man sat cross-legged on the throne, covered in hundreds of black ribbons fluttering incessantly like demon claws.

Then the style changed. The man appeared at a banquet. It seemed because his achievements overshadowed the ruler, he was persecuted by the Imperial Court. Several infants and women were executed. The man in the mural showed a furious expression. Clearly, this part was carved very meticulously. Zuo Qingcang could even sense the resentment and rage in the other’s eyes.

Afterward, the man escaped alone but was pursued by various powerful enemies along the way.

Although the man had astonishing strength, he was ultimately outnumbered and captured by the Imperial Court. But for some reason, he was not executed. Instead, a group of Dao Arts practitioners flew with him over the sea to this island.

They used Dao Arts to start building the tomb on this island. They created fist-sized humanoid little people to do the construction and built two-meter-tall stone men to handle heavy labor.

In the murals, the entire deserted island was constructed into an unprecedented huge tomb. According to the mural’s description, the island had seven layers underground.

While still alive, the man was bound all over with iron chains and then sealed alive into a stone coffin.

At the end of the mural, a pitch-black coffin was sunk into an underground abyss. Countless ghosts and flames surrounded the coffin in the abyss, as if roaring excitedly.

After looking at the whole mural, Zuo Qingcang frowned. He looked at the Old Man and said, “Even if this is a tomb, why can’t we get out?”

“Don’t you understand? This isn’t just a tomb; it’s a seal.” The Old Man spoke confidently. “The owner of this tomb was no ordinary person. He is recorded in history. He should be the great Dao Arts master from the mid-Western Wei period, Shen Zong.”

“Legend says Shen Zong was born with knowledge. He was taken into the deep mountains by the South Saint Sect’s Great Profound Elder to practice Dao Arts for twenty years. After leaving the mountains, with his astonishing Dao Arts, he quickly established himself in the dynasty. He successively conquered the Bai Shou Tribe, Jiu Niao Tribe, and Teng Ri Tribe—three major foreign tribes—for the Imperial Court of the time.”

The Old Man pointed at the mural where the man tormented others and finally built a throne from his opponents’ corpses.

“Legend says he had the power to communicate with the underworld and summon ghosts and gods to battle. After each war, he would brutally kill prisoners to reward the ghosts and gods.

Because of this, it’s said he had the ability to connect the worlds of the living and the dead. He could be wounded but not die, and die but come back to life. Look here…”

The Old Man pointed at the earlier mural where Shen Zong broke with the Imperial Court. “Look, he has swords and daggers stuck in him, but he still did not fall. Then there was fire and flooding—these weren’t conflicts between two sides but their attempts purely to kill Shen Zong.

So, people back then did not want to kill Shen Zong; they couldn’t kill him. So they found this place to lock Shen Zong away, to seal him forever.”

Zuo Qingcang was somewhat skeptical about the Old Man’s claim of Shen Zong being unkillable, but he did not show it. Instead, he asked, “You mean, to imprison Shen Zong, there is a seal on this island, and no one can leave? But if it’s for sealing, isn’t it strange to build it into a tomb?”

“Not what I said.” The Old Man walked to a mural and patted the wall. “They said it.” On the mural, several Taoist Priests surrounded the island, each striking a different pose.

“This is the great array called Shifting Stars and Changing Constellations Grand Array. They used this great array to cover the entire island, making it difficult for anyone to approach. As time passed, the array’s effect gradually weakened, which is how we ended up here by accident.

But compared to coming from outside to inside, going from inside the array to outside is more than a hundred times harder.

And this is the South Saint Sect’s great array. Look at these Taoist Priests; their robes are the same as the old man earlier. They were Shen Zong’s fellow disciples, which is why they built this place into a tomb.”

“How do you know all this?” Zuo Qingcang wondered. “The murals don’t write anything.”

“Because I also know Dao Arts. And I know some history of Dao Arts practitioners.” The Old Man stared fixedly at Zuo Qingcang. The latter suddenly felt a burn on his chest and saw a small charred spot appear on his robe there.

“This is called Blink Ignition. Practiced to the extreme, a single glance can burn a person to death.”

Zuo Qingcang’s face was full of astonishment. He looked at the scorch mark on his chest and even touched it with his hand, feeling warmth.

“Dao Arts really exist?”

At this, the Old Man sighed. “My meager Dao Arts are like mud compared to the masters who built this tomb and Shen Zong. Having them or not makes little difference.

I’m afraid even if I spend my whole life, I won’t be able to find a way out of here.” Saying this, the Old Man’s face showed deep dejection. Zuo Qingcang did not speak, only looking around as if searching for something on the murals.

Seeing Zuo Qingcang remain silent, the Old Man pretended to be serious and then said, “However, to leave this tomb, besides directly breaking the Shifting Stars and Changing Constellations Grand Array, there is actually another method.”

‘Finally, the real deal,’ Zuo Qingcang thought, narrowing his eyes. He cooperatively asked, “Oh? What other method might there be?”

“The great array covers the entire island. Inside the tomb, there’s no danger, but outside the tomb, there are Yin Women, Giant Elephants, and other monsters guarding the place. Oh, Giant Elephant is that huge stone man. With those monsters guarding, we’d be attacked as soon as we go out.

And even if we leave the tomb, wanting to leave the island is impossible. Under the influence of the great array, the sea around the island has various whirlpools and currents. We can’t get out by sea.” The Old Man pointed downward. “Our only way out is underground, in Shen Zong’s coffin.

But before going there, you still need to learn some things first.”