Chapter 97: Underground Palace

Liu Changding stayed silent after hearing Zuo Zhicheng and the others describe their journey through the underground space, passages, and river structures. He picked up a branch and started drawing on the ground.

Just as the group grew impatient, Liu Changding finally stroked his chin and spoke. “Whether in the Central Plains or the New Continent, important buildings and sites are constructed according to Feng Shui. Feng Shui is basically the idea behind architectural design. In the Central Plains, Feng Shui relies on celestial stems, earthly branches, and the layout of mountains, rivers, and landforms.

However, the New Continent is different. For some reason, the people here generally worship the stars. Their version of Feng Shui, meaning their buildings, is mainly based on star charts in the sky.

Take this underground hall here. You’ve already explored it, and from what I see now, it must be a remnant of the so-called Amariken. The layout here is what’s called the Black Dragon Burial Water formation. The underground river outside represents a black dragon soaring. In the Central Plains, this is very unlucky—one must cut the water’s flow.

But Amariken architecture focuses on corresponding with the stars. This tradition was passed down, so almost all races in the New Continent follow this idea when building important structures, including tombs, altars, and imperial palaces. This is actually one basis for Amariken’s existence…”

Tang Yuan, standing nearby, grew impatient and interrupted, “Alright, alright, Mr. Liu. We don’t have much time. Just tell us how to get out of this underground palace, or if there’s some hidden underground layer where we can hide.”

“I’m afraid there’s no way out. According to the correspondence with the Black Dragon constellation in the sky, that path should be the only exit, the only place humans can enter or leave. Other exits probably aren’t meant for people.” Liu Changding continued, “But Ghost Fist is right about one thing—there should be another layer underneath here.”

He pointed with the branch to several spots in the underground hall. “It’s called the dragon and snake mating, hiding in the deep abyss, returning to the root…”

Before he could finish, Ghost Fist grabbed Liu Changding and threw him over his back, then picked up Qingyue Qiu. “No more talking. We don’t understand all that. Those monsters are coming soon. Just point the way, and we’ll go.”

“Okay… okay.” Liu Changding nodded blankly, then pointed in a direction within the underground hall. Tang Yuan and Tang Xianghui followed behind Zuo Zhicheng as they ran toward the target location.

Along the way, Zuo Zhicheng had Tang Xianghui and Tang Yuan gather some Spiritual Energy Food from the trees. It was a fruit that looked like an apple, but its surface had red, flame-like patterns.

Zuo Zhicheng also went to check above the faint figure he had seen with his Infrared Vision. However, that person was clearly no longer at the entrance of the underground palace, so Zuo Zhicheng couldn’t use that to find the entrance.

In the end, they had to rely on Liu Changding’s judgment. After checking several spots, Zuo Zhicheng used his hands to dig through a layer of soil. Over hundreds or thousands of years, the original floor of the underground palace had been covered with thick layers of dirt, corpse mud, feces, and other filth.

After sweeping away the grime, a marble-like floor appeared before everyone. Zuo Zhicheng tapped it with his finger, and it made a hollow sound. “This is it.”

Zuo Zhicheng asked, “Qingyue Qiu, are there any traces of artificial Spiritual Power or Dao Arts around here?”

“Um…” Though Qingyue Qiu didn’t know why he asked, she used her Spiritual Energy Vision to look and replied, “No.”

“Good.” Zuo Zhicheng asked, “Then, Mr. Liu, there shouldn’t be any traps here anymore, right?”

“This isn’t an ancient tomb or a sacrificial site, so there shouldn’t be traps.” Liu Changding shook his head. “Even if there were any mechanisms—whether made of wood, strings, or gears—they would have rotted away after all these years.”

Zuo Zhicheng nodded. He knew this too. In his previous life, he had learned that in all formal archaeological activities around the world, encounters with so-called deadly traps were extremely rare, because no trap could last for hundreds or thousands of years.

Most stories about hidden weapons and traps in ancient tombs were just fiction. Very few mechanisms could actually survive.

The hardest parts of tomb raiding or archaeology were finding the ancient sites and preserving what was inside.

Only a few traps based on natural features like flowing water or large rocks could last a bit longer, but even they required the terrain to remain unchanged.

However, in this world, although ruins and ancient tombs didn’t have such mechanisms, they did have Dao Arts and supernatural creatures.

So, after confirming his thoughts with the other two, Zuo Zhicheng took a deep breath and slammed his palm hard onto the stone slab.

With a loud crash, Zuo Zhicheng used a vibration technique in his strike. The stone slab shook violently several times and then lifted slightly.

But Zuo Zhicheng’s action startled Qingyue Qiu and the others.

“What are you doing!”

Zuo Zhicheng paid no mind. “There are no traps, and finding a way to open this door is too troublesome. We might even find that the mechanism is broken.”

“Also, go pick up some branches to use as fire sources later.”

As he spoke, Zuo Zhicheng pressed two fingers against the raised part of the slab and lifted the entire stone slab.

A dark hole appeared directly in front of everyone.

“Alright, get ready to go down.”

Everyone swallowed hard and eventually went down one by one. Zuo Zhicheng went last and closed the slab behind them.

About ten minutes after they left, countless monsters leaped onto the branches, making faint chirping sounds as if searching for something. However, as if afraid of waking the Underworld King Snake, they kept their voices very soft and movements cautious.

Only after several hours did they all crawl out from various openings, and the underground space returned to silence.

…

In the darkness, Zuo Zhicheng could clearly see the surrounding terrain with his Night Vision Mode, but the other three couldn’t. Without a light source, they saw nothing.

But Zuo Zhicheng had earlier told them to bring some branches down. Now, in the dark, he took the branches, tore a few pieces of cloth from his clothing to wrap around them, then took a small bottle of fire oil from his pocket and soaked the cloth strips.

“Release your shadow person.”

Qingyue Qiu opened the small pot. Zuo Zhicheng located the shadow person, took another small bottle, and sprinkled water on it. This was originally reserve water he had prepared for himself, but since he was carrying so much Spiritual Energy Food on his head and body, he decided to use it.

He held the torch toward the shadow person. The water and strong alkali produced intense heat, igniting the fire oil and cloth.

Under the torchlight, the corridor and underground palace appeared before everyone.