Chapter 1379 — The Death Tomb
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"I don't know either... it's only a thing of legend. This is the first time I've ever laid eyes on an entrance like this..." Old Hei smiled bitterly.
Just then, the mechanism that had fallen still seemed to start up again; the two panels, already vertical, suddenly began to rise slowly, as though they meant to join together once more.
"Bad. The mechanism is resetting," Wei Zhao said. "Do we go down, or not?"
Wei Zhao had already made up his mind: even if none of the others would go, he would. Even if it was a death tomb, he must walk it once. Even if he truly could never come out, so long as he obtained the medical notes, with General Weiwu at his side, he would blast a road open with true-qi bombs if that was what it took.
"This..." Elder Yu and Old Hei hesitated as well...
Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yuxuan, meanwhile, looked wholly to Wei Zhao; if he meant to go down, they would not shrink from it.
"This is indeed a death tomb, I think, but once we descend here, we ought to be able to get out," Yu Xiaoke spoke up now. "Only the place where the coffin truly rests is a dead end, a way in but no way out. The other places should be no trouble."
"Oh? You're certain?" Old Hei was taken aback.
"Essentially certain. First, Zhang Lifeng was a physician, and a physician's heart is humane; even facing death, he would never have been so vicious as to have the workmen who built his tomb buried with him..." Yu Xiaoke reasoned. "Second, if every path truly were a dead end, a way in but no way out, then what use would the tomb-guarding spirit beasts at the entrance be? Would that not be a pointless effort?"
"Hmm... you have a point!" Old Hei nodded. He was an experienced tomb robber himself, so after hearing Yu Xiaoke's words his heart at once felt steadier. "Good, we go down!"
"Heroine Yan, when the floor is about to close, let go then—that way you'll be nearer to me, and we'll go down together, which will be a little safer!" Wei Zhao said to Yu Xiaoke.
"All right!" Yu Xiaoke agreed without hesitation. She knew the danger that lay below, and Wei Zhao treated her with a certain particularity; in any case, he would never do her harm.
This time, Elder Yu and Old Hei found nothing improper in Wei Zhao's concern for Yu Xiaoke. Since Wei Zhao had even saved Old Hei, what was so strange about his fretting over Yu Xiaoke's safety?
"The two of you, hold on to me when the time comes, one on each side, and do not let go." Wei Zhao instructed Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yuxuan, then said to Old Hei, "If you don't want to die, then hold fast to Elder Yu; he won't leave you behind."