Tomb Opening
When Gong Jun was dug out of the ruins by his subordinates, he truly regretted not checking the almanac before leaving home.
How could he be so unlucky?
“…Tongzhi? No good, Tongzhi is not okay!”
It took Gong Jun a great effort to gather a breath, which was directly scattered by the shaking. Someone desperately slapped his face, trying to pick out the dust and sand residue from his mouth and nose.
“Ptooey.”
Gong Jun helplessly pushed the person away, then lay beside and coughed for a long time.
As long as he wasn’t directly crushed to death, a martial arts master like him wouldn’t die in a short while. Converting his internal energy to turtle breathing, his body stiff as if dead, he could last at least three to five hours. The downside was giving up on rescuing himself, only waiting for someone to dig him out.
“Tongzhi has come back to life!” The Jinyiwei were very happy.
“Buddha has shown his grace!” A monk followed.
Gong Jun continued to cough weakly; he was not dead at all, what’s this about being alive or not! It had nothing to do with Buddha! Don’t think by talking nonsense, he would donate a golden statue to the Buddha at the Liuhe Temple.
When he looked up, he realized he thought too much.
Liuhe Temple didn’t need a golden Buddha statue, but a new temple.
Gong Jun only remembered a loud bang, just as lightning appeared in the sky the moment before. He hadn’t reacted yet, thinking the thunder was too loud, then the house collapsed.
“How are the casualties?”
It was raining heavily at that time, everyone was inside the house, and some Jinyiwei stood in the corridor.
The incident happened too suddenly, even Gong Jun didn’t have time to escape, let alone others.
Gong Jun’s subordinates, enduring the soreness in their eyes, indicated: “Only these brothers are left, we are still digging.”
Gong Jun staggered to his feet, pushing away a thick beam.
It was still raining, and no cries for help could be heard in the ruins.
Those buried underneath might be dead or might still be saved, they kept searching and digging in the pouring rain.
The smell of gunpowder drifted over.
“Gunpowder…”
Gong Jun gritted his teeth in anger, no wonder he didn’t feel anything unusual.
His premonitions of danger were mostly related to other martial arts experts. Gunpowder, being extremely powerful and emitting no murderous aura, was undetectable by Gong Jun.
“Where did the explosion occur?”
“Reporting to Tongzhi, it seems to be not far from the temple.”
The gunpowder was definitely not hidden in Liuhe Temple; Gong Jun had searched the entire temple that morning with his men, under the guise of capturing a major river bandit. Such powerful gunpowder, the quantity must be substantial, one or two packets might be overlooked, but this amount was likely the equivalent of dozens of large boxes. How blind would one have to be to miss that?
On one hand, they needed to rescue people, and on the other, investigate the explosion site, Gong Jun was stretched thin.
Just when he was at his wits’ end, Meng Qi returned.
He was also carrying Mo Li, in the pouring rain, both of their clothes were dry (Meng Qi used his internal energy to dry them), and as they walked, the rain did not touch them at all, being repelled by their internal energy.
Such appearance, such phenomena, even the commoners in the mountains could tell were extraordinary.
“Doctor?”
The Jinyiwei were surprised, then saw Meng Qi’s face.
Some of the Jinyiwei recognized Meng Qi, some did not. Hearing their colleagues shouting, they also panicked instantly.
“Silence!” Gong Jun barked, “Panicking like this, what does it look like?”
Jinyiwei: “…”
Wasn’t it Gong Jun who told his brothers to run when they saw Master Meng? Why is he now complaining about them panicking?
Gong Jun also realized this point, and despite having a thick skin from years in the officialdom, he almost couldn’t keep it together.
He said sternly, “Investigations have revealed that the leader of the Jianghu people in Yongzhou’s Qingfeng Sect known as Ancestor Qingwu, led bandits to attack the court’s officials, killing our brothers with malicious intent. Former Master Meng was also involved in this matter. He intends to capture Ancestor Qingwu, hence we are temporarily joining forces, and there will be no issues between us for the time being.”
Oh, no need to run for now,
The Jinyiwei tacitly ignored the word “joining forces,” considering it mere courtesy. Meng Qi wouldn’t really join forces with them, and it was already good enough that he didn’t turn on them suddenly.
Ah, Tongzhi has it tough too, having to put on a smile for Master Meng to find a way out for his brothers.
Gong Jun: “…”
Deputy Commander Gong felt from his subordinates’ looks that they seemed to have misunderstood something.
With his sharp mind, he quickly understood, followed by a moment of silence, because it wasn’t entirely a misunderstanding. Indeed, they sought Master Meng’s help due to the danger. Honestly, Gong Jun hoped that Meng Qi and Ancestor Qingwu would both suffer, eliminating two troubles at once, so he could comfortably take leave and rest at home.
But things were not that simple.
Gong Jun looked at Meng Qi, feeling that something was different about him.
But what exactly was different, he couldn’t pinpoint. Just from the aura alone, it felt like he was somehow lesser now, and he opened his mouth but couldn’t say any polite words.
Gong Jun wanted to find a way through Mo Li, but Mo Li was closing his eyes as if in meditation, and he couldn’t speak out to disturb him, even if he shouted, Mo Li wouldn’t hear.
Meng Qi was in a hurry to come over and check the situation. Not willing to leave Mo Li in the cave and not feeling assured, he simply carried him on his back and used his light skills to come over.
Xianyue Valley and Liuhe Temple were originally close to each other, and Meng Qi could still smell the gunpowder when he arrived.
“Have your men gone over?” Meng Qi stared intently in the direction of the explosion.
“They have already checked.”
Gong Jun said while moving stones.
Meng Qi glanced at the ruins, his voice slightly slowed, pointing to a spot, “There are still people under here, move this first, other places… need not.”
Everyone was stunned, then quickly reacted.
They hurriedly ran to that spot to clear the debris, their hearts sinking.
Soon they saw an arm and when they dug the person out, they found a Jinyiwei, still breathing. Then, one after another, they found three to five people, some dead, some severely injured.
The last ones rescued were a young monk and the abbot.
The young monk had passed out, but the abbot’s condition was not good; he was impaled through the abdomen by a broken piece of wood, bleeding profusely.
Undeterred, they went to rescue people in the nearby debris, but no longer found anyone alive, only bodies.
Seeing the originally bright and quality robes covered with thick dust, soaked in blood, becoming indistinguishable from rags, the surviving Jinyiwei were furious.
“Tongzhi! What’s the background of that Ancestor Qingwu? How could he gather so much gunpowder?”
Gong Jun pursed his lips, not answering.
This was exactly his concern. The huge amount of gunpowder hidden near Dragon Claw Peak’s Liuhe Temple, and not a single piece of intelligence related to this, was it the incompetence of Jinyiwei, or did the enemy have other well-thought-out channels and methods?
As for Meng Qi, carefully protecting Mo Li on his back, after leaving the ruins of Liuhe Temple, he quickly found the place where the explosion occurred.
It was the forest near the pagoda.
Now, the forest was unrecognizable, with mud and broken branches scattered far away, leaving behind a deep and wide pit.
Loose soil kept rolling down, and some fallen trees were in the pit.
Aside from the main hall and the pagoda, the other buildings of Liuhe Temple did not have deep foundations and collapsed directly. Now, a small part of the temple’s main hall remained, and the pagoda was leaning.
“Not good, let’s go!”
With a sweep of his sleeve, Meng Qi’s internal energy propelled the two Jinyiwei who had come to investigate the situation flying out.
At the same time, carrying Mo Li, he quickly retreated dozens of feet, only to hear a loud boom as the ground collapsed, swallowing the entire pagoda into a sudden sinkhole.
Had they still been standing in the original spot, they would have fallen in too.
The two Jinyiwei, drenched in cold sweat, got up intending to thank him, but upon seeing Meng Qi’s face, they ran off without a word, even faster than when they were flung away, clearly trained under Gong Jun, deeply inheriting the Deputy Commander’s true teachings.
A nauseating smell of grease wafted out of the sinkhole.
There were also scents of pine resin, white wax, among others, mixed together.
When drenched by the heavy rain and backflow of water, the smells competed to emerge, eventually rising with the wind, creating a strange crimson mist.
Gong Jun instinctively covered his nose and mouth, asking in shock, “What is this?”
It was the gas emerging from a tomb that had been sealed off.
To prevent grave robbing, the tomb was sealed with a thick layer of soil, not ordinary dirt, but a special ancient mixture containing glutinous rice among over a dozen ingredients. Once the soil dried, it became exceptionally hard.
Not only were insects and ants kept out, but air flow was also blocked.
Chen Emperor Li, aiming to emulate the Qin Emperor, had lit everlasting lamps in the tomb chamber using a paste boiled from the legendary East Sea merfolk, not knowing that after the chamber was sealed off for too long, the flame extinguished on its own, rendering both merfolk paste and any immortal paste useless.
The grease, along with mercury and spices used for preservation in the tomb, mixed over the long years into a scent no one could clearly identify. Once the seal was broken, it all emerged at once.
“Let’s go!”
Meng Qi said with a stern face.
The mercury in Emperor Li’s tomb had mostly leaked out when Ancestor Qingwu had people excavate Liuhe Temple three years ago, leaving very little behind in the tomb.
Even so, the gas emerging from the tomb should not be inhaled.
Even tomb robbers knew not to enter a tomb right after opening it, usually bringing a bird or a dog to test for danger. Only if the bird and the dog remained lively would they dare to enter.
“The wind is blowing north… no, it’s turned east now!” Gong Jun and his men were about to keep their distance when they suddenly saw a group of people approaching on the mountain path.
“This is the place!”
“The ground shaking, the mountains moving, surely someone used Thunder Hall’s stuff to blast open the tomb! Quick, we can’t let others get there first, the imperial tomb’s treasure is right before us!”
These Jianghu people had originally scattered around Shangyun Mountain searching for Emperor Li’s tomb, many of them staying near Dragon Claw Peak since it was a key path into the mountain. They all shared the same thought: to follow the major sects when they arrived, surely to be of use!
Instead of waiting for the people, they were alerted by the commotion on the mountain.
“Dammit!” Gong Jun stamped his foot.
He knew these people were close to Liuhe Temple, drawn by the sound. Next would be those who noticed the strange red mist rising from Liuhe Temple during the rain.
“Tongzhi, should we stop them?” The Jinyiwei gathered around.
Gong Jun shook his head, still unsure how many Jianghu people would show up here.
“There’s a big hole over there!”
“It’s Emperor Li’s tomb, it must be!”
Meng Qi’s lips pressed tightly, his eyes revealing a murderous intent.
At that moment, Mo Li on his back suddenly stirred, waking up.
Tomb Opening
When Gong Jun was dug out of the ruins by his subordinates, he truly regretted not checking the almanac before leaving home.
How could he be so unlucky?
“…Tongzhi? No good, Tongzhi is not okay!”
It took Gong Jun a great effort to gather a breath, which was directly scattered by the shaking. Someone desperately slapped his face, trying to pick out the dust and sand residue from his mouth and nose.
“Ptooey.”
Gong Jun helplessly pushed the person away, then lay beside and coughed for a long time.
As long as he wasn’t directly crushed to death, a martial arts master like him wouldn’t die in a short while. Converting his internal energy to turtle breathing, his body stiff as if dead, he could last at least three to five hours. The downside was giving up on rescuing himself, only waiting for someone to dig him out.
“Tongzhi has come back to life!” The Jinyiwei were very happy.
“Buddha has shown his grace!” A monk followed.
Gong Jun continued to cough weakly; he was not dead at all, what’s this about being alive or not! It had nothing to do with Buddha! Don’t think by talking nonsense, he would donate a golden statue to the Buddha at the Liuhe Temple.
When he looked up, he realized he thought too much.
Liuhe Temple didn’t need a golden Buddha statue, but a new temple.
Gong Jun only remembered a loud bang, just as lightning appeared in the sky the moment before. He hadn’t reacted yet, thinking the thunder was too loud, then the house collapsed.
“How are the casualties?”
It was raining heavily at that time, everyone was inside the house, and some Jinyiwei stood in the corridor.
The incident happened too suddenly, even Gong Jun didn’t have time to escape, let alone others.
Gong Jun’s subordinates, enduring the soreness in their eyes, indicated: “Only these brothers are left, we are still digging.”
Gong Jun staggered to his feet, pushing away a thick beam.
It was still raining, and no cries for help could be heard in the ruins.
Those buried underneath might be dead or might still be saved, they kept searching and digging in the pouring rain.
The smell of gunpowder drifted over.
“Gunpowder…”
Gong Jun gritted his teeth in anger, no wonder he didn’t feel anything unusual.
His premonitions of danger were mostly related to other martial arts experts. Gunpowder, being extremely powerful and emitting no murderous aura, was undetectable by Gong Jun.
“Where did the explosion occur?”
“Reporting to Tongzhi, it seems to be not far from the temple.”
The gunpowder was definitely not hidden in Liuhe Temple; Gong Jun had searched the entire temple that morning with his men, under the guise of capturing a major river bandit. Such powerful gunpowder, the quantity must be substantial, one or two packets might be overlooked, but this amount was likely the equivalent of dozens of large boxes. How blind would one have to be to miss that?
On one hand, they needed to rescue people, and on the other, investigate the explosion site, Gong Jun was stretched thin.
Just when he was at his wits’ end, Meng Qi returned.
He was also carrying Mo Li, in the pouring rain, both of their clothes were dry (Meng Qi used his internal energy to dry them), and as they walked, the rain did not touch them at all, being repelled by their internal energy.
Such appearance, such phenomena, even the commoners in the mountains could tell were extraordinary.
“Doctor?”
The Jinyiwei were surprised, then saw Meng Qi’s face.
Some of the Jinyiwei recognized Meng Qi, some did not. Hearing their colleagues shouting, they also panicked instantly.
“Silence!” Gong Jun barked, “Panicking like this, what does it look like?”
Jinyiwei: “…”
Wasn’t it Gong Jun who told his brothers to run when they saw Master Meng? Why is he now complaining about them panicking?
Gong Jun also realized this point, and despite having a thick skin from years in the officialdom, he almost couldn’t keep it together.
He said sternly, “Investigations have revealed that the leader of the Jianghu people in Yongzhou’s Qingfeng Sect known as Ancestor Qingwu, led bandits to attack the court’s officials, killing our brothers with malicious intent. Former Master Meng was also involved in this matter. He intends to capture Ancestor Qingwu, hence we are temporarily joining forces, and there will be no issues between us for the time being.”
Oh, no need to run for now,
The Jinyiwei tacitly ignored the word “joining forces,” considering it mere courtesy. Meng Qi wouldn’t really join forces with them, and it was already good enough that he didn’t turn on them suddenly.
Ah, Tongzhi has it tough too, having to put on a smile for Master Meng to find a way out for his brothers.
Gong Jun: “…”
Deputy Commander Gong felt from his subordinates’ looks that they seemed to have misunderstood something.
With his sharp mind, he quickly understood, followed by a moment of silence, because it wasn’t entirely a misunderstanding. Indeed, they sought Master Meng’s help due to the danger. Honestly, Gong Jun hoped that Meng Qi and Ancestor Qingwu would both suffer, eliminating two troubles at once, so he could comfortably take leave and rest at home.
But things were not that simple.
Gong Jun looked at Meng Qi, feeling that something was different about him.
But what exactly was different, he couldn’t pinpoint. Just from the aura alone, it felt like he was somehow lesser now, and he opened his mouth but couldn’t say any polite words.
Gong Jun wanted to find a way through Mo Li, but Mo Li was closing his eyes as if in meditation, and he couldn’t speak out to disturb him, even if he shouted, Mo Li wouldn’t hear.
Meng Qi was in a hurry to come over and check the situation. Not willing to leave Mo Li in the cave and not feeling assured, he simply carried him on his back and used his light skills to come over.
Xianyue Valley and Liuhe Temple were originally close to each other, and Meng Qi could still smell the gunpowder when he arrived.
“Have your men gone over?” Meng Qi stared intently in the direction of the explosion.
“They have already checked.”
Gong Jun said while moving stones.
Meng Qi glanced at the ruins, his voice slightly slowed, pointing to a spot, “There are still people under here, move this first, other places… need not.”
Everyone was stunned, then quickly reacted.
They hurriedly ran to that spot to clear the debris, their hearts sinking.
Soon they saw an arm and when they dug the person out, they found a Jinyiwei, still breathing. Then, one after another, they found three to five people, some dead, some severely injured.
The last ones rescued were a young monk and the abbot.
The young monk had passed out, but the abbot’s condition was not good; he was impaled through the abdomen by a broken piece of wood, bleeding profusely.
Undeterred, they went to rescue people in the nearby debris, but no longer found anyone alive, only bodies.
Seeing the originally bright and quality robes covered with thick dust, soaked in blood, becoming indistinguishable from rags, the surviving Jinyiwei were furious.
“Tongzhi! What’s the background of that Ancestor Qingwu? How could he gather so much gunpowder?”
Gong Jun pursed his lips, not answering.
This was exactly his concern. The huge amount of gunpowder hidden near Dragon Claw Peak’s Liuhe Temple, and not a single piece of intelligence related to this, was it the incompetence of Jinyiwei, or did the enemy have other well-thought-out channels and methods?
As for Meng Qi, carefully protecting Mo Li on his back, after leaving the ruins of Liuhe Temple, he quickly found the place where the explosion occurred.
It was the forest near the pagoda.
Now, the forest was unrecognizable, with mud and broken branches scattered far away, leaving behind a deep and wide pit.
Loose soil kept rolling down, and some fallen trees were in the pit.
Aside from the main hall and the pagoda, the other buildings of Liuhe Temple did not have deep foundations and collapsed directly. Now, a small part of the temple’s main hall remained, and the pagoda was leaning.
“Not good, let’s go!”
With a sweep of his sleeve, Meng Qi’s internal energy propelled the two Jinyiwei who had come to investigate the situation flying out.
At the same time, carrying Mo Li, he quickly retreated dozens of feet, only to hear a loud boom as the ground collapsed, swallowing the entire pagoda into a sudden sinkhole.
Had they still been standing in the original spot, they would have fallen in too.
The two Jinyiwei, drenched in cold sweat, got up intending to thank him, but upon seeing Meng Qi’s face, they ran off without a word, even faster than when they were flung away, clearly trained under Gong Jun, deeply inheriting the Deputy Commander’s true teachings.
A nauseating smell of grease wafted out of the sinkhole.
There were also scents of pine resin, white wax, among others, mixed together.
When drenched by the heavy rain and backflow of water, the smells competed to emerge, eventually rising with the wind, creating a strange crimson mist.
Gong Jun instinctively covered his nose and mouth, asking in shock, “What is this?”
It was the gas emerging from a tomb that had been sealed off.
To prevent grave robbing, the tomb was sealed with a thick layer of soil, not ordinary dirt, but a special ancient mixture containing glutinous rice among over a dozen ingredients. Once the soil dried, it became exceptionally hard.
Not only were insects and ants kept out, but air flow was also blocked.
Chen Emperor Li, aiming to emulate the Qin Emperor, had lit everlasting lamps in the tomb chamber using a paste boiled from the legendary East Sea merfolk, not knowing that after the chamber was sealed off for too long, the flame extinguished on its own, rendering both merfolk paste and any immortal paste useless.
The grease, along with mercury and spices used for preservation in the tomb, mixed over the long years into a scent no one could clearly identify. Once the seal was broken, it all emerged at once.
“Let’s go!”
Meng Qi said with a stern face.
The mercury in Emperor Li’s tomb had mostly leaked out when Ancestor Qingwu had people excavate Liuhe Temple three years ago, leaving very little behind in the tomb.
Even so, the gas emerging from the tomb should not be inhaled.
Even tomb robbers knew not to enter a tomb right after opening it, usually bringing a bird or a dog to test for danger. Only if the bird and the dog remained lively would they dare to enter.
“The wind is blowing north… no, it’s turned east now!” Gong Jun and his men were about to keep their distance when they suddenly saw a group of people approaching on the mountain path.
“This is the place!”
“The ground shaking, the mountains moving, surely someone used Thunder Hall’s stuff to blast open the tomb! Quick, we can’t let others get there first, the imperial tomb’s treasure is right before us!”
These Jianghu people had originally scattered around Shangyun Mountain searching for Emperor Li’s tomb, many of them staying near Dragon Claw Peak since it was a key path into the mountain. They all shared the same thought: to follow the major sects when they arrived, surely to be of use!
Instead of waiting for the people, they were alerted by the commotion on the mountain.
“Dammit!” Gong Jun stamped his foot.
He knew these people were close to Liuhe Temple, drawn by the sound. Next would be those who noticed the strange red mist rising from Liuhe Temple during the rain.
“Tongzhi, should we stop them?” The Jinyiwei gathered around.
Gong Jun shook his head, still unsure how many Jianghu people would show up here.
“There’s a big hole over there!”
“It’s Emperor Li’s tomb, it must be!”
Meng Qi’s lips pressed tightly, his eyes revealing a murderous intent.
At that moment, Mo Li on his back suddenly stirred, waking up.
