Chapter 97: Imperial Mausoleum

Giant rocks kept falling from above . The cracks on the ground looked so serious that it seemed the whole world would be torn apart .

Bang!

Another blast . Suddenly, they lost their balance and started to fall, then reached solid ground and started to tumble .

The demons' crazy attacks went on . Jiang Chen came to know what desperation really was, but soon he found a stone ladder under the crack .

By then, the shaking was getting weaker . Jiang Chen ran down the ladder with others, although he was in pain and didn't know what was ahead . They couldn't think of a thing, but kept running, because the demons had also swarmed onto the ladder . They would in no way give up their pursuit .

They saw a long corridor at the end of the ladder . The space was illuminated by torches on the walls .

Soon, they came to a three-way fork, so they split into three groups .

So did the demons . They ran into different passages respectively to hunt their prey .

Jiang Chen suddenly realized he had separated from Wen Xin and Meng Hao . He knew none of the people around him .

"There's a door!"

The guy running in front shouted in delighted surprise and ran even faster to get there as soon as possible .

That door was of the same height and same width as the corridor, made from darksteel, plated with rose gold and carved with a pretty pattern .

Jiang Chen and his companions pushed the door . Without too much effort, the door was open .

They flocked into the room at the quickest speed and closed the door .

"Find something to block the door!"

Jiang Chen and a few others were pushing against the door . The demons were banging on it from the other side . Fortunately, they were just pushing blindly, having no idea that it would work better if they made an effort at the same time .

"Bar! There's a bar!"

Some people found a piece of wood on the door . The door could be locked if they put the wood down .

"Will it work? It's only a piece of wood . "

Those who were pushing against the door didn't dare to be careless . They didn't ease up until they confirmed how hard the wood was .

"It's surprising this place is below the prison . Could the treasure of the Vermillion Bird State be hidden here?"

Once the crisis was alleviated for the moment, greed started to spread again .

By then, they were in a stone cave of a reasonably large size . There was a sacrificial altar opposite of the door, about 20 yards high .

There were many fresco paintings on the walls around the altar and some big boxes scattered around it .

They saw some rusty weapons and worthless copper ware in the boxes when they opened them .

However, they weren't disappointed, since this could be a sign of treasure .

On the left side of the altar, there was a stone door . Although they didn't know where it led, they were curious to know what was behind it .

Some people ran onto the altar and saw a giant rectangular rock in the middle of it . In the center of the rock, there was a crack that split it that looked like it could be opened .

Could there be treasure inside the rock?

They became excited and opened the rock right away and saw an open book inside it .

A guy picked the book up with a disappointed expression . He turned the pages roughly and found nothing but characters he couldn't understand .

Soon, other people started to complain . They thought that could be treasure, but it was only a stupid book .

"Let's take a look . "

Jiang Chen took the book . He understood the characters in it and started to explain to the others what the book was about . "They're characters used before the Era of the Hero . The book is about the history of the Vermillion Bird State . Where we are is its imperial mausoleum . "

It wasn't the imperial mausoleum of just one of the kings, all kings of the Vermillion Bird State were buried there .

The prison above had been used to keep sacrificed slaves .

When the demons had invaded, the state had turned that place into a prison to extract demon blood .

"They used the prison as the entrance of the imperial mausoleum so that the demons kept there could prevent others from robbing the tomb . Clever," Jiang Chen thought to himself .

"Imperial mausoleum? So there must be treasure in the coffin chamber . " The others' eyes lit up . There must have been lots of valuable things buried with those kings .

Some short-tempered people had already walked towards the stone door, others staring at the book in Jiang Chen's hands .

"Here you are . " Jiang Chen knew what they were thinking . They were thinking the book could be a priceless thing whose value they didn't know yet .

They handed the book around, but none of them saw anything special in it .

However, they didn't want other people to have it .

What if it was priceless?

"Burn it," someone proposed .

"There could be instructions of how to find the exit as well as maps of secret tunnels in it . Are you sure you want to burn it?" Jiang Chen said .

They hesitated .

"Read through it now . If you don't find anything special, we'll burn it . "

Jiang Chen said discontentedly, "If this were priceless, I wouldn't need your permission to take it . Do you think you're any stronger than me? Translation takes time . A word could mean many things . You want me to read it here until the end of the world?"

They had to give up when they saw Jiang Chen was irritated . Then they walked towards the stone door .

Unbelievable .

Jiang Chen put the book into his mustardseed ring, not because it was priceless, but as he had said, it could contain instructions on how to leave .

However, something suddenly occurred to him . He felt he was being targeted specially by the demons during the escape .

In the beginning, he had thought it was only an illusion, but this feeling became even stronger when they were pushing against the door .

"Low-level demons are loyal to demon lords . I killed the demon lord . Do they want revenge for his death? But how did they know that I killed the demon lord?"

Jiang Chen tried to search for the answer in the books he had read and soon figured out why .

It was because of the blood bead of the demon lord!

Only demon lords could form blood beads . It was the source of their great power .

Whoever kills a demon lord will take his blood bead . If the energy of the blood bead isn't absorbed in time, other demons will sense it .

He recalled what he had read in a book . Jiang Chen immediately examined his body and found a blood bead in his Qihai .

No wonder . If I don't absorb it in time, it will be an invitation to those demons . They'll know wherever I'm hiding .

Jiang Chen looked over to the door still under attack by the demons and took some panaceas immediately . Then he sat down to exert his martial arts method .

Little by little, the bead started to melt . At the same time, he felt a weaker hatred from the demons .

His state had also enhanced thanks to the bead .

No wonder so many people kill demons in the Alien Battlefield .

Jiang Chen was really lucky . He would in no way have been able to kill a demon lord if that one hadn't been that weak . And he received a blood bead of the demon lord that even those in the Mental Wander State lusted for .

I'm already very close to the completed late stage .

Jiang Chen stood up . Suddenly, he saw a split on the wood lump on the door . He was given a scare and hurried to walk towards the stone door .

Behind the stone door was a passage that had never been finished . Only half of it was paved with flagstones . In the second half, the ground was quite rough and difficult to walk on .

Where is everyone?

Jiang Chen felt uneasy, since his companions had suddenly disappeared . He couldn't hear a thing .

"Hello!" Jiang Chen shouted, but no one responded . He could only hear his own echo .

"Stay calm . " Jiang Chen took out his Redcloud Sword . He kept walking slowly, staying in the light emitted from his sword .