Chapter 220: Yinming Ferry

After the corridor came a spiral staircase descending downward.

Tombs like Xuan Nü Zhi, with their main chambers above ground, are rare.

Though Yuanping Wang was once a deposed emperor, he remained a prince—his surface portion was indeed modest, but the interior was far from small.

Walking down the spiral staircase for about half an hour, they still had not reached the bottom.

“Guo Brother, have you noticed anything unusual?” Chu Danqing couldn’t help asking.

Even without moving at full speed, they had covered nearly ten miles in ten minutes.

Chu Danqing didn’t believe Yuanping Wang’s tomb could possibly extend ten miles underground.

Guo Ming paused to think: “I haven’t sensed anything wrong.”

As for the fact they’d walked so long without reaching the bottom, he saw nothing amiss.

After all, his own family’s secret chamber went deeper.

Chu Danqing realized: Guo Ming’s world was on a higher level—ten miles meant nothing to him.

That was why Guo Ming hadn’t felt anything odd.

“I’ll leave a marker,” Chu Danqing said, pulling a garment from his storage space and dropping it on the staircase.

He suspected they were walking in circles.

Guo Ming said nothing, merely continued downward after marking the spot.

This time, they increased their pace.

Then they saw something familiar.

The garment Chu Danqing had dropped on the staircase.

Chu Danqing picked it up—the style and material were identical to the one he’d placed there.

“Trouble. We’re truly trapped,” Chu Danqing muttered, then handed Yue Lan Wuying a rope hundreds of meters long.

Yue Lan Wuying took it and walked down the staircase.

“Strange—I felt nothing at all,” Guo Ming thought, puzzled. This shouldn’t happen.

In his perception, there was no anomaly.

“Perception can be deceived,” Chu Danqing said. “This must be caused by an extremely advanced fengshui formation.”

“It probably exploits spatial illusions or some nonsense principle—I don’t understand it,” Chu Danqing declared with complete confidence.

He was a summoner—what did he know about fengshui?

As he finished speaking, footsteps echoed behind them—Yue Lan Wuying had walked downward, yet now appeared from behind them, having circled back.

“Confirmed—it’s faulty,” Chu Danqing said, dismissing Yue Lan Wuying and summoning him anew.

He feared it might be an impostor.

But verification showed no issue—the Yue Lan Wuying behind them was indeed his own creation.

By retrieving the rope, Chu Danqing determined the entire spiral staircase was exactly 120 meters long.

Not long—but endlessly looping, trapping them without escape.

“What if we just jump down?” Chu Danqing glanced at the bottomless darkness beside the staircase.

The staircase and its surroundings seemed coated in light-absorbing material—even a powerful flashlight cast no visible glow into the abyss.

Naturally—it was an S-rank mission site; it wouldn’t be so easily broken.

“It’s fine,” Guo Ming replied, “but aren’t you afraid we’ll just keep looping even if we jump?” Guo Ming wasn’t worried about dying—he, the Emperor’s Heir, the Ghost Mother, and others all could fly or levitate.

So no danger.

“Then let the Emperor’s Heir jump first,” Chu Danqing said. The Emperor’s Heir emerged from the imperial decree hanging on his chest and leapt from the staircase’s edge.

“He’s not dead—if he were, the decree would vanish,” Chu Danqing said.

Moments later, a flash of golden light appeared below—the Emperor’s Heir returned.

He briefly described what happened: he jumped down, landed on a staircase, walked back, and encountered Chu Danqing.

“Looks like we’re stuck,” Chu Danqing said. “Should we break through by force?”

He had no solution—his expertise didn’t apply.

He could only rely on Guo Ming.

Guo Ming nodded, immediately deploying the Three Celestial Swords: the Sword of Zi Shi, the Sword of Chou Shi, and the Sword of Yin Shi, forming the Three Celestial Sword Array.

Centered on their location, he blasted straight downward.

The entire staircase rapidly collapsed, and they began falling with it.

But the Emperor’s Heir used a spell to levitate them, so Chu Danqing felt little fear.

Da Bao was no stranger to this treatment—he handled it with ease, while Yue Lan Wuying seemed uneasy.

Only after the entire spiral staircase was destroyed did they finally land.

“Something’s off,” Chu Danqing observed—the surroundings remained pitch black, suggesting they hadn’t escaped the staircase’s location.

Fortunately, there was good news: in one corner of the darkness lay a corpse, long decayed, reduced to white bones.

“A Banshipai disciple,” Chu Danqing said, recognizing the Daoist robe—the style of the Four Great Sects’ Mountain-Moving Daoists.

He’d been dead a long time.

After searching, they found a journal-like book.

【This is the Yinming Ferry. The cursed Yuanping Wang tomb—this time, I’m truly trapped.】

【No, there’s still a chance—I found the Life Gate.】

【Damn it—they sealed the Life Gate shut.】

【I spent my life as a genius, and now I’ll starve to death here—I curse this fate!】

Chu Danqing skimmed the journal: the first part described realizing he couldn’t escape the staircase and identifying the formation.

After two days of despair, he used his solid fengshui knowledge to locate the Life Gate before his rations ran out.

That is, the exit from the Yinming Ferry spiral staircase formation—but when he reached it, they’d already blocked it.

That made sense—they were guarding against tomb robbers.

The end result: no escape, food exhausted, death by starvation.

As for breaking through the wall—he had tools, but dared not.

The Life Gate was meant to be the sole thread of life; once sealed, the life-force stagnated, accumulating massive death-energy.

Breaking through would drown him in death-energy, leaving him no peace even in death.

Of course, while alive, direct exposure to death-energy would make life unbearable—better to starve than suffer.

“Actually, Yuanping Wang’s tomb is kind to us,” Chu Danqing said after reading, handing the journal to Guo Ming.

The tomb’s design specifically targeted tomb robbers—you think you’ve broken the fengshui formation, but they’re just mocking you.

Fail to break it, you die. Break it, you still die.

After all, every measure was meant to prevent anyone from disturbing the tomb—why leave a lifeline for thieves?

Naturally, they went for the most cruel and treacherous methods.

Coincidentally, among Chu Danqing’s group, only Chu Danqing had a scrap of fengshui knowledge—the rest were merely strong-armed.

After walking half an hour without noticing anything, they chose to smash their way through.

“True,” Guo Ming nodded after reading, then asked: “Chu Brother, which wall should we break?”

Aside from above, there were four directions: east, west, south, north—Guo Ming saw no clues, so he left the decision to Chu Danqing.

Only Chu Danqing had any fengshui knowledge—it was better than guessing blindly.

But Chu Danqing was equally clueless—it was like being taught the multiplication table and then handed a calculus exam.

Chu Danqing could only ask: “Aren’t we taking a math test? Why did I get an English paper—and what does ‘chang’ mean in this English?”

After carefully observing all around, Chu Danqing couldn’t say he saw anything—he could only say the tomb’s construction materials were excellent.

“Any ideas?” Guo Ming asked Chu Danqing.

Chu Danqing spread his hands: “None.”

Zhong Ting, the professional, might have recognized it—but he was rushing to save someone and hadn’t come down with Chu Danqing.

“Then I’ll just smash one wall at random—there are only five choices; one must be right,” Guo Ming said, raising his sword and preparing to strike.

As for death-energy—it didn’t matter. The Emperor’s Heir began casting buffs, while Da Bai layered dual shields with the Spirit Technique: Spirit Healing.

Chu Danqing activated the Five Elements Spirit Array for additional enhancement.

Simultaneously, he positioned Yue Lan Wuying in front of himself to avoid collateral damage.

Guo Ming’s Three Celestial Sword Array struck the eastern wall.

Bad news: wrong direction. Worse news: a torrent of death-energy surged forth, thick enough to be seen with the naked eye.

Fortunately, Guo Ming’s strength was immense—he used the Three Celestial Sword Array to block the breach.

With sword qi alone, he held back the relentless flood of death-energy, preventing the Yinming Ferry space from being corrupted.

Seeing this, Guo Ming chose the adjacent western wall.

Another strike—the Three Celestial Sword Array had to rush to seal the new hole.

“Do you think this might be a reverse trick? We smash all five walls and find nothing—maybe the real entrance is above us?” Chu Danqing said.

Guo Ming initially thought it plausible, but then realized the flaw.

Above would be the exit—how could it be the entrance?

“Chu Brother, even reverse tricks need logic,” Guo Ming said, as his two swords flew out and shattered the southern and northern walls.

Still not the entrance—finally, he shattered the floor beneath them with the Su Nü Sword, breaking through a large hole.

The group’s feet vanished beneath them, and they plunged downward.

Fortunately, it was only about ten meters high, not particularly tall.

After landing, they found themselves in an underground palace, but it was shrouded by a thick layer of dark clouds.

“Death energy? No.” Chu Danqing watched his shield value steadily drop; his expression was far from pleasant.

Guo Ming’s expression changed instantly; he decisively pulled out a set of arrays and a large number of talismans, reinforcing them to conceal everyone, then led them back to the previous breach.

His posture suggested he was ready to leap onto his sword and flee at any moment.

Before Chu Danqing could even register what was happening, a synchronized marching sound emerged from within the dark clouds.

(End of Chapter)