Chapter 28

His eyes slowly opened, and once again he arrived at this familiar place; the difference was that there was now another person in the room, a woman.

Chen Hao also slowly rose to his feet, and in this space he gradually felt a sense of fatigue; it seemed the realism of this game was increasing.

They answered the king's summons and came into the main hall. Feng Yan looked at the Warring States Prince and the Princess standing together before him; they seemed quite a match. Feng Yan laughed and, teasing the Prince, said: 'Your Highness Prince, was this trip to Ju Ren Guo worth it?' The king also laughed, his brows gradually relaxing; the adventurers had resolved the Princess's major affair and also selected a suitable prince as her consort— isn't that something to be happy about? The Prince, facing the king's gaze, said: 'The adventurers are joking; winning a beauty is no trouble, but without your invitation, wouldn't we not even have a chance?'

'Enough joking.' Chen Hao said, 'You promised me those conditions earlier; you should still remember them, right?'

'That's natural; our country has no treasure, as you can see—our wealth and power come solely from the support of my people. We have no treasure, but we do have a relic here that might contain what you seek.' said the king.

'Then please lead us there.' Chen Hao said.

'Then please, I will guide you.' the king said.

They were preparing to set out when a dancing girl appeared before Feng Yan, who said to him, 'Please let me come with you, adventurer!' Feng Yan thought for a moment, nodded, and so they went together.

They passed through Deng Lin and came beneath a maple grove; wind blew through the leaves of that grove, the maple leaves swaying in the direction of the breeze, their blood‑red hue looking eerie and mysterious.

'Ah, how many years have passed, and you still refuse to give up leaving this place? But this is truly you; if you weren't like this back then, our ancestors wouldn't have resolved to help you. You are a god‑sealing fellow, while my ancestor was merely a giant; our ancestor left Deng Lin, and all I see is this maple grove—perhaps it's fate.' the king sighed.

Having said that, he slowly walked to an open clearing, crouched down, and the guards slowly pried open a small pit with their hands; inside lay a huge wooden chest. The king's hands trembled as he slowly stroked it, as if meeting an old friend he hadn't seen in years. Then he said softly: 'Back then, the general took only a replica of Ju Ren Guo's supreme treasure, or perhaps just a part of this sword; since the sword has acknowledged its master, now this sword is yours!'

This is a black sword, matching the shape of the one Feng Yan carries but with opposite color. 'This thing—such a big sword, where am I supposed to put it?' Feng Yan said, headachy and resigned. As soon as he finished speaking, the sword shrank to the same size as Feng Yan's sword; Feng Yan took the black sword from the king's hand, and the moment he touched it he felt an abnormal surge of power—violent, fervent, with an unyielding spirit. He carefully stowed it, then asked the king for a scabbard and sword belt, which he slung across his back.

The king, holding his own staff, faced the sun and performed a ritual, continuously chanting incantations; then the maple grove before him began to shift slowly in response to his chants, and Feng Yan gradually fell to the ground, taking the shape of a shackle, which slowly unfurled to reveal an opening.

'Is this… the relic?' Feng Yan couldn't believe his eyes, asking the king.

'Yes, adventurer; after the general died, his soul should have returned here, but for some reason it never did. As for this relic, because we took the Lilliputian Kingdom's sleeve arrows, we deemed it too evil and converted it into a crossbow; of course, due to usage habits, it is also large, but whether you can bring it back depends on your fortune—after all, some things cannot be obtained by force alone,' the king replied.

'Then let's go in.' Feng Yan lifted his leg to enter, but Wang You grabbed him.

Feng Yan felt strange and asked her, 'What's wrong?' 'Please let me come with you.' Wang You replied.

Feng Yan thought a moment, then told her, 'Wait for us to return; after all, this is a life‑risking task—we won't die, but you can't be sure of that, so be good and listen.'

Wang You still wanted to say something, but seeing Feng Yan's resolute gaze, she knew nothing she said would let her go; she could only reluctantly release Feng Yan's clothing, lower her head, and say, 'We'll wait for you to come out.'

'That's right, Chen Hao, let's go.' Feng Yan and Chen Hao entered the cave together.

'The entrance is quite small, but inside there might be other caverns!' Feng Yan exclaimed, 'This place is just like when we arrived by ship in Ju Ren Guo—there are some statues, yet they differ.'

Feng Yan and Chen Hao walked while observing their surroundings; the rock walls all around bore paintings. The first depicted a deity—or rather, a god—with three heads, four arms, one hand gripping a long sword, and eight legs below the waist; the deity in the mural was none other than the War God Chiyou.

'Is this? Chiyou's sword in his hand looks like mine.' Feng Yan looked at the mural, then took his sword in hand; he called Chen Hao over to have a look, and Chen Hao also said: 'Perhaps it's the same sword, though Chiyou used many weapons—not just swords but also knives, axes, and halberds; maybe yours is the same one. Anyway, this is a dream world, so a bit of nonsense is normal; if it weren't nonsense, that would be abnormal.'

'Normal?' Feng Yan wondered inwardly; at that moment he felt the ground tremble, and Chen Hao also sensed something off. While they observed the murals and pondered whether they could yield useful information, a tremendous boom sounded! Chen Hao focused his gaze—it was the stone figure they had encountered in the Lilliputian Kingdom, and instantly he felt energized. He gathered his strength and threw a punch at the stone figure; gradually cracks appeared on its body, then it shattered.

'Not a single one that can fight!' Chen Hao said, somewhat pleased; after saying that he continued to examine the murals.

Another painting on the clothing depicted their battle experience: Chiyou's side won an overwhelming victory, driving the enemy straight into the great mountains; Chiyou held a golden halberd, signaling the troops to stay alert and carefully scout the enemy forces; a hidden arrow struck his body, yet he felt no pain, and the mural shows the arrowhead already shattered.

'Be careful!' Feng Yan shouted; Chen Hao heard, turned to look at Feng Yan, and asked, 'How—' before he could finish, a huge figure slapped him into the wall with a boom. Feng Yan examined it closely—it was a headless giant! 'Xingtian? No, no, this guy isn't supposed to have his nipples as eyes and navel as mouth, is he? No, not like…' Feng Yan was thinking when the giant lifted its golden halberd and swung at Feng Yan's forehead; Feng Yan jumped back but couldn't dodge in time, sustaining a shallow cut on his body; he glanced at it—no serious harm—then gripped his red long sword and faced off against the headless giant.

Feng Yan observed his opponent closely; the giant had only two legs and no head—basically a giant minus its head. Then the giant charged, wielding its golden halberd and aiming for Feng Yan's head; Feng Yan seized the moment to dodge, then swung at the giant's legs, saying, 'Now you lose.' Feng Yan slashed with his sword, cutting off both legs; the giant collapsed with a thunderous boom and slowly turned to stone.

'It hurts so much!' Chen Hao struggled down from the opening the giant had punched into him, then said to Feng Yan, 'Your gear is still the best—look, this thing's finished again.'

'Let's go, keep moving forward to see what this place actually is.' Feng Yan said doubtfully.

'This should be a mural depicting Chiyou,' Chen Hao said, studying it closely. 'The first panel shows Chiyou holding a weapon, leading his tribesmen in battle; the second shows Chiyou winning a total victory, the defeated enemy fleeing to a place, but when they entered to search they found no one—that should be because Huangdi invented the south‑pointing chariot. Consequently they could not completely annihilate Huangdi's fighting strength, which also planted the seeds of Chiyou's eventual defeat and death.'

The other two murals: one shows a woman whose body radiates rolling heat waves; two men cast spells to summon floodwaters, but when the waters reach her side they instantly vanish; behind her, an Yinglong makes a water‑spitting pose, while Huangdi nearby adopts a retreating stance—this resembles a fated battle that seems already decided in death; Chiyou gazes at the scene before him and launches a final charge—perhaps this is his destiny.

'Knowing it means death, does he still attack him?' Feng Yan murmured while gazing at the mural; the final panel recounts Chiyou's death, his body and head separated, and the shackle, having been tossed onto an open plain, turned into a blood‑stained maple forest—and this place is exactly that!

At that very moment, the interior of the cave gradually grew brighter and brighter; Feng Yan and Chen Hao continued deeper and discovered a magical formation composed of star charts—clearly a suppressive formation.

'A formation?' Chen Hao said, 'Like the Eight Trigrams Formation?'

'No, it's not; this predates the Eight Trigrams Formation by far, or rather the Zhouyi developed from it.' Feng Yan gazed at the formation's pattern, pondering, then shouted outright, 'Hetu Luoshu—this is the Hetu Luoshu!'

Feng Yan was excited, then continued forward, quietly squatting on the ground and touching the formation's patterns with his fingertips; the whole cavern trembled, the formation began to emit a faint red light, and after the light faded, the central part slowly lowered, revealing an opening.

'Should we go down?' Chen Hao asked. 'We must; isn't that why we came? The treasure of Ju Ren Guo is surely below!' After answering Chen Hao, Feng Yan glanced excitedly at the now‑inactive formation before them, then descended into the opening together with Chen Hao.

Thud! The two jumped straight into the opening; their eyes widened as they beheld an entirely different world—here time seemed to flow not at all, as if sealed by a formation. They pressed on and found a corpse, or rather a body. The body was immensely tall, far taller than the outside giants, with three heads, bound by iron chains, and pierced all over by various cold weapons. Feng Yan examined it closely; the 'person' still had those chains binding it, and at intervals the chains tightened from behind, pulling the neck backward—now it was at the breaking point.

The two were observing when the 'person' seemed to open its mouth and speak: 'I thought you would kill me outright, destroy my flesh, scatter my primordial spirit—but I never imagined you would torment me like this! Are you still a chosen one? Ah, merciful heavens?' Feng Yan was startled at first, then cautiously approached, bent down, and asked, 'Do you need help?' The 'person' was about to curse when it saw Feng Yan's long sword, understood—its head was controlled by the chains—and with difficulty nodded. Encouraged, Feng Yan gripped his red long sword and chopped at the chains; the blade rang out and was deflected.

'How could this be? Impossible!' Feng Yan exclaimed, staring at the figure before him—or rather, the mythic war god slowly being tightened by the iron chains, not knowing what to do. In the meantime he bumped into the sword behind him, drew his Black Sword, and slashed at the chains again—'Thud!'—the chains sounded as if breaking; Feng Yan knew he had succeeded.

"It's fine, the problem isn't big." Chen Hao wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued, "Then let's go up."

"No, there's still a big matter!" The soul, now liberated, said to Feng Yan and the other.

"Roar~~" A bone‑chilling roar came from deep within the cave entrance; Feng Yan and the other stared into the darkness, and slowly a figure appeared.

The figure was enormous; even a mountain peak was only slightly larger than it. The figure held a crossbow, let out another roar. At this moment, Feng Yan looked at the formation on the ground and discovered a slot similar to a keyhole. He inserted the red sword into it; the formation emitted a faint blue light, then the light gradually gathered into a shield that enclosed his figure.

Feng Yan sheathed the black sword, picked up the red sword again, and said to the soul beside him: "No, your thing is way too heavy; it almost shook the hilt apart!"

"What!" Chen Hao shouted, "The formation can't hold much longer." In the meantime, the huge figure hammered the formation's barrier; after a moment, the spell array beneath began to flicker, then the pattern turned red, then with a bang, the barrier let out a huge sound and shattered.

"It's shattered!" Feng Yan looked at his own body, slowly turning transparent and blurry, and Feng Yan understood.

"Well then, goodbye!" Feng Yan and Chen Hao said together.