Chapter 590: The Second

The lake water kept lowering its level, while at another sinkhole the waterfall roared like thunder, yet it hadn't filled completely, only about a third of the lower part. The mud at the bottom was also stirred, and as it fell it churned the water into utter turbidity. "It still hasn't emerged," Bai Lang said, arms crossed, sighing while perched on a branch, the leaves concealing his figure.

Bai Lang sensed something, and suddenly a tiger's roar echoed from the mud; a patch of mud cracked and exploded outward, revealing the tomb passage below. At that moment the lanterns the newcomers had brought also illuminated the passage, prompting another bout of chaos. A spontaneously appearing tiger roar is especially significant under the current circumstances—so the relevant authorities took over the scene immediately.

Bai Lang stood silently on the tree, watching; with his current martial skill he could stay up there for days and nights without issue. However, after he noticed a CCTV crew arriving to film, he slipped away quietly.

The tomb passage was cleared, and the earth sealing the tomb above had vanished after repeated river flooding, exposing the brick-and-stone vaulted tomb roof. Yet the stone guardian and stone beast that stood before the tomb, though displaced by the river over the years, were still found within a radius of seven or eight hundred meters. Even the tombstone was located.

"The tomb of Lord Wen Lu Bu of the Great Han?!" Bai Lang, perched on the tree, could hear the experts clearing the tombstone exclaim. Thus the original Lu Bu tomb was fully proven to be a fake. After soaking in water for so many years, it's obvious the burial chamber would have been inundated.

What followed, Bai Lang saw on television—yes, it turned into a high‑rating live documentary. Lu Bu, the famed warlord of the late Han and Three Kingdoms who is mentioned alongside Bai Lang, actually had a fake tomb, which made for a striking story. The experts and authorities rallied—since a genuine tomb had been uncovered, perhaps a national treasure could be found as well.

It now seems that the only way to slay the bizarre entities is with weapons forged by legendary warriors through a lifetime of bloodshed and murderous aura; Bai Lang is one such case, and perhaps Lord Wen Lu Bu as well—he also wields the legendary Fangtian Huaji. Unsurprisingly, NHK showed up again, apparently having tasted the success.

First, protective walls were erected around the surveyed tomb, waterproofing was applied, and a canopy was installed to shield the relics from sunlight and UV damage. Under the watch of the officials, the workers cleared the remaining soil above the burial chamber and its surroundings, fully exposing the entire chamber, the passage, and the stone guardian tombstone.

These were originally buried in mud, but now have been cleaned and rinsed; thanks to the mud's protection over the years, the surfaces, though smoothed by water, still retain clear carving lines that haven't been worn away, and the inscription on Lu Bu's tomb appears to be handwritten by CaoCao…

After the soil on the passage was cleared, the program's experts, referencing the records from Bai Lang's tomb and other Han tomb excavations, concluded that this tomb was also a waterproof brick-and-stone underground palace. The tomb door was gradually opened; although they expected water to gush out, none did.

However, the inner passage was sealed.

In the end they had to lift from above, carefully dismantling the bricks and stones at the top as usual, gradually revealing the lower burial chamber, which turned out to be dry, though clearly far less well preserved than Bai Lang's tomb. The bamboo slips, silk, and other funerary goods had rotted; the silk, once colored, turned black as soon as it saw light, its appearance quickly merging with the earth.

Fortunately, modern technology allowed special chemicals to be sprayed immediately, halting further decay. Apart from those, the tomb contained only some gold and silver, plus pottery and clay figurines; Lu Bu's coffin was large but nowhere near as lavish as Bai Lang's. The coffin was placed on a raised platform, supported underneath by copper legs.

Lu Bu's weapon was also positioned against the wall of the burial chamber facing the coffin's head; the copper weapon rack held the Fangtian Huaji, which had fallen to the ground—yes, its shaft was broken. Only the tail and the spearhead lay on the floor, yet the blade still gleamed coldly, and everyone who looked at it instinctively sensed something uncanny.

It gave a feeling similar to Bai Lang's long spear. At this moment the sky had darkened, and the tomb of Lord Wen emitted a strange roar. "Never imagined that after Lord Wen's death his power would advance further—could this be the making of a ghost deity?" Bai Lang muttered as he watched the scene.

"Unfortunately his mind has long been lost; Lord Wen's soul has returned to the heavens, and what remains here is merely the ghostly form forged from years of fighting spirit," Bai Lang, though not on site, could discern with his cultivated insight. Lord Wen's shadow still lingered, but it could not move. "This place is indeed blessed," Bai Lang said with a smile.

Since he had seen this, he left Xuzhou directly; what followed no longer mattered. He also seemed ready to depart—by his perception, the terrifying clash that had shrouded the world had vanished, and his rogue strategist and the bald monk thief had already moved far away. "I can't understand, both are thieves! Why kill each other?"

Bai Lang could leave at any time, and indeed he had no intention of taking the weapon—this world is on a path of spiritual energy revival, and removing the item now would likely condemn its people to decades of terror. Bai Lang's long spear was merely a casually forged piece for this world, and he placed no particular value on it.

He has long harbored a grudge against weapons; the divine arms he painstakingly acquires are always lost or broken quickly, so he trusts his own hands and feet more. As for blades, they just need to be serviceable. Lu Bu's funerary weapons can also slay the bizarre, but they are far less "intelligent" than Bai Lang's Yunshui Spear and require a human to wield them, and they are not light—the Fangtian Huaji weighs over sixty jin, and with its pole it is similarly unwieldy, usable only by a true master of ancient weaponry.

The crucial point is that this thing drains the user's energy when slaying the bizarre; after cutting down one or two ghosts, the wielder is left panting, yearning for a full day's sleep. Wielding it is easy—just wear a powered exoskeleton. But extracting energy would require a dozen robust men to take turns using it…

So it's impractical, indeed impractical.

And that roar from the tomb caused all the bizarre entities in Xuzhou to be completely annihilated; they were torn apart.

When Lu Bu's coffin was opened, the corpse inside had rotted away, leaving only fragments of bone, dashing everyone's hope of seeing the visage of the late‑Han warlord.