Chapter 1001

A team of ten people followed the big double-headed snake, passing through a forest, arriving near a very wide earthen slope.

This earthen slope is over three hundred meters in size, its uplift not large, but its shape is very regular, like a pot lid.

In front of the slope stand two stone steles.

On the left side, the forward-facing one is taller, over twenty meters high, with several characters carved on it that the system does not translate, looking as if they were scratched out with claws, and around it are several flying dragon reliefs.

The fire snake Qila said: "This is the tombstone of Ru'erge; the inscription is in ancient dragon language, now almost lost, perhaps only the dragon god Akhanosh can still recognize it."

I can recognize it too! Dun Dun pointed at the five characters on the stele and said: "These five characters are respectively 'Lu', 'Er', 'Jia', 'Zhi', 'Mu'!"

I think so too! Xiao Feng expressed agreement.

Xing Yun Miao chuckled: "Ru'erge is just a phonetic reading, like a foreigner's name; the spelling may not be three characters, so stop guessing wildly."

Shen Di smiled: "As far as I know, the names of ancient dragon powerhouses are single characters; in the ancient dragon language, Ru'erge should also be a single word. So these five characters likely mean 'Hero Ru'erge's Tomb,' or the hero could be replaced with another adjective."

Never mind that, let's go down the tomb and dig! Li Li rubbed his palms, eager to show off.

At this moment, Mang Mei asked: "What about the left stele?"

The stele on the left side is somewhat shorter; the characters on it are tiny, densely packed in a large bunch, also all ancient dragon text that the system does not translate.

The double-headed snake Qila likewise could not recognize it, replying: "It should be a merit monument carved by Ru'erge's subordinates to commemorate it."

The candle dragon furrowed its brows, puzzled: "You big snake, you don't recognize a single character—how do you know this is Ru'erge's tomb? If it isn't, wouldn't we be digging the wrong grave?"

Randomly digging graves is not a good habit; if you dig the wrong one, it'll be embarrassing!

However, Qila's confidence is not without basis.

It said: "We found clues to Ru'erge's tomb from an ancient book, spending decades to locate a treasure map, then another over three hundred years following the map to get here—absolutely no mistake. But the aura inside the tomb is too terrifying; we fear death, so we dare not enter directly, waiting for adventurers to help."

This place seems quite significant. Xiao Feng nodded slightly.

Actually everyone knows that the system arranged for Qila to wait here for people, so it must be correct; this is definitely Ru'erge's tomb.

Asking these questions is just being nitpicky.

Alright, no more talk—let's enter the instance, hurry up and clear it, then we'll discuss the experience after eating it!

Zhan Tian called out, and everyone stepped forward together.

The double-headed snake Qila said: "The tomb's entrance is right ahead; beneath the mound is a statue—turning the statue will open the passage to the tomb, and going down leads to the tomb's interior."

That means it can only bring us this far; the rest of the way must be walked by the warriors themselves.

Xiao Feng and the others climbed onto the grass-covered huge mound, arriving at its center.

In the middle of this three-hundred-meter-diameter mound, there is an approximately thirty-meter-wide opening that slopes downward into the Depression.

The Depression resembles an open-air room, with a statue of a double-headed flying dragon in the center, about the height of a person.

As a warrior, Zhang Fan jumped down, embraced the double-headed flying dragon statue, and twisted it with force.

Creak—

The stone statue rotated, emitting an unpleasant grinding sound.

After turning counterclockwise about ninety degrees, underground came the clack-clack-clack of machinery engaging.

Immediately afterward, not far from the statue, four stone slabs clicked and sank down in succession, forming a four-step staircase.

The staircase rotated downward, leading to the tomb's interior.

As soon as this passage opened, a gloomy aura drifted out; a cold wind blew, causing everyone's robe hems to sway, giving the feeling of opening a netherworld passage.

The entrance to this instance is quite unique; previously it was always portals or teleportation arrays—needing to walk a physical passage like this is really rare. Li Li complained.

Shen Di laughed: "The higher-level the instance, the closer it is to reality; this is also good, enhancing the experience!"

Dun Dun was a bit scared, muttering: "For tomb-type instances, we don't need to make them too realistic; what if zombies jump out and scare the cat sister to death..."

Xing Yun Miao gave a light smile: "I'm not afraid of zombies; if someone is scared, they can cling to the handsome senior for protection in advance~"

Dun Dun, feeling looked down upon, gave a soft huff and said indignantly: "I'm not afraid at all! But… if Xiao Feng senior is afraid, I can reluctantly offer my chest."

Obviously terrified yet forcing calm, this made people unable to hold back laughter.

Xiao Feng patted her little head and said: "You stay behind; I'll lead the way, everyone keep close, don't fall behind."

Having said that, he took the lead toward the stone steps, jumping down layer by layer.

This staircase is very wide, able to accommodate many people side by side; each stone step is 1.5 meters high, clearly not made for humans but for tall draconic descendants.

Everyone jumped down step by step, following the rotating staircase downward.

At first there was still some light visible, but after going down a dozen or so steps it became dim.

Xiao Feng held a fireball in one hand for illumination, while Xing Yun Miao propped up a small moon with her staff to provide light.

The group walked down a full ninety-nine steps, descending over a hundred meters underground, before reaching a stone door.

The stone door is thirty meters high, over twenty meters wide, and looks very heavy.

Xiao Feng stepped forward and pushed; with over 13,400 points of strength, he could not budge it even a bit.

【Tip: This is a mechanism door; please open it the correct way, or violently push it open with 50,000 points of strength.】

The system issued a reminder.

50,000 points of strength—none of those present could meet that.

Let's look for a mechanism; if there isn't one, I'll just smash the door by force. Xiao Feng said.

The Flame Sovereign's strength is absolutely sufficient; opening a door would be easy.

However, this is after all the instance entrance; the outcome of normal versus abnormal opening could affect the instance's content.

Therefore he did not blindly resort to violence.

Everyone spread out around to search.

In less than a minute, Mang Mei was the first to find a mechanism, saying: "Here there is a nine‑grid puzzle; aligning it correctly should open the door."

The mechanism is hidden in a small corner beneath the steps, very concealed but not completely; if you look closely you can see it.

"A nine‑grid? That's a piece of cake!" Li Li volunteered to step forward.

A mere nine-grid game, really not difficult at all.

Even the worst Lao Li only took less than a minute to finish it.

The result of this nine-grid puzzle is a pattern of a double-headed flying dragon roaring toward the sky, almost identical to the statue above.

As the puzzle was completed, a click-click sound came from within the stone wall, and the whole tomb entrance area began to tremble slightly.

That huge stone door slowly slid open to both sides.

The moment the door opened, a gust of yin wind howled out with tremendous force, directly blowing Dun Dun, who stood not far from the doorway, flat on his butt.

The others also staggered, nearly falling over.