Immortalis

Hero's Tomb 8

Infiltration of Wuqu Tower proved easier than Shen Xin had anticipated.

Shen Qingshi had drawn away Zhou Huai and Yang Wujian, meaning there was no one left in White Rainbow Tower capable of matching him. All that remained was to circumvent Zhou Jinglei's famously intricate mechanisms.

For the Chaofeng Envoy, who specialized in covert infiltration, this was mere routine.

He now knew the fourteen towers had labyrinthine underground structures. If the treasure vault was underground, accessing it from above might actually be simpler.

As night fell, Shen Xin slipped silently through a ventilation window at the peak of Wuqu Tower. Just as he'd guessed, most of Zhou Jinglei's mechanical traps were positioned at lower levels, making infiltration from above considerably safer.

The Chaofeng Envoy possessed exceptional hearing and lightness skills. With each step, he carefully listened for the click of mechanisms beneath the floorboards, ready to leap upward at the slightest anomaly to avoid triggering traps.

After nearly half an hour of such cautious progress, he finally reached the underground level drenched in sweat.

Though he'd avoided activating any traps, Shen Xin could sense death lurking throughout Wuqu Tower. Anyone less skilled would have been riddled with holes before even reaching the ground level.

Such elaborate defenses could only mean something valuable was hidden below.

During his days of reconnaissance within the tower, Chaofeng had learned that White Rainbow Tower's greatest secrets lay underground. He marveled at how Zhou Jinglei had designed these spiderweb-like passageways extending in all directions. Without knowing the treasure vault's exact location, attempting navigation through these underground paths would likely lead to entrapment and death.

He could only hope Shen Qingshi's intelligence was accurate.

As he advanced, Shen Xin tapped the stone bricks, his acute hearing allowing him to distinguish hollow spaces. Soon, he encountered an unusual section of wall.

Rather than hollow, the space behind these stones seemed blocked by something much harder.

Mysterious Iron?

His ears twitched slightly, detecting what seemed to be metal behind the wall—massive metal, spanning an entire wall section the size of a room.

An iron-walled chamber?

A thrill ran through Shen Xin. Palace treasure vaults were typically stone chambers or golden rooms. This confirmed Zhou Huai's claim—White Rainbow Tower's treasure vault was indeed beneath Wuqu Tower.

Why else would they construct such impregnable metal walls unless they contained vital secrets?

With this thought, Shen Xin circled the metal surface until he found a depressible stone brick. Applying gentle pressure with his fingertip, he heard mechanisms whirring within the wall before a small opening appeared.

He attempted to toss a firestarter into the hole, but it only illuminated a corner, revealing nothing substantial. Reluctantly, he whistled softly at the entrance. Judging by the echoes, the interior space was sizable with air circulation sufficient for a person to stand.

Remaining cautious, Shen Xin performed several more sound localization tests, ultimately determining that besides this entrance, the iron chamber likely had two other openings.

But why make the entrance so small? Could Zhou Jinglei also practice Bone Shrinking techniques?

Shen Xin found this deeply peculiar.Although the Bone Shrinking technique had many practitioners, mastering it was extremely difficult. This skill demanded exceptional innate talent, requiring practitioners to be born with unusually soft bones. To enable him to pass the imperial examinations, the Shen family had once broken and reconstructed all the bones and meridians in his body—a painfully costly sacrifice that ultimately allowed him to master this technique.

Shen Xin had heard in the past that those in the martial world who excelled in this technique could not only shrink their bones but also make most of their skin and flesh appear no different from ordinary people. In other words, as long as they concealed the joints that might give them away, even if they stripped naked, their true forms would not be revealed.

Shen Xin’s skill was not innate, so he could not achieve such a level. However, shrinking his body to the size of a child was more than sufficient. Remembering there were two other openings inside, he hesitated for a moment before finally crouching down and crawling in.

Although monitoring Prince Li was a matter of great importance, this former seventh prince had remained docile for so many years. Moreover, during the years he was demoted to commoner status, he had contracted a cold ailment and lived in seclusion. Over the past decade, both Shen Xin and Chiwen Envoy Fu Hong had long delegated the surveillance duties to their subordinates, no longer handling it personally.

Who could have expected Prince Li to suddenly pull such a stunt?

No matter what, Shen Xin had to find out what was inside this treasure vault today.

Crawling through the narrow passage, Shen Xin soon discovered that the walls of this Mysterious Iron chamber were a full seven feet thick, like a massive iron block. Just crawling inside required considerable effort. The iron chamber was pitch black, and though Shen Xin considered tossing in a firestarter, he feared it might destroy any secrets inside. Left with no choice, he crawled all the way to the end.

However, the moment he finally entered the iron chamber and struck his firestarter, Shen Xin knew something was wrong.

The iron chamber before him was completely empty.

Damn it.

Shen Xin gasped sharply and immediately tried to retreat. But just then, footsteps sounded outside the iron chamber, followed by the activation of a mechanism. The small, narrow door snapped shut seamlessly, and no matter how fast Shen Xin moved, he could not escape.

Who was it?

Shen Xin broke into a cold sweat.

With his acute hearing, how could he have failed to detect someone following him?

No, this person couldn’t have trailed him down. They must have been waiting here all along, anticipating someone crawling into this iron chamber.

Was it Zhou Jinglei?

Even in such a predicament, Shen Xin did not immediately reveal his identity. After all, the matter he was investigating was highly confidential, and when had the Four Envoys of Zhaoming ever easily bowed to others?

Even through the seven-foot-thick iron wall, Shen Xin could hear the footsteps of the person walking away. But the gait was not that of a limping man—could it be someone else in the building?

By now, the person had already moved far away, seemingly uninterested in lingering. Shen Xin circled the iron chamber and found not only was there nothing inside, but the walls were also covered with scratch marks left by fingernails—traces of those who had come before him, left in despair.

In other words, this was no treasure vault at all—it was a cage.

Realizing this, Shen Xin recalled the two other openings he had heard earlier. He hurriedly checked them and found windows at the top and bottom of the iron chamber. However, both were one-way openings. The upper window’s mechanism was on the outside, allowing only descent, not ascent. As for the lower window...Shen Xin reached out to touch it and discovered that the so-called window was crisscrossed with extremely sharp diamond wires—unburnable and uncuttable. If one tried to pull them by hand, their fingers would be sliced right off.

Judging by the size of the opening, this floor window was just large enough for one person, or perhaps a corpse, to fall through.

Shen Xin used a firestarter to illuminate the area and indeed saw old bloodstains all over the diamond wires. It was clear that the purpose of this floor window was to transport dismembered bodies out of the iron room.

How vicious this place was.

Even after witnessing countless terrifying tortures in Zhaoming Prison, Shen Xin couldn't help but feel both shocked and enraged.

The blades he carried were insufficient to break these diamond wires. Moreover, even if he did manage to get through, what if there were more diamond wires on the other side of the passage? Wouldn't he be sliced alive then?

Clearly, this was a place where cries for help would go unanswered. Shen Xin's only hope now was the Zhaoming Division.

The Four Envoys of Zhaoming held high positions. If they remained unreachable for too long, the Zhaoming Division would notice something amiss and send people to investigate. But what if Shen Qingshi claimed by then that he had already left White Rainbow Tower...

At this thought, Shen Xin gritted his teeth and slammed his palm against the iron wall, swearing that if he could escape, he would tear Shen Qingshi to pieces and then present Yang Wujian to the Emperor, completely crushing Cao Zhao's ambitions for promotion.

But how could he get out now?

Refusing to give up, Shen Xin tapped the surrounding walls, searching for weak spots. In the darkness, however, he suddenly felt a row of shallow characters carved into the wall. It was unclear how many times someone had scratched at it with split nails to barely leave these marks on the Mysterious Iron.

As Shen Xin carefully traced the characters, he gradually felt a chill run down his spine.

The words read: "I am Bai Miao of the Golden Jade Hibiscus Sword. Zhou Jinglei killed me and my daughter—may he die a wretched death."

Meanwhile, Shen Qingshi was walking with Yang Wujian toward Zhou Huai's room.

The two had prepared themselves for another confrontation with Young Master Zhou, but upon reaching the door, they heard the young master groaning in pain. Yang Wujian pushed the door open and found Zhou Huai holding the White Rainbow Sword, having stabbed himself in the thigh.

"Young Master, what are you doing?!"

Yang Wujian never imagined that after just a moment of inattention, Zhou Huai would also end up injured. He rushed forward in disbelief, only to see blood gushing from Zhou Huai's leg.

Zhou Huai panted heavily, "I was exhausted from dragging you out of the Hero's Tomb earlier, and my head felt foggy. Suddenly, the room went dark again, and something fell. I was afraid I might have another episode, so I quickly stabbed myself with the sword."

"Young Master, you..."

Yang Wujian thought, why did it have to be the White Rainbow Sword that could slice through iron like mud? Now they had another injured person to deal with.

He sighed and, without bothering to check what had fallen in the room, immediately took out some hemostatic powder. "Young Master Zhou, this medicine works quickly, but it's very painful. You'll have to endure it."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Huai nodded without understanding. Yang Wujian swiftly pressed the powder onto the wound with lightning speed. Instantly, a scream of excruciating pain echoed throughout the entire building.

"Miss Yang, what is this?! It hurts too much!"Zhou Huai burst into tears from the pain, his eyes brimming as he tried to lean against Yang Wujian, only to brush against the cold Golden Rings beneath his sleeve. Sniffling, he whimpered, "Miss Yang, you have so many things on you... You're not as comfortable to lean on as Young Master Shen..."

"Enough nonsense!"

Yang Wujian rolled her eyes and turned away, noticing that Shen Qingshi had already picked up the object from the floor.

As expected, it was another severed limb—this time, a woman's hand.

She examined it closely: a horizontal callus marked the palm, but it bore no resemblance to the marks left by sword practice.

"It’s the Crescent Moon Blade. It’s your mother’s body."

As soon as Shen Qingshi finished speaking, Yang Wujian reacted swiftly, her eyes instantly reddening. "Mother really... Who could it be! How dare they not even spare her corpse!"

"Miss Yang..."

The young master, trembling from pain, still attempted to comfort her. But Yang Wujian, having forced out a few tears, shifted her gaze to the candle in the room.

Unlike the others, the candle in Zhou Huai’s room had a peculiar design—it burned longer, and each time it went out, a mechanism automatically relit it, ensuring his room remained brightly lit throughout the night.

Yet, on both occasions, the severed limbs had appeared right after the light went out.

Exchanging a glance with Shen Qingshi, Yang Wujian faintly grasped where the problem lay.

Shen Qingshi said, "I’m afraid we’ll have to keep watch in your room tonight, Zhou Huai. Have someone prepare two bedding rolls—we’ll sleep on the floor here."