Immortalis

Hero's Tomb 12

Zhou Huai was about to charge through the entrance without a word when Yang Wujian grabbed his arm.

"This haunted place will show you things that don't exist! Even if you see your father inside, that might not really be him. Though he caused my mother's death, he is himself and you are you. I can't let you go in there to die!"

Having suffered enough last time, Yang Wujian knew well that the Hero's Tomb must not be entered. But with Zhou Jinglei's final letter before them, how could he possibly stop Zhou Huai?

The young master's eyes were bloodshot as he tried to enter. Just as they were about to come to blows during their struggle, Shen Qingshi stepped forward: "According to Zhou Jinglei's account, hallucinations don't begin immediately upon entering. One can still proceed some distance. I'll lead the way, Zhou Huai you follow me, and Yang Wujian you stay outside. If anything feels wrong, pull us out immediately."

"Young Master Shen, you..."

Yang Wujian couldn't hide his surprise.

Though he now knew Shen Qingshi wouldn't fall prey to hallucinations, the Hero's Tomb still caused her great suffering. Given her temperament, why would she go to such lengths?

Zhou Huai immediately went to prepare. Seemingly sensing Yang Wujian's gaze, Shen Qingshi suddenly whispered in a voice only he could hear: "Thinking this is another bitter flesh scheme again?"

Yang Wujian opened his mouth but before he could speak, Zhou Huai returned with two long iron chains. Learning from last time's lesson - ropes could be cut, but iron chains would not.

Yang Wujian carefully inspected the chains fastened to both of them, then securely tied the other ends to the stone pillar at the entrance. "Retreat immediately if anything feels wrong."

"Understood."

Shen Qingshi took the torch and walked ahead, slowly proceeding along the uneven natural stone path into the depths. Having descended the Meat Well twice, she had gained some experience now.

When she began feeling panicked and short of breath, that was when illusions would start for ordinary people.

Unlike Yang Wujian, Zhou Huai might suddenly have an episode once he fell into hallucinations, so they absolutely couldn't go too deep.

Shen Qingshi moved forward cautiously. They were already in the abyss of the Hero's Tomb, surrounded by pitch darkness the entire way. Constantly, loose stones they kicked would tumble down the narrow rocky path into the deep pit beside them.

Originally, Shen Qingshi hadn't held much hope. However, after traveling at most two li, just as she vaguely began feeling breathless, the torchlight suddenly revealed what appeared to be a human figure leaning against a distant cliff edge.

The person wore dark clothing, making them almost blend into the darkness.

"That is..."

Zhou Huai also saw the figure and shouted "Father!" but only echoes of his voice responded in the empty cave.

The figure remained motionless.

Shen Qingshi took two more steps forward. The increasingly intense suffocation made her realize this was the boundary line. Once Zhou Huai crossed it, he would likely go mad like Yang Wujian had that day.

But simply stopping here would never make him give up.

In her peripheral vision, Shen Qingshi saw Zhou Huai's tear-streaked face. After hesitating a moment, she drew her sword and scratched a line on the ground: "I'll go forward a couple more steps to check the situation. You stay here and don't advance further. Your father wouldn't want to see you take such risks."Upon hearing this, the utterly disoriented Zhou Huai stared at her blankly and nodded dazedly. Shen Qingshi couldn't tell how much he had actually processed. She shouted, "Yang Wujian, grab Zhou Huai's chain! Don't let him go any further!"

Fortunately, sound carried well in the cave. No sooner had her words echoed than the iron chain around Zhou Huai's waist tightened. Seeing this, Shen Qingshi took a deep breath, gripped her torch tighter, and ventured deeper inside.

The familiar suffocating sensation soon made her limbs go weak.

Instinctively, Shen Qingshi bit her tongue again—the wound she'd torn earlier while saving Yang Wujian reopened. The pain helped clear her mind somewhat. Looking ahead, she confirmed that there was indeed a person leaning against the cliff beneath the precipice. The figure was positioned on a sheer rock face, with a vertical shaft below leading straight to the deepest part of the Meat Well.

How did he get over there?

Even with Shen Qingshi's sharp eyesight, she couldn't make out Zhou Jinglei's face clearly. However, the black robes this person wore were unmistakably the same ones Zhou Jinglei had worn in front of them not long ago.

Shen Qingshi moved forward, trying to get a better look, when her foot suddenly kicked against something. Looking down, she discovered an exquisitely carved token that resembled some kind of mechanism box.

"That really is Zhou Jinglei."

In the end, Zhou Huai was practically dragged back by Yang Wujian using the chain. It took Shen Qingshi a long time to recover from the chest constriction. She pulled out the Tower Lord Token and handed it to Zhou Huai: "You should recognize this, right?"

Instantly, Zhou Huai fell to his knees with a thud.

An identical token hung from his waist, though slightly smaller than Zhou Jinglei's. In all the world, only two such tokens existed—one belonged to him, and the other to Zhou Jinglei.

Zhou Huai even remembered Zhou Jinglei once telling him that as long as he carried this token, everyone in the martial world would know he was the young lord of White Rainbow Tower.

Even without attendants announcing his name, people should know who stood behind him.

"How could my father suddenly..." Zhou Huai cried out in anguish.

Yang Wujian thought to himself that although they couldn't retrieve the body, with this Tower Lord Token plus the corpse both Shen Qingshi and Zhou Huai had witnessed with their own eyes... Zhou Jinglei's suicide note claiming he took his own life was likely true.

He speculated that Zhou Jinglei had probably encountered hallucinations while going deeper, then coincidentally fell from that cliff edge. But why, in such a profoundly deep Hero's Tomb, would Zhou Jinglei's body and Tower Lord Token happen to be exactly where they could find them?

Shen Qingshi couldn't help but feel suspicious. Yet facing the completely broken Zhou Huai, even she couldn't voice her doubts aloud.

To prevent Zhou Huai from doing anything rash, the two dragged him back to the tower. Looking at the despondent young master, Yang Wujian knew that carelessly leaking this news would likely attract all sorts of unsavory characters following Zhou Jinglei's death. Fortunately, it was the dead of night—they still had until morning to devise countermeasures.

"Young master, now is not the time for crying."

Too much had happened in one night. After his crying fit, Zhou Huai seemed completely drained of spirit. The thought that his lifelong pillar of support had vanished left him unable to even muster an emotional outburst.Seeing this, Yang Wujian quickly made him drink some hot tea and said softly, "Young Master, your father is gone, and you are now the Tower Master. The most urgent matter is to find a way to dismiss the servants in the tower. You cannot let them notice anything amiss. Otherwise, as you should know, the silver notes your father earned over the years are seen by outsiders as a massive piece of fat meat."

Zhou Huai's eyes were red, and the words he heard echoed dully in his ears. After a long silence, he slowly nodded and added, "Miss Yang, if Zou Nüxia was also killed by my father, then you..."

He couldn't finish, on the verge of crying again. Yang Wujian had no choice but to squeeze out a few tears herself. Grabbing his hand, she said sternly, "But Zhou Jinglei is already dead! Zhou Huai, my mother and I were rarely together since I was young. She died in the Dragon Locking Coffin when I was very young, but I know very well that her death was because of Zhou Jinglei, not because of you! My mother taught me to distinguish right from wrong. If I were to blame all of this on you now, she would surely scold me."

Having spoken to this extent, the young master finally calmed down a bit. After sobbing for a long time, he said, "Thank you, Miss Yang. I will definitely give your mother an explanation."

At least he could still listen to reason.

Yang Wujian breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "Before dawn, you still have time. Shen Qingshi and I cannot overstep our bounds in this matter. Otherwise, not only would it easily arouse suspicion, but it would also be hard for us to explain later. Once those people from the Four Seas Alliance learn about your father's past deeds, they will most likely pin crimes on you, and even on us, because only by doing so can they eliminate you, the young tower master, and lay hands on what your father left behind. Young Master, after all we've been through, you should know I'm not exaggerating the dangers. So you must calm down now and think about what to do next."

Hearing his words, Zhou Huai wiped away his tears with effort and took several brain-refreshing pills in a row. Gradually calming down, he looked up and noticed Shen Qingshi was not in the room. He asked, "Where is Young Master Shen?"

"She went back to her room to rest. Although she doesn't see illusions in that haunted place, it still makes her uncomfortable. She did her best to retrieve your father."

Yang Wujian said this, unaware that Shen Qingshi was no longer in her room at that moment.

Although her body was indeed on the verge of collapse, the moment Shen Qingshi returned to her room and closed the door, someone silently covered her mouth from behind.

She was very familiar with every line on this hand.

It was Cao Zhao.

"Brother Cao? Why are you here?"

Shen Qingshi lowered her voice, and Cao Zhao whispered in her ear, "Shen Xin and Fu Hong are both here. I knew you were here too, and I was worried, so of course I had to come and check on you."

"Lord Fu is here too?"

Shen Qingshi hadn't expected even the Chiwen Envoy to appear at the White Rainbow Tower. Frowning, she asked, "Is it still because of Prince Li?"

"Investigating a prince naturally wouldn't involve sending just one Brightening Envoy. The Southern Zhao Ming Division has been monitoring Prince Li for ten years. If anything goes wrong, it would mean losing our heads. You know the Emperor's way of doing things. If he decides to investigate, he will turn the entire White Rainbow Tower upside down."

Cao Zhao released her, evidently having caught the scent of blood on her, and added, "Are you injured?"Shen Qingshi knew she couldn't hide it from Cao Zhao, so she recounted everything that had happened earlier. She added that in the end, she hadn't dared to trap Shen Xin to death, fearing that more people would be sent later. Whether Shen Xin lived or died, once an investigation was launched, her self-will might implicate Cao Zhao.

Hearing this, Cao Zhao only let out a cold laugh and handed her some wound medicine to apply. "You did the right thing. After all, Fu Hong showed up right after. But dragging you into the mess of the Southern Zhaoming Division and forcing you to use a self-harming strategy to stay in the tower—I think Shen Xin's official career has reached its end."

Cao Zhao rarely spoke so harshly in the past. Shen Qingshi was taken aback. "Is the Emperor dissatisfied?"

"Investigating such matters, whether anything is found or not, is never a good assignment. The Emperor won't easily move against Prince Li because he is Princess Rilie's son and has Northern Desert blood. To keep things peaceful beyond the borders, the Emperor won't act against Prince Li, at least for now. Choosing Shen Xin and Fu Hong to investigate the White Rainbow Tower is for the same reason. Prince Li has long resided in Shu and holds no military power—he can't stir up trouble. But the White Rainbow Tower is just a martial arts sect founded by a mere craftsman, amassing immense wealth, and the court can't plant spies there. The Emperor doesn't like that."

Cao Zhao smiled faintly and continued, "The palace can't easily interfere in these jianghu matters because the jianghu often reflects the will of the people. If the court meddles without cause, it could stir unrest among the populace. So, regarding Prince Li's affair, it's less about investigating him and more about investigating the White Rainbow Tower, using it as an opportunity to warn Prince Li."

"So, the real targets of the Chaofeng Envoy and Chiwen Envoy are Zhou Jinglei?"

Shen Qingshi finally understood why Shen Xin was so determined to explore the treasure vault.

Rather than searching for evidence of collusion with Prince Li, it seemed Shen Xin was there to investigate Zhou Jinglei's assets.

Why were all these events happening at once?

Zhou Jinglei felt that strange occurrences were frequent in the tower, as if retribution had come knocking, and Prince Li had also coincidentally received news that the Golden Jade Hibiscus Sword had appeared in the White Rainbow Tower?

Could it be that Prince Li was also lured here?

What was this person's goal? To use the court's hand to uproot the White Rainbow Tower entirely?

Shen Qingshi couldn't help but furrow her brow deeply. Seeing this, Cao Zhao gently smoothed her forehead.

"I've rarely seen you frown like this before. Are you still holding up? I just heard from next door that Zhou Jinglei is dead. It seems this matter is more complicated than I thought. Tell me what happened. I'll handle things with Shen Xin and Fu Hong from here on out. Don't worry, no matter what they uncover, I won't let you be implicated."