Everybody else was astonished at these words and shifted his gaze to Ji Yanlai.
“That’s what the words engraved beside the mural mean,” explained Ji Yanlai.
Curse? A phoenix’s palace?
The word “cursed” made Ling Zhang feel rather uncomfortable.
“What about these words?” inquired Wei Dong aloud.
Ji Yanlai walked up to him, glanced at the words and then a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ling Zhang, drawing Yuwen Tong towards that wall.
“The meaning of these words is different from that of those on the other wall,” responded Ji Yanlai, a faintly grave expression in his eyes. “These words mean ‘This is a paradise left by a sacred beast. Anybody that gains entry into this place will get all they want.'”
Ji Yanlai’s voice was not loud, but everybody heard him.
Yuwen Jin was the first to voice doubts. “What the hell was whoever left these words trying to say?”
The two lines of words conveyed two different meanings, which struck people present as bewildering.
“Look. The eyes of the two phoenixes in the murals are different too,” said Ji Xiaocong.
The others walked over, checked the murals and found that the phoenix beside the words about a curse had ferocious eyes. It was flying above flames, its fierce eyes staring at the people looking at the mural. Though it was just a pattern, people present still found it intimidating and somewhat terrifying as they met its eyes.
The phoenix in the other mural seemed to be flying in a relatively relaxed and leisurely manner, and its eyes were equable too, which were watching those standing in front of the wall with a seemingly loving air.
“This is weird. Their meanings are entirely different.” The King of the South Ocean wiped the sweat off his forehead. As a fatty, he had indeed had a hard job to get a clearer view of the gemstones beneath his feet.
“There are stairs here, Father. Sit and have some rest.” The prince supported him to a flight of stairs and sat him on the bottom step. For some unknown reason, neither the king nor the prince dared to sit in the gold chair at the head of the stairs. Though a king, he felt that it would be a little pretentious for him to sit there, so he had no alternative but to perch on the stairs.
The others did not feel that there was anything wrong with this action of his. Even Ling Zhang, when looking at the gold chair high up at the head of the stairs, had an odd feeling that he was unworthy of that seat. He wondered if it was because of the atmosphere created in this palace, seeing as he and Yuwen Tong had sat in all kinds of high seats.
“Have any of you noticed that the statement on this side says this place is a phoenix’s shrine, while the other says this is a paradise left by a phoenix? Speaking of a shrine, I think this does constitute one, but what about ‘paradise’? What’s that supposed to mean?” said the king after wiping his sweat away.
Yuwen Tong looked at him. “The monarch of that mini-state near the South Ocean specially assigned someone to be your guide. He didn’t tell you anything in this regard?”
The king, who had not bargained on Yuwen Tong suddenly asking him this question, paused briefly and then smiled a faintly embarrassed smile. “He just told me that there’s something precious in this city, something that can prolong life. I don’t quite believe it, but he does, very much. Look, the guide he assigned me is right here. If you don’t believe me, ask him.”
The man sent here by the monarch of that statelet was his henchman, short and swarthier than anybody else present, wearing court robes. Along with the team of men he was heading, he had been staying with the King of the South Ocean and the others all along. During this trip, he had barely talked with anybody apart from the king’s men.
Right now he was somewhat astonished to hear the king call his name, presumably because it had never occurred to him that the king would disclose what they were looking for just like that. He looked faintly unhappy, but he had only a small number of men at his service, and the air about Yuwen Tong and the others were quite intimidating, so, though unwilling, he still stepped out of the crowd and attested the king’s words eventually.
“Something that can prolong life? He really believes such things exist?” said Yuwen Jin.
The king said, “Well, the country he rules is a small one. Besides, who can resist the temptation of something conducive to longevity, if such a thing does exist?”
The king’s way of speaking was also fairly interesting – it was quite straightforward.
“Does this strike you as a place where that kind of things exist?” asked Yuwen Jin.
The king replied, “That’s exactly what confounds me. I mean, even if there’s nothing that can lengthen life in this place, we should have found something else, because after all, this is a shrine.”
“This so-called shrine was built by humans, and phoenixes were sacred beasts with unmatched powers. How is it possible that one of them used to inhabit this place? Those words engraved on the walls are in a language spoken in a statelet that fell before the start of the Xia Dynasty, and phoenixes became mythical long before that. There’s no way any of those people saw a real phoenix. Some Formations were deployed here during the building of this shrine, but those who built this place were smarter than most builders, and they made those Formations barely perceptible. On top of that, they also created a mysterious atmosphere, which is why people find this place awe-inspiring after entering,” Ji Yanlai suddenly said.
It was uncharacteristic of him to say so many words in one breath. Seeing that Ji Yanlai appeared to have regained his composure, Ling Zhang gathered that Ji Yanlai had been using his internal energy to suppress his anxiety as well.
The restlessness that seemed to have something to do with his blood was an irrefutable proof. Although this place had never been inhabited by a real phoenix, there was undoubtedly something else in here.
Therefore, the hidden Formations were not the only cause of what they were feeling.
Ji Yanlai was just trying to soothe the others. Except for the king, all the others began to show signs of impatience as well, which indicated that they were, to a greater or lesser degree, being affected.
“Cong, play a tune for us,” Ji Yanlai suddenly added.
The others were baffled, but Ji Xiaocong, smiling, had produced a flute and started playing.
The sound of the flute was silvery, the tune refreshing and slow. As it resounded through this shrine, a subtle and seemingly magical air spread, dissolving the subdued atmosphere in this place, clearing the minds of people inside.
They felt the faint impatience in them ebbing away, and their faces grew much more relaxed.
Ling Zhang looked at Ji Xiaocong, astonished by this skill of his. No wonder he was the heir of the leader of the Millennium Pavilion. It was amazing that he, at an early age, had developed such power of soothing people. Ling Zhang remembered his grandfather saying Ji Xiaocong had very strong Force of Blood as well.
Thanks to the tune, everybody was much calmer. The king applauded. “That was really good, Childe Ji.”
He did not notice any changes in the ambience and just felt that Ji Xiaocong played the tune with great skill.
Ling Zhang couldn’t help but chuckle, and it was only then that he perceived that Yuwen Tong had loosened his grip on his wrist. Though still holding it, he was not exerting as much strength as he had been a moment ago.
Ling Zhang was surprised. He had not thought of this question until now – what if Yuwen Tong’s mood was being affected as well?
“How do you feel? Are you experiencing any discomfort? Emotionally, I mean,” Ling Zhang immediately inquired of him.
Yuwen Tong looked at him. “I’m fine.”
With that he added, “Ji Xiaocong’s a pretty good flute player.”
Ling Zhang said, “Just now I didn’t notice it. If you feel that anything affects your mind, you must tell me.”
After giving it some thought, he continued, “Now that there’s nothing here, we should get out of this place.”
“Hey, guys, there’s a passage here!” At this time, Yuwen Jin’s voice came from behind the tall staircase.
The others saw him emerge from behind the staircase and call to them, pointing somewhere behind it.
When the others had been observing this hall and the murals, Yuwen Jin had taken some men with torches to search the other side, where he had found the passageway behind.
Ling Zhang had originally wanted Yuwen Tong to leave this place, but now he had no choice but to follow the others to take a look.
The so-called passage was actually a corridor.
The corridor was behind a door, which had now been opened. Also, daylight was pouring in, to which their eyes were not yet accustomed.
However, though there was light here, they could only see the patch of sky overhead in this narrow, patio-like place, what with the high dome. They wouldn’t be able to see the sun unless it moved to the middle of the patch of visible sky, and the light coming in was limited too.
Opposite the corridor was another staircase which went down beneath the ground and ended with a pair of big gates, which were tightly shut and seemed to be the entrance to somewhere.
“Wow. Could it be a treasure house?” said the king.
“We need to be cautious, Sire. It could be a treasure house, but it could also be dangerous,” cautioned the astrologist beside the king involuntarily.
“Should we go down there to find out?” asked Yuwen Jin.
They stood at the top of the staircase in the corridor, looking down at the gates. It was rather dim down there. There was a lampstand on either side of the gates. Yuwen Jin had two torches placed in the lampstands, the light of which enabled them to see the gates more clearly.
“This building is so weird. Why are these stairs leading underground?” said Yuwen Jin, confused.
“It looks like a subterranean palace,” said Ling Zhang.
“The gates are unlocked.” The two guards who had just positioned the torches tried pushing the gates, found them unlatched and heavily pushed them open only to see a shadowy figure flash out of view. Taken aback, the guards demanded, “Who’s there?!”
Someone was in there?
Ling Zhang and the others hurried down the stairs and through the gates, but there was nobody in sight.
“Just now a black shape flashed past us. It was too quick for us to see their face,” said one of the guards.
Ji Yanlai frowned momentarily before he took the torch from a guard’s hand and walked into the dark.
The couple of elders hastily followed in his wake.
“It might be our former clan leader,” said Ji Yin, following Ji Yanlai as well.
The former clan leader? Ji Yanlai’s father?
Seeing that his grandfather had entered, Ling Zhang was just about to follow when he, recalling that Yuwen Tong was beside him, restrained himself with enormous difficulty and turned aside to look at him. “Do you think we should go in?”
Yuwen Tong said, “Yeah. We need to find out what’s in there. We’ve gone this far.”
Ling Zhang, eyes on him, appeared bemused. Yuwen Tong had said differently when they had been outside this place.
They all entered the underground space, which was indeed a subterranean palace. On entering it, they were greeted by what seemed to be an entryway, which was very broad and flanked by two passageways along which flaming torches were positioned at intervals, but the depths of which were pitch-dark.
Ji Yanlai and his men had taken the right one, so Ling Zhang and the others followed suit.
He was more disposed to trust Ji Yanlai’s instincts than he was to wander around aimlessly. Besides, he himself also found that the passageway to his right appealed to him more.
However, the passageway was surprisingly long. By now they had trooped along it for quite a while and taken several turns, but there was still no sign of the end of it.
Ling Zhang came to a halt. “Wait a moment. Don’t you think this passage is too long?”
But Ji Yanlai and the others walking in front of them made no reply and just kept progressing.
Ling Zhang was astonished. “Grandfather? Clan Leader?”
Those ahead of him, still walking very fast, quickly disappeared into the darkness. Ling Zhang’s heart gave a horrible jolt. Feeling that something was wrong, he called, “Grandfather?!”
Yuwen Tong held his hand tight. “It’s no good calling to him. Those behind us are gone as well.”
Startled, Ling Zhang jerked his head around and, sure enough, saw that behind them was nothing but blackness. Those in their wake all along had suddenly vanished. He had heard the sound of their breathing only a moment ago. How did this happen?
“What’s going on? Where are they? They lost us? But how’s that possible? We haven’t seen a single fork so far.”
With a grave look on his face, Yuwen Tong pinned Ling Zhang to his side and stared into the darkness for a moment before saying, “There’s something fishy going on here. I don’t think staying here is a good idea. Let’s keep moving.”
“Forward?”
“We might not get to the entrance if we double back. Only by moving forward will we be able to figure out what’s going on.”
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