Mei Lin couldn't understand the meaning of the characters, but she could feel the intense hatred they conveyed. She straightened up and turned to look at the man who had been staring at the ground. Given how close he was, he could clearly see the characters as well.
Murong Jing He fell silent. After a long pause, he said to her, "Bow your head to him a few times."
Mei Lin was stunned. "Why?"
Murong Jing He smiled faintly, but his expression quickly returned to indifference. "He was a war god. Maybe if you bow to him, he'll bless us and help us get out of here alive."
His serious tone made Mei Lin want to laugh and be angry at the same time. Unable to resist, she retorted, "With your noble status, bowing would surely be more effective than if I did it..." She stopped mid-sentence when she saw the look he gave her, as if she were a fool.
"Do you think I can... cough, cough..." Even in his frail state, his demeanor was enough to infuriate anyone.
Mei Lin shot him a glare, then stood up and dusted off her clothes. "If he could bless us to get out, why would he be stuck here himself?" With that, she turned to continue searching for a way out of the pit.
"Then bow on my behalf. I'll owe you one," Murong Jing He suddenly conceded.
This was the first time he had ever compromised since they met, and it startled Mei Lin. She almost wanted to check if he had hit his head and damaged his brain.
"Are you serious?" she asked, suppressing the urge, her tone filled with doubt.
"No kidding!" Murong Jing He frowned, showing a hint of impatience.
Mei Lin thought it over and decided it was a good deal. Although he didn’t seem dangerous now, who could predict the future? She wasn’t seeking fame or fortune—just peace and safety.
With that thought, she agreed readily. Without demanding any promises or writing anything down, she knelt before the skeleton and bowed three times. She knew that if he decided to go back on his word later, any written promises would be nothing but death warrants. She was betting on luck.
As she got up, she glanced at the man lying on his side, noticing the complex expression in his eyes, as if he were lost in thought.
"One day, you won't regret bowing this time," he said quietly, sensing her gaze.
"That would be the best," Mei Lin muttered, preparing to continue searching for a way out. Suddenly, she paused and asked, "Do you want me to bury him?"
She suspected the person held significant meaning to him; otherwise, with his status and pride, why would he ask her to bow for him? She figured it would be best to go all the way with the favor, so he’d remember it even more deeply.
But Murong Jing He was unmoved. "No need to bother," he replied coldly.
Feeling rebuffed, Mei Lin picked up the torch and silently resumed her search.
"The color of the wall in the opposite corner is a bit lighter," Murong Jing He spoke up unexpectedly.
Mei Lin hadn’t gone far. Hearing this, she turned and looked in the direction he indicated. In the dim light of the torch, she saw that a section of the wall indeed had a different hue. Because it was lower to the ground, she hadn’t noticed it before.
Her heartbeat quickened slightly, and she took a deep breath before quickly walking over.
It was a stone, about half a person's height, surrounded by soil, which explained the color difference. As she approached and touched it, she felt a bit disappointed but still tapped it with the hilt of her dagger out of stubbornness. To her surprise, a hollow sound echoed back, indicating that it was indeed empty behind the wall. Her disappointment vanished instantly, and she began trying to push the stone, but despite using all her strength, it remained immovable.
Frustrated, Mei Lin punched the stone, only to hurt her hand. As she cradled her aching hand, Murong Jing He spoke up again.
"How stupid can you be? Why not use the dagger?" His dagger could cut through iron like mud; he couldn’t believe she didn’t know this. Otherwise, during the fight with the Corpse Ghost, she wouldn’t have switched from slashing his wrist to elbowing his solar plexus. She must have known that if she had slashed down with the dagger, the Corpse Ghost’s wrist would have been severed. Compassion was this woman’s weakness.
Not wanting to dull your precious dagger, she thought to herself, but since she was eager to see what lay behind the stone, she didn’t have the energy to argue with him. She pulled out the dagger and carefully inserted it at the junction between the stone and the soil.
The blade was about a foot long, and she felt it hit an empty space before it was fully inserted. Her excitement grew.
Slowly, she cut along the edges of the stone, with stone dust falling around her, but the blade met no resistance. Soon, she had cut all the way around the stone, and with a push, the stone fell inward with a thud, sending dust flying everywhere.
Ignoring the dust that covered her, she waved her sleeve to clear the air, coughing as she peered inside.
A dark tunnel appeared before her. Because of the poor lighting, she couldn’t tell how deep it went. She angled the torch into the opening, which illuminated only a few feet ahead, but it was enough to see that the stone had fallen onto a floor paved with neat green bricks, some of which were cracked from the impact.
Mei Lin stared in amazement at the man-made structure for a long moment. It wasn’t until Murong Jing He, growing impatient, asked what she had found that she snapped back to reality. Her expression was strange as she turned to him. "You said this stone formation was natural. Then why is there a man-made tunnel underneath?"
Murong Jing He couldn’t see it, but he could tell something was off from her tone. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Light another torch and throw it in."
Realizing the logic behind his suggestion, Mei Lin did as he instructed. The torch dimmed slightly as it hit the ground, but then it resumed burning normally, showing no signs of going out. This indicated that the tunnel was ventilated.
No one knew how deep the tunnel was, and not wanting to waste resources, Mei Lin crawled in to retrieve the torch and extinguish it, burning a few intertwined spider webs in the process. She left one torch burning and then returned to sit beside Murong Jing He, describing the situation inside.
Seeing her face covered in dust, Murong Jing He couldn’t help but laugh. When she looked at him in confusion, he quickly said, "It was probably built later, maybe unrelated to the stone formation above." Although he said this, he was less certain this time.
The thought that the stone forest might be man-made crossed both their minds but was quickly dismissed. Murong Jing He found it hard to believe such a massive project could have gone unrecorded in history, while Mei Lin was more concerned about the narrow tunnel that only allowed crawling. She couldn’t fathom why anyone would build such a well-constructed passage that couldn’t be walked through upright. What worried her more was that the width of the tunnel meant the bamboo cart wouldn’t fit. In other words, she would have to drag Murong Jing He, carry food and water, and hold a torch—all at once.
It was clear that for anyone, this would be an extremely daunting task.
0 Comments