Chapter 225: Underground Palace
It turned out that the so-called grave robber and the Taiping Token were all arranged in advance by the Xiahou Clan.
The Xiahou Clan has always followed the principle of “tenfold repayment.” If someone shows kindness to the Xiahou Clan, they will do their utmost to repay it. If anyone dares to harm the Xiahou Clan, they will suffer tenfold or hundredfold brutal revenge from the Xiahou Clan! Even if the one harming them is His Majesty the Emperor high above…
Previously, the Initial Emperor suddenly turned hostile over the matter of the Imperial Seal and captured Gao Guangning, an important lackey of the Xiahou Clan. Even after Xiahou Ba shelled out a huge sum to buy his life, he still sent Investigative Bureau officials to make him vanish from the mortal world. Although there were many suspicious points in this matter, the Initial Emperor and the Investigative Bureau were undoubtedly the instigators of the entire incident.
To demonstrate the inviolability of the Xiahou Clan, Xiahou Ba boldly ordered Zhu Xiuyi to proceed with revenge. He also wanted the Initial Emperor to suffer a silent loss, and it had to be tenfold or hundredfold!
Zhu Xiuyi was full of schemes and knew that the Initial Emperor was cautious by nature and hard to scheme against. Therefore, after much thought, Zhu Xiuyi decided to use the old ploy of Gaozu’s Treasure Vault to lure the Initial Emperor into taking the bait.
Gaozu’s Treasure Vault was simply too important, especially to the Initial Emperor, who absolutely had to claim it for himself and could never let it fall into others’ hands. So as soon as he got the news, the Initial Emperor would definitely send people to investigate. But given the Initial Emperor’s personality of not releasing the hawk until he saw the rabbit, he had to be made absolutely certain that the treasure vault really existed before he would be willing to invest his blood capital.
To this end, Zhu Xiuyi asked Xiahou Ba for a highly confidential treasure—the Taiping Token!
Everyone in the world thought the Taiping Token disappeared from the inner treasury in Ziwei City because the Founding Emperor had stored it in the treasure vault. Little did they know that the Xiahou Clan had long ago swapped it out with a piece of fake goods from the inner treasury. At that time, it was widely rumored that the Taiping Token held the greatest secret of Taiping Dao, and whoever could crack it might challenge Zhang Xuanyi’s position as the world’s number one expert.
Although the Xiahou Clan had experts in abundance and the number of grandmasters far exceeded that of Heavenly Master Dao, no one could match Zhang Xuanyi. In his prime, Xiahou Ba had once dueled Zhang Xuanyi, fighting for hundreds of rounds, but in the end, Xiahou Ba was defeated. This was the eternal pain in his heart, which was why he went to such lengths to swap out the Taiping Token.
After obtaining the Taiping Token, Xiahou Ba and the others secretly studied it for several years but could never crack its secret. The material was incomparably hard, completely unafraid of being chopped or burned. The Xiahou Clan tried every method but still could do nothing about it, so they had no choice but to shelve it. The item had been gathering dust for many years.
So Xiahou Ba readily handed the Taiping Token to Zhu Xiuyi, which could be considered putting it to good use.
With the Taiping Token in hand, everything became simple. Zhu Xiuyi first secretly sent people to select a grand royal underground palace on Mount Mang… Since the Qin and Han dynasties, countless emperors and generals had been laid to rest on Mount Mang over the preceding years, and the tombs were each more grand and complex than the last. Finding such an underground palace that met the requirements was not too difficult.
Then Zhu Xiuyi secretly summoned hundreds of craftsmen and laborers from out of town, sending them into the underground palace under cover of night without anyone noticing. Over the course of a month, they thoroughly improved and strengthened the already formidable mechanisms. They transformed the underground palace mechanisms, which were originally just to guard against grave robbers, into a deadly trap that could ensnare thousands of troops!
And the first batch to die to the underground palace mechanisms were those hundreds of craftsmen and laborers. These pitiful people, from the day they went down into the tunnel, had not seen the light of day for a full month. After enduring endless hardship and suffering countless casualties, they finally completed the task, thinking they could now leave this damned underground palace.
Who would have thought that upon completion, Zhu Xiuyi ordered them herded into an underground chamber and used the very mechanisms they had repaired to kill them all.
After silencing those in the know, everything was ready except for the crucial spark. Zhu Xiuyi then had a suicide soldier disguise himself as a grave robber, carrying that Taiping Token, and enter Renhe Pawnshop, which led to everything that followed…
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Hearing Zhu Xiuyi’s words, Xiahou Bupo couldn’t help but frown slightly and said, “Could it be that the military advisor wants to trap the grandmasters of the Pei Clan, Cui Clan, and Xie Clan to death in there as well?”
“Of course we still need to try to save a few,” Zhu Xiuyi shook his head with a smile and said, “I’ve already instructed Second Master to try to bring out Cui Dingzhi and Xie Ding. As for the two from the Pei Clan, I think leaving them in the tunnel would be more beneficial to our clan.” This matter was under Zhu Xiuyi’s full authority, and according to the Xiahou Clan’s rules, even Xiahou Bupo could not interfere. Of course, if anything went wrong, it would all be Zhu Xiuyi’s responsibility.
Even so, Zhu Xiuyi still politely asked, “What does Third Master think?”
“You’re the commander; you call the shots. I’m just a figurehead supervisor.” Xiahou Bupo coughed twice and smiled, “The Pei Clan’s strength is second only to our Xiahou Clan, and though they appear obedient on the surface, they have rebellious tendencies deep down. Losing two grandmasters might turn out to be a blessing in disguise for them.”
“Third Master is right. I hope that after this, the Pei Clan can recognize their proper place, and our clan naturally won’t hold it against them anymore.” Zhu Xiuyi nodded, his gaze slowly turning toward the tunnel entrance as he said, “In a little while, it should be about time to activate it…”
Xiahou Bupo nodded, and the two fell silent, quietly awaiting that moment’s arrival.
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Lu Xian led Lu Yun deeper and deeper into the underground palace. At first, he was cautious, but later his speed grew faster and faster. Because Lu Xian discovered that all the mechanisms had already been destroyed by the grandmasters who arrived first. Some mechanisms had been cleverly cracked, but most were simply violently destroyed by the grandmasters.
When a person’s particular ability stands out exceptionally, they naturally come to rely on it immensely, subconsciously using it to handle all sorts of situations they encounter. For the grandmasters, that ability was undoubtedly their masterful martial arts.
Moreover, Lu Xian found that the level of those mechanisms was quite ordinary; even if they hadn’t been destroyed, they couldn’t harm him in the slightest. So he gradually relaxed, leading Lu Yun along the traces left by those ahead, speeding through the twisting and turning tunnels. After running for who knows how long, the path ahead suddenly opened up into brightness.
Lu Xian and Lu Yun saw a massive domed underground palace before them. More than a dozen pine oil torches blazed in the underground palace, illuminating the intricate patterns carved on the dome and clearly lighting up the five sarcophagi below—one large and four small.
Before the five sarcophagi stood twenty or thirty people. Those pine oil torches had been lit by a group of black-robed Investigative Bureau officials among them. These officials, who were usually fierce and menacing, now faced with more than ten Heavenly Rank grandmasters, didn’t even dare breathe, and some trembled uncontrollably, causing the torches in their hands to flicker constantly.
“Steady yourselves.” Zuo Yanqing displeasedly glanced at those terrified Investigative Bureau officials and sighed, “Truly, each generation is worse than the last.”
“Hahaha, old dog Zuo, having such a sigh shows you’re really getting old.” The speaker was Sun Yuanlang, who wore a lotus crown on his head and held a purple gold fly whisk in his hand. Behind him followed only a veiled Saintess. Facing ten grandmasters of the Great Xuan Dynasty’s imperial court, he still spoke with ease and laughter, “Talented people emerge in each generation, each stronger than the last. It’s just that your eyes are dim with age, and you’ve only gathered a bunch of wastes.”
“Sun Yuanlang, we still have unfinished business!” Before Zuo Yanqing could speak, Xiahou Bubai cut in, coldly eyeing Sun Yuanlang and saying, “Ten years ago you tricked me, and today you still dare come to die!”
“Heh heh, little brat Bubai, you’re in your forties now; how come your temper is still so hot?” Sun Yuanlang looked at the furious Xiahou Bubai and said, “Your Dragon Elephant Great Hand Seal has hit a bottleneck, hasn’t it?”
“More than enough to deal with you!” Xiahou Bubai’s face darkened, and he raised his hand to unleash a Great Hand Seal!
