C9 Chapter 9

The mural seemed to depict scenes from the tomb owner’s life, full of subtle hints of extravagance.

For instance, in the painting there was a woman curled up in a man’s arms, a massive gemstone set in her hair. At their feet, a servant girl knelt to add incense and wash their feet, and off to the side a small ensemble played music...

On the table and across the floor sat huge jugs of fine wine and piles of food. The man was strikingly handsome, but for some reason, even with a beauty in his arms, his eyes looked distant and melancholy. He seemed blind to the lush, sensual luxury right in front of him—almost out of place.

Tang Yao suddenly snuffed out the flame...

That was it. This really was the same grand tomb. Back then, she and Huangtian had even talked about it—why the man in the mural seemed unmoved by the woman and all the riches around him.

Huangtian had guessed maybe the man didn’t love the woman.

What she’d noticed instead was this: how could anyone be that impossibly beautiful?

The woman was gorgeous too, but next to him she looked dimmed, almost like he stole every bit of light in the entire scene.

And the reason Tang Yao put out the flame was simple—she hadn’t forgotten why she’d ended up in this body in the first place.

It was Huangtian. Huangtian had killed her.

Ever since she woke up, she’d been denying it, again and again.

But now she knew she had to face it. If she didn’t, then even living in this body, she could still be hunted down and killed all over again.

If the mural was here, maybe Huangtian was here too. Acting on pure instinct, she killed the light and stood alone in the dark, tense from head to toe, her mind roaring with noise.

A moment later, a faint glow began moving toward her.

She stared into it—and at first glance, that silhouette looked like Huangtian!

She snapped her chipped dagger up to her chest. “Huangtian! So you really are here!”

The sudden coldness radiating off her—and the thick, unmistakable intent to kill—made the figure pause. Then a clear, carrying voice came through the darkness: “Does this path lead out of the tomb? Should I have the other soldiers come in too?”

That voice… General Lang!

She froze for a beat but didn’t say anything.

Her thoughts were a mess. If this really was that massive tomb, getting an entire army out of here wouldn’t be easy.

The torchlight finally drew close, the glow landing full on her face. General Lang studied her carefully. “What happened?” he asked.

She turned her head away, staring into the endless darkness at the mouth of the passage.

“Without a real light source—just flint and steel and torches—you won’t make it out,” she said, her voice a little rough.

“But if you turn on a light, it’ll trip the tomb’s mechanisms, and something bad will come out.”

She forced the words out, but what flashed through her mind was the last time she’d been in this place—fighting tooth and nail alongside Huangtian against the things that lived in the dark.

...

Whatever was in here couldn’t be worse than that nightmare of a trap array.

And didn’t she just say they couldn’t get out without proper light?

General Lang made the call fast. “Then we turn the lights on.”

Tang Yao watched him and nodded. Whether it was the twenty-first century or whatever century this was, she couldn’t stay buried in this tomb forever. She had to get out.

She shoved every stray thought aside and took the lead, moving forward.

She’d spent a month and a half in this tomb before, long enough to learn it like the back of her hand. So she and General Lang cleared one dangerous stretch after another, until they reached what looked like a sealed stone chamber.