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The three of them simultaneously plunged into darkness.
The sound of a snake flicking its tongue and moving quickly became increasingly clear, as if it was right next to their ears. He Sui’an clung tightly to Qi Buyan, hoping to draw some sense of safety from him, but she realized something was wrong when she tried to hold his hand.
It was a skeleton, not a person.
She wanted to call out to Qi Buyan but worried that it might alert other things. She had to cover her mouth and carefully distance herself from the skeleton, but before she had taken a few steps, it grabbed her.
He Sui’an immediately struggled. As soon as she moved, she heard a familiar sound of bells and silver ornaments clashing together, jingling.
She stopped struggling.
In an instant, her heart pounded like a drum, and a bold idea flashed in her mind. Her hand instinctively reached for the skeleton’s wrist, and as expected, she felt a bracelet with seven small bells.
This was Qi Buyan?
But why was she feeling a skeleton? He Sui’an was confused.
Could it be an illusion? But the sensation was so real. Her eyes, gradually adjusting to the darkness, told He Sui’an that what stood beside her was a skeleton, not Qi Buyan.
Logic told He Sui’an that she should quickly push this skeleton off the snake-infested stone platform. Yet, she hesitated, her fingers pressing against the bell bracelet. She called out, “Qi Buyan?”
The skeleton turned its head to look at her.
He Sui’an’s heart leapt.
After a few moments of silence, she heard the skeleton chuckle softly. A finger lightly touched her forehead, barely grazing it, and a voice said, “He Sui’an, what do you see me as now?”
It was Qi Buyan’s voice.
Confirming this, He Sui’an was overjoyed. Without thinking much, she hugged him tightly, afraid he would disappear again and leave her alone to face the things in the tomb: “A skeleton.”
She repeated, “I see a skeleton, and that’s what I feel.”
Qi Buyan murmured, “Is that so.”
He Sui’an was telling the truth, afraid he wouldn’t believe her. She nodded vigorously, “Yes, I don’t know why, but what I see is a skeleton. I thought you had disappeared.”
His finger still pressed against her forehead, “Since you see a skeleton, why didn’t you choose to push me off the stone platform?”
She grasped the bell bracelet he wore.
Qi Buyan looked down at it.
The bell bracelet she had grabbed swayed on Qi Buyan’s wrist. The small bells rolled over his fair skin, leaving faint red marks. His body naturally marked easily.
However, He Sui’an couldn’t see any of this. To her, Qi Buyan was still a skeleton, and his wrist was just a bare bone: “Because I felt the bracelet.”
He Sui’an: “I was afraid that the skeleton might be you, so I didn’t push it down.”
Qi Buyan: “What if it wasn’t?”
She replied, “What if it was?”
Qi Buyan couldn’t understand why He Sui’an would make such a choice. If it were up to him, he would kill anything that could threaten his life, regardless of whether it was a person.
After hearing He Sui’an’s answer, Qi Buyan’s fingers produced a thread of Heavenly Silk. With a twist of his wrist, he cut her temple, and the faint smell of blood dispelled the strong fragrance that had suddenly filled the tomb chamber.
After being stabbed in the temple, what she saw was no longer a skeleton but a living person.
Qi Buyan gestured for her to look at the green lamp.
The candle wick had been mixed with hallucinogenic mandrake, once a secret medicine of the palace. When blown out, the mandrake-scented powder would disperse, easily causing people to fall into illusions.
The mechanisms in the tomb were intricately linked.
The green lamp positioned at the life gate offered a way out, but it also hid a treacherous death trap.
If one was deceived by the mandrake and mistook a companion for a monster, killing them, or mistook a tomb monster for a companion, they would still meet a deadly end.
At some point, a hole appeared slanting downward from the stone platform they stood on. It looked deep and cold, with a narrow, elongated entrance that could only accommodate one person at a time, leading to an unknown destination.
Time was running out. If they didn’t leave soon, the tomb chamber and everyone in it would be overwhelmed by the snake swarm.
Qi Buyan told He Sui’an to go in first.
Naturally, she obeyed him.
He Sui’an bent down to enter the hole but retreated before fully going in, looking up at the now darkened tomb chamber. She remembered that Shen Jianhe was also present. After all, a human life was at stake and couldn’t be ignored.
Looking around, He Sui’an managed to spot Shen Jianhe.
His eyes were glowing as he walked towards the snake swarm, a happy smile on his face: “Dad, Mom, Sister, why… why are you back?”
He mistook the snake swarm for his family.
He Sui’an urgently called out to Shen Jianhe, hoping to wake him. Clearly, shouting alone couldn’t wake someone hallucinating from the mandrake. He was getting closer to the snakes.
With a swoosh, an arrow grazed Shen Jianhe’s temple, leaving a blood mark. He immediately woke up, saw the snake swarm right in front of him, and ran back to the stone platform as fast as he could.
Shen Jianhe was terrified.
His legs trembled as he wiped the cold sweat off his face and touched the small wound on his temple. Sweat seeped in, causing him to hiss in pain.
The archer was Princess Su Yang, accompanied by two guards. They all had sulfur powder pouches tied to their waists to repel snakes. After shooting Shen Jianhe awake, she slowly lowered her longbow and feathered arrow.
Her eyes narrowed as she fixed her gaze on those standing on the stone platform: “How did you come to be here?”
Shen Jianhe: “I was just passing by.”
He was blatantly lying with a straight face.
Compared to Shen Jianhe’s calm lie, He Sui’an remained as honest as ever: “We were looking for something.”
Qi Buyan remained silent.
Su Yang sprinkled sulfur powder on the stone floor, causing the snake swarm to avoid it: “I don’t care what your purpose is. What I want to tell you is that this place is not safe to stay. Please come out with us.”
He Sui’an felt troubled. The reason she and Qi Buyan entered the tomb was to help him find what he was looking for. Now, they hadn’t even seen a trace of it. How could they leave?
She was about to politely refuse.
Qi Buyan spoke up, and his answer surprised He Sui’an: “Alright, we’ll leave.”
Shen Jianhe had no choice. If Qi Buyan said they would leave, the girl following him would certainly leave too. Shen Jianhe couldn’t possibly fight Su Yang and her guards alone, especially when they could use arrows.
Fine, he thought, he’d find another opportunity to sneak back in later. These people who had just entered clearly had some status.
In short, they were not to be trifled with.
Shen Jianhe raised his hands, trying to please: “Beauty, I will leave too.”
Su Yang’s expression stiffened at being called a beauty, feeling that Shen Jianhe’s behavior was frivolous, but she quickly composed herself and instructed her guards to throw two bags of sulfur powder to them.
*
The bronze cage that could freely ascend and descend in the well was broken, so they had to climb the ropes to get out.
He Sui’an climbed out of the well, her face looking like a little kitten’s, with a few strands of loose hair falling around her face. She had rolled several times in the tomb, so her clothes were also covered in dust.
Su Yang took out a silk handkerchief to wipe her face.
Qi Buyan was the last one to come out of the well. Suddenly, a cold hand reached up from below and grabbed his ankle, trying to pull him down, causing the bells on his ankle to jingle chaotically.
