Chapter 1389 — Two Doors
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"I don't want to go. There's nothing left worth taking, and it's dangerous at every turn. Better we get out quickly." Old Hei shook his head. He had no wish for complications; the haul this time had already been no small thing.
"Everything I want is on the Male Thief's person. Naturally I won't go courting death again!" Elder Yu gave a cold snort.
One of his eyes was ruined - needless to say, how galling it was.
"Then let's just find an exit. The way we came in is certainly no good now." Wei Zhao had already achieved his aim, so he did not much care.
In truth, Wei Zhao still wanted to take a look at the main burial chamber. After all, Old Man Wei had said that Zhang Lifeng seemed to possess a kind of ability to detect rare natural treasures and spirit medicines - an ability that perhaps came from some treasure. And a fine thing like that, at least along the whole way here, Wei Zhao had not seen.
Elder Jiao was a man especially sensitive to treasures. If any such good thing truly existed, Elder Jiao would likely have alerted him - but by the look of things, there was none.
"Where's the way out?" Yu Xiaoke smiled bitterly. "For now we can only follow this passage forward and see what lies ahead."
The others nodded. After leaving the stone chamber, they began to follow the passage onward. This time there were no doors on the stone walls either; it seemed there were only those four stone chambers here, and Zhang Lifeng's hoard was not so very rich after all.
Still, that was hardly surprising. A man like Zhang Lifeng was probably the sort who cared nothing for fame or profit - otherwise he could not have lived out his whole life alone without wife or concubine. Had he craved comfort, he would long ago have had a house full of wives and concubines, and he would never have carried these things into his tomb.
They walked perhaps three or four hundred meters before the passage reached its end. From the look of it, the underground palace was not so very complicated; all the tangled routes had been concentrated up at the entrance above.
What appeared before them were two stone doors. The two doors were very much alike, yet slightly different. On each door was carved a different design, and at the exact center of each door was something like a puzzle - the sort of sliding-block game known as Huarong Dao.
"Where is this? Why are there two doors?" Catching sight of the scene ahead, Elder Yu could not help asking.
"Elder Yu, this must be the legendary Gate of Life and Gate of Death..." Old Hei's expression was somewhat grave, yet there was a note of delight in his voice as well. "From past experience, the Gate of Life leads safely out of the tomb, while the Gate of Death leads to the final resting place of the coffins - the dead one's burial chamber. Legend has it that whoever takes it will be buried with the dead forever!"
"Then what are we waiting for? I'll take the Gate of Life - only an idiot would take the Gate of Death!" Elder Yu said impatiently. "Open the Gate of Life at once and let's get out of here!"
"...Elder Yu, this Gate of Life and Gate of Death... the truth is, I don't know which one is the Gate of Life and which is the Gate of Death..." Old Hei smiled bitterly. You're the idiot, he thought. Naturally no one would take the Gate of Death in this tomb - but in some simple tombs, the Gate of Death might well hold great treasure!
But he dared not say such a thing to Elder Yu's face. To curse Elder Yu as an idiot - was that not courting death? So he could only say it in his heart.