Chapter 161 It Is Back Again

Human nature is greedy, and human nature is selfish. From daily life, we can perceive the terrifying depths of human nature, yet it is through death that its true reflection becomes even clearer.

In order to pass down their glory for eternity, emperors viewed their tombs as their final sanctuaries. A tomb designed with the Nine Dragons and Nine Stars formation was the ultimate dream of their lifetimes. Since such a mystical geography could not be found in reality, they simply chose to carve it directly into their burial grounds.

Jia Xu understood Fang Nian's intention and asked, "Can you locate the exact eye of this Nine Dragons and Nine Stars formation? I imagine the entrance to the underground palace must be situated right there."

Fang Nian agreed with Jia Xu's conjecture and began examining the map he had sketched on the ground. After a moment of deep thought, he drew a circle over a heavily concealed location.

"Right here. This is the spot."

Jia Xu and the others looked at Fang Nian, a surge of pleasant surprise welling up in their hearts.

"Very well, let's move out."

Exiting the dilapidated house, Zhang Liao and Zhou Cang scouted the surrounding area. Finding no trace of the rival faction, they proceeded directly toward the formation eye indicated by Fang Nian.

The journey went smoothly. Aside from triggering a few minor traps, they encountered no obstacles and quickly reached the designated formation eye.

Cai Wenji gazed at the dry well with a look of disbelief and asked, "The formation eye you spoke of... surely you don't mean this abandoned well? Can this actually lead down to the underground palace?"

Fang Nian touched his chin, not entirely certain himself. "We'll have to go down and see."

Hearing that there was physical labor involved, Zhou Cang immediately stepped forward. "I'll go. Leave the heavy lifting to me."

Zhou Cang's initiative pleased Fang Nian, but upon taking a second look at Zhou Cang's formidable build, a helpless expression crossed Fang Nian's face. "Do you honestly think you'll fit through without getting stuck?"

At these words, Zhou Cang blushed. He looked down and realized the well opening was indeed quite narrow. Looking somewhat embarrassed, he muttered, "Ah... I suppose I really might get wedged in."

The group burst into loud laughter, causing Zhou Cang's face to flush even deeper. At that moment, Zhang Liao stepped forward with a smile, patted Zhou Cang on the shoulder, and said, "Alright, I'll go instead."

With that, Zhou Cang tied a rope scavenged from the nearby house around Zhang Liao's waist. Without hesitation, Zhang Liao squeezed into the well opening and began descending.

After dropping about twenty meters, the rope reached its end. Feeling someone holding the line, Zhang Liao's voice echoed up from the depths of the shaft.

"Let go of the rope! There's at least another hundred meters to go down here. There's neither water nor damp gas, so it should be safe enough."

Jia Xu furrowed his brows slightly. Though it was far from secure, they had no alternative. With a drop of over a hundred meters and time running short, they simply could not procure that much extra rope.

"Let go," Jia Xu commanded.

Then, leaning toward the well opening, he called out, "Wenyuan, shout the moment anything is amiss, and we'll figure out a way to haul you back up."

Zhang Liao acknowledged the call, and silence fell.

Time ticked away second by second. At first, those crouching by the well could faintly hear the sound of boots scraping against the stone walls. But after roughly ten minutes, even that echo vanished completely.

Another ten minutes passed. Just as the others were beginning to wonder if Zhang Liao had run into trouble, Fang Nian's brow furrowed, and a look of shock washed over him.

"Not good! Wenyuan is in danger!"

Without a second thought, Fang Nian leaped directly into the well opening. Unlike Zhang Liao, who had carefully braced his feet against the walls to slide down, Fang Nian dropped vertically like a free-fall ride, using the soles of his shoes to skim against the rock face merely to keep his balance and prevent his body from spinning out of control.

"Ten meters... thirty meters... fifty meters..."

Fang Nian descended at a dizzying speed, and the world around him gradually plunged into absolute darkness.

"Eighty meters... one hundred meters... one hundred and twenty meters..."

As he plummeted, Fang Nian estimated the depth. Upon reaching the hundred-and-twenty-meter mark, he suddenly felt a strange, magnetic pull emanating from somewhere not far beneath his feet.

Instinctively, Fang Nian slammed both hands and feet hard against the rock walls on either side, fighting to halt his descent.

However, the momentum of the fall was immense. Despite giving it everything he had to brake, his progress in slowing down was agonizingly slow.

By the time he slid down to the hundred-and-fifty-meter mark, Fang Nian finally managed to bring himself to a stop. Half the rubber soles of his shoes had been completely ground away, and his hands were scraped raw by the harsh stone, with jagged gasps and bleeding wounds clearly visible.

There was no time to dwell on the pain. Standing suspended here, Fang Nian could no longer see the mouth of the well at all. This indicated that the shaft was not a straight vertical drop; somewhere along the way, he had traversed a bend.

At the same time, Fang Nian discovered that this shaft might not be a single, isolated path. Rather than calling it a well, it resembled a盜洞—an ancient tomb raider's tunnel—leading straight into the subterranean palace.

Fang Nian's eyebrows lifted slightly, a glint of solemnity flashing in his eyes. Staring into the endless abyss of the shaft, he knew that finding Zhang Liao down here would be no small feat.

Closing his eyes, Fang Nian began to navigate cautiously through the branching tunnels of the shaft, finally locating Zhang Liao at a subterranean junction.

Zhang Liao was completely unconscious, his body slumped across the dividing wall between two diverging tunnels.

Fang Nian tested Zhang Liao's breath and, finding that he had merely passed out, felt a wave of relief. He pressed firmly on Zhang Liao's acupuncture points above the upper lip. Within moments, Zhang Liao coughed a few times and flickered back to consciousness.

Opening his eyes, Zhang Liao immediately saw Fang Nian standing before him. By the faint illumination of the light source in Fang Nian's hand, Zhang Liao relaxed slightly and murmured, "Why did you come down?"

Fang Nian was deeply astonished. He knew Zhang Liao's capabilities all too well; an ordinary man could never easily take him down. To put it mildly, Zhang Liao's martial prowess was easily on par with professional UFC fighters.

Yet, a man of such caliber had been ambushed and knocked unconscious in this cramped space. Furthermore, looking at Zhang Liao's clothes and skin, there were clear claw and bite marks, as if he had tangled with some monstrous beast.

Seeing Fang Nian provided Zhang Liao with a sense of security, allowing his tense nerves to finally unwind a fraction. "I have no idea what sort of creature it was. When I dropped down, it was already crouching right here. It looked massive—easily the height of two grown men—yet its body was grotesquely thin, armed with razor-sharp claws and vicious fangs. I couldn't even tell how many limbs it had.

"Anyway, the moment it laid eyes on me, it lunged straight at me. I instinctively drew my blade to fight it, but the space was far too confined; I couldn't deploy my techniques properly and was forced almost entirely onto the defensive. In the end, I simply couldn't withstand its onslaught and got knocked out cold right here."

At this point, Zhang Liao's tone shifted sharply. "However, that thing didn't get away unscathed either. Not only did I sever one of its arms, but I also drove my blade deep into its belly several times. I reckon it couldn't have gotten very far."

Hearing Zhang Liao's account, Fang Nian gazed deep into the pitch-black recesses of the tunnel. A chilling premonition washed over him—the monster described here bore an uncanny resemblance to the entities he had encountered aboard the Doomsday Train.

That meant *It* had returned.