Chapter 1: Lord Dao! |
A beam of light pierced through the tomb crypt. A man, wielding a powerful flashlight, illuminated the path leading to a cliff. Ahead, only darkness loomed.
He was a lean, middle-aged man with sparse yet neatly combed hair. His Jing, Qi, and Shen were robust, a spiritual light emanated from his eyes, and his expression remained remarkably calm. (Translator's Note: The "Three Treasures" of life—Jing (essence), Qi (internal energy), and Shen (spirit).)
He was impeccably neat and dressed in black Tang-style attire. In his hand, he held a cane.
If others were to see him here, they would be greatly astonished. Those unfamiliar with his world would find such a situation absurd. However, those in the know would take it for granted, as this man was an *underground archaeologist*. In the criminal underworld, he was also known as the Lord of Tomb-Raiding, and later, as his reputation soared, he came to be revered as Lord Dao.
In the present day, Lord Dao lived like a reclusive monk, secluded from the mundane world, rarely making personal appearances. Only when truly intriguing sites, such as this crypt, emerged, would Lord Dao break his seclusion.
Holding his cane, he probed the ground before him, and when he heard a metallic *clink*, he stopped. However, he did not hastily examine what lay beneath but instead swept his flashlight around, searching for anything of interest. Before him, at that moment, lay a vast underground space.
He then shined his flashlight downwards, studying the ground beneath his feet, and once more tapped his cane several times against the metallic floor.
*Clink, clink, clink*.
Dust and dirt flaked off the surface. Then, by kicking and clearing the surface with his foot, Lord Dao noticed a bronze gleam on the ground. He hung the flashlight on his forearm and, with his free hand, scraped the ground's surface once more. He felt a metallic surface. Indeed, it was undeniably metal, covered in dust. Lord Dao stood up and struck other surfaces near him. He realized that everything within a radius of over ten meters, and not just the floor, was made of metal. If all the dust were cleared from this place, a truly remarkable sight would likely appear before him. And such a thing was extremely rare.
A mystery...
"Such a construction is rarely seen. How intriguing..." Lord Dao whispered with a smile. He took a step, and a grinding sound echoed, as if a complex mechanism had been set in motion.
"Thump!"
A powerful vibration resonated through the path he had walked.
Lord Dao's expression shifted. With his extensive experience, he realized that the path he had used to enter was now blocked.
Afterward, from the entrances to other caves, he heard a buzzing sound, as if something had opened.
Lord Dao began to retreat several steps, sweeping his flashlight around his surroundings. He himself didn't know what mechanism he had triggered. But if this mechanism had blocked the escape routes, it was clearly not a good sign.
Lord Dao scanned his surroundings, yet a moment later, everything fell silent. A deathly hush filled the air. Only from the entrance he had used came a rumble, causing the ground within the underground palace to tremble.
Very quickly, Lord Dao heard distinct echoes emanating from various directions. Using his flashlight, he shined it down one passage. Something appeared to be moving there. And suddenly, from the passage, two glowing green eyes emerged. Then, the entire body followed. It was a person in tattered rags.
And most likely, it wasn't a human, but a mummy. It was entirely covered in white fur. From its mouth protruded fangs as sharp as knives. The black claws on its limbs resembled blades. And with a growl, it charged at Lord Dao.
A zombie! The thought flashed through Lord Dao's mind. Without hesitation, he drew a sword from his cane. Immediately stepping forward, he dodged the zombie. Then, the sword in his hand flashed once, and green blood spurted from the zombie.
The head fell from the zombie's body, causing it to collapse to the ground and twitch. It tried several times to rise but failed.
Lord Dao continued to wield his sword, as silhouette after silhouette attacked him. He shined his flashlight forward.
Not just one, but a multitude of zombies continuously pushed through the passages, and their numbers grew MORE AND MORE.
Zombies attacked from all sides. He could no longer keep up. Lord Dao pierced one zombie through the heart, but it was useless. The zombie still lunged at him. Lord Dao immediately struck it hard with his foot, sending the zombie stumbling backward and knocking down others behind it. Lord Dao continuously swung his sword and retreated, occasionally kicking back.
After some time fighting like this, more than 20 zombies lay around him, and not one of them had managed to wound him. Yet, Lord Dao did not stop. An ordinary person would have long since perished. For these zombies were fearless. They did not fear death; on the contrary, they attacked him with ferocity and brutality.
*Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat...* A burst of automatic gunfire suddenly erupted from a passage. A lean man fired at the zombies attacking Lord Dao.
After the hail of gunfire, the lean man discovered that the bullets were of little use against the zombies. Instead, the zombies lunged at him. However, the man quickly adapted and realized that targeting the zombies' limbs or heads would still have an effect.
When shot in their limbs, the zombies fell and could no longer rise. They merely crawled across the ground.
And those he struck in the head simply dropped dead to the floor.
From the fire unleashed by his magazine, one could discern the man's unperturbed and indifferent expression.
He did not fear the zombies. On the contrary, he advanced towards them. When his magazine ran dry, he calmly, neither hurrying nor delaying, retrieved a fresh one from behind and reloaded his automatic rifle. For a moment, the sounds of gunfire ceased, only to immediately resume.
As he did all this, he even managed, without looking forward, to bash a zombie's brains out with his knee. The man also drew a pistol from his side with his other hand and now fired both weapons at the zombies, occasionally alternating magazines. His actions were calm and swift. He was undoubtedly a weapons professional. And the zombies simply had no chance of getting close to him.
Lord Dao dodged a zombie's attack and with a flick of his sword, severed its head. It was the last zombie facing him.
*Thump!* The last zombie before the man with the automatic rifle also fell.
Lord Dao kicked his cane, which lay on the ground, into the air and, mid-flight, returned his sword back into the cane. His movements were lightning-fast and adept. He then placed the cane back on the floor and tidied his disheveled hair, combing it back into place.
Meanwhile, the lean man bypassed Lord Dao, finishing off all the zombies. Some zombies, with half their bodies or severed legs, still crawled on the ground, and the lean man shot them in the head with his pistol.
Silence fell upon the underground palace. The lean man, after surveying his surroundings, pulled several tubes from behind his back and unsealed them. Pulling the cord on one, the man's face was illuminated with a bright crimson glow. The tube ignited like a flare, lighting up a certain area. The man lit the remaining tubes and scattered them around, instantly illuminating the entire palace and revealing countless zombie corpses.
The man approached Lord Dao, adjusting his clothing as he went: "Lord Dao, everything outside is settled. The brothers have secured the entrance. We managed to blast open the sealed passage. We can evacuate at any moment."
"Hm," Lord Dao responded, using his flashlight to examine the corpses.
The man with the automatic rifle turned out to be quite young, and after counting no fewer than 100 zombies, he asked in surprise:
"Where did so many of them come from?"
"Who knows? I've rarely seen more than one or two before. But here... This place is truly fascinating. What a stroke of luck that I came!" Lord Dao said with a laugh. Sweeping his flashlight around, he noticed a statue over 10 meters tall, resembling the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin.
This palace was desolate, so a lone Guanyin statue couldn't help but draw the eye.
Lord Dao resumed tapping his cane against the floor and began to approach the statue. This palace was definitely no ordinary place. Dangers could lurk at every step. Only after probing with his cane did Lord Dao dare to proceed.
Using his flashlight to illuminate the statue, Lord Dao noticed a pendant hanging from the neck of the Goddess Guanyin. The statue itself was made of stone. Perhaps some ceremonies were performed in this palace.
Lord Dao took his cane and lightly tapped the statue several times. He observed that nothing happened for the moment, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. He then abruptly leaped onto the statue's foot and began to scramble up to its shoulders. When he reached the neck, he noticed a metallic chain there. Lord Dao blew the ash and dust off the chain and the pendant. There, he discovered an ancient bronze mirror on the pendant.
Lord Dao had never seen such a bronze mirror before, but it was no mere pendant. The chain itself was completely covered in rust and corrosion. Yet, the bronze mirror exuded an ancient aura, as if nothing of its kind could be found in the modern world.
After inspecting it carefully, Lord Dao decided to take this bronze mirror with him. However, he found that the bronze mirror seemed to be fused with the chain. And surprisingly, the chain itself was also unrusted. Freeing his hands of unnecessary items, Lord Dao, gathering his strength, pulled at the chain. But nothing happened. The chain wouldn't budge. Instead, a golden thread appeared on it, seemingly drawing everything inward towards the statue.
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First Stratagem — "Deceive the Heavens to Cross the Sea" — Deceive the emperor to cross the sea.
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