Chapter 135: The Crisis of Speed

Bai Weiwei was not in good condition. Zhang Qinglin grabbed her arm and felt her entire body trembling. Her face turned deathly pale, and she suddenly fainted.

Seeing this, Hu Geming immediately rushed over, pulled Jiang Xinyue aside, and swam toward a rock.

Zhang Qinglin carried Bai Weiwei onto the rock. She did not respond to his calls, so he immediately administered basic first aid. Hu Geming shouted from the side, "Miss has a heart condition!"

Hearing this, Zhang Qinglin hurriedly searched Bai Weiwei for medicine.

Nearby, Jiang Xinyue curled up in a tight ball, shivering uncontrollably with terror filling her eyes.

Chi Tan also scrambled up, leaning in close to watch, though there was nothing he could do to help. Hu Geming managed to find the medicine in Bai Weiwei's large backpack. After he administered it to her, her breathing gradually stabilized and her complexion eased.

Zhang Qinglin breathed a sigh of relief and sat down. Glancing at the people around him, he suddenly realized that someone was missing. His heart gave a violent jolt as he stood up and looked toward the subterranean river.

"Where is Cheng Che? Didn't he come up? Has anyone seen him?" Zhang Qinglin shouted.

Sitting nearby, Jiang Xinyue also realized that Cheng Che was missing. Swaying slightly, she scanned the subterranean river as tears involuntarily welled up and spilled over. "Did Cheng Che sink to the bottom?"

"No, he didn't. Yueyue, don't let your imagination run wild. He knows how to swim; he'll definitely be fine." Although Zhang Qinglin said he was fine, he was extremely worried inside, anxiously sweeping his gaze in all directions to search for Cheng Che's figure.

At that moment, Chi Tan stood up in surprise, pointed toward the subterranean river on the right, and yelled, "That white ghost! Big Brother Che is over there!"

Following the direction of Chi Tan's finger, Zhang Qinglin saw the white-clothed freak leap over Cheng Che's body and flee deeper into the cavern.

Zhang Qinglin swam quickly to the opposite side to check on Cheng Che, relieved to find that he had only passed out.

In this subterranean river cave, Zhang Qinglin and his group rested for the night. Zhang Qinglin did not sleep at all. Hearing a movement, he opened his eyes to see Bai Weiwei.

Bai Weiwei had sat up and was taking off the shoe on her right foot to apply some medicine.

Zhang Qinglin stepped forward, squatted down, and said, "Is your foot feeling better? Let me help you!" Taking the medicinal liquid from her hand and seeing that she remained silent, he poured the medicine into his own palm, pressed it against her ankle, and gently massaged the area.

"Why did you follow us here when your health is so poor? Do you have any idea how dangerous it was just now?" Zhang Qinglin asked softly, without a trace of blame in his voice.

Bai Weiwei pressed her lips together, her flickering gaze locked onto Zhang Qinglin. At that moment, the rims of her eyes turned red. She lowered her head for a moment, then looked up, staring straight into his eyes as she said, "My health isn't that terrible, you don't need to worry. By the way, where are we right now, and how do we proceed?"

Zhang Qinglin helped her put her shoe back on and looked out toward the long subterranean river channel. "The subterranean river shown on the map is located beneath a tomb. The cave we came through doesn't look like a tomb, but while crossing the stone stairs, I saw hanging wooden coffins suspended from the ceiling of the cave. Weiwei, did you notice them? Those wooden coffins are too bizarre!"

Bai Weiwei pulled a newspaper out of her large backpack and handed it to Zhang Qinglin. "Take a look at this first," she said. "It's a report from five years ago. I found it while looking up information related to the jade amber, and perhaps it will be of some help to you."

Zhang Qinglin took the newspaper and shifted the beam of his flashlight over it. The first thing that caught his eye was a black-and-white photograph of an ancient artifact, topped with a striking headline: "The Secret Origin of a Miraculous Treasure Surfaces—No One Dares to Go There to This Day."

As Zhang Qinglin read the contents of the newspaper, he listened to Bai Weiwei explain, "According to records in the *Chronicles of the Merchants of Ba*, Luoyang was called Chengzhou in ancient Western Zhou times, a place of vast territory and abundant resources. During that period, a Daoist priest once traveled to the mountainous region east of Chengzhou to cultivate his craft and discovered a river. At the extension of the river lay a valley called Flower Valley.

"Upon entering the valley, the Daoist felt refreshed in both mind and spirit, finding it filled with spiritual energy and an auspicious site for geomancy. However, it was unsuited for spiritual cultivation, but rather ideal for an underground yin dwelling. Later, an enigmatic aristocratic official was buried in this valley, accompanied by countless rare and peerless treasures as burial goods. Centuries later, numerous tomb-robbing gangs visited the site, but not only could they fail to find the tomb of this mysterious official, virtually everyone who entered the valley never returned.

"Legend has it that the tomb of this noble official was built inside a cave, with the wooden coffins suspended mid-air. Numerous mechanical traps were also set up inside the cave for defense..."

"Are you saying that the cave we were just in is very likely the tomb of this mysterious official?" Zhang Qinglin interrupted Bai Weiwei.

Bai Weiwei put down her bag, turned her head to look at Zhang Qinglin, and shook her head. "That's hard to say. I haven't finished yet. Actually, the tomb of this mysterious official was found later on.

"However, after thousands of years of geological evolution, by the time it was reportedly found, the entire tomb had collapsed and everything inside had been destroyed, so we cannot be certain that it was indeed the tomb of that aristocratic noble."

While Zhang Qinglin was wondering about this, Hu Geming walked over and said, "I know about this. I didn't think of it earlier, but hearing Miss mention it reminded me of something."

Hu Geming recounted that more than a dozen years ago in Jiangsu, he was chatting idly with an archaeological enthusiast surnamed Chen, who mentioned that a friend of his possessed a half-disc Western Zhou jade piece allegedly taken from a collapsed heavenly tomb in Luoyang.

He explained that it was called a collapsed heavenly tomb because ignorant tomb raiders had forcibly blasted open the original tomb gate, triggering a trap that destroyed the precious artifacts, while river water poured in to flood and submerge the tomb chamber.

When they found the tomb, although the river water inside had drained, drastic changes had taken place. While clearing away fragments of ancient artifacts, they accidentally brushed against a strange mechanical device in the cave, causing several iron chains to fly out from around the collapsed cave walls and dropping several coffins down from the ceiling.

The mechanism was so ingeniously designed merely to deceive the eyes of outsiders: the original coffins were empty, while the true ones were actually concealed at the very top, suspended in mid-air.

Only after opening the coffins did they discover the identity of the tomb's owner—a feudal lord of the Western Zhou dynasty.

Looking at Hu Geming, Zhang Qinglin couldn't help but wonder if the person surnamed Chen could be Chen Shengxiao's older brother. But there were many people with the surname Chen, and there couldn't be very many who were archaeological enthusiasts. Casting his gaze toward Hu Geming, he asked, "Brother Hu, what was the full name of that person surnamed Chen you mentioned?"

Hu Geming stubbed out his cigarette, which was emitting thick black smoke, against the rock and said, "Seems his name was Chen Jing. Do you know him?"

"Chen Jing?! This person knew my father; they were friends."

Then, his gaze swept over a row of words on the right side of the newspaper in his hand, and he looked at Bai Weiwei in astonishment, just as he was about to speak.

Suddenly, a chaotic noise echoed from the top of the slope.

Cheng Che and the others were also jolted awake. They got to their feet, stared in that direction, and shone their flashlights toward Zhang Qinglin's location.

Zhang Qinglin's expression shifted. He put away the newspaper and looked at Hu Geming, only to see Hu Geming leaning closer to the slope just as a figure tumbled down from above and plunged straight into the subterranean river.

Guessing that it was likely Wu Guanwen and his men who had also broken in, Zhang Qinglin hoisted his backpack and stared at the struggling figure in the subterranean river, hearing the person scream, "There's poison! Save me, my life..."

Within seconds, the person sank beneath the surface. A chilling gust of cold air rushed out from the depths of the cave, followed immediately by a surging wave of minor subterranean currents.

Chi Tan raised his flashlight to illuminate the subterranean river, his expression turning pale with horror. Staggering, he nearly fell, then sat down hard on the rock and inched backward in terror.

Zhang Qinglin had no idea what Chi Tan had seen in the subterranean river, but they could no longer stay here; a massive subterranean current was definitely surging toward them. Zhang Qinglin helped Bai Weiwei to her feet.

Watching the several figures tumbling down the slope and scanning the churning subterranean currents, Hu Geming turned around, hoisted his pack, and barked, "We can't stay here anymore. We have to get out of here right now."

Zhang Qinglin said, "We have no choice but to go that way!"

That side of the subterranean river was where the white-clothed freak had last disappeared. For now, it seemed the only viable path.

Everyone grabbed their belongings and followed closely behind Zhang Qinglin as they headed deeper into the cave.

Walking in the rear, Hu Geming suddenly stopped after a few steps and said, "Hey, this path isn't right. Listen... the massive subterranean current is about to arrive. We're walking right toward it. Won't we just get swept away once the current hits? We should be heading in the opposite direction."

Zhang Qinglin walked to the spot where Cheng Che had previously been found and noticed an arrow carved into the rock wall on the right.

Turning his head sideways, Zhang Qinglin saw that the arrow on the rock wall was very neatly made. Reaching out to touch it, he could tell it had been carved repeatedly with a knife.

Bai Weiwei also noticed the arrow and stepped forward to say, "Someone left a marker here. It's very likely the way out. There should be more ahead. Let's walk a bit further and see."

It seemed as though Zhang Qinglin didn't hear what Bai Weiwei was saying; his entire attention was captured by the arrow on the rock wall.

Sitting by the rocks and seeing Zhang Qinglin and his group halted not far ahead, Wu Guanwen got up and gave chase with his subordinates, shouting from behind, "Damn it, let's see where you bastards can run now."

Cheng Che hurried to Zhang Qinglin's side and said anxiously, "Wu Guanwen is catching up. Why aren't you moving? Old Zhang, what are you guys doing here?"

Even as he spoke, he saw Hu Geming running over from behind, shouting for everyone to flee.

Seeing Hu Geming in such a panic, everyone's expressions changed. They hadn't expected Wu Guanwen to scare him to this extent, which looked nothing like his previously tough and overbearing demeanor.

Yet none of them anticipated that a colossal monster would emerge from the long subterranean river.

Coming back to his senses, Zhang Qinglin looked back, and a cold sweat instantly broke out across his spine.

In the subterranean river far behind Wu Guanwen and his men, he saw a gigantic two-headed snake rearing up into the air. Two twin snake heads swayed and slithered, bearing two tentacles on their brows, darting out crimson forked tongues, and rolling four vermilion, lantern-like eyes as they closed in with a menacing glare.

Wu Guanwen and his group seemed completely unaware of the terrifying, gigantic two-headed snake closing in behind them.

With a powerful twist of its body, the two-headed snake plunged headfirst into the subterranean river, creating a massive commotion with splashing water as it swam forward.

Hearing the disturbance, Wu Guanwen and his men finally realized there was a giant snake behind them.

Suddenly, the two-headed snake burst out of the water and lunged at them. Terrified, they scrambled in all directions. One of the snake's heads whipped around and locked its jaws onto the head of one of Wu Guanwen's subordinates, its sharp teeth piercing the man's neck as blood spurted like a geyser, before swallowing the entire body whole.

"Cheng Che, follow the arrows!" Zhang Qinglin pushed Cheng Che, urging them to run deeper into the cave.

"Chi Tan, hurry up and move! What are you standing there frozen for, Chi Tan?" Seeing Chi Tan standing rigidly in place facing the giant two-headed snake, Zhang Qinglin waved his arms and shouted at him.

Chi Tan must have been scared out of his wits. Only when he saw Wu Guanwen and his group fleeing toward his direction did he finally snap out of it, his trembling legs carrying him in a desperate sprint toward Zhang Qinglin.

Unexpectedly, the two-headed snake coiled its body and slithered forward. The men following behind them all brandished long sabers; two of them stopped, attempting to fight the two-headed snake, but before they could even touch its scales, their arms were bitten off, and the snake clamped its jaws around their legs, violently thrashing them about in mid-air.

Wu Guanwen quickened his pace, staying close on Chi Tan's heels. Seeing the two-headed snake lunge forward once more, Wu Guanwen's eyes flashed with ruthlessness as he shoved Chi Tan from behind, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Zhang Qinglin was also nearly knocked over by Wu Guanwen. Dodging sideways, he retreated backward. Wu Guanwen looked up; he had no desire to tangle with the beast now—escaping with his life was paramount. Ignoring his own subordinates entirely, he turned and sprinted away into the distance.

Zhang Qinglin hurried over to Chi Tan's side and quickly helped him up. Just then, the two-headed snake stretched out its neck, baring its razor-sharp teeth, and charged straight at them.

Chi Tan let out a terrified shriek as the foul-smelling maw of the giant snake reached them.

Swinging his backpack, Zhang Qinglin quickly reached out with one hand, grabbed Chi Tan by the ankle, and dragged him out of the way just as the two-headed snake lunged and missed.

"You idiot, don't you know how to dodge? Take this and run!" Crawling to his feet, Zhang Qinglin handed him a long saber he had picked up off the ground.

Several of Wu Guanwen's subordinates lay in the subterranean river, groaning in agony.

Seeing the two-headed snake turn its attention toward that group of men, Zhang Qinglin immediately pulled Chi Tan up and ran toward the direction indicated by the arrow on the rock wall.

When he and Chi Tan reached the fourth arrow, the path ahead ended abruptly, yet the arrow still pointed forward, and there was still no sign of Cheng Che and the others anywhere along the way.

Zhang Qinglin glanced back. Although they were already a considerable distance from the two-headed snake, the creature moved at terrifying speed through the water, and he had to find a way out as quickly as possible.