Reign of the Phoenix

Yuan Dong personally went out and ordered the servants to cut down five pine trees, then had them bound into a raft with rope and rowed it over to the hole. Then, over a dozen servants took great pains to carry the completed raft into the tunnel.

Chiyun Yuexuan started to instruct them on the work needing done. First they used two trunks as support to prop up the raft, then attached the ropes to the tip of the trunks before steadily lowering the raft to the opposite cliff so it could act as a temporary bridge. After Yuan Dong dismissed the irrelevant personnel, the six remaining men carefully crossed the bridge to the other side, breaking out into a cold sweat as they imagined the river under the bottomless cliff.

Upon reaching the stone door, Chiyun Yuexuan meticulously searched for a key point. On the left frame of the door, he finally found a leaf-shaped groove.

Chiyun Yuexuan took out Biwu from his lapel. “Fourth Prince, this is the key to the treasure. First, hand over the antidote for Miss Tuoba.”

Gao Chenghao sneered, “What will I have left to negotiate the treasure with you after I give you the antidote? I fear that I’d even be hard-pressed to keep my life. General Chiyun, are you forcing me to be cruel to Princess? Sure, I can give you the antidote for Miss Tuoba as proof of my sincerity, but you really think I’d risk carrying the antidote for Princess on me?”

Gao Chenghao then took out a paper packet and handed it over to Yuan Dong.

“True to my word, I’ll make a concession and let you have this antidote as a sign of my sincerity. Since I’m sure General Huyan here won’t make light of our princess’ life, you shouldn’t try anything funny, General Chiyun.”

Chiyun Yuexuan tightened his grip on Biwu. “Should this door open nothing like what happened in Xingzhou, will you still return Princess to us safely?”

Gao Chenghao’s face instantly turned malicious. “Are you making fun of me, General? Randomly find a place and say it’s the treasure, and demand the antidote from me just like that?”

Chiyun Yuexuan raged then, “That was just an analogy! If there’s no treasure, will you still return her to me?”

Gao Chenghao shook his head. “Impossible. It’s best that the thing I want is in there, otherwise… it’ll be mutual destruction between us as the worst case scenario.”

Had it not been for the fact that Chiyun Yuexuan was concerned about Murong Zhining’s life, he would have pushed Gao Chenghao off the cliff right here and now. “Unless we reach a satisfactory agreement, I won’t open this door.”

Gao Chenghao ruthlessly said, “If you refuse to cooperate, I’ll just have Princess tied up and sent in here, and then have my men use force to break this door.”

Seeing the two men at loggerheads, Yuan Dong shouted, “You can’t! Our Tuoba ancestors passed on word that the Murong clan had gone through great lengths to set up mechanisms in order to prevent the treasure from falling into the hands of others. If brute force or abnormal measures are used, the mechanism will be activated, causing the place holding the treasure to collapse and sink into the underground river. If Your Highness wants the treasure, please behave and open it the correct way.”

Tuoba Zhi chimed in, “Our Tuoba family is no longer under your control. We only agreed to let you into the treasure. As for whether or not you’ll get what you want will be up to your fortunes.”

Gao Chenghao returned their words with a disdainful smile. “Then I’ll just have to stake my chances entirely on Princess. I don’t believe that you lot will disregard her safety.”

Just as he had said, Gao Chenghao walked to the entrance of the tunnel and shouted for the guards to send Murong Zhining. In order to acquire “Secrets of Emperor Qin” and safely get away with it, he could only make a risky move.

When Murong Zhining arrived, he pulled her inside. “My good Ning’er, Master is going to take you on a treasure hunt. In a bit, you have to behave and follow behind me, alright?”

Murong Zhining obediently nodded. “Okay, Ning’er will listen.”

Seeing Murong Zhining being brought in, Chiyun Yuexuan feared that crossing the bridge would be dangerous for her. He hurriedly found a rope and had it tied to the stone pillars on the two sides of the cliff. Murong Zhining grabbed the rope with one hand, holding Gao Chenghao’s hand with the other as he helped her cross the bridge.

When the noon sunlight pierced through the hole above, the cave brightened up. Chiyun Yuexuan placed Biwu in the groove. Everyone then looked expectantly at the stone door, but there was no movement from it at all.

Murong Zhining curiously craned her neck to look at Biwu. “This jade looks so familiar. Have I seen it somewhere before?”

Chiyun Yuexuan angrily said, “Of course it’s familiar. It’s my betrothal gift to you, and you actually forgot all about it!”

Frightened by his outrage, Murong Zhining shrank behind Gao Chenghao, clutching his clothes tightly.

Gao Chenghao scanned the area around the leaf-shaped groove. “General Chiyun’s mind seems to be overtaken by Princess so much so that he hasn’t the heart to do anything else. Grow some insight, won’t you? There’s another groove nearby.”

Hearing this, Lian Kun also looked at the stone frame. “Woah, that’s a big groove. What would fit into it? Who would design a treasure to require such a big key?”

Chiyun Yuexuan seemed to realize something then. “This should be for that qin. Since it’s in your hands, please have your people send it here.”

Gao Chenghao said, “I need to look out for Princess. Mister Lian Kun, please go to the entrance and tell my men to deliver the qin.”

Lian Kun did as he was told. Going to the entrance of the tunnel, he shouted to the guards on the shore, “Your Fourth Prince ordered for that qin to be delivered here!”

Seeing him, Tuoba Lan excitedly called out, “Brother Lian, since Princess can go, I also want to go in and have a look!”

Scared that she’d cause trouble, Lian Kun threatened, “You think it’s very fun in there? There are too much scary stuff. Just behave and stay out there!”

A willful Tuoba Lan ignored his warning and followed behind the guard who delivered the qin to take the boat to the tunnel.

Lian Kun fumed. “You always act so unruly. If something happens later, no one can protect you.”

The guard carried the qin into the cave. Only after getting a nod from Gao Chenghao did he hand it to Lian Kun, who then took it to the other side.

When Lian Kun placed Phoenix Chant in the big groove, it fit perfectly. Everyone stared intently at the stone door waiting for a miracle to happen. However, they were incredulous as it didn’t budge one bit. Both of the objects were clearly right but the door refused to open, which meant they had missed something somewhere.

Gao Chenghao started to grow impatient, his hand grasping Murong Zhining’s instinctively tightened.

Murong Zhining broke the silence. “Master, you’re hurting Ning’er’s hand. Maybe the door doesn’t open because the sunlight doesn’t shine on that jade leaf yet?”

Upon her words, everyone looked up at the hole.

Gao Chenghao smiled. “My Ning’er is the smartest. But, be a good girl and don’t speak.”

Chiyun Yuexuan cast Murong Zhining an adoring glance before looking at the basin-sized hole above his head. He nodded. “That makes sense. Let’s wait a little and see if the sunlight will reach here.”

After observing for an incense stick of time, Chiyun Yuexuan concluded, “It’s impossible for the sunlight to reach the leaf. Look over there, there’s a rock sticking out and perfectly blocking it.”

Dejected by this revelation, everyone lapsed into silence.

Gao Chenghao anxiously said, “I think it’s better to just smash the door.”

And then the opinions were divided into two. Some advocated smashing the door while some advocated… smashing the protruding rock that blocked the sunlight.

Chiyun Yuexuan growled, “No need to argue, both are impossible. If we use brute force, I’m afraid the treasure will sink into the river like Old Mister Yuan said. And from my observations, even if we smash that rock, the light might not reach anyway. Let’s think again, there must be other ways.”

Murong Zhining tugged on Gao Chenghao’s clothes and timidly suggested, “Master, you can try mirrors. Two mirrors should be enough to lead the light over here.”

Gao Chenghao stroked her face. “Ning’er is so smart.”

An angry Chiyun Yuexuan picked up a rock and threw it at Gao Chenghao’s wrist as a warning.

Murong Zhining pouted and shot Chiyun Yuexuan a fierce glare. “Master, that man is so impolite. Ning’er doesn’t like him.”

Gao Chenghao laughed. “Mhm, just ignore him.”

Yuan Dong went and ordered the servants to bring mirrors. While waiting, everyone inside sat down and ate the dry food they had brought in. At the sight of Murong Zhining quietly leaning close to Gao Chenghao, Chiyun Yuexuan couldn’t suppress his rage and glared at the guy all the time.

Tuoba Lan looked at Murong Zhining. “Princess, did you forget Lan’er? Gao Chenghao is a bad man, you cannot believe him.”

Murong Zhining doubtfully scanned Gao Chenghao. For some reason, she felt a natural sense of trust for Tuoba Lan. “Master, why do they keep calling me ‘Princess’? Why does everyone else has family, but I don’t?”

Chiyun Yuexuan shot Gao Chenghao a ferocious glare at that. “Who says you don’t have a family? It was that beast next to you who fed you something terrible that made you forget your family.”

Gao Chenghao gazed at Murong Zhining tenderly. “Didn’t I tell you? I am your family. Other people all want to hurt you.”

Murong Zhining hesitated, “But…”

Gao Chenghao was a little impatient. “No buts. You won’t even believe your master now?”

Seeing that Murong Zhining believed her words, Tuoba Lan kept calling out ‘Big Sis’ this and that nonstop. The doubt on Murong Zhining’s face grew more and more visible, she even pouted and looked very unhappy.

Tuoba Zhi whispered something to Tuoba Lan, the girl nodded.

A while later, someone delivered the mirrors. Chiyun Yuexuan and Tuoba Zhi each held a mirror and repeatedly adjusted their positions. Tuoba Zhi reflected the sunlight to the mirror held by Chiyun Yuexuan who then directed it to Biwu.

Under their effort, a bundle of light landed upon the jade leaf. Biwu then emitted a faint green glow which then reflected on a tiny hole on the stone door. A miracle finally happened when a rumble was heard. As if a mechanism behind the door had been triggered, the stone door was slowly pulled up by iron chains, revealing a stone chamber.

Everyone peered inside with full of hopes, only to be disappointed. They felt like they had fallen into an icehouse upon seeing the chamber completely empty aside from another stone door right in their line of sight.

Chiyun Yuexuan tried lighting the torches on the rock wall and they actually worked.

The firelight brightened up the dim chamber. Observing the chamber, Chiyun Yuexuan found that they needed to pass a big stone matrix to get to the second stone gate.

The square matrix looked like a giant chess board divided into left and right, each size having 24 circular stone pillars the size of a basin, and each pillar had different pictures engraved on their surfaces. On the left pillars were animal patterns, while on the right were the divinatory symbols from The Book of Changes.

The pillars looked similar to movable printing blocks that would sink to ground-level when being stepped on. Chiyun Yuexuan stood thoughtfully before the phalanx, not daring to act impulsively. In order to reach the stone door, they had to step on the pillars. Looking at the huge formation-like chess board, Chiyun Yuexuan also felt like it was a trap-concealing zone.

The reckless Lian Kun raised a foot, about to step on a pillar. Chiyun Yuexuan hurriedly dragged him back and got a glare in return. Without a word, Chiyun Yuexuan picked up a rock and threw it at that same pillar. Everyone only heard a whoosh when a spear shot up from under the pillar before quickly retracting back.