Chapter 1403 — Emergence
"Oh... then how about trying to move this piece down..." Yu Xiaoke said, pointing at another puzzle piece beside it.
"This one?" Wei Zhao laid his hand on the piece Yu Xiaoke had indicated, ready to move it, but the jade pendant gave off a warning signal; it seemed that moving it would bring danger forth! Wei Zhao shook his head. "Not this one. There's danger."
"Ah?" Yu Xiaoke was startled. She had not expected Wei Zhao to sense the danger without moving the piece at all. It struck her as incredible—but then, the incredible things Wei Zhao had shown along the way were not limited to this one instance, so she had grown used to it. "Then let's move this one above; move this one downward."
"This one?" Wei Zhao felt it out—no danger—and nodded, reaching out. "All right, that works!"
"That one works?" Yu Xiaoke was briefly dumbfounded, unable to tell how Wei Zhao judged whether moving a puzzle piece would bring danger.
"Heh—" Wei Zhao smiled and moved the piece, then said, "No danger in this one. Which one next?"
"Amazing!" Yu Xiaoke clicked her tongue inwardly. The Male Thief truly had no small skill; this knack of judging danger with a mere touch was something she could never manage! She examined the pattern on the ground and said, "This piece—can it be moved?"
"It can." With that, Wei Zhao moved the piece Yu Xiaoke had pointed to.
"And this one?" Yu Xiaoke asked.
"No." Wei Zhao shook his head.
"Then this one?" Yu Xiaoke asked again.
"This one's fine." Wei Zhao nodded.
...
Ten hours later, Wei Zhao finally set the last puzzle piece into its correct position, then swiftly slipped aside and let out a long breath. "Done at last!"
In truth, though Wei Zhao possessed a top-tier cheat, he could not move the pieces freely—every single one had to be tested first—and the result was a great delay in the pace of moving them. Working in concert, the two of them had actually spent more than ten hours completing the puzzle!
Nearly twice as long as it had taken to assemble the pattern of the Gate of Life before!
Click. On the Gate of Death, too, came the sound of machinery stirring, much like when the Gate of Life had opened, and then a rumbling boom as the mechanism went fully into motion.
"It's open at last!" Yu Xiaoke also breathed a sigh of relief. "But there may be danger inside. We need to be ready."
"Stay close to me in a moment. Don't act rashly. If there's danger, I'll sense it at once—there's nothing to worry about." Wei Zhao said. Now that Old Man Yu was no longer at his side, Wei Zhao seemed much more at ease.
"Mm." Yu Xiaoke nodded. For some reason she felt an inexplicable trust in Wei Zhao; it seemed to her that so long as he was there, no danger was worth fearing.
Only Wei Zhao, Yu Xiaoke, and General Weiwu remained in the ancient tomb now, so there was no need for Wei Zhao to ask anything further. He walked straight over and opened the Gate of Death! If he did not do it, Yu Xiaoke would have to, so it was safer for him to do it himself.
Entirely unlike the passage behind the Gate of Life, the passage behind the Gate of Death was like the tomb chamber itself: orderly, level, grand in bearing—even more lavishly and beautifully built than before! The walls of the earlier passage had been smooth and flat, but the walls of the passage behind the Gate of Death were carved with murals.
Wei Zhao walked very slowly, the better to meet whatever danger might come at any moment. Yet the jade pendant at his chest gave no further warning, which rather surprised him.
By now they had walked nearly a thousand meters, back and forth, and still all was peaceful. The pendant made no stir, and nothing happened in the passage.
"Why is it so quiet? Not a sound of anything?" Yu Xiaoke said, finding it strange as well.
"How should I know?" Wei Zhao smiled wryly. "Actually, let me ask you something—is the Gate of Death certain to contain some formidable traps?"
"That... not necessarily," Yu Xiaoke said after a moment's thought. "Generally speaking, yes, but there are exceptions. It's possible that inside the Gate of Death there are no traps at all, and every trap is concentrated in the opening of the Gate of Death itself!"
Wei Zhao nodded and walked on. But though he had heard Yu Xiaoke's explanation, he did not relax his guard.
Suddenly, General Weiwu, ahead of Wei Zhao, halted and stood stiffly upright in the middle of the passage!
"What is it?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback, unsure what the General meant—was there danger? At least the jade pendant at his chest had given no warning signal!
"Woof, woof—" General Weiwu barked a few times at the darkness ahead.
Wei Zhao and Yu Xiaoke both found it strange, not knowing what act the General was putting on.
In the distant darkness, there was no movement at all.
Wei Zhao was puzzling over it when the General barked twice more, and this time its bark seemed to carry a note of anger!
"Woof, woof—" General Weiwu's bark was louder than before!
This time, at last, there was movement in the distant darkness. Two faint squeaks came from that direction, and then a tiny shadow came waddling toward General Weiwu, swaying this way and that, as though terribly timid and frightened!
"What is that thing?" Yu Xiaoke asked, puzzled, watching the creature approach from not far off.
Wei Zhao wondered the same, yet for no reason at all he felt a stir of excitement in his heart. Could it be... really that thing?
When the little creature drew near, Wei Zhao's gaze finally fixed. His guess had been right; judging by its appearance, it could only be that little thing!
The creature looked a little like a pig, yet not quite. Its whole body was round and upright, but it walked on its two hind legs; its forepaws hung at its sides like arms, and it swayed as it came—a bit like a chibi version of Zhu Bajie.
By the look of it, the little thing seemed somewhat aggrieved, as though General Weiwu had disturbed its sweet dreams. But though it wanted to protest, it dared not, and could only come over under the General's angry roar!
What astonished Wei Zhao, however, was that this little creature actually had the strength of the mid Yellow Rank! He had not expected that when Zhang Liju first discovered it, it had been not even Yellow Rank, and now it had grown into a mid Yellow Rank expert! Zhang Liju could not possibly possess such a top-tier cheat for transmitting true qi; all he could rely on was feeding the creature elixirs made from heaven-and-earth treasures. Yet to have piled it up into a mid Yellow Rank expert on heavenly treasures alone was truly no small feat!
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