Volume 2 Chapter 21: The Battle of the Tri-Eyed Temple

  At present, the situation seems calm and peaceful, but in reality, it is just the calm before the storm. The forces currently inside the tomb of the Witch King include organized groups, grave robbers, archaeologists, detectives, and even a mysterious Zhou Xing and an enigmatic Gao Ye Xiong. Once these forces collide, they will likely form an unprecedented massive battle that will be a fight to the finish.

  Apart from Youzi and Aixia, the others are probably not very reliable to me. Although the "Black Button" trio is in the open, we are in the dark, but here, each of us has our own ulterior motives. If there's even a slight disagreement, this "motley crew" will completely collapse, and it won't just be a matter of knives being drawn.

  To be honest, what I'm most worried about is still Gao Yexiong. Previously, Zhou Xing was very wary of him and thought that with him around, Youzi and Li Xiang wouldn't get trapped in the Seven Stars Formation. And now, I've heard from Ai Xia that they indeed relied on Gao Yexiong's "accidental discovery" to escape the Seven Stars Formation. If you say there's nothing fishy going on here, I'm afraid even if you beat me to death, I wouldn't believe it.

  As soon as the gunshot rang out from the main chamber of the underground palace, I caught a glimpse of Li Xiang subconsciously touching his empty gun holster, his face very gloomy. It seems that my guess was correct, and Li Xiang's handgun must have been taken by these three "Black Button" members. Although it is still unclear what happened inside at this moment, there are only two possibilities: first, they encountered the evil Taoist priests in the main chamber; second, they encountered Zhou Xing who had hidden in advance.

  In short, either possibility is an opportunity for us.

  At this time, the first to panic was Gao Yexiong. He looked terrified and hid behind Li Xiang, stammering: "Li... Officer Li, why are they shooting inside?"

  Li Xiang furrowed his brow and remained silent for a moment before saying to us: "You all stay here, I'll go take a look."

  Su Qin shook her head in disagreement and said to Li Xiang: "There are people with guns inside, it's too dangerous for you to go in alone, this is not the time for individual heroism."

  At this time, Oil also said to Li Xiang: "Miss Su is right, many people have great power, and the police are not omnipotent. When striking at evil forces, don't they also need the cooperation of the masses? Officer Li, you don't have to worry about us either. We're all either archaeologists or mountaineers, and our physical condition is good."

  Li Xiang retorted: "But I'm a policeman, if you guys cause trouble under my nose, then..."

  "You're all clever people, if something happens, you can still escape, besides, think about it, the current situation is obviously not something that one person can handle alone. If something goes wrong and you sacrifice yourself, it's a small matter, but what about us? Without our leader, how can we fight against those people? Wouldn't that let the criminals get away with it?"

  Listening to Youzi, I couldn't help but admire his cleverness. This guy was indeed a veteran of the underworld from a young age. He first figured out Li Xiang's serious and responsible personality, and kept hinting indirectly that, emotionally, the police needed the help of the masses, and logically, everyone was not powerless, and if Li Xiang had any problems, the criminal would get away scot-free.

  He spoke so accurately and flawlessly that even someone as clever as Li Xiang would have to agree, and let us follow him in at this moment.

  As expected, Li Xiang finally gave in and nodded his head: "Alright, you can follow me inside, but... the intern has to stay here."

  Su Qin said: "Alright then, Xiao Gao you can stay up there."

  I heard that it's not good for us to go in, we all went in and left Gao Ye Xiong on top. If he really has any evil intentions, won't we be dead for sure?

  At this time, Gao Yexiong nodded repeatedly and said to us: "Sorry... I... I am really scared, I will stay here, you... be careful."

  I heard him say that, and my heart became even more uneasy. I quickly looked at Youzi and raised an eyebrow, hinting for him to think of a solution. Youzi nodded slightly and said to Su Qin: "It's not necessarily safe for Gao brother to be alone here either. How about this? Let Ai Xia stay with him too. That way, if something happens later, they can take care of each other."

  Su Qin hadn't spoken yet, but Li Xiang had already nodded. He probably couldn't wait to go in. He took the lead and walked down two steps, then turned around to say to Ai Xia and Gao Yexiong: "You two stay up here, everyone else follow me inside. Oh right, if we haven't come out after twenty minutes, you two think of a way to get out and call for help."

  So we no longer hesitated, and Yóu Zi secretly instructed ài Xiā to keep a close eye on Gāo Yè Xióng, while the rest of us followed Lǐ Xiáng down the stone steps.

  As I passed by the stone carving of "Man Man", I suddenly remembered something and asked Li Xiang in a hurry: "Officer Li, didn't you want to make a phone call to ask for more manpower earlier? Why did you come in alone?"

  Li Xiang shook his head somewhat helplessly and said to me, "Damn it, there's no signal at all in this mountain. I've tried several places, but the phone can't get through, not even on the top of the mountain. It's probably because there's a magnetic field interference within the mountain."

  I felt relieved upon hearing this and hypocritically said to him, "That's really terrible. Since there are no reinforcements, we must be more careful."

  Su Qin glanced at me and said: "You guys stop talking quickly, listen, there's a fight up ahead."

  Li Xiang moved swiftly, immediately crouching down and moving forward quickly, while waving his hand to signal us to follow up.

  We continued on our way, hunching over and walking for about thirty or more steps, when we saw a small river appear in front of us. This small river stretched out before us, and it was clear that it was an artificially excavated waterway, drawing its source from the underground water within the mountain. From various signs, it could be seen that this small river had experienced many rises and falls, but had never dried up, and should have been a branch of an underground main river.

  I saw the water surface sparkling, and suddenly felt a sense of doubt in my heart, so I quickly asked everyone to turn off their flashlights.

  After all the lights went out, I found that there was still a faint light around me, just like the feeling before dawn. When we looked closely, we found that the light came from the stones at the bottom of the river. These stones had some special place, each one was like a night pearl, emitting a faint cold light. We were in a hurry to rush to the main tomb chamber, so we didn't look carefully for the time being.

  Su Qin stopped us from crossing the river, saying that according to some historical records, there is a mercury-filled moat in the underground palace of the Qin Mausoleum. If ordinary people enter, they will likely die on the spot. The glowing stones in this small river have never been seen before, and may be similar to Qin Shi Huang's mercury river, which was also a trap to prevent outsiders from entering. These stones might be radioactive.

  I said to Su Qin: "These stones don't have radiation, I've seen them before, they seem to be called 'Xinshi', but this glowing little river should have some way."

  Su Qin glanced at me and said: "You this...this mountain climber, what can you possibly know?"

  She was about to scold me, this grave robber, but suddenly remembered that Li Xiang was present and hastily changed her tone. However, her words made Li Xiang speak up for me: "Miss Su, you can't say that, the mountain climbing team has also been traveling all over the country for years, and some things may not be known to archaeologists."

  Li Xiang finished speaking, and You Zi wanted to add some words of agreement, but I gave him a look that made him back down. This kid still doesn't know that Su Qin has already figured out that we're grave robbers. If he keeps fueling the fire like this, won't he end up provoking Su Qin?

  Even so, Li Xiang's words almost got Su Qin to give me away, fortunately she still remembered our agreement and hummed a sound saying: "Alright then, tell me, what's special about this river?"

  I shook my head and smiled wryly, saying to the crowd: "In ancient China, there was a legend about the Naihe River. It originated from the mythical underworld, but later it was referenced in burial customs. Any underground river built in the mausoleum of an emperor's tomb was called the Naihe River. In legend, the Naihe River is a passageway to another world. The deceased soul of the tomb owner can flow down along the Naihe River and reach heaven."

  "What... does this mean?"

  I said to Li Xiang, "This can explain a lot. Among them, it gave us the most important information - the coffin of the tomb owner should be placed upstream of the river. As long as we go against the current, we can reach the main tomb chamber."

  Li Xiang furrowed his brow and said to me, "So that's what it was. However, the sound of those people fighting seemed to be coming from the opposite bank, rather than some main tomb chamber. We'd better hurry over and take a look."

  I thought so too, listening to the commotion from the front. The three "Black Buttons" probably ran into Zhou Xing. Although I don't know what happened to him, he's still my and Youzi's lifesaver, can't just leave him hanging. Those three "Black Button" members look like they're not easy to deal with, even if Zhou Xing really is a monster, turned into a six-armed freak or something, probably still couldn't take them down.

  I was just about to invite everyone to follow me across the river, but Su Qin stopped me and said that there seemed to be a bridge on the other side. I turned on my flashlight and shone it over, and indeed found a tall stone arch bridge spanning the water in the distance. Li Xiang set off as soon as he saw the bridge, and so our group continued to follow him, crossing this dark river.

  After passing the stone bridge and walking a few steps, it darkened around us again. Fortunately, the lights from the fight in front also appeared before us. Everyone dared not turn on their flashlights anymore, all crouching down and quietly approaching that place.

  The figure in front of us gradually became clear, and after walking more than 20 meters, we saw four people huddled together.

  The person surrounded in the middle is Zhou Xing. Because it's quite far away, and the light over there is flickering back and forth, I couldn't see his face clearly either. However, at this moment he was extremely frantic, constantly attacking the three people surrounding him with moves that could kill a person, completely unlike his usual calm and quiet self.

  Among the "Black Button" trio, the most eye-catching was a slender and agile figure, that of a young woman who was probably not even twenty years old. However, her martial arts skills were the best among the three. She held a whip in her hand, and with just a few flips of her body, the whip's shadow danced wildly, like a violent storm or scattered pear blossoms.

  The other two were both tall and sturdy men, one using his palm and the other using his fist. From their moves, it was impossible to tell what school of martial arts they belonged to, and they didn't seem to be from the Central Plains. Compared to that whip-wielding girl, these two were much weaker, and in front of Zhou Xing, they couldn't even muster a killing move, only barely managing to defend themselves.

  Su Qin crouched beside me like a cat, gazing at the three people fighting in front of us. She took a deep breath and whispered: "Zhou Xing's and those three criminals' martial arts are very high, my combat skills may not be useful here... can you guys intervene?"

  I said to Su Qin, "Miss Su, you also saw Zhou Xing's sudden change in expression just now. He may not necessarily be on our side. The current situation is complex and confusing. Everyone should not act rashly for the time being. We can only use wisdom to gain an advantage, but we cannot rely solely on force."

  I said to everyone again: "Have you noticed that those three people have been making the motion of picking something up, but they always get interrupted by Zhou Xing..."

  Li Xiang said to me: "Right, I also noticed that their guns must have been knocked down by Zhou Xing. In this case, you three think of a way to attract their attention, and I'll go pick up the guns on the ground."

  I also think that's the only way to go, so I nodded at Li Xiang. Li Xiang told us to be careful and then quietly moved forward, disappearing into the darkness. Su Qin asked us what to do, and Youzi said to her: "This is simple, heh heh, I actually quite like fighting. Since those four people are evenly matched, let's go join in."

  Su Qin saw the smiling face of Youzi and her anger was not focused, staring at us two humming: "Don't forget, Zhou Xing still doesn't know whether he is an enemy or a friend. If you want to fight, you two grave robbers can go up, I won't go to die."

  Yóu zǐ tīng dào "dào mù zéi" liǎng zì, liǎn lì mǎ jiù lǜ le, zhī wú dào: "shén... shén me dào mù zéi?"

  I grabbed Ya Zi to calm him down and said, "Miss Su already knows our identities, but she won't betray us. I have a deal with her. Let's not talk about this for now, let's think of how to distract them instead."

  Youzi glared at me fiercely, meaning "How did you expose this?" I knew he was angry and didn't want to get entangled in this issue anymore, so I answered evasively: "If we're going to fight... I'm afraid I won't do."

  "You're a descendant of Longshan, didn't your dad teach you martial arts?"

  I shook my head and smiled wryly: "Taught, but I've never fought before."

  "You said to me: 'Alright, then let Miss Su and I go up first, you cover us from behind. I have a premonition that Zhou Xing won't be an enemy, at least for now when we go up, he won't make a move on us.'"

  Su Qin was not a hesitant person, she listened to Youzi's words and nodded in agreement after gritting her teeth. Then the three of us started crouching down and slowly moving forward, when the distance was almost right, Youzi gave a loud shout and rushed out first. Su Qin reacted quickly too, in an instant, the two of them had already joined the battle.

  What was seen in front of us was truly chaotic, the three "Black Button" members were shocked beyond measure, but they were also seasoned veterans, and instantly opened up a distance. The whip-wielding girl alone faced Chow Sing Cho, while the other two split off to fight against Oil Seed and So Ching. I watched from behind with my heart racing, and on the ground there were three handguns, two of which were right under Oil Seed and So Ching's feet. Oil Seed and So Ching were no match for them, and after just over a dozen moves, they had already been beaten to a pulp. The two "Black Button" members looked like they could pick up those two guns at any moment.

  On the other hand, that whip-wielding girl was using all her might to entangle Zhou Xing alone, although she took a few of his moves, she managed to keep him so busy that he had no time to pay attention to Youzi and Su Qin. The situation is becoming increasingly critical, if things continue like this, it's likely that before they can lure away the "Black Button" trio, Youzi and Su Qin will suffer losses.

  At this point, my head was also hot, thinking that I would have to force myself up, otherwise, let those two people retreat and Su Qin would be defeated, and it would really be impossible to turn back. After thinking about it, I didn't hesitate anymore, and somehow a fierce energy emerged, shouting loudly, and rushing forward with my head down.