The First Volume, Chapter Seventeen: The Seven-Chambered Tomb

  The Witch King's Tomb is located in the deep mountains of Tengchong County, Yunnan Province. It is a cave tomb carved out of natural rock formations underground, with a depth of no less than 100 meters. The layout inside is complex and intricate, with each tunnel capable of forming a complete enclosed space, leaving only several underground rivers to circulate the vital energy of the earth's pulse, also known as "Eight Dragons Guarding the Child" in Feng Shui.

  I thought the chamber where the "princess" was buried would be a transitional space connecting the front tomb and the underground palace, but unexpectedly, the giant stone fell and triggered the mechanism, sealing the entrance tightly. The three of us barely escaped from the black-scaled python's mouth, only to find ourselves trapped in the tomb again, unable to escape. Su Qin called out to the people outside the door, but there was no response.

  Just when everyone was at a loss, Zhou Xing suddenly discovered something and said to Su Qin and me: "I know how to get out of here, this is the Seven Stars Interlocking Array."

  My attention was drawn to Zhou Xing, and I said to him: "As far as I know, there is a 'Seven Star Luo Yu Formation' in the Qimen Dunjia that is a secret method for adjusting yin and yang and the five elements. What you call the 'Seven Star Linked Ring Formation', I have never heard of it."

  Zhou Xing fell silent for a moment, and I thought he wouldn't answer me again. But then I suddenly heard him say: "It's the 'Seven Star Luo Fish Formation' from the Qimen, but this one is used to transform the tomb chamber."

  As I listened to him, I roughly understood some things and thought that the Ya Shen tribe was really so powerful? And also understand the strange gate? The "Seven Star Luoyu Formation" is not an ordinary means, this place is still far from the main tomb of the Earth Palace, the ancient people set up such a shocking handwriting here, it seems that the Wu Wang Tomb is much more complicated than we imagined. From some signs on the periphery, the Ya Shen tribe is well-versed in many secret techniques, apart from the queen's "cutting", the most powerful one is probably the mechanism, and such a large-scale ancient tomb, I don't know how many defensive lines the Wu Wang's coffin is buried behind.

  The layout of the guards around the mausoleum, if well-planned, can truly withstand the erosion of thousands of years. Since ancient times, the imperial mausoleums have been based on the principles of yin and yang and the five elements, with the secret methods of qimen as a supplement. The various geomantic arrangements are numerous, all pursuing the unity of heaven and man, and achieving the ultimate goal. The most difficult part is to achieve the effect of preventing theft and robbery while pursuing the best feng shui, which requires a very deep understanding of the ancient qimen mechanisms, natural creation, and the principles of the five elements.

  The "Seven Stars Formation" mentioned by Zhou Xing is probably a classic arrangement, its principle lies in the "Seven Star Luo Yu" of Qimen Dunjia, which uses human power to transform the air field within a small range and uses change to prevent theft.

  My father passed down to me the "Wind-Seeking Dragon Technique", which has an outer chapter called "Guile Techniques". It introduces the Seven Star Shifting Formation, which belongs to the "Mechanical Techniques" in Qimen. This formation is set up with seven large tomb chambers, each connected by a giant wheel, simulating the movement of the stars and achieving the effect of balancing yin and yang while confusing grave robbers.

  The ancients were inspired when observing the Big Dipper, believing that there are seven circulation hubs in the earth's energy field, called "Seven Gates". In Qimen, to set up the "Seven Star Luo Yu Formation", you must find the positions of the Seven Gates corresponding to the Big Dipper. The first gate takes Chi Jin to calm the heavenly pivot; the second gate, Qi Xing falls on Tian Xuan Nan; the third gate, Long Pan Tian Ji becomes Hu Zu; the fourth gate, Yao Shi Tian Quan returns to Shui; the fifth gate, Zhi Dian Gui Shen Bai Yu Heng; the sixth gate, Kai Yang Dao Zhuan Sheng Shui Mu; the seventh gate, Jiu Jiu Gui Yi Xian Yao Guang.

  Taking these seven passes as a reference, the seven-chambered tomb can continuously lead the vital energy of the earth's pulse into the underground palace, similar to a "large waterwheel", which relies on the flow of water to drive it, and at the same time, also draws part of the water flow into the irrigation ditch. The "Seven Star Luo Yu" relies on the earth's gas to drive it, and at the same time, also sends part of the earth's gas into the underground palace.

  Unlike the waterwheel, these seven rooms rotate very slowly, and it may not be possible to complete a circle in 100 years. However, tomb raiders who see the room will think that this is the only passageway connecting the front tomb and the underground palace, and it will definitely not be sealed off. Once they enter, however, they will find that all previous inferences are invalid. In fact, even if the room is sealed, it will not affect the circulation of the earth's energy.

  Su Qin didn't know what we were talking about and asked: "What is the Seven Star Luoyu Formation?"

  I said to Su Qin: "Anyway, it's not a good thing. What we fear will come true, and we may really be unable to get out."

  Su Qin listened more and more confused, so I let out a sigh and explained the situation to her. Su Qin listened with doubt and said: "In that era, there shouldn't be such a powerful mechanism, are you guys mistaken?"

  I was taken aback, thinking to myself that this Seven Stars Array is what Zhou Xing said, but I don't know how he figured it out, and yet I'm not sure, so why did I jump to conclusions? At the moment, I also wiped away a sweat, asking Zhou Xing: "Cough cough, okay Old Zhou, where did you see that this place is the 'Seven Stars Array'?"

  Zhou Xing shook his head and didn't speak again, only furrowing his brow to examine the tomb. I followed his gaze and found that he finally looked at the stone pedestal, after a while, and said to us: "There should be an exit."

  I said to Zhou Xing: "Exit? Are you saying that this stone platform has a hidden mechanism?" After speaking, I walked up to the front of the stone platform and examined it carefully.

  It can be seen that the foundation of this stone platform is very deep, and it is obvious that a large part of it has entered the ground. However, just now the entire floor of the tomb chamber sank down, but it was impossible to see what kind of layout would be at the bottom. Judging from the current situation, it is highly likely that there will be a large space under this tomb chamber. If there really is an exit, maybe it's true what Zhou Xing said, and the location of the exit is near the stone platform or on top of it.

  Su Qin said to me and Zhou Xing: "Just now, the entire tomb chamber sank down, but this stone platform where the coffin is placed didn't move at all. It's likely that the foundation of this stone platform is fixed in place. How deep it goes underneath, we can't see for now, but I think there should be a fairly large space at the bottom of this tomb chamber."

  I said to Su Qin, "You and I are on the same page. If what Old Zhou said is true, that this place's layout is a 'Seven Star Luo Yu Formation', it's possible that there's a rotating disc set up below, equivalent to an elevator's machine room. Since it's a machine room, there should be an entrance for people to enter and maintain repairs. Looking at it this way, we might actually be able to enter the place below."

  Just as he said that, Zhou Xing suddenly grabbed my hand and snatched the flashlight from me, turning it off with a "click". I and Su Qin were startled, wondering what Zhou Xing was going to do, when we heard him whisper an order to Su Qin: "Quickly turn off your flashlight."

  Su Qin was taken aback and quickly turned off the flashlight in her hand, whispering to Zhou Xing: "What's wrong? What happened?"

  Zhou Xing didn't say a word, and let out a soft sigh. Su Qin and I saw this and also quieted down. At this time, we suddenly heard that there were several people talking below the stone platform.

  These voices were very faint, and a man with a hoarse voice was heard saying: "Damn it, how do we get out of this place? How the hell did we end up back here again? Jack, look at this crappy road you led us on!"

  At this time, another man's voice came up: "It shouldn't be that I took the wrong road, there's something wrong with this place, like some kind of formation. Young lady, don't you feel that something is off?"

  The second man's voice had just fallen when a girl's voice came up: "I'm so annoyed, I've said it before, don't kill Little Swallow first, let him lead the way for us. Look at what you've done, we've been circling around for half a day! If only I'd brought my game console, ugh! So annoying!"

  The people below were talking, their voices gradually getting louder, as if they had already walked to the position right below us. At this moment, only the seam between the stone platform and the ground suddenly transmitted a few faint glows, which seemed to be their flashlights. It was then that I remembered Zhou Xing letting us turn off our flashlights earlier, it seems that this kid's vigilance is really strong.

  At this time, the rough-voiced man said: "Young lady, it's not that we want to kill him, mainly because that kid is not sincere in cooperating with us. If he doesn't get rid of him early on, when the time comes and he bites us back, it won't just be a matter of pain."

  The second man said, "Miss, this is our mistake, we apologize. You are a magnanimous person, so please don't bother with us. Look... it's like this now... none of us can get out. The old master has passed on all his skills to you, can you take a look and see what kind of mechanism this place is?"

  The girl hummed in a huff and said, "Don't you see that this tomb has become shorter? If I'm not mistaken, there must be another chamber above us, and it's already sunk down a bit. This place seems to have several interconnected chambers, probably seven, arranged in the Seven Star Luo Fish formation. These chambers have undergone great changes for some reason, and if we don't break this formation, we'll never get out of here our whole lives."

  The rough-voiced man cursed loudly, "Damn it! I said why we couldn't get out, it turned out to be an ancient trap! We blindly rushed in and must have accidentally triggered some mechanism."

  The girl said: "We didn't trigger anything, we carefully avoided all those traps just now!"

  The second man continued to ask: "Miss, from what you mean... this is not triggered by us? In other words, there are others here?"

  The girl hummed again and stamped her foot: "It must be! These scoundrels have made us suffer!"

  A rough-voiced man said strangely, "How can there be others? The previous Suozi has been put under my control by me, and now eight out of ten are dead, so no one should be able to track in."

  The girl shouted: "How do I know? Hate it, hate it! It's so annoying to start calculating the changes in the formation here, I hate calculations the most!"

  The people below were talking, their voices gradually fading away, as if they had walked away. Su Qin and I looked at each other in surprise, our eyes filled with astonishment, thinking that this girl was too formidable, looking at her tone of speech, it seemed like she really was a little kid, how did she manage to guess everything?

  Su Qin asked me: "Who will be the one below? Listening to that girl's words, it seems they even killed someone."

  I said to Su Qin, "They must be the 'Black Button' that girl mentioned, and the swallow she was talking about should be the Blood Swallow. I told you before, Oil and I were investigating this person, which is why we ended up here."

  "'Black Button'?" Su Qianqi said, "Aren't they a British organization? Why are they all speaking Chinese?"

  I turned on the flashlight again and said to Su Qin, "What's so strange about that? They're coming to China for activities, they must send Chinese people over, at least Asians who can speak Chinese. If they send white people over, wouldn't that be too conspicuous? And you also heard it earlier, that man with the rough voice said he had previously given a 'suo zi' a gu, 'suo zi' is underworld slang for police, so the person who was given the gu should be Officer Li."

  Su Qin suddenly realized and said, "No wonder, you also told me earlier that Officer Li was poisoned by a gu, and later it was your people who saved him. It seems you really didn't deceive me."

  I listened and shook my head with a bitter smile: "I've already told you I didn't cheat you."

  I turned my head to look at Zhou Xing, just wanting to ask if he had any way to escape this ghostly place, and it would be best if we could catch up with the three people who passed by from below earlier. However, I saw him still staring blankly at the gap under the stone pedestal, as if he had fallen into deep thought again, and I didn't know what he was thinking about all along the way.

  Su Qin heard me say that the three people who just passed by were Hei Niukou, and her anger rose again. She pulled me and said: "Long Qiu, you think of a way quickly, we have to go catch those people."

  I said to Su Qin, "Aren't I trying to figure it out? But this Seven Star Luo Yu formation is too complicated, and I only know a little about it. To break through this formation, it's really hard to get started. Alright, alright, you don't have to be so anxious either. Let's think of a way to find other companions first. If I'm not mistaken, they're probably also trapped in one of the tomb chambers within this Seven Star formation."

  Su Qin listened and rubbed her temples, looking somewhat distressed. In the end, she lost her temper and sighed: "It's really messed up!"

  I turned around and said to Zhou Xing: "Old Zhou, can you break this formation? You told us earlier that this is the Seven Stars Formation, didn't you say you knew how to get out?"

  Zhou Xing finally came back to his senses and said briefly to me: "I'll give it a try."

  I heard him say that and finally relaxed. I don't know why, maybe it's because Zhou Xing had saved me before, anyway after hearing him say something so casual, my anxiety also dissipated with the wind. He always manages to bring me a sense of security, even though I often suspect he has some hidden motives.

  Next, Zhou Xing began to carefully examine the stone platform. I saw that we couldn't help much, so I invited Su Qin to sit down and rest. Even if Zhou Xing found an exit later, we would probably still have to go through many life-or-death struggles. If we didn't conserve our energy by then, it would be unbearable.

  So we relaxed, and I thought carefully again, suddenly feeling that I was still too tender. Before, I had been suspicious and made wild guesses about so many things, but in the end, I couldn't clear my head. Most of the time, I just relied on a burst of courage to muddle through. If Dad were still alive, he would definitely be more cautious than me when he got here, and he would understand more too.

  As I thought about it, I became dazed and didn't know how long had passed. Suddenly, Zhou Xing "rapped" on the bronze coffin on the stone pedestal with his finger bones and said to us: "Come over, we're going out."