She is the princess

  I spoke seriously, and Uncle lowered his head and smiled at me, protecting me as we walked forward.

  The deeper I went, the colder it felt, as if I was walking downhill again. I heard a crisp ticking sound, and from both sides of the stone wall came a damp chill that made this midnight even more desolate.

  Suddenly, flames erupted on all sides, illuminating the surroundings.

  I struggled to adapt to this sudden flame, squinting slightly.

  The woman's loud laughter rang out, piercing through my entire body, giving me a headache. Her voice echoed all around, "Qin Yu Yang, you've finally deigned to visit the princess after all these years. The princess has been waiting for you day and night, how could you only come now?"

  As the sound grew louder, I had almost gotten used to the brightness and poked my head out of Uncle's arms. All around us were damp stone walls, and we were in a huge open space with only one earthen platform in the middle. The surroundings were filled with sword-holding guards like those from the Han Dynasty, all of whom had died but whose bodies did not rot.

  Just like an army protecting the yellow coffin with a floral pattern on the high platform, I saw that woman who was speaking. Her face was only in her twenties, but her voice was like that of a sixty or seventy-year-old old lady. She wore a white undershirt with red embroidery on the collar and cuffs, and had a hair bun styled like those of Han Dynasty maidens.

  I looked up at Uncle Ah, and Uncle Ah was looking at the woman standing beside the coffin. "Ano, forgive me for taking so long to come visit."

  I looked up and asked Uncle, "Where is this place?"

  Uncle smiled at me, "We are at the bottom of Ximen River."

  That woman named Anuo seemed dissatisfied with my existence, casting a fierce glance from Uncle to me. I saw her mouth didn't open, but her throat moved up and down, making sounds, and her face turned ferocious.

  "Qin Yuanyang, it's been so long since you came to visit the princess, I didn't know you had another woman outside?"

  As soon as Ano finished speaking, I felt a tightness in my neck and a lightness in my body, and I was instantly dragged from Uncle's side to hers. Ano's body seemed perfectly fine, but I smelled the stench of a corpse - Ano was actually a dead body.

  Uncle stood still and called me, "Ah Li." The hand that was about to pull me back froze in mid-air.

  Anuo held me tightly in her arms, the stench of death growing stronger and stronger. I struggled to leave, but my feet couldn't move no matter what, allowing Anuo to tightly pinch my neck.

  On the high platform made of earth, I was pressed tightly against the coffin by Ano, and the lid of the coffin had not been closed.

  Uncle said under the stage, "Ano, you misunderstood."

  Ano's eyes were fixed on Ah Shu, his throat making a sound as he spoke, "Misunderstanding, Qin Yueyang, you've changed your mind again, abandoning the princess for this woman. How can I and the princess trust you?"

  I saw Uncle's hand gesture, but his face was calm and replied neither quickly nor slowly.

  "Ano, take a closer look, she is not someone else, she is the princess."

  I listened to Uncle's words, knowing that he was fabricating this lie to distract Anuo, but my heart felt like it had been pricked by a needle, the pain making me frown.

  The grip on her neck loosened a bit, accompanied by Arno's puzzled voice, she saw me.

  "You..."

  A flash of white light, Ano exclaimed, his fingers left my neck and fell backwards, tumbling to the ground from the high platform. I saw Uncle Ah at this moment, he rose into the air, withdrew the white light from the ground and flew back onto the high platform. When Ano's fingers left my neck, a powerful force seemed to pull me into the coffin, my head heavily hitting the coffin lid.