Chapter 32.1

"You!!!" The heat wave washed over Oswald, blanking his mind. He stared at Kevin, who had waved to him from the midst of the fire, and for a moment he was almost at a loss.

But then, an anger even more monstrous than the fire swept up inside him. When a person is extremely angry, their brain can almost feel fragmented, and they are unable to speak a complete sentence.

As Kevin turned and disappeared, Oswald reached forward instinctively, as if to grab him.

"Your Majesty!" The Wujin cavalry team behind him gave chase. They were so eager to catch up that they did not even see Kevin's face. They could only see a residual phantom and the emperor, who was so enraged that he nearly rushed into the flames.

The first few men sprang forward and seized Oswald, attempting to pull him back to safety. However, upon reaching him, they beheld with horror that His Majesty the young emperor had already thrust his hand into the fire.

"My God! Quickly!" someone cried. "His Majesty's hand!"

When a person loses their sense of reason, they often become inordinately strong. Oswald was in this state of wrath, and he did not even recognize who was preventing him, or who was dragging him back. The scarlet fire had seared through his eyes and mind.

Most of the Wujin Iron Cavalrymen were aware that the emperor was highly skilled in both melee and long-range combat. When he struck someone, his fists were as hard as iron, and the force was terrifying. However, they had never known that when the emperor lost control, his strength could be so daunting...

In the end, it took a concerted effort by seven or eight men to barely restrain the emperor, and the one closest to him was nearly cast into the flames.

Oswald was forced to stagger a few steps backward, away from the flames. The tumultuous voices around him finally began to gradually penetrate his ears and enter his mind.

"Where is the medical officer? Someone call for the medical officer! Your Majesty, your hand! Your hand must be—eh?" The man who had been bellowing suddenly stopped mid-sentence and turned to ask a question in a murmuring tone. "I clearly... I clearly saw your hand reach into the fire. How could it be unscathed?"

Oswald's originally light-colored eyes were blood red, bloodshot from anger and anxiety. It took him a few moments to process the meaning of the man's question, and he finally lowered his gaze to look at his hand.

There was not even a trace of the fire on his hands, not to mention any injuries.

Oswald gasped heavily, staring at his right hand without blinking. The rationality that had momentarily deserted him was finally returning, and his soaring anger was beginning to subside.

With a cold expression, he pulled his arm away from Wujin Iron Rider's grasp and took two heavy steps forward.

"Your Majesty!" The people behind him tried to grab him again, but he stopped them with a raised hand.

Although his anger was somewhat subdued, he was still unable to speak.

The torrid heat wave that was actually real hit him again. With a grim expression, he breathed heavily and simply placed his entire arm into the fire.

The crowd behind him gasped in shock.

Oswald even remained in the fire for a short while before withdrawing his arm. He glanced coldly around, raised his head, motioned to everyone, and said in a deep voice, "False fire."

The fire, though it appeared frightening and was scorching hot, was in no way capable of killing anyone.

Oswald strode into the sea of flames without hesitation. He lingered for a while in the scarlet flames, but he was unable to find anything resembling an entrance.

As if to confirm the emperor's deduction, the fire subsided suddenly. The flames quickly died down, and the high wall of thorns that stood there remained untouched. The vines wrapped around the wall were still layered with broad leaves, not a single one scorched. It was as if the fire had never happened.

The only thing that remained from the fire were the howling sounds that were faintly audible, far and near. They sounded like ghosts, and they made people's skin crawl.

Oswald glanced at the wall of thorns with a sense of depression. He could not find any trace of an entrance, let alone Kevin. The bloodshot eyes in his eyes slowly faded, but they were still so cold that people dared not approach him.

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly kicked the obelisk hard.

"Boom!"

Oswald's expression was grim.

The copper obelisk, which had been excavated halfway, flew out of the soil with a great force, striking the wall of thorns heavily before rolling back to the ground and landing on its side.

The onlookers all shrank their necks and fell silent.

After a long while, one of the Wujin cavalrymen finally spoke up, tentatively: "Your Majesty, the upper and lower sections of that monument have different colors."

Oswald closed his eyes for a moment, then slowly opened them again. His heavy breathing had quickly subsided, as if he had forced his anger inward.

He walked over to the obelisk and squatted down, reaching out to touch the surface.

As the cavalryman had said, the color and degree of rust of the upper and lower halves of the obelisk were noticeably different. Oswald then recalled that the obelisk had indeed looked different when he had first seen it. It seemed that someone had dug up a thick layer of soil.

The only person who could have done this was Kevin, who had disappeared just moments ago.

Kevin would not have been idlely digging up the obelisk unless there was information about the entrance on the lower half, which was now covered by the soil.

"Lamp," Oswald said, extending his hand without looking back.

A general was momentarily taken aback, but then handed the emperor the worm lamp he had brought with him.

Oswald took the lamp and held it close to the obelisk, examining the newly excavated half. The corrosion was so severe that almost no traces of writing could be seen. He did not bother to remove the layer of mud that was still clinging to it, but simply reached out and touched the surface.

His fingertips brushed over the surface repeatedly for a long time, until he finally made out a broken sentence: "Unless...the way...or the door of the tomb will last forever..."

Oswald frowned, his face growing even more grim. The keywords were almost completely rusted away!

The words after "eternal age" could be guessed as "not open," but the words before and after "open road" could not be guessed by guesswork.