The third floor

Just arrived in a hurry and didn't look carefully, the two god shrines at the end are empty.

Big Head stored the detached components in his bag, looking regretful. "These two pieces are definitely the most valuable. Those Qing soldiers didn't leave any behind, really inconsiderate."

Looking at the stone pedestals, I said to him, "Don't talk nonsense, these two are not god shrines, but civil and military platforms."

"What?" he exclaimed.

I asked him to look at the patterns on the stone pedestals, "During the Tang Dynasty, the state religion was Taoism, which concretized natural constellations into specific figures. This is the Big Dipper, and this large one specially carved is Tianquan, the literary star. The one opposite is Kaiyang, corresponding to Wuxu, the martial star. So, these two positions are not for god shrines but for the king's right and left arms, similar to the Song Dynasty's Bao Zheng and Di Qing, who were hailed as the reincarnations of the literary and martial stars."

Big Head nodded and gestured, "I know Bao Zheng, there's one in Kaifeng, Iron-faced impartiality."

"Enough," I said, looking at the two empty stone pedestals with some confusion, asking him, "You didn't secretly move the stone statues from the top, did you?"

Big Head jumped and cursed, "Nonsense, how can you doubt my character? Besides, can you hide such a big thing by yourself?"

I wondered, "Then why are the two door gods missing? There's no reason for Yushan to take them away."

Looking at Li Xin, he also shook his head, indicating that he didn't understand. I rubbed my temples, unwilling to think too much. It felt like I had lost many brain cells for this tomb.

We left the Taoist temple, scattered to find the entrance to the next level. The whole hall was pitch black, making me nervous. Pretending to search, I moved closer to the others.

Zhao Min, seeing me finish quickly, asked, "Nothing?"

I turned my head to conceal my embarrassment, "No, didn't see any mechanisms."

She sighed and asked me, "Do you believe in immortality?"

This question caught me off guard. Originally an atheist, I didn't believe in immortality. However, the Zhenling Platform provided too many inexplicable things, and all signs indicated that the Fox Huhu King did obtain the elixir of immortality.

I was momentarily speechless, unsure how to answer. She continued, "If the Fox Huhu King took the elixir of immortality, has he been lonely for these thousands of years?"

I stopped and thought. When the Fox Huhu King went out, he saw his dynasty transformed into an autonomous region rich in grapes and cantaloupes. I wondered how he would feel. "My kingdom?" I shook my head, "He probably gets taken away as a guinea pig the moment he steps out. The best-case scenario is sitting in a museum as a ticket-selling exhibit."

I amused myself with my thoughts and told Zhao Min, "Nothing good. Imagine, no ID, and encountering people on the way down makes them kneel down. If the other person has a bad temper, they might beat him up. The Fox Huhu King of immortality, over."

Zhao Min chuckled, turned away, and said, "Nonsense."

Big Head, who didn't know when he came over, teased me with his eyes. I was unnerved by his gaze, asked him what he was doing, and he gestured at Zhao Min, whispering, "Kid, you move fast. Zhao Jun asked you to take care of her, not to flirt with her. Look at you two, all lovey-dovey."

"Nonsense." I pretended to hit him, and he chuckled, "Blushing like a monkey's butt, still pretending."

"Get lost." I ignored him and quickly walked away, coincidentally seeing Hansheng squatting not far away. I went over and asked, "Any discoveries?"

Hansheng touched the ground with his hand and pointed for me to see. I looked closely and found two very small cracks. To be honest, these cracks were like tofu sliced by a kitchen knife, not very obvious. Probably only Hansheng could notice them.

He pointed to a few other places, all similar fine cracks. The large hall was paved with neatly cut marble slabs. These precise seams did not seem to be caused during transportation or polishing but rather as if they were cut by a certain sharp weapon.

Hansheng nodded and gently stroked the gaps with his fair fingers. "That's right, and from the length and angle, it looks a lot like the work of a long spear."

He stood up and demonstrated a few moves with his hand instead of a spear, suddenly saying, "Someone tampered with this."

After a few steps back, he muttered a few words, which I didn't catch completely, something about "piercing here, stabbing there." After retreating a few steps, he used a flashlight to sweep the ground. My face changed; I saw a dried black bloodstain congealed on the ground, not far from his feet. The bloodstain was long, as if a wounded person had been dragged across the ground.

Hansheng followed the direction of the bloodstain, looked at a wall, and swung his hand, reciting, "Pi Gang Dao Xu." Just as he struck, precisely where he hit, a white mark appeared. I saw his expression change for a moment but quickly returned to normal.

Starting to touch the wall behind him, he suddenly stopped after a while. Pressing with his left hand, a slight sound came from the recess, and at the same time, the wall slowly opened, revealing a staircase leading upward.

At the same time, a corpse leaning against the wall rose with the wall, falling to the ground with a thud.

I exclaimed, and this sudden shock made my head buzz. The body seemed to tilt forward as if it were coming towards me. If it weren't for Hansheng beside me, I thought I might have run away.

Everyone was attracted by my exclamation. Hansheng looked, put on gloves, and turned the body around.

The body wore a set of faded leather armor, and both arms were tied with a black rope. The skin had a strange bluish-purple color. What was even more incredible was that the body had no head. The wound suggested it was twisted off while still alive.

Big Head shone his flashlight into the aisle, shouting, "Hey, the head is here."

Hansheng frowned, "This should be one of the guards on the stone pedestals. It seems someone took off his head after he turned into a zombie."

Zhao Min was surprised, asking, "This zombie probably also took Fox Huhu King's elixir. After turning into a zombie, it has immense strength. Who could twist its neck?"

Hansheng looked at the dark passage, "Probably a master from Yushan. The rope on the body is soaked in demon fire oil and black dog blood. The method of binding the body is professional, using the Xiangxi corpse embracing knot. Looking at the traces of the fight, there was a

 formidable figure inside. At that time, it should have taken everyone's effort to subdue this zombie guard, and in the end, that person twisted its neck to prevent it from resurrecting."

With the person's identity confirmed, we continued forward. Hansheng twisted the silver spear for self-defense. The staircase was the same as before, spiraling upwards. On the way, we found several dried bloodstains, indicating that Yushan had fierce battles here.

According to the translation provided by Li Xin, Yushan went to great lengths. Several tomb expeditions resulted in casualties and losses. It was only when Cao Tongbing, the general, brought his guards down that they finally resolved the trouble.

The final operation was extremely dangerous, almost burying half of Yushan's experts. Ultimately, at a terrible cost, they obtained "that thing." Judging by Hansheng's description of the master, that person might be Cao Tongbing, and this place could be their final resting place.

As I was contemplating, we had already reached the third floor of the Zhenling Platform. This layer of the hall was unexpectedly large, and the dark ceiling made it impossible to see the top.

Hansheng reminded us to be careful and entered first. I followed behind, adjusting the flashlight to its maximum brightness to expand the illumination range. However, I could only see some strange pillars, and it was impossible to see clearly even if we went deeper.

Big Head lit up a cold firework to illuminate the surroundings. We took the opportunity to survey the area. The sight that unfolded before our eyes left us stunned.

Countless black copper pillars stood like silent ancient giants in the hall, solemn and magnificent.

These pillars stood like plum blossom stakes, dispersed in a certain pattern. Each one was about a meter apart. I glanced briefly and noticed that many mountain and sea monsters and strange beasts were carved on them.

Even more bizarrely, the pillars reached skyward, with no visible tops, and many iron chains were threaded between them, forming an iron network above us. Through these chains, we could vaguely see a black shadow, but there was no end.

Just as the fireworks were about to go out, Zhao Min suddenly pointed in a direction, "Look quickly."

I looked over, and it seemed like there were several bodies, piled up in a strange posture.

We exchanged glances and decided to check it out. Maybe there would be some useful clues left by these corpses.

The bodies were in the copper pillar forest, and we had to go in. To be honest, I wasn't very willing to enter; this place exuded a sense of eerie mystery, making people apprehensive.

Big Head, with a wrinkled brow, asked me, "Can you figure out what these pillars are for? I feel something's not right."

I looked at him; Big Head, in general, was street-smart. Although he usually appeared easy-going, he was the kind of person who could be relied upon when serious. If he also felt something was wrong, it made me nervous. I shook my head and whispered back, "Where can I find out about this formation?"

The carvings on the stone pillars were partly familiar to me, and some were unfamiliar. However, after looking at a few, I felt subconsciously that I might have some clues, but I couldn't pinpoint what they were.

As we got closer to the bodies, I began to feel uneasy. These people's postures were so strange, looking uncoordinated and completely unnatural. Could it be that these people were yoga enthusiasts?

Approaching the bodies, Li Xin suggested, "Why don't we light a fire first? These things are afraid of fire. If these are Fox Huhu King's undead soldiers, we'll have some protection."

The several dry corpses seemed to be affected by the Fox Huhu King's elixir, not rotting, piled together by someone.

I squinted and tried to see, but their clothes had already decayed, and I couldn't distinguish their identities. I sighed, "The clothes are all rotten; I can't tell if they're from Yushan."

Big Head said, "No need to look. It's probably those Qing soldiers. Judging from the bloodstains we found on the way, most of them probably stayed behind."

Hansheng gestured for us not to move and slowly approached. After checking for any abnormalities and squatting around the bodies for a while, he still didn't come back.

Big Head was somewhat puzzled and asked me, "What's up with your friend Hansheng? Seems like he can't move."