305 That Man’s Mausoleum

Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng were purposely irreverent. This did not mean that they were actually calm. It was actually that theamount of indifference they showed was the only way for them to calm down inthe shortest amount of time. On Xu Yourong’s face was a smile of satisfaction and peace. She had finallyseen the legendary mausoleum before her death, approaching the true secret ofthe Garden of Zhou. Of course she would be happy. Chen Changsheng glanced at the Yellow Paper Umbrella several times, andconfirmed that there was no more activity. The sword intent had alreadydisappeared when he saw the mausoleum. He did not know what it meant. Did that sword intent already finish its job of leading the way? Was the SwordPool close to the mausoleum? The surroundings of the mausoleum were endlessplain of white, and over ten li away in the opposite direction, a few oldtemples could be seen. They were not sacrificial temples, and should have beenmatching temples. There were no lakes or pools, so where was the Sword Pool? Chen Changsheng did not think for too long, and walked towards the mausoleumwith Xu Yourong on his back. Not long after, they arrived in front of the longpath made out of stone that seemed like a path to heaven. When he stepped onto the stone path, some dust arose from the bottom of hisshoes. For some reason, he slowly began to increase in speed, until the endwhere he actually began to run. Xu Yourong hung onto his neck and thought with a smile. After all, he was ayoung man in his twenties, so no matter how calm and unhurried he seemed, itwas always an act. Fair enough, the Snow Mountain Sect was known for thebloodline of the Black Frost Dragon, and such dragons were renowned for lovingtreasure. This mausoleum must definitely have countless treasures, so why wouldhe not hurry?  Chen Changsheng’s injuries had slowly healed. Although he was still tired, hisspeed was very fast. Not long after, he reached the end of the divine path ofseveral thousand zhang in length with Xu Yourong on his back, arriving in thecenter of the huge mausoleum. Looking at the heavy stone door of over ten zhangin front of him, he exhaled, and then pushed forwards with both his hands. Hediscovered that it was easier than he had thought. Without a sound, the door of the mausoleum opened. Soft dust and gravel flewout from the crack that grew wider and wider,  Chen Changsheng pulled out the dagger, and wielded it in front of him. Hewalked into the mausoleum, remaining very alert. Xu Yourong leaned on his shoulder, and her expression was also solemn. Herfingers constantly extended and retracted, silently making calculations. This mausoleum could be called the most mysterious place in the EasternContinent. Buried inside was the man that once caused the entire world to fear. Now, they naturally already knew that the mysterious Plains of the UnsettingSun was only the garden of this mausoleum. Even the mausoleum garden was so vast and dangerous; the mausoleum itselfwould undoubtedly be more so. Nobody knew what was inside the mausoleum. As soon as he walked in, after just a few steps, a smear of light suddenlyglowed in the distant darkness. It was like someone had lit a bonfire in thewilderness on a starless night. Chen Changsheng stared into the distance. He was ready to fight or run away atany time. In the next moment, a second smear of light flared in the depths of themausoleum. More and more radiance continued to appear, spreading towards them.It transformed into two bright lines of light. Finally, the radiance arrived in front of him. As it turned out, the luminouspearls mounted on the walls of the passageway had turned on. The luminous pearls were perfectly round, translucent and transparent. Eachone was the size of a bowl. The luminous pearls were not as pretty as the one he had received from Luoluo,but they definitely were not smaller than the ones on the Dew Platform. Also,this passageway was very long, leading into the depths of the mausoleum. Thenumber of luminous pearls on the wall would have reached at least in thethousands, which really was hard to believe. Back then, when Zhou Dufu builtthe mausoleum for himself, where did he find so many luminous pearls that werealmost completely the same? Under the soft light of the luminous pearls, Chen Changsheng carried XuYourong into the depths of the mausoleum. The passageway that led into the depths of the mausoleum should have been thenether path specially built for emperors, which symbolized the meaning ofleading into the Netherworld. Of course, in the Daoist Canons of the Orthodoxy,the passageway was commonly known as the path of radiance, which symbolised themeaning of leading into the Divine Kingdom of Infinite Radiance within the seaof stars. Just like how the pointless stone path of several thousand zhang inlength outside the mausoleum was known as the divine path. They carried similarmeanings. Walking in the long passageway, only the echoes of footsteps could be heard.Although the luminous pearls illuminated the way, it still seemed rather gloomyand scary. Chen Changsheng suddenly felt a vague chill spread from within his heart.Sending in a sliver of spiritual sense, he discovered that in the cold lakewithin the Ethereal Palace, the Black Dragon seemed to show signs of waking up.He could not help but stare blankly for a moment, curling the corner of hismouth for a smile. He thought it no wonder, as it was the legendary Black FrostDragon that loved treasures—even in sleep, it could feel the existence of theseluminous pearls. Xu Yourong saw his face suddenly reveal a smile. She was very confused, andfelt that it was slightly weird, so she asked softly. Chen Changsheng did not know how to explain, so he could only smile. He seemeda little dumb. Surpassing both of their expectations, there were no traps in the passageway,nor did they meet any fierce beasts that guarded the mausoleum. Very soon, theyreached the deepest part of the mausoleum, with nothing occurring at all. At the end of the path of radiance was another stone door. When Chen Changsheng placed his hand onto it, he very naturally thought ofwhen he was first trapped within the Tong Palace on the night of the IvyFestival. He thought of the image when he reached the bottom of Black DragonPond, and when he pushed open the stone door. At that time, he carried athought that he would definitely die when he opened the stone door, but he hadnever thought that behind the stone door, he would meet the Black Dragon, whichhad already saved his life several times since they had met.  What would he meet this time upon pushing open the stone door? With an extremely soft grinding sound, the stone door was slowly pushed open. The stone door had not been opened for several hundreds of years. Behind the door was a world where no one had visited for hundreds of years. Stone pillars of several dozen zhang in height held up the dome. The space seemed incomparably huge. As it turned out, in the depths of the mausoleum, there was not a coffinchamber, but rather a palace. In the deepest part of the palace was a black stone coffin. Chen Changsheng approached the black stone coffin with Xu Yourong on his back.Only then did he discover that the black stone coffin was extremely huge, likea black mountain. Standing in front of the black coffin, the two of them seemed veryinsignificant. The stone coffin was made out of obsidian. Its surface was dull and withoutlustre, giving out a deep and solemn feeling. There were no visible cracks orsigns of being pieced together, making it extremely possible that it wasentirely made of a single piece of obsidian. Chen Changsheng thought silently, was this perhaps really a black mountain? There was no patterning on the surface of the obsidian coffin, and it did nothave any words that identified the owner. However, because of that, it seemedeven more solemn. The man who currently laid within the obsidian coffin quietly did not need anysort of patterning to add splendour, and did not need any words to sing thepraise of his deeds. When this man was a teenager, he was once known as the supreme expert of RiverLuo. Later, when he dealt Emperor Taizong a heavy defeat outside of Luoyang City,he was known as the supreme expert of the Central Plains. Next, he travelled to the south, successively defeating countless experts fromthe Longevity Sect and the Scholartree Manor. He flattened the mountain gate ofthe South Stream Temple, and ripped off the veil of the current Holy Maiden.After that, he was known as the supreme expert of the Human race. Afterwards, he stood amidst the countless demon experts, heavily injured theDemon Lord and then travelled far away. As a result, he was known as thesupreme expert of the continent. The supreme expert of the continent mentioned here did not even have alimitation of time. It was not limited to that age, and instead, whetherlooking forwards five hundred years or looking back five hundred years, he wasalways the strongest without equal. As a result, he gained another title, the Thousand Year Supreme Expert. He had peerless strength within the universe. Perhaps it was this type ofloneliness that had caused him to disappear, leaving behind an irreplicablelegend. In the end, he was known by the people as the supreme expert under the stars. He used an entire obsidian mountain to make a coffin. He used a grassland thathad a sun that did not set as his mausoleum garden. He used a world as a moundto bury himself. How would he need a gravestone, or engrave his name on agravestone? He was Zhou Dufu. He could only be Zhou Dufu. Standing before the huge coffin of obsidian, Chen Changsheng stayed silent fora while, and gave a plain bow. Afterwards, he continued onwards carrying XuYourong on his back, and did not stay for any longer. Xu Yourong was unable to understand why he was so calm and said, “You shouldknow who is inside the black stone coffin.” Chen Changsheng spoke as if he was reciting from memory, “The supreme expertunder the stars, the undefeatable legend, the person who swore brotherhood withEmperor Taizong of the Zhou Dynasty.” “If it is only power, it is not enough for him to be remembered by the peoplefor so long.” Xu Yourong said, “For the Human race to be victorious over the Demon race,there is actually a reason of utmost importance, which is always forgottenpurposely by the annals of history and the people. That is, Zhou Dufu defeatedand heavily injured the Demon Lord.” Chen Changsheng did not stop his footsteps, and instead walked faster. Hesaid, “I know that, and also understand the importance of it.” “So, other than that he is a legend, he is even more a hero,” Xu Yourong said.“An overwhelming majority of the cultivators of the younger generation that Ihave met view him as an idol, feverishly admiring him. If they could arrivebefore the coffin of Zhou Dufu, they will definitely earnestly kneel andworship, unlike how indifferent you were.” “If it were some other time, I would probably also do so.” Chen Changshengsaid, “But right now, we have no time to dwell on the past. After all, he isalready dead.” Xu Yourong asked, “So?” Chen Changsheng said, “No matter how heroic, no matter how legendary, it isimpossible to wake up after being dead, unable to tell us how to continueliving. Our current situation is very bad, and if we grieve for the senior atthis time, then we will very soon become the target of grieving. Of course, itis even more possible that we will be forgotten by people very quickly.” Saying that, he had already arrived before the steps at the back of thepalace. In front of him was a door. The ground in front of the door was coveredby a thin layer of dust, and it did not seem to have any marks at all, not eventhe marks of wind. Judging by it, the mausoleum truly had not been openedbefore, let alone had people enter it. They were its first visitors. Just like the main door of the mausoleum, the doors of this stone room did nothave locks. Upon entering into the first stone room, they were assaulted by a putrid gustof a rotting smell, causing them to hold their breath, squint their eyes anduse the light that spilled from behind them to gaze into the room. They onlysaw that within the stone room, there were many rotting shelves made of wood,and on the shelves were at least a hundred magical artifacts. They werescattered messily everywhere, and judging by their shape, the\ magicalartifacts were definitely out of the ordinary. It was just that they were leftlying idle for too long, and the Qi of the magical artifacts had alreadyscattered. They were no different from scrap metal. Suddenly, Xu Yourong called out quietly in surprise.