Chapter 59

The stone chamber before him was almost identical to the one he had encountered earlier, except for the absence of a statue.

Su Jiu was stunned.

He had entered a side chamber earlier.

In the layout of ancient tombs, side chambers are generally located on either side of the main tomb, hence the name. This was why Su Jiu was confident he was close to the main tomb.

However, the situation before him was that he had only walked a short distance and encountered another stone chamber.

This did not make sense.

The entrance to the main chamber, which he had imagined, did not appear.

There should indeed be a barrier between the side chamber and the main tomb.

However, the passage or hall that Su Jiu had expected did not appear.

"Where is the problem?" Su Jiu muttered, falling into deep thought.

This ancient tomb was the imperial tomb of King Liang Xiao. The tomb of King Liang Xiao before him was much larger than the one that still exists in the world, which was why Su Jiu believed this was the real tomb.

However, the strange things he had encountered along the way were too numerous.

Firstly, King Liang Xiao was not a true emperor.

It was just because King Liang Xiao's greatest wish was to become an emperor that Su Jiu guessed this tomb was built to the specifications of an imperial tomb.

After entering the ancient tomb, he indeed found it to be so.

Secondly, although this ancient tomb was laid out like an imperial tomb, with the necessary passages and stone chambers, these chambers were all empty, containing nothing.

As is well known, even the tombs of kings and marquises would have a large number of burial goods, and even burial attendants.

However, after walking for so long, Su Jiu had encountered several stone chambers, and apart from the statue he had seen earlier, each chamber was empty, containing nothing.

Even the statues that should have been guarding the chambers were missing, which was very unusual.

There were no traps, either, which are common in ancient tombs to deter tomb robbers. Although he had encountered corpse-protecting insects earlier, this was not a sufficient reason.

Su Jiu fell into deep thought.

The stone chamber before him was completely empty, with nothing on the stone walls, no inscriptions at all.

This ancient tomb seemed to be somewhat unexpected.

Su Jiu quickly recalled the path he had taken, feeling that he had forgotten something.

"This ancient tomb doesn't seem like an ancient tomb," Su Jiu muttered.

"Regardless, I've been down here for so long, and I don't have much time left. I'll keep going and see what happens," Su Jiu decided.

He couldn't afford to waste too much time here.

He had been down here for more than two hours.

Not having found the main tomb yet was troubling him.

With this thought in mind, Su Jiu quickly moved towards the next passage.

What happened in the next hour made Su Jiu's entire body tremble and feel shocked.

Another stone chamber.

Su Jiu looked at the scene before him. This stone chamber was almost identical to the ones he had encountered earlier, except for the absence of a statue. It was also completely empty.

"Something seems off," Su Jiu thought.

This did not conform to the layout of an ancient tomb. Refusing to believe it, Su Jiu continued towards the next passage.

In the next hour, Su Jiu walked through one stone chamber after another, and the situations he encountered were basically the same.

"Damn, is this an array?" Su Jiu muttered, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

He had long turned off the strong light on his safety helmet, and the fluorescent stones on both sides of the stone walls had illuminated the entire chamber and passage.

The only change he could feel after walking for so long was that the light from the fluorescent stones was getting brighter.

This was why Su Jiu had not thought he was on the wrong path.

But now, the thought crossed his mind that he was likely lost or had entered an array.

Because no ancient tomb could be this large.

The existing tomb of King Liang Xiao, located in Henan, was not this large. The tomb's inner chamber was only about 100 meters long from north to south and 50 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of about 5,000 square meters.

Even including the outer burial grounds, it would only expand to about twice that size.

But now, he had been walking in this ancient tomb for three hours. How far could an adult walk in three hours at a normal pace?

Fifteen kilometers in an hour, so 45 kilometers in three hours. Even with a discount, he could definitely walk 30 kilometers.

Could an ancient tomb be this large?

No! This was a no-brainer.

Even throughout the 5,000-year history of China, no emperor's tomb was this large.

But now, he was facing such a situation.

This was either an array or a maze.

And he had no idea.

The designer of this ancient tomb was truly a master.

Su Jiu couldn't help but think.

"What should I do now?" Su Jiu thought.

If he had known about this situation in advance, he would have been confident in solving it. But now, he was deep inside this unknown maze or array.

He had no clue how to sort everything out.

Su Jiu forced himself to calm down.

He couldn't panic now.

If his guess was correct and he panicked, he might very well be trapped here.

This was a matter of life and death, and Su Jiu was very cautious.

Standing in the stone chamber, Su Jiu took a deep breath and quietly began to cultivate the energy within his body. This was the only way to quickly calm himself down.

But then something happened that made Su Jiu realize something.

A faint energy began to be slowly attracted and absorbed by his body.

Su Jiu opened his eyes.

A glint of light flashed.

"This is..."

Su Jiu's heart trembled.

This feeling was so comfortable, so refreshing.

The fatigue from his journey was instantly swept away, and his energy and spirit gradually recovered.

"Dragon veins nourish people and the earth. This is the spiritual energy of the dragon vein," Su Jiu thought to himself.

At this moment, Su Jiu could not focus on anything else, and the problems he had been pondering were pushed aside.

He had felt the energy of the dragon vein in the passage earlier.

At the time, Su Jiu had not thought about absorbing it.

In Su Jiu's understanding, the energy of the dragon vein could only nourish and sustain life, and could not be absorbed.

Although ancient records mentioned some people who had been nourished by the energy of the dragon vein, this was always due to the dragon vein's own benevolence, and no one could actively absorb the energy of the dragon vein.

Su Jiu was very clear about this.

He was not some great person and did not have the ability to do so. Even at the Qi Cultivation stage, it was impossible.

To put it simply, the energy in Su Jiu's body was of a lower grade, while the energy of the dragon vein was of the highest grade in cultivation.

The lower grade could not absorb the higher grade.

This was a simple analogy.

So even though Su Jiu had felt the spiritual energy of the dragon vein, he had not thought about absorbing it.

But now, he had just wanted to calm his restless mind through cultivation, and unexpectedly, he was able to absorb the spiritual energy of the dragon vein.

Su Jiu immediately entered a state of cultivation. In the past two months, due to the golden compass in his mind, he had never been completely calm during cultivation.

Mainly because the golden compass seemed to be recovering, affecting Su Jiu's cultivation.

But now, as more and more spiritual energy entered Su Jiu's body, the speed of the qi circulation in his body increased.

He entered a state of complete absorption.

After a long time, when the spiritual energy seemed to reach the limit of what his body could contain, a crisp "snap" was heard. Su Jiu's entire body and spirit trembled, as if breaking through some kind of restriction and entering a new realm.

"This is..." Su Jiu opened his eyes and came to his senses.

At this moment, Su Jiu checked his body.

In just this short time, he had reached the middle stage of Qi Cultivation.

Originally, without the right opportunity, it would have taken at least a year to reach the middle stage of Qi Cultivation.

But now, he had reached it so easily.

Su Jiu's entire sensory perception had changed.

Closing his eyes, the surroundings automatically appeared in his mind, and he could feel the flow of the dragon vein's spiritual energy more clearly than before.

Su Jiu expanded his mental energy, spreading it out. Gradually, the entire layout of the ancient tomb appeared in his mind.

"This..."

Su Jiu was shocked. This was not something he should be able to do at the middle stage of Qi Cultivation.

This was incredible.

At this moment, Su Jiu was not worried about whether he was trapped in an array or a maze.

The scene in his mind had clearly shown him the layout of the nearby ancient tomb.

He had indeed entered an array, and it was an illusionary array.

"The Three Talents Seven Stars Array."

This was a low-level array with no lethal power, but it could trap even those with high cultivation levels.

According to the information in his mind, if one's mental state was not firm or relaxed, even a Qi Observation stage cultivator could be trapped.

Trapped to starve to death in the ancient tomb.

But now, since Su Jiu had seen through everything, it was no longer a problem.

He just needed to spread his mental energy as he had done earlier, and the so-called Three Talents Seven Stars Array would pose no threat to him.

Not only could he leave, but finding the main tomb and reaching the source of the dragon vein would also be no problem.

Thinking of this, Su Jiu couldn't help but feel elated. He had not expected to encounter such an opportunity.

Immediately, Su Jiu mobilized the energy and mental energy in his body, preparing to use the same method again.

Just as he was about to spread his mental energy, Su Jiu's expression changed. The sudden change in his mind made him completely stunned.