Chapter 65
On the Cliff
The air suddenly fell silent.
There was no wind, no insect chirping, and even the ghostly wailing sound we heard upstairs had disappeared.
This silence is even more terrifying than the Cave of Ten Thousand Snakes.
It felt like a heavy weight on everyone's eardrums, making you able to hear the sound of your own blood flowing.
"Thump...thump...thump..."
That was Jiang Han's heartbeat.
The sound was clearly transmitted throughout the live broadcast room through the recording equipment.
Each strike was steady and powerful, yet incredibly fast.
This is a sign of an adrenaline surge.
Jiang Han, carrying a knife, walked step by step toward the black palace.
Boots stepped on the black floor tiles.
"despair."
The sound was crisp, almost shrill.
It was as if someone had gently tapped the wooden fish in the empty hall.
"These floor tiles...something's not right."
Jiang Han suddenly stopped and looked down at his feet.
The black stone surface was free of dust.
Instead, it had a greasy sheen.
"This is not the original color of the stone."
Jiang Han squatted down, stretched out his finger, and wiped the ground.
A sticky, damp, and cold sensation came from my fingertips.
I brought it close to my nose and took a sniff.
An indescribable sweet and fishy smell instantly filled my nostrils.
It tastes like lard that's been sitting out for too long, mixed with the smell of formaldehyde.
"vomit--"
Even if you can't smell it through the screen, just seeing Jiang Han's furrowed brows makes the audience feel nauseous.
"It's corpse oil."
Jiang Han stood up and casually wiped his hands on the corner of his clothes.
His tone was so flat it was as if he were saying, "It's water."
"This palace wasn't built."
"It's 'soaked' out."
"So many people have died here over the millennia that the oil from the rotting corpses has soaked through these stones."
"Holy crap! Stop talking! I'm eating!"
"I feel like throwing up too! This house is soaked in corpse oil?!"
"What is this place for? It feels even more eerie than the snake pit we just encountered!"
"Hey anchor, look! There's something on that door!"
Jiang Han raised her head.
His gaze fell on the ten-meter-high black stone gate.
The two dragon head statues on the door are ferocious and terrifying, with their eyes inlaid with two red gemstones that reflect an eerie red light under the flashlight beam.
It's like...alive.
And below the dragon's head.
Two uniquely shaped lamps were hanging there.
Those were two bronze human heads, their mouths wide open, with lamp wicks inserted inside.
The lamp has been extinguished for a thousand years.
But inside the lamp, there was still half a bowl of murky butter.
"Mermaid oil".
Jiang Han stepped forward, his gaze fixed intently on the two lamps.
"The Records of the Grand Historian says that Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum used candles made of mermaid oil, which were said to burn for a long time without going out."
"This is of imperial mausoleum standard."
"But this place..."
He gave a cold laugh.
"It's not for the emperor to live in."
"It's used to... suppress things."
He looked at both sides of the stone gate.
There were no couplets there, but the ground was covered with dense, twisted runes that looked like earthworms.
That's not writing.
That's a "corpse-suppressing talisman".
Moreover, it was carved with cinnabar mixed with the blood of some kind of creature, and after thousands of years, it is still dazzlingly red.
"Will you open the door?"
Jiang Han asked a question.
But he clearly had no intention of listening to the audience's opinions.
He took a half step back and gripped the hilt of the black gold ancient sword with both hands.
This door is too heavy; it can't be pushed open.
Moreover, the doors in such places usually have mechanisms in place.
The best way is... to break the deadlock by force!
"Now that we're here, there's no reason not to go in."
"It doesn't matter whether it's a god or a ghost locked inside."
"They all have to... receive guests!"
Before he could finish speaking...
Jiang Han suddenly swung the black gold ancient sword.
But he didn't use the blade to cut.
Instead, he slammed the heavy end of the hilt of the knife into the crack in the center of the stone door!
"Thump—!!!"
A deafeningly loud bang.
It's like the morning bell in a temple being struck.
The sound waves echoed across the empty cliff platform, causing the drone's camera to shake violently!
"Creak—"
A teeth-grinding scraping sound rang out.
That stone door, which had been sealed for countless years, actually moved!
It slowly opens inward.
A dark crack was revealed.
"call--!!"
The instant the door opened.
A visible plume of black gas, like pressure cooker releasing steam, burst out from the crack in the door!
That was the accumulated corpse energy of a thousand years!
It's also a highly poisonous miasma!
"retreat!"
Jiang Han reacted extremely quickly.
He touched the ground with his toes and slid backward three meters, holding his breath and covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve.
"Sizzle sizzle..."
The black smoke sprayed onto the floor tiles at the entrance, producing a corrosive sound and emitting white smoke!
The live stream chat exploded instantly.
"I'm poisonous! This smoke is poisonous!"
"Is the streamer alright?! If he'd taken even one whiff of that, he'd probably be dead!"
"That sound just now... it sounded like countless people sighing?"
"I heard it too! When the door opened, it sounded like there was a 'sigh'!"
Jiang Han stared intently at the door.
Waiting for the black mist to dissipate.
The Qilin tattoo on his chest was getting hotter and hotter, and even started to ache slightly.
This means that what's inside is very powerful.
It was so powerful that even the Qilin bloodline felt threatened.
at last.
A few minutes later, the black mist dissipated.
Jiang Han lowered his sleeves and picked up the knife again.
"Walk."
"Let's go in and take a look."
He stepped over the high threshold.
Step in.
Darkness instantly engulfed him.
The searchlight beam from the drone pierced the darkness inside the hall like a sharp sword.
"hiss--"
The moment I saw the interior of the main hall.
Jiang Han stopped.
His pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints.
Even the hand gripping the knife unconsciously tightened its hold.
The main hall was empty.
There were no pillars, no furniture.
There wasn't even an altar for worshipping the gods.
There was only... one coffin.
A huge, pitch-black coffin, its surface covered with blood-red runes.
It wasn't placed on the ground.
Instead... it's suspended in mid-air!
Nine thick bronze chains hung down from nine directions at the top of the hall, tightly wrapped around the coffin.
Hang it like a prisoner in the very center of the hall!
And directly below the coffin.
It's not the ground.
It is a bottomless, circular black hole!
That was a well.
A well that exudes endless cold air... the Dragon Locking Well!
"This is... the master of the Dragon Suppression Palace?"
Jiang Han's voice was a little hoarse.
He slowly raised the flashlight, and the beam of light moved upward, illuminating the front of the hanging coffin.
There were no names engraved there.
There were only four shocking words written in blood.
His pen strokes were sharp as knives, revealing a boundless hatred and murderous intent.
"Suppress, my son."