NFBE Chapter 239: The Strange Seal
Chapter 239: The Strange Seal
Suddenly, Fang Xiaoxiao slipped and fell downwards.
"Xiao Xiao!" the others exclaimed.
Fortunately, Long Jinyan reacted quickly and grabbed Fang Xiaoxiao's arm, pulling her up.
After some twists and turns, they arrived at a spacious cave. In the center of the cave stood a huge stone coffin, its lid covered with mysterious runes.
The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, their hearts filled with doubt and tension. Pei Yan swallowed hard and spoke.
"Is there any danger inside this stone coffin?"
Fang Xiaoxiao took a deep breath.
"No matter what, now that we're here, we can't back down. Everyone be careful, open it and take a look."
With everyone's help, they pushed open the lid of the stone coffin, and a pungent odor wafted out.
By the dim light, they saw a body dressed in magnificent clothes lying inside the coffin, surrounded by piles of gold and silver jewelry.
Just as they were about to pick up the jewelry, the corpse suddenly sat up, its empty eyes staring straight at them.
Everyone stepped back in fear.
It turned out to be a zombie that had turned into a corpse. It moved nimbly and pounced on the group.
Chaos erupted once again inside the cave.
Before they finished speaking, the statues began to move, approaching them step by step.
The group immediately stood back to back, forming a defensive formation. Fang Xiaoxiao stared intently at the approaching statue and shouted.
"Don't panic, everyone! Find their weaknesses!"
Long Jinyan swung his longsword at one of the statues, but only left a shallow mark on it.
The statue swung its hand back, and the powerful force sent Long Jinyan back several steps.
Li Renyi used his agile movements to weave between the statues, trying to find an opportunity to attack, but the statues moved in unison, leaving no opening for him to strike.
He Jinnian lashed out with his long whip again, wrapping it around the arm of a statue, trying to pull it down.
The statue remained motionless, but instead, it struggled and snapped the long whip in two.
In a moment of quick thinking, Pei Yan used a torch to set fire to some of the surrounding debris, creating a cloud of smoke.
While the statues were obscured by the smoke, Fang Xiaoxiao noticed that the joints seemed to be their most vulnerable parts.
"Attack their joints!" Fang Xiao shouted.
Upon hearing this, everyone focused their efforts on attacking the statue's joints.
After a fierce battle, several statues finally fell and turned into a pile of rubble.
However, more statues are still arriving.
Just when they were feeling overwhelmed, Fang Xiaoxiao discovered a stone gate behind the group of statues.
"That might be the exit, let's rush over there!" Fang Xiao shouted.
They struggled to break through the statues and rushed toward the stone gate.
Just as they were about to reach the stone gate, a huge statue fell from the sky, blocking their way.
The statue was even taller and more imposing than the previous one, and everyone's hearts sank. But there was no turning back now; they had no choice but to fight to the death.
Long Jinyan roared, channeling all his inner strength into his sword, unleashing a dazzling light as he thrust it towards the giant statue's leg joint. The giant statue, in pain, knelt on one knee.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Renyi leaped onto the statue's shoulder and struck its head. He Jinnian and Pei Yan also used all their strength to attack the other joints of the statue.
With everyone's combined efforts, the giant statue collapsed with a crash. They seized the opportunity to rush through the stone gate, behind which lay a long passage, its destination unknown.
They ran along the passage until a glimmer of light appeared ahead. "The exit is just ahead!" Fang Xiaoxiao shouted excitedly.
When they ran out of the passage, they found themselves in a valley.
The sunlight shone on them, and everyone felt incredibly warm and comforted.
……
The east end of the village.
Fang Xiaoxiao lay on the bed, holding a small, thumb-sized seal that she had obtained from the tomb.
The seal is milky white in color, with a dragon carved on the top, looking lifelike as if it were a real dragon.
The bottom of the seal is engraved with eight large characters: "By the mandate of Heaven, may your life be long and prosperous!"
She pondered for a long time but still couldn't figure out what the words engraved on the seal meant.
Within her limited knowledge base, she could not find any information about the meaning of seals.
"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore. It's a waste of my brain. I might as well go to sleep early and go to Kyoto first thing tomorrow morning."
On the way back, Li Renyi suggested that they take advantage of this incident and move Lingxi Pavilion directly to Kyoto.
After all, being under the emperor's nose, those who were chasing them would certainly not dare to act recklessly.
Fang Xiaoxiao mumbled as she carefully put away the seal, blew out the oil lamp, and lay down on the bed before falling asleep almost immediately.
The next morning, sunlight streamed into the house through the window.
Fang Xiaoxiao woke up early, tidied herself up quickly, and then met up with everyone at the east end of the village.
"Is everything ready?" Li Renyi asked.
Everyone nodded, their eyes filled with anticipation and a touch of nervousness for the future.
They embarked on their journey to Kyoto. Along the way, the scenery changed, and Fang Xiaoxiao gazed out the window, her mind filled with countless thoughts.
They arrived at a tea stall and sat down to rest. Fang Xiaoxiao took out her water pouch, took a sip of water, and said...
"I wonder what Kyoto is like. When we get there, we'll have to start all over again."
He Jinnian smiled.
"What's there to be afraid of? We've been through so much together, what's a little challenge?"
Pei Yan nodded in agreement.
"That's right. As long as we are united, we will definitely be able to gain a foothold in Kyoto."
As they were talking, they suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves approaching from afar.
Everyone looked warily toward the end of the road, where a troop of soldiers was rushing toward them.
"Oh no, could it be our pursuers?"
Li Renyi frowned and said.
Fang Xiaoxiao gripped the dagger at her waist tightly.
"Let's see what's going on first."
The officers and soldiers stopped in front of the tea stall. The leading general looked at them and asked a question.
Who are you? Where are you going?
Fang Xiaoxiao composed herself and stepped forward to speak.
“We are ordinary people who are going to Kyoto to make a living.”
The general looked them up and down, then waved his hand.
"Let's go, don't cause trouble on the way."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and continued on their way. After several days of travel, Kyoto finally came into view.
The gates of Kyoto were bustling with people.
Looking at the bustling scene before her, Fang Xiaoxiao secretly made a vow in her heart.
"I must make a name for myself in Kyoto!"
All her previous businesses in Jiangnan Province have vanished into thin air.
But there's nothing we can do about it; if we go back to Jiangnan Province, we'll definitely be targeted.
To avoid putting everyone at risk, we decided to abandon everything and start from scratch in Kyoto.
At this moment, Li Renyi stopped and looked at the crowd.
He actually had ulterior motives in suggesting that his wife come to the capital.
After all, his father's current situation is still unknown.
As the heir of the Marquis of Jing'an's household, he had to return home no matter what.