Chapter Forty-Five: The Treasure of the Tomb (Part One)

“Thank you for giving me a name, Master!” the woman exclaimed with delight. “This name carries such a spiritual charm. From now on, I shall be called the Immortal Among the Clouds!”

Wood, quite pleased with his own quick wit, added, “From now on, I’ll call you Fairy. And as for me, my real name is Chen Mu. Please don’t keep calling me Celestial or Master—it feels awkward.”

The Immortal Among the Clouds blinked, thought for a moment, and replied, “Fairy cannot address her master by name, so why don’t I call you Young Master from now on? When I dwelled as a silver carp in the Clear Water Peach Spring, many people would come to visit, and that’s how they addressed each other.”

Chen Mu nodded, thinking to himself, You’re a being from thousands of years ago—even if you called me Brother Mu, I wouldn’t dare accept it.

Now that the Immortal Among the Clouds had sworn herself to him, Chen Mu thought he ought to reward her with something. When Master Carefree had taken him as a disciple, he’d gifted him a flying sword, after all.

But what would make a suitable gift? He pondered, idly glancing at the Plane System, when a line of text suddenly caught him off guard: “Current item: Golden Jiao Shears, a mythic artifact, forged from two flood dragons by absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, refined by sun and moon. When wielded, it soars through the sky, encircled in auspicious clouds, and can sever enemies in two with a single strike… Analysis: S-tier item.”

Damn… this is truly a treasure, Chen Mu thought in secret. He remembered that even in the Investiture of the Gods, the Golden Jiao Shears were a formidable magic weapon, powerful enough to threaten even Sun Wukong. Otherwise, experts of the highest caliber wouldn’t have fled at the mere sight of them unleashed.

“I’m still new to the cultivation world and have little to offer. Take this magical artifact as my gift to you,” he said after some hesitation, finally giving the shears to the Immortal Among the Clouds, though it pained him to part with such a treasure.

“Thank you, Young Master!” The Immortal Among the Clouds accepted the Golden Jiao Shears with both hands, her face bright with joy. “Young Master, I shall use this as my protective artifact. Within it rest the souls of two ancient flood dragons. Though they committed evil in their lifetimes and had their spirits destroyed, their powers remain. As I am of their kind, I can borrow their strength.”

“Oh!” Chen Mu was overjoyed. This meant the Immortal Among the Clouds could become a powerful ally. He promptly asked, “What level of strength does that grant you?”

“Well, flood dragons are similar to true dragons but inherently weaker, so they’re roughly at the level of a novice immortal.”

Excellent! Chen Mu was thrilled. Even a novice immortal was no small matter. With such a formidable helper, he felt much more confident about completing future plane missions.

Just then, a sudden, thunderous explosion shook the burial chamber, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. Chen Mu realized it must be Uncle Li and the others blasting open the passage with explosives. He quickly pulled out a book and said, “Don’t reveal yourself to mortals. Enter here for now!” He formed a seal and cast a spell, drawing the Immortal Among the Clouds into his inner sanctuary.

Sure enough, moments later, a group of people surged into the chamber, their flashlights darting wildly. A cheer rang out: “We finally found the place!”

Someone, spotting Chen Mu in the beam of a flashlight, cried out, “A ghost!” and reached for his pistol.

Chen Mu quickly called out, “Uncle Li, is that you?”

“Brother Mu, what are you doing here?” someone exclaimed, lighting several kerosene lamps and flooding the chamber with light.

“Brother Li, are these your people?” This was said by a middle-aged man in his fifties, roughly Uncle Li’s contemporary.

Chen Mu had already noticed that the newcomers weren’t just Uncle Li’s group—there was another party he didn’t recognize. So these must be the tomb raiders from before, and they even knew Uncle Li.

“Yes! Old Gu, this is Brother Mu, who came with us. But I don’t know how he got here first,” Uncle Li explained, then turned to Chen Mu. “Brother Mu, you’ve been missing for three days! We thought… How did you get here?”

Chen Mu forced a smile. “Don’t ask. Your bodyguard vanished, and when I leaned against the wall, I fell into a hidden chamber. I wandered around, lost, unable to find a way out. If I hadn’t brought enough food, I’d have starved!”

Uncle Li shook his head. “Who would have thought the tomb would be so full of traps? Still, the tomb’s owner seems to have been a benevolent soul—the mechanisms are for trapping, not killing. That’s how we managed to force our way here. Let me introduce you: this is my colleague from Hong Kong, Gu Yueguan. Old Gu, this is the friend I told you about, the one who can read those strange characters.”

Hearing this, Gu Yueguan gave Chen Mu a hard look, but retorted, “A benevolent soul? I doubt it! Trapped in a tomb with no hope of rescue, who wouldn’t starve to death? The owner must have been cruel—wanting tomb robbers to experience the pain of slow death. That’s true malice.” He spoke with open disdain.

Uncle Li merely laughed and changed the subject. “Old Gu, it seems we’ve found the spot. Why don’t we open the coffin and look for what we came for?”

“Wait!” Master Xiuyuan suddenly stopped the bodyguards about to open the coffin. He shone his flashlight carefully over the casket, removed his gas mask, and sniffed deeply. “This coffin is made from Heart-Swapping Fragrant Wood, at least a thousand years old. A woman must be buried inside. Be careful when you open it—the top may hold a rainbow fungus. Don’t dislodge it!”

The bodyguards nodded, and one set a candle in the southeast corner.

Hearing of the rainbow fungus, Chen Mu was intrigued and asked, “Master Xiuyuan, how do you know a woman’s buried inside, and that there’s a rainbow fungus on the coffin?”

Master Xiuyuan replied, “I’m not absolutely certain, but I once read in a Daoist text that when a virgin is buried in extremely yin wood in a place rich with spiritual energy, her body remains uncorrupted for a thousand years. At the mouth of the coffin, a spirit fungus known as lettuce will grow. It’s a type of ganoderma, said to cure countless poisons and greatly benefit cultivators. Since Heart-Swapping Fragrant Wood is extremely yin, I deduced a woman must be buried here. If we’re lucky, we might encounter a legendary treasure.”

Chen Mu then realized that, in his moment of crisis, the Immortal Among the Clouds had fed him that very lettuce. She’d been trapped by the Golden Jiao Shears transformed into Dragon-Binding Pillars, less than a meter from the coffin. With heaven and earth’s help, her breath had nurtured a rare treasure, which ended up saving his life. He realized he truly owed her his gratitude.

As the bodyguards busied themselves around the coffin, Uncle Li drew Chen Mu aside. “You disappeared three days ago, but you don’t know what happened after. Not long after you vanished, we went back to search for you and the missing bodyguard. Suddenly, the fragment that Master Xiuyuan carried emitted a seven-colored light and vanished. We searched the entire tomb but couldn’t find it!” Uncle Li’s voice trembled with fear.

Chen Mu knew the fragment must have merged with the stele, but after obtaining the Primordial Heaven Mirror, even the stele had disappeared.

At that moment, a bodyguard exclaimed, “Look at the candle…”

Everyone turned to the southeast corner. The candle flickered despite the still air, then quietly went out. Tension shot through the group. Chen Mu, puzzled, asked, “What’s wrong?”

Uncle Li explained, “It’s a tomb raider’s rule. The legend goes, if you light a candle on the path of life in the southeast corner and it stays lit, you can take the grave goods. But if it goes out, you must return everything, bow three times, and leave the way you came.”

Chen Mu was still puzzled. “Why?”

Before Uncle Li could answer, Gu Yueguan interjected, “It’s a custom passed down for thousands of years. Nobody remembers the reason, but a rule that old must have some meaning! Let’s relight the candle and see what happens. With so many people here, maybe someone’s breath blew it out.”

A bodyguard stepped forward to relight the candle, but as soon as the flame caught, it turned green and was snuffed out without a sound. Panic seized the group, and they instinctively huddled together.

Uncle Li sighed. “It seems we’re not fated for this treasure. Best leave it be.” With that, he bowed three times before the coffin. The bodyguards, tough as they usually were, didn’t dare defy the custom and also bowed deeply before withdrawing.

As they left the burial chamber, Gu Yueguan complained bitterly, “After all the effort and expense, are we really just going to walk away?”

Uncle Li replied, “What else can we do? If you have the courage, Old Gu, go ahead and take the treasure. I won’t touch a thing!”

As the saying goes, wealth makes men fear death. Gu Yueguan didn’t dare, though his words were bold: “It’s not the treasure that matters, but the clues we seek might be in that coffin. After all this way, it would be a shame to leave empty-handed.”

“Let me try,” Chen Mu offered. In the tomb, he had noticed nothing unusual about the candle, and now, confident in his cultivation and his ability to command the elements, he felt no fear of any spirits or demons. In fact, he was curious—he had just tamed a little dragon, after all; if there were ghosts or monsters, he’d like to see them for himself.

Uncle Li was delighted. “Good! Brother Mu is one of us, but I can tell he’s brimming with vitality—perhaps even ghosts would shy away. And remember, whatever is in the coffin, we take only what we need and leave the rest untouched.”

Chen Mu said nothing. Taking the candle from the bodyguard, he entered the southeast corner of the tomb, lit it, and all eyes fixed on the flame, not daring to blink…