Chapter 1 What Is This Place?

"This… what is this place…" The Third Princess was the first to exclaim. In fact, as long as one wasn't too foolish or naive, someone like the Third Princess, who had access to the most luxurious life, would more easily understand what things were combined to create such splendor and nobility, and the price that had to be paid. Precisely because she was accustomed to the magnificent palaces of the Xiling royal family, when she saw this underground space, whose interior was no less grand than the main Taihua Hall of the Xiling Palace, she couldn't help but cry out in surprise.

One had to know that the previous dynasty was hundreds of years in the past, and the former imperial garden here in the valley was built during the most prosperous period of that dynasty, adding even more time to the equation. Back then, things weren't like they were now. Now, although the core technology of the framework created by the Ye Clan Workshop, plus the method of constructing with cement, was still in the hands of the Ye Clan Construction Company, the recipes for the highest quality cement and the construction details had never been revealed. However, there were many capable people under heaven, and various places had succeeded in learning the Ye Clan Workshop's framework cement construction methods. Although everyone didn't necessarily have the courage to use this half-baked reinforced concrete construction to build magnificent palaces, at least many military camps and outposts, where the aesthetic appearance of the buildings wasn't a major requirement, had begun to popularize the use of reinforced concrete construction. But when the former imperial garden here in the valley was built, there were only stones and simple construction techniques. Especially such a huge underground palace, it was simply beyond human power to achieve.

"Look, there's tallow in these braziers, and the lamp wicks have already rotted. Everyone, look around for something that can be twisted into a lamp wick, and light this place up. Don't worry about exhausting the air, it's obviously ventilated here." At this time, Commander Qin, with no worries about what was behind them, focused all his attention on the underground palace. On the one hand, they had to stay here and survive. On the other hand, he also knew that if they could discover something in this former dynasty's underground palace, he, who already had a profound resume and was deeply favored, would surely rise to the top and become a key general in the army. And Commander Qin actually had some understanding of this kind of underground adventure activity. "Don't light them all, light every other one, just enough to see the situation clearly. Don't get separated, set off in groups of two."

Following Commander Qin's instructions, the guards dispersed to light the braziers. Lamp wicks were extremely simple to make, just tear off a strip of cloth from their clothes. And as the lights gradually illuminated the entire underground hall, what they saw made them even more speechless.

"These pillars aren't gilded… but, but they're painted with gold, a technique that has been extinct for more than two hundred years. To be able to see so much gold-painted artwork here… Heavens, what is this place?" A young man named Zhang Chunming practically roared out when he saw the exquisite gold-painted patterns on the stone pillars. This guy was obsessed with collecting various famous paintings and calligraphies at home, and now, suddenly seeing the intricate paintings throughout the entire hall, he didn't know where to look.

Commander Qin, however, saw some clues. As a guard commander, he was very familiar with the system of royal architecture, otherwise he wouldn't be able to coordinate the implementation. Although it was inside an underground palace, looking at the number of pillars, the decorations, and the spacing ratio of the arrangement, it was clearly the architectural style of a royal ancestral hall… However, he also knew that the ancestral hall of the previous dynasty's royal family couldn't be here. Although someone had said at the time that they wanted to move the imperial tombs, they never had time to implement it.

"Commander Qin, there are several other passages on the side, leading to who knows where. Should we send people to investigate?" Two guards returned to report the situation.

"Commander Qin, the appearance of this place… seems very strange. You'd better send people to investigate. If the situation here isn't investigated clearly, there may be trouble later." The Third Princess reminded him rationally. She also saw that the architectural style here was very wrong. If it wasn't handled in time, Commander Qin would have plenty of opportunities to be interrogated and disciplined later. The others wouldn't care about the fact that in this situation, the priority should be to protect the hostages without adding to the chaos.

"Yes, Your Highness." Commander Qin immediately sent five people in pairs to advance along the passages on both sides of the hall, ordering them to report back as soon as possible.

At this time, Ye Tao and the others stood up and said, "Commander Qin, there's no danger here. Let's lend a hand. Anyway, it's just walking over to take a look and then walking back, isn't it?"

Everyone present echoed in agreement, thinking that there really wasn't any danger here. All the enemies and allies were blocked behind them, and they didn't have to worry about anything. And here, there were only two things to worry about: first, when they went out through that bronze door, they hoped to see their own people instead of those bandits; second, if they could find another exit from the underground palace, that would be even better. Commander Qin generously agreed to everyone's request, telling them to be very careful. And he also set off with the Third Princess to explore a passage. Starting from this hall, there were five main passages, as well as several branch roads that could be encountered at any time.

Ye Tao and his group didn't choose a road, but instead had Commander Qin designate a road for them to set off on. They followed that road, walked for a while, and stopped slightly after going down two flights of stairs. Ye Tao shrugged and asked Liu Yong with a smile, "Isn't it a little too smooth? The next section will be the underground maze. From there, we can go around to the back mountain and exit from that exit."

Liu Yong also shrugged and said, "Isn't that a good thing? Everything is under control. It's just that what Suo Yong brought was only a part of the map of the entire maze. They at least had another blueprint to guide them at the time, and there was no need to explore the entire underground maze."

Tan Weixin wasn't worried at all, "Actually, it's just encountering some mechanisms. We'll be careful, it should be fine. And if there really are any mechanisms, Ye Tao will definitely have a way, right?"

Ye Tao smiled. Although the maze map in their hands wasn't complete, it contained a third of the content, with dense markings of various solved and unsolved mechanisms. No matter what, they had at least three safe roads that could lead to that exit, the exit that Suo Yong and his team used to enter the underground palace, loot all the treasures, and transport them out. According to the plan, there should be several people waiting for them there.

Tan Weixin seemed to be in high spirits. This was her first time adventuring with Ye Tao. In fact, their plan wasn't just this. They at least needed to activate a few useless mechanisms, make some noise, and make everyone think that their group had been swallowed up by the maze. That way, even if someone had doubts, they wouldn't seriously investigate anything anymore. The remaining work depended on how those who stayed behind in Anqing would arrange things.

Most of the places in the entire underground palace didn't even have thick layers of dust, but this was also within their expectations. Actually, Ye Tao had also broadened his horizons this time regarding this underground palace. These unimaginable underground palaces were all built entirely with human lives, to the point that the entire valley he had heard of had been transformed into a paradise where humans and nature lived in harmony, an engineering project of unimaginable scale. The financial resources, manpower, and material resources required were no less than building a city. Knowing this, Ye Tao could easily understand why that unified superpower dynasty had been annihilated in that way. Of course, it wasn't completely annihilated, after all, there were still some descendants of the previous dynasty who wanted to revive that dynasty, and if there was an opportunity, the Dao Ming Sect would definitely support this kind of action in order to obtain absolute benefits. However, now, the deep-seated desires of the Dao Ming Sect seemed to be becoming increasingly unrealistic.

The entire underground palace was too quiet. Soon, they heard the sound of some huge rocks moving, the sound of some thick iron chains between the layers of the underground palace being wound. They could also hear some exclamations, some screams… but these had nothing to do with them.

Suddenly, a voice came from close by. "Hey, what are you doing here?" The expressions of Ye Tao and his group changed. They had actually run into Commander Qin and the Third Princess and the others in the maze.

"Your Highness, Commander Qin… have you encountered anything strange along the way?" Ye Tao immediately reacted, pretending to be frightened and saying, "This maze… actually has mechanisms…"

The expression on Commander Qin's face, illuminated by the firelight, was clearly unpleasant. He said in a deep voice, "I've already lost two of my men along the way. To think that after so many years, these mechanisms can still work."

Ye Tao nodded and said, "Yes, how is that possible?"

A guard interjected angrily, "Who would have thought that the previous dynasty was so willing to spend money building this underground palace? The triggers of those crossbows are all made of things that don't rust easily. I don't even recognize what they are. And they're covered in thick grease."

As they were speaking, suddenly, everyone felt as if the ground of the entire underground palace was trembling slightly. Then, a loud rumbling sound came from beneath their feet. Throughout this process, they clearly saw some walls retracting into the ground, and other walls rising from the ground… the entire structure of the maze had changed.

Ye Tao glanced at Tan Weixin, who was now standing close behind him, like a little girl, gently pinching the corner of his clothes. Ye Tao grabbed Tan Weixin's hand. Her hand was a little warm, with no coldness or sweat caused by nervousness or fear…

"It's okay… we'll definitely find the way." Ye Tao said softly.

"Commander Qin, let's continue on. It looks like we'll have to put in some effort." Liu Yong quietly stood in front of Commander Qin, shielding Ye Tao and Tan Weixin and the others behind him.