Where Is This?

“Come on, let’s go take a look...”

Lu Ming took the lead and rushed toward the rising black light, with Big Yellow and Huang Tianbao quickly following behind.

A moment later, they arrived at the smoking spot.

There, in the very center of the imperial mausoleum, was a round hole about the size of a well. It looked as though it had been perfectly carved out, with the surrounding stone slabs completely intact. The black light was emitting from this very hole.

“Third Brother, this couldn't be some treasure left behind by your ancestors, could it?” Lu Ming asked as he pulled out a concealment array disk.

He planned to set up a concealment formation. With this black light shooting straight into the sky, who knew what kind of people it would attract if left unchecked?

Huang Tianbao stared at the hole, also looking somewhat bewildered. “I’ve never heard of anything like this!”

He searched his memories once more, but still came up completely empty. His grandfather had definitely never mentioned anything of the sort to him.

Once the concealment formation was set up, the black light shooting into the sky was instantly hidden from view.

“Has this black hole ever appeared before?” Lu Ming turned and asked Huang Tianbao.

Huang Tianbao shook his head. “Not since I can remember. And my grandfather never told me about it either.”

Lu Ming nodded. He reached into his storage bag again, pulled out a protection array formation, and set it up.

Then, he brought out a trap formation, an illusion formation, a teleportation array...

In one go, Lu Ming set up several array disks.

Needless to say, this black hole had remained quiet for so long, yet it suddenly started smoking the moment he arrived. According to the laws of being a protagonist, this was either a great opportunity or a massive disaster...

Lu Ming cautiously approached the edge of the hole and swept his divine sense downward to investigate. His divine sense was something he had only unlocked after reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage.

And indeed, it was incredibly convenient. Under the sweep of his divine sense, everything was laid bare, as if he had unlocked a third-person perspective.

However, even after scanning with his divine sense, he found absolutely nothing within its range. Inside the black hole, there was only endless black light and an eerie, chilling gloom.

Next, Lu Ming took out a spirit sword and poked it into the black smoke to test it.

Seeing Lu Ming's actions, Big Yellow and Huang Tianbao also stared with grave expressions.

However, the spirit sword showed no reaction when thrust into the black light. Seeing this, Lu Ming cautiously extended a single finger to test it.

Instantly, a biting, cold energy invaded his body. As his spiritual energy circulated, the chill quickly dissipated. Fortunately, there were no signs of poison or any other harmful effects.

Only then did Lu Ming cautiously poke his head over the edge of the hole to look down. Aside from a deep, dark abyss, he couldn't see a single thing.

Big Yellow also poked its head over and sniffed with its nose. Aside from the cold aura, it didn't discover anything either.

Seeing Lu Ming and the dog peering down, Huang Tianbao instinctively leaned his head over as well.

“Ah!”

The moment Huang Tianbao poked his head over, he let out a startled cry and tumbled straight in, headfirst.

Lu Ming, who had been focused on observing the hole, absolutely did not expect this to happen. He lunged forward to grab him, but in his haste, he only managed to rip off Huang Tianbao's belt.

“Woof, woof!!”

Big Yellow’s dog face was filled with utter speechlessness. What on earth was this? Everyone was just satisfying their curiosity. As a junior brother whose skills hovered somewhere between an expert and a novice, did he really have to show off his clumsiness like this?

“Let’s go. We're going down.”

Lu Ming didn't dare delay. He jumped straight down, and Big Yellow followed right behind him.

The moment he jumped, Lu Ming felt a bone-chilling cold seep through his pores and into his body. It made him shiver violently, prompting him to quickly circulate his spiritual energy to protect himself.

Two consecutive thuds echoed as he and Big Yellow landed on the ground at the same time.

Lu Ming grumbled as he climbed to his feet and brushed himself off. “What kind of ghostly place is this?”

“Woof, woof!!”

Big Yellow shook its body, then darted to Lu Ming's side, warily scanning their surroundings.

Looking around, the space was empty and incredibly vast. Lu Ming had not expected it to be this massive underground. However, the entire colossal space was shrouded in a hazy grey mist. The silence was terrifying, without a single sound to be heard.

“Third Brother! Third Brother!” Lu Ming quickly called out. Aside from his and Big Yellow's breathing, there was no response.

“Woof, woof!!”

Big Yellow also barked into the surroundings. Third Brother clearly fell down with us, so why isn't he here?

Lu Ming frowned. They had fallen down one after the other, so how could Huang Tianbao have vanished?

“Come on, let’s search around.”

“Woof, woof!!”

Big Yellow nodded in agreement.

With that, the man and the dog began searching for Huang Tianbao.

“Huang Tianbao! Third Brother!”

They searched for an unknown amount of time, but they couldn't find him anywhere. Aside from the hazy grey mist, there was absolutely nothing else around. This place felt like a land of the dead, completely devoid of any life force.

“Woof, woof!!”

Boss, there's something over there! Big Yellow suddenly barked, pointing in a certain direction.

“Let’s go look.”

Lu Ming took the lead and rushed over.

A moment later, a towering black palace appeared before Lu Ming's eyes. The glazed tiles on the palace roof shimmered with a dark, eerie luster under the dim, grey light.

“Woof, woof!?”

Big Yellow stared at the palace and swallowed hard. Boss, did we just arrive at the Yama Hall from those ghost stories you told me? This is way too scary for a dog!

“Probably not. Like you said, those were just stories I told. That stuff only exists in stories.” Lu Ming offered a brief explanation as he headed toward the grand hall.

Big Yellow quickly scurried after him.

Arriving before the grand hall, they saw two massive guardian beast statues, each about ten feet tall, crouching on either side of the entrance. They resembled Qilin but possessed three pairs of sharp claws, and their bodies were as pitch-black as ink. Their eye sockets were hollow, making it feel as though they were staring deathly at anyone who approached.

“Woof, woof!!”

Big Yellow rolled its eyes at the two statues in annoyance. How do you have the face to crouch here when you look so terrifying? Then, it looked up at Lu Ming again. Boss, this place really looks like the Yama Hall you described! Could there really be a King of Hell here?

Lu Ming patted the dog's head. “It’s fine. Let’s go inside and take a look.”

At the same time, he was rather speechless. Those were just ghost stories he had told Big Yellow out of boredom. He hadn't expected the dog to actually use them as a reference. However, he was also highly curious about how such an ancient underground city could exist beneath Huang Tianbao's family land.

Lu Ming stepped forward and pushed open the massive dark iron gates. Then, he hunched his back and slipped inside.

The moment he crossed the threshold, the sight before him made him nearly bite his tongue off in shock. Lined up in perfect order on both sides of the grand hall were countless soldiers made of clay, all emitting a faint, ghostly glow.

They looked just like the Terracotta Army of the First Emperor, except every single one of them had a hideous, demonic face with blue skin and exposed fangs. Some of them held ghostly, glowing chains in their hands, while others held massive ghost-headed broadswords. The armor they wore gleamed with a deathly, dark luster.

Stretching out row after row, they looked like a silent army of ghost soldiers from the Nine Nether, staring mutely at him, the intruder.