Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 331: Chapter 187: Stealing from the Tomb

In a flash, the Bronze Gate was completely exposed.

It was an outline, condensed from a Seal.

Golden patterns formed the shape of a door on the mountainside. Bronze light shone through the gaps in the patterns.

Feng Jiuchen didn’t approach rashly.

He stopped three steps from the Bronze Gate, crouched down, and picked up a fist-sized rock. After weighing it in his hand, he tossed it toward the Barrier.

The rock traced a parabola through the air. The instant it touched the Barrier, a bolt of lightning struck down from the void.

The rock’s surface crazed under the lightning, cracks spreading from the outside in. Then, the entire thing exploded, turning into a cloud of fine powder.

Feng Jiuchen jumped in fright, instinctively taking a step back. He nearly fell flat on his ass.

He stared wide-eyed at the spot where the powder had settled, his lips trembling. ”So vicious!”

Wan Ze took two steps closer, but not too close. He stopped five steps from the Bronze Gate and bent down, carefully examining the ground’s color and texture. He glanced at the powder still drifting in the air, then straightened up and looked at Feng Jiuchen. ”Well?”

”It hasn’t opened yet.” Feng Jiuchen shook his head, a hint of regret in his voice, but he perked up the very next second. ”But then again, look at the strength of this Seal! The rock was obliterated the moment it touched the Barrier—it didn’t even last a second. With this level of protection, the things inside must be absurdly powerful. A Tomb that a Qi Refiner would go to such lengths to protect even after death... Tsk, tsk.”

Wan Ze was thrilled at first, but he quickly composed himself.

He looked at Feng Jiuchen and asked a very practical question. ”So, when will it open?”

Feng Jiuchen froze, scratching his head. ”Shit,” he said awkwardly. ”That really is a problem. We can’t just wait around forever. Who the hell knows when this gate will open? It could be tomorrow, next year, or a hundred years from now. There’s never any rhyme or reason to when these Tombs open. It’s all up to luck.”

Wan Ze fell silent.

He stared at the Bronze Gate.

The prize was right before his eyes, just three steps away, but he couldn’t get in.

He couldn’t help but shoot another look at Feng Jiuchen. ’Did you bring me all the way out here just to show me a door I can’t get through?’

Feng Jiuchen read his expression, cleared his throat, and quickly tried to salvage the situation. ”Let’s try to find a mechanism first. The entrances to some Tombs aren’t permanently sealed; they have specific opening conditions. Maybe it’s a certain time, or particular weather, or even a special type of Qi. Let’s feel around the area first and see if there are any clues.”

As he spoke, he had already begun circling the Bronze Gate.

He pinched his fingers, calculating.

The thought of the lightning made him far too scared to touch anything directly.

Finally, out of options, Feng Jiuchen said, ”If all else fails, I’ll go back and look through some ancient texts. The Scripture Pavilion at Tongchen Pavilion has some records on Tombs. There aren’t many, but it’s better than me fumbling around blindly here.”

”Alright. We’ll look around first.”

Wan Ze was impatient as well.

But he was thinking about something else... ’Can I use Stealing Celestial Secret on this gate?’

’The Bronze Gate itself is an ancient object. Judging by its material and patterns, it must have existed for at least several hundred, maybe even a thousand years. In all that time, it must have come into contact with so many people, so much Qi, so many memories.’

’Could those memories still be lingering on the gate?’

’If I touch the gate, can I see those memories? Can I steal what’s inside them?’

Lost in thought, he unconsciously reached out, his hand extending toward the Bronze Gate.

”Dude, what the hell!” Feng Jiuchen, quick of eye and hand, shot out and grabbed Wan Ze’s wrist. ”Even if you have a death wish, this isn’t the way to do it! Didn’t you see what happened to that rock? Is your hand tougher than stone?”

Wan Ze’s hand froze in mid-air, his fingertips less than a foot from the Bronze Gate.

”There’s an Array on this Seal, and it’s vicious,” Feng Jiuchen said, letting go of his wrist. He picked up a dead branch from the ground and waved it in front of Wan Ze. ”Don’t believe me? Watch.”

He tossed the dead branch toward the invisible Seal beside the Bronze Gate.

The branch flipped twice in the air and landed on the transparent Barrier.

Then, a bolt of lightning struck down from the void.

The branch was instantly turned to burning charcoal, which then exploded into a puff of black powder, suffering the exact same fate as the rock.

”Damn!” Wan Ze and Feng Jiuchen exchanged a look, their expressions surprisingly identical.

You didn’t know where the lightning came from, what triggered it, or if it would strike the next time you reached out a hand.

That uncertainty was more unnerving than any known danger.

But as Wan Ze stared at the Bronze Gate, he couldn’t restrain himself.

He crouched down and picked up another rock, this one smaller than the one Feng Jiuchen had tossed—about the size of a walnut.

Wan Ze held the rock, feeling its weight, then tossed it directly at the Bronze Gate itself.

The rock flew in a perfect arc, heading straight for the face of the Bronze Gate.

CLANG!

The rock struck the Bronze Gate and bounced off, rolling a couple of times on the ground before stopping at Wan Ze’s feet.

There was no lightning from the gate, no Barrier—nothing happened at all.

Wan Ze turned to look at Feng Jiuchen, raising an eyebrow. ”The gate itself isn’t trapped?”

Feng Jiuchen was stunned as well.

He stared at the Bronze Gate for a long moment, glanced at the rock on the ground, and then looked back at the gate, his brow furrowed in thought.