Path Of The Dragon (A Dark Fantasy Cultivation Wuxia Xianxia Progression Series)

Chapter 130 Sarcophagus

"So, this is the final room? Nice," Pan Tian said as she increased her pace, "and the sarcophagus is still closed... I think we're the first ones here. This is awesome."

"Didn't you just say to be careful? What do you know about this room?" Jie asked.

"Well, it's the one I know the least about," Pan Tian said, "people don't normally reach it which makes it difficult to get notes on... and I meant what I said about being careful. I can't help being excited though! My brother is going to be so jealous. I can't believe how far we've come. This is the best hunt ever! I think we're easily on track to win it, and we still have time remaining!"

Jie couldn't help but smile as the older girl squirmed with exuberant energy. But, despite that, Pan Tian resumed her careful inspection of the path before them and led the way across.

Jie scanned the room with her eyes and her spirit sense. But she detected nothing apart from the sarcophagus.

They crossed the bridge and easily jumped up each of the steps of the strange pyramid. They stayed on the stone and gave the blood a wide berth. Jie eyed it and the lake cautiously. She sent her spirit sense deep into that dark liquid... but if there was anything there, it was hiding well.

Though she'd enjoyed this hunt with her friends and learned a lot... she was looking forward to resuming her more normal routine.

Dungeons and exploring... life and death battles... keeping her friends and herself alive... it was stressful. It would be good to relax, cultivate, and train more normally again for a while. Besides, everything was so damn creepy and gross. A thousand showers wouldn't be enough.

They gathered around the sarcophagus and Jie eyed it carefully while Pan Tian inspected it without touching it.

"She's not... actually dead... right? This isn't... her?" Jie asked.

"Not as far as I know," Pan Tian said, "it's just for the learning experience. She vanished ages ago, so she might be dead... but if she is, I don't think the academy has her body."

Pan Tian took out a scroll of wisdom and used it on the sarcophagus.

"It doesn't seem to be trapped," she said, "It has some... peculiar enchantments though. Preservation mostly... I think we should be safe enough."

"This one hopes we did not fight all this way for a rotting corpse and nothing else," Ithilix said.

"Well... it is supposed to train us for real tombs... Though, I always heard that experts liked to keep their greatest treasures closest to their actual tomb... and there's nothing here. So... I don't know," Pan Tian said.

She gripped the lid of the sarcophagus and pushed with a heavy exhale. It didn't move.

"Are the rest of you just going to stare at me all day? Help would be nice," Pan Tian said.

Jie helped her push as did Ithilix and the lid slid open with the grind of stone on stone.

Within, was yet another statue of the red woman, with her eyes closed and her arms crossed over her chest, her hands resting on her shoulders.

There were no treasures that Jie could see.

"Well, that's... disappointing..." Pan Tian said.

The statue's eyes snapped open and dark red energy poured out of its eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. The energy swirled into a thick cloud that exploded outward and engulfed Jie and her friends. Jie tried not to breathe as she struggled against the foreign energy. But it held her firm and squirmed into her nostrils and eyes even as it wormed its way through her ears.