Chapter 196: Entering the Tomb

“What exactly did you do just now, kid?”

As soon as his head surfaced, before even climbing out of the water, Dongfang Zheng couldn’t wait to ask.

As previously mentioned, Li Tan wasn’t particularly skilled in formations. After all, one’s energy is always limited. He was already stretching himself thin by focusing on both refining pills and cultivation. If he also studied formations, he’d end up with a little knowledge of everything but no real expertise in anything.

Although this formation had long since deteriorated and wasn’t difficult to break, it was still highly unusual for Li Tan, who wasn’t skilled in formations, to break the seal so easily.

The reason for his unusual success wasn’t complicated at all—he had simply been here before, in a past life.

Back then, his cultivation level wasn’t high—he had just broken through to the peak of the Late Foundation Building stage—and naturally couldn’t obtain anything valuable. However, by sheer coincidence, he had obtained half of a formation manual, most likely left behind by the tomb’s owner. The first page of that manual contained the seal outside the tomb. Although Li Tan hadn’t studied it carefully back then, he had memorized the first page, which was why he could now easily break the seal.

This wasn’t a particularly important matter, but since it involved the secret of his rebirth, Li Tan couldn’t reveal it. However, Dongfang Zheng looked like he wouldn’t give up until he got an answer. Therefore, Li Tan once again brought up his “convenient master,” using the phrase “my master taught me” to block Dongfang Zheng’s curiosity mid-throat.

Finally, the two shifted their attention from breaking the seal to their surroundings.

This was an underwater space, pitch-black and impossible to see even your hand in front of your face. Using his spiritual sense to investigate, Li Tan discovered they were in a narrow space outside the tomb’s main gate.

Click.

The sound of flint striking rang out as Dongfang Zheng lit a torch from his storage ring, immediately illuminating the surroundings.

The tomb’s door was stone, and at a glance, it looked extremely thick and heavy. Li Tan even doubted whether his Dragon Coiling Fist, at full power, could truly destroy it.

But it didn’t matter—he definitely wouldn’t use such a crude method to open it. For one, it might alert people outside. For another, forcibly destroying it might trigger protective mechanisms. If something like a hail of arrows were unleashed in a place like this, even a god wouldn’t be able to dodge.

When it came to opening the door, both Li Tan and Dongfang Zheng instinctively gave up brute force and instead moved closer to examine it carefully.

The stone door was very plain, with no carvings or patterns. The walls on both sides were solid, and there were no hidden switches in hard-to-notice places.

“What do you think, kid?” Dongfang Zheng asked after a fruitless search.

“I don’t have any opinion,” Li Tan replied.

“You didn’t find any mechanism to open the door?”

“No. Besides, why are you so sure I can figure it out?”

Dongfang Zheng said naturally, “You broke the seal outside in just a few moves. Can a mere door really stop you?”

Li Tan couldn’t help but sarcastically mutter, “I’m not omnipotent,” then turned his gaze back to the stone door. Recalling how he had opened it in his past life, he remembered that various elders had gathered to discuss it for half an hour before reaching a conclusion. Then the door had opened. Although Li Tan hadn’t been qualified to watch the exact process, he did remember that the stone door hadn’t been damaged.

Now that they had confirmed there was no switch on the stone door, the method of opening it was most likely related to formations.

Formations didn’t necessarily have to cover large areas. If condensed enough, they could be used like a lock.

After voicing this idea, Dongfang Zheng suddenly understood and immediately started studying it intently. Li Tan didn’t join in and simply waited nearby. About half an hour later, Dongfang Zheng successfully opened the door.

“Not bad,” Li Tan said with some surprise. In his past life, it had taken three or four people half an hour to figure it out. For Dongfang Zheng to achieve the same efficiency alone showed that he indeed had a certain level of expertise in formations.

Moreover, judging from Li Tan’s previous experience, it was likely that Zhang Zhi hadn’t managed to convince anyone to come along this time.

“It’s not hard to break a formation once you have the right idea. But what were you doing just now? Why didn’t you help?”

Li Tan honestly replied, “I was afraid I’d only get in the way.”

Dongfang Zheng said somewhat discontentedly, “No need to hide your abilities. I’m not like those old-fashioned fools outside who care about saving face.”

“But I really meant it.”

Dongfang Zheng seriously replied, “Thinking about it, you’re not the kind to flatter others. So, did you deliberately avoid helping just to slack off?”

“Master, where did you get that idea from?” Li Tan couldn’t help but feel both amused and exasperated.

But Dongfang Zheng seemed to find this explanation quite reasonable.

The two slowly walked into the tomb chamber. Li Tan swept the area with his spiritual sense. They were now in a corridor, with murals carved into both walls depicting the life story of the tomb’s owner.

The tomb owner’s cultivation level was unknown. He had been a wandering cultivator who hadn’t experienced much smooth sailing in his life. In his later years, he was especially unlucky. During a conflict, he was poisoned by an enemy and spent two years suppressing the poison with his cultivation before finally dying in this tomb.

After viewing the murals, Dongfang Zheng showed a look of disdain. When Li Tan asked why he looked down on the tomb owner, he replied, “After being poisoned and knowing his days were numbered, he didn’t try to find a way to remove the poison. Instead, he spent his energy building a tomb—just vanity.”

As he walked, Li Tan felt some confusion in his heart. “If the tomb owner was such a vain person, why did he live such a quiet life in the first half of his life?”

Dongfang Zheng furrowed his brows but couldn’t provide an answer.

The two exited the corridor and entered a spacious square chamber. Li Tan immediately extended his spiritual sense to search for any potential traps or hidden mechanisms, but found nothing. It was possible that there had been some originally, but they had deteriorated over time.

Based on memories from his rebirth, Li Tan pointed to five directions in the square chamber. Each direction led to a different corridor.

“This one contains burial treasures like gold and silver. This one holds spirit stones, but after so long, their spiritual energy has long dissipated, so there’s no need to waste time checking. This way is for pills and medicinal herbs. This direction leads to weapons, which might have some good items. The one directly ahead is the main tomb chamber, where the martial arts techniques and cultivation methods are located.”

After listening, Dongfang Zheng asked with a surprised expression, “How do you know all this so clearly?”

Li Tan then realized he had said too much. He coughed awkwardly twice and hastily explained, “I’ve been to many similar places with my master before. They’re usually like this.”

“All tombs are the same?”

“Uh, who knows? At least most of them are.”

If Dongfang Zheng ever had the chance to enter other tombs in the future, he would naturally categorize them as part of the minority.

Once again, the “master” served as the perfect excuse to brush off unanswerable questions, and Dongfang Zheng was once again pacified.

“Let’s hurry up. I’ll go check the main tomb chamber first. If we’re lucky, the tomb owner might have left behind a formation manual. There are traces of formations everywhere in this tomb, so it’s quite likely.”

Dongfang Zheng stated his plan.

Li Tan thought for a moment before replying, “I’ll go check that way first to see if there are any useful pills.”

“Alright, come find me in the main tomb chamber later.”

“Aren’t you going to check the other chambers?”

“Pills and weapons don’t interest me. As for gold and treasures, they’re just a bunch of useless rocks. Taking them would only waste space in my storage ring.”

“Alright,” Li Tan slightly lowered his head and walked toward one side, honestly speaking, even he couldn’t be so magnanimous. At the very least, he would never refuse extra pills or weapons.

Moreover, his decision not to directly head to the main tomb chamber, which obviously contained the finest treasures, was in fact presenting an opportunity to the Tianlang Sect. Inside lay numerous exceptional cultivation techniques and martial arts manuals. If they could seize them all and utilize them effectively, it would more than compensate for their losses in the Fallen Immortal Domain.

However, thinking about Dongfang Zheng entering the main chamber, Li Tan felt a bit worried. Once that guy found the formation manual, wouldn’t he ignore everything else?

Considering Dongfang Zheng’s obsession with formations, this possibility was indeed quite real.

Since he had decided to be a good person to the end—and after all, he did owe someone—he planned to go over later to help the Tianlang Sect ensure they didn’t miss out on anything valuable, in case Dongfang Zheng got too excited and took only the formation manual.

After walking down the corridor and reaching the end, he easily opened the door and entered. With a sweep of his spiritual sense, he immediately got a clear picture of the chamber inside.

This tomb chamber wasn’t large, but it was filled with an impressive amount of pills, densely packed everywhere.

With anticipation, Li Tan opened the boxes one by one, but ended up feeling somewhat disappointed.

Although these pills were still usable, most of their spiritual essence had long dissipated, leaving probably less than half of their original potency.

But with such a large quantity, they could compensate for the lack of quality by combining them.

Without hesitation, Li Tan grabbed handful after handful and stuffed them into his Huang Ta. Suddenly, his expression froze and his movements halted.

Just then, a cold hand had unexpectedly landed on his shoulder.