Worryfree Ancient Tomb

"Has anyone seen Huo Niu?" Huo Gen asked the crowd.

"Earlier, I saw him run into the ancestral hall," a villager in the crowd said.

"I'm afraid he's already fallen down there." Mu Tong's face was ashen, as though his end had come. The hand pointing at the black hole trembled slightly with grief.

"I'll go down and take a look. Maybe he's still alive," Huo Gen said, unwilling to believe it.

"I'll go too." Lu Feng spoke resolutely. He had grown quite attached to Huo Niu. Though it was irritating to be pestered by him every day with endless questions, if they were not close, why would Huo Niu act that way?

Huo Gen looked at Lu Feng and hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. He hesitated because this was, after all, the village's affair, and he felt bad troubling Lu Feng. Moreover, they did not yet know whether danger lurked underground. But he agreed because of Lu Feng's eyes—resolute, without the slightest hesitation. Huo Gen knew that Lu Feng's feelings for Huo Niu ran just as deep.

After making some preparations, the two carefully descended into the steep cave beneath the ancestral hall.

They had originally thought they would reach the bottom after only a few steps, but Lu Feng and Huo Gen only went deeper and deeper. Half a day passed, yet they still had not reached the end.

"This is strange." Huo Gen held up his torch, illuminating the road ahead, which still seemed endless.

"Indeed. It feels as though we're going around in circles," Lu Feng voiced his thoughts.

The term Entrapment Array suddenly flashed through his mind. Connecting it with their current situation, Lu Feng could not help but stare in shock. "It seems we've wandered into an Entrapment Array without realizing it."

"An Entrapment Array?" Huo Gen asked doubtfully. "There are actually arrays in this little village?"

Different array diagrams and different array patterns created arrays with different effects. Arrays formed from patterns focused on offense carried an air of killing intent and were known as killing arrays. Patterns focused on trapping could make an array ever-changing and impregnable, and were often used for Entrapment Arrays. There were also maze arrays, illusion arrays, Teleportation Arrays, Auxiliary Arrays, and more...

And the one Lu Feng and Huo Gen had encountered was an Entrapment Array.

An Entrapment Array was an array that used special arrangements to harm and trap people. Such arrays often contained countless restrictions. They could weaken an enemy's strength while also making escape impossible, leaving one to sink into them forever.

Lu Feng recalled everything he knew about Entrapment Arrays, constantly comparing it to the countless Entrapment Arrays the two elders of Exquisite Valley had laid down, searching for subtle similarities.

"So it's hidden here!"

After circling around several times, Lu Feng suddenly smiled. He swept aside several stones in a corner before him, then replaced them with several jade shards engraved with Spirit Suppression Patterns, briefly cutting off the connection between the array patterns.

Immediately afterward, he swiftly shot an arrow at the stone wall ahead.

At once, the wall collapsed. The roar of Array Jade shattering echoed all around them, and a new entrance appeared ahead, with dazzling light streaming through.

"The Entrapment Array was broken just like that?"

Huo Gen stared wide-eyed at it all. He could neither get a word in nor lend any help and could only watch Lu Feng quietly.

"There was quite a bit of luck involved in breaking this Entrapment Array." Lu Feng smiled. Relying on his understanding of Entrapment Arrays, he had luckily found a piece of Array Jade. Using jade shards engraved with Spirit Suppression Patterns, he had disrupted the array's operation, found its weak point, and broken it in just a few moves.

Beyond the collapsed wall was a stone chamber. Two eternal lamps at its entrance gave off a faint glow.

"I never expected there to be another world beneath this ancestral hall." Huo Gen could not help but sigh at the scene before him.

The two descended the stairs through the entrance and lit the remaining candleholders on the stone chamber's surrounding walls.

Looking closely, Lu Feng was surprised to find countless patterns carved into the walls around them. They seemed to depict an extensive set of cultivation techniques.

After looking at them, Huo Gen said in surprise, "These seem somewhat similar to the archery technique passed down in my family."

Lu Feng studied them carefully after hearing that. Sure enough, as Huo Gen had said, there were quite a few similarities. Yet the archery technique recorded on the walls seemed more intricate and profound, as well as more systematic and complete.

Lu Feng did not examine them closely or secretly learn them. These were, after all, techniques passed down through Worryfree Village. Learning them privately without permission would not be appropriate.

"Brother Huo Gen, keep looking. I'll check around and see whether there are any traces of Huo Niu," Lu Feng said casually.

"Wait for me. It won't matter if we look at these later." Huo Gen did not care much about them either and quickly stepped forward to follow beside Lu Feng.

"This stone chamber definitely isn't the end." Lu Feng saw the flames on the candleholders flickering.

"There's wind, and it's moving air." There had to be another entrance or exit.

The two carefully inspected every brick and tile in the stone chamber, finally fixing their gaze on the two eternal lamps at the entrance.

If there was something more hidden within the stone chamber, then whatever controlled it had to be something still functional. That left only these two eternal lamps.

Lu Feng and Huo Gen each inspected one side. They turned the lamp holders at the same time, but there seemed to be no reaction.

Left then right, right then left, both left, both right...

They tried every combination they could think of, but the stone chamber did not seem to change in the slightest.

"Could it be that we have to learn the archery technique on the walls before we can find the new entrance?" Huo Gen guessed instinctively.

"Brother Huo Gen, hurry and try learning it," Lu Feng said.

"Come, let's learn it together!" Huo Gen looked at Lu Feng without the slightest reservation. "I see you as a friend and family. There's no need for formality between us."

"Come, let's learn it together. That'll save me from having to teach you after I've learned it." Huo Gen pulled Lu Feng over and said generously.

Lu Feng was somewhat moved. Not only did Huo Gen have no intention of keeping anything to himself, he was willing to impart everything he knew and had learned. Such breadth of spirit truly earned Lu Feng's admiration.

Though there were many archery techniques carved on the walls, most were comprehensive, straightforward skills. Apart from several exquisite archery moves, more of them taught methods for drawing a bow and firing arrows, angles, timing, and the like.

Lu Feng and Huo Gen already had a solid foundation. Before long, they had learned the archery techniques on the stone walls from beginning to end and memorized the records regarding those methods and arrow-making as well.

Strangely enough, after the two had learned seventy or eighty percent of it, the wall before them opened a passage by itself without any warning.

This sight gave the two, who had been quietly concentrating on comprehension and study, quite a fright.

Watching the stone gate slowly rise, they instinctively assumed that Huo Niu had opened some mechanism elsewhere.

But after the stone gate had opened completely, Lu Feng and Huo Gen still saw no trace of Huo Niu. Instead, an enormous and extremely strange structure appeared on the other side of the stone gate.

The newly revealed stone chamber had a very high ceiling, four or five times higher than the previous one, enough to accommodate such a huge and peculiar structure.

From afar, the strange structure resembled several enormous round stone platforms stacked layer upon layer from large to small. It looked like a giant cake, or a pagoda with its top sliced off. Each layer was one-third of Lu Feng's height. Counting carefully, there were seven layers. Three stone pillars stood at three corners of its topmost level, their tops shaped like umbrellas, as though huge bowls had been placed upside down.

"Come, let's take a look," Huo Gen said softly.

The two approached cautiously. Once they had confirmed there was no danger, they exchanged a glance and began climbing upward, level by level.

Lu Feng climbed toward the top, with Huo Gen close behind. Though the stone platforms were somewhat high and tiring to climb, they could not stop the two. When Lu Feng reached the sixth level, he suddenly felt the entire stone chamber had grown much quieter, but he did not pay much attention and continued climbing onto the final level.

Once he had steadied himself, he discovered the source of that silence.

There was no sign of Huo Gen behind him. At some point, he had become the only person left in this vast stone chamber, yet he had been completely unaware of it.

Cold sweat ran down Lu Feng's back, and a chill crept over him. This stone chamber was far too strange...

Especially after seeing the pattern beneath his feet, Lu Feng's mind became even more unsettled.

At the center of the topmost stone platform was a vividly carved eye—an enormous, somewhat bizarre eye. Standing upon it felt as though he were being stared at relentlessly.

Around the eye were several profound and exquisite ancient patterns. Their texture was plain, archaic, and old, yet no one would mistake them for mere decoration.

Perhaps because an eye was carved at the center of the stone platform, Lu Feng suddenly felt as though these patterns were alive.

Looking at the ancient patterns, Lu Feng felt they seemed familiar, yet he could not remember where he had seen them before.

Looking down from atop the stone platform, Lu Feng abruptly realized that the strange structure beneath his feet resembled the sacrificial altar he had once read about in a book.

A sacrificial altar was a raised platform used in certain regions for sacrifices. In some places, people even practiced offering living humans directly to their ancestors.

And at this moment, Lu Feng had evidently become the sole offering upon this sacrificial altar.

A trace of foreboding rose in Lu Feng's heart, and he began trying to leap down and flee.

But it was already too late. No matter how he struggled, he could not jump out of the stone platform, which was less than two meters across.

The eye pattern on the topmost stone platform began to change slowly. Its faint opening and closing turned into an enraged glare, radiating threads of fierce intent. The ancient patterns around the eye also began to flow slowly, emitting an ancient orange glow.

"A sign that an array is taking shape!"

Lu Feng was shocked and terrified, but he had no idea how to stop it and could only watch it develop.

Lu Feng still could not recall what kind of array patterns these strange and special ancient markings were. He only knew that, judging by their profundity and complexity, their grade could not be low.

The ancient orange array patterns carried threads of deathly stillness as they spread outward from the eye. The spiritual energy within the stone platform rapidly dried up and withered away. Lu Feng began to feel weak, and breathing became exceedingly difficult.

"Ancient Desolation Pattern!"

Lu Feng finally remembered the records in the book.

The extraordinarily profound array pattern before him was precisely the legendary Ancient Desolation Pattern.

Lu Feng had once casually flipped through an abridged ancient text from Exquisite Valley called the "Exquisite Treasure Mirror." It was a book that recorded the most unusual and powerful array patterns on the Profound Heaven Continent, and this Ancient Desolation Pattern ranked among the foremost entries within it.

"Ancient Desolation Pattern, ranked seventeenth in the Exquisite Treasure Mirror. Arrays formed with it possess the power of desolation, capable of drying up spiritual energy and rendering space deathly still..."

This passage had been recorded in that book, and Lu Feng remembered it clearly. But the book had not recorded any method for breaking it.

That made sense. How could the method for breaking an array formed from a pattern worthy of being recorded in that book possibly be explained in just a few words?