The Mysterious Statue
After Jin Shanshan went inside, Bi Fan followed him into the tomb. To his surprise, the place was quite spacious, large enough to hold dozens of people.
Aside from the dry air, stagnant after years without circulation, it was no different from the outside.
Feng Xuanzhi and the others were already waiting up ahead. When they saw him enter, they smiled and said, "Brother Bi, this doesn't seem to be where Master Fanjing passed away. We'll have to go deeper."
He nodded with a smile. "All right."
Led by the two of them, the group made their way farther into the underground tomb. As the passage seemed to grow wider with every step, Jin Shanshan scratched his head in confusion. "Big brother, this place is huge!"
Bi Fan smiled. "It was probably built by later generations as a mausoleum for Senior Divine Venerable Fanjing after he passed away here, so that his spirit might rest in peace for generations to come."
Feng Xuanzhi smiled wryly. "We really should be ashamed. We unfilial descendants have disturbed him."
Bi Fan let out a quiet sigh. "If he knows what's happening from beyond the grave, he probably hopes we'll carry on the glory of our respective races."
Everyone nodded, no longer feeling weighed down by it.
After walking for roughly the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Bi Fan was the first to stop. Staring blankly at a statue of a woman up ahead, he pointed at it and stammered, unable to get out a complete sentence. "W-what... what is that?"
Everyone looked over, their jaws practically hitting the floor in shock.
The statue stood about twelve meters tall and was built from blue-green jade. A warm, jade-like glow radiated from its entire body.
It depicted a