No Life Beneath the Burial Mound

Beneath the earthen-yellow wall, a hunched figure knelt.

He seemed to have knelt there since birth, never once moving away. His lower limbs were nowhere to be seen; his legs had become a dense tangle of roots sunk deep into the earth.

His white hair looked as though it had never been combed. It spread like a tree canopy and trailed across the ground.

The figure looked less like a man than a tree.

A tree that had long stood outside the Imperial Tomb Burial Mound.

Zhao Cheng stood before him with great respect. "Elder Mu, this is His Majesty's handwritten decree."

Elder Mu slowly raised his head, revealing a weathered face furrowed like rotting old wood.

Zhao Cheng took out a sheet of gold foil shimmering with seven-colored light.

The foil burst apart, turning into light that entered Elder Mu's body.

His hair, spread across the ground, suddenly danced without wind like ten thousand writhing dragons.

Only after a long while did the strange movement cease.

Elder Mu looked at Li Shun beside Zhao Cheng. "He's the one going in?"

Zhao Cheng nodded.

Elder Mu stared at Li Shun for a moment. His white hair shot out like a snake, coiled around Li Shun's neck, and bit a tiny wound into it.

As though savoring the taste of Li Shun's blood, Elder Mu looked pleased.

"Good. He has Mu Clan blood."

"Child, once you enter the burial mound, you'll never have a chance to come out in this lifetime."

"Have you thought it through?"

Elder Mu looked at Li Shun, something unreadable flickering in his clouded eyes.

Mu Clan blood? A question flashed through Li Shun's mind.

But feeling Zhao Cheng's gaze on him, he raised his head and answered without hesitation, "I'm willing."

"Very well. In that case—"