The Ancient God's Mausoleum

At eight thirty in the morning, Gu Jianlin walked beneath the locust tree in the alley and returned to that old residential complex.

The buildings had all been constructed in the nineties. Their white walls had long since become mottled and yellowed, while every household had clothes racks hanging outside their windows. Downstairs, several children stomped through puddles, their faint laughter and shouts drifting through the air.

Thinking back on it now, in a sense, his father had been a good man too. Knowing that he had wronged his wife, he had finally stood his ground during the divorce. He sold the apartment they had bought with a mortgage, gave all the money left after repaying the loan to Gu Jianlin's mother, and left with nothing. He rented a small place in this neighborhood for himself.

Probably so his mother could live a little better.

Even now, his mother believed that her son had chosen not to live with her because he was disappointed by her decision to divorce.

But that was not it.

Gu Jianlin had thought the same way as his father. He only wanted her to live a better life.

To Gu Jianlin, this neighborhood carried far too many memories.

The cicadas and breezes of summer, the snow and cold of winter, the moon in the night sky, and the stars filling the heavens.

On countless nights in the past, the boy had leaned by the window, staring blankly outside.

"Three months. Five yuan in late fees altogether."

Old Zhang at the parcel station handed him a delivery box. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen your dad in a long time. Is he away on business again?"

Gu Jianlin scanned the code, paid, and accepted the box. "Yeah. He went somewhere very far away."

In truth, Gu Jianlin hated the words "business trip."

Because throughout his life, his father had always been away on business trips, over and over again.

Until one day, he never came back.

He weighed the package in his hand. It was almost weightless. His father's name and phone number were indeed written on it, but there was no sender.

There was not even a shipping address.

"How was this package even sent?"

Gu Jianlin found it strange. Then he entered the building, went up to the second floor, took out his key, and unlocked the door.

This old apartment had only one month left on its lease. It would not be renewed after that.

The place was clean, but no one had lived there for some time. Apart from clothing, there were only books and documents.

As well as an old laptop his father had left behind.

Since he was moving out anyway, Gu Jianlin thought he might as well sort through everything.

He sat on the sofa and opened the package first.

It was a white box resembling the sort used for luxury goods. Inside was, unexpectedly, a mask.

At first glance, it resembled the half-face masks worn at masquerade balls. Yet it was also solemn and ancient, entirely black as though carved from black jade. Its archaic, imposing patterns formed hollow pits and angular ridges, and there were even vein-like protrusions upon it. It gave off an indescribably strange feeling.

Yes, strange.

The mask's design lay somewhere between a sheep and a deer. It bore dragon-scale patterns and had a pair of qilin horns on top.

He was no stranger to this creature—qilin.

An auspicious beast from ancient Huaxia.

Gu Jianlin had initially assumed it was a handicraft, but after examining it carefully, he no longer thought so.

His intuition was far sharper than an ordinary person's, and his observations more meticulous.

From the mask, he sensed a trace of history, as though it were some ancient object.

"An antique?"

Gu Jianlin ran his fingers over the mask's patterns. He was certain this was no ordinary handicraft. At the very least, something this exquisite could not be bought on the open market. There was a high chance it was an antique.

He did not know why anyone would send such a thing to his father, or why they had used some method to conceal the sender's information.

"The shipping date on the delivery slip was December fifteenth—the day Dad and I got into the car accident..."

Gu Jianlin turned the mask over in his hands and murmured to himself.

After hesitating briefly, he opened the old laptop, connected it to his phone's hotspot, and launched a search engine.

Gu Jianlin typed four words into the search bar.

Kirin Mask.

A vast number of results popped up, most of them boring ads and handicraft videos.

Gu Jianlin scrolled through them one by one without the slightest impatience, mainly looking for entries related to antiques and cultural relics.

He flipped through dozens of pages, yet found nothing of value.

Just as he was about to give up, he suddenly spotted a post on a forum.

"Ultra-Ancient Era Descends! December 4 New Version Closed Beta—Kirin Immortal Palace!"

This was actually a post about a game.

·

·

Gu Jianlin froze.

Amid the sea of boring ads, that title stood out like a needle. For some reason, it had been ranked so far down.

Curious, he clicked on it without thinking.

"Qiu Qiongshan of the Qing dynasty wrote in the Complete Compilation of the Historical Outline and Mirror: After Qin Shi Huang had conquered the six states, there was nothing he desired in life that he could not obtain, save for one thing—longevity. In 219 BC, Xu Fu received Qin Shi Huang's command and led three thousand boys and girls eastward across the sea to Yingzhou, seeking an elixir of immortality for the emperor. He crossed the sea twice but failed to obtain the divine medicine, then vanished during his third voyage..."

"Later generations generally believed that the immortal elixir was merely an illusory lie, and that Xu Fu was only a wandering occultist. His so-called eastern voyage had been a lie fabricated to escape disaster. Yet few knew that during Xu Fu's third voyage east, before reaching Yingzhou, he truly discovered a secret concerning the Ancient Gods upon the sea!"

Interesting.

Gu Jianlin moved the mouse downward. At a glance, this appeared to be some alternate-history game. He could not tell whether it was mobile or PC.

"In ancient times, there were gods. They were immortal and deathless, looking down upon the human world."

"Ancient Gods, deities, supreme beings—these were all their names. They moved through the hidden side of history, known by few yet present everywhere."

"One was called Torch Dragon, and one was called Qilin."

"It was an unprecedentedly grand war, a battle between supreme beings. Candle Dragon Venerable used supreme authority to kill Kirin Venerable. To prevent Him from reviving, He buried Him beneath the deep sea, within His Ancient God Realm, known as the Kirin Immortal Palace."

"During Xu Fu's eastern voyage, he was fortunate enough to encounter Candle Dragon Venerable. From then on, he transcended the ordinary and became an Ascender."

"By order, he constructed a mausoleum in the depths of the sea, guarding the gate to the Ancient God Realm for countless centuries."

"The lingering power of Kirin Venerable continued to erode reality, and the gate to the Ancient God Realm opened across different times and spaces."

"The god who had died a thousand years ago roared in the darkness. Ascenders took the opportunity to enter the Immortal Palace, plundering the god's treasures, precious alchemical weapons, and ancient paths of inheritance, seeking chances to advance."

Seeing this, Gu Jianlin thought it was probably the poorest and most bare-bones version announcement he had ever seen.

There was only lengthy promotional text, without illustrations or expansion details.

After reading the post, Gu Jianlin concluded that the Kirin Mask was a game commemorative gift someone had sent.

He still had Frostmourne and a Signal Axe in the bedroom of his new home.

But when he continued scrolling and saw the end of the post, he froze.

Because the game offered neither an official website link nor any download channel. It was like a joke.

Gu Jianlin only saw a brief introduction.

"Closed beta qualification requirements: Carry at least one ancient token originating from the Kirin Immortal Palace."

"Server entry: You must endure the mental contamination of an ancient token and remain within a domain eroded by an Ancient God's consciousness. Wait for a dimensional rift to appear, and it will take you into the ancient mausoleum, where you will become one of the lucky Ascenders."

"Note: The Ancient God Race is extremely dangerous. If a human dies in the game, they will never awaken in reality."

"Currently, 234 players are in the game."

Gu Jianlin fell silent for a second, deep in thought.

His first reaction to the post was that it was nonsense, no more than ordinary game copy.

The developers had probably not even made the game yet, though they certainly knew how to bluff.

Gu Jianlin had intended to close the post, but when he looked at the Kirin Mask in his hand again, an absurd thought suddenly arose.

His father's strange behavior, the horrific car accident, and the bizarre silhouette he had vaguely glimpsed while badly injured.

Then there was the mysterious mask in his hand, along with this inexplicable forum post.

After hesitating, Gu Jianlin picked up the Kirin Mask and lay down on the bed.

"At the very least, I'll try profiling it. Try to analyze where this mask came from."

At present, all he had was a Kirin Mask without even a scratch on it. The clues were pitifully scarce. The contents of that post might not be real, either, so he had to conduct a deep profile.

That meant making his brain boil and awakening his dormant sixth sense.

In an instant, the overcast sky was torn apart, and dull thunder rolled in.

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled outside the window. The drizzle suddenly intensified, while damp wind surged in through the screen.

It carried the earthy scent of rainwater.

Gu Jianlin lay there obediently, like a corpse awaiting burial.

He lightly placed the Kirin Mask over his face, closed his eyes, listened to the rain outside, focused his mind, and took a deep breath.

"Ancient God, qilin, battle, death, tomb..."

Keywords inserted.

The profiling began.

At that moment, his brain began to boil. Feeling the Kirin Mask's icy texture, he seemed to fall into endless darkness. The only sound in his ears was the raging storm, as though it would drown him.

As though he had fallen into the deep sea.

Cold, lonely, dark, profound.

He kept sinking as darkness spread soundlessly around him.

At that same moment, he suddenly felt the world rapidly receding. It was as if he heard countless whispers like those of ghosts, both far beyond the horizon and right beside his ears.

Gu Jianlin suddenly felt his head splitting apart. Instinctively, he wanted to interrupt the profiling and tear off the mask on his face.

The next moment, he froze.

He had clearly opened his eyes, yet everything before him remained pitch-black.

And the Kirin Mask seemed to have stuck to his face. He could not remove it at all!

BOOM!

Terrifying thunder exploded above the heavens, as though a Shock Blast had shaken the entire city.

Gu Jianlin's heartbeat stopped at that instant.

Not because of the thunder.

But because, in the darkness, he saw a colossal shadow. Its roar was like crashing thunder!

It was a qilin, a jet-black and ferocious qilin!

He had never seen such an archaic and majestic creature. Black blood dripped from its entire body. Its shattered scales possessed a bizarre beauty. Half of its body was decayed and broken, while the other half was covered in bulging veins. Deathly stillness and vitality were perfectly fused together.

It was so enormous, as though it were darkness itself.

Yet it was also so enraged and vicious. Its blood-filled maw resembled an abyss, and its roar seemed capable of tearing apart the darkness.

Then... it rammed the boy's world into pieces!

The world fell silent.

Only the wind brushed against the curtains. The laptop screen flickered as if about to go dark, frozen on the very last line of the post.

A number suddenly changed.

"Currently, 235 players are in the game."

·

·

When Gu Jianlin regained consciousness, his first thought was, If you don't court death, you won't die.

He heard a drip.

Like a drop of water splashing onto the ground.

He tried to open his eyes, but all he saw were hard rock walls covered in cracks.

He was still lying down. When he instinctively moved his body, the heavy clatter of chains rang out.

Gu Jianlin was startled to discover that he was lying inside a coffin forged from gold, bound by countless black chains.

He was still wearing his original clothes, but they were wrapped in torn burial cloth covered in strange black runes.

What terrified him most was that countless black scales had grown across the surface of his body. Their color was as deep as black jade, with bizarre, demonic patterns flowing over them, as though they had naturally grown from his flesh.

His hands had also been replaced by sharp claws. His pointed black nails glinted coldly.

Under the faint light, the Golden Coffin reflected his current appearance.

The archaic and ferocious Kirin Mask seemed to have grown directly onto his face!

Most eye-catching of all were the pair of black horns atop his head!

Gu Jianlin was stunned. His appearance at that moment was unmistakably... that of a qilin!

Gu Jianlin's scalp tingled. The Golden Coffin had no lid, and darkness surrounded him on all sides.

Cold, damp, empty, stifling.

This seemed to be... an ancient tomb!

Gu Jianlin had no idea what was happening. Ever since he had performed a deep profile on the Kirin Mask, some indescribable event beyond his understanding seemed to have occurred.

Kirin Mask.

The key was the Kirin Mask.

Before losing consciousness, he seemed to have seen an archaic, majestic qilin roaring toward him.

When he woke again, he was already here.

Gu Jianlin pinched himself, confirming that this was not a dream.

At that moment, as a materialist.

His convictions shattered.

Then an ancient, deep chant rose from outside the tomb, booming like an ancient bell.

The tomb trembled faintly. Countless fragments of stone and dust shook loose. Scarlet blood seemed to seep from the darkness, flowing through the gaps between the chamber's floor tiles and gathering around the ancient coffin like living spirits.

At last, the chanting outside the tomb faded away, and everything returned to silence.

"Mentor, we have searched so many tomb chambers and performed so many rituals. This is the last time."

A voice thick with suppressed fear spoke. "Could He truly be the legendary Kirin Venerable?"

"I don't know. But the tomb chamber's seal has been lifted. If there really is an Ancient God inside, then He should have been awakened by us. This is our only hope."

The old man's voice was low and weathered. "Whether He is Kirin Immortal Venerable or not, and regardless of what rank of Ancient God He truly is, we must treat Him as a genuine supreme being. Because... only He has the power to save us."

He gave the order. "Butcher, go push open the ancient tomb's gate. Prepare to begin. Everyone, fall back behind me."

A moment later, with a thunderous rumble, the ancient tomb's gate was slowly pushed open.

Bright firelight pierced the darkness, and within its glow, a group of figures could vaguely be seen standing there.

Gu Jianlin's heart tightened. There were other people here!

"O ancient supreme one... We await here to witness your awakening!"