The straight staircase led upward. Ren Ye stood at the entrance to the ninth level of the tomb, panicking inside. "Yin? Who are you? Where are you?"
His questions drifted through the long-sealed tomb passage, but no answer came.
"Little sister? Um... little sister surnamed Yin?" Ren Ye blinked his shrewd little eyes and cautiously headed upward.
He called out several times, but his surroundings remained unusually silent. The young-sounding female voice from moments ago seemed like an illusion.
The ninth level.
A man entirely shrouded in mist sensed Ren Ye's presence. His gaze vacant, he moved his stiff body and followed the heavenly staircase to the summit of Qingliang Mountain.
Cold winds howled, stirring the mountain forest.
From the summit, one could overlook all of Qingliang Prefecture.
The mist-shrouded man sat cross-legged and slowly closed his eyes.
Below, Ren Ye climbed ninety-nine steps and finally reached the ninth level of Princess Anping's Tomb.
Unlike what he had imagined, Princess Anping's main burial chamber was small, only about thirty-odd square meters. There were no burial goods at all, leaving the chamber looking empty.
A large bronze coffin stood in the middle of the chamber, enclosed in a stone outer coffin. Clearly visible images were carved into its sides, all depicting events from the princess's childhood.
Above, a peach grove had been painstakingly carved into the chamber's four dull gray walls.
Within the grove, a carved image of a thatched cottage was faintly visible.
A woman sat before the cottage, her cheek resting on her left hand. Her expression was serene, her eyes gazing into the distance, as though waiting for something...
As Ren Ye looked at the surrounding murals, his tension unwittingly faded. Rather than feeling sinister, this burial chamber felt peaceful and tranquil.
He paused briefly, then stepped over