Different Reflections

"Don't touch that, there's a spring there!"

"History, remove the spring from that crossbow!"

Emperor Luo Wu's absolute confidence in allowing people to enter also stemmed from a despair-inducing scheme.

The bluestone pillars at the entrance are traps. On the one hand, you need to lift a heavy object with both arms. On the other hand, if you cannot move the heavy bluestone pillars quickly, you will fail to pass or be crushed into bones between the twelve bluestone pillars.

This is only the basic requirement for entering the tomb of Emperor Luowu.

Zhang Xuezhou's perception was correct; the tomb of Emperor Luowu contained many stone figures, clay figures, and wooden figures.

The terracotta figurines in Emperor Jing's Yangling Mausoleum are primarily designed to depict the spirit and soul of the figures, while the stone and wooden figures in Emperor Luowu's Mausoleum are mechanical devices.

If someone steps on them incorrectly, these stone and wooden figures will be activated by mechanisms, causing them to either crash, collapse, or spin around randomly.

These stone and wooden figures are almost True Person- size. The wooden figures are designed for dexterity and can strike at extremely high speeds once the mechanism is triggered. The stone figures, on the other hand, weigh around two thousand pounds. If an ordinary person is unable to dodge in time and is hit, they will either die or be seriously injured.

Like a tightly wound spring, these stone figures and wooden figures each carry their own risks, yet they are placed on the only path leading to the mausoleum.

If someone wants to take a shortcut and avoid the normal route, there are also some crossbows with spring-loaded projectiles in the tomb passage, which will pose a significant threat to those who want to use the lightest method to move around.

Jin Shixue walked at the front, and was hit in the chest by two wooden figures, and narrowly avoided a fallen stone figure.

His face showed a hint of horror. Just as he was about to step on the tomb wall to use as leverage to get behind the wooden figure, Zhang Xuezhou quickly pointed out the mechanism installed on the tomb wall.

This made Jin Shixue jump back with an embarrassed look, then he took a metal probe and poked at the crossbow on the wall, destroying it.

"Don't step on this paving stone! There's a trap underneath. It will trigger based on the weight of the person stepping on it!"

Zhang Xuezhou couldn't stand it any longer and continued to point and instruct.

After hundreds of years, the wooden dummy mechanism is still flexible enough, but the wood has become brittle and is easily broken by impact. The stone dummy mechanism, on the other hand, may have accumulated dust and is not very flexible, which was overlooked by Jin historians.

If the damage to Emperor Luo Wu's tomb wasn't too severe, Zhang Xuezhou felt that the introduction to Jin Dynasty history should have ended after about ten meters.

Having witnessed Jin's historical skills, Zhang Xuezhou realized that the other party was unreliable and had no choice but to point out several errors.

"Director Zhang, are you also familiar with the mechanisms of imperial tombs?" Feng Xiangyu exclaimed in surprise.

"Well... can't you tell just by looking at it?" Zhang Xuezhou replied.

"You can tell just by looking?"

Feng Xiangyu looked surprised, while Zhang Xuezhou remained calm.

Compared to Jin Shixue's first exploration of imperial tombs, Zhang Xuezhou not only had experience exploring multiple imperial tombs, but he also possessed knowledge of feng shui theory and had observational skills far exceeding those of Jin Shixue.

Of course, most importantly, Zhang Xuezhou had explored and entered the Luowu Emperor's Mausoleum before, so he knew the general layout of the mausoleum.

Combined with his meticulous investigative abilities, the crude layout of the Luowu Emperor's Mausoleum did not pose a challenge to Zhang Xuezhou.

"If there are more of you going in later, remember to find some small iron pieces to insert into the gaps between these floor tiles to jam them in place, so that the traps won't be triggered," Zhang Xuezhou said as he led the way. "Once we move the wooden and stone figures away by rotating them, any traps underneath won't work!"

"Director Zhang is right!"

When Jin Shixue was leading the way, he stumbled and bumped along the way, and was almost crushed to death by a stone statue just over ten meters away.

If it weren't for the strength of the Jin Dynasty's imperial lineage, Feng Xiangyu believed that the Jin Dynasty historians would have perished in the imperial tombs.

When Zhang Xuezhou led the way, the group walked for more than 30 meters without triggering any traps. This made Feng Xiangyu exclaim in amazement, realizing that Zhang Xuezhou's observational skills were far more important than those of the theoretical experts.

"The Mausoleum of Emperor Luowu covers an area of 80,000 square meters, with a 68-meter-high earthen mound. This passage leading to the sleeping quarters should be about 1,400 meters long. Please follow my steps and don't step in the wrong place!"

"Director Zhang, wouldn't it be around 1400 meters if we followed the correct route?"

"There are quite a few turns in this imperial tomb, so please mark the spots and don't get lost!"

"We went up and down three times, are you sure we didn't get lost?"

"Director Zhang, please take care!"

Only seven people were allowed to enter the tomb of Emperor Luowu, including five members of the remnants of the old regime, as well as Zhang Xuezhou and Zhu Youjia.

With Jin Shixue taking the lead and Zhang Xuezhou becoming the team leader, the group progressed smoothly, but they were still filled with anxiety, fearing that Zhang Xuezhou might make a mistake, or that they themselves might lose their way and be unable to keep up with Zhang Xuezhou, thus triggering the traps.

"Director Zhang, we..."

"Arrive!"

1,400 meters is not a long distance; it would normally take only 20 minutes to walk. However, the time spent in the tomb would be a bit longer, and Zhang Xuezhou walked for nearly half an hour even though the route was almost unobstructed.

Upon arriving at the empty palace once again, Zhang Xuezhou's gaze quickly fell upon the Boundless Jade Wall inside the imperial coffin.

He gave a brief response to Feng Xiangyu's suggestion, and then lightly leaped up the steps that were nearly two meters off the ground leading to the bedroom.

The mausoleum of Emperor Luowu is crudely and simply constructed, with interconnected passageways resembling a maze rather than a palace. It seems as if Emperor Luowu opened a testing ground for future generations.

Only in this palace area are numerous stupa carvings found on the stone walls.

These carvings not only depict events from the era of Emperor Luo Wu, but also the ancient martial arts secrets that Emperor Luo Wu practiced.

Five hundred years ago, this would have been the unparalleled secret manual passed down by Emperor Luo Wu to his descendants.

In modern times, these ancient martial arts are clearly outdated and have been abandoned; even Zhang Xuezhou only glanced at them.

"Old Feng, these reliefs depict the ancient martial arts that Emperor Luo Wu once practiced. Let's study them carefully and try to translate them completely to see if the wisdom of our ancestors can be applied to the present day," Zhang Xuezhou casually advised.

"Director Zhang, rest assured, we will arrange everything we can obtain and observe, and present everything as perfectly as possible," Feng Xiangyu said excitedly.

Not to mention Feng Xiangyu's excitement, even experts in Jin history were surprised and incredulous.

The excitement stemmed from witnessing the actual imperial tomb, while the astonishment arose from the fact that the group had traversed a distance of approximately 1,500 meters, which was remarkably close to the 1,400 meters Zhang Xuezhou had mentioned.

And incredibly, in this maze-like place full of traps, Zhang Xuezhou led the way as if he were coming home, reaching Emperor Luo Wu's palace in the shortest possible distance.

In just half an hour, they had arrived at the core center of the Luo Wu Emperor's Mausoleum.

This is a groundbreaking event in the history of tomb exploration, and it is unprecedented in the history of Jin Dynasty historians when it comes to exploring imperial tombs. Even when they excavated the tombs of high-ranking officials, they never did it in such a short time.

But that's the reality, and even those who find it unbelievable can only accept it.

He was originally an expert, but Jin Shixue eventually felt that he had become a quack, and all his strength and theories could not compare to the meticulousness of Zhang Xuezhou, the director of the Dongshan Imperial Mausoleum Management Office.

The fact that the mechanisms of Emperor Luowu's tomb could be unlocked so easily led Jin Shixue to believe that the Dongshan Imperial Mausoleum was indeed under the control of Director Zhang, where even former emperors would be properly managed.

"This is... this is... the Boundless Jade Wall!"

Jin Shixue's strength was not low. After he lifted Feng Xiangyu and escorted him to the palace gate, he jumped up as well.

Upon closer inspection, Jin Shixue saw Zhang Xuezhou reach into the imperial coffin and retrieve a jade mirror that emitted a faint glow.

Unlike ordinary jade mirrors with exquisite construction, the jade mirror in Zhang Xuezhou's hand is not a finely carved emerald green, but one that can reflect every detail of a person's body.

Jin Shixue looked in the mirror and saw that he looked travel-worn and disheveled.

A moment later, he noticed that he looked older than he had appeared in the mirror.

When he blinked again, he saw that he looked even older in the mirror.

Seconds later, Jin Shixue saw that the person in the mirror had a high jawbone, Blood Qi face, and looked like a dried-up corpse.

This horrified him. He tried to look away, but found his gaze drawn in and unable to escape.

A sense of impending death, like drowning, washed over Jin Shixue. He felt himself struggling to breathe, his mask on, as if he were slowly walking towards death.

"Help... help me!"

Jin Shixue shouted loudly, but felt that his voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz and barely audible.

The more he shouted, the more desperate he became.

Until he screamed, Jin Shixue felt all the scenery before his eyes disappear, and his voice filled the entire palace.

"History, what's wrong with you?"

Upon hearing Feng Xiangyu's concerned voice, Jin Shixue felt cold sweat, weakness, and exhaustion all over his body, as if his energy had been completely drained.

He stopped screaming, his eyes filled with terror that he dared not look at Emperor Luo Wu's imperial coffin again.

"It seems they've taken something from Jin Dynasty history!"

The anomalies in Jin Dynasty history were occurring at an extremely rapid pace; even Zhang Xuezhou was several beats too slow to react.

His clothes covered him, obscuring the boundless jade wall.

At the same time, Zhang Xuezhou felt a slight warmth coming from his right hand, which was holding the Boundless Jade Wall, as if he were holding a gentle piece of soul jade.