“No offense is taken, my lord,” the groundskeeper replied, wiping surreptitiously at his neck. “It is good that your servant is so loyal.”
Wu Ying hid the snarl that now threatened to erupt from his lips, doing as best as he could to project his role of selfless bodyguard rather than enemy cultivator. As abruptly as the light show had begun, the formation surrounding the mausoleum died, leaving the group to watch as Yin Xue extracted his whole hand.
“See? No problem,” Yin Xue said.
Even as he finished speaking, the doors ground open, allowing them entry.
Without a word, the group trooped into the ornate interior. Around the marble flooring and stone columns of the mausoleum, two doors led away on either side. A single offering table dominated the main entrance. Directly in front of them and behind the table was the family tablet that detailed the names of the original founder of the family and his immediate family. After that, arrayed behind the main family tablet were smaller stone pieces detailing other ancestors. Most were drawn or carved on stone, detailed, curved ornamentation edging their sides.
“Very nice,” Li Yao complimented, which made Yin Xue nod proudly.
Not that Yin Xue had had anything to do with it, Wu Ying thought, but he knew better than to say that.
“Which way?” Wu Ying asked, eyeing both doors even as the front doors ground closed behind them.
Once he was sure the doors were closed, Yin Xue said, “Neither.”
Groundskeeper Han on the other side was not important enough to go in, leaving the group alone for the first time since they’d entered the graveyard.
“The entrance is right here.” Yin Xue walked around the table and pressed his hand against the small ledge right beneath the second tablet on the right. Again, the light changed, shifting through the colors of the rainbow before the table and the floor it was on rolled aside, revealing a staircase down. “My father told me of this before we left.”
Wu Ying’s eyes narrowed. “And how was I meant to find the cultivation method if you hadn’t come along? Or were injured somewhere along the way? Was I supposed to attack the main family house?”
Yin Xue gave Wu Ying a beatific smile, as if the entire problem was not his. Wu Ying let out a low growl.
“Focus. You can complain after we’re out of the city,” Bao Cong snapped.
“This isn’t over,” Wu Ying muttered, but he followed Yin Xue and Bao Cong, who had already ducked down the staircase.
“Later. We have to be alive to have a worry like that. Later,” Li Yao consoled him.
Wu Ying grunted in agreement, following the group down the narrow staircase to a room that had lit itself with low-grade demon stones upon their entry. The room was very much smaller, and less ornate, than the one above. However, as Yin Xue walked forward, he had to stop as a shimmering wall appeared before him. Words appeared before their eyes, and Yin Xue read them out loud, since his body blocked some of the calligraphy from those behind.
Only those who are worthy may learn my true cultivation method.
Those who fail shall suffer for their arrogance.
Choose wisely.
Yin Xue’s lip curled up when he read the line. He turned sideways, already anticipating Wu Ying’s objection. “The test may only be taken by those of the blood.”
“And how long is this test going to take?”
“As long as it takes.”
Having said his piece, Yin Xue strode forward into the shimmering wall of light and froze in it. Wu Ying gritted his teeth at Yin Xue’s arrogance and eyed the formation flags. Perhaps he could break through them?
“Don’t bother. You won’t be able to do it,” Bao Cong told Wu Ying.
“I didn’t know you were a formation master,” Wu Ying sniped at the blacksmith.
“I’m not. But I can recognize the materials used to make the formation,” Bao Cong said as he pointed out the materials to Wu Ying.
White and green jade, peerless levels of quality. Spirit stones from high-tier beasts powered the entire thing, set behind the curtain of power. Other, rarer materials Wu Ying could not recognize at a glance but could feel the chi they emanated. Even if his training was in living things, he could at least recognize the quality.
“So we just wait for him?” Wu Ying said.
“It seems so.” Li Yao looked around the small room, eyeing the other tablets arrayed at the other cardinal points. However, they were all protected by formations. Rather than risk being caught, she turned and headed up the stairs.
“Where you going?” Wu Ying asked.
“To see what else we missed.”
Bao Cong gave Wu Ying a shrug, shooting a glance at the frozen form of Yin Xue before he trooped off after Li Yao. Given no choice by the bare and protected room, Wu Ying also followed. Who knew? Maybe there was something to be had from the other chambers.
***
There wasn’t. The other rooms were annex branches of the main mausoleum, containing ancestral tablets and tables for prayer. Not knowing the names involved, they could not ascertain what the relationships had been, but it was fun to speculate, to make up stories about reasons for the fall and relegation to the wings of each branch family. In truth, at least for Wu Ying, it was all to distract themselves from the worm of worry that grew as more and more time passed.
“Familial relations with pigs,” Bao Cong said.
“Ewww. Also, what is with you men and pigs?” Li Yao tried to punch Bao Cong in the arm.
The blacksmith easily evaded the strike while chuckling. “Your turn,” Bao Cong called to Wu Ying.
“Leaving the sluice gate open,” Wu Ying replied, looking at the main entrance again. The fifth time in just as many minutes.
“I don’t think he’s getting how this game works,” Bao Cong said to Li Yao.
Rather than answer, she shot a worried look at Wu Ying.
Realizing he was making the group concerned, he turned to them and offered them a half–hearted smile. “Sorry. Just…”
“I know. But worrying won’t change anything,” said Li Yao as she placed her hand on his arm.
“Maybe I should go down and check?” Wu Ying said.
“For the tenth time?” Bao Cong said. “It will take as long as it takes.”
Wu Ying could only shrug, shooting another worried glance at the main door that had stayed close all this time. He had no idea what the groundskeepers were doing, what they were thinking. How long did it take to introduce one’s new wife to the ancestors? He’d never done it, and his father obviously had never needed to while Wu Ying had been alive. He could only worry.
As he opened his mouth to speak again, to his surprise, a rustle of wind rose from the chamber below. The group hurried over to the main chamber, excited over the change. Even as they did so, a low chime rang out, one that grew louder and louder as they moved.
“You think they can—” Wu Ying said.
“Hear that? Definitely,” Bao Cong said.
“Both of you, watch the doors,” Wu Ying ordered, hesitation gone.
It seemed their ability to hide what they were doing had ended. It was time to get serious. Wu Ying hurried down the stairs only to see that the formation that once blocked the way had powered down. Not all the way, for he felt how the chi shifted in front of him. But enough that Yin Xue could continue moving, could continue on his way to touch the tablet.
“Yin Xue! What is going on?” Wu Ying shouted.
“Just getting the technique. One moment,” Yin Xue said. His hands shifted over the tablet and pulled on it. Surprisingly, his hand did not rip the tablet out of the wall but instead extracted a smaller version of the tablet into his hand. He repeated the action twice more, acquiring the remaining parts of the cultivation manual before he plucked a small jade token from the corner of the shelf. He frowned at the token for a second before he slipped it away and hurried out of the formation.