[Vol. 8] Chapter 232: The Blank Inscription Stone
“What’s wrong?”
Hearing the question, the guide gave a wide grin.
“Everyone who’s tried to destroy or steal anything from this hall, no matter how powerful or important they were, was instantly thrown deep into the ruins by some strange, unexplainable force. Not a single one has ever made it back alive. Even those who just gave the orders but didn’t do the dirty work themselves weren’t spared.”
“After a while, people started saying. These two bronze statues have a spirit of their own. Even though the outer shells are worn out, the spirit inside still guards the outer hall of this nameless tomb. It keeps thieves and vandals from messing things up... Heh, weird story, isn’t it?”
Clang, clang, clang~
As Aldrich was still talking, the sound of metal hitting metal suddenly rang out beside him. He turned his head in confusion. Only to see the black-haired girl in a white robe had somehow pulled out a long staff and was now curiously knocking it again and again on one of the very statues he’d just said no one should touch.
He nearly had a heart attack.
“WHAT THE—!! Are you out of your mind?! STOP! If you wanna die, don’t drag me down with you!!”
Panicking, he rushed forward to stop the girl, but after taking just two steps, Aldrich suddenly felt like two mountains had landed on his shoulders. He lost control of his body and dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, completely unable to move!
Overwhelmed by the terrifying pressure that came from nowhere and couldn’t be resisted, Aldrich felt utterly hopeless. Regret surged through his heart.
“Crap, we’re doomed... I knew anyone who hangs out with lunatics can’t be normal either! This must be the guardian spirit going berserk! Are we really gonna die before even entering the ruins?! Mother, your son wasn’t filial enough to care for you… and my future wife from Flower Pavilion…”
Convinced his end was near, the poor guide was already tearfully mourning his unfinished dreams. But he didn’t notice that the dragon girl and the swordmaster were staring at him with weird, speechless expressions. Even Miss Violet, who had been knocking on the statues all this time without learning anything new, finally turned around and spoke with a helpless look:
“Alright, that’s enough whining. There’s no such thing as a ‘guardian spirit.’ It’s just some leftover, broken-down rule. Honestly, I wish it would toss me into the depths of the ruins. I’d save myself the trip. See? Nothing’s happening.”
“Huh?”
Aldrich blinked in surprise and finally looked up. Ignoring the judging looks from the others, his eyes locked on the two strange metal statues.
Just as Violet had said, she had been poking them with her staff the entire time, even breaking off a few chunks from one of the statues, and yet no punishment had come. The terrifying pressure from earlier vanished the moment the priestess spoke. The blonde girl just pouted a little but didn’t say anything more.
“Damn… you guys really do have skills. No wonder you’re so bold. Alright, fair enough.”
As if the whole emotional breakdown had never happened, the muscular man brushed himself off and stood up without the slightest embarrassment. His eyes shifted around shiftily before he casually asked, as if it didn’t matter:
“Uh... so, from what you just said, these statues don’t actually have spirits in them? Then maybe I could just...”
The priestess smiled brightly, cutting him off before he finished that thought.
“If you’re thinking about melting them down and selling them, I’d suggest you drop that idea. ‘Rules’ are a strange thing. Sure, they might be inactive right now because we’re here. But who knows what could happen after you take them away? I’m sure you know tomb builders hate grave robbers more than anything~”
“Ahem, ahem...”
Seeing the guide look away a bit awkwardly, the black-haired girl didn’t say anything more. She just gave the two bronze statues another glance, then waved her hand to signal Aldrich to focus on the main task.
The four of them quickly stepped inside the hall. Maybe because many people had been coming and going recently, the place didn’t feel as old or dusty as the outside. While there were still signs of age and wear, the layout and structure were still quite clear.
To sum it up in one sentence, the hall was very empty. So empty, it felt like someone had already looted the place long ago.
Looking around, apart from the surrounding walls and the pillars holding up the building, there was basically nothing left. Only in the center of the hall stood a single statue, which unsurprisingly had also been damaged badly by time, its features so worn down that you could barely tell what it once looked like.
Still, from the general shape, you could kind of guess that it used to look human.
Normally, the outer hall of a tomb serves just a few purposes: either as a place for future generations to hold ceremonies or as a protective layer guarding the real entrance deeper inside. Violet wasn’t sure why this ancient ruin, now reappearing in the world, had this kind of structure above ground or what its history really was. But a hall like this probably wasn’t built for no reason.
Just as the priestess was thinking this, something inside the hall suddenly caught her attention.
“Hm? That’s odd... there’s an inscription plaque here? Was it placed when the hall was built? But why...”
Violet walked across the hall with the others, stopping below the statue. Just like she said, there was a small plaque, about a foot tall, made from some unknown material standing at the base of the broken statue. Even though the statue itself had been badly worn down by time, this plaque looked brand new. Its surface was smooth and clean, without even a speck of dust, completely out of place in the old hall.
Since he had visited this area more than once before, Aldrich the guide already knew about the plaque. Seeing the others looking at it with curiosity, he just shrugged and said helplessly:
“Yeah, this thing is kind of creepy. A little plaque like this, buried underground for who-knows-how-many hundreds or thousands of years, and it’s still perfectly intact. But the problem is… it’s blank. No one knows why the tomb builders even made this thing...”
“A blank plaque? That feels strangely familiar somehow...”
Violet stared at the smooth surface of the plaque for a moment, then turned to the Dragon God and the Sword Saint beside her.
“What do you two think?”
“Master, it really is blank. At least, I don’t see anything on it,” replied Xiao Guang.
“Same here... I can’t make any sense of it either. Did you notice something, Miss Violet?” asked Bevis.
“No, not really. I don’t see anything either.”
But for some reason, ever since she noticed the plaque, Violet had a strange, uneasy feeling in her heart. Something kept telling her that this plaque shouldn’t be blank. It should have something written on it.
The feeling reminded her of something that happened long ago, in the [Nameless Demon Sovereign]’s tomb in the Ancient Spirit Realm. Back then, there had been a message left by a Fox Spirit Shrine Maiden, but because Dawn’s [Existence] had some issues, others couldn’t see it until later. Could this be something similar?
Even though she was suspicious, if she couldn’t see anything, then there was nothing she could do for now. Violet gave up for the moment and turned to the guide.
“Forget it. Where should we go next?”
Aldrich didn’t bother replying. He simply walked around to the back of the unknown statue and pointed at the ground.
“Look, right here.”