The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 209 - 184. The "Grand Ancestor Emperor" in the Secret Chamber

"Plunk!"

In the darkness under the bridge, without much hesitation, Zhao Douan quickly stripped off his outer garments, guided by the faint moonlight.

Then he jumped into the river, following the sensation towards the direction of the Array Eye at the riverbed.

Because it was night, visibility under the water was extremely low, and after diving a few meters, he was practically "blind with open eyes."

Fortunately, the Qi within his body established a subtle connection, like an invisible rope in the dark, quietly linking the two.

Finally, Zhao Douan followed his feeling, touching the bottom of the river.

The stones covered with silt faintly emitted a soft glow.

"Something really has changed!" Zhao Douan rejoiced, moving hand over foot, he swam over.

When he wiped away the mud with his hands, the patterns of the Array became distinctly bright.

"Why would there be changes? Clearly, an hour ago, there were none."

Zhao Douan had no doubt that, if the Empress was by his side, she would certainly sense it.

"I haven’t had any significant changes in the past few days, not much different than before, so, the greatest possibility lies in the timing."

Zhao Douan quickly seized upon a key point:

"Ghost Festival!"

"The Ghost Festival is the one day in the year when the spiritual energy between heaven and earth is most abundant and the gods are most active. Could it be because of this?

Wait... If I couldn’t open it before because I was too weak, then could the Array being active today mean there’s a possibility I could move it?"

Thinking of this possibility, his heart thumped wildly in the dark, icy waters.

After a brief hesitation, Zhao Douan pressed his hands firmly on the Array, attempting to channel the unique Qi of the "Martial God Path."

Then, as he infused his energy, the glow of the Array that had been dead for years grew brighter, a profound force descended, pushing the waters aside.

As if creating an air bubble at the riverbed, it swallowed Zhao Douan within.

"It’s possible!"

Zhao Douan’s spirits lifted. So, the key to opening the secret passage’s door was nothing but the martial breath of the Grand Ancestor’s lineage?

The opportune timing of the day saved him countless efforts.

The next second, he felt a blur before his eyes, and his entire being simply vanished from the bottom of the river.

...

Imperial Palace.

"Your Majesty!"

In the palace courtyard, a team of palace maids walked with lanterns.

Suddenly, they saw a streak of light approaching, transforming into the Emperor of Great Yu, wearing plain white clothes, her black hair cascading like a waterfall, a fairy’s jade countenance, majestic and dignified.

No one knew how she had changed clothes on the way...

Xu Zhenguan nodded lightly and said,

"I will go to the Primordial Ancestor Temple to meditate. If there are any issues, you may come to report."

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"Yes!"

The palace maids busily nodded, watching the Empress walk away.

"Is Her Majesty returning from outside the palace?"

"Shh, do not gossip."

The Imperial Palace was vast, and the lights could only illuminate a small portion of it.

The Primordial Ancestor Temple was not far from the sleeping quarters, and there were no guards stationed around.

Xu Zhenguan slipped away from her attendants and naturally approached the temple, slowly pushing open the ancient doors.

Inside, a row of standing lanterns lit up one after another, and on the walls, the character "Martial," vibrant as if dragons and phoenixes were dancing, seemed almost ready to break through heaven and earth.

"Hu." Xu Zhenguan exhaled softly, her sleeves rolling up, and the temple doors closed automatically.

She stepped beside the altar and twisted the candlestick.

"Zzzzz—"

On the side wall, the entrance to a cellar slowly opened.

The Empress descended the steps and had not walked far when the space suddenly opened up to reveal an arched wine cellar.

On the shelves around the room were jars of wine, and the crystals embedded in the walls, enhanced by the Array, all lit up, casting a brightness like daylight.

Xu Zhenguan rolled up her sleeves, revealing her fair and smooth arms; she wore almost no jewelry, her wrist clean and clear, as if made from mutton-fat jade.

Now, though, a smile graced the corner of her mouth as she pulled a large food box from a shelf, filled with various kinds of food.

With a "pop," she opened a jar of wine and sat down immediately next to a small table by the wall, alternating between sips of wine and bites of food to fill her stomach.

—For a martial artist, the appetite was enormous, and a bowl of wontons was certainly not enough.

Additionally, she liked to drink wine privately to celebrate any happy event; it had become a tradition.

However, tonight, she could never have imagined that almost at the same moment she was drinking alone,

on the other side of the wall, a sealed "secret chamber," unexplorable and undetectable, suddenly had a person mysteriously appear.

...

Zhao Douan felt a moment of dizziness.

As if he had passed through a long tunnel or merely blinked, he was away from the riverbed and lying on a cold floor.

Surrounded by darkness, he warily got to his feet, clutching the Golden Crow Flying Dagger, ready to face any dangers.

But around him was silence, only the round Array on the floor below him slowly faded in its glow.

Then.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

Zhao Douan watched in surprise as flames suddenly erupted in the darkness, forming a ring around the walls centralizing on him, lighting up one by one.

When the light filled the entire chamber, he saw they were fist-sized Luminous Pearls embedded in the walls, with flames flickering inside them.

"What the hell is this place...what happened to the promised secret passage?" Zhao Douan was stunned.

The chamber he was in was not large, similar in size to his room at home, empty, with no doors around.

Only in the center was a stone platform with a seated figure, back to him, covered in dust.

"Who are you?" he instinctively asked, his body tense with a deep sense of regret.

Could it be a master from within the Imperial Palace stationed in this "secret passageway" that Old Xu spoke of?

Had he walked right into the gun’s muzzle?

Would he come clean to get off more easily if he were caught, or would he come clean to get off more easily?

Zhao Douan was in a bind.

According to his original plan, the so-called secret passage might be an array under the bridge outside the city, a route that led to the Imperial Palace and the Primordial Ancestor Temple.

Maybe he would stumble upon it in what Zhenbao called the "wine cellar."

He had indeed entered with the thought of fishing for some benefits.

At worst, if he were discovered, he would just blame everything on the Martial God Map.

But this place clearly was not some "wine cellar," the key point being...

People.

However, Zhao Douan had tried calling out a few times, matching wits with the air for a good while. The figure with its back to him remained motionless throughout.

"Dead?"

Zhao Douan’s expression changed.

Subconsciously, he gripped the purple waist jade in his hand—upon seeing the figure, he had taken out the Transmission waist jade bestowed by the Empress.

After confirming there was no response, he moved slowly along the wall, circling until he reached the "front" of the person in a cross-legged meditation posture.

Upon a closer look, he exclaimed:

"Xu?!"

Yes!

The one sitting on the stone platform bore a striking resemblance to the Great Yu Grand Ancestor depicted in the Martial God Map.

Zhao Douan felt his scalp explode, and had nowhere to vent his speechless exasperation:

So, had he truly been transported into Xu’s tomb?

Give me a break!

"Wait a minute, something’s not right. Xu was much older when he died; he couldn’t possibly still look middle-aged!"

Zhao Douan took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He cautiously approached and suddenly discovered several lines of characters carved on the stone platform.

"Primordial Ancestor Temple... Martial God Platform... where the Dragon Essence persists... for future descendants..."

He whispered these words, and immediately, his expression turned bizarre.

The tone of the characters on the stone platform was unmistakably left by the Grand Ancestor Emperor of Great Yu, and the handwriting was indeed skewed and twisted...

Yes, it had the unpolished style characteristic of Xu.

The writing was nearly a hundred characters long, semi-archaic and not quite clear, clearly from someone of little education trying hard to appear cultured.

The message seemed to say that this place was the "Martial God Platform" beneath the Primordial Ancestor Temple. The Grand Ancestor Emperor had originated the "Martial God System" specifically to transform martial artists into deities themselves.

The Martial God Platform was the altar to venerate his own divine self.

Unfortunately, he never managed to take the final step in his lifetime.

He only refined a wisp of Dragon Qi within his Qi Sea into something akin to a deity, but still not quite one, which he named "Dragon Essence."

He stated that if he died and the Dragon Essence did not dissipate, it would linger here.

If future descendants with strong martial talent were to reach the Worldly Realm, they could incorporate the Dragon Essence into their bodies, which would be greatly beneficial...

After death, the Dragon Essence would return to the Martial God Platform on its own.

"Ah, this..."

Zhao Douan’s expression was quite amusing.

Firstly, he hadn’t come to the wrong place; the secret passage indeed led to the Primordial Ancestor Temple, why he hadn’t seen the wine cellar, he was not sure...

Secondly, it seemed he had stumbled upon something incredible.

"Is this thing the Dragon Essence? Xu visualized himself and created a ’god’?

Good heavens... Others aggregate the telekinesis of many to create a kind of deity for all to use, you did it all for yourself, for your own use..."

"It seems like it was left for the future Emperors... but why didn’t Zhenbao incorporate it? She definitely reached the level... and all this dust, it looks like it hasn’t been touched in ages..."

"Right, she ’usurped’ her way to power, probably didn’t even know there was a secret chamber beneath the Primordial Ancestor Temple... such a big secret, one could guess it was passed down secretly by the Emperors, but then the Crown Prince was out of the picture..."

"But... such an important thing, to find the secret passage simply by practicing the Royal Skill, isn’t that a bit casual...

No... wait, the entrance to the secret passage is gone, a normal person wouldn’t know the location, it would be impossible to find... not to mention it requires the Imperial Family’s Skill as the ’key’..."

Zhao Douan’s mind was spinning with thoughts.

Curious, he drew closer to inspect the figure of "Xu" who was sitting cross-legged on the platform.

Only then did he notice that its form was slightly ethereal, as if it wasn’t entirely solid...

"I’ll just look without touching you, after all, I’m but a mortal, yet to reach the Worldly Realm... Hmm, should I hand it over? It’s really a headache..."

Zhao Douan was mumbling to himself when suddenly, as if finally sensing the approach of an outsider, the "Xu" sitting cross-legged on the stone platform suddenly...

Opened...

His eyes.

They were a pair of pure golden irises, devoid of human emotion, exuding indescribable majesty.

Boom!

Subsequently, "Xu’s" figure abruptly dispersed, turning into a whirl of pure gold, like a true dragon swirling in the half-space of the chamber, radiating in splendor.

Zhao Douan stiffened in place the instant the Dragon Essence took flight, finding himself unable to move.

He was paralyzed, overwhelmed by the raging pressure like a mountainous tsunami.

He couldn’t even think of crushing the Transmission waist jade; even his thoughts became exceedingly sluggish.

All he could do was watch, eyes wide open, as the half-step deity in the form of a dragon, envisioned by the Grand Ancestor Emperor over his lifetime, loomed over him.

Their eyes met.

Suddenly, the golden Dragon Essence raised its head, issuing a deep, resonant dragon’s chant, then transformed into a rapid current, furiously rushing like a breached river, directly pouring into Zhao Douan’s brow!

"Wait—"

Zhao Douan’s vision went dark as he lost consciousness.

…

Meanwhile.

Separated by a single wall, the Empress, slightly flushed with wine, lifted a new jar of alcohol with her tender-jade fingers, when suddenly, she stiffened, looking up at the sky in shock.

The jar in her hand shattered into pieces from the unintentional release of her energy.

At that moment, she clearly heard, after a long absence...

A dragon’s chant!