I watched the fire dance in the wind. I was terrified that I might take flight. One of my teeth was trembling.

The eerie wind kept howling. I crouched in a corner, surveying my surroundings cautiously.

Suddenly, the wind stopped. I slowly raised my head to glance at the stone coffin. A black mist was gradually growing over it, slowly taking on a human shape.

The fire gradually turned into a phosphorescent green. This brought a sharp edge of tension to my nerves, making me momentarily forget the disaster of the flames.

I watched as the figure in the mist took form. The black haze dispersed slowly, revealing a suffocatingly beautiful individual within.

It was a girl with her eyes closed, a melon-seed face, a delicate Qiong nose. The crisp air of autumn reflected in her gaze, paired with her bright red lips, which exuded a certain allure.

I felt the air within my body diminishing. My frame floated mid-air, my feet hovering back and forth.

Looking at her expression, I found it difficult to understand her intentions. Drawing upon lessons from old films, I bit down on my tongue and spat blood at her mesmerizing face.

Blood spilled from the girl's body as she stumbled backward. She reached out a hand to grasp my neck. I collapsed to the ground, desperate to draw in fresh air. Looking up, I saw her silently standing there. I wiped my neck, which she had squeezed so tightly it left deep marks.

In my head, I sarcastically thought, "A 'great heroine,' huh? This girl doesn't lack blood, but it seems like she'd have no issue draining a man dry."

As I stood stunned, the blood on her face seemed to seep back into her body, vanishing without a trace.

Seeing this, I quickly bent down and bypassed her, running toward the next path.

The girl, noticing my retreat, gave the stone coffin on the ground a light wave. The coffin floated into the air, then she hurled it toward the direction I was escaping.

The stone coffin shattered the path in my direction. I turned my head, seeing it barreling toward me, crashing just meters away.

The coffin grazed my scalp as it flew past, slamming into the stone wall. The wall exploded into a meter-wide opening.

Glancing back, I saw the girl—or ghost—slowly approaching me. Scrambling, I climbed toward the gaping hole in the wall and leapt through it.

Bending down to crawl through the wall, I ran forward without looking back. I didn't know how long I had been running. Glancing over my shoulder, I realized the girl hadn't followed. Gradually, I slowed and lazily slumped to the ground, heaving for breath.

"If I keep running at this speed, I should join the school's track team. I'd probably win medals in every relay. Of course, when facing death, humans can sometimes unleash unimaginable potential."

I moved carefully along the wall. I had no idea how far I had gone when I spotted a dim light ahead. Thinking it was the exit, I hurried toward it.

But as I drew closer, I realized it wasn't an exit. It was a luminous pearl, faintly glowing like a nightlight. I stared at the luminous pearl, feeling no greed—my only thought was how to leave this place as quickly as possible.

Picking up the pearl, I also found a sharp stone lying on the ground. Gripping the stone, I moved forward, clutching the pearl to light my way. Its soft glow offered slight solace amid the oppressive darkness.

After exerting myself for what felt like three minutes, I finally managed to break part of a wall with the luminous pearl. Holding it up, I stepped forward cautiously.

I tread forward for an unknown length of time before an immense stone door blocked my progress. I searched for a keyhole, but the door was completely sealed.

Based on my vague dreams, I suspected that whoever designed this place wouldn't intend for it to lead to freedom, but rather entrapment.

Realizing this, I began searching around the door with the luminous pearl, tapping the surrounding stone bricks with care.

Eventually, I found a hollow brick. Using the sharp stone, I pried it loose, and it tumbled to the ground.

Behind the removed brick came the resonant sound of deep organ pipes, followed by a foreboding rumble emanating from the floor beneath.

The ground beneath me gave way before I could react, and I plummeted downward, striking what felt like innumerable stones. Dazed, I blacked out upon impact with the ground below.

When I awoke, I found myself in an illuminated hall, surrounded by vibrant murals.

I scanned my surroundings and saw a bronze coffin in the center, flanked by four towering pillars.

Ignoring the coffin for now, I searched the hall for an exit. My head throbbed painfully as I wandered. I couldn't tell if it was my aunt's healing herbs taking effect, or if the wound on my head had already begun to mend.

After searching for a time, I concluded that this wasn't a tomb from the Song Dynasty at all, but rather one dating back to the final years of the Qin Dynasty and the early Shu Han period. As someone fascinated by Qin-era culture, I recognized key features despite the confusion.

Everything here was crafted from bronze, most likely using intricate techniques existing nowhere else.

Shifting my gaze to a nearby mural, I found myself baffled. It depicted the slaying of some wolf-headed monster.

The monster had been dragged into this tomb, suppressed beneath a coffin forged of solid bronze, and immobilized using four jade hairpins piercing through the air.

Stepping closer to the bronze coffin, I couldn't quell a rising curiosity. Glancing around again, I saw no discernible exits. I strolled leisurely toward what appeared to be a bronze door, and with hesitation, placed my hands against it, attempting to push it open.

As I forced the door...

Dark clouds began gathering outside the hall. The flames on the nearby table shifted to an ominous green hue. Su Xinghe quickly grabbed a stone resting on the table and retreated to the wall, eyeing a crimson figure emerging from the hall.

The girl drifted slowly forward, her expressionless face cold and detached, exuding an air of indifference.

As soon as she stepped into the hall, the corpse lying on the bed erupted in a golden light, and the handwritten words on the nearby desk floated upward. They expanded, flying toward the girl. Suspended around her, they formed a bright marriage ring that she seemed to command effortlessly.

Watching her, I decided not to linger. Carefully stepping back through the door, I made sure the girl wouldn't leap forward to obstruct me.

Carefully distancing myself from her, I began running back toward the hole I had fallen through. As I moved, I felt the black pearl in my pocket slipping free. It rolled toward the bronze coffin.

The moment the black pearl touched the bronze coffin, a crimson light burst forth. With a thunderous boom, the coffin lid flew open, crashing to the ground in an explosion of thick dust.

For a moment, I stood frozen, watching the changes unfold within the coffin.

As the coffin lid slammed shut, the four sky-reaching pillars emitted dazzling golden lights, aiming their beams inward. Slowly, the lights condensed, forming the figure of a being clad in armor, wielding twin massive hammers.

The figure raised its hammers and flung them at the coffin. When the hammers collided with the coffin, all that emerged was a single black-haired arm, gripping a fallen stone at the ready.

The arm shimmered with a red glow and swung a direct punch, slamming one of the hammers back with tremendous force.

The sky seemed to echo with incomprehensible mutterings, and the two hammers fused together, releasing a deafening sound.

Covering my ears, I retreated step by step, glancing back to where the girl remained imprisoned. Her movements had grown feeble, parts of her body flickering like false apparitions. She seemed on the brink of collapse!

Seeing her in such visible torment, I could only heave a heavy sigh. The winds howled as they swept toward where the girl sat ensnared.

This sight stirred strange feelings within me. She truly was breathtakingly beautiful, like a fairy descended to earth. But everything about her—her tragic past, her jade-like youth, and her spirit, now trapped in this abyss—seemed unbearable to confront.

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