I frowned and remained silent, looking up at Li Zuoquan and saying, "Open the door? Why don't you go? I've already put the key in the keyhole, you can't expect me to do everything, can you?"
Despite my words, I was constantly calculating how to escape Li Zuoquan's control.
From what had just happened, he had no intention of letting us go. Even if we opened the bronze door for him, we would still end up dead. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sent two mountain sprites to block our path.
"Kid, you're not in a position to negotiate with me. Don't forget your lives are still in my hands. Do you want to force my hand?"
Facing Li Zuoquan's threat, I scoffed with disdain. If it were before I inserted the key into the stone door, I might have been afraid of his tactics. After all, who would choose death when they could live?
But things were different now. Firstly, Li Zuoquan had no intention of letting us live; even if the door opened, we would still die, so it was better not to open it. Secondly, he was incapable of opening this particular bronze door.
Even though the key was inserted, the electric arc from before was powerful enough to annihilate evil spirits. If Li Zuoquan hadn't redirected his electric arc towards the two mountain sprites in the distance, Zhang Dabiao and Xu Yi's paper tigers wouldn't have been able to easily eliminate them.
Although everything happened quickly, because my actions were a beat slower than Zhang Dabiao and Xu Yi's, I had a clearer view.
Having experienced near-death moments, honestly, I wasn't as terrified of death as before. I tilted my head and stood up, my gaze fixed on Li Zuoquan.
"Kill me? Do you dare? Don't think I don't know there's still a barrier on this door to prevent yin souls from entering. If you kill all three of us, who will you find to open the door for you? Are you going to find that bastard who shot you?"
Upon hearing this, Li Zuoquan's face immediately turned green, his eyes becoming bloodshot again. He glared at me fiercely, "Do you really think I don't dare to kill you?"
As he finished speaking, I felt a chill on my chest. Looking down, I saw that Li Zuoquan's right hand had transformed into an ice claw half a foot long, pressing against my chest.
I sneered, "Do you really think I'm scared? I'll still be a hero in eighteen years. Try me if you don't believe me." Although my words were resolute, my heart was trembling uncontrollably.
I was gambling right now, betting that Li Zuoquan wouldn't dare to kill me. There were two main reasons for this.
First, Li Zuoquan's expedition into the mountains seemed very rushed. Although he appeared well-prepared, it felt as if he was forced into it. His team looked formidable, but they were not suited for dealing with evil spirits. This indicated that his entry into the mountains was hasty, likely due to some reason forcing him to go.
The only entity that could instill fear in the local emperor Li Zuoquan was the possibility that a powerful figure in the capital had learned about the existence of the Half-Yin Realm. He wanted to gain control of the Half-Yin Realm before that influential figure from the capital did, making his time extremely tight.
Second, it was about the tomb. Although I hadn't personally witnessed a True Dragon tomb, I had read some descriptions. True Dragon tombs were imperial burial sites in ancient times, hence possessing certain unique characteristics, and not just anyone could enter them.
According to the "Book of Burial," people are divided into three classes, six ranks, and twelve levels. The lowest were naturally slaves and peasants, who had only one fate: to be buried in any patch of grass.
The second class consisted of gentry and wealthy individuals. Because they had some influence, they could find places with relatively prosperous feng shui to ensure their families' peace and prosperity.
The third class comprised the powerful and the armored, the so-called dignitaries. Their burial sites were necessarily located in prominent great rivers, intended to ensure their descendants enjoyed prosperity for generations.
The imperial family, as the royal lineage among the powerful and armored, even buried themselves on dragon veins after death, aiming to allow their bloodline descendants to have a chance to seize the dragon veins.
However, such occurrences were extremely rare. Apart from Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, who, after falling down a mountain, had his father's ashes fall into the mouth of a dragon and became an emperor who founded a dynasty, no one else had managed to have their ancestors buried on a dragon vein.
After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he even ordered the renowned feng shui master Liu Bowen to search for dragon veins across the country and seal them, leaving only the ancestral dragon vein of the Kunlun Mountains. This was also one of the reasons why the Ming Dynasty lasted only a little over two hundred years before falling.
But clearly, the tomb of the Fifth Prince was not from after the Ming Dynasty, so it did not fall into this category. Judging from the patterns on the bronze door, it was likely designed during the Tang Dynasty. Due to the dust falling off the stone door, the entire bronze door had a slight reddish hue, which was the characteristic bronze color of the Tang Dynasty's founding period. As time passed, porcelain began to be used.
The Tang Dynasty was an era of abundant talent and the most prosperous dynasty in China. Therefore, both emperors and nobles paid great attention to their burial sites after death.
Especially Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng, who used feng shui to deduce the "Tui Bei Tu" (Pushing Hands to the Back Chart) to protect the Tang Dynasty's nearly three hundred years of foundation. Their imperial tombs reached the pinnacle, making later tomb robbers hesitate.
I don't know who the Fifth Prince was, but I know one thing: his tomb must have had the involvement of Yuan Tiangang or Li Chunfeng. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a barrier outside the tomb and defenses before the tomb door.
Given Yuan Tiangang's ability to calculate the Tang Dynasty's three hundred years of foundation, it wasn't impossible for him to calculate minor events hundreds or thousands of years later. Since he knew I was forced to come here, he certainly wouldn't easily allow me, a descendant, to disrupt this feng shui.
Being able to reach this place was already a stroke of luck. If Li Zuoquan killed us, he would definitely not be able to find anyone to replace us, and more seriously, he might not be able to come here at all in the future.
This was also the reason I believed he wouldn't dare to kill me. However, nothing was absolute, but I believed that my ten years of studying Yin Gua had not been in vain. I could only place this deadly bet in my heart.
As my words fell, the cold sensation on my chest slowly receded. Li Zuoquan ultimately did not attack me, but his gaze remained filled with malice, as if he was contemplating something.
"Kid, I know your Yin Gua lineage has a special perception of yin souls, but those are useless to me. I've come this far, and I certainly won't turn back. You're not afraid of death, I believe you, but what about them? And Fang Huixin, who I lured here earlier?"
Then, Li Zuoquan waved his right hand, and a mirror-like surface, about the size of a human head, appeared before us. In the image, we saw the unconscious Fang Huixin and Zhao Defu.
The image flashed by quickly, only showing them in a cave. Both of them had pale faces, indicating they had been affected by yin energy.
If it were only Fang Huixin, I wouldn't have been so concerned. However, with Zhao Defu's involvement, I couldn't help but compromise.
This was because Zhao Defu held clues about my father's coma and the cause of Zhang Dabiao's father's death. Although I had learned part of it from Li Zuoquan, I felt he hadn't told us the whole truth. The reason was that he was merely a pawn for a powerful figure in the capital. Therefore, to obtain more specific information, I could only get it from Zhao Defu.
"I agree to help you open the door, but I have one condition."
"A condition?"
Li Zuoquan frowned and said, "Tell me what condition."
"Let them leave first."