Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1144 - 1144 0667 A Big Difference_2

Chapter 1144: Chapter 0667: A Big Difference_2 Chapter 1144: Chapter 0667: A Big Difference_2 Seeing Qi Tian walk down from the soft couch, Emperor Jianwu and his entourage eagerly ran over and stood in front of Qi Tian, looking at him and waiting for his command.

Qi Tian knew what they were waiting for, but he still did not issue the official command to explore the Saint’s Tomb. Instead, he said, “Forewarned is forearmed. To avoid any unexpected incidents, my princes, I ask you to accompany me to inspect the surroundings of the Saint’s Tomb one more time, to check for any potential risks. After the inspection, we will officially begin the exploration of the Saint’s Tomb.”

What could Emperor Jianwu and the others say? They could only follow Qi Tian’s orders, trailing behind him, and then they began to circle around the Saint’s Tomb, checking for any possible hidden dangers.

After nearly an hour, Qi Tian had circled the entire Saint’s Tomb. The preparations made by Emperor Jianwu and his men were mostly satisfactory to Qi Tian; he could not find any significant faults. They were not newcomers to exploring the Saint’s Tomb and knew how to prepare. Since they were all accompanying Qi Tian this time, no one dared to hold back in his presence; they all brought out their best natural treasures to construct the Array. They were capable of setting up a flawless large Array.

Qi Tian said, “The entire Array is quite good, but we still cannot afford to be careless. What I mean is that, in addition to this Array, we also need to leave some people behind within it. On one hand, they will operate the Array, replenishing it with spirit stones in a timely manner, and on the other hand, they are to prevent any unforeseen events, keeping vigilant and ready to warn us in case someone launches a surprise attack while we are inside the Saint’s Tomb.”

Emperor Jianwu and the others nodded in agreement. Qi Tian’s request seemed reasonable, albeit perhaps a tad too cautious at first glance. However, all the princes knew that when it came to the Saint’s Tomb, no amount of caution was excessive.

After a brief discussion among the princes, they reached a consensus. Each of the five princes selected a Gold Core Realm expert from their command to form a small squad. This squad was to set up concealed outposts around the Saint’s Tomb to monitor the environment and provide real-time warnings. The rest of the entourage would accompany Qi Tian into the Saint’s Tomb and explore it together.

Once the arrangements were complete, everyone gathered at the tomb gates of the Saint’s Tomb.

The tomb of the Saint’s Tomb was shaped like an inverted hemisphere, and in the true north direction, there stood a stele. The characters on the stele were written in a script unknown to everyone present, including Qi Tian.

According to what Emperor Jianwu and the others said, all the tombstones in the Imperial Family Secret Territory used this script. After thousands of years, the Zhao family had gathered countless minds to barely decipher a few of the characters, and to this day, they were still unable to identify all the characters on a single tombstone completely.

Qi Tian used the energy detection function of the Heavenly Dao Engine on the stele, conducting multiple tests, but he could not find anything special about it. Perhaps there was some secret hidden on the stele, but since the Heavenly Dao Engine showed no interest in it, Qi Tian no longer focused his attention on this particular stone.

They walked past the stele and arrived at the foot of the Saint’s Tomb. Here, it looked no different from other parts of the Saint’s Tomb. However, having explored other Saint’s Tombs more than once, Emperor Jianwu and his men knew that aside from their size, the direction for opening the tomb gates was fundamentally the same for all tombs: on the true north side.

This was not just based on experience, but also on the results of Divine Sense detection. By using Divine Sense to inspect the Saint’s Tomb, one could distinctly feel that the true north side was somewhat different from the other areas.

Qi Tian utilized the sensory function of the “Heavenly Dao Engine” to detect the aura around the tomb gate of the Saint’s Tomb multiple times. He found the situation extremely complex, the fluctuations of the Spirit Force chaotic, and not emanating from a single source—it seemed there were several.

Directing himself to several princes, Qi Tian said, “How confident are you in your ability to open this tomb gate? This is the first step in entering the Saint’s Tomb, and I hope we don’t encounter any accidents right at the outset. If we were to cause any loss of life, how could we have the face to enter the Saint’s Tomb?”

Emperor Jianwu responded, “Master Qi, rest assured. Together, the five of us princes have explored no fewer than eighty Saint’s Tombs if not a hundred. We’ve faced all manner of dangers, including various perils at the tomb gates, from which we’ve garnered a wealth of experience. We dare not claim to be 100% capable of avoiding all risks, but we can confidently ensure that nobody will be harmed or killed.”

Qi Tian nodded and said, “Very well, I shall entrust the task of opening the tomb gate to you. I will stand by as an observer and hope not to be disappointed.”

Emperor Jianwu and the others would rather Qi Tian not intervene. Though there were certain risks involved in opening the tomb gate of a Saint’s Tomb, based on their experience, the risk was within their ability to manage. If they relied on Qi Tian even for this, what strength could the several princes claim to contribute to the entire mission of exploring the Saint’s Tomb? If they made no contribution, who would have the face to ask Qi Tian for smaller spatial artifacts?

After Qi Tian stepped back, Emperor Jianwu said, “Fellow princes, who shall tackle the first obstacle in exploring the Saint’s Tomb? Let’s agree in advance—the space at the tomb gate is limited; it is impossible for all five of us to go with our subordinates. Only one amongst us can take the lead with their subordinates to handle this. Who will go first? Should I, or shall we draw lots?”

Emperor Bahuang suggested, “Let’s draw lots. Whomever draws it goes first. The one who draws loses the chance to draw in the next round. After all five of us have had a turn, we’ll draw lots anew. If we encounter a situation that requires two or more people, we’ll also use lots to decide who will go. Those who don’t draw wait for the next opportunity.”

Emperor Bahuang’s proposal was fair, and none of the other princes objected. They all agreed, and so, in front of Qi Tian, they began to draw lots. The result came out quickly—Emperor Jianwu was the first.

The other princes withdrew with their subordinates and stood behind Qi Tian, while Emperor Jianwu spread out his men around the periphery of the tomb gate, preparing to excavate it.

Emperor Jianwu repeatedly probed the tomb gate with his Divine Sense and finally determined its approximate location. He marked the position of the gate with white sand, then continued to draw lines in the sand around it. Once Emperor Jianwu had finished marking, he began directing his men to officially start the excavation of the tomb gate.

It was only during the excavation that Qi Tian realized that these Saint’s Tombs were not as easy to deal with as they seemed on the surface. Leaving other factors aside, the hardness of the soil alone was extremely high. Emperor Jianwu and his men were using flying swords or other high-quality magical instruments to dig, and the digging sounded as if they were working on an iron plate, with sparks flying and a loud cacophony. Despite expending much effort, they managed to remove only a little at a time, making the progress dreadfully slow.

Qi Tian had performed excavation work more than once, but the difficulties he now observed were incomparably greater than anything he had experienced before.