Jiu’er turned back to glance at him, smiled faintly, and then said nothing more, continuing to walk forward.

This time, it was Lu Feifan’s turn to walk silently behind her.

In truth, both of them were burdened with heavy thoughts, and neither knew exactly where they were heading.

Before they realized it, they had walked all the way to the secret chamber where the Northern Emperor’s coffin had previously been placed.

Now, the contents of the secret chamber had basically all been cleared out.

After most of it had been cleared away, it had been carefully sent out, ready to be handed over back in Jiangzhou.

As for the secret chamber itself, it was now completely empty, with nothing left except for some indecipherable patterns occasionally found on the walls and floor.

Some inexplicable patterns…

Suddenly, Jiu’er stopped in a certain spot.

This was the place where the coffin had previously sat; the ground still bore the marks left by the coffin’s weight pressing down on it for over a thousand years.

“What is it?” Lu Feifan hurried over and crouched down beside Zhen Jiu’er. “What did you see?”

There were some patterns on the ground, but he couldn’t understand this particular pattern.

Some disorderly lines, going in inexplicable directions, made the lines completely meaningless.

It was just like when a small child first starts learning to draw, unable to even hold the pen steady, scribbling randomly on paper.

Utterly without any recognizable shape.

“You… you understand it?”

“These lines seem… not quite right.”

Zhen Jiu’er reached out her hand and gently brushed it across the lines.

She didn’t know what had been used to carve the lines, but they weren’t deep; still, they were indented into the ground’s surface, as if cut by some sharp tool.

Lu Feifan also studied it carefully, and suddenly his expression shifted slightly. “These lines have been tampered with!”

“There are two different kinds of lines!”

Lu Feifan quickly discovered this too.

“Did you bring any paint?”

“Why would I bring paint to a place like this?” But Lu Feifan immediately understood what Zhen Jiu’er meant.

He looked around at his surroundings.

The secret chamber was completely empty; there was nothing at all, and finding anything to use would be difficult.

“Would that black soil over there work?” Only in the corner was there some black soil, though she didn’t know what material it was.

“Let’s try it.”

Jiu’er nodded, and Lu Feifan immediately handed the flashlight to her, then went to the corner himself and scooped up a handful of the black soil.

Jiu’er immediately used the black soil he had brought back, filling it in bit by bit along certain lines.

The lines filled with black soil quickly became distinguishable from the rest.

The original image gradually began to become clear.

A lock, and a… key!

Lu Feifan’s hand trembled, and the black soil in his hand scattered across the ground.

“So that’s it! So that’s it!”

He suddenly stood up, pressing his large palm forcefully against his own chest.

Those deep black eyes stared fixedly at the pattern on the ground.

“So… that’s how it is…” Jiu’er also stood up, glanced at him, then lowered her head, touching the chain she held in her hand.

The key, inserted into the lock.

It had to be like that!

If the matching key were inserted into the matching lock, something different was bound to happen.

This had to be the answer to the riddle!

“Feifan…”

“Watch out!”

Before Lu Feifan’s shock had even passed, he suddenly lunged toward Jiu’er.

With a loud crash, something above the secret chamber came crashing down.

Jiu’er was shoved violently away, tumbling across the ground several times before barely managing to get back up.

She turned to look back, but all she saw was dust everywhere—Lu Feifan’s figure was nowhere to be seen!

The ceiling of the secret chamber had collapsed, and he was buried beneath the rubble!