MYDISCWAN (GL) (GXG) (GIRLXGIRL)

86

Chapter 86: The Truth
The corridor was very long, but using spiritual energy, they could cross it in the blink of an eye. Di Jiufeng and Ning Guang soon arrived at the end, only to discover that the white light was not the sun, but the cold and apathetic light of a night pearl.

Di Jiufeng walked inside, finding a stone cave furnished with a plain set of tables, chairs, and a stone bed. There was a carved jewelry box on the dressing table against one of the walls, half-closed, a beaded hairpin partially visible inside. There used to be signs of life in this place, but with the passage of time, all of these signs had been covered by a thick layer of dust.

Di Jiufeng walked a circle around the room, but was unable to find anything unusual.

Then, she walked to Ning Guang’s side, raised an eyebrow, and said, “It seems like this is a dead end. Right, Ning Guang, since this is the witch race’s tomb, why not take out the map and look? Though the depiction is a bit abstract, perhaps it will be useful.”

Ning Guang nodded and pulled out the cut out map of the witch race’s tomb.

Because they had melded together, this map was much thicker than before. Di Jiufeng used a spell to clean the dust from the stone bed, then spread the map flat on its surface.

The night pearl was very bright, its light shining on the map on the bed. Di Jiufeng looked down at it, and saw a red dot of light faintly flickering at the end of a thin line on the map. “Ning Guang, look!” Di Jiufeng pulled Ning Guang over, pointed at the red dot, and said, “Look at this, is this our current position?”

“It’s possible.” Ning Guang did not refute her. She picked up the map and started outside the room, only to see that as she moved, the little flickering red dot moved outside with her. Ning Guang understood, and nodded in confirmation. “It truly is pointing to our current location. But, looking at this map, the path clearly continues, while there’s nowhere to go from here.”

She put down the map and walked a circle around the stone room.

Ning Guang examined the walls, but all four were solid; there were no concealed doors.

Seeing her come up empty, Di Jiufeng looked down to investigate the stone bed under her hands. When she had read The Return of the Condor Heroes, the secret mechanism was located inside the stone bed. She pressed her ear against the bed and found a large stone to tap against the surface, only to hear two resounding plonks from underneath the bed, sounding with a bit of echo.

[T/N: 神雕侠侣, The Return of the Condor Heroes, is a classic of the wuxia genre, written by Jin Yong.]

This bed was hollow. Was there a secret passage underneath?

Di Jiufeng met eyes with Ning Guang, and they split up to feel along the edges of the bed. Soon, Di Jiufeng found an indentation which could fit four fingers inside.

“Ning Guang, Ning Guang, come look.” She beckoned Ning Guang over. When she was standing by her side, Di Jiufeng sunk her fingers into the indentation. There was a loose piece at the top of this indentation, and with the slightest press, the piece of stone sank into a groove.