Volume Thirteen: A Dream Across a Thousand Years Chapter One: The Tomb Robber Who Feared No Death

Half a month later, Yaoguang returned to Heavenly Sword. With the conclusion of the Hell Invitation case, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Except for those rogue cultivators whose whereabouts were still being tracked, everything else had turned out quite satisfactorily.

Yaoguang sat in a chair, sipping coffee. Jelly lay prone on top of her head, yawning repeatedly.

Not having seen its favorite human for half a month, as soon as Yaoguang returned, Jelly had scampered over eagerly before it was even fully awake, growing overwhelmingly sleepy shortly after arrival.

"Jelly, you didn't stay home to sleep, yet you hurried all the way over here. Look at you suffering now," Yaoguang teased.

"Sleeping on top of my human's head is just the same," Jelly rubbed against Yaoguang's hair and continued to yawn.

At that moment, Song Xuekai burst in in a rush. "Phoenix, let me borrow your detector for a moment."

"Go ahead," Yaoguang said.

Song Xuekai grabbed the detector and turned to leave.

"Hey, did you discover a new continent or something? Why are you in such a hurry?" Yaoguang called out.

"Oh, we caught a gang of tomb robbers who refuse to say a damn thing. We can only examine the stolen funerary objects to figure out which dynasty they belong to, otherwise it's impossible to pry open their mouths. The resolution of your detector here is high. I'm in a rush to run the test, catch you later," Song Xuekai said as he walked toward the door.

"What kind of funerary objects? Let me take a look and feast my eyes, is that convenient?" Curiosity sparked within Yaoguang.

"Oh, I'd welcome that more than anything! Please come along, great detective." Hearing that Yaoguang was willing to help, Song Xuekai was overjoyed.

"Let's go take a look," Yaoguang glanced at Xuanchen and the others.

Jiang Yun was the most curious of all, grabbing Yaoguang's arm and following closely behind Song Xuekai.

They arrived at the Criminal Police Brigade's trace evidence laboratory. Yaoguang walked in, looked at the funerary objects laid out on the table, and fell completely speechless. "Whoa, this is a major tomb. There are quite a few treasures here."

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"You bet, over a hundred pieces. We invited Professor Zhou Junbo over, but he's still on the way. How could I have forgotten about you? You're an absolute expert," Song Xuekai said.

"Compared to Professor Zhou, I still fall a bit short, but I can manage a simple appraisal..." Just as Yaoguang said this, she froze.

The Jelly on her head woke up instantly, as it felt a wave of icy chill emanating from its human. Jelly hopped onto Yaoguang's shoulder and sat quietly.

"Hey, why did you stop talking?" Song Xuekai was listening intently, but Yaoguang's words had cut off abruptly.

Finding this strange, everyone looked over and saw Yaoguang's gaze fixed upon a pair of mandarin duck, dragon and phoenix concentric knot jade pendants. Yaoguang's hand also hovered frozen in mid-air.

Jiang Yun looked over and saw that the concentric knot pendant was carved from white jade, with a dragon on one side and a phoenix on the other. Its luster was smooth and warm, and the tassel was golden yellow and perfectly preserved.

"Master?" Jiang Yun called out softly.

Yaoguang did not answer. With trembling hands, she picked up the jade pendant and simply stared at it, staring unblinkingly.

"What is wrong with Master?" Jiang Yun was stunned.

Xuanchen shook his head.

Yaoguang's eyes remained locked on the jade pendant. In rapid succession, her expression shifted—sorrowful, joyful, tender, resentful. Finally, it settled into profound desolation. Yaoguang closed her eyes tightly.

A single tear actually fell.

Everyone was shocked, completely failing to understand what had come over her.

"These funerary objects are grave goods of Sheng Chuhan, the second emperor of the Tiansheng Dynasty from a thousand years ago. The tomb they robbed is the Sheng King's tomb within the Tiansheng Imperial Mausoleum," Yaoguang suppressed her emotions and looked at Song Xuekai. "Where are those tomb robbers?" she asked.

"In the detention room in the back," Song Xuekai replied.

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"How many of them? Bring all of them into the interrogation room. Since they dared to rob the Sheng King's tomb, they won't be leaving," Yaoguang said, clutching the concentric knot jade pendant as she walked toward the interrogation room.

"What is going on here?" Xuanchen followed behind. "Phoenix's face is so dark water could be wrung out of it."

Chu Tianyou made a gesture indicating he had no idea either, and followed them as well.

With a dark expression, Yaoguang walked into the interrogation room and looked at the six tomb robbers waiting inside.

Seeing that the person entering was a strikingly beautiful female police officer, lewd expressions surfaced on the tomb robbers' faces.

*Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap!* The very next instant, all six men received a simultaneous slap across the face. Neither the tomb robbers inside the interrogation room nor Song Xuekai, Xuanchen, and the others outside managed to catch how Yaoguang had made her move.

"Old Xie, I have a feeling these guys are going to meet their doom at Phoenix's hands today," Song Xuekai said, his speech stuttering slightly.

"Ever since Master saw that jade pendant, she hasn't been herself. Could it be that Master knows this so-called Sheng King? Who even is this Sheng King?" Jiang Yun asked.

"The Sheng King was named Sheng Chuhan, the second emperor of the Tiansheng Dynasty. The first emperor, also the founding emperor, was Emperor Gaozu Sheng Jinyuan. Sheng Jinyuan had four sons: the eldest was Sheng Chuxue, the third was Sheng Chuhui, the fourth was Sheng Chuyu, and this Sheng King was the second son, Sheng Chuhan. After the founding of the Tiansheng Dynasty, the eldest son Sheng Chuxue was originally the crown prince. Because Sheng Chuhan's military achievements overshadowed the master, Sheng Chuxue conspired with Sheng Chuhui to launch a coup d'état in an attempt to assassinate Sheng Chuhan. Instead, they were counter-attacked by Sheng Chuhan, who executed his eldest and third brothers outside the Shengtianden Gate of the imperial city—an event known in history as the Shengtianden Gate Incident. Because of this, Emperor Jinyuan fell bedridden with illness and abdicated the throne to Sheng Chuhan. Succeeding to the throne as Emperor Taizong, Sheng Chuhan ushered in the prosperous and peaceful era of Shengian. Upon his death, Sheng Chuhan was interred in the Tiansheng Imperial Mausoleum, commonly referred to as the Sheng King's tomb," Chu Tianyou explained.

"Judging by Phoenix's reaction, she must share some deep connection with this Tiansheng Dynasty," Xuanchen noted.

"The Tiansheng Dynasty was a thousand years ago. Then Master..." Hu Mingkun didn't dare to finish his sentence.

Everyone tacitly fell silent and gazed into the interrogation room.

Yaoguang sat behind the interrogation desk, her face gloomy. "Tomb robbing—you could rob anything, yet you had to go and rob Sheng Chuhan's tomb. The six of you won't be walking out of here alive."

"You say we won't walk out, so we won't?" sneered a short-statured man.

*Slap!* In the next second, the short man was struck with another heavy slap across the face.

The short man blinked in a daze, utterly failing to see how the pretty female police officer had moved.

"Did I give you permission to speak?" Yaoguang said coldly.

To everyone's surprise, the short man suddenly slipped out of his handcuffs and lunged directly toward Yaoguang.

The people outside froze for a fraction of a second. However, before the short man could even reach Yaoguang, he was repelled backward by an invisible, powerful force, slamming heavily against the wall.

"Bone-dislocating kung fu? Not bad, but right in front of me, it's child's play. Let's cripple this cultivation of yours before we talk further." Yaoguang stood up as she spoke.

"A-Kun, did you see clearly how Master made her move?" Jiang Yun stood speechless before the observation glass. Today's Master was simply too abnormal.

Hu Mingkun shook his head.

"Internal Qi leakage. That fellow was knocked back by the internal energy radiating from Sister Phoenix. She didn't hold back at all this time; that short man is already crippled," Chen Haixu explained.

Inside the interrogation room, Yaoguang walked leisurely over to the short man. She raised her right hand, her slender palm hovering just above the top of his head.

Yaoguang's eerie voice echoed from above him: "Such a pity for this youthful purity cultivation. If you want to blame someone, blame yourselves for picking the wrong tomb to rob—you just had to meddle with the Sheng King's tomb." As she spoke, a wisp of internal energy surged from Yaoguang's palm, driving straight into the short man's body. The short man began to shriek in agony.

A series of crisp, cracking sounds echoed as bones ground together. A mouthful of blood spewed from the short man's mouth.

"You..." The short man was in too much excruciating pain to speak any further.

"Dislocating bones, is it? I'll shatter your foundation and see how capable you still are." The next moment, Yaoguang grabbed the short man by the hair, hoisted him up, and tossed him back into the interrogation chair, slapping the handcuffs back onto his wrists. "Go on, run away now."

The short man collapsed limply against the chair, his heart turning to ice. He knew that several vital joints in his body had stiffened; even if he recovered, he would never be able to practice bone-dislocating arts again. This harmless-looking female police officer had used internal martial arts to directly rupture his periosteum. Externally there was no trace of injury, but internally he was thoroughly ruined.

The remaining five men watched in dumbfounded horror, completely clueless as to what the female police officer had just done.

"Old Six, you?" a tall, thin man asked.

"Internal martial arts technique... I'm crippled," the short man replied.

Yaoguang walked over to the tall, thin man, examined him, and noticed that the fingers on his right hand were exceptionally robust. Yaoguang seized both of his hands, her dark energy surging. With a few sharp cracks, the tall, thin man began to wail.

Yaoguang channeled her internal power into his hands once more, stripping them of all strength.

"From now on, the only thing this hand of yours will be able to lift is a pair of chopsticks," Yaoguang sneered coldly.

"Why?" asked a chubby man.

"No rush. Let me cripple all your martial arts first." Yaoguang walked up to the chubby man, flicked him right on the nose, causing two streams of blood to gush out. Then she walked up to the remaining three men one by one, inspected them, and said, "The three of you are just low-level runners responsible for distributing stolen goods, with no real martial cultivation. I'll spare you."

"Officer, can you at least let us die knowing why?" a bearded man asked.

"Very well. This Sheng King's tomb belongs to the ancestor of a dear friend of mine. By robbing the Sheng King's tomb, you have essentially desecrated half of my ancestral mausoleum. Tell me, shouldn't I deal with you?" Yaoguang said.

"Just because of that?" the bearded man scoffed.

*Slap!* The bearded man received another heavy blow to the face.

"Impudent!" Yaoguang snapped angrily. "Speak—how did you get the information?"

"We just got lucky," the bearded man said stubbornly.

*Slap, slap!* The next moment, several of the bearded man's teeth flew out, and blood gushed from his mouth.

"If you won't tell the truth, fine. For every lie you utter, I will pull out one of your teeth. Let's see how many teeth you have." Yaoguang's expression had turned as chilling as a ghost's.

The men exchanged apprehensive glances. Yaoguang knew that keeping silent might allow them to walk out alive, but if they talked, they would eventually die outside anyway.

Yaoguang sneered. "You think keeping your mouths shut lets you leave alive, while talking means dying in some ancient tomb down the road? But you seem to have forgotten that there is another state of existence—where you wish neither for life nor for death." As she spoke, the Golden Silkworm Gu King materialized in the palm of her hand.

"Xue'er, go play. Just don't kill them," Yaoguang commanded coldly.

"The Golden Silkworm Gu King of Miaojiang!" the six men gasped in unison. "It really exists?!" But in the next second, none of them could utter another word.

Because the Golden Silkworm Gu King had already launched its attack, and agonizing shrieks filled the interrogation room.

"Human, you're terrifying. What's wrong with you?" Jelly crawled down, squatting on the table and looking at Yaoguang with pitiable eyes.

"The Sheng King... was a dear friend of mine from the past," Yaoguang closed her eyes.

"Human..." Jelly extended its tongue and licked Yaoguang's finger.

"It was introduced by a guy called Baldy. I'll talk!" The bearded man could no longer hold out.

Yaoguang gazed coldly at the men and recalled the Golden Silkworm Gu King.

With a wave of her hand, Song Xuekai entered the room.

"We are just low-level runners. The person in charge of the syndicate above us is called Baldy; we don't know his real name, only that he's a professional tomb robber. Above him is the Oasis Environmental Company," the bearded man confessed.

"I don't have time to listen to their rambling. The rest is up to you. Captain Song, I'll have Yitian dispatched here for you, along with an authorization warrant. Show no leniency to anyone from the Oasis Group involved in the excavation of the Sheng King's tomb." With those words, Yaoguang left the criminal police detachment.

Back in her office at Heavenly Sword, Yaoguang stared at the concentric knot, tears streaming down her face...