Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 268 Divine Tree Altar
The Wang family is really exceptionally clever; they're masters at using other people's faces.

Zhang Wuxun strongly suspected that his face had also been copied by them.

The face in front of him was so deceptive that Zhang Wuxun couldn't bear to watch his familiar face turn into such a mess.

He simply used his materialization ability to create a human skin mask and covered the modified face with it.

Well, at least it doesn't look so bad now.

Adhering to the principle of not littering, Zhang Wuxun casually hoisted the body onto his shoulder, turned on the fog lights, and continued down the stairs.

The bronze sacred tree is hollow inside, and the inner wall also has cloud and thunder pattern grooves used by the ancients for sacrifices. However, the function of these grooves is to reverse the blood from the outer layer upwards, just like a water pump.

Zhang Wuxun walked quickly, descending the spiral staircase for several hundred meters until he entered the underground.

No one knows how deep this bronze tree is, but hidden within the intricate cloud and thunder patterns on the underground inner wall is a small bronze door, two meters high and a little over one meter wide.

The sacrificial blood grooves carved on the small door blend seamlessly with the surrounding patterns, making them difficult to notice.

However, these patterns are actually independent and can only be revealed when enough blood is dripped on them.

However, the system is clearly familiar with this place; Zhang Wuxun was able to find it last time thanks to the system's guidance.

Last time, Zhang Wuxun had to bleed himself to open the door, but this time the corpse he carried came in handy. He had originally planned to use the pig blood he bought at the slaughter market instead.

Since the Wang family has sent people here, it proves that they have indeed found out something through special channels.

However, Zhang Wuxun found no signs of it being opened, and the smell of blood was so faint that it was almost negligible.

He figured that either the guy hadn't noticed the flaw in the place and kept going down the stairs, or he had noticed it but hadn't made any thorough preparations and was killed by Zhang Wuxun when he tried to return.

Blood dripped from bottom to top, quickly filling the groove. The cloud and thunder patterns, stained with blood, looked somewhat eerie under the dim light.

A series of rumbling sounds of chains being dragged rang out. A moment later, the small bronze door suddenly began to shake, and a dull grating sound rang out. The door shrank back completely, revealing a gap about the width of a person.

Zhang Wuxun carried the corpse, stepped over the stairs, and entered the passageway inside the door.

As soon as I stepped inside, I heard a series of clicking sounds behind me. When I turned around, I saw that the small bronze door had already closed.

Okay, so this is a one-time entry/exit permit.

The space inside the passageway was much larger, with lamp posts on both walls containing unburnt oil.

However, the oil inside was the kind of corpse oil used to light sky lanterns in ancient times; it was waxy yellow and black, and quite evil. Zhang Wuxun had no interest in lighting it.

The soft footsteps were particularly clear in the empty passageway. The passageway was not long, probably only about a hundred meters long, and passed through two tightly closed stone gates.

The last time he came, the system said that the coffins inside contained the remains of two people of very special status, but it didn't specify who they were. Zhang Wuxun felt that the only thing that could make the system remain silent, besides the ancient tribe related to the system, was the ancient tribe.

He wasn't particularly interested in it; the system would naturally say what needed to be said when the time came.

At the end of the passageway was another stone door, but the carvings on this stone door were very special. They were another kind of tattoo on Zhang Wuxun's body. The patterns on the two doors were symmetrical to each other, forming a three-legged divine bird pattern.

If Wu Xiaoxie were here, he would definitely recognize that the patterns on this stone door were the same stone mural he had seen in the illusion after being knocked unconscious by the octopus's tentacle on the plank road.

Later, during a casual conversation, Wu Xiaoxie mentioned to Zhang Wuxun the illusion he had seen in the Qinling Mountains. He himself had doubts about that experience and asked Zhang Wuxun where he had been at that time. However, Zhang Wuxun casually brushed it off and did not tell the truth.

In fact, what Wu Xiaoxie saw in the illusion was basically what Zhang Wuxun was experiencing during his sacrifice. After his body abandoned most of its blood and entered a state of suspended animation, it was a kind of sacrifice at the level of consciousness. It was an illusion, yet not an illusion.

However, for some reason, Wu Xiaoxie's consciousness was also involved. Perhaps Xiao Tianzhen's physique is really special.

After a jumble of random thoughts, the topic returned to the present.

The mechanism in front of him was simple for Zhang Wuxun; he had set up a replica of this mechanism in the basement of his house.

However, that one was simpler and didn't require blood. This one required dripping blood onto the joints of the carved patterns, which basically meant following the order in which the crimson flame tattoos spread on Zhang Wuxun's body.

After a series of operations, the heavy stone door slowly rose upwards.

Inside is a magnificent hall built from a natural karst cave. The floor is made of smooth stone slabs made of a black stone. The surrounding stone walls are carved with murals related to sacrifices and migrations. The murals, which have been specially treated, still retain their vibrant colors after the passage of time.

The only unusual thing is that the people participating in the sacrifice in the mural are all wearing white robes, and their faces are covered by cloaks. Only the leader-like person standing on the high platform can be seen wearing a mask with dark gold patterns.

In the center of the main hall was a huge altar, and around the altar was a moat-like channel, three or four meters wide and very deep, with no bottom in sight.

The water in the canal is from a hot spring connected to the outside. Steam rises from the water, and in the darkness, the central altar appears hazy, giving people an eerie sense of mystery.

The water looks clear, but it actually contains very small, transparent insects that are invisible to the naked eye.

This insect has sharp teeth and a paralyzing property, so it doesn't hurt when it bites you and can slowly eat away at your flesh without you even realizing it.

When a large number of these insects crawl on your body, they devour you at an astonishing speed. By the time you realize it, your internal organs may already be overflowing.

If it weren't for the special blood in Zhang Wuxun's body, he would have already suffered the consequences last time. This time, he would have truly died without a complete corpse, not even a single bone would be left.

These insects are in a state of suspended animation most of the time, but a single drop of blood can revive them all.

Zhang Wuxun threw the corpses of the Wang family members he was carrying into the ditch, and instantly the water surface churned as if it were boiling water.

Blood spread instantly, and in less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the corpse that had just been thrown in had disappeared without a trace.

(End of this chapter)