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

Chapter 104 Octagonal Qingling
Wu Xiaoxie turned and ran, wishing he had superhuman speed and could ride on wheels of fire.

At this point, his own life was in danger, so he couldn't care less about Lao Yang being dragged away by the vines. He guessed that the vines were something Lao Yang had conjured up to save him.

The more nervous he became, the more his thoughts wandered, his mind buzzing and chaotic. Suddenly, something flashed before his eyes, and his body came to an abrupt stop before his thoughts could react. He looked left and right, and saw a dozen or so bright red lanterns all around him.

Unbeknownst to him, he had been surrounded by the tentacle monster.

The cracks beneath his feet grew wider and wider, and Wu Xiaoxie lost his balance, having to hold onto a tree root that was growing out from the side.

A deafening roar erupted, sending dust and wood chips flying. Wu Xiaoxie was blinded and his feet suddenly dangled in mid-air. Luckily, he managed to grab onto a dangling bronze chain...

Wait, a bronze chain?
Wu Xiaoxie suddenly opened his eyes. All around was silent. All the lantern eyes were gone. In the darkness, only his heavy breathing after running was left.

A sudden, absurd and ominous feeling rose in Wu Xiaoxie's heart. It seemed that somewhere in the darkness, a gaze was scrutinizing him without any malice.

A faint breeze blew past his ear. Wu Xiaoxie closed his eyes tightly, then opened them again. In the darkness, a faint candlelight seemed to appear. When he tried to look closely, the candlelight flickered and disappeared. When he looked again, it appeared in a more distant place.

Wu Xiaoxie was stunned for a moment. He was not careful and his grip loosened slightly. He immediately slid down the bronze chain. In his panic, he suddenly bumped into something hard under his feet. It seemed to be solid ground.

Wu Xiaoxie tentatively reached out with his toes and indeed touched something hard, which seemed to be flat ground.

Blood seeped from the cuts on his palms, dripping onto the slippery chain, making it difficult for Wu Xiaoxie to hold on. He finally made up his mind, stretched out one leg to test the ground, and sure enough, it was flat.

Wu Xiaoxie was overjoyed. He stepped on the bronze chain with his other foot, stomped it hard to make sure it was secure, and then released it.

By this time, Wu Xiaoxie's eyes had basically adjusted to the darkness. He squinted and looked around. In the hazy grayness, he could make out some outlines.

At some point, his surroundings transformed into a building resembling a grand hall. The stone walls and ground behind him were covered with intricately patterned murals, uncolored, just the original lapis lazuli hue.

He reached out and touched it, but without the light, he couldn't see what was engraved on it.

Bringing his thoughts back to reality, Wu Xiaoxie had no intention of figuring out where he was; all he wanted now was to get out of there.

Since there was wind here, it meant there was an exit. Wu Xiaoxie gritted his teeth and decided to walk in the direction where the candlelight had appeared.

The sound of footsteps echoed loudly in the empty hall. Wu Xiaoxie tried his best to be quiet, but he couldn't avoid the continuous echoes.

The candlelight in the distance flickered again, then reappeared so faintly that it was almost invisible. Wu Xiaoxie was getting anxious and, without thinking, quickened his pace and ran in that direction. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, and he didn't pay attention to where he was stepping. By the time he realized he had missed a step, it was too late. He stumbled and fell, tumbling down the steps.

Finally stopping on flat ground at the bottom of the steps, Wu Xiaoxie was completely disoriented and couldn't tell which way was which.

Jingle bells, jingle bells—

Suddenly, a clear bell rang in my ears, followed by a cacophony of voices coming from all directions, sometimes near, sometimes far, sometimes bright, sometimes dim. I couldn’t make out what the voices were saying, but I could tell that there were more than two people.

Soon, the sound of the bell gradually increased from the first ring, and Wu Xiaoxie could also hear light footsteps mixed in, as if many people were walking in his direction.

Wu Xiaoxie subconsciously turned around and suddenly realized that the main hall he had just passed was gone, replaced by a snow-covered mountain in the hazy light of dawn.

He pushed himself up and looked down the mountain. He saw a group of people coming this way along the steps built on the ridge.

Those people were all wearing thick white robes with cloaks draped over their backs. For some reason, even from such a distance, Wu Xiaoxie could still see that the leader's cloak was slightly different from the others, with strange dark gold patterns faintly shimmering on it.

The clear, crisp sound of bells came from those people. They each carried a white, octagonal lantern that flickered with a warm, yellow candlelight. Bells hung from the eight corners of the lantern, and as they moved and the wind blew, the bells collided and rubbed against each other, producing a pleasant sound.

The sound of the bell seemed to have a clearing effect on the ears and eyes. Just by listening from afar, Wu Xiaoxie felt that his head, which had been dazed from the fall, had cleared up considerably.

Wu Xiaoxie didn't know why he suddenly appeared here. He wanted to walk away, but the sound of the bell seemed to have a magical power, firmly binding his feet to the spot. He struggled hard, but his feet seemed to be tied together, and he fell to the ground.

He was jolted awake by the sudden chill when his palm touched the snow. Upon closer inspection, he realized that he hadn't been restrained; rather, his feet were soaked from running, and the cold had frozen them solid, explaining why he couldn't move.

A cold wind howled, and snowflakes swept in, mercilessly pelting Wu Xiaoxie's face.

Wu Xiaoxie was shivering from the cold. He hadn't felt the cold when he was in a daze, as he was only wearing a thin windbreaker. Now, the cold seeped in from the outside in, making his teeth chatter.

No, no, we can't just sit here and wait to die. In a little while, he'll freeze into a Wu Xiaoxie-brand popsicle.

This chapter is quite long!

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(End of this chapter)