I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 17

The stone chamber’s walls were shattered by the tremendous force. Qi Yan was swept up by Bai Qing’s billowing sleeve, which coiled around her like a serpent with a will of its own, binding her tightly to Bai Qing’s back.

Dizzy and nauseous, Qi Yan groaned, “You, ugh! Slow down! Are you trying to kill me?”

Bai Qing’s gaze remained icy, utterly indifferent to her complaints. Her eyes were fixed warily ahead.

Behind the dust and debris of the collapsed walls, a massive figure loomed faintly.

As the creature burst through the haze, Bai Qing frowned upon seeing its form clearly.

“Holy shit! What the hell is that thing?!” Qi Yan clung to Bai Qing’s back in terror, staring at the colossal beast before them.

The creature was enormous, nearly as tall as the chamber itself. It resembled a tiger, but with boar-like tusks protruding from its jaws and a serpentine tail that lashed out, smashing chunks of the stone walls.

Bai Qing’s voice was cold and steady. “Taowu…”

Taowu?

Qi Yan had only read about such creatures in books, a legendary beast from ancient mythology. How could it be here?

The Taowu advanced toward them step by step. As it drew closer, they realized it was made entirely of bronze, lifeless yet moving with eerie autonomy.

Qi Yan could feel the tension in Bai Qing’s back, the muscles taut with readiness.

“Can you take it?” Qi Yan voiced her doubt.

Bai Qing’s brow furrowed, spiritual energy swirling around her. “A mere bronze counterfeit.”

Qi Yan should have known, this fox was brimming with arrogance. After all, she was the Demon King. No matter how fallen, she wouldn’t tolerate anyone questioning her strength.

Qi Yan wisely shut her mouth, arms tightening around Bai Qing’s neck, afraid that the slightest slip would cost her life.

The massive bronze Taowu charged, its hooves slamming down with crushing force.

“Hold on tight!” Bai Qing warned before suddenly launching into the air, giving Qi Yan no time to brace herself.

“AAAAAHHH!”

Tied to Bai Qing’s back, Qi Yan screamed instinctively, arms locked around the fox demon’s neck, eyes squeezed shut as the wind howled past her ears.

She didn’t dare look, but losing her sight heightened her other senses sound, touch, even smell became unbearably sharp. The rush of wind filled her ears, Bai Qing’s body heat suddenly vivid against her, even the faint, elusive fragrance clinging to her.

Strangely, Qi Yan’s heart settled. She clung tighter, pressing her chin against Bai Qing’s shoulder, even daring to inhale subtly at her neck.

It was a pleasant scent.

Bai Qing moved swiftly. In mere moments, Qi Yan heard a series of deafening crashes, followed by the clatter of shattered metal hitting the ground.

Before she could process it, Bai Qing landed, the spiritual energy binding them dissipating. Qi Yan’s arms loosened as her feet touched solid ground again.

Blinking in confusion, she saw the bronze Taowu lying in pieces.

Utterly destroyed. Qi Yan squinted, trying to make out how it had been shattered so completely.

But before she could step forward, the woman who had just carried her through the skies suddenly slumped against her.

Qi Yan was startled and quickly reached out to steady Bai Qing.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Bai Qing shook her head, saying only, “It’s nothing serious. I just need to rest for a bit.”

Seeing her pale face, Qi Yan could roughly guess, she must have overexerted her spiritual energy in the recent battle. After all, she had only recently emerged from the sealed talisman and had been constantly mentioning the need to recover her spiritual energy.

“Then, rest well.” Qi Yan didn’t know what else to say.

Bai Qing didn’t look at her, merely giving a slight nod before transforming into a wisp of white smoke and retreating back into the ring.

Qi Yan lowered her head to look at the ring, realizing she’d have to rely on herself to get out from here on. She was still a little worried, what if they encountered something troublesome again?

As she was pondering this, she suddenly heard someone calling her.

“Sister Qi!”

“Miss Qi!”

It was Huo Zheng and Tang Shanshan.

Qi Yan looked up and saw the two stumbling toward her from behind the shattered stone wall that the Taowu had crashed through. It seemed they had fallen into the same place.

When the two noticed the bronze fragments on the ground, their expressions froze. While the Taowu had been rampaging, they had taken shelter in a safe spot and hadn’t witnessed Bai Qing fighting it.

Huo Zheng was the first to ask, “That, that monster?”

Qi Yan paused for a moment before replying, “I destroyed it. It was the talisman I drew this ring.”

Last time, Bai Qing had angrily beaten up the bald man, and Huo Zheng and Tang Shanshan had always assumed it was the ring’s power. Qi Yan hadn’t explained then and wouldn’t now, it was both to protect herself and Bai Qing. With Bai Qing’s spiritual energy unstable, it was best not to let others know of her existence. Besides, she and Huo Zheng and Tang Shanshan were only temporarily teamed up; she couldn’t be entirely sure of their trustworthiness.

Huo Zheng merely studied her for a moment, likely sensing she was hiding something, but he maintained an appropriate distance and didn’t press further.

Tang Shanshan, on the other hand, didn’t dwell on it at all and immediately said, “Brother Huo and I fell into the same place, it was a huge execution ground!”

“Let’s get out of here first. You can check out the situation over there while we’re at it,” Huo Zheng said, glancing at Tang Shanshan.

Tang Shanshan nodded eagerly, patting her chest. “Follow me! I can lead you up!”

Seeing her sudden burst of confidence, Qi Yan suspected she must have used her talisman’s ability. The three of them passed through the broken wall left by the bronze Taowu and entered a much larger underground space. The area was supported by six columned corridors, extending beneath a platform, atop which stood a dragon-patterned altar. The stone pillars were all carved in the shape of dragons.

Flanking the altar were U-shaped corridors, atop which stood four execution blades. The earthquake and collapse had caused a massive hole to open in the ceiling of the underground altar, allowing sunlight to stream in and reveal the dried bloodstains on the blades. The ground of the U-shaped corridors was covered in a dark red hue from coagulated blood.

No wonder Tang Shanshan had described this place as an execution ground.

Qi Yan froze for a moment, an eerie feeling creeping over her. But before she could dwell on it, Tang Shanshan grabbed her right hand.

With one hand holding Qi Yan and the other pulling Huo Zheng, Tang Shanshan suddenly unfurled a pair of enormous, raven-black wings from her back. The wings flapped powerfully without any wind, and under Qi Yan’s astonished gaze, they lifted all three of them straight into the air.

Holy shit!

Qi Yan’s eyes widened as she turned to look, this was incredible!

“Xiao Tang, is this the talisman you drew?”

Tang Shanshan smiled shyly, a little embarrassed. “I always thought my ability was useless, but I never expected it to come in handy at a critical moment!”

Being young and inexperienced in major events, she often appeared timid, always afraid of being the one to hold Qi Yan and Huo Zheng back, fearing they would eventually grow tired of her. This time, after falling into the underground altar, the holes created by the collapse finally allowed her ability to prove its worth when it mattered most.

At last, she wasn’t completely useless, and this gave Tang Shanshan a newfound confidence.

The three of them left the underground altar, and the warm sunlight bathed them once more. Qi Yan finally felt her heart settle, no longer gripped by the cold sweat that had plagued her earlier.

The feeling of being back on solid ground was comforting. Tang Shanshan tucked away the black crow feathers, and the trio agreed to head back, deciding not to explore any further that day.

After experiencing so many dangers in a single day, they were all exhausted and had much to reflect on.

“That altar down there, don’t you think something was off about it?” Qi Yan was the first to voice her thoughts, having sensed something strange earlier.

Huo Zheng replied, “Xiao Tang said it was an execution ground, and she wasn’t wrong. Those four massive guillotines weren’t just placed there for decoration.”

Qi Yan frowned. “The space I fell into was a mass grave, filled to the brim with human bones.”

Tang Shanshan gasped softly, covering her mouth. “So, the people killed at that altar were just dumped into that pit?”

“Most likely…”

As they walked away from the Drum Music Altar, Qi Yan glanced back at the bronze deer statue, now tilted from the earthquake, and murmured, “Did you notice that all the carvings in the underground altar were of dragons?”

The other two thought back and confirmed it was true.

“But the Lu family’s totem is the deer. The sacred beast they believe communicates with the gods is their totemic deer, and the Drum Music Altar is adorned with bronze deer. Yet hidden beneath it is another altar, and that one is covered in dragon carvings.”

This was what unsettled Qi Yan the most and she suspected it was no small matter.

Huo Zheng’s eyes darkened with thought. “Dragons aren’t symbols to be used lightly, especially since this altar is centuries old. In ancient times, dragons were emblems of the imperial family. Could this altar be connected to royalty?”

What remained unclear was whether the underground altar and the bronze structure above were related. Had later generations unknowingly built the altar above it, or was the surface structure merely a cover for the hidden one below?

“I think we need to dig deeper into Bai Shui Town’s history.” Qi Yan mused, already planning to find an opportunity to question Cui Lan, the NPC. Perhaps she could coax more information out of her?

After all, it was Hong Jie who had arranged for them to stay at Cui Lan’s house. Cui Lan couldn’t just be a simple NPC tasked with hosting them, there had to be more to her.

Once they made up their minds, the group returned to the guesthouse without lingering in the folk street. What nagged at Qi Yan, however, was the complete lack of reaction from the townsfolk to the earthquake at the Drum Music Altar. Even those in the nearby folk street carried on as usual, as if the seismic event beneath the altar had never happened.

When they reached the entrance of the folk street and boarded the shuttle bus again, the driver behaved exactly as before, showing no signs of anything out of the ordinary.

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