Chapter 153: Crow Remembers
However, as she arranged the remains, Lin Huai was astonished to discover that the fallen general in silver armor was actually a woman!
At first, the heavy metal plates had hidden her identity. It was only now, as Lin Huai carefully aligned the pelvic bones, that she realized this fearless warrior who had held off an army was a valiant female general.
Instinctively, Lin Huai’s hands became even gentler as she pieced the bones together.
Once the general’s remains were reverently settled into the blood jade coffin, Lin Huai turned and walked back down the stone steps to inspect the treasure chests scattered across the chamber floor.
Initially, she assumed the chests held ordinary gold, silver, and precious jewels. She had only planned to glance at them, caring little for mundane riches. After all, decorative gold and gems were completely worthless in this brutal survival game.
Yet when she flipped open the nearest lids, her eyes widened in pure astonishment.
The ancient hoard had been converted by the system’s rules: all the antique gold and jade had transformed into gleaming Yang energy crystals and rare crafting materials!
Lin Huai swiftly moved from chest to chest, scanning the interiors. Every ounce of gold had been replaced by pure, radiant Yang crystals.
She took a deep breath, fighting down the urge to shout in excitement.
She was rich!
With this massive mountain of Yang energy crystals, she would have more than enough to feed her hungry crystal stone tiger!
Bursting with joy, Lin Huai swept every single chest into her spatial storage bracelet, planning to catalog the full haul once she was back on the highway.
With the chamber cleared, she turned to head for the exit. Yet just as her boot reached the threshold, her gaze was drawn back toward the dark, imposing sarcophagus resting on the highest terrace.
After a moment of hesitation, she walked back up the steps, offering a soft apology to the general resting in her blood jade coffin.
“Forgive me, General. I only want to take a brief look. I mean no disrespect…”
Grasping the heavy lid of the black stone sarcophagus, Lin Huai pushed with all her might. The slab ground open with a dull scrape, revealing nothing inside.
Or rather, there was no body.
It was an empty cenotaph!
No human bones lay within the dark stone—only an ornate, faded set of imperial robes.
Right at that moment, an icy, blood-chilling voice thundered from the gorge outside:
“Those who disturb the Emperor’s tomb shall die!”
The sky darkened instantly. Thousands of ravens swarmed into the canyon from above, a dense, pitch-black cloud that completely blotted out the dim light. Moving with terrifying discipline, they descended like an invincible aerial vanguard!
Lin Huai slid the stone lid shut and dashed out of the cavern, guiding the floating blood jade coffin close behind her. Stopping beside her hearse, she looked up without a hint of fear at the swirling flock.
Leading the legion was the massive Tomb Guardian crow.
Yet Lin Huai’s eyes held no panic—only deep sorrow and heartfelt admiration.
She raised her hand, sliding open the lid of the blood jade coffin to reveal the hundreds of skeletal remains and battered suits of armor resting peacefully within.
“General Mingguang! Wu Zhao!” Lin Huai called out, her voice ringing clear through the canyon. “I have found the men you searched for across a thousand years!”
“One thousand one hundred and eight soldiers. One thousand one hundred and eight complete sets of bones. Not a single man is missing; they are all here!”
“That imperial sarcophagus was an empty cenotaph from the very beginning. It was never worthy of your lives! Yet even so, you and your soldiers stood true as loyal, valiant martyrs who bled for your people!”
Lin Huai bowed her head respectfully. “General Mingguang… Sister Wu Zhao… allow me to guide you on your final journey home.”
“Wu Zhao?… Mingguang?”
The large crow swooped down, shifting into the armored woman. Her voice was cracked and bewildered.
Her silver breastplate was dark with ancient bloodstains, stripped of its original shine by centuries of wind and dust, radiating the heavy, tragic weight of an endless war.
Wandering for ten centuries through the river of time, Wu Zhao had long forgotten her own mortal name. When the Underworld bound her as a Tomb Guardian, she could no longer even remember her core obsession.
She had forgotten her life, yet she had never forgotten her duty. Born to guard the tomb, she died guarding the tomb. Becoming a guardian had felt like her inescapable fate.
Deep within her soul, one faint ember had never died: the instinctive knowledge that she was wandering the tombs in search of something precious. But too many ages had passed, and the memory had slipped away.
Until this very second.
The moment Lin Huai shouted her true name, the ancient seals across her mind shattered. Ten centuries of buried memories rushed back in a roaring tide.
She remembered how she had fallen in battle, and why she had awakened as a spirit.
She remembered how she was chosen to guard these grounds.
Above all, she remembered her eternal obsession—the men she had spent a thousand years trying to find.
She had believed she failed her army. Those one thousand one hundred and eight warriors were her sacred duty, her guilt, and her longing. Her final dying wish had been for her soldiers to find an honorable passage home, carried back to their native soil.
Wu Zhao walked slowly toward the blood jade coffin, her proud eyes brimming with tears. She laid a trembling, armored hand against the smooth rim, her voice thick with emotion: “Brothers… I have finally found you… Mingguang has come to lead you home…”
High above, the circling ravens began descending to the canyon floor, shifting one after another into human silhouettes. They were indeed the fallen soldiers, clad in tattered, ancient armor.
Their lost bones had finally been gathered. With the physical seals broken, their souls were released from their avian forms, their memories restored.
Lin Huai smiled softly. “Sister Wu Zhao, look behind you. You were never truly separated.”
Wu Zhao turned around.
Standing in disciplined formation behind her were the one thousand one hundred and eight soldiers.
Their dented breastplates bore the frost and grit of ten centuries. Though their spectral faces were pale, the hollow black stare of the crows was gone, replaced by the bright, unyielding loyalty of men who loved their commander.
They stood in absolute silence, just as they had a thousand years ago, awaiting their general’s final marching order.
Wu Zhao looked across the rows of faces. Her lips trembled, and hot tears spilled over her cheeks, cutting clean lines through the dried blood and dust on her skin.
She opened her mouth, wanting to bark a command, but grief caught in her throat.
At the front of the rank, a deputy general missing his left pauldron stepped forward. Even with battered gear, his frame stood tall as an iron tower. Clasping his fists in a traditional warrior’s salute, he dropped to one knee, his soul-shaking voice echoing across the stone:
“We salute the General! We… have never left your side! We have followed you through every age!”
“Salute the General!”
“We follow the General unto death!”
Over a thousand voices joined into a thunderous roar that shattered the centuries of gloom, echoing through the rocky gorge. It was no longer the eerie cawing of carrion birds, but the righteous battle cry of honorable men.
Looking at her kneeling soldiers, seeing the same relief and devotion in their eyes, Wu Zhao finally understood Lin Huai’s words.
They had never been parted. Even when their minds were stripped away and their bodies cursed into crows, their instincts had kept them circling this desolate tomb, silently guarding their general while she guarded them.
Wu Zhao drew a deep, steady breath, straightening her spine to stand as the proud General Mingguang once more. Her hoarse voice rang with clear, peaceful authority: “Brothers… you have fought long and hard. A thousand years of waiting… and it was I, Wu Zhao, who failed you.”
The deputy general looked up, his eyes shining with pure devotion. “To live and die beside our General was our highest honor! Falling upon the battlefield leaves us with no regrets! Our only sorrow… was that we failed to shield our General with our lives…”
“No. You did everything I asked of you,” Wu Zhao cut in gently. She looked over every man in the ranks. “We stood true to our duty and our honor. Today, our lingering obsession is answered. Our bones have returned to the light. It is time… for us to go home.”
Hearing the words “go home,” a soft shiver ran through the spectral soldiers, their eyes filled with longing.
Wu Zhao turned to Lin Huai and lowered herself into a deep, formal bow—a gesture carrying the release of ten centuries of sorrow and endless gratitude. “The burial of these brave martyrs… I leave in your hands, Ah Huai.”
Lin Huai quickly stepped forward, raising her hands to return the bow. “Sister Wu Zhao, please do not bow to me. As an Undertaker, this is my highest duty. It is my privilege to guide such loyal souls to their rest.”
Hearing the legendary warrior address her affectionately as Ah Huai meant far more to Lin Huai than any pile of crystals ever could.
Wu Zhao straightened up, a radiant, untroubled smile gracing her face. Turning back to her waiting regiment, her voice soared into the heavens:
“Brave soldiers of Mingguang, hear my command!”
“Sir!” the valley roared back.
“Today, we strip off our armor! Today, we march home!”
As her voice pierced the clouds, a ray of pure, brilliant light broke through the dull sky, sweeping the gloom away. Warm radiance descended upon the gorge, enveloping every single soldier in soft gold.
Their battered armor dissolved into drifting motes of silver light, floating upward into the sky like countless fireflies. Their spectral faces relaxed into deep, serene peace.
Wu Zhao’s silver plate mail melted away as well, leaving her in simple, clean white robes. She cast one last glance back toward the dark cave where the imperial sarcophagus lay, her gaze completely untroubled.
That empty tomb had imprisoned them for a thousand years. Now, it was nothing more than cold stone.
