On the other side, the crescent moon hangs high, covering the golden sea of sand with a layer of silver-white gauze.
The temperature in the desert is very low at night, and the wind that blows from time to time carries a chill.
Li Lin and Kassadin waited outside the gate of the ancient tomb for half a day before following the steep slope and marble steps to the outside of the tomb.
When he saw the grand scene of the mausoleum, Li Lin gasped in shock, “Hiss—I’ve only seen this scene in movies and games…”
Kassadin heard his whisper and was a little surprised: “Game? How do you recreate this kind of scene in a game? And… what is that electric thing?”
“It’s nothing, it’s just a name from my hometown.” Li Lin smiled, not wanting to dwell too much on this issue.
Kassadin is not an inquisitive person and knows when to say something and when not to say it.
Seeing that Li Lin didn’t want to answer this question at all, he just skipped it.
Then, Kassadin’s gaze circled the hall in front of him several times, taking in everything in sight.
He noticed four corpses far apart on the ground, and two of them were turned into charred corpses, with their original appearance completely unrecognizable.
“It seems that the expedition team discovered a lot of mechanisms…but still triggered some hidden magic traps.”
Kassadin thought for a moment, looked back at Li Lin, and said in a very serious tone:
“This exploration is much more dangerous than the Tomb of Horok I went to before. Even though Sivir and the others have broken through most of the traps, I still hope that you will completely obey my arrangements from now on.”
Under his influence, Li Lin also became serious and nodded seriously, “Don’t worry.”
The day before, he asked Kassadin many things to pay attention to when exploring this kind of tomb.
Apart from the traps, the most dangerous thing in the ancient tomb is the guardian Bakai.
But Li Lin knew very well that the tomb where Azir was buried contained a terrifying existence that was more dangerous than Bakai…
The Ascended One who has gone crazy – Renekton, the Desert Butcher.
There is also the ancient witch spirit Xerath who betrayed Azir.
Under the leadership of Kassadin, they followed the traces of the expedition team on the ground, avoiding the mechanisms that had been lifted by them, and finally reached the steps leading to the depths.
“By the way, Kassadin.” As they were walking, Li Lin pretended to suddenly remember something, “You should know the legend of the Grand Maester, right?”
Grand Maester is the Shuriman honorific title for the god warrior Nasus.
Because of his profound knowledge, he was once in charge of the great library of the empire.
“Of course, everyone in Shurima knows Nasus.” When he mentioned this name, Kassadin’s voice was full of admiration, “Why are you asking this now?”
“I remember, didn’t Nasus have a brother named Renekton?” Li Lin pretended to question.
“Yes, but he disappeared with the fall of Shurima thousands of years ago… There are many rumors that he was annihilated by the collapsing sun disk along with Emperor Azir.
“But they all forgot about the extremely powerful vitality of the Ascended Ones. And according to the ancient books left at the time, Nasus and Renekton were sent to deal with an urgent threat and were not present at all.”
Kassadin snorted coldly, showing his disdain for those illiterate people who like to spread rumors that have no basis at all.
Then, he told Li Lin what he knew, which were basically stories he learned from ancient books and a small number of wise elders:
Emperor Azir had a trusted slave confidant named Xerath, but this ungrateful thief tried to steal Azir’s power of ascension.
At the highest point of the Ascension Altar, the Sun Priests have summoned the great power of the Sun into the world.
However, Xerath pushed Azir off the altar, losing the protection of the rune circle and instantly turning to ashes in the surging fire of the sun.
Afterwards, Xerath used the powerful power he had gained to reduce the City of the Sun to rubble, and fought with his brother Celestial Warriors who hurried back after learning the news.
In order to destroy this evil guy, Renekton sacrificed himself and chose to die with Xerath…
These stories were told by Kassadin through a combination of ancient books and oral legends passed down by elders from generation to generation, and they were relatively close to what really happened thousands of years ago.
But there are also some inaccurate contents in his story that were fabricated by later generations.
For example, it was not Xerath who destroyed the City of the Sun, but the huge astral power from the heavens was misappropriated by him, an unrecognized guy, and the resulting explosion destroyed the capital.
Renekton did not die with Xerath, but instead sealed him with his brother Nasus in the magic sarcophagus they carried with them when they went out to deal with an eternal flame beast spirit.
But Xerath was more powerful than they imagined. He broke the sarcophagus and fought with the god brothers. Finally, under the control of Renekton, the two of them were sealed by Nasus in the emperor’s tomb…
“But I remember that Renekton and Xerath did not die together, but were sealed in the emperor’s tomb by Nasus…”
After Kassadin finished speaking, Li Lin took advantage of the situation and brought up the background he knew.
“Huh?” Kassadin was startled by what he said, and subconsciously glanced into the depths of the tomb in front of him, “Where did you hear about it?”
“Oshra Vazuan was once the northern trading post of the Shuriman Empire. There is an ancient book about Shuriman in the Piltover Library.”
Li Lin talked casually and found a reasonably convincing reason.
Kassadin, who fell into silence, suddenly stopped.
He had heard that Zaun originally belonged to Shurima. If by some kind of chance, the classics of that time were preserved, it would not be impossible…
“If it is true as you said, Renekton and Xerath were sealed in the emperor’s tomb, probably this one… Are you sure you want to continue moving forward? It’s still too late to regret now.”
Kassadin was not afraid of this, but out of concern for Li Lin.
If an accident really happened, he himself could use Horok’s Underworld Blade to tear open the space and escape, but Li Lin couldn’t.
But he didn’t know that Li Lin’s power armor also had a function similar to “void walking”.
“Keep walking.” Li Lin patted Kassadin’s shoulder lightly, “Anyway, we haven’t encountered danger yet, right?”
…
…
In the deepest hall of the mausoleum.
Of the last dozen or so of Sivir’s men who were dead, only three were seriously injured and lying on the ground, dying.
After Cassiopeia gave the order to move on, they encountered a group of undead guardians who had been mummified and resurrected upon noticing the intruders.
Among them, 5 mercenaries and 4 Noxian guards fought desperately, and the remaining people entered a very crowded and narrow passage less than three meters wide.
However, this passage is full of traps more deadly than those in the outer hall of the tomb.
Amid the blood and screams, most of the remaining mercenaries sacrificed their lives for the survival of them and others.
However, before arriving at the last huge tomb door away from the scene of the emperor and the Ascended Ones, Sivir, who was originally very angry, did not hold Cassiopeia accountable again.
She even abandoned her three seriously injured men and stared obsessively at the sculptured guards and reliefs depicting ancient warriors of the gods.
It depicts scenes of countless beast-headed warriors fighting evil twisted monsters from the cracks of the underground abyss.
Sivir could feel the blood boiling in his body, and he felt an inexplicable hatred for these evil things in his heart.
It was as if the one fighting those monsters was not the great warrior of the gods, but herself.
Not far away, Cassiopeia’s fiery gaze lingered on the last tomb door for a long time.
Then, she looked at the entranced Sivir, with a fierce look in her eyes, “What a beautiful picture, Sivir, isn’t it?”
However, Sivir did not react at all to Cassiopeia’s words.
He didn’t even notice that she pulled out the poisonous dagger and approached him with hostility.
“I’m very grateful that you brought me here…” Cassiopeia’s words suddenly sounded behind her.
Before Sivir could react, she felt a cold and numb touch coming from her waist, as if a sharp blade had been stabbed into her body.
Then, unbearable severe pain swept through his body, and Sivir collapsed weakly to the ground. Gugu’s blood flowed into a piece, dyeing the golden sand scattered on the ground red.
As she was dying of consciousness, Sivir stared. In the gradually dimming vision, she saw Cassiopeia picking up her cross blade and walking to the huge tomb door.
Immediately afterwards, endless darkness descended, and she completely lost all perception of the outside world…
