Chapter 268: The Cycle of Life and Death

The Shadow Ninja…
Gone!
After happily entering the royal tomb passage, he encountered not a single ninja along the way, nor did he sense that chilling presence lurking in the shadows of the corners. The Shadow Ninja who left the hall seemed to have disappeared into thin air. This unusual situation made Happy feel uneasy.
Indeed.
Normally, such a situation meant that the “Shadow Ninja” had determined someone was incapable of succeeding, so it would return to the depths of the royal tomb to seek help, planning to use other ninjas there to draw attention while striking secretly.
This was something he didn’t want to see.
In his past life, by the time he entered this place, he had already reached the realm of life and death. He wouldn’t fear even a Shadow Ninja, let alone the “Ninja King” clad in golden armor.
But now, his strength wasn’t enough to dominate the entire royal tomb. He didn’t possess “Lingdong Bafang,” no advanced flying knife skills, no fourth-stage equipment, and even his martial arts skills were limited to the somewhat decent “Seven Stars Sword Technique”—not even at the master level. In this state, he might be able to confront a Shadow Ninja, but dealing with multiple ninjas would be much harder; he couldn’t handle everything at once.
However…
That didn’t stop him from delving deeper into the royal tomb.
During the early stages of “Jianghu,” ordinary ninjas like “Flying Knife Ninja,” “Fusang Ninja,” and “Clone Ninja” could drop top-quality artifacts that attracted the attention of various factions, with a fairly high drop rate.
The rare “Shadow Doppelgangers” wandering the tomb all possessed the realm of life and death, with a 100% chance of dropping top-quality artifacts; in rare cases, they might even drop two pieces. Additionally, there were at least three to five Shadow Ninjas per level, who could produce exceptional artifacts and special items.
A single trip could yield an astonishing amount of valuable artifacts!
If the Colorful Robes Sect could acquire such wealth, its overall strength and financial resources would soar by far!
However, if they acted together with several other sects, most of the resources along the way would likely be divided. That’s why Happy rushed ahead, skipping several side chambers and paths on the map, focusing solely on the route leading deep into the royal tomb…
Along the way!
Apart from the first three side chambers, each small chamber contained a perfectly intact brocade box exuding an air of imperial elegance.
Happy didn’t even take a second glance at them.

Undeniably, each box contained at least one artifact worth a fortune, making it a small fortune in itself. But Happy knew that several ninjas were hidden near each box. If the box was broken and triggered a trap, dealing with Fusang ninjas was manageable, but if it were flying knife ninjas or clone ninjas, it would be a real headache. The former never fought close to players and were highly agile; it would take a long time to catch them, and their flying knives were extremely dangerous. Clone ninjas were even more troublesome—they created several identical illusions, each with half the combat power of the original. As long as the original didn’t die, they wouldn’t either… Being surrounded by three fearless ninjas wouldn’t be any easier than chasing flying knife ninjas. So! Happy preferred to give up these things and head deeper into the royal tomb! His Illusion Magic movement was far faster than the Cloud-Stepping Technique. A few minutes later, a huge stone pillar appeared before Happy, with paths branching left and right, forming a square “U”-shaped passage. The passage was quite spacious, resembling a hall, but it was completely silent… He frowned slightly. Happy stopped cautiously. He took out a map from his Cosmic Bag. On the map showing the layout of the royal tomb, his red dot was right at the entrance of a large “U”-shaped hall. On either side of the hall were two prominent recessed chambers. From here, he could see parts of the chambers’ corners, where there seemed to be a desk made of something that resembled both gold and wood. Seeing this, Happy’s expression darkened: He had arrived! The Life-and-Death Loop—the second dangerous area after the first checkpoint of the royal tomb, the Ghost Face Wall… “There’s no way to avoid this tough fight!” With a bitter smile, Happy slowly folded up the map. In fact, another main reason he went alone was his understanding of the traps in the royal tomb—many of which couldn’t be explained clearly to others in advance! In his past life’s memories, the second checkpoint, the Life-and-Death Loop, was a series of traps that were not only unexpected but also meant certain death once triggered… A group of players at the Mysterious Realm level, if they rashly triggered the traps without knowing anything, would be in extreme danger! Even Happy wasn’t an exception! Originally, he could ignore the traps and leave directly—as long as he didn’t break the ornate boxes in the two side chambers or covet the two top-tier artifacts that might be there, he could avoid everything. But he couldn’t… He knew that.

If a group of people came here later and found that all the traps were intact, they would undoubtedly try to destroy the lacquered box to get what was inside!
The Colored Robes Gate… is likely to be trapped here as well.
Thus, this battle is inevitable!
Slowly walking into the circular hall with a huge square stone pedestal in the center, the situations in the two side halls became clearly visible.
On the left, on a desk that resembled both gold and wood, there was a black sandalwood box, looking extremely valuable and special; the right side hall was empty, with a shiny patterned carpet on the floor, and on it lay a long box that seemed to be used for storing weapons.
His eyes lit up as his joyful gaze settled on that sandalwood box.
Every time the royal tomb was opened, its contents would change randomly, but generally, there were only five categories. One was an elegant lacquered box for storing gold and jade artifacts; another was a rack for storing equipment, which was easy to see; then there was a weapon box; there were also two other types—ordinary book boxes for storing martial arts secrets, and finally, this kind of sandalwood box, which contained more special items, mostly pills and hidden weapons.
Although the sandalwood box had the lowest value, it could sometimes exert extraordinary effects, and it was also the surprise that Happy hoped for the most at the moment, as he didn’t need top-tier equipment or weapons.
Step… step…
Under the light from the eternal lamps on the walls, Happy slowly stepped toward the side hall where the sandalwood box was placed. A faint golden protective aura quickly covered his entire body as he changed his equipment…
With each step, his aura grew stronger!
By the time Happy stopped in front of the sandalwood box in the side hall…
His Yellow Dragon Bow robes fluttered in the wind; the air in the hall surged!
Happy had already raised his aura to the peak of the Mysterious Realm. His nearly perfected Golden Bell Shield formed a solid barrier about half a foot in front of him, as mighty as a bell—indestructible!
Even so, Happy remained cautious and serious. He held the Silver Wolf Break Imperial Sword upside down and reached toward the sandalwood box on the desk.
Snap!
With a crisp sound, the sandalwood box opened, revealing a black pill…
Suddenly, smoke appeared in the left side hall, and more than a dozen cold auras rose from the smoke.
They’ve arrived!