Don"t go on," Princess Fragrance pleaded. The scene was too tragic. She could not bear to hear any more.
"Why did the king stand guard on the other side of the door instead of escaping?" Huo Qingtong asked. "I can"t work that out at all." She pulled out the map and looked at it for a moment. Her face brightened. "At the end of this tunnel there should be a great hall and other rooms," she said.
Slowly, they walked forward, treading on human bones as they went. They turned two corners, and emerged into a cavernous hall as Huo Qingtong had predicted. They stood at the entrance and looked about. The floor of the great hall was filled with skeletons and weapons lying about at random, evidence that a furious battle had been fought here.
As they walked into the hall, Chen"s dagger suddenly shot out of his hand and fell to the floor with a clatter. At the same instant, the belt supporting Huo Qingtong"s sword around her waist snapped, and the scabbard fell heavily to the floor. The three jumped in fright. Huo Qingtong bent down to pick up her sword, but as she did so, the darts in her pocket flew out with a whoosh and dropped to the ground in the same manner.
Chen grabbed the two girls and leapt backwards several paces, steeling himself to defend them against any attackers. But there was not a sound from the hall. He wondered what kung fu could snatch the weapons from their hands and even suck Huo Qingtong"s darts from her pocket.
"We have come only to escape wolves and with no other purpose," Chen shouted into the darkness in the Muslim language. "Please forgive us for any indiscretions we may have committed."
There was no answer but the echo of his own words returning from the far side of the hall.
As Huo Qingtong"s initial fright receded, she walked forward again and stooped to pick up her sword. But it was stuck to the floor as if nailed in place. She tried again using all her strength and managed to free it, but a second later, it flew out of her hand again and hit the ground with a clang.
Chen realised what was happening.
"There must be a magnet under here," he said.
"What"s a magnet?" asked Huo Qingtong.
"Sailors say there is a big mountain in the far north which attracts pieces of iron which hang free, making them point north to south. When they"re on the ocean, they rely on something called a magnetic compass to find their direction."
"And you think there"s another magnet mountain under here which is attracting our weapons?" asked Huo Qingtong.
"I think so. Let"s try it." He prized up his dagger and placed it and a wooden chair leg on his left hand with his right hand on top to hold them in place. When he took his hand away, the dagger flew to the ground but the chair leg remained motionless.
"So as you see, the magnet is powerful," said Chen, picking up the dagger again and gripping it tightly.
Huo Qingtong walked on a few more steps. "Come here!" she called. Chen ran over and saw a skeleton which was still standing. A few tattered pieces of clothing hung on the frame, and its right hand was holding a white-coloured sword which was stuck into the skeleton next to it.
"It"s a jade sword!" Huo Qingtong exclaimed. Chen carefully extracted the sword from the skeleton"s grasp, and with its support gone, it collapsed to the floor in a heap.
The jade sword"s blade was very sharp, but it was still frail enough to shatter if it clashed with a metal blade. Looking round, they saw there were many other jade weapons of all sizes lying about the hall.
"I know!"