Mu Family Village

"Hello, Brother Su. My name is Zhu Wendong, everyone calls me Dongzi. You can call me Xiao Dong or Dongzi."

Compared to the taciturn Cao Man, the machete-wielding man Zhu Wendong seemed much more cheerful. He came up and greeted Su Ti, his tone very respectful. Even though he was thirty, he called the clearly twenty-year-old Su Ti "Brother."

This was because the scene of Su Ti fighting four people that day was still vivid in his mind. As a Tongli Stage martial artist, Zhu Wendong naturally knew how powerful Su Ti was.

Although he didn't know the exact layers of internal training the other party had, a martial artist of this level could kill them all at any time at this distance if they wished. Therefore, moral excellence seemed particularly precious.

Facing someone who could pose a life threat at any moment, let alone calling him "Brother," calling him "Grandpa" wouldn't be embarrassing!

"Hello."

Su Ti nodded. Xu Lao also smiled and introduced the last person.

"The last one is Li Guang, we all call him Lao Li."

"Hello, hello."

Li Guang was the Entrenching Tool Man. He had a mature face and quickly stepped forward to greet them when he heard Xu Lao's introduction.

Su Ti's gaze swept over the four people. After the fight that day, he knew their approximate strength. Cao Man and Zhu Wendong were both Tongli Stage martial artists and should be the combat representatives of this small team.

Lao Li and Xu Lao were ordinary people and should belong to the 'technical personnel'.

After everyone had introduced themselves, Xu Lao, not one to waste time, got straight to the point of the day.

"The place we're going to is Xia'an City. If we drive this morning, we should arrive in the afternoon. We'll talk about the details on the way. Let's set off now."

Inside the moving off-road vehicle.

This was a seven-seater off-road vehicle with a high chassis, large wheels, and ample space.

Lao Li was driving, Zhu Wendong was in the passenger seat, and Su Ti and the others were in the back. The trunk was packed with various supplies, including water, food, and tents. It was clear that Xu Lao and his group had completed their procurement before setting off.

"Xu Lao, we're on the road now. Can you tell us the details?"

Sitting in the back seat, Su Ti spoke to Xu Lao beside him.

"I believe you can see that I'm from the martial arts world. I don't understand anything about tomb raiding or evil spirits. So before we take risks, I'll have to trouble you to educate me on the relevant knowledge to avoid any accidents and being completely clueless."

Su Ti was straightforward and didn't waste words with Xu Lao. This matter was originally a collaboration, and he definitely needed a lot of information when entering an unknown field.

Xu Lao nodded.

"No problem, no problem. Even if you hadn't asked, Brother Su Xiu, I was planning to explain things about evil spirits to you in the car anyway, just in case. If we really encounter them, we'll have a way to deal with them."

"Since you've asked, I'll start from the beginning."

"The history of evil spirits is untraceable. What we do know is that ever since human civilization existed, they have frequently appeared in our various historical dynasties, but they were unknown to the world, always hidden in some dark corners."

"Our tomb raiding industry generally believes that the appearance of evil spirits is closely related to Yin Meridians. Yin Meridians produce evil spirits, this has become a consensus."

Although Su Ti had heard Xu Lao mention the term Yin Meridian before, he was still very curious to hear it again.

"What is a Yin Meridian then?"

Xu Lao stroked his chin beard when he heard this and began to explain.

"You should know the principle of clear energy rising and turbid energy descending, right? In this world, there is an ominous energy called Yin energy. Just like how sunken ground collects water, the ground meridian that collects water is called a water meridian, and the ground meridian that can collect Yin energy is a Yin Meridian. In modern scientific terms, it can be understood as an area that gathers ominous negative energy magnetic fields."

Xu Lao was also quite up-to-date, using scientific methods to explain the composition of Yin Meridians.

"Where a Yin Meridian is located, there must be a large amount of Yin energy lingering and accumulating. This lingering and accumulating Yin energy will gradually transform some dead things and even living things, causing earth-shattering changes, and the final result is evil spirits!"

"There are many types of evil spirits, and even I cannot recognize all of them, only a very small part. However, they can generally be divided into two types: ghosts and monsters."

"The difference between the two is that ghosts are formless and monsters have form. Ghosts are the kind of ghosts that people usually understand, the kind of formless and insubstantial ghosts you've seen in movies. As for monsters, it's even simpler. The Corpse Puppet Worm you encountered last time is a type of monster!"

Su Ti was also stunned after hearing this.

"Formless and insubstantial, if I really encounter a ghost, wouldn't all my martial arts be useless? After all, ghosts are formless and insubstantial. Do you have any Taoist methods or techniques that can deal with ghosts?"

Xu Lao shook his head.

"There is no such method, but don't worry, Brother Su Xiu. Based on my nearly forty years of tomb raiding experience, ghosts are actually not that scary."

"Because many ghosts and spiritual bodies are weak and cannot leave the Yin Meridian throughout their lives. All they can bring to humans is some fear and illusions, and they won't cause any substantial harm. As long as your will is firm, you can be immune to their harassment."

"There's also the most important point. Yin Meridians have Yin energy, but life has Yang energy, which is a positive energy life magnetic field that everyone emits. Ghosts are very afraid of those with strong life magnetic fields, that is, those who are strong and vigorous in qi and blood. Ghosts dare not approach powerful martial artists like you."

After talking about ghosts, Xu Lao continued.

"What's truly troublesome are monsters. They have physical bodies and various strange abilities. It will be very troublesome if we encounter monsters in the tomb, and it's even possible to be completely wiped out!"

Speaking of this, Xu Lao showed a lingering fear, as if recalling some bad memories. After a while, he came back to his senses and said.

"I'll tell you the detailed knowledge about ghosts and monsters later. The place we're going to this time is a royal tomb from the Era of Hundred Kingdoms that I accidentally discovered."

"This tomb is built on a Yin Meridian, and the possibility of evil spirits being born is extremely high. If we really encounter them, please lend a hand, Brother Su Xiu. If this trip goes smoothly, we will give you three-tenths of the profits as promised. Even if we gain nothing, we will still give Brother Su Ti two million as compensation. And if a fight really happens, we will increase your share of the profits."

"No problem."

For the rest of the afternoon, Su Ti listened to Xu Lao talk about the tomb and popularize knowledge about evil spirits. Time passed like this.

After the off-road vehicle drove into Xia'an City, it didn't stop.

After a short rest in Xia'an City and refueling, Su Ti and the others set off again, entering the mountain roads outside the city.

Their destination this time was a place called Mu Family Village in the suburbs of Xia'an City.

Mu Family Village is quite remote. Even after entering modern society, it hasn't received much economic development from the city government. It's just a small, remote village located deep in the mountains and old forests.

This directly led to the first half of the road to Mu Family Village being okay. Although it was rugged, it was still paved with cement. In the latter half, only mountain roads were passable.

Moreover, there was mud and rocks everywhere, making it very difficult for vehicles to travel.

Su Ti finally understood why they came in such high-horsepower, high-torque four-wheel-drive off-road vehicles. If it weren't for off-road vehicles, normal sedans or SUVs would simply be unable to drive on this kind of road.

And even with these high-chassis, large-wheeled off-road vehicles, after traveling 3/4 of the way, they were completely unable to move forward.

Because the road ahead was blocked by dense vegetation, cars could not pass.

There was no other way, the group could only take out their prepared luggage, carry it on their backs, and walk forward.

Lao Li and Dongzi each held an entrenching tool and a machete, respectively, hacking at branches and clearing a mountain path ahead.

The mountains and fields were very humid, and there were an alarming number of mosquitoes and insects.

Fortunately, several people were well-prepared. Their clothes had no exposed cuffs or pant legs, they wore mosquito-proof hats, and they had sprayed mosquito repellent on themselves.

Su Ti was also wearing the same set of gear, provided by Xu Lao. At this time, he was in the middle of the team, walking forward and listening to Xu Lao's introduction.

"According to historical records, after the demise of the Mu Kingdom, many people migrated here. The current Mu Family Village is where the descendants of King Mu lived back then."

"Speaking of the Mu Kingdom, its national strength during the Era of Hundred Kingdoms was still decent, belonging to the lower-middle."

Xu Lao began to recount the history of the Era of Hundred Kingdoms. Su Ti casually picked his ears, not caring. The original owner was a history major in college and was very familiar with history.

The Era of Hundred Kingdoms was actually a period of warlordism and competition among a hundred kingdoms after the decline of the Qian Dynasty.

Because during this era, there were simply too many kingdoms that had been granted land and titles on the land of Hesia. The final count had exceeded 300, and this number was still increasing year by year due to the excavation of cultural relics, hence it was called the Hundred Kingdoms.

There were too many princely states like Zhou, Zhao, Li, Sun, and Quan. Princes were extremely worthless in this era, and the history of each country was complex and difficult to verify. Even history scholars did not dare to say that they could recognize all the countries in the Era of Hundred Kingdoms.

Moreover, Su Ti was not a history scholar and had no interest in the history of such insignificant small countries. He only cared about the potential dangers they might encounter during this tomb raiding process.

Therefore, while casually listening to Xu Lao's narration, Su Ti took out his phone and glanced at it. At this time, they had entered the deep mountains, and the signal had been cut off.

However, before coming here this afternoon, he had specifically used his phone to search for information about this village.

Glancing at the information on his phone, Su Ti said.

"I checked this Mu Family Village online. There was a big fire here more than ten years ago. Most of the people who stayed in the village before were elderly, many were burned to death or fled. The village seems to have been abandoned."

Xu Lao nodded slightly and said.

"That's right, so tonight we will first set up camp on the old site of Mu Family Village, and then go to explore the location of King Mu's Tomb tomorrow."

Xu Lao's position in this team, in professional terms, is called the Yin-Yang Eye.

This Yin-Yang is not that Yin-Yang. It doesn't mean he has the ability to see Yin and Yang, but rather that things like checking information, determining directions, finding tombs, and setting excavation points are all the responsibility of the Yin-Yang Eye. In terms of role positioning, it is equivalent to a commander or strategist.

And this King Mu's Tomb, because it is located in a Yin Meridian and is too dangerous, after Xu Lao gathered information from ancient books and some incomplete materials, he did not dare to set foot there out of safety considerations. Therefore, this was the first time for several of them to come here.

The sky gradually darkened, and before they knew it, it was already night.

In the dark, several people held flashlights and compared them with the map, clearing the mountain path with machetes as they advanced towards Mu Family Village.

They had been walking on this mountain path for two hours.

Finally, after cutting through the vines in front of them with a single swing, they completely walked out of the bush jungle.

The view in front of them suddenly opened up, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. This endless mountain road and vegetation were indeed annoying, and now that they had finally walked out, their mood was much more relaxed.

But the scene that followed surprised them.

They saw several houses built against the mountain directly in front of them, and faint lights came from the houses.

Seeing this scene, everyone was stunned.

"Didn't they say Mu Family Village was burned down in a fire? How come there are still people living here?"

This was not a good thing. They were here to dig up someone's ancestral grave. It would be too disadvantageous if they got into a conflict with the local villagers! They were only seeking wealth and did not want to kill anyone.

Everyone looked at Xu Lao. He was experienced and they wanted to see what he would say.

"Since we're already here, we can't avoid it. Let's go up and take a look."

Xu Lao pondered for a moment and replied.

They still needed to measure the location of the tomb, open the tomb, and enter the tomb here, which was a big project and could not avoid the villagers' eyes and ears.

Everyone nodded, put on their backpacks, and advanced towards the lights.

As they got closer, everyone realized that there were many damaged old house sites on the mountain path, all with traces of being burned by fire. At this time, they were burned-down ruins.

These few houses with lights on had obvious signs of renovation and were newly built.

After walking into the houses, Su Ti's nose twitched. He seemed to smell something oily, with a slight stench, but this smell quickly disappeared.

After all, it was in the countryside, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

There were a total of three houses with lights on, quite far apart. For convenience, everyone directly knocked on the door of the foremost one.

With a sound, the door opened, and an old grandmother with a face full of wrinkles poked her head out.

Seeing the people holding flashlights, a clear look of surprise appeared on her face.

"Who are you?"

Her words carried a strong local accent, the kind of dialect unique to the native residents of mountain villages.

"Elder, we're here as tourists."

Xu Lao chuckled. As the brains of the team, he stepped forward to negotiate with the elder. With his excellent negotiation skills, he quickly learned about the current situation in the village.

After that fire, many people in the village were burned to death. The young and strong who weren't burned also left the village to make a living elsewhere.

Only a few very old people remained living in the village.

Those young and strong would occasionally come back to bring the elders supplies like food and clothes, taking care of their lives.

After learning this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

If there were too many young people, they would worry about conflict, but with only a few elders remaining in the mountain village, it was fine.

They could use the guise of tourism to secretly survey the tomb's location, quietly enter the tomb, steal the treasures, and leave.

However, the most pressing matter was to gain the trust of the few elders. After all, besides surveying the tomb, they also needed to stay in the mountain village and would see these elders frequently. Gaining their trust was very important.

Xu Lao was very good at this. He was quite old and had common ground with these elders. After some conversation, he successfully gained the trust of this old grandmother.

"It's so late, you should stay at my place first. Tomorrow I'll introduce you to a few neighbors."

"Then we'll be imposing."

"Not at all, not at all. It's been a long time since I've seen people from outside come here. It's good to have you all here to keep this old woman company."

The old grandmother smiled cheerfully.

The elder opened the main door, and the few people entered the house one after another. After everyone was inside, the elder glanced around, suddenly revealing a strange smile, and closed the door.