Tomb

Xu Lao only felt his face burning with humiliation.

As an old hand in the tomb-raiding trade with Yin-Yang Eyes, every tomb he had robbed had been an untouched, first-hand tomb.

He would never enter a second-hand tomb that someone else had already opened, nor did he care to pick over another person's leftovers.

And yet, he had actually misjudged this one?

They had entered a second-hand tomb!

But the Dragon Blocking Stone had not even been opened. How had the other party gotten in?!

Did they carve through the mountain? The scale of that project would have been enormous. Even with modern technology, without heavy machinery, digging it by hand would take years.

But no matter what, now that they had come this far, they had to enter the tomb chambers and take a look.

Whether someone had been here before would become obvious as soon as they entered the chambers.

Everyone had already prepared for the pitfall trap ahead. Lao Li took a telescopic ladder from his backpack, extended it to seven or eight meters, and set it across the pit.

Cao Man then took the lead, carefully crossing the trap. She kept one hand on her long whip, alert and wary, but nothing happened even after she crossed the pitfall.

"Safe."

Everyone nodded. After crossing the ladder, Lao Li folded it up again.

As they continued deeper inside, they saw several more traps that had already been triggered.

A collapsed ceiling, all kinds of dart mechanisms that fired from both sides, and traces of poison smoke that had already been released.

Judging from those triggered traps, they could almost be certain that someone had arrived here before them.

Xu Lao's expression grew darker and darker, until Cao Man suddenly cried out from ahead.

"Quick, look! What is this?!"

Hearing Cao Man's cry, everyone hurried forward to investigate.

The moment they saw it, their expressions changed drastically.

A round hole about the size of a basketball had appeared in one side of the tunnel wall.

A faint breeze drifted out of the hole. Clearly, it connected to the outside world.

Everyone gathered around it, staring blankly. If this were a place where living people resided, the hole might have been for ventilation. But this was a tomb! A place for the dead! From a design standpoint, it had no need for a vent at all!

"This is a robbers' tunnel!"

After studying it for a while, Lao Li suddenly spoke, then added another sentence.

"That group of tomb raiders entered through this tunnel."

"They came in through this tunnel?"

Su Ti glanced at the basketball-sized hole.

How the hell could a person fit through that?

Lao Li instantly understood the look in his eyes.

"Someone can fit through, but I can't."

Seeing Su Ti's expression, Lao Li explained.

"In our line of work, the standard has always been how small a hole you can dig and squeeze through. The smaller the hole, the higher the level of skill. I can dig a hole forty-two centimeters wide at most and crawl through it. That's my limit."

"But some old masters were born with smaller frames and practiced bone-shrinking techniques. Their builds allow them to make even smaller holes."

Su Ti took out a tape measure from his backpack and measured it. His expression became even stranger.

"Are you really sure someone can squeeze through a thirty-five-centimeter hole?"

"Yes. I've never seen one myself, but such people should really exist."

While Lao Li was still explaining to Su Ti, Xu Lao rubbed the edge of the hole. His expression suddenly changed.

"Lao Li, you misjudged this time. I'm afraid this really isn't a robbers' tunnel."

"Then what kind of hole could it be?"

With his professional expertise at stake, Lao Li ignored everything else and argued with Xu Lao.

Xu Lao withdrew his hand and stroked his beard with a strange look in his eyes.

"You may not believe this, but I'm afraid it's a Snake Hole."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"A snake? A snake thirty-five centimeters in diameter!"

Thirty-five centimeters might not sound like much, but a carton holding twenty-four boxes of milk was only thirty centimeters long, and many adult women's waists were not even thirty-five centimeters around.

And a snake thirty-five centimeters in diameter was a size that only a handful of the world's giant pythons could reach! No, it might even be larger than the world's largest python!

Everyone still found it hard to believe.

Lao Li said, "Xu Lao, even if it really was a snake, this is solid mountain rock. Could it really tunnel all the way here?"

Xu Lao shook his head.

"You may not be able to tell, but there are no traces of human chiseling around this hole. Based on my years of experience, this is a Snake Hole."

"And more importantly, look at this."

As Xu Lao spoke, he reached into the hole and actually pulled something from the inside wall. Everyone leaned closer. Under the torchlight, it glimmered brightly. It was a scale!

The scale was as large as a seashell, golden and shining under the firelight.

Looking at the gleaming golden scale, Su Ti hesitated before asking, "Could this possibly be a pangolin scale?"

Xu Lao shook his head.

"This is a snake scale. It may be a little large, but its shape is unmistakably that of a snake scale. That's why I'm so certain this is a Snake Hole."

Only then did everyone believe Xu Lao, though they still stared at the scale in disbelief.

"If a snake this large really exists, wouldn't it have become a spirit?"

Xu Lao nodded.

"That is possible. But it is generally called a demon."

Hearing this unfamiliar word, Su Ti was instantly intrigued.

"Xu Lao, may I ask what exactly a demon is?"

Xu Lao stroked the beard beneath his chin.

"I know a little about demons. They have some things in common with Evil Spirits. They both like eating people, but beyond that, I don't know much. I hear the Ancient Martial Arts world knows more about demons. Brother Su Xiu, you're from the Ancient Martial Arts world, so logically, you should know more about demons than I do."

Su Ti smiled. What the hell did he know? He had only been in the Ancient Martial Arts world for a short time, and Long Yuanzheng had never told him about it.

But the issue now was not who knew more about demons. It was—

"Xu Lao, could this demon still be inside the tomb? Should we retreat?"

Lao Li asked hesitantly.

A python thirty-five centimeters in diameter was thicker than many women's waists. That meant it had to be at least ten-odd meters long, perhaps even over twenty meters!

One could easily imagine how strong such a monster was, and how destructive it could be.

And judging by the extent of the damaged traps, the demon had not been injured at all. There were no traces of blood in the traps whatsoever. On top of that, it could bore through hard mountain rock. Every sign pointed to how powerful this demon was!

After making a rough estimate, Su Ti's expression sank.

This demon was probably above the Perfected Circle Realm. He could not guess what realm it had actually reached, but one thing was certain: he could never defeat it head-on.

Xu Lao sniffed inside the hole and shook his head.

"No need to worry. I've dealt with many snakes, and I know their scent well. The smell of snakes in this tomb is already extremely faint, which means this Snake Demon left a very long time ago."

"Although I don't know why this Snake Demon entered the tomb, the traces show that it has already explored the place once. The traps have been destroyed, and even if there were Evil Spirits inside, this Snake Demon should have killed them. It should be safe now. Let's go in and see what's going on."

Everyone nodded, voicing no objections.

The path ahead went smoothly. After passing through a stretch of corridors filled with destroyed mechanisms and traps, they reached the tomb chambers at the end.

Royalty and nobility often cared greatly about pomp and circumstance, so their tombs were usually built with several separate chambers.

At the end of the passage, Su Ti and the others faced exactly such a layout. Three stone doors stood before them: one in the middle and one on each side.

The middle stone door was the largest and most luxurious, carved with countless patterns and soaring dragons.

The stone door on the left was second in grandeur. It mainly depicted birds, but was still quite imposing.

Only the stone door on the right was dull and gray, completely unremarkable.

Staring at the three stone doors, Xu Lao pondered for a moment before speaking.

"The middle is the main chamber, the left is the secondary chamber, and the right is the side chamber. The Main Tomb Chamber belongs to the tomb's owner. The Secondary Tomb Chamber is generally for high-status burial companions, such as wives, concubines, and imperial consorts. The Side Tomb Chamber is for sacrificial burials such as servants."

"Generally speaking, the Main Tomb Chamber is the most dangerous, but also has the greatest rewards. The Side Tomb Chamber usually has few traps, but little worth taking as well, mostly just the remains of sacrificial burials. So, as a compromise, let's first check the Secondary Tomb Chamber where the consorts, wives, and concubines are buried."

Everyone nodded without objection. Lao Li stepped forward and cautiously pushed open the stone door to the Secondary Tomb Chamber, while Su Ti and the others kept their distance from him.

There was no other reason. This was the job of testing for danger. If there were traps or mechanisms in the chamber, they would generally trigger the instant the door was opened. Yet the door had to be opened, so the person doing it had to take an enormous risk.

Sweat beaded on Lao Li's forehead as he slowly pushed the stone door, ready to throw himself to the ground at the slightest sign of danger.

But even after he fully opened the door, nothing happened. Only a rotten stench wafted out from within. Everyone hurriedly retreated and waited outside the passage for a long time. Once the odor had fully dissipated, Cao Man took over from Lao Li and carefully entered with a torch held high.

Cao Man made a circuit of the room and inspected it thoroughly. Only after confirming there were no traps or mechanisms did she call the three men inside.

It was a stone chamber with three stone coffins arranged inside, descending in height one after another.

"These were all wives and concubines of King Mu. Their burial positions were arranged from low to high according to their status."

Xu Lao looked at the three coffins and spoke gravely.

Lao Li and Cao Man had already checked the traps and mechanisms. Now it was time to inspect their haul.

The stone chamber was not large. With torches in hand, everyone quickly searched the entire room.

Aside from the three coffins, there were quite a few stone platforms in the chamber, arranged around the coffins like stars surrounding the moon. They held large amounts of gold and silver jewelry, pearls, jade, and gemstones.

These were the burial goods of King Mu's wives and concubines.

Tomb raiding was an immensely profitable trade. Xu Lao and the others had endured so much hardship, even paid with lives, all for this moment.

They took out gloves and placed the gold and silver jewelry into an empty backpack one piece at a time, planning to appraise them individually after returning.

During this time, Su Ti also put on gloves and touched each piece of jewelry one by one.

Unfortunately, although the gold and silver jewelry was priceless, not a single item was a Cursed Antique.

Seeing Su Ti's movements and disappointed expression, Xu Lao chuckled. He had guessed what Su Ti was thinking.

"You martial artists are more sensitive than most. If I'm not mistaken, there isn't a single Cursed Antique among these burial goods, right?"

Su Ti nodded slightly at his words.

"Xu Lao truly has broad knowledge. You're right."

Xu Lao smiled.

"Although this gold, silver, and jewelry is valuable, the truly valuable items are in the coffins."

"Because personal burial objects have a very high chance of becoming Cursed Antiques."

With that, he gave Lao Li a look. Lao Li nodded and stepped forward to open the coffins.

These were not wooden coffins, but stone ones, so even after all this time, they had not decayed in the slightest.

Lao Li exerted tremendous effort to push open one coffin lid, but the moment he looked inside, his expression froze.

"Come take a look yourselves!"

Everyone went over to see.

Inside the stone coffin lay a corpse that had long since become dry bones.

But apart from the corpse, there was nothing else.

There was only a decayed skeleton clothed in tattered garments. Other than that, the coffin was completely empty.

"Where are the burial goods? There are so many burial objects outside, so how can there not be a single item inside this coffin?! What about the luminous pearls, jade pendants, bracelets, necklaces, and thumb rings buried alongside the coffin?!"

Xu Lao's expression changed. He cried out in shock, then examined it carefully and even searched through it, only to find that there was truly nothing.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he immediately went to the other two unopened coffins. After studying them carefully under the torchlight, he discovered a shocking fact.

"These two coffins—no! All three of these coffins have been opened before!"

At those words, even Cao Man, who had spent years entering tombs, felt a chill run down her spine.

Su Ti frowned tightly and asked,

"Who was it? Could it have been that Snake Demon? That's impossible, right? It's only a snake. How could it open coffins?"

"I don't know. This place is too strange. We shouldn't stay long. Lao Li, come open the remaining two coffins."

Xu Lao hurriedly instructed Lao Li. Lao Li nodded and did as he was told, pushing open the lids of the other two coffins.

Just as before, there were only corpses that had become dry bones.

The Cursed Antiques Su Ti had been hoping for did not appear either.

Everyone exchanged glances, all feeling that something was deeply wrong. After gathering up the items from the Secondary Tomb Chamber, they headed together for another chamber.

At the Side Tomb Chamber, Lao Li once again opened the door to vent the air, while Cao Man inspected for traps. Only after quite some time did everyone enter.

The Side Tomb Chamber did not hold the corpses of King Mu's wives and concubines, but a large number of burial companions.

Inside the chamber, countless skeletons lay scattered haphazardly across the floor. There were an enormous number of them, nearly a hundred in total.

A strong stench of decay rushed out. Everyone conducted a quick inspection, confirmed there were no belongings at all, then withdrew and shut the door.

"This is a sacrificial burial chamber. Those buried here were servants or slaves, and there are no burial goods inside. That's very abnormal. Even servants and slaves should have had at least a little jewelry on them. Yet among so many bodies, there isn't even a single ring. It's too strange. Or rather, the burial goods here were taken away too."

Cursed Antiques were mostly personal items. The many burial goods in the Secondary Tomb Chamber were still there, yet only the items inside the coffins had been taken. The personal jewelry on the burial companions in the Side Tomb Chamber had also vanished. This meant that only the Cursed Antiques had been taken!

Combined with the Snake Hole from earlier and the Snake Demon Xu Lao had mentioned, an unbelievable thought arose in everyone's minds.

The reason the Snake Demon had tunneled in was to take every Cursed Antique in the tomb!

"Let's check the Main Tomb Chamber."

After exploring two tomb chambers without obtaining a single Cursed Antique, everyone finally turned their attention to the Main Tomb Chamber.

Normally, the Main Tomb Chamber yielded the greatest rewards in tomb raiding, but it also carried the greatest risks.

Because no one knew what traps or mechanisms might be inside.

And according to the rules of tomb raiding, no matter how dangerous the Main Tomb Chamber was or what mechanisms it contained, all tomb raiders had to enter together in the end and share the risk.

Everyone exchanged glances. Xu Lao nodded slightly, and Lao Li stepped forward to slowly push open the doors of the Main Tomb Chamber.

With a creak, a cloud of foul air spilled out. Everyone hurriedly retreated a great distance, waiting for it to disperse before entering.

The moment they stepped inside, a cold, sinister aura swept over them. Everyone shivered involuntarily, and even the flames on their torches instantly dimmed.

Xu Lao spoke gravely. "Such heavy yin energy. This is probably the source of the entire Yin Meridian, the place where the yin energy is strongest!"

Everyone felt a chill crawl up their backs. It was the effect of an energy field utterly harmful to humans.

At that moment, their torches could only illuminate two meters ahead. Beyond that, they could see only vague outlines.

This Main Tomb Chamber was enormous. Even those blurry outlines seemed to stretch endlessly onward. They could only vaguely make out several stone pillars carved with soaring divine dragons, standing within the chamber.

These enormous stone pillars, each wide enough for one person to wrap their arms around, supported the weight of the Main Tomb Chamber.

The farther everyone went, the heavier the chill became, and the weaker the flames burned.

Su Ti looked back. They had only traveled about five meters, yet he could no longer see the way they had come from, nor could he tell how large this tomb chamber was. In any case, they still had not seen its boundaries.

Just then, a feeling of being watched crept into his heart.

"Everyone, be careful. There seem to be evil spirits here."

Su Ti had been watched by evil spirits many times before. He naturally knew what that feeling was, and he fully trusted the instincts of his Inner Refinement Fifth Layer.

Everyone's expressions tightened at once.

They then cautiously drew close together and slowly made their way forward.

Having come this far, they would never retreat without taking what they had come for.

Xu Lao held up his torch and pulled the black pistol from his clothes with his other hand.

Lao Li took out a telescopic baton from his waist and gripped it in his hand. Cao Man also loosened the long whip at her waist.

The group continued onward for several dozen meters. The torchlight grew dimmer and dimmer, until it could only illuminate a range of 1.5 meters in front of them. Then they stepped onto a stairway.

Xu Lao raised the torch to shine upward, delight appearing on his face.

"We're here. The tomb owner's coffin is right in front of us!"

Everyone looked up. At the top of the faintly visible layers of stairs stood a raised platform, and atop that platform rested a massive stone coffin.

The stone coffin was enormous, a full meter and a half tall. It had been carved entirely from rock, with several stone dragons soaring across its surface.

This was King Mu's coffin!

"According to its feng shui position, King Mu's coffin lies at the central point where this Yin Meridian originates. All the yin energy converges here."

Lao Li froze when he heard that.

"With such heavy yin energy, wouldn't King Mu turn into an evil spirit?"

Xu Lao replied gravely.

"No. Becoming an evil spirit isn't that easy. Unless someone possessed enormous resentment and unwillingness, no amount of yin energy could turn a corpse into an evil spirit."

"Those who become evil spirits are mostly people born into lowly circumstances, who suffered humiliation and torment before dying tragically. They harbor hatred and resentment. How could an emperor who enjoyed every luxury and honor in life possibly be such a person? So rest assured."

Su Ti's eyes swept warily across the surroundings. While everyone was speaking, he could sense several different gazes fixed upon them. He said in a low voice,

"I don't know whether King Mu's coffin has been opened before. Go up and take a look, but be careful. There seem to be more and more eyes watching us."

Everyone nodded. Just as their feet stepped onto the stairs, a boom rang out, and the tomb's great door slammed shut!