The Tomb

Xu Lao felt a burning sensation on his face at this moment.

As a seasoned Yin-Yang Eye in the tomb raiding industry, the tombs he had raided were all original, untouched ones.

He would absolutely never go to a second-hand tomb that had already been opened by others, nor would he bother to pick at others' leftovers.

And now he had misjudged?

He had come to a second-hand tomb!

But the problem was, the Dragon Blocking Stone hadn't been opened, so how did the other party get in?!

Did they chisel through the mountain? That would be too much work. Even with modern technology, without the help of large machinery, digging manually would take years.

But no matter what, everyone had already come this far and had to go into the tomb chamber to take a look.

Whether someone had been here before would be clear at a glance once they entered the tomb chamber.

For the pit trap in front of them, everyone had already made preparations. Lao Li took out a retractable ladder from his backpack, extended it to seven or eight meters, and placed it over the pit.

Then, led by Cao Man, they carefully walked over the trap. She held a long whip in her hand and was very vigilant, but nothing happened until she had walked past the pit trap.

"Safe."

Everyone nodded. After walking over the ladder, Lao Li retracted it again.

As everyone continued deeper, they saw several more triggered traps.

Collapsed tomb ceilings, various dart mechanisms shooting from both sides, and traces of sprayed poisonous smoke.

Judging from these triggered traps, it was almost certain that someone had been here before them.

Xu Lao's face also became increasingly gloomy, until Cao Man in front let out a startled cry.

"Look, what's this!"

Hearing Cao Man's exclamation, everyone quickly went up to check.

When they saw that thing, everyone's expression changed drastically.

A circular hole, about the size of a basketball, appeared on one side of the cave wall.

A slight breeze came from the hole, indicating that it was connected to the outside.

Everyone gathered around, staring blankly at the hole. If this were a place where living people resided, then this hole might be used for ventilation, but this was a tomb! A place where dead people lived. From a design perspective, there was no need for a vent at all!

"This is a thief hole!"

Lao Li said suddenly after looking for a while, then added.

"This group of tomb raiders came in through this thief hole."

"Came in through this thief hole?"

Su Ti glanced at the basketball-sized hole.

Could a person really fit through this?

His gaze was instantly understood by Lao Li.

"They can get in, but I can't."

Seeing Su Ti's gaze, Lao Li explained.

"Our hole-digging industry has always used the ability to dig and drill as a standard of measurement. The smaller the hole you can dig, the higher the technical skill. For example, I can dig a hole up to forty-two centimeters and crawl through it, that's my limit."

"But some old seniors, they are naturally small-boned and practice bone-shrinking techniques. Their physique can support them digging even smaller holes."

Su Ti took out a portable tape measure from his backpack and measured it, his eyes becoming even more strange.

"Are you really sure someone can crawl through a 35-centimeter hole?"

"Yes, although I haven't seen it, there should really be such people."

While Lao Li was explaining to Su Ti, Xu Lao on the other side was rubbing the hole and suddenly his expression changed.

"Lao Li, you've misjudged this time. This is probably not a thief hole."

"Then what kind of hole could this be?"

It concerned his profession, so Lao Li didn't care about anything else and argued with Xu Lao.

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

"You might not believe it, but this is probably a snake hole."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"A snake, a snake with a diameter of 35 centimeters!"

How long is 35 centimeters? It might not mean much conceptually, but a box of twenty-four cartons of milk is only 30 centimeters long, and many adult women's waist length may not even be thirty-five centimeters.

And a snake with a diameter of thirty-five centimeters is a size that only a very small number of giant pythons in the world can reach! No, it's likely larger than the world's largest giant python!

Everyone was still a little disbelieving.

Lao Li said, "Xu Lao, even if this is really a snake, this is hard mountain rock. No matter how good it is at digging holes, could it dig all the way here?"

Xu Lao shook his head.

"You might not be able to tell, but there are no signs of artificial digging at this opening. Based on my many years of experience, it's a snake hole."

"And the most crucial thing is, look at this."

As Xu Lao spoke, he reached inside and actually pulled something out from the cave wall. Everyone leaned in to look. Under the lamplight, the object glittered. It was a scale!

This scale was as big as a seashell, golden and shimmering under the lamplight.

Su Ti looked at the glittering golden scale and asked hesitantly, "Could this scale be from a pangolin?"

Xu Lao shook his head.

"This is a snake scale. Although it's a bit large, the shape is that of a snake scale, which is why I'm so sure this is a snake hole."

Only then did everyone believe Xu Lao's words, but they still looked at the scale with some disbelief.

"If there's really a snake this big, wouldn't it have become a spirit?"

Xu Lao nodded.

"Yes, it's possible it has become a spirit, but it's generally called a Demon."

Hearing the new word "Demon," Su Ti instantly became interested.

"Xu Lao, may I ask what this Demon is?"

Xu Lao stroked the beard on his chin.

"I know a little about Demons. They have some things in common with Evil Spirits; they both like to eat people. But I don't know anything else. It's said that the Ancient Martial Arts world knows more about Demons. Brother Su Xiu, you are from the Ancient Martial Arts world. Logically, you should know more about things like Demons than I do."

Su Ti smiled. He knew nothing. How long had he been in the Ancient Martial Arts world? Long Yuanzheng hadn't told him anything.

But the situation to consider now wasn't who knew more about Demons, but rather...

"Xu Lao, could this Demon still be inside the cave? Should we retreat?"

Lao Li hesitated.

A python with a diameter of 35 centimeters was even thicker than the waist of many women. Its length would be at least over ten meters, or even twenty meters!

This kind of monster. One could imagine how strong its power and destructive force were.

Moreover, judging from the extent of the damage to the trap, this Demon was completely unharmed, as there were no bloodstains in the trap at all. Coupled with the fact that this Demon could actually dig a hole in hard rock, all of this indicated the power of this Demon!

Su Ti made a rough estimate, and his face darkened slightly.

The strength of this Demon was probably above the Perfected Circle Realm. He couldn't guess what specific realm it had reached, but in short, he absolutely couldn't fight it head-on.

Xu Lao sniffed inside the hole and shook his head.

"No need to worry. I've dealt with snakes quite a bit, and I know the smell of snakes very well. The smell of snakes in this tomb is already very, very faint. This means this snake Demon has been gone for a very long time."

"Although I don't know why this snake Demon entered this tomb, from the traces, this tomb has already been explored by this snake Demon. The traps have been destroyed, and even if there were Evil Spirits inside, they should have been killed by this snake Demon. It should be very safe now. Let's go in and see what the situation is."

Everyone nodded, indicating they had no objections.

The rest of the journey was very smooth. After passing through a passage with damaged mechanisms and traps, the end of the passage was the tomb chamber.

Princes and nobles often paid attention to grandeur, and when building tombs, they would often build multiple different tomb chambers.

At the end of the passage, Su Ti and the others were facing this situation. There were a total of three stone doors, in the middle, left, and right, displayed before everyone.

The middle stone door was the largest and most luxurious, carved with many patterns, including Flying Dragons.

The stone door on the left was second, mainly featuring birds, but it was also quite imposing.

Only the stone door on the right was plain and unremarkable.

Looking at these three stone doors, Xu Lao pondered for a while and said.

"The middle is the main, the left is the secondary, and the right is the side. The main tomb chamber is the tomb chamber of the tomb owner, while the secondary tomb chamber is mostly for honored burial companions, such as wives and concubines. The final side chamber is for burial companions like servants."

"Generally speaking, the main tomb chamber is the most dangerous, but also has the most spoils. The side chamber basically has no mechanisms or traps, but also no spoils, mostly the bones of burial companions. So, considering a compromise, let's first go to the secondary tomb chamber where the concubines and wives are buried."

Everyone nodded, expressing no objection. Then Lao Li stood in front and carefully pushed open the stone door of the secondary tomb chamber. Su Ti and the others stayed far away from him.

Nothing else, this was a job of stepping on a mine. If there were any traps or mechanisms in the tomb chamber, they would usually be triggered the moment the door was opened. But this door had to be opened, so the person opening the door had to take a great risk.

At this time, Lao Li's forehead was also sweating. He pushed open the stone door little by little, ready to immediately fall to the ground if anything went wrong.

But until he completely opened the stone door, nothing happened. Only a rotten smell came from inside the door. Everyone quickly retreated and stood outside the passage for a long time. After the smell inside completely dissipated, Cao Man took over Lao Li's position and carefully walked in with a torch.

Cao Man walked around inside, checked thoroughly, and after confirming there were no traps or mechanisms, she called the three of them in.

This was a stone chamber, with three stone coffins placed inside in order from high to low.

"These are all the wives and concubines of King Mu during his lifetime, buried after death in order of status from low to high."

Xu Lao said in a deep voice, looking at the three coffins.

The mechanisms and traps had already been checked by Lao Li and Cao Man. At this time, they had reached the stage of checking the harvest.

The stone chamber was not large. Everyone held torches for illumination and quickly searched the entire stone chamber.

Besides these three coffins, there were also many stone platforms in the stone chamber, surrounding the coffins like stars surrounding the moon. On them were placed a large amount of gold and silver jewelry, precious stones, and other items.

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

Tomb raiding was a lucrative industry. Xu Lao and the others had endured so much hardship, even paying the price of death, all for this moment.

They took out their gloves and placed the gold and silver jewelry one by one into an empty backpack they had brought, waiting to appraise them individually upon their return.

During this time, Su Ti also wore gloves and reached out to touch the jewelry piece by piece.

Unfortunately, although this gold and silver jewelry was priceless, there was not a single Cursed Antique among them.

Seeing Su Ti's actions and disappointed expression, Xu Lao chuckled, guessing his thoughts.

"You martial artists have sharper senses. If I'm not mistaken, there shouldn't be a single Cursed Antique among these burial objects."

Su Ti nodded slightly upon hearing this.

"Xu Lao is indeed knowledgeable and well-traveled. You are correct."

Xu Lao smiled upon hearing this.

"Although this buried gold, silver, and jewelry is valuable, the most valuable items are still inside the coffins."

"Because personal burial items generally have a very high probability of producing Cursed Antiques."

Saying this, he gave a look, and Lao Li nodded, stepping forward to open the coffins.

These coffins were not wooden but stone, so they had not decayed at all after such a long time.

Lao Li exerted a great deal of effort to push open one of the coffin lids, but his expression froze when he looked inside.

"Come and see for yourselves!"

Everyone went up to look.

Inside the stone coffin lay a skeleton that had turned into dry bones.

But besides the body, there was nothing else.

Only a decayed skeleton with tattered clothes remained. Other than that, it was empty.

"Where are the burial items? There are so many burial objects outside, how can there be none inside this coffin?! Where are the luminous pearls, jade pendants, bracelets, necklaces, and thumb rings buried with the coffin?!"

Xu Lao's expression changed, and he exclaimed, then carefully observed and even searched through it, finding that there was indeed nothing.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he immediately went to the other two unopened coffins and carefully illuminated and examined them with a torch, discovering a shocking fact.

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

As soon as these words were spoken, even Cao Man, who had been exploring tombs for years, felt a chill down her spine.

Su Ti's brows furrowed even tighter, and he asked.

"Who? Could it be that snake demon? Impossible, it's just a snake, how could it open the coffins?"

"I don't know, this place is too strange, we'd better not stay long. Lao Li, you open the remaining two coffins."

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

Inside, as before, there were only skeletons that had turned into dry bones.

The Cursed Antiques that Su Ti had hoped for also did not appear.

Everyone exchanged glances, feeling that the atmosphere was very wrong. They packed up the items in the side burial chamber and went to another burial chamber together.

In the side burial chamber, it was still Lao Li pushing the door to vent the air and Cao Man checking for traps. It took a while before everyone entered.

In the side burial chamber, the bodies placed there were not those of King Mu's wives and concubines, but a large number of sacrificial victims.

Inside the burial chamber, a large number of skeletons lay scattered about, in great numbers, nearly a hundred of them.

A strong smell of decay wafted out. Everyone quickly checked it over, confirmed that there were no relics/personal belongings, and then retreated, closing the door.

"This is a sacrificial burial chamber, where the bodies of some servants or slaves are buried. There are no burial items inside, which is also very abnormal. Even servants and slaves should have some jewelry on them, more or less. It's too strange that so many bodies don't even have a ring, or perhaps the burial items here were also taken."

Cursed Antiques are mostly personal items. The large number of burial items in the side burial chamber were still there, but only the items in the coffins were taken. The personal jewelry on the sacrificial victims in the side burial chamber was also missing. This indicates that only the Cursed Antiques were taken!

Adding the previous Snake Hole and the snake demon mentioned by Xu Lao, an incredible idea appeared in everyone's minds.

The reason that snake demon dug its way in was to take all the Cursed Antiques in the tomb!

"Let's go, let's go to the main burial chamber."

After exploring the two burial chambers and not obtaining any Cursed Antiques, everyone finally turned their attention to the main burial chamber.

Logically speaking, in the business of tomb raiding, the main burial chamber yields the greatest harvest, but it also carries the greatest risk.

Because no one knows what kind of mechanisms and traps are inside.

And according to the rules of tomb raiding, no matter how dangerous and intricate the main burial chamber is, the tomb raiders must all go in together in the end and share the risks.

Everyone exchanged glances, Xu Lao nodded slightly, and Lao Li stepped forward and slowly pushed open the door of the main burial chamber.

With a creak, a gust of foul air was expelled from inside. Everyone quickly retreated a great distance, waiting for the foul air to dissipate before walking in.

As soon as they walked in, a chilling aura came from inside. Everyone shivered involuntarily, and even the flames on the torches instantly dimmed.

Xu Lao said in a deep voice, "Such heavy Yin energy. This is probably the source of the entire Yin Meridian, the place with the heaviest Yin energy!"

Here, everyone felt a chill down their backs. It was a completely negative energy field acting on humans.

At this time, the torches everyone was holding could only illuminate the area two meters in front of them. Further away, only very blurry outlines could be seen.

And this main burial chamber was vast. Even the blurry outlines couldn't be seen to the end. They could only vaguely see several rock pillars carved with soaring divine dragons, standing within the burial chamber.

These massive stone pillars, each requiring a person to encircle, supported the weight of this main tomb chamber.

The further they walked, the heavier the chilling sensation became, and the flames grew weaker.

Su Ti looked back. After walking only about five meters, he could no longer see the path they had taken, nor could he see how large the tomb chamber was. In short, they hadn't reached the boundary yet.

Just then, a feeling of being watched entered his heart.

"Everyone be careful, there seem to be Evil Spirits here."

Su Ti had been watched by Evil Spirits many times, so he naturally understood what this feeling was and completely trusted his intuition from his fifth layer of internal cultivation.

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions tightened.

They then cautiously huddled together and slowly walked forward.

Having reached this point, they would absolutely not retreat without getting the item.

Xu Lao held the torch and drew the black pistol from hisin one's arms.

Lao Li took out a retractable baton from his waist and held it in his hand, and Cao Man also untied the long whip from her waist.

They walked forward for another few dozen meters. The torchlight grew dimmer and dimmer. When the torchlight was so weak it could only illuminate a range of 1.5 meters in front of them, they stepped onto a step.

Xu Lao shone the torch upwards, his face showing joy.

"We've arrived! In front of us is the tomb owner's coffin!"

Everyone looked up and could vaguely see a high platform at the very top of the layers of steps. On the high platform, a massive stone coffin was placed.

This stone coffin was huge, a full meter and a half tall, carved entirely from rock, with several stone dragons soaring on it.

This was King Mu's coffin!

"According to the principles of Feng Shui, King Mu's coffin is located at the central point of the origin of this Yin Meridian. All the Yin energy converges towards this point."

Lao Li was stunned upon hearing this.

"With such heavy Yin energy, wouldn't King Mu turn into an Evil Spirit?"

Xu Lao said in a deep voice.

"No, it's not that easy to turn into an Evil Spirit. Unless there is immense resentment and unwillingness, no amount of Yin energy can turn a corpse into an Evil Spirit."

"Most people who turn into Evil Spirits are those of humble birth, who died tragically after enduring humiliation and torment, harboring resentment and grudges. How could an emperor who enjoyed wealth and luxury throughout his life be such a person? So, rest assured."

Su Ti's eyes scanned the surroundings vigilantly. He could feel multiple different gazes staring at them as they spoke. He said in a deep voice.

"I don't know if King Mu's coffin has been opened. You guys go up and take a look, be careful. The gazes around seem to be increasing."

Everyone nodded. As their feet just stepped onto the steps, they heard a loud thud, and the tomb door closed!