Zhong Li was now suffering from heavenly retribution, and Xu Qi An, being a man who always cherished women, couldn’t possibly leave her outside. However, bringing her into the tomb might risk wiping out the entire group. Therefore, Daoist Gold Lotus’s decision was the most prudent, gaining unanimous approval from everyone.
That night, unexpected incidents kept occurring.
As Zhong Li sat cross-legged in meditation, a wild boar suddenly sprang out from the nearby bushes, delivering a savage charge. A bird flying overhead left a dollop of droppings on her.
A tree was suddenly blown over by the wind, crashing down on her head with a loud bang. A hunter’s stray arrow, shot during a night hunt in the mountains, nearly killed her…
It was too tragic, too pitiful. The men who witnessed Zhong Li’s ordeal fell silent.
Men were speechless, women were in tears.
Finally, as dawn broke, Zhong Li compiled a list of items to ward off negative energy and asked Qian You to go into town to purchase them.
“I… I’ll take a short nap…” Zhong Li stretched out her small hand, grabbing Xu Qi An’s sleeve. “Don’t leave me.”
When Qian You returned with the purchased items, Zhong Li was still asleep. Xu Qi An carried her on his back and followed the Daoist Gold Lotus and the others toward the southern mountains.
“Mmm…” Zhong Li mumbled softly.
“Keep sleeping. I’ll wake you when we reach the tomb entrance,” Xu Qi An said gently.
Zhong Li continued to sleep soundly, feeling at ease.
Two incense sticks’ worth of time later, Qian You led the group to a mountain hollow, expertly finding the tomb entrance hidden by chopped tree branches.
After Qian You moved the branches aside, a narrow passage barely wide enough for one person was revealed.
“Let’s go in,” said the Daoist Gold Lotus.
“Alright, good,” Chu Yuanzhen and Hengyuan nodded, then turned to look at Xu Qi An along with the Daoist Gold Lotus.
“Give me one good reason!” Xu Qi An said in a deep voice.
“A Divine Sense Realm martial artist can sense danger in advance,” Daoist Gold Lotus said with a smile.
“The Vajra Divine Skill provides unparalleled protection,” Chu Yuanzhen added.
“…Fine, you’ve convinced me,” Xu Qi An said, bending down to enter the tunnel while carrying Zhong Li on his back.
Daoist Gold Lotus and the other three followed behind, maintaining a relatively safe distance.
Entering from the mouth, it was extremely narrow at first, barely allowing a person through. After walking several dozen steps, it suddenly opened up.
Emerging from the tunnel, a vast space appeared before them. As Xu Qi An stepped out, he trod on some bricks, presumably fallen from the walls when the tomb robbers dug the tunnel.
Tap tap…
He struck the flint, lighting the prepared torch, which blazed brightly.
This tunnel had been open for nearly three months, with air circulation making the oxygen content in the tomb extremely high… This wasn’t good, it would damage the cultural relics inside. Some things would rapidly deteriorate once exposed to oxygen… Hey, I don’t need to pass any censorship, why am I thinking of these lines with such a strong survival instinct… Xu Qi An mused to himself.
Footsteps sounded from behind as the Daoist Gold Lotus and the others emerged from the tunnel, jumping into the tomb.
Everyone lit their torches simultaneously, illuminating the dark space.
Xu Qi An looked down, picked up a brick, and squeezed it, finding its hardness to be countless times stronger than he had anticipated.
“What kind of brick is this?” he asked.
Daoist Gold Lotus moved his torch closer, examining it intently for a few moments. “Qinggang brick.”
“?”
Xu Qi An looked at him.
“It’s a rather rare type of stone, known for its durability and resistance to weathering,” Chu Yuanzhen explained. “I’ve seen it mentioned in books, but this is my first time seeing it in person.”
Xu Qi An nodded, “We’ve likely entered the outskirts of the main tomb. Judging by these bricks, the entire tomb structure should be built with Qinggang stone bricks.”
“The owner of this tomb must have been even more distinguished than we imagined.”
As expected of a genius in solving cases, with quick thinking and strong analytical skills… Chu Yuanzhen thought to himself.
The group searched around the tomb chamber, discovering twelve coffins and four corpses. The bodies had been dead for several days, emitting a faint odor of decay.
“Three of them are brothers from the gang, and the other is a hired expert,” Qian You said in a low voice.
Although he was in a high-risk line of work and often faced danger, his heart still felt heavy.
Xu Qi An set Zhong Li down, handed her the torch and crouched to examine the bodies. “Their faces are bluish-black, and their lips are dark. They died from severe poisoning.”
“There’s no poison gas in the air,” Zhong Li said.
Xu Qi An nodded and quickly stripped the clothes off one of the corpses, finding several small wounds on the arm, as if bitten by some kind of insect.
“They’re in the coffins. These deceased must have disturbed the coffins,” Chu Yuanzhen suddenly said.
Xu Qi An’s ears twitched, picking up a faint but dense writhing sound coming from inside the stone coffins.
The stone coffins seemed to be vessels for breeding venomous insects, filled with poisonous creatures.
“Should we open the coffins and take a look?” Hengyuan said, looking towards the Daoist Gold Lotus.
Daoist Gold Lotus, in turn, looked at Chu Yuanzhen.
The top scholar nodded and flicked his finger, sending a sword intent towards the stone coffin. The coffin shook violently, and the writhing sounds stopped.
He waved his sleeve, and the stone coffin lid lifted, releasing a foul stench.
Everyone present was a skilled expert, unafraid of mere toxins. Zhong Li opened her palm, holding a brown pill, and said to Qian You, “This is a poison-dispelling pill.”
“Thank you, Miss,” Qian You gratefully accepted and swallowed it.
The four members of the Heaven and Earth Society stood by the stone coffin, examining its contents. The densely packed arthropod vermin had been blasted to pieces, with blackish-brown liquid splattered all over the coffin walls.
Besides the venomous insects killed by Chu Yuanzhen, there was a severely deformed skeleton. Its exact age couldn’t be determined, only that it was from ancient times.
It’s a pity this world doesn’t have the corresponding technology, otherwise we could date these bones… Xu Qi’an thought to himself.
“There are no burial goods. The coffins in this chamber should belong to the accompanying burials,” Chu Yuanzhen said.
“I don’t think Great Feng has a tradition of burying living people, does it?” Xu Qi An humbly sought Chu Yuanzhen’s knowledge.
“The practice of human sacrifice in burials has existed since ancient times, with origins that can’t be traced. However, the official abolition of the sacrificial burial system occurred 2,123 years ago during the Great Yi Dynasty. This was before the emergence of Confucian sages.”
Chu Yuanzhen replied without hesitation, naturally recalling and conveying the relevant knowledge.
“So, this grand tomb dates back over two thousand years,” Daoist Gold Lotus said.
After inspecting for a while without any findings, the group left this burial chamber, holding torches as they ventured deeper. Along the way, they occasionally encountered one or two corpses, all victims of traps.
After walking for a moment, they entered a more spacious burial chamber. The ceiling was lost in the depths of darkness, and the darkness ahead seemed endless.
Xu Qi An waved his torch and saw many bodies strewn across the ground. Some were flesh and blood, dead for only a few days. Others were withered corpses, wearing tattered clothes of indiscernible original style.
None of these withered corpses were intact. Some had their heads torn off, some had their limbs ripped apart, and others were hacked to pieces.
Additionally, there were several open coffins.
One could imagine that a fierce battle had just taken place here.
The tomb robbers had opened the coffins, disturbing the zombies sleeping inside.
“What’s the deal with these zombies? I remember it was the Witch God Cult that could manipulate corpses, right?” Xu Qi An, with his extremely “low level of cultural knowledge,” was the first to speak up. His gaze swept over the unopened coffins in the distance.
Zhong Li shook her head, “These zombies have nothing to do with the Witch God Cult. They were nourished by yin energy and became zombies over time. Fortunately, these zombies have already been destroyed, saving us the trouble.”
As soon as she finished speaking, “bang bang bang” sounds echoed in the spacious tomb chamber. It was the sound of coffin lids being pushed open and falling to the ground.
In the darkness, several black figures stood up. They were withered in appearance but had sharp, black nails and cold, terrifying green eyes.
“Amitabha!” Hengyuan chanted the Buddha’s name, stepping forward to meet the zombies, smashing one zombie’s head with a single punch.
After dealing with the zombies, they discovered murals on both sides of the chamber walls.
The mural on the left wall depicted a group of people wearing ancient clothes and strange hats, prostrating themselves and kneeling towards a high platform.
The mural on the right wall was quite indecent, showing countless copulating men and women in fixed positions enjoying carnal pleasures. Some positions were unheard of, even to Xu Qi An, who had experienced the teachings of his “hard drive wives.”
The bodies of the men and women in the mural were marked with meridian circulation diagrams.
“This seems to be an ancient bedroom art,” Daoist Gold Lotus said in a deep voice.
“Ancient bedroom art?”
Chu Yuanzhen knew a little about this but not much, while Hengyuan and Xu Qi An had never heard of it.
Daoist Gold Lotus pondered for a moment before explaining, “The Dao Venerable is revered as the ancestor of all methods, with vast knowledge. Among the Dao lineages he passed down, the Three Sects of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity are the main ones, but there are also many branch schools.”
“One of these branch schools focused mainly on dual cultivation, where yin and yang converge to comprehend the Great Dao together. At its peak, its influence was no weaker than the ‘Three Sects of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity.’ Followers flocked to it, and it was revered by officials and nobles eager to cultivate the Dao and attain longevity. There were even female followers who lingered in Daoist temples, volunteering for dual cultivation. According to records from the Earth Sect, this included some women of high status.”
Damn, this branch knew how to play… No, no, that’s just my lustful perspective. In their eyes, comprehending the Great Dao together was the core purpose, everything else was just a cloud… Xu Qi An was shocked. He stared intently at the mural, trying hard to memorize the positions and meridian circulation.
Hengyuan shook his head, his gaze clear as he looked at the mural as if everything on it was illusory, unable to shake his Buddhist heart.
“This technique is indeed beneficial for advancing cultivation, but finding a dual cultivation partner is too difficult,” the top scholar commented.
Since it was dual cultivation, one naturally needed to find a woman equally proficient in this method. It wasn’t something that could be practiced with just any woman from a brothel.
“Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang, transforming into the Five Elements, the dual cultivation technique is an orthodox method that directly points to the Great Dao. However, while techniques have no distinctions, people do. Dual cultivation progresses slowly and requires maintaining one’s true heart, not being dominated by desire.”
“Gradually, to achieve quick results, this branch created the technique of essence absorption within the dual cultivation method, thus falling into the path of evil. They deceived female followers, imprisoning them in temples for essence absorption, and abducted women everywhere, causing public outrage.”
“Finally, it drew the wrath of the imperial army and righteous jianghu heroes… Thus, it was wiped out. Now, the Daoist sect only has fragments of the dual cultivation technique, and being incomplete, it’s not very useful. I didn’t expect to find the complete dual cultivation technique here.”
Daoist Gold Lotus sighed.
“Then, why is there a complete dual cultivation technique here?” Xu Qi An raised the question.