Since waking from her unconsciousness, this was the first time Ye Li felt such a headache. Over two hundred years had passed since the previous dynasty’s fall, and at least in recent decades, there hadn’t been any news of remnants trying to restore the old regime. But… who could understand such national and personal grudges? Although the Dinguo Dukedom wasn’t currently ruling the empire, at least half of the battles that destroyed the previous dynasty were won by the first Duke Ding, Mo Lanyun. So, Ye Li couldn’t be certain whether the remnants of the previous dynasty hated the Da Chu Emperor more or Duke Ding more. And now, she had fallen into a place where remnants of the previous dynasty gathered. Fortunately, the residents here, except for a few highly respected elders, seemed unaware of any dynastic changes and had no interest in who was emperor.

Watching her prop up her chin with her expression constantly changing, Doctor Lin didn’t say much, after all, this kind of thing wasn’t something ordinary people could easily accept.

“Master… do you want to restore the previous dynasty?” After a while, Ye Li finally sorted out her chaotic thoughts and asked seemingly casually.

“Restore the dynasty?” Doctor Lin looked at her with a strange expression, as if he had eaten something he shouldn’t have. After a while, he snorted lightly and said, “Have you ever seen anyone hiding in these deep mountains for decades trying to restore a dynasty? Besides… I’m a doctor, how would I restore a dynasty? By poisoning Mo Liufang and Mo Jingxuan?”

Ye Li took a sip of plain tea and said calmly, “It’s Mo Jingqi and Mo Xiuyao now, Mo Liufang and Mo Jingxuan passed away many years ago.”

Doctor Lin glared at her fiercely, frowning somewhat strangely, “This generation’s Duke Ding is called Mo Xiuyao? I remember when Mo Liufang’s son was born, he was called Mo Xiuwen…”

Ye Li now believed that Doctor Lin truly hadn’t left for decades and seriously explained, “Mo Xiuwen was the previous Duke Ding, he passed away nine years ago.”

Doctor Lin looked at her and said, “You girl certainly know these things.”

Ye Li smiled, “Didn’t Master say I came from a noble family? How could I not know such major events?”

Doctor Lin waved his hand, saying somewhat irritably, “National grudges and family hatred… after more than two hundred years, who can be clear about those things? Moreover, even if the common people are dissatisfied with the Da Chu royal family now, would they miss the previous dynasty?” If that were the case, the previous dynasty wouldn’t have fallen. The last few generations of emperors were incompetent, and the common people could barely survive. Even though the last emperor wanted to reform and innovate, he wasn’t talented enough to rule. In the end, he couldn’t reverse the tide and could only watch the country fall and his family perish. Speaking of which, one really couldn’t blame Da Chu’s founding emperor too much. Simply put, it was just a matter of winners becoming kings and losers becoming bandits.

“What is Lin Yuan looking for? Why does Master refuse to give it to him? Since Master no longer cares about restoring the dynasty or matters outside, why…”

Doctor Lin sighed, looking at her with a bitter smile, “It’s not that I refuse to give it to him, but… I have nothing to give him. What he wants… is the treasure from the founding emperor’s tomb of the previous dynasty.”

Ye Li frowned. It was perfectly natural for an emperor’s tomb to contain treasures; she didn’t understand what Doctor Lin meant by “having nothing.” Doctor Lin spoke calmly, “The founding emperor’s tomb is indeed here, and the people in this village are descendants of the most loyal guards who followed the founding emperor. After the founding emperor passed away, these people took an oath to guard the imperial tomb for generations. To prevent unfilial descendants, they set rules that descendants must not learn to read, commoners must not step beyond the tomb’s vicinity, and must not leave the village for the outside world. Moreover, the secret of the imperial tomb is only passed down through the village chief’s lineage; even these villagers never knew their origins.”

Ye Li didn’t know how to evaluate this, so she simply said nothing. Looking up, she asked, “What are Master’s plans now? If they discover his subordinates didn’t bring back the item, will Lin Yuan return personally?”

Doctor Lin nodded, thought for a moment, and asked Ye Li, “Is the… current situation unstable?” If Da Chu were peaceful and prosperous, with no hope of restoration, Lin Yuan wouldn’t have turned his attention to the imperial tomb.

Ye Li didn’t conceal anything and nodded, “Indeed, it’s somewhat chaotic. If nothing unexpected happens… the Mohist Army and Da Chu royal family might split…”

“Split…” Doctor Lin sighed somewhat emotionally, speaking leisurely, “Back then, everyone spoke of how Da Chu’s founding emperor and the founding Duke Ding were such close brothers, how magnificent they were when they joined forces to compete for the world. Who would have thought these two families would reach the point of splitting now? No wonder… no wonder… Anyway, these matters are beyond this old man’s concern. Girl, let’s pack up and leave here quickly.”

Ye Li was startled, “Leave? What about the villagers?”

Doctor Lin snorted lightly, saying, “I’ll naturally leave a message telling him not to harm these people.”

Ye Li raised her eyebrows, “He’ll listen to you?”

Doctor Lin smiled coldly, “If he doesn’t agree, I’ll give the item to Mo Xiuyao…”

Ye Li fell silent, deeply admiring this adopted master in her heart. When you don’t even know if there’s a treasure in the imperial tomb or what the treasure is, you dare to direct things toward Mo Xiuyao. Do you want Mo Xiuyao to die or Lin Yuan to die?

“Master, perhaps choose someone else? How about Lei Zhenting, the Southern King of Western Ling?” Ye Li sincerely advised. Seeing Doctor Lin’s manner, he still had some feelings for Lin Yuan, and Ye Li didn’t want them to oppose Mo Xiuyao, to avoid damaging their master-disciple relationship in the future.

Doctor Lin glanced at her, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, “Girl, what is your relationship with Mo Xiuyao? I seem to have heard those two fellows say that Mo Xiuyao is also near Hongzhou now, such a coincidence you…”

Ye Li smiled slightly, “Master, who I am isn’t important right now, don’t you think? You only need to know that this disciple means you no harm.”

Doctor Lin stared at her for a long while, but Ye Li didn’t move, sitting there composedly allowing him to examine her. After a while, Doctor Lin finally snorted lightly, nodding to consider the topic closed.

Leaving such an isolated mountain village wasn’t as simple as just walking away, especially when the travelers were a sixty-year-old man with no martial arts skills and a pregnant woman. What made it worse was that they had to traverse an imperial tomb that no one had previously explored. Given their group of one elderly person and one pregnant woman, it was pointless to imagine they could make it through the massive mountains that were dangerous even for adult men, and they were very likely to encounter Lin Yuan or people sent by him on the way. Therefore, the rumored passage leading to the outside world through the imperial tomb was their only hope.

Ye Li couldn’t help but think of some tomb-raiding novels she had read in her previous life, hoping this imperial tomb wasn’t really as dangerous and mysterious as those books described, otherwise… if she could choose, Ye Li would rather wait until after the baby was born to leave by the safe route. But now no one knew her identity, once that person called Lin Yuan appeared, it might be different. If he had so-called ambitions to restore the dynasty, he would guess that she was Mo Xiuyao’s wife, the mistress of the Dinguo Manor, and then things would become very troublesome.

Several days later, Doctor Lin finally packed all his belongings, including his books that could be considered ancient texts and rare editions. Ye Li also used this time to prepare some necessary items, and then early in the morning while all the villagers were still sleeping, the elderly village chief, who was over seventy, personally led them into the mountains. Sure enough, it was under the waterfall Ye Li had previously examined. The old chief led the two of them to slip under the waterfall, where there was a huge cave. Ye Li was prepared, taking off the bamboo hat she was wearing and shaking off the water. Earlier when she had taken out the hat to wear, both the old chief and Doctor Lin had looked at her with some surprise. Ye Li smiled charmingly, “This is just for the baby, just in case…” Doctor Lin gave her a meaningful look without saying much, and the white-haired old chief looked at both of them without saying anything either. Doctor Lin had already negotiated with him earlier, and he led the two of them deeper into the cave.

This cave was both large and deep, clearly a natural formation, with various stalactites hanging from the ceiling occasionally dripping water. In the middle was a rapid artificial river, not only was the channel built neat and beautiful, but even the paths on both sides were carefully carved from stone. Although they were covered in moss from years of disuse, looking carefully one could still see the exquisite patterns on the stone base. Ye Li couldn’t help but twitch her mouth corner. It was said that every emperor would start building their imperial tomb as soon as they ascended the throne. If they were all on the scale of this previous dynasty’s founding emperor, they indeed needed to start as soon as they ascended the throne. Even places completely unrelated to the tomb were built like this – if they didn’t start early, they might not have a place to be buried when they died.

The three people continued walking deeper into the cave, walking for nearly half an hour before stopping at the end, where they only saw rapid water gushing out from beneath the rock wall. Ye Li just hoped that in their current situation, they wouldn’t have to swim.

The old chief slowly felt along the rock walls covered in moss and various wild grasses. After quite a while, he found a spot and took out a strangely shaped key from his chest, pressing it against the rock wall and turning it. Soon, with a rumbling sound, a door split open in the rock wall. The old chief looked at the two of them and said, “You may enter, take care of yourselves.”

Doctor Lin nodded and said, “You all…”

The old chief raised his hand to stop him, nodding and saying, “I know. We’ve guarded this place for hundreds of years, and no one has ever gone in. All these years… we didn’t want to know what was inside either. Since the founding emperor didn’t leave what’s inside for his descendants, we don’t want to change that now. I’m old, and only hope that in the future this village will just be an ordinary village, no longer needing to guard anything. Let this secret end with me. Thank you for never revealing this secret to the young master all these years… After you go in, this won’t be needed anymore, take it with you.”

Doctor Lin nodded and said, “Take care.” Taking the key handed over by the old chief, Doctor Lin pulled Ye Li inside, and the rock wall slowly closed again before them.

As the rock wall closed, darkness fell before them. Doctor Lin lit a flint and walked to the oil lamp on the rock wall to light it. Soon, the candlelight on the wall shone onto the bronze mirror opposite, then the light reflected out to shine on another bronze mirror. In a moment, the originally pitch-black passage was completely bright. Ye Li raised her eyebrows, following silently behind Doctor Lin as they walked forward.

The passage was completely silent except for their footsteps. Ye Li observed the walls on both sides as she walked, and had to admit that the previous dynasty’s founding emperor was indeed wealthy and powerful. As the Duchess of Dinguo, she had participated in one or two imperial tomb worship activities. She had even been inside the late emperor’s underground palace, although only in the outermost area, it didn’t have even such inconspicuous passages made of finely carved marble. The dragon relief sculptures on the walls and ground were lifelike, with precious stones inlaid in the eyes of each dragon, the wealth and majesty of emperors and royalty overwhelming.

The two continued along the passage, not encountering any of the legendary traps and mechanisms. In this sunless imperial tomb, Ye Li could only roughly judge their direction and distance traveled.

Half an hour later, they finally arrived at a side chamber. The oil lamps above immediately filled the room with fragrance. Ye Li cautiously stepped back several steps away from the oil lamps. However, she quickly realized that this fragrance wasn’t poison but ambergris. However, it still wasn’t good for pregnant women, so Ye Li still kept her distance from it.

Doctor Lin looked down at the worn map in his hand while examining the empty room, “Let’s rest for a while, you must be tired…”

Ye Li looked at the map in his hand and asked curiously, “Since the old chief doesn’t want the tomb’s treasures to see the light of day again, isn’t he afraid we’ll come back after leaving to take away what’s inside?”

Doctor Lin turned to look at her, saying flatly, “It’s said… that entrance to the tomb can’t be opened without the key, and the exit we’re going to use… can only be opened once, for just a quarter of an hour each time.”

Ye Li couldn’t help but sweat, “Master, are you sure that exit hasn’t been opened by someone before?”

The title “Master” obviously pleased the old man, his expression becoming much lighter as he said, “If it has been opened, what will you do?”

Ye Li smiled gracefully, saying helplessly, “Then I can only live and die together with Master, though I feel sorry for my baby…”

Doctor Lin couldn’t help but show a trace of a smile, looking at her and saying, “This little one is very lucky, having been fine with you for so long, nothing will happen.”

“Thank you for Master’s kind words,” Ye Li smiled. With her mood somewhat relaxed, Ye Li asked very puzzledly, “What exactly did the founding emperor of the previous dynasty leave in the tomb, and why doesn’t the old chief want Lin Yuan to get it?”

Doctor Lin said flatly, “I don’t know, but the founding emperor did instruct the tomb guards not to let the treasures inside spread to the outside world. As for the old chief… they just want to live well.”

Ye Li raised her eyebrows, and Doctor Lin said, “Lin Yuan grew up in the village, so the old chief naturally knows his character. If he can’t get what he wants, that’s one thing, but if he gets it, not a single person in this village will survive.”

Ye Li was puzzled, but Doctor Lin waved his hand indicating he had no intention of saying more.

Ye Li found a place to sit down, gently stroking her belly to soothe the baby. Then she lowered her head to study the carvings on the stone walls. In the empty stone chamber, all that could be heard was the occasional sound of Ye Li’s fingers lightly tapping the stone walls.