“The new route hasn’t opened yet, and we can’t reach the main team. There’s no telling when the excavation crew will arrive.”

Ji Mingyu glanced at Xiao Chengyuan, then looked at Lu Beicheng. “Ninth Master, so should we now…”

“Let me go look again and see if there’s another way in.”

After greeting Lu Beicheng, Xiao Chengyuan immediately went back to studying the mausoleum entrance.

Professor Xiao’s expression still wasn’t great, but his attitude toward Lu Beicheng remained respectful. “I’ll go take a look. Ninth Master, please wait a little longer.”

“All right.”

Professor Xiao took his tools and, along with his assistant Xia Zi, began exploring along the edge of the imperial mausoleum complex.

Though this cluster of imperial tombs was made up of individually separate mounds, so many years had passed that on the surface they appeared to blend into one another.

Overgrown with weeds, they looked like a series of small hills.

Looking out over it all, the sheer scale of the area was almost absurd.

The ancient emperors truly knew how to indulge themselves — even in death, they had to be buried in such an enormous mausoleum.

But in truth, once a person died, nothing remained. What difference did it make where they were buried?

“Ninth Master, I notice Professor Xiao and his star pupil don’t seem to get along very well.”

Once the two had left, Ji Mingyu said quietly, “It seems Xiao Chengyuan wants to bypass the professor and earn some credit in front of you. Professor Xiao has noticed this too.”

“Since when did you learn to gossip behind people’s backs?” Lu Beicheng said dismissively.

Ji Mingyu shrugged, smiling. “I just want to earn a little credit in front of the Ninth Master too — thought I’d offer a bit of analysis for you, heh.”

After all, they were both people who worked for the Ninth Master. It didn’t matter who it was, as long as the work got done.

The Ninth Master didn’t care at all who opened the stone door, as long as…

Suddenly, a thunderous boom rang out.

It felt as though the earth itself shook, dust and dirt swirling into the sky!

The stone door — the stone door had moved!

Everyone stared, unable to believe their eyes, as the stone door slowly slid open.

Xiao Chengyuan, who had already walked some distance away, rushed back at once, staring at the door in shock.

Professor Xiao, too, stood stunned for a long moment before hurrying back to the mausoleum entrance with Xia Zi.

The stone door had really opened! It had opened on its own!

Was this the legendary mechanism?

Finally, the stone door came to a stop, and everyone’s gaze turned to the same person — Zhen Jiu’er!

The door — had she opened it?

“Ji… Jiu’er, what you just pressed… was that the mechanism that opened the door?”

Yan Qiu had been following right behind Jiu’er the whole time. He’d watched her study the stone wall for a while, then do something he couldn’t quite make out, before forcefully inserting something into it.

Then she pressed and twisted it… and with a great clanging, rumbling sound, the stone door had opened!

Yan Qiu’s words confirmed everyone’s suspicions.

The stone door really had been opened by Zhen Jiu’er!

But why?

Ji Mingyu’s eyes were also wide with shock.

“Ninth… Ninth Master, Miss Jiu’er seems to have… seems to have opened the stone door.”

Just a moment ago he’d been thinking that no matter who opened the door, it made no difference — they were all working for the Ninth Master.

But now… well, he took that thought back.

The stone door had been opened by Zhen Jiu’er. To the Ninth Master, that absolutely made a difference.

The wheelchair rolled forward on its own, startling Ji Mingyu, who hurried to follow behind. “Ninth Master…”

Lu Beicheng moved to the entrance, his deep eyes fixed on the pitch-black opening within, his gaze complicated.

Finally, he turned his head to look at Jiu’er, who had stepped away from the stone wall, and said nothing.

Xiao Chengyuan couldn’t hold back any longer. “You… how did you know the mechanism was there?”