It was dark in the woods, the trees were covered with dense branches and leaves, and the flashlight beam could not reach very far at once.
And from time to time, there will be pieces of rugged rocks.
So, each of us found a wooden stick to use for support and to pull away the weeds.
Fortunately, the tomb robber and his son were clearing the way in front. The tomb robber had a hatchet in his hand and would swing it a few times from time to time, and all the branches and leaves blocking the road in front were chopped off.
Although the road was not easy to walk on, we still arrived near the Tomb of King Zhao after dozens of minutes.
** raised his hand and pointed to a dark area in the distance, saying, "Let's go. The tomb of King Zhao is just ahead. My son and I have already dug a hole for robbers. We can go in directly now."
Everyone did not hesitate and quickened their pace.
A few minutes later, ** stopped on a slightly raised place.
"Stop!" he whispered.
Then, he used the hatchet in his hand to push aside a patch of wild grass. Behind the grass, a small pile of earth appeared.
There was not much soil on the mound, and there were a few wooden racks lying across the side.
The shelf lay there, covered with weeds that were a little wilted but still green.
After lifting the weeds and removing the wooden racks, a dark, deep-looking thief's hole appeared right before our eyes.
Hong Qingzong stood aside and praised: "Master Hu, you two are really capable. You dug this hole without anyone noticing."
** said: "Originally, we wanted to dig a robbery hole in front of the mountain, but the tomb of King Zhao is quite special and has been discovered long ago. And the relevant departments are very strict. So, after some thought, we arranged the robbery hole behind the mountain."
"However, don't underestimate the robbery hole behind the mountain. It can lead directly to the inside of the tomb of King Zhao, which saves a lot of trouble."
After listening to **, I noticed that the tomb of King Zhao was actually built under a hill.
The night was dim and the shape of the mountain was blurry; only the outline could be seen clearly.
But even so, this earthen hill is still quite large. The fact that the father and son were able to accurately dig a tunnel leading directly to the tomb of King Zhao shows that their methods are outstanding.
Even in the tomb-robbing business, they are probably considered to be great people.
Afterwards, after discussion between Master Liu, Hong Qingzong and **, we decided that ** would enter the tunnel first, and then we would go in one by one.
After everything was discussed, we prepared to go down to the tomb, taking the useful things with us.
** He held a candle in his hand, was tied with a rope, and the bulging sack was hanging on his back. He crawled into the tunnel headfirst.
The end of the rope was tied to a large rock, so there was no need to worry about anything happening.
Soon, the light in the tunnel disappeared little by little, proving that ** was far away from the entrance of the tunnel.
After a while, maybe more than ten minutes, the rope was slowly tightened and trembled three times.
This is a signal that there is nothing wrong inside.
"Next, I'll be the second one." Hong Qingzong said quickly.
But I noticed that there was a flash of excitement in his eyes.
When my master Jiang Jiuzhen and Hong Qingzong entered the Tomb of King Zhao, they were looking for the "Eternal Life Map". Now Hong Qingzong is willing to take us into the Tomb of King Zhao. I think there is a high possibility that the Eternal Life Map is still inside the tomb.
That's why Hong Qingzong agreed to bring us here. After all, not many people are willing to do something that has no benefits.
Even my master Jiang Jiuzhen saved Hong Qingzong.
Afterwards, Hong Qingzong became the second person to enter and entered through the tunnel.
In order to save time, the young tomb robber Hu Laifeng also followed him down.
The rope is thick enough to bear the weight of two people.
No problem. Besides, there was soil underneath, which was wide and not very steep, so it could generate friction and reduce a lot of weight on the rope.
Soon, after both of them entered the tomb of King Zhao, the rope trembled three times again.
They are fine too.
Next, it was Liu Deshui and my uncle Sun Yaowen, as well as Sun Xiaoli and me.
I was the last one to enter the tunnel.
Originally, I didn't plan to bring Uncle Sun and Xiao Li into the Tomb of King Zhao.
But both of them were worried about Jiang Jiuzhen. One of them was Jiang Jiuzhen's son and the other was her granddaughter. They requested strongly and I had no choice but to agree.
However, before I finally entered the tunnel, I simply cleaned up the nearby grass and the traces we left behind to avoid being discovered.
It was very dark inside the tunnel. When I bent down to go in, I could smell a musty odor.
The smell was not from the soil itself, but came from the tomb.
Although the smell is not very pleasant, once you get a few meters away and get used to it, you won’t feel it at all.
The rope kept hanging down and my body slowly crawled inside.
After all, it is a layer of soil, and it is good enough if it can accommodate one more person. Therefore, when moving, it is inevitable that soil debris will fall from the top of the head.
Soon, my head and face were covered with gray dust.
I kept crawling inside, tilting my body slightly, and turned a few small bends in the tunnel. Finally, after more than ten minutes, I saw the exit of the tunnel.
There was a little light over there, and a man holding a candle was lying at the exit, looking into the tunnel.
That person was Xiaoli, I recognized him at first sight.
Although her face looked a little yellow in the candlelight.
With my hands supporting myself on the ground and my legs pulled in, I entered the tomb of King Zhao smoothly.
In the tomb, the smell of decay and mold became stronger.
"Brother Tianyi, are you okay?"
Xiao Li came up to me with a candle in her hand and looked concerned.
I brushed off the dust on my body and said, "It's okay, there's no problem at all."
After hearing what I said, Xiaoli nodded, and then she became quiet.
I looked around in the light of the candle and found that where we were now was just a small earthen room.
There is a passage on the east and west sides of the earthen room, but it is unknown where it leads to.
Hong Qingzong and others were standing in a corner of the small earthen room, looking at something.
I was a little curious, so I walked over.
Liu Deshui saw me coming over and asked, "Are you okay?"
I nodded and said, "It's okay."
At this time, Liu Deshui was standing there with his arms folded, as if watching the fun.
But when I saw that scene, I couldn't help being shocked.
Because, in the corner where everyone was gathered, a corpse appeared. The corpse had been rotten to the point where there was no flesh left, only a dry skeleton.
On the skeleton were some broken pieces of clothing that had not yet completely weathered off. In addition to the pieces of clothing, there was also a sack-like bag thrown beside it.
The bag was made of linen, but its structure was different from that of a sack. It was a bit like the purse that ancient people used to hold money. However, this "purse" was magnified several times.
At this time, the ** lit three incense sticks next to the corpse.
The aroma was rising, but there was no change.
I didn't expect this tomb robber knew how to light incense.
This method of "lighting incense to detect qi" is a way to identify evil spirits, corpse qi, and evil spirits. If two long and one short, or two short and one long appear when three incense sticks are burning, or if they go out halfway, it is unlucky.
The three incense sticks were intact and burning quietly there.
But what about that corpse? Could it be the corpse of my master Jiang Jiuzhen? !
Thinking of this, I have
Some uneasiness.
At this time, the ** reached his hand into the "money bag" which had a corner torn, and then he pulled his hand out, and actually pulled out a black thing that looked a bit like a lotus root arm.
And vaguely, I saw that a lot of small black hairs had grown on that thing.
"What is that?" I asked.
**Hu Laifeng next to me glared at me and said unhappily, "You don't even know this thing, and you're a ghost-catching Taoist priest. You're really short-sighted. But it's true that you ghost-catching Taoist priests prefer to use Taoist magic and disdain to use this kind of thing."
Damn, this Hu Laifeng is obviously trying to compete with me.
I feel angry.
But at this time, the ** introduced: "This is a black donkey hoof, used to fight zombies. It's in the bag on me."
Black donkey hoof
I looked carefully and found that the black thing was indeed covered with black hair, black little feet, and a bent area, which should be the joint of the donkey's hoof.
After a brief introduction, ** picked up the "money bag" with his hands.
After that, he poured out a lot of things from his "money bag".
One of the things caught my attention, it was an inkwell.
The black ink fountain was still shiny black, with circles of black threads wrapped around it. However, the black threads had been glued together. It seemed that the ink fountain had been used before, otherwise the ink would not have dried up.
There was also some glutinous rice, but the rice grains had long since rotted, and one could only barely tell from their shapes that they were rice grains.
In addition, there are also some things such as corpse-driving bells, compasses, etc. However, most of these things have rotted and lost their function.
He threw the inkstone casually in the corner and said solemnly, "If I'm not mistaken, this man should also be a tomb robber, and an ancient tomb robber. This can be judged from his cloth bag and the fragments of his clothes."
It was a tomb robber from ancient times, not my master Jiang Jiuzhen. This made me feel temporarily relieved.
"Also, I have just checked his body and found five holes on top of his head. I think he must have been killed by some evil creature. It is very likely that the evil creature was a zombie."
Hong Qingzong had been silent all along, and only spoke up at this moment: "I think it's a zombie, too. The last time we came in, Master Jiang and I had never been here before, but we encountered quite a few 'death warrior' zombies. Those zombies had stiff bodies, but their movements were very flexible. In addition to stabbing people with their hands, they also bit people with their mouths, and their strength was very strong."
"So if you really encounter those 'death warriors' later, don't hold back and kill them directly."
Everyone nodded and said nothing.
"Let's go. Now that we're here, we should investigate carefully and look for the ghost-catching Taoist priest named Jiang Jiuzhen."
** said in a flat voice.
That's right, he and my master Jiang Jiuzhen are not related at all, so it's good enough that he could help dig the tunnel and lead us in.
Uncle Sun and Xiao Li, who were walking over, didn't pay any attention to what the guy said.
At this time, Liu Deshui called me, Sun Yaowen, and Xiao Li together and said, "Wait, the rest of you follow me and don't wander around. Let's go find Master Jiang together."
I nodded and said yes, but what I care about is whether my master Jiang Jiuzhen is still alive. So, I must find out where my master Jiang Jiuzhen is trapped. Even if he is dead, I hope to find his body. After all, the Yin-Yang Soul Crossing Notes belong to him, and I was able to become a ghost-catching Taoist priest because of that notebook.
People should be grateful!
So, I turned to Hong Qingzong and asked, "Master Hong, you said earlier that my master was trapped in the tomb of King Zhao in order to save you. Then can you determine where we are now?"
(to be continued)
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)