With Mr. Liao intervening, the situation took a turn for the better. Manager Wang didn't care about Hong Jie, but he couldn't afford to offend Mr. Liao.

After Mr. Liao suggested it, Manager Wang took a deep breath and pondered. He looked at the underground river full of piranhas and said quietly, "Is there really no other way?"

At this moment, Xiao Wu, bitten and covered in blood, couldn't help but say, "Manager, there's really no other way. We can only trouble the local dog."

If they weren't willing to use the local dog's corpse as bait, they would have to use living people like Xiao Wu and Hong Jie to feed the piranhas.

Uncle Mei and I stood under the withered ancient tree, watching everything happening on the other side. The scene reminded me of the saying "watching the fire from the other side of the river." Fortunately, we both successfully crossed the river with our excellent swimming skills, otherwise, we would have been involved in this mess and probably schemed against by these tomb robbers.

This Manager Wang was indeed a ruthless person. Without much hesitation, he gritted his teeth and made a decision, saying, "Then let's do it this way. Send two people to drag the local dog's corpse over and use it as bait to cross the river!"

Immediately, two tomb robbers accepted the order and climbed up the rope ladder to the tomb chamber above.

Mr. Liao comforted him, "Manager Wang, you're doing the right thing. When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out, they don't feel anything. Taking care of the living brothers is more important than taking care of the dead."

Manager Wang's face still looked bad, but he reluctantly nodded, agreeing with Mr. Liao's statement.

While they were moving the local dog's corpse, I secretly observed the piranhas in the underground water, calculating their numbers.

Roughly estimated, just one local dog probably wouldn't be enough to fill the piranhas' teeth.

If this group of people wanted to cross the river successfully, there would probably have to be some sacrifices.

Of course, I didn't say these words explicitly. If I had said them in advance, it might have caused a commotion on the other side.

Since Uncle Mei and I were already in a safe zone, there was no need to stir up trouble.

Just as I was staring blankly at the underground river, Uncle Mei suddenly stroked the thick tree trunk behind us and said in surprise, "Good heavens! This is ebony? The whole tree has turned into ebony!"

I was stunned when I heard this and quickly turned around to ask, "Uncle, what's ebony? Is this tree called ebony?"

Uncle Mei explained to me, "It's not that this tree is called ebony, it's that this tree has become ebony. Ebony is not a type of tree, but a state of wood. Some old trees are buried underground or in riverbeds, and after years of sedimentation, they will slowly turn into this dark wood, which is called ebony! This ebony is known as the Oriental magic wood, also called sunken wood, and it's very precious! One ton can sell for tens of thousands of yuan!"

"One ton can sell for tens of thousands of yuan?" I was dumbfounded after hearing this. "Is it that valuable?"

"It has to be." Uncle Mei said seriously, "As the old saying goes - having half a block of ebony at home is better than a box of treasures. This isn't just a saying."

After saying that, he looked up at the towering tree, which was over twenty meters tall, and said with emotion, "Usually, it's hard to find even a two or three-meter-long piece of ebony, but now there's a whole ebony tree in this ancient tomb. Rongsheng, this tomb robbing business is indeed very profitable. Not to mention the gold and silver treasures in the coffin, just taking this ebony out would be enough to make a fortune!"

After listening to Uncle Mei's explanation, I was also deeply shocked.

This tree was tall and thick. Digging up the whole tree would probably yield dozens or hundreds of tons. If it really was ebony that could sell for tens of thousands of yuan per ton, this tree alone would be worth a lot of money.

However, transporting this towering tree out of this dark underground cave would probably not be an easy task.

I imitated Uncle Mei and gently stroked the ancient tree in front of me, feeling that the trunk was as warm and smooth as jade, indeed very different from ordinary wood.

Then I looked up and saw that the bronze dragon skeleton cast by the ancient Shu people was coiled on top of this old tree, seemingly guarding some treasure.

Recalling the ancient Shu tomb in the Tuo River, the location where the dragon skeleton appeared was where the tomb owner's coffin was located. Combining that with what Manager Wang had said before, that this dragon was called the "Tomb Guardian Dragon," it also confirmed that its function was to guard the main tomb chamber. Presumably, the owner of the tomb must be sleeping near this ancient tree.

Thinking of this, I looked around, using the faint light of my headlamp to look around on the tree.

Suddenly!

I suddenly saw a white figure on the treetop a few meters above me. Looking closely, I saw that it was actually a long-haired woman in white, squatting on the branch and looking down at Uncle Mei and me!

She was motionless and silent, not knowing how long she had been lurking in the dark. Her facial features were hidden in the darkness, and because of the distance and the limited brightness of the light, I couldn't see her exact appearance.

I first gasped, then quickly pointed at the woman in white and shouted to Uncle Mei, "Uncle! Look! It's that White-Clad Immortal!"

After I said that, Uncle Mei also saw the strange person. According to our previous discussion, she was very likely the culprit who killed Aunt Mei!

"Are you human or ghost?!" In anger, Uncle Mei had no fear of her at all and stood up and shouted loudly.

The White-Clad Immortal didn't answer, still squatting on the treetop, tilting her head and looking at us silently.

"Damn it!"

Uncle Mei cursed angrily, rolled up his sleeves, and began to climb towards the branch where the White-Clad Immortal was.

I recalled that the White-Clad Immortal had taken the local dog's life with a wave of her hand, and I was afraid that Uncle Mei would suffer at her hands, so I quickly climbed up the ebony tree, trying to stop Uncle Mei while climbing, "Uncle, don't be impulsive, be careful of this person's dirty tricks! Be careful!"

But Uncle Mei was single-mindedly focused on avenging Aunt Mei, and was obviously worked up, ignoring my dissuasion and climbing up with both hands and feet.

I was naturally good at swimming, but climbing trees was not my forte. Uncle Mei couldn't outswim me in the water, but I couldn't outclimb him on the tree.

Seeing that Uncle Mei had already shot up two or three meters, I had only climbed half a meter, and couldn't catch up with him at all.

At this time, Manager Wang on the other side of the river saw Uncle Mei and I suddenly climbing the tree, and couldn't help but question across the river, "What are you doing? What are you doing climbing the tree?"

I glanced back at Manager Wang's direction and realized that they couldn't see the White-Clad Immortal from their position. She was just hiding on the other side of the tree trunk.

I chased after Uncle Mei while shouting to him, "There's someone on the tree! It's that White-Clad Immortal who harmed the local dog!"

When Manager Wang heard this, his face changed drastically, and he reminded us in a deep voice, "That person has some skills, don't go to your deaths!"

I understood this principle as well, but I couldn't stop Uncle Mei.

Looking up again, Uncle Mei had already climbed to a position not far from the White-Clad Immortal's feet. At this moment, I saw the strange woman squatting on the branch suddenly wave her sleeve at Uncle Mei!

"Uncle! Be careful!"

I quickly reminded him, afraid that she was going to draw her knife!

Sure enough!

I saw a cold light flick out from the White-Clad Immortal's sleeve and shoot towards Uncle Mei!