Chapter 1 A Difficult Predicament

Our current situation could only be described as being "between a rock and a hard place."

Returning the way we came was virtually impossible, as two schools of piranhas were waiting for us in the underground river and the tomb tunnel. Forcibly barging our way through would undoubtedly result in some unlucky souls being devoured alive.

Relatively speaking, climbing up the tree and using the tomb tunnel that the white-robed fairy had dug out from above was a more reasonable option. However, this path was also fraught with danger. Countless red venomous snakes infested the tree, and a single bite would be fatal. They were no easier to deal with than the piranhas.

What's more, we had no idea where this tomb tunnel led, and the white-robed fairy was ahead of us.

I had previously heard Jiang Yongguang say that he had handled many cases where two or even more groups of tomb robbers had accidentally encountered each other in ancient tombs. In such cases, it was rare for these tomb robbers to coexist peacefully; most encounters ended in a bloody conflict.

How did they fight? It was simple. The tomb robbers who escaped first would turn around and bury the tomb tunnel with a shovel, burying the remaining tomb robbing gangs alive in the ancient tomb. Once the buried tomb robbers were all suffocated to death, the first group would re-enter to filter the site, monopolizing all the funerary objects.

This was also why Jiang Yongguang repeatedly told me that tomb robbers were a group of utterly ruthless individuals.

They didn't value human life at all. In their eyes, only profit mattered.

Now that the white-robed fairy had taken the Ancient Shu Jade Slip and was ahead of us, if she had accomplices, it was very possible that they would seal off the tomb tunnel, burying us alive.

Some of the "rats" (term for tomb robbers) were also worried about this, reminding Shopkeeper Wang, "Boss, that white-robed fairy has been up there for a while. What if she seals off the tomb tunnel? Wouldn't we have chosen a dead end?"

Shopkeeper Wang had already considered this possibility and immediately replied, "If it's truly a dead end, we can always turn around and return, then cross the river the way we came. But if the white-robed fairy hasn't sealed the tomb tunnel, won't fewer of our brothers have to die?"

The "rats" nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

Indeed, if there was a second way out, no one would be willing to cross the river under the siege of piranhas.

Having determined the retreat route, Shopkeeper Wang waved to the tree and ordered, "Let's go, Xiaoliu, Biantou, you two lead the way."

Because the "rats" had already climbed the tree once while searching for the coffin chamber, they had cleared out the venomous snakes while climbing.

Therefore, climbing the tree this time, there were far fewer venomous snakes. At least it wasn't like the first time, where unlucky souls were being bitten to death every now and then.

Xiaoliu and Biantou, two *tufu zi* (traditional term for tomb robbers), were the best tree climbers under Shopkeeper Wang. They led the way, and whenever they found a place to rest, they would stop and help the people behind them up.

In fact, apart from Sister Hong, a woman with weak limbs, the other "rats" more or less knew how to climb trees. Tomb raiding required climbing up and down, so they had already trained themselves.

The only difficult one was Mr. Liao, the corpse driver.

Not only did he need to climb the tree himself, but he also needed to bring the four-thousand-year-old ancestor along, which was very strenuous.

However, Shopkeeper Wang had specifically arranged for two strong young men to follow him, acting as bodyguards for Mr. Liao. With their help, Mr. Liao didn't expend too much effort.

Me and Uncle Mei were at the back of the line, with Uncle Mei in front, me behind, and Sister Hong sandwiched between us.

As Old Wu had said before, Sister Hong couldn't carry anything on her shoulders or lift anything with her hands. Her limbs were weak, and she couldn't climb up by herself at all.

She could only rely on the help of me and Uncle Mei.

Uncle Mei first climbed onto a tree branch, then turned around to pull her arm, while I stood below, lifting her plump peaches upward.

Sometimes I would hold onto the tree trunk with both hands and had to use my shoulder to support her plump buttocks. Sister Hong herself was quite embarrassed and kept saying, "Thank you, Rongsheng, thank you, Third Brother. When I get out, I'll definitely repay you well."

Whenever I heard this sentence, I felt complicated.

Because even if Sister Hong managed to survive and escape, she would not escape being caught by the Xiaoling Guard.

For her, there were only two possible outcomes—either die in the tomb or spend the rest of her life in prison.

Of course, I didn't tell her this cruel truth.

Because we were dragging Sister Hong, a big burden, me and Uncle Mei were exhausted from climbing the tree. After a lot of effort, the three of us finally climbed to the location of the tomb tunnel.

Because we were at the back of the line, we basically didn't encounter any venomous snakes along the way. The venomous snakes had been eliminated by the people in front.

Although there were very few venomous snakes on the tree, there were still two unlucky souls who were bitten and rolled off the tree convulsing, forever staying in this tomb.

Shopkeeper Wang's tomb robbing team was also getting smaller and smaller, from more than ten people at the beginning to less than ten people now.

At this time, Shopkeeper Wang, Mr. Liao, and the others had already entered the tomb passage. Me and Uncle Mei, however, were not in a hurry to go in and first squatted on the treetop to catch our breath.

Uncle Mei glanced at the tomb tunnel and couldn't help but sigh, "This tomb tunnel is so accurately placed that it leads directly to the tomb owner's burial place. How did the person who dug the tunnel know that the Ancient Shu King was buried here? This is amazing!"

Sister Hong said with a smile, "A tomb tunnel that leads directly to the main burial chamber has a name in our tomb robbing business—such a tomb tunnel is called a 'Divine Tunnel' (*shenxian dong*), and generally only the top *tui zi* (term for a skilled tomb robber) can dig out a Divine Tunnel. However, Divine Tunnels are not uncommon in history, and many ancient tombs have been struck with Divine Tunnels."

At that time, I thought Sister Hong was boasting. After all, in the past, the level of technology was limited, and tomb robbers relied entirely on feng shui, surveying, and practical experience for exploration and digging. They didn't have the help of high-tech detection instruments at all. How could they accurately find the location of the main burial chamber and dig out a Divine Tunnel?

I felt that these Divine Tunnels were definitely dug out by chance. At most, one or two out of a hundred tomb tunnels would be Divine Tunnels.

But later, as my knowledge grew, I finally realized how ignorant I was back then.

I underestimated the wisdom of the ancients.

Sister Hong was not boasting.

Divine Tunnels in history were countless, like the Qin Duke's tomb at Dabaozi Mountain, the Warring States Guo Zhuang tomb, the Warring States Jiuliandun tomb, the Han tomb at Shizi Mountain in Xuzhou, and even the very famous Haihunhou tomb in recent years, all of which were struck with Divine Tunnels!

Although archaeologists still don't understand how those *tufu zi* from decades or even hundreds of years ago directly found the main burial chamber and dug out the Divine Tunnels, these Divine Tunnels are indeed real. It's as if these *tufu zi* knew the structure of the mausoleum like the back of their hand.

Back to the topic.

After me and Uncle Mei rested for a minute or two, we followed Shopkeeper Wang and the others into the tomb tunnel.

It could be seen that the scale of the white-robed fairy's tomb robbing gang should not be very large, because the tomb tunnel they dug was not spacious. Compared with the tomb tunnel dug by Shopkeeper Wang and the others, it could be said to be very shabby.

We couldn't stand upright in the tomb tunnel and could only crawl like animals.

After crawling for a while, I felt sore in my back, pain in my waist, dizzy, and wanted to stop and rest.

Just as I was about to rest, I suddenly heard a strange laughter faintly coming from not far ahead, as if an old man was laughing.

"Heh heh heh... heh heh heh..."