Old Man Chen already had his plan settled. He was currently short on funds and contemplating a major score, though he lacked full confidence and hadn't revealed his intentions to Old Man Luo. However, since the matter had reached this point, he had no choice but to lay everything out. "I have always heard that the region around the Mengdong River is densely forested and mountainous, a lawless area where native tribes and Han Chinese mingle. Back when the Yuan armies swept south, they fought pitched battles for years against the Dong people, losing many noble Bannermen and generals. The tombs belonging to a certain foreign monk and a unified army general were buried with immense wealth. Even now, the Bottle Mountain still holds numerous tombs belonging to Tusi chieftains, Dong people, and Yuan soldiers and generals. But ancient Yuan tombs are unmarked above ground and always deeply interred. Coupled with the local Miao tribes' propensity for employing curses and poisons, and the prevalence of eerie tales like 'falling into the cave' or 'corpse driving,' our influence doesn't reach there. Venturing in rashly risks disaster, which is why I've been hesitant about whether to pursue this venture..."

Old Man Luo, a warlord addicted to tomb raiding, was ecstatic to hear that Bottle Mountain held so many large ancient tombs. A knife scar, received long ago in a fight, had pulled the corner of his mouth into a permanent, noticeable distortion, hence his nickname, Old Man Luo. At this moment, a burst of wild joy stretched his already crooked mouth almost to the back of his head.

He immediately sprang from his chair—the man carried the air of a bandit through and through, accustomed to brandishing a weapon while talking. He drew his ivory-handled Colt revolver and barked orders at his adjutant to immediately gather the Pistol Company and the Engineering Battalion. Every man in the engineering unit was to carry shovels, spades, hoes, and picks, and a large supply of explosives was needed; they were to march into the mountains that very day.

Old Man Chen hurriedly stopped him, insisting that the matter required careful, long-term consideration. The ancient tombs in Bottle Mountain couldn't just be robbed on a whim; without finding the underground palace or the main passage, even the best explosives would be useless. Furthermore, moving a large army would inevitably alarm the local inhabitants. The situation in that area was complex, and unexpected trouble could easily arise. The best course now was to take only a few capable and reliable men to scout the area first.

Old Man Luo, driven by his addiction to tomb raiding and the burning desire for fortune, also planned to enter the mountains to reconnoiter. An understanding was soon reached between him and Old Man Chen. Once the plan was set, Old Man Chen beckoned an orderly over, gave several brief instructions, and then, taking a few trusted subordinates, changed their attire, packed their gear, and prepared to head for the Mengdong River to seek out the Yuan Dynasty tombs hidden within Bottle Mountain.

Old Man Chen disguised himself as a fortune-teller offering divination. He had three other subordinates: first, the gaunt and cunning "Crooked Flower Mara"—this man’s ancestors had served for generations as coroners in the front offices of the former Qing government. He was skilled in identifying desiccated corpses, corpse poisons, and burial insects, and he was also exceptionally clever, serving as the chief strategist among the Xie Ling band of robbers.

The second was a tower of a man, built so tall he seemed to scrape the sky, possessing immense strength. Unfortunately, he was born mute. Because his skin was the color of charred wood, he went by the nickname "Kunlun Mole" (Kunlun Black Pearl). This name referenced the legendary dark-skinned prodigy of the late Tang and Five Dynasties, the "Kunlun Slave." Old Man Chen had accidentally saved his life years ago while robbing a tomb in Yandang Mountain, and from that moment on, the man followed Old Man Chen devotedly as his personal attendant.

The last member was a young woman known in the martial world by her stage name, "Red Maiden." She was adept at all manner of ancient stage magic and acrobatics. She had been selected by a local magnate who intended to take her as a concubine, a pursuit that drove her father to suicide. Red Maiden possessed a fiery temperament; in a fit of rage, she slaughtered the nobleman and his entire household, rich and poor alike, before fleeing to Hunan to become an outlaw. Relying on her mastery of 'Moon Gate' skills, she joined the Xie Ling robbers.

Old Man Chen and his three subordinates, along with Old Man Luo, disguised themselves as traveling merchants and peddlers. Because the terrain of the Mengdong River region in western Hunan is notoriously complex, with rugged, difficult mountains—a place known for its "eight parts mountain, one part water, one part field"—and has historically been sparsely populated with weak governmental control and severe banditry, travelers engaged in various trades often traveled in groups for safety. Thus, the five of them, in their altered guises, traveled together, making their presence less suspicious.

These five men carried their necessary implements—some openly displayed, others concealed—as they made their way toward the Mengdong River. They traveled mostly in silence. Shortly after entering the mountains, they encountered the ancient Miao border wall. The Miao are also called "Meng," and the swift-flowing Mengdong River was named after the ancient Dong settlements. Legends claimed the primeval forests lining the riverbanks were all ancient Miao caves, and this area showed mutual influence with the Chu culture, making it profoundly mysterious in the eyes of the world. Relics bearing the totem of the ancient "Xuan Niao" (Black Bird) could be seen everywhere.

Old Man Chen ordered Old Man Luo to conceal his several hundred men—the sapper unit and the pistol company—in the dense woods near the ruins of the old wall, ready for immediate deployment. Then, the five of them waded across the water, pushing through mountains and valleys, heading straight for Bottle Mountain. Inside the great mountains, they saw a vista of "overlapping peaks and winding streams and valleys," with the unique Xiangxi Bamao flower blooming profusely across the slopes—a truly primeval landscape isolated from the world.

None of them had ever been to Bottle Mountain before, and fearing they would get lost or encounter wild beasts, they dared not wander randomly. They stopped a passing local mountain resident to inquire and learned that the entire mountain range carpeted with Bamao flowers was called "Old Bear Ridge." Beyond the ridge lay uninhabited wilderness, and "Bottle Mountain" was deep within the mountains of Old Bear Ridge. There were several villages before the ridge, inhabited by a mix of Han and native peoples, including Miao and Tujia.

After making his inquiries, Old Man Chen learned there were two villages ahead in the mountains, north and south. He addressed his companions: "Two nights ago, I observed the heavens, and the stars of the Big Dipper were dim. It has long been said that the South Star governs life, and the North Star governs death. If we enter the mountains now to search for ancient tombs, the timing might be ill-fated. It would be better to avoid the north and choose the south, perhaps making a detour to the Southern Village on Old Bear Ridge first. What do you say?"

The other four, having always held Old Man Chen in near-divine reverence regarding the art of grave robbing, naturally agreed in unison. Flower Crooked Mara, disguised as a peddler, took the lead, guiding them onto the southern mountain path. Before long, they indeed came upon a cluster of hamlets nestled between strange peaks and green valleys, the scenery as beautiful as if plucked from a landscape painting.

The village consisted of about a hundred households. Because the local air was often heavy with miasma, and the mountains harbored poisonous grasses and venomous snakes (sha zhe fu she), the local people, regardless of Han or native origin, all lived communally in stacked dwellings, climbing ladders to reach the upper floors—a structure called Ganlan. All residences were built against the mountainside, oriented to face south from a northern base. To guard against venomous creatures, the lower levels of these multi-storied wooden buildings were supported by nine posts touching the ground, with crossbeams threaded through, causing the platform to suspend in the air. This style of architecture is also known as a "stilt house" (Diao Jiao Lou). Beneath every stilt house, a wooden carving of the Xuan Niao was displayed, lending a touch of the uncanny to the mystery.

The Xie Ling robbers noted these details mentally. Once inside the village, they began clanging small copper gongs to announce their wares. The local customs were simple; people preferred bartering, with little currency in circulation. They produced goods like waxed cloth, cured ham, and medicinal snake wine. Despite the remote location, outsiders were not uncommon; perhaps a few peddlers arrived every month to trade for mountain products. Seeing foreign merchants, they felt no surprise and brought their own mountain goods to exchange.

Flower Crooked Mara dealt in general merchandise—needles, thread, and other sundry daily necessities. The mute "Kunlun Mole" posed as a porter, carrying salt for Old Man Luo, who was disguised as a smuggler. Currency was useless in the mountains; even with money, there was nowhere to spend it. The mountain people and the traveling traders had always operated on a barter system. The porters would exchange the goods they carried for local mountain products, which they would then take to outside towns to earn a profit.

Because ingress and egress from the deep mountain forest were inconvenient, the most valuable commodity here was salt. Salt itself was regarded by the locals as a form of hard currency. The local adage went: "Three loads of rice for one jin of salt"—this could be considered the locally recognized exchange rate.

Old Man Chen’s prior planning was meticulous. The goods they brought were precisely what the villagers needed, and unlike ordinary merchants, they were not obsessed with trivial profits, thus winning the goodwill of the populace. In no time, their trading was done. They then asked the locals for a few bowls of water, pretending to drink and rest, while subtly gathering information about the ancient tombs of Bottle Mountain. Under the pretense of fortune-telling, seeking auspicious burial sites, and inquiring about mountain paths, Old Man Chen and his group managed, without much effort, to extract several clues from the villagers. They learned that Old Bear Ridge along the Mengdong River was a vast expanse of towering mountains, a thousand zhang high. In ancient times, bears certainly roamed the area, though they were rarely seen now. Legend held that the ancestor of the Miao people, King Chiyou, was the incarnation of a giant bear, hence the mountain’s name, Old Bear Ridge—the sacred mountain where the Dong people originated, leaving behind numerous ancient monuments in the forest.

The ancient Yi people often resided in caves, hence their name, Dong people. Divided by tribe, there were seventy-two caves in total. On Old Bear Ridge was a peculiar peak called Bottle Mountain, shaped like a heavenly bottle that had fallen to earth, appearing divinely wrought rather than man-made. The mountain was covered in many unknown, strange flowers and herbs. Bottle Mountain contained natural caverns with intricate, deep, and unfathomable passages. Western Hunan was rich in cinnabar, an essential ingredient for alchemists seeking elixirs. Thus, from the Qin and Han dynasties onward, emperors continuously dispatched sorcerers to Bottle Mountain to refine pills of immortality, constructing Taoist temples and halls within the caves. They collected rare stones and treasures from all regions, filling the chambers in hopes of obtaining the elixir from immortals, effectively treating it as a Taoist paradise.

Through the management of many dynasties over nearly a thousand years, the caves of Bottle Mountain became adorned with layer upon layer of halls, towers, and pavilions, surpassing those of the mortal world. However, the elixir of immortality was never successfully concocted. It was only when the Yuan destroyed the Southern Song that the Yuan’s brutality provoked the Dong people residing in the caves to rise up in rebellion. Yuan soldiers and generals launched a massive suppression campaign on Old Bear Ridge, the slaughter being exceptionally brutal; the Dong people of nearly every cave were almost entirely wiped out. The Yuan army also suffered heavy losses due to widespread plague, as they could not adapt to the hot and humid mountain environment, and the commanding general perished there. To subdue the Dong people and ensure they never rebelled again, the Yuan designated Bottle Mountain as a tomb site for their fallen soldiers. All the rare artifacts from the cave temples were interred as funerary objects, and the surviving Dong people were slaughtered as sacrificial accompaniments. The mountain was sealed with molten bronze, iron, and massive stones, burying the treasure deep, without marking it above ground, ensuring that future generations could never find the tomb passage or the underground palace.

These legends had been passed down orally among the inhabitants of Old Bear Ridge for centuries. They all knew there was a massive ancient tomb in Bottle Mountain, but that was the extent of their knowledge. No one knew the finer details, as almost all the Dong people of the caves had been exterminated in the massacre. Old Man Chen had heard rumors previously, and now, after making local inquiries, he confirmed that the legend of the Bottle Mountain tomb was not baseless, extracting further little-known inside information.

The locals saw these merchants inquiring about Bottle Mountain and never imagined they were grave robbers. They kindly warned them that the area around Bottle Mountain was dense with forests and steep cliffs. Because many precious alchemical stones were sought there in the past, it attracted numerous venomous insects and strange spirits, making the area incredibly perilous. They claimed that if ten living people went there, at least nine would perish.

Old Man Chen quickly explained, "We are merely passing through this area. Hearing the strange name 'Bottle Mountain,' our curiosity was piqued, leading us to ask more questions. We are honest folk making a living in the trade; how could we dare venture near an ancient tomb?" After saying this, he negotiated with the villagers to borrow lodging for the night.

The elders of the village informed Old Man Chen and his party that there was an established rule: they never allowed outsiders to stay overnight in the village. This was because banditry had become too fierce in recent years. As the saying goes, "Thieves arrive like a comb, soldiers arrive like a rake, bandits arrive like a razor"—when bandits attacked, it was a bloodbath. Thus, the village gates were closed at night, refusing any outside guests to prevent spies from colluding inside. "Although you all appear to be honest small businessmen, certainly not murderous bandits, we cannot break tradition for you," the elders advised, urging them to leave the mountains while there was still daylight.

Old Man Luo had a poor temper and was used to giving arrogant orders. Seeing that the villagers refused them lodging—and worse, that these peasants dared to disrespect Marshal Luo—he cursed loudly and was about to draw his gun to shoot a few as a warning. Old Man Chen, knowing Old Man Luo's impatience, feared he would expose their true purpose and ruin the plan. He quickly restrained Luo’s hand, carefully inquired about several surrounding routes from the locals, and then hastily led his group away from the village.

By the time they reached the forest, the sun was already setting. Old Man Luo asked Old Man Chen what they should do now. There wasn't a single place to stay in the wilderness. He suggested returning that night and marching the troops directly into the mountain for a so-called "military exercise" at Bottle Mountain.

Old Man Chen glanced at the shadow of the sun, estimated the time, pondered for a moment, then turned and said, "Marshal Luo, there is no need to rush this. It gets dark early in these mountains, and we likely won't make it back tonight. I just learned from the locals that there is a temporary morgue, a Zanguan, on Old Bear Ridge. It would be best if we stayed there for the night. Tomorrow morning, we can go deep into the mountains to survey the situation at Bottle Mountain and see whether that ancient tomb will yield its secrets."

Zanguan is another name for an Yizhuang (charitable hall/temporary repository for the deceased). Simply put, it is a "hotel for the dead." In the several villages nearby lived many Han Chinese—some hiding from military conscription, others fleeing rent or taxes. A small portion were traders moving between the villages. Due to the differing burial customs between the native groups and the Han, if these people died in the mountains, it was considered dying far from home, a deeply taboo situation for those holding traditional beliefs who hoped to have their remains returned to their ancestral land. However, the mountain paths were rugged and distant, making it exceptionally difficult to transport bodies out of the mountains. Both corpse bearers and corpse drivers only made the journey once every six months. Until those scheduled trips, the deceased bodies awaiting transport were collected at the Yizhuang, referred to as the Zanji (staging ground), managed by caretakers hired by the pooled funds of the various villages. Places like this were commonly found throughout the mountains of western Hunan.