The bandits, each armed with their implements, were crammed shoulder to shoulder before the city gate at the end of the tomb passage. Under Chen Xiaozhi’s command, several Centipede Scaling Ladders were thrust up, forcing open the double doors. The moment the gate yielded, several shrieks erupted from within, sharp and piercing like the mournful cries of female ghosts. Some of the soldiers, never having participated in tomb raiding before, were so terrified by the sound that they nearly soiled themselves. Yet, packed tightly in the narrow passage, they couldn't even retreat if they had wanted to move.

Chen Xiaozhi, however, knew that the unusually sharp sound was not the wail of a vengeful spirit, but the resonance caused by the rapid compression of air. As the gate opened, it had triggered a security mechanism. Simultaneously with the strange sound, he immediately made a gesture with his hand. The raiding party using the bamboo ladders to prop the door, seeing the signal from their leader, let out a shout and hastily pulled back the Centipede Scaling Ladders. Behind them, another line of bandits had already shoved bundles of damp straw, concealed with leather shields, towards the gate, creating a dense barrier.

At this moment, the sharp noise from inside the city intensified. Dozens of black streams of water, accompanied by a pungent, foul odor, shot out from the doorway, striking the straw shields. Immediately, sizzling white smoke began to rise as the liquid burned through them. It turned out that behind this tomb door was indeed a mechanism—a facade. Once the door was breached, it would activate the "Water Dragon" behind it. This water-gun-like mechanism was loaded with venom or strong acid, which, if unprepared for, would douse victims right at the entrance, and even a single drop could corrode flesh and bone, leaving no cure.

Chen Xiaozhi, having scouted the area earlier, already knew that the Immortal Palace Cavern in Mount Ping had long been protected by traps designed to thwart thieves seeking the medicine. After the Yuan Dynasty converted it into a tomb, these various mechanisms would certainly have been utilized, leading him to prepare countermeasures in advance. The straw placed at the front of the bandit formation had been thoroughly soaked with water and reinforced with several layers of leather, with soil packed between each layer. This made it resistant to fire and impenetrable to saltpeter. Though the corrosive liquid was fierce, it could not destroy these seemingly crude straw shields.

After using the straw shields to exhaust the venom in the Water Dragon, they waited for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. There was no further movement from the pitch-black tomb entrance; presumably, the mechanism was spent. Luo Laowai adjusted the military cap tilted on his head with his pistol and cursed, "Damn your mother, what a vicious trap! If Chief Chen hadn't divined this with divine foresight, wouldn't all our brothers have been shaved clean by now?" As a seasoned highwayman, his mouth was full of underworld slang: "trap" referred to the mechanism, and "shaved clean" meant death. He spat out a few more curses, unable to contain his impatience, and was about to lead his men into the subterranean palace as he spoke.

As the leader of the large bandit group, Chen Xiaozhi dared not be the least careless. He quickly stopped Luo Laowai. The situation behind the tomb door was still unknown, and Mount Ping surely held more than just this single trap. A large contingent could not advance recklessly; first, they had to send a few daredevils to scout the area beyond the door.

Indeed, among the Xie Ling bandits, there were those who feared no death. Five or six immediately stepped forward, bowed to Chen Xiaozhi, and carrying rattan shields and straw shields, along with pigeon cages containing medicinal cakes, they entered the tomb door cautiously. The rest waited in the passage. In the long tomb corridor, other than heavy breathing and the cooing and flapping of pigeons in the cages, there was not another sound.

Not long after, the five scouting bandits returned from inside the tomb door to report. It turned out that beyond the door was a fortified city built within the belly of the mountain, surrounded by walls and watchtowers. Inside stood grotesque stone figures and beasts, several large lacquer coffins, and one stone sarcophagus, all situated within the city. Beside the coffins lay many clusters of bleached human bones. There were no further traps or ambushes to be seen. Moreover, the city seemed to have gaps and vents leading to the outside, allowing the heavy, stagnant air to dissipate somewhat, posing no immediate threat to the living.

Hearing the word "coffins," Luo Laowai’s heart leaped with excitement: "Money fears no god, poverty is mocked by ghosts. Our brothers are destined for a huge windfall! If there are no more traps, what are we waiting for? Waiting for the people in the coffins to rise as corpses?" He chuckled dryly to himself, then led his troops forward.

Chen Xiaozhi, however, remained cautious. He feared that if the entire group entered and something went wrong, they would all perish. Seeing there were about two hundred people entering the passage, he ordered half to remain in the main tunnel for support, while the rest went in to plunder the tomb. He himself had no choice but to accompany Luo Laowai. There were unavoidable reasons for this. The Xie Ling bandits had long become famous in name only over several generations, and many of their specialized tools and techniques had been lost. It wasn't until the Republican era that a figure like Chen Xiaozhi appeared. He was widely learned and exceptionally gifted, gradually recovering the lost tomb-raiding arts of Xie Ling. He then organized and improved them, leading the greenwood highwaymen to raid many ancient tombs. Though the Xie Ling bandits were numerous, those who truly understood the art of tomb raiding were few and far between. Therefore, the leader often had to go in person to command the operation, as no one else among the raiding party possessed his skill set.

Chen Xiaozhi led some sixty Xie Ling thieves, while Luo Laowai brought thirty to forty engineers and his personal entourage from the Handgun Company, all of whom were also Xie Ling affiliates. This group of about a hundred people dragged the Centipede Scaling Ladders into the ancient tomb's underground palace. Upon entering the city-gate-like entrance, the terrain inside suddenly opened up. Following the ancient Xie Ling formation chart, the bandits arranged themselves into a square formation, with Chen and Luo, the two leaders, positioned in the center. They laid the bamboo ladders horizontally around them, hung rattan shields for defense, and moved slowly through the underground palace.

The bandits used long poles to hold up the horse lanterns and probe the surroundings. Indeed, as the scouts had reported, this underground palace built into the belly of Mount Ping was surrounded by imposing walls and had watchtowers on top. It looked less like an immortal's cavern and more like a fortress city built inside a mountain hollow. Three sides of the city gate were firmly shut, but relatively speaking, this city within the mountain was merely a hollow shell. Inside, there were no halls or houses—it was far smaller than a real city, resembling a miniature architectural model. Yet, constructing it within a mountain cave was no small feat.

Where the bandits stood, the ground was littered with piles of white bones, most of them severed. Judging by the copper rings and silver ornaments on the skulls, they were all Miao people from the Seventy-Two Caves. This sight was not uncommon for the seasoned Xie Ling raiders; it was likely that these captives were forced into labor when the Daoist palace was converted into a burial hall, and a portion of them were subsequently massacred here. The Yuan army was inherently brutal; it was probable that Mount Ping contained several other such locations. Among the scattered bones were bronze statues and stone figures that once adorned the Daoist temples, placed in utter disarray. The ferocious golden-armored divine figures stared out with wide, angry eyes at the ground littered with corpses and the tomb robbers entering. Even a bloodthirsty warlord like Luo Laowai felt his guts tremble. However, Luo Laowai, like Chen Xiaozhi, was inherently a fanatic, ambitious and driven to achieve something that would sweep across the world. Though fear gnawed at him inwardly, he showed none of it outwardly.

The bandits, arranged in the "Four Gates Closing In" square formation, advanced cautiously into the city. Nine lacquer coffins rested silently there, all tightly sealed, painted with gold lacquer, and inlaid with numerous jade discs on their lids—clearly the final resting places of luxurious and high-ranking individuals, far beyond the means of common folk. The large stone sarcophagus in the center, however, was simple and unadorned, heavy and solid, with no decorative carvings, yet its position, encircled by the nine lacquer coffins like stars around the moon, attested to its paramount importance.

Chen Xiaozhi surveyed the surroundings. The tomb walls, like city ramparts, were dark and empty, their heavy gates tightly shut. There were no venomous insects here, and scattered among them were numerous skeletons of cave dwellers. Judging by the scale, orientation, and features of this subterranean city, it was likely the front hall, and they still did not know how far the main hall and side halls were. The underground palace of the Mount Ping tomb was astonishingly vast. What manner of people were buried in these lacquer coffins and stone enclosures? It was unlikely they were the main figures. Looking at the painted designs on the lacquer coffins—lingzhi mushrooms, immortal cranes, sika deer, and cloud-covered pine mountains—they clearly did not reflect the style of Yuan burial customs. They might be the caskets containing the "remains" of high-ranking Daoists from the former Immortal Palace Cavern.

The body of an immortal after death is called "remains" (yituì). But whether the body inside was that of a Yuan general or a Daoist priest was impossible to tell. Furthermore, they had never seen coffins arranged in this manner; could it be some sort of array or talisman? Chen Xiaozhi was filled with suspicion. Every look suggested something bizarre and uncanny. His eyes darted between the lacquer coffins and the stone sarcophagus, unable to decide whether to proceed with "raising the coffins and stealing the treasures."

Although Luo Laowai was the head of a warlord force numbering tens of thousands, his origins were in the greenwood, and he was Chen Xiaozhi's sworn brother. Even after becoming the powerful President, in the underworld circles, he always ranked slightly below Chen Xiaozhi. Status and seniority weighed heavily in the martial world, and even with his numerous troops and weapons, his power was confined to a single region; outside his territory, everything belonged to others. But Chen Xiaozhi was the paramount chief of the greenwood; all recognized highwaymen were his subordinates, and seven or eight out of every ten illicit businesses bore the Chen name. Without the support of the Xie Ling leader, Luo Laowai could never have risen to become a warlord through sheer ruthlessness. Thus, Luo Laowai was always obedient to Chen Xiaozhi. While it appeared they were equals, in reality, if the Bandit Chief declared coal was white, he would never dare say it was black. The hierarchy in the underworld was much stricter than ordinary people could imagine.

However, upon seeing such luxurious and exquisite large lacquer coffins, which might contain gold, jewels, and jade ceremonial objects, Luo Laowai felt an unbearable itch. He could no longer wait, and without waiting for the Xie Ling leader's order, he directed his engineers to come forward and begin prying open the coffins.

Chen Xiaozhi was intently studying a pitch-black watchtower on the city wall. A watchtower was a brick structure with viewing slits, built on a wall to serve as an arrow tower or an observation post. He felt increasingly that something was wrong, his acute intuition sensing an extremely dangerous aura emanating from the city. An ancient tomb should have been utterly silent, yet the stillness from the watchtower made him uneasy. This subtle shift was imperceptible to everyone else except him, much like an experienced old fox sensing a hunter’s snare. But being surrounded by the crowd in the center, the mingled breaths of the men made it hard to discern any strange scent hidden in the watchtower. He became slightly distracted and failed to notice that Luo Laowai had already ordered men to start prying open the coffins.

Seeing Chen Xiaozhi silent, none of the bandits dared stop Luo Laowai. The engineers, armed with long axes and shovels, found prying open coffins easy enough. Immediately, more than a dozen men followed Luo Laowai out of the formation. Some used "life-taking nails" to attempt to pry the stone sarcophagus, while others swung their mountain-splitting axes against the lacquer coffins. The resounding CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! echoed through the silent underground palace, vibrating painfully in everyone's ears.

Just as Chen Xiaozhi was about to order two men to set up a Centipede Scaling Ladder to investigate the city walls further, the sound of the coffins being forced open made him jump. He instantly shouted, "Stop! These coffins cannot be touched!" But it was too late. The engineers had already discovered something amiss with the lacquer and stone containers—the coffin beds and sarcophagi were all hollow. Whether by touching some hidden switch or not, they heard a tremendous BOOM from the entrance. The thousand-jin portcullis hidden within the city wall slammed down, completely sealing off the bandits’ retreat.

Luo Laowai hadn't grasped what happened and quickly asked Chen Xiaozhi what was going on. Hearing the "Dragon-Severing Thousand-Jin Gate" fall, Chen Xiaozhi was filled with bitter regret, grinding his teeth as he spat out, "This is not an ancient tomb's underground palace at all; it’s a barbican trap in the passage! We've been tricked!" As he spoke, they heard the sound of water flowing through the mechanism in the watchtowers, and the rapid, dense sound of bowstrings and crossbow mechanisms being drawn echoed from all the surrounding city walls.