A well-aimed shove landed squarely on the head of the ever-obstructive Sun Jiu-ye. At that exact moment, the piercing shriek of an air-raid siren suddenly sliced through the canyon. Perhaps this sound resonated uncannily with the turbulent air currents in the mountains, because what happened next was something none of us could have anticipated: the golden-thread rain swallows overhead scattered instantly, fleeing far away as if terrified, and the guide locusts, already driven to a dead end, retreated in a sudden, tidal surge backward.

I froze, wondering if Fatty Wang hadn't actually plummeted to his death. He must have salvaged that hand-cranked air-raid siren. He had certainly managed to hook onto something after falling into the deep chasm. The buzzing of the locusts had been too close moments ago for us to hear any shouts, so he must have resorted to signaling with the siren, achieving an utterly unexpected effect: every living thing near the Soul-Frightening Terrace seemed to dread that dreadful contraption.

Just then, a shout echoed up from the base of the cliff: "Who the hell ambushed me just now? Commander Hu, I'm dangling from the ramparts here! If you let me down, I’ll forgive whoever played that dirty trick, but hurry up and lend a hand! While lowbrow tastes are no sin, and death isn't exactly the proletarian destiny, if you delay even half a step longer, your Uncle Fatty here will be 'rejoining the collective'..."

I roared down, "Commander Wang, hold on for five more minutes!" My blood ran cold instantly. Had Fatty Wang knocked himself senseless? What ramparts could possibly be at the bottom of a chasm? Was the Immortal Village tomb actually hidden down there in the depths...

In the space of my stunned hesitation, all I could hear was Fatty’s bellowing from below. Realizing his shouts were audible, he stopped cranking the siren. As a result, the guide locusts, which had only retreated a few meters, surged forward again.

I urgently yelled back, telling Fatty to keep cranking the air-raid siren. At this critical juncture, the masses desperately needed to hear Comrade Lenin’s voice; it absolutely could not stop!

But Fatty yelled back from below, "Keep cranking what? Comrade Lenin’s wooden handle is too thin! I cranked it maybe twice... and it snapped clean off! I was even hoping to bring back a little souvenir... Forget it now... It’s scrap metal."

I had wanted Fatty to continue using the siren, but the poor man, dangling in sheer terror from the cliff face, could barely control his limbs. After just a few turns, he’d broken the handle right off. The hand-cranked air-raid siren was now completely useless.

The swarms of Mao Xian and Cao Gui lurking deep within the Dragon Gate Gorge, only just driven back by the shrill, agonizing drone of the siren, now wheeled back with renewed force, continually being funneled into the "Eye of the Wind" by the swirling multitude of golden-thread rain swallows.

At this point, my own "Flying Tiger Claw" had snagged onto a protruding rock. The death trap of the "Shadowless Immortal Bridge" had one critical oversight: near the edge of the Dragon Gate Stone Waterfall, there was a slight gap that allowed one to avoid the violent crosswinds swirling overhead in the "T"-shaped gorge. If not for the fact that this invisible, amorphous vortex of death was utterly indistinguishable, we’d have been done for.

Seeing there was no time to waste, I quickly signaled Professor Sun and the Youngest Sister to take the lead, grasping the rope chain as they lowered themselves into the valley. Shirley Yang and I followed closely behind, getting across just as the millions of locusts were about to descend upon us.

The sliver of sky overhead in the deep gorge was entirely obscured by the chaotic mass of golden swallows and surging locusts. We couldn't see the heavens, and the surrounding rock walls were pitch black. Touching the stone face revealed black moss coating the surface, cold as ice. An icy wind pierced my bones, and my jaw involuntarily began to chatter as my teeth knocked together.

Everyone switched on their "Wolf's Eye Flashlights," sending several faint blue beams darting back and forth between the sheer canyon walls. I followed the sound of Fatty's shouts to look, but there were no ramparts to be seen. Between the two cliffs, spanning the gap, lay a massive, pitch-black log—shaped, it seemed, like an enormous, skewed roof beam. The beam was square-cut, resting diagonally across the gap like a grotesque single-plank bridge, littered with the remains of broken tiles and mortise-and-tenon joints.

Fatty’s weight-bearing strap had caught on a remaining section of this giant beam. Behind him were stone bricks that had been wrapped around the timber structure. Unable to turn, he could only feel the loose bricks behind him and assumed he was caught on some kind of city wall. The remnant he clung to was groaning ominously under his weight, threatening to snap at any moment.

I waved my hand at the group, signaling them to remain where the beam met the sheer cliff, and to avoid stepping onto the timber itself. This massive, dark log had been lying across the gorge for who knows how many years, battered by sun and rain; who knew if it might simply crumble now.

I stepped onto the inclined wooden beam alone, holding my breath, inching toward the remnant he clung to. I lowered my entrenching tool down for Fatty to grab. The sudden tug spun him slightly in mid-air, but he managed to twist around and cling to the beam, scrambling back with loud yelps.

Seeing he was temporarily safe, I breathed a sigh of relief and looked up. I wondered, Where did this wooden beam fall from? It looks like it was deliberately dismantled and pushed here. Was there some kind of palace or temple ruin atop the gorge? Is the Immortal Village tomb actually on the mountain, or below it?

Fatty, having just dangled in the void, was terrified to the point of near collapse. He lay flat on the black beam, unwilling to move. Just then, Sun Jiu-ye called from behind us, "Hu Bayi, Wang Fatty, are you two alright?"

Fatty puffed out his chest verbally, "An occasional bout of tachycardia... is actually quite good for your long-term health."

I assured the others, "We're fine, not dead yet. I think this beam might be Golden Silk Nanmu—it’s sturdy enough. Everyone, come over here."

Hearing this, Shirley Yang reeled in the "Flying Tiger Claw," and together with Professor Sun and the Youngest Sister, they linked hands and slowly traversed the beam to the center.

I aimed my "Wolf's Eye" into the cliff face below. The sheer walls were riddled with rows of rock caves; the golden swallows usually nested in these hollows. The deep chasm below was utterly black, far beyond the beam of the flashlight, but by pressing my ear to the dark wood, I could faintly hear the roar of rushing water—there must be a riverbed at the bottom of the gorge.

I told the group, "The cryptic poem on the tombstone was indeed a deception. The valley beyond Dragon Gate is full of insect burrows used by the Cao Gui. I don't think the Immortal Village tomb is hidden in there. However, the dragon energy converges at this gorge entrance; this entire canyon is clearly a place that gathers wind and traps water. If there’s no ancient tomb, so be it, but if the Immortal Village truly exists, they certainly wouldn’t have moved far from this area."

Sun Jiu-ye sighed, "At this point, I have no suggestions left. We’ll follow your lead. What do you think we should do now?"

I addressed everyone: "Consider this: from ancient times to the present, the anti-theft measures of a mausoleum are engaged in a life-or-death struggle against the tomb robber's craft, a battle between the deceased and the living across the boundary of Yin and Yang. If an ancient tomb is passively excavated by grave robbers, the tomb master's remains are not far from shattering. Conversely, if a robber falls into a tomb's trap, they risk becoming a sacrificial object to the tomb owner. We momentarily lost our initiative, nearly losing our lives to the deceptive tomb poem. But a mature, well-conceived raiding plan must always have a backup B plan. Don't forget we still have a powerful artifact unused. I think our priority now is to get into the golden swallow caves, find a secure and safe sector, and then use the Gui Xu Bagua Mirror to divine the precise location of the Immortal Village tomb, so we don't wander into the wrong path again."