The Jinlu Yuyi, or Jade Suit of Life, was an artifact from the Qin and Han dynasties, differentiated by gold, silver, or bronze threads according to aristocratic rank. After the Han Dynasty, these suits were largely absent from tombs. It was unclear from which Han tomb the Guanshan Taibao had unearthed this item, which had miraculously resisted both water and fire. Though the jade plates of the encased casket were intact, the intense heat severed the gold threads, causing the entire dragon-patterned jade sheath to peel away like a great snake shedding its skin, revealing the corpse it had enveloped from head to tail.
The onlookers were stunned into silence, their hearts seized by an inexpressible horror at the unbelievable scene unfolding within the flames. Amidst the roaring blaze ignited by the compressed fuel, the jade armor covering the ancient corpse began to fall away piece by piece. The first part to be shed was a skull crafted entirely of pure gold. The golden head featured monstrous features and fangs; in the flickering firelight, its sunken eye sockets seemed to glow with a dim, reddish sheen.
As the jade suit fragmented and fell away, the corpse’s torso beneath the head was also exposed to the inferno. I had initially wondered why Feng Shigu’s body was so much larger and more imposing than that of his descendant, Master Sun Jiu—surely, the saying that the offspring of weasels are never as good as their ancestors held true? But seeing this, I suddenly understood: this ancient corpse was not the Earth Immortal; it was the Wuyang King, interred here at the head of the Pangu Vein thousands of years ago.
It turned out the corpse within the jade casket was not wearing burial robes but was naked, its flesh bloated and already decaying. Yet, by the firelight, streaks of bloodstains were still visible on the body, suggesting it had been dismembered and crudely stitched back together. I thought to myself, “This is troublesome. We’ve used up all the lamp oil, only to burn a sacrificial dummy. If the Earth Immortal Feng Shigu isn't in this star-like chamber, where could he possibly be hiding?”
Just as I was puzzling over this, Shirley Yang had discerned a crucial detail and whispered, "There shouldn't be no coffin inside the golden outer shell. This jade casket and the Wuyang King are merely the Earth Immortal's two layers of nested coffins."
No sooner had Shirley Yang pointed out the mechanism than the reality materialized. The Wuyang King's corpse began to melt, and the golden skull dropped into the fire. It was indeed just a husk; the interior had been hollowed out, though strange blood-like fluid still seeped from the flesh. As the jade casing and the outer skin fell away, the face of a man with black hair and a black beard was revealed from within the Wuyang King's flesh.
Though dead for centuries, the male corpse hidden within the Wuyang King’s fleshy coffin still possessed lifelike hair and beard; the fierce, heroic spirit in his expression had not dissipated. He wore a jade coronet and a black robe, holding a whisk, displaying the ethereal poise of an immortal. However, a profoundly sinister and deathly aura hung over his face, indicating that he was no deity, but a jiangshi—a corpse that refused to decay.
Master Sun Jiu, standing beside me, glared with bulging eyes: "Is this the Earth Immortal Feng Shigu?" Though filled with rage, the fear in his voice was more pronounced. He could barely imagine what would happen next. Clearly, the last leader of the Guanshan Taibao still held formidable sway in the hearts of the Feng clan, even after death. If Feng Shigu were to truly appear, a catastrophe would surely befall the Earth Immortal Village in Coffin Mountain.
Seeing Master Sun Jiu trembling with fear, I felt compelled to reassure him: "The Wuyang King's husk has melted away. Feng Shigu will soon turn to ash too. What’s there to worry about?"
What happened next, however, left my mouth agape, unable to utter a single word. The moment the Earth Immortal’s corpse appeared, the deathly qi in the chamber suddenly intensified, causing the fire’s intensity to weaken instantly. A dense, fetid stench choked the air, nearly suffocating us into unconsciousness.
Everyone quickly donned gas masks, peering through the viewport at the scene. The flames had been reduced to their absolute minimum. The Earth Immortal’s unyielding corpse stood in the fire, completely unharmed. If Feng Shigu’s black robe was similar to the Fengyun Nang used by the Tomb Raiders back then—capable of resisting water and fire—that might be understandable. But what baffled me was that even his hair and beard remained undamaged in the blaze. My mind secretly recoiled, my entire worldview slightly shaken. I thought, Could this man have truly achieved immortality, transcending all physical laws to become invulnerable to fire and water? If so, destroying Feng Shigu’s remains will be harder than ascending to heaven. Perhaps our entire group will end up being 'saved' by this Corpse Immortal and become his eternal burial companions.
According to ancient beliefs, anything extraordinary was deemed a demon (yao). By this logic, if there were demons, there were also immortals (xian); the distance between them was merely a thin veil—one step forward led to immortality, one step back to demonhood. Back in the Hundred-Eyed Cave at the edge of the Inner Mongolian grasslands, I had encountered two yellow weasels capable of reading minds and nearly lost my life. They were likely yao that had gained sentience over time, but their anomaly was merely the ability to read minds due to their age; they were not immune to fire and water. Despite their cunning and agility, they were ultimately dispatched by Fatty and me.
Over the years, as I plundered tombs across the land, I have come to believe that things existing for too long can indeed manifest strange phenomena. But I never believed in true immortals. Perhaps ancient alchemy using (pill fire) was real, but in thousands of years, who has genuinely witnessed anyone achieve transcendental ascension? Ever since the Qin and Jin periods, people began concocting elixirs like Wushisan and Hanshisan, leading countless intelligent individuals to their deaths.
Although I was initially surprised that Feng Shigu remained unscathed in the raging fire, I hardened my resolve. If Heaven had eyes, even if such immortals truly existed, they shouldn't be the likes of the deluded Guanshan Taibao. Since fire couldn't incinerate this jiangshi, I decided to resort to brute force: dismemberment. These thoughts flashed through my mind, and I immediately snatched up my entrenching shovel, beckoning the men behind me. I intended to charge forward and use the shovel’s blade as a saw to hack the Earth Immortal Feng Shigu into pieces.
I skirted the golden sarcophagus and approached the fire. The flames, suppressed by the deathly qi, were much weaker now. The Earth Immortal’s corpse sat motionless amidst the blaze. Drawing close, and mindful of the low ceiling, I swung the entrenching shovel in a horizontal arc, aiming to strike the Earth Immortal’s face with the back of the blade. To my surprise, I missed entirely.
As I swung the shovel, the ancient tomb began to shake violently. The chamber floor suddenly cracked open and collapsed. The Earth Immortal Feng Shigu, along with all the surrounding flames, plunged downward. If Shirley Yang hadn't swiftly yanked me back, my momentum would have carried me straight into the abyss with him.
The ground subsided dramatically, as if the bottom of the chamber had split open into a gaping black maw. Our golden sarcophagus, caught in the seismic shift, tumbled and slid into the sinkhole. I dodged the golden container, knowing that the Jiusi Jingling Jia beneath the earth was about to grind the mountain apart. I wondered if the Earth Immortal Feng Shigu had finally been pulverized into dust by the Jingling Jia.
Ignoring the immediate danger that the Jiusi Jingling Jia might breach the chamber walls at any moment, I quickly bent down to peer into the hole while the firelight still flickered below. Beneath the Earth Immortal's chamber, I saw layers of deep jade marrow and bedrock, but a fissure, bottomless and wide, had opened up. It was filled with clumps of bronze corrosion resembling thorny vines, so densely packed they looked like the countless tentacles of sea anemones, each one bristling with razor-sharp barbs.
The burning lamp oil that had fallen onto the Jingling Jia continued to burn fiercely. By the firelight, I could see Feng Shigu’s body had fallen not far below, pinned down by dozens of bronze spikes. One spike, thick as a human finger, had pierced through the back of his skull and emerged through his forehead.
The Jiusi Jingling Jia originated from ancient bronzeware from the Three Dynasties, serving as funerary protection. Because it had been extinct for a millennium, my knowledge of it was limited. I recalled hearing that by mixing pulverized bronze with the roots of the Jiusi Huanhun Cao (Nine Deaths Soul-Returning Grass) and the blood and flesh of the dismembered, then burying it near a tomb for years, a subterranean, blood-sucking plant would form. Its roots would be vigorous and incredibly sharp, characterized by a preference for the dark and an attraction to life, proliferating around the tomb complex. They would prey on any living creature they encountered. As ancient bronzeware from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties is exceedingly rare, large tombs accompanied by the Jingling Jia are uncommon.
This was the first time in my life I had witnessed the subterranean Jiusi Jingling Jia, and the sight was something I knew I would never forget. The blood-armored vines, constrained by their root structure, couldn't immediately burrow into the ancient tomb chamber. But the dense mass of bronze spikes visible in the firelight made my scalp crawl. Feng Shigu was impaled by several of these bronze tendrils, blood gushing from his body. In moments, the corpse was drained entirely of its blood and marrow, leaving behind only an empty shell.
We witnessed this scene clearly. Even the most ruthless heart would feel a chill of terror seeing the Earth Immortal drained dry by the bronze spikes. Little Sister couldn't bear to watch and stumbled backward, sitting down hard on the floor.
Seeing that Feng Shigu’s body contained fresh blood, much like a living person’s, I realized that the scenes depicted in the Guanshan Yuxian Tu (Tomb-Viewing Immortal Encounter Scroll) were not fabricated. I still couldn't fathom how he achieved this. This man, who boasted of divine planning and dreamed of ascending to immortality upon death, could not have possibly foreseen this fate, even if he truly were an immortal. Now that the main objective was settled, our priority had to be finding a way out of Coffin Mountain immediately, lest we all end up impaled like Feng Shigu, riddled with holes.
As the cracks beneath the Star Rock spread outward like fracturing ice, leaving no room for hesitation, I grabbed Master Sun Jiu, who was still hunched over, craning his neck to peer down, intending to drag him away from the Earth Immortal's chamber. But the moment my hand grasped his arm, I saw something even more terrifying unfold in the abyss below, choked with the bronze spikes.
Feng Shigu’s corpse, pierced by dozens of bronze spikes and drained of its vital fluids, slowly lifted its head. The barbs on the copper armor ripped a piece of flesh and bone from the back of his skull, exposing a black cavity in his forehead. The Earth Immortal’s eyes suddenly snapped open—they were like two black voids. His head snapped back, his mouth widening far beyond natural limits, his rows of teeth nearly separating at a 180-degree angle.
The fire that had landed on the Jiusi Jingling Jia was about to burn out, and the cracks beneath the chamber were rapidly sinking into darkness. In the last vestiges of firelight, a blurry, hairy black shadow struggled to crawl out of Feng Shigu’s mouth before the light finally extinguished, making it impossible to see anything below.
Everyone was frozen with shock, but the ground continued to split apart. Staying in the chamber meant being swallowed by the collapse at any second. I disregarded further thought, hauled the petrified Master Sun Jiu backward, and Shirley Yang pulled Little Sister up from the floor. We signaled each other, and with Fatty taking the lead, we rapidly retreated toward the areas where the ground had not yet fractured.
By then, our entry route had collapsed, the chamber walls were cracking everywhere, and a large section of the tomb passage was gone. In desperation, Fatty exerted his utmost strength to pry open the stone door of the ancillary burial chamber. Fortunately, it was a movable door, albeit thick and heavy. With every ounce of effort, he managed to open a gap barely wide enough for passage. Seeing no other escape, I decided to take things as they came, grabbed Professor Sun, and squeezed into the ancillary chamber adjacent to the Earth Immortal’s tomb behind Fatty.
Earthquake-like tremors constantly shook my body. I immediately braced myself against the wall and swept the tactical beam from my helmet around the surroundings. Seeing that everyone had followed, I felt a small measure of relief. I then surveyed the area. This low, narrow rock chamber was indeed the ancillary room for funerary objects. The floor was piled with scrolls and treasures; my eyes were met with a dazzling array of jewels and precious items, though in the rush, I couldn't discern exactly what rare artifacts they were. Mixed in were the skeletal remains of spirit beasts like sika deer and cranes. The chamber had been sealed for ages, and the air was filled with impurities; we couldn't risk removing our gas masks yet.
In the dim light of the beam, I noticed that the ancillary chamber was also beginning to fracture and collapse. The far tomb wall gave way, revealing a narrow set of stone steps, disappearing into the darkness at both ends. One side slanted sharply upwards. The Lingxing Palace Earth Immortal Tomb was located within the abdominal cavity of the Pangu Vein. Countless naturally formed chambers were staggered at different elevations, often separated by only a single wall. At this moment, it was impossible to tell where the steps led. All we knew was that the Jiusi Jingling Jia below had torn the strata apart. Knowing that the Jingling Jia was coiling around Coffin Mountain like a silkworm cocoon, leaving us surrounded by dead ends, we had no choice but to retreat upward, grasping at the almost non-existent hope of survival.
I immediately pointed, signaling everyone not to stop, and scrambled up the stepped corridor ahead. We were running on fumes; our legs ached, and we could barely move. Shirley Yang and I, having military training, and Fatty, naturally robust from years of life in the Daxing'anling mountains, were barely holding on. Master Sun and Little Sister were struggling even more. We pulled and dragged each other. In the darkness, we walked for what felt like an age before finally reaching the end of the stairs. The corridor split into two paths here; ahead was still space, but above the steps was an iron hatch, seemingly leading to a secret chamber.
The violent tremors shaking the mountain finally subsided, allowing us a moment to catch our breath and confirm our bearings. Comparing our location with the layout in the Guanshan Xiangzhai Tu, I realized this winding secret passage cut through the Lingxing Palace, utilizing the high elevation of the Star Rock, passing through the Jade Cave within the Corpse-Shaped Mountain, and finally connecting to the Warring States tomb beneath the bone-storing tower in the Earth Immortal Village. The stone bricks throughout this secret tunnel were inscribed with scriptures and talismans, and potent insect-repelling medicine had been buried within. There was no sign of coffin worms, suggesting this passage was built exclusively for Feng Shigu’s personal use to access the tomb chamber at any time.
The Guanshan Xiangzhai Tu meticulously detailed the Yang and Yin residences of the Earth Immortal Village but offered no information about the Lingxing Palace or this secret passage. However, lifting the iron hatch revealed a chamber permeated with mercury vapor, with the Tiger-Crouching Bronze Sarcophagus still resting nearby. Only then did I realize where we were—beneath the Ancient Tomb Museum, hidden by this secret route.
By now, the upper and lower Yang and Yin residences of the Earth Immortal Village were overrun by coffin worms driven out by the Jingling Jia. Returning to the Bone-Storing Tower was impossible, and the lower Lingxing Palace had been destroyed by the bronze armor. We were stuck between retreat and advance. Our only option was to follow the dark tunnel deeper. I surmised that since this tunnel connected to the Earth Immortal’s tomb, its importance was self-evident. The other branch of the fork must lead to another highly concealed, secret area. Since we had stumbled in by fate, we had to explore it.
Exhausted and unable to speak through our gas masks, the group constantly looked back, terrified that the Earth Immortal Feng Shigu might be pursuing us. No one dared speculate about the secrets hidden in the Earth Immortal Village’s secret tunnels. Guided by the dim light of our tactical beams and flashlights, we walked several dozen paces down the dark, eerie corridor.
Fatty suddenly tripped over something, stumbling forward onto his hands and knees with a heavy thud. He fell hard, nearly knocking himself senseless, and remained on the ground for a long time. The tactical beam offered little help in such absolute darkness. I quickly signaled the other three to stop moving while I checked what lay on the ground, wary of potential hazards.
I knelt to help Fatty up. We both reached out in the dark to feel what was there—a loose brick or perhaps a corpse. Finally, my hand touched something round, about the size of a human head, cold and hard. I directed the light beam onto it, focusing as the light swayed. It turned out to be a massive, heavy iron tazi (a type of ancient weight or ball), connected to an extremely thick iron chain. A thought struck me instantly: this looked exactly like a restraint used for imprisonment. Given its immense weight, what was it chained to—a person or a beast?