Ahead lay an unknown path, and under his guidance, the two groups merged, their combined strength offering a temporary boost. Yet, they had no inkling what dangers awaited them just beyond. "How did you get in here?" Fan Debiao's voice broke the darkness.

"The usual trade—digging tunnels. See, I even brought a set of Luoyang shovels in my bag, ready to go at a moment's notice," Da Guoguo replied, patting his back. "You...

you mean we have to dig again?" The sight of digging instantly turned Fan Debiao’s face ashen. Da Guoguo lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and blew a smoke ring toward Fan Debiao. "Brother Fan, don't be afraid.

We won't need to dig this time." "Because the entrance is right in there." Da Guoguo pointed toward the stone door at the far end of the chamber. Hearing him, everyone's attention immediately focused on the stone door at the room's terminus. It stood about ten meters high, two arched leaves spanning perhaps five meters wide.

The team converged their high-powered flashlights onto it, finally discerning its full outline. The stone door was carved with two immensely large figures: heads of dragons and bodies of birds, utterly strange. Surrounding these main figures were numerous smaller monsters, carved in slightly lesser scale.

Standing before the door, Da Guoguo looked terribly small, as if he were food for the two beasts, ready to be devoured at any second. He frowned slightly, motioning for the others to approach the door. Now, the carvings were even clearer.

The door lacked any keyhole, nor were there any visible mechanisms nearby. It resembled a stone wall more than a door; the only feature suggesting an opening was the narrow seam running down the center. Seeing Da Guoguo staring fixedly at the door for so long, Young Master Liu inquired, "Brother, is this actually a door or just part of the wall?

And what are those weird, dragon-ish, bird-ish freaks carved on it?" Da Guoguo handed his tools to Cai Qingchong, his deputy standing nearby, and turned back. "This is indeed a stone door. What's carved here is the Yinglong.

The Yinglong is a winged dragon from ancient legends. It's said that when Yu the Great controlled the floods, the Yinglong used its tail to trace out rivers, guiding the water into the sea, and that’s how its tale spread. But what connection does the Yinglong have with this tomb?" After hearing Da Guoguo's explanation, Young Master Liu looked quite surprised.

"Never mind whether it's a dragon or a bird, Da Guoguo. If this is truly a stone door, it should have a keyhole, or there must be some mechanism hidden somewhere nearby. Otherwise, this door is impossible to open!" Da Guoguo sighed.

"It's a pity we didn't bring any explosives. With a couple of packs placed right, this would be solved. I was too rushed during preparation; now this door blocks our way." Fan Debiao chimed in, "How about we send someone out to fetch some explosives?

The village isn't that far." "Nonsense!" Young Master Liu cursed. "We absolutely cannot use explosives. We're close to the village; if the villagers hear the blast when we open this stone door, we'll all end up squatting in jail." Hearing Young Master Liu's reasoning, both Da Guoguo and Fan Debiao nodded in agreement.

Fan Debiao scratched his head. "Damn it, neither way works. So what do we do now?" In response to Fan Debiao, Young Master Liu shook his head, indicating he had no solution.

Da Guoguo examined the tomb chamber from end to end meticulously; there truly were no mechanisms, and he shook his head with a sigh. Just as everyone felt helpless, Cai Qingchong walked up to the stone door, pointed at the Yinglong's wing, and asked, "Look, do these feathers look like goose feathers to you?" Saying this, he lightly brushed one of the carved feathers. With a loud boom, the stone door seemed to react, slowly separating and drawing apart, revealing a tomb passage that stretched into an unseen distance.

Seeing this, Young Master Liu was both astonished and delighted. "Brother, you really are something!" Fan Debiao nodded in surprise as well. "Young man, you have a future.

Let's go!" With that, Fan Debiao stepped into the passage. The other four wasted no time, following him slowly into the dark corridor. Because of the mechanism's activation, the stone door had opened slowly, revealing an endless tomb passage behind it.

The group walked one after another into the corridor. Once inside, the five flashlights simultaneously pointed toward the darkness ahead. Despite the high intensity of their beams, the passage remained an impenetrable black.

Seeing this, Fan Debiao was completely bewildered, muttering, "What the hell kind of tomb passage is this? Our five high-powered flashlights can't even illuminate the end. If we walk, how long will it take to get out?" Young Master Liu ignored Fan Debiao, instead sweeping his light across the passage walls.

The corridor floor was paved with marble, yet after a thousand years of physical and chemical weathering, not a speck of moss had grown. This marble was different from the common variety found outside; it was smoother than market stone and even reflected a slight sheen under the torchlight. The material of the walls flanking the passage looked similar to that of the stone door, suggesting they were made of the same quarry stone.

Carved into both side walls were many Yinglongs, though these differed from those on the door. The Yinglongs on the door had fiercely aggressive eyes, while these ones appeared much milder, lending a sense of tranquility. Just then, Cai Qingchong raised his right hand to his lips, making a gesture for silence.

His left hand pointed back toward the stone door. The others immediately understood, holding their breath and staring at the door, none daring to make a sound. They could hear intermittent sounds echoing from beyond the stone door: "Hoooo...

hoooo..." Hearing this, Young Master Liu, Fan Debiao, and Su Yougui all looked utterly confused. But the faces of the other two contorted into expressions of sheer terror. Noticing their fear, Young Master Liu patted Cai Qingchong on the shoulder.

"Hey, buddy, what is that thing behind the stone door that's scaring you all so badly?" Cai Qingchong, still shaken, replied, "That sound just now was a Jiao-ren call. And... this is another Great Corpse!" Young Master Liu had no idea what a Jiao-ren was.

But the moment he heard the term "Great Corpse," his legs began to tremble uncontrollably. Looking at Fan Debiao beside him, his fear was no less intense. Young Master Liu asked Da Guoguo, "Didn't we just come from there?

Wasn't it empty when we were there? How did a Jiao-ren suddenly appear?" Da Guoguo explained, "The Jiao-ren originated in the Han Dynasty; their full name is the Black-Scaled Jiao-ren. Legend says their grease has an extremely low flash point, and just one drop can burn for months without extinguishing.

In ancient noble tombs, their oil was often used for perpetual lamps. The Jiao-ren of the Eastern Sea are notoriously ferocious, bloodthirsty, and gather beneath an island formed of dead coral. Those coral caves beneath the island interlock in an unknowable depth—that is their lair.

They use seductive sounds to lure passing merchant ships in the nearby waters; victims are eaten until not even bones remain. If someone managed to capture a live Black-Scaled Jiao-ren, they would butcher and dry it, filling its oil to create a longevity candle worth three thousand gold pearls." As the words left his mouth, the Jiao-ren emerged from behind the stone door. Its body was covered in black scales, and its two large eyes glowed red.

Upon seeing the group, it let out a terrible "Awoooo..." Its two blood-red tusks were enough to make one’s scalp crawl. The Jiao-ren swung its hand toward the stone door, and the massive slab split in two as easily as if it were a dry branch.