Elder Sun nodded in agreement. Then, he quietly squatted down, only to suddenly leap up with a sharp cry of "Ouch!"

Ma Xiong was startled and rushed to ask, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Elder Sun quickly explained, "Nothing, my hook just pricked my backside. It wasn't any ghoul."

"The hook?" Ma Xiong and Elder Sun shrieked simultaneously. It seemed Elder Sun was thinking the same thing as Ma Xiong.

When Elder Sun flew up earlier, hadn't he chipped a brick off the roof with his hook? They just needed to check the roof.

"This isn't the one," Ma Xiong and Elder Sun said in unison, then shared a knowing smile.

They proceeded to the next chamber.

Indeed, they found those markings again on their path, and they cheered happily as they moved toward their goal. Every time they spotted a mark, Ma Xiong and Elder Sun Lu Zong shouted, "Bastards, we're back!"

Finally, they returned to the tomb chamber where they had started. Overjoyed, they celebrated: they urinated toward the coffin. Elder Sun declared it was incredibly satisfying to run roughshod and relieve himself in Qin San'guo's territory.

Ma Xiong stated that they couldn't just dive into any hole now; they had to assess whether a hole was safe before entering. Elder Sun quickly concurred, saying, "We can't just jam it in anywhere; we have to confirm it's safe before inserting, no random jabbing."

Lu Zong found the way Elder Sun phrased that rather awkward.

Elder Sun told him to just get used to it and focus on finding a hole to insert into now.

Lu Zong corrected him, "It's about finding a hole to drill into."

Elder Sun replied, "Right, finding a hole to insert into."

Yet, looking around, the entire tomb chamber seemed to offer no second opening to drill through, let alone insert anything.

Just then, they heard that strange sound again, emanating from beneath the coffin. Elder Sun crept cautiously to the coffin and violently flipped the lid open. Ma Xiong quickly leaned in to look; there was nothing inside, just an empty coffin.

What was going on?

As they puzzled over this, a series of crackling sounds erupted from all around the walls, identical to the sound they had just heard.

Something entirely unexpected then occurred. The previously smooth wall surface instantly began to split open, cracking from the base upward for about a meter before stopping. Then, from the ends of the upper cracks, the fissures extended sideways for another meter, before finally descending downward again.

When the splitting finally ceased, they observed that the resulting opening was roughly square-shaped, and the fissure appeared to run quite deep.

Elder Sun gently walked up to one of the openings and gave it a light push. Instantly, a rumbling cascade of noise erupted, making Ma Xiong’s head spin. He quickly covered his ears.

A shocking sight appeared: after Elder Sun pushed aside the cracked stone slab, a dark, deep hole was revealed, just like the opening they had drilled through earlier.

Elder Sun exclaimed excitedly that it seemed they were saved. He called for Lu Zong and Ma Xiong to go in together.

Lu Zong said, "Elder Sun, don't rush. Go push the remaining cracks and see." Elder Sun reluctantly shuffled over, muttering the entire way. Upon reaching the section of the wall, Elder Sun raised his foot and kicked hard at one of the fissures.

Immediately, there was another booming sound, and a large hole materialized there as well.

Elder Sun eagerly moved to the third fissure and kicked it; sure enough, another hole appeared.

Ma Xiong and Lu Zong then joined Elder Sun in opening these holes, discovering that these dozen-plus openings were all identical, showing not the slightest flaw.

Ma Xiong remarked, "It seems the tomb owner took great pains. Now we won't know which hole leads to the main passage."

Elder Sun said dejectedly, "Looks like we have to test them one by one."

But Ma Xiong saw it differently. Ma Xiong reasoned that the tomb owner setting up so many openings must be trying to confuse tomb robbers. One of them must lead to the main axis. The safest one would certainly be the one where fewer people were buried, meaning the Yin energy there would be weakest. Finding the exit was simply a matter of feeling the density of the Qi—Ma Xiong could sense it.

Upon hearing this, Elder Sun heaped praise on Ma Xiong, saying he truly lived up to his name.

Ma Xiong then approached an opening, released all the Yin energy he possessed, and directed his entry into that hole. Entering the first one felt extremely strenuous for Ma Xiong, as if a great amount of Yin energy was obstructing his way; this suggested many people had met their end inside.

Ma Xiong moved to the second opening and likewise found it to be a dangerous entrance. Then the third, the fourth, until the tenth opening, where Ma Xiong felt the Qi flow into him easily, without resistance. Ma Xiong sensed the distribution of the Qi within and found it quite balanced—apparently safe.

Ma Xiong happily told Elder Sun, "Come on, we'll take this entrance."

But just as they were about to enter, Ge Mei’s voice drifted out from another opening.

Elder Sun, having already inserted half his body, quickly pulled back. "Ge Mei? Ge Mei is here too! We absolutely must find a way to save him."

Ma Xiong listened intently; it did sound like Ge Mei calling for help, and the situation seemed critical. Ma Xiong tried to pinpoint the location and felt the voice was coming from one of the holes behind him, so he turned to look.

Ge Mei’s voice continued to echo. Ma Xiong walked closer and realized that Ge Mei's voice seemed to be emanating from all ten openings simultaneously, and identically at that.

It appeared these three openings were connected inside. Now they were in serious trouble.

Elder Sun didn't think so. He argued that since they were connected, they could just enter any hole and find Ge Mei; no need to try them one by one.

Ma Xiong cursed him as an idiot. "Do you think the tomb owner would be foolish enough to connect them all? That would make things too easy for us."

Elder Sun countered, "Then tell me, if you were the tomb owner, what would you do?" Ma Xiong replied, "He would definitely have hidden Ge Mei everywhere."

Elder Sun feigned awe. "So impressive, so profound."

Ma Xiong clarified, "I mean hidden in any place except inside these holes."

Elder Sun retorted, "Just tell us where he's hidden."

Ma Xiong said, "How would I know where he's hidden? Since his voice can come from all openings, he definitely isn't in just one of them."

Elder Sun conceded, "That makes sense, but where exactly is he?"

Ma Xiong reasoned, "Since Ge Mei’s voice can travel through so many openings, Ge Mei must be located at the terminal connection point of these few holes. We just need to find the source point of these openings."

Elder Sun quickly praised Ma Xiong's cleverness and eagerly prepared to enter. Ma Xiong quickly pulled Elder Sun back, saying, "But I sensed the Yin energy inside was very heavy just now. People must have died in there, killed by mechanisms."

Elder Sun was unwilling to stop, focused only on rescuing Ge Mei. Having no other choice, the two reluctantly followed Elder Sun into one of the openings.

The moment they entered the passage, Ma Xiong felt an incredibly powerful wave of Yin energy pressing down on him. Ma Xiong dared not underestimate it and had to retract his own Yin energy as much as possible to prevent the two energies from mixing and upsetting his internal balance.

But the deeper they went, the heavier the Yin energy became, as if something unclean was inside. Yet, for Ge Mei's sake, Ma Xiong had to endure it, thinking he would just wait and see how things developed.

Eventually, Ma Xiong couldn't bear it any longer. He felt his body physically shrink, compressed by the Yin pressure. He finally said, "Elder Sun, let's get out first. I feel like I'm about to explode."

Elder Sun, showing no emotion, said, "Fine, you go out first!" It seemed Elder Sun's entire focus was on Ge Mei, and he hadn't paid much attention to Ma Xiong's words.

Having no choice, Ma Xiong retreated to rest for a bit, planning to search for the entrance again later.

However, as Ma Xiong turned back, he felt there was no point in leaving, because the rear passage had been blocked, sealed up tight. He figured something unknown, either outside or in some forgotten corner inside, was playing tricks, and he lost the courage to try and force the door open.

But the instinct for survival forced Ma Xiong to try opening it anyway. People are often pushed to extremes.

Ma Xiong used his Yin energy to sense the surroundings. The energy distribution seemed relatively balanced, suggesting no great danger, so he quietly moved toward the blocked exit.

But the door seemed tightly locked, impossible to open. Helpless, he had to return to look for Ge Mei alongside Elder Sun.

Suddenly, Elder Sun shouted from ahead, "Oh my god, what a deep hole!"

Hearing this, Ma Xiong felt strange and rushed forward to see what sort of thing had caused Elder Sun such alarm and surprise. But when he reached the spot, he too couldn't help but gasp sharply, because he realized how dense the Yin energy emanating from that deep hole was.

He crawled forward for a better look and saw how incredibly deep the hole was; the illumination stick couldn't reach the bottom. He picked up a stone from nearby and tossed it in. He pressed his ear against the opening, trying to hear just how deep the shaft went.

But after waiting a long time, they still heard no sound of the stone hitting the bottom. Lu Zong leaned his ear even closer, afraid he might miss a faint sound. But still, no sound came. He had to pull his head back.

Just as Ma Xiong retracted his head, a stone emerged from the depths below. Ma Xiong jumped in fright—was the stone flying on its own? Ma Xiong, Lu Zong, and Elder Sun were all stunned speechless.

After the stone landed beside Ma Xiong, he picked it up and examined it closely. Wasn't this the exact stone he had thrown down? Had it become malevolent from staying down there too long?

But Ma Xiong's thought was quickly dismissed because Ge Mei's voice boomed up from below: "Which jerky bastard threw a stone at me? I hate it when people throw rocks at me the most! Come out and fight me if you have the guts!"

Ma Xiong and Elder Sun burst out laughing; Ge Mei was still so feisty.

Ma Xiong and Lu Zong then shouted down, "Ge Mei, it's us! Where are you?"

Upon hearing their voices, Ge Mei’s tone also grew excited. "You two dead men are actually alive? I've fallen down to the bottom of this hole and don't know how to climb up. Elder Sun, throw down an illumination stick!"

Elder Sun frantically patted his body and finally retrieved an illumination stick from some mysterious hidden corner, leaving Lu Zong and Ma Xiong wide-eyed, realizing Elder Sun was incredibly skilled at concealing things—they hadn't noticed anything all this way.