Jie Yuting offered a slight smile. "I run a small antique shop in Hangzhou.

My older male cousin and I learned a few flashy, unskilled martial arts moves together when we were kids." He broke off mid-sentence, as if recalling some old memory, and let out a sigh. Then he continued, "Never mind that for now.

That stone pillar we just passed is an ancient Yi people's sacrificial altar. According to my grandfather's notes, once we pass the altar, we won't be far from the underground temple.

What we're looking for is in there." Daxiong sighed deeply. "We're finally close.

The dawn that will liberate the entire nation is just ahead..." I asked with some confusion, "What was the reasoning behind the Wei people building their sacrificial altars in the water?" Jie Yuting replied, "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure myself. I only ever saw murals of the Wei people once, inside an ancient tomb.

I’m very familiar with the ancient masks they wore on their faces. Only by wearing those masks will the venomous insects raised by the Wei people not attack you.

The murals also claimed the Wei people could live for a thousand years... whether that's true or not, I can't say for sure." A chill ran through me.

If such strange people truly existed in this world, were they even human anymore? That was when Daxiong got animated.

He chuckled, "Damn! If I could catch one, I'd put it in a zoo for exhibition.

Old Xiong here would sit on a stool collecting tickets every day, and in a couple of years, I’d be richer than Bill Gates!" Daxiong always managed to butt in when others were talking seriously. I retorted, "Maybe they want to catch you and put you on display in their Wei Kingdom!" Jie Yuting saw the two of us bickering again and cut in, "Gentlemen, stop fooling around.

Let's focus on the task at hand!" We gripped our worn shovels and tree branches and continued pushing forward over the increasingly placid river surface. The light from the torches no longer flickered erratically; it now illuminated the area about seven or eight meters around us.

However, I felt the surroundings growing darker. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was because the river channel was widening, gradually tending toward becoming a vast lake.

Sure enough, after we paddled forward another few dozen meters, I could no longer see the cave walls on either side. Ahead was an apparently endless expanse of lake water, with wisps of cold mist spreading across the surface, disappearing into the distance.

Our small boat seemed to be navigating on a sheet of still, black ocean. The tiny light from the torches appeared so minuscule.

There was no sound of water around us—everything was profoundly silent, save for the sound of our own breathing. After what felt like an age, I spotted a thin white line appearing on the water surface ahead.

In the thin haze, I thought I even saw a single light burning. Jie Yuting had clearly spotted the light too.

He immediately turned to Daxiong and hissed, "Quick, put out the torch!" Daxiong understood his meaning and didn't argue, tossing the torch into the water. I gripped the handle of my broken shovel tighter.

I knew clearly that if the people ahead were those ruthless international thieves, we were in danger. As my eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness after the torch was extinguished, I noticed that the lake in this cavern was not completely dark.

There were schools of small, unknown glowing fish swimming below, their cold, faint blue light resembling scattered stars sunk to the bottom of the lake. I had expected the light ahead to be from a lamp on a boat, but as our skiff approached, we realized the white line we had seen was actually a sheet of frozen ice on the lake surface.

And upon this sheet of ice stood clusters of densely packed little houses. These structures were about three meters high, built from stone, with thatched roofs.

Each small house had two oval openings that must have served as windows. These houses huddled in the darkness, layered upon one another, giving the initial impression of a group of strange creatures staring coldly at us.

Our boat was only about ten meters from the ice layer now, and the light became much clearer, seemingly emanating from one of those densely packed dwellings. I scanned our surroundings and realized there were no other boats nearby, which struck me as very odd.

Jie Yuting caught my eye and signaled us to come ashore. The ice layer rose about half a meter above the water.

Jie Yuting and I scrambled up onto the icy edge. Daxiong, carrying Liang Qian on his back, was hauled up by the two of us, and together we pulled the boat onto the shore.

"Damn, it's freezing here! I just don't get it.

Even in an underground cavern, it shouldn't be this cold, and it's already late spring/early summer!" Daxiong said while rubbing his hands together. Jie Yuting clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Keep it down..." He pointed toward the nearest small structure. "Let's find a room to settle in first, then we'll go see what's causing the light in that other house." Approaching the closest hut, I first peered through the oval opening.

The inside was pitch black, possessing a sinister feeling. The Wei people appeared in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing), which was first compiled in the early Warring States period—that’s over 2,400 years ago.

That means these houses before us might have been built more than two millennia ago. I couldn't fathom how the mysterious Wei people managed to survive underground back then.

However, in terms of architectural skill, I couldn't help but admire the Wei people; most of these structures were still standing after all that time. I suppose that was due to rarely encountering various disasters while deep underground.

The little house had no door, or perhaps the door had long since rotted away. We noticed some black fragments on the ground—likely decayed remnants of wood or similar material that might have served as the door.

Jie Yuting entered first, flicking open his lighter. Daxiong and I followed him in.

The room was simply furnished: near the window was a round stone block, apparently a table, and towards the back, a layer of black material was spread out, presumably rotted furs or pelts, now utterly decomposed. The most striking features were several ornamental objects hanging on the wall.

Before I could comment on them, Daxiong exclaimed, "Damn, treasure!" On the wall of this dilapidated room hung several coral-like ornaments. Their branches were forged from pure gold, and the branches were inlaid with numerous red gemstones that shimmered with an eerie golden light under the flame of the lighter.

Beside the golden coral hung a sheet of gold foil shaped like a mask. The facial design was very similar to the mask I had once worn, but this one had a black gemstone inlaid right on the forehead.

Jie Yuting's eyes lit up when he saw these two items. He walked over, carefully took them down, examined them for a moment, and then beamed with joy.

"These must be Wei artifacts. I never imagined they had such exquisite skill.

These are priceless..." Seeing how he cherished them, I knew it was his tomb-raiding nature showing, so I wasn't particularly surprised. Daxiong stood nearby, rubbing his hands and smacking his lips, asking, "How much do you think this stuff is worth?" Jie Yuting handled the items delicately.

"These aren't for selling. They hold immense significance for the study of ancient, vanished civilizations.

I have an uncle who is very interested in this sort of thing; I’ll take them back to show him." Just as I was about to ask him about his uncle, I glanced toward the doorway and thought I saw a figure, nearly making me jump out of my skin. I pointed toward the entrance, my voice trembling.

"Th-that... over there..." Jie Yuting became instantly alert, tossing the treasures to Daxiong, and in a flash, his Demon-Slaying Blade was drawn.

He lunged toward the doorway in two or three strides. But just as Jie Yuting sprang forward, the silhouette turned and bolted outside, moving with remarkable agility.