From Old Liu Tou's words, I vaguely picked up something: before the Liberation, a certain merchant had funded the construction of the Fish Bone Temple in Longling to worship the Dragon King. This in itself was a bit strange—why build a Dragon King Temple away from the river, nestled amidst those gullies and ravines?

According to Old Liu Tou, the Fish Bone Temple wasn't large, which made it even more peculiar. Why go to such elaborate lengths for such a small shrine? Was there some geomantic nexus in Longling perfectly suited for a temple?

It couldn't be that simple. Moreover, Old Liu Tou mentioned that a massive Tang Dynasty tomb was hidden within Longling, making things even more suspicious. I inwardly sneered. Damn it, it was highly probable that the one who paid for the Fish Bone Temple was one of my own kind. Building the temple was a pretense; true intent was grave robbing. The temple served as camouflage while digging a secret tunnel leading to the ancient tomb to pilfer treasures—that was his real objective.

However, one thing puzzled me: given that the terrain of Longling was treacherous and rarely trodden by humans, why bother with the superfluous effort of removing one's trousers to relieve oneself?

Then it dawned on me. The tomb must have been exceedingly deep, requiring more than a short time to tunnel all the way to the burial chamber. He must have pinpointed the location but realized the work would take too long. Spending days constantly appearing in Longling would inevitably draw suspicion from locals. Thus, he built the Fish Bone Temple, digging the secret tunnel beneath it, ensuring that even if someone passed by occasionally, they wouldn't notice. What an ingenious scheme.

But I needed to scout Longling myself to confirm these details. I wondered if that tomb-robbing expert disguised as a merchant had found the legendary great tomb. Regardless, I was determined to visit the Fish Bone Temple in Longling.

I then asked Old Liu Tou for the detailed route to Longling and the local topography.

Old Liu Tou warned, "The Fish Bone Temple is on the edge of Longling. It’s fine if you just want to see the temple, but mark my words, do not venture deep into Longling. That range is extremely perilous. There are many sinkholes hidden everywhere; you can't spot them from the outside. The surface is just a crust of earth—step on it and it collapses. Fall in, and you’ll never climb out. Rumor has it the underground is a labyrinth of connected caves, utterly confusing and complex. The locals call those tunnels the 'Longling Maze Caves,' harder to navigate than a maze. Worse yet, it’s rumored to be haunted. Take my advice, absolutely do not go inside."

Old Liu Tou then related an incident: five geological survey team members went into the caves of Longling for an inspection and collectively vanished. The county folks spread the word that they encountered ghost walls in Longling. To this day, they remain missing—neither alive nor dead. That was over two years ago.

I repeatedly thanked him. "We're just going to the Fish Bone Temple to see something novel, to look at the bones of that Iron Head Dragon King. Why would we go into those desolate hills of Longling? Please don't worry."

Old Liu Tou staggered home thoroughly drunk. I closed the door and secretly conferred with Fatty and Big Gold Tooth. We were set on making a trip into the Longling Maze Caves to see if we could find anything valuable. Even if the ancient tomb had already been looted, perhaps we could acquire one or two artifacts in the nearby villages. That alone would make the trip to Shaanxi worthwhile.

Fatty asked me, "Old Hu, what are our odds this time? We mustn't end up like our last trip to the Savage Gully, suffering exhaustion and peril, nearly losing our lives, only to bring back two broken roof tiles that weren't even jade."

I replied, "I have no firm assurance this time either. But the mere knowledge that a massive tomb exists in Longling, untouched by anyone so far, makes my heart itch uncontrollably. Perhaps Heaven will look favorably upon us this once, allowing us to strike it rich. Then I can pay back that American woman’s money and hold my head high in front of her. However, whether the ancient tomb in Longling has survived intact is another question. In my estimation, the merchant who funded the Fish Bone Temple before the Liberation was very likely an expert tomb raider. He built the temple precisely to dig a secret passage into the main chamber of the Longling tomb. If he succeeded, we’re out of luck. In short, we prepare thoroughly, but we’ll see what we find when we get there."

Big Gold Tooth was ecstatic upon hearing about the tomb raiding. He had coveted this line of work for a long time, but every spring his asthma flared up, preventing him from truly participating. Furthermore, the tomb robbers he dealt with in his business were just petty thieves digging around rural areas, yielding nothing of value. Big Gold Tooth longed to take part in a major operation himself but never had the chance. Now, it was late summer, and his allergic asthma wasn't likely to act up. With Fatty and me, two 'Jinlin Xiaowei' who had experience, he felt completely fearless.

Still, I advised him against entering the burial chamber. He could stay outside to keep watch for Fatty and me. With us below, someone needed to cover us above in case of any emergency, someone who could provide support.

I made some preliminary arrangements. I hadn't expected to find a major tomb on this trip; for one, we were deep inland, and secondly, the ancient tombs in this region had mostly been plundered.

The possibility of a grand Tang Dynasty tomb in Longling was completely unexpected. We didn't bring many tools. The military shovel, a sharp implement useful for both defense and digging, I naturally kept close, though I had lost one during the Yellow River incident, leaving only the one Fatty carried.

For moving through tunnels and caves, we needed adequate illumination. We had three Wolf-Eye flashlights—German imports—with a thirty-meter beam range and extremely high light concentration, capable even of being used as defensive weapons. At close range, shining the Wolf-Eye directly into the eyes of an enemy or wild beast could cause instantaneous temporary blindness.

Shirley Yang had provided these Wolf-Eyes during our trip to the Xinjiang desert. When she returned to China, she gave me most of her remaining gear, which I accepted without hesitation. I already owed her so much money, and she had saved my life once in the serpent’s maw; I owed her a life debt. With so many debts, one more favor wouldn't matter much.

The biggest headache was the lack of gas masks; we only had a few rudimentary filtering masks. It was hard to procure proper gas masks in this small town of Gutian. Previous tomb raiders passed down ancient methods to avoid asphyxiation. First, carrying a birdcage, which we used once in the Savage Gully. Second, using candles—an essential item for Jinlin Xiaowei. As long as there were no chemical gases, the filtering masks would suffice.

I wrote out a list, telling Fatty to purchase whatever he could locally and to find alternatives for what he couldn't. We needed two live geese—I emphasized live, otherwise Fatty might buy roasted ones.

We also needed candles, rope, a fire hook, gloves, canned goods, dried meat, and hard liquor. I also told him to check the post office for detailed local maps, and if possible, to buy some chocolate to supplement our calories. We had the rest of the necessary items on us. That should cover it for now.

Fatty asked, "No chance to buy guns? What if we don't have guns? Without a gun in hand, my courage isn't as strong."

I said, "There aren't many wild animals around here; guns are unnecessary. Even if we encounter something, an engineer's shovel will be enough to deal with it. Do you think this is deep wilderness? You can buy guns from poachers in border regions or remote areas, but it's hard to acquire firearms inland. Besides, guns are useless. This is just a plan; plans often change. Perhaps the ancient tomb in the Longling Maze Caves has already been cleaned out."

Big Gold Tooth nodded. "Master Hu is right. Old Liu Tou said the underground in Longling has many solution caves—typical karst topography. This geological structure often means seismic activity. If there is indeed a Tang Dynasty tomb, so many years have passed since the Tang Dynasty; anything could have happened. We must prepare fully, but we shouldn't hold excessive hope."

It suddenly occurred to me that Shaanxi has many places where corpses are preserved. What if we run into a Zongzi (a reanimated corpse)? Thinking about this made me want to smack Big Gold Tooth for hoodwinking us with two counterfeit Jinlin Talismans that nearly cost us our lives several times.

Seeing the topic brought up, Big Gold Tooth forced a smile and explained again, "Master Hu, Master Fatty, please don't be angry. I genuinely didn't know back then. My own grandfather wore this type of Jinlin Talisman, and nothing ever happened to him. In my view, it’s actually a psychological effect. If you two had never seen a real talisman and continued to believe mine were genuine, you wouldn't lack confidence now. We will find a way to acquire two real ones; the cost is on me. Although the Jinlin Talisman is ancient, with effort, they can still be acquired."

I smiled. "Then we'll have to trouble Master Jin to put some effort into getting two real ones for us brothers. To be honest, raiding tombs without wearing one of those things makes one feel uncertain. Lacking confidence during the work is far more dangerous than anything else."

Finally, I concluded, "Enough, let's not worry about those unnatural things. Places with large tombs usually have decent Feng Shui; the chance of encountering zombies is extremely low. Let's not waste energy worrying about that."

With the plan finalized, the three of us rested. Exhausted from days of travel and having drunk a few extra cups, we slept until the next afternoon. Fatty and Big Gold Tooth went out to procure the necessary supplies, while I sought out Old Liu Tou to get further details about the Longling Maze Caves.

However, Old Liu Tou only repeated what he had said the night before. There were many legends about the Longling Maze Caves in this area, but they were all unsubstantiated rumors, lacking any concrete information. Others were the same; just mentioning the Longling Maze Caves made them turn pale with fear. They all claimed ghosts and vengeful spirits haunted the area, and few dared go there unless absolutely forced.

Seeing I couldn't extract anything more, I dropped it. We rested in Gutian for another day. Following the route Old Liu Tou had described, we packed two live geese into bamboo baskets and set off for the Fish Bone Temple in Longling.

This is truly: stepping one foot onto the path of life and death, pushing open the gate of right and wrong with two hands.