The sound emanating from beside the stone sarcophagus was like the cry of a night cat, chilling all three of us to the bone. Logically, there shouldn't be any Zongzi in the Phantom Tomb, as this sarcophagus was merely a residual thought-form, something that long ago ceased to exist in the physical world; the bones of the one it held were long gone too. So, what exactly was that sound…?

And the sound was like some animal desperately struggling—was it those two geese? No, it couldn't be geese; goose calls are nothing like that. This sound was too horrible, like an airway choked, muffled yet piercingly shrill.

Fatty, Big Gold-Tooth, and I originally wanted to avoid trouble, hoping only to quickly dispatch the two geese and make this Western Zhou Phantom Tomb vanish so we could leave as soon as possible. But things went contrary to our wishes; the two large white geese had disappeared without a trace. The Western Zhou stone sarcophagus, which shouldn't even exist in this world, suddenly emitted that strange noise again. We had no choice but to proceed with trepidation to see what was what.

We descended from the 'Suspended Soul Ladder,' positioning ourselves only about fifteen or sixteen paces from the sarcophagus. Each of us clutched our tools: I held my paratrooper knife, Big Gold-Tooth gripped his golden Buddha in one hand and a black donkey hoof in the other, while Fatty carried the engineering shovel. Slowly, we crept toward the sarcophagus.

Fatty took the lead, trying to bolster his own courage as he walked, muttering, "It must be those two geese causing trouble. When I catch them, I'll make them pay."

The three of us bravely circled to the back of the sarcophagus, only to find nothing there. The pitiful cries had also stopped. The sound had clearly come from this very spot moments ago—how could it have suddenly vanished? I cursed, "Damn it, playing tricks again."

Fatty patted the sarcophagus and said, "Is the sound coming from inside this stone box? Since this Western Zhou tomb can exist as a phantom entity, maybe even the hairy Zongzi inside this stone box can come back to life too."

Big Gold-Tooth exclaimed, "You truly are a lord! Please, don't say such things. You’ve scared me so much my heart nearly jumped out of my mouth. May Guanyin Bodhisattva, the great compassionate savior, protect me..." Big Gold-Tooth mumbled prayers, trying to bring the pendant in his hand up to his eyes to strengthen his resolve, only to find he wasn't holding a jade Guanyin, but a gilded statue of the Tathagata. He quickly chanted a few more Buddhist phrases.

I said to Fatty, "That sound didn't seem to come from inside the sarcophagus just now. I distinctly heard it coming from behind the sarcophagus. Besides, this..."

Just as I uttered the word 'this,' a flash of white light suddenly appeared before us, and something dropped, landing squarely on the sarcophagus. Startled, I leaped backward. On closer inspection, it was one of the missing geese. It landed on the face carved into the sarcophagus lid, apparently unharmed. Flapping its large wings, it wobbled across the stone surface. I had no idea how it dropped from the tomb ceiling or how it got back up there.

The first thought that crossed all three of our minds was: "What is up there?" Since we were convinced the sound was coming from below, our flashlight beams had been kept low. The thought of something overhead made us simultaneously raise our lights and shine them upward.

The Tang Tomb's Nether Hall was round above and square below. The dome-like ceiling was covered in auspicious constellations, showing nothing unusual, except that in some places, a change had occurred: along the edges of the ceiling wall of the Nether Hall, spectral stone walls of the Phantom Tomb had begun to emerge. This magnificent spectacle of two tombs merging into one—I doubt more than three people in this era had ever witnessed such a thing.

Seeing nothing abnormal above, we managed to catch the white goose on the sarcophagus. But the other one was still missing. Having only one goose wouldn't suffice. We searched everywhere in the Nether Hall, but the other remained elusive. This Tang tomb was enormous, and the Nether Hall alone spanned over a hundred square meters. But it wasn't finished; when complete, a stone structure was supposed to be built in the exact center of the Nether Hall to house the main coffin, with the surrounding area reserved for important burial artifacts.

The side halls flanking the Nether Hall hadn't been constructed yet, and the rear hall hadn't even been started. Only the Phantom Tomb's 'Suspended Soul Ladder' had appeared. The front section was even larger, where a subterranean palace was being built, fronted by a pond—presumably intended to be fashioned into something resembling an Imperial Garden upon completion.

With only three of us and limited lighting equipment, finding one lively, flapping goose in such a vast space—while perhaps not finding a needle in a haystack—was close enough.

Considering the many bizarre things in this ancient tomb, I didn't want to delay a moment longer. I told Fatty and Big Gold-Tooth, "Since we only caught one, we absolutely cannot let this one escape. Let's forget about the other goose for now. We'll kill this one first, drip its blood at the exit of the excavation shaft, and see if that works. If not, we'll go catch the other one."

Fatty brought the goose to the shaft opening, drew his paratrooper knife, and slashed the goose's throat. He held the bird upside down in mid-air, and its blood poured out in a torrent from the windpipe. The goose struggled violently, but Fatty held it tightly until all the blood was drained before tossing it aside.

Big Gold-Tooth asked me, "Master Hu, will this really work?"

I replied to Big Gold-Tooth, "Whether it works or not, this is our last resort. We’ve thought of everything else we could. It shouldn't be wrong. I’ll go check if anything has changed. Oh, and I wonder if goose blood can ward off evil; let’s smear some on our faces."

I walked to the mouth of the shaft and illuminated it with my wolf-eye light. The area below, which had completely transformed into a tomb passage, had vanished. The shaft was filled with dirt—it was the original excavation tunnel.

Whether by sheer luck, accident, or some other factor, the excavation shaft had returned. However, it wasn't time to celebrate yet; our flashlight batteries were nearly depleted. The three of us simultaneously swapped out our last spare batteries and jumped into the vertical shaft of the passage.

This time, I took the lead. I told Fatty and Big Gold-Tooth, "We're not stopping this time. Gold-Ye follows right behind me, and Fatty, you take the rear. If Gold-Ye can't crawl anymore halfway through, Fatty, you push him out—that's your responsibility."

Fatty asked, "Why the rush? Can't we just inch our way out slowly? The shaft is already open."

I told Fatty, "What do you know? We only killed one goose; the other one is still missing. This Phantom Tomb might reappear at any moment. If we’re leaving, we must do it now. If we get stuck halfway again, we might as well smash our heads against the wall."

I didn't want to say any more. With a call, I squeezed into the shaft ahead, with Big Gold-Tooth and Fatty following, each maintaining a distance of about two meters between us.

I moved forward in the tunnel prone, relying on my flashlight, which reminded me of my old training days in the army. Thinking of that, I quickly shook my head, trying hard not to dwell on irrelevant things. The priority now was to get out of this shaft as quickly as possible—that was the most important thing.

After crawling some distance, I looked back at Big Gold-Tooth behind me. He was panting heavily, but determined to leave the shaft sooner, he clenched his jaw and exerted every ounce of strength, staying close behind me.

The shaft had completely reverted to its original appearance. I was secretly puzzled. The key was those two geese acting strangely. We deduced that these two live geese must have disturbed the Phantom Tomb, causing it to manifest where the Tang tomb should have been. We should have killed both geese to make the Phantom Tomb gradually disappear. Why did it revert to normal after killing only one? Could it be that the other goose had already died?

Thinking about the goose we slaughtered, which then suddenly fell from the ceiling onto the sarcophagus, and the bizarre sound from earlier, I felt my scalp prickle even more. I stopped overthinking and continued crawling out of the shaft.

We crawled another twenty-odd meters along the shaft when the sound of dripping water gradually became audible, indicating we were halfway there. Ahead was the cross-section of the shaft. I reached the opening and dropped down. When Big Gold-Tooth reached the opening, I helped him down.

Big Gold-Tooth was drenched in sweat, the drops trickling down his face. He gasped, telling me, "I... I really... can't... anymore... In the last... two years... I've been incredibly weak... I need to catch my breath first."

I saw that Big Gold-Tooth truly was spent. He had pushed himself to his limit crawling so fast just now. I couldn't carry him in the shaft, so I had to let him sit and rest for a moment.

I told Big Gold-Tooth, "Gold-Ye, rest for a moment. Breathe deeply. Once Fatty climbs out, we still can't stop; we must keep crawling out immediately. Once we’re outside, rest however you like, take a few days off properly, but now is not the time. You’ll have to grit your teeth again, hang in there."

Big Gold-Tooth could no longer speak; his mouth hung open, and he nodded laboriously. I looked toward Fatty, who still hadn't emerged from the shaft. He was about twenty meters from the exit; being overweight, crawling was harder for him, so he was lagging behind.

It seemed Fatty would take some time to get out. I felt a deep dread regarding this ancient tomb and the excavation shaft. My biggest fear was whether the stone walls in the final section of the shaft were still there. I couldn't be at ease until I crawled there and saw for myself.

I walked to the other side of the shaft opening and shone my wolf-eye light inside. This section of the shaft was cut off by a void within the mountain mass. This area was karst topography, heavily affected by natural forces in recent times, resulting in many fissures in the mountain. This fissure connected to a bottomless solution cave at the lowest point of the mountain. If there was still a stone wall blocking the way ahead, we would have no choice but to descend into the cave to look for an exit.

As I peered into the shaft, I heard Fatty behind me say, "Old Hu, what are you looking at? Did Gold-Ye crawl in first? Hurry up, let's go in, and just get to the outside quickly. This damned place—I never want to see it again in my life."

I turned around and saw Fatty standing behind me, but Big Gold-Tooth was nowhere in sight. I quickly asked Fatty, "Where's Gold-Ye? Didn't you see him?"

Fatty said, "What? He didn't crawl in? I only saw you when I climbed out."

At that moment, a strange sound drifted from not far away within the cave. I quickly shone my wolf-eye light in that direction, intending to see if Big Gold-Tooth was over there. As soon as I illuminated the spot, I was stunned speechless. Standing in the cave was a figure—a large face utterly devoid of human color. This face was an exact replica of the eerie, grotesque face carved on the Western Zhou sarcophagus.