The Fatty explained, "Actually... back then... I did conceal one thing. No, no, not conceal, but I didn't have a chance to explain, and I considered our recent expenditures have been quite high; it's not sustainable to only spend without taking anything in... Alright, alright, I'll get to the useful part. I climbed onto the roof beams to burn the clothes hanging in the corner. At first, I was thoroughly spooked by that head-like human skin mask. But then I thought of heroes like Dong Cunrui and Huang Jiguang, and my personal concerns vanished. I ripped that mask off, intending to use it as kindling to set the clothes below alight. Who knew that a stone would fall out of the dead man's skin? I picked it up and saw it was black and slick, almost like jade. I learned this from that bastard Da Jinya—out of habit, I smelled it with my nose, then licked it with my tongue. It was unbelievably bitter. Maybe it wasn't jade. I figured it might be a stinking rock from a latrine, but since many people in Panjiayuan take medicine (buy fake goods), I thought this black stone could probably pass for black jade and fetch a good price, so I casually tucked it into my Baibao Nang (Hundred Treasures Pouch). Later, I completely forgot about it myself. When I came down from the (plank road), my tongue suddenly began to itch excruciatingly. By the time we entered the tomb passage, I couldn't speak—I had to cover my mouth, or I would start laughing uncontrollably. It frightened me quite a bit, and I also had a terrible craving to eat human flesh; I couldn't control myself..."

Shirley Yang interjected upon hearing this, "I think our speculation is entirely correct. We've definitely fallen victim to a She Jiang or She Gu—some sort of evil sorcery from Diannan focusing on the tongue. Those garments hanging from the ceiling are one hundred percent the belongings of the numerous corpses in the Six-Legged Fire Tripods. They were the leaders among the Yi people, and it is truly tragic that they met such an end. This Xian Wang Tomb, both above and below ground, is riddled with inexplicable strangeness. Before his death, the Xian Wang must have been preparing for a massive ritual, but he passed away before it could be completed."

I said to Shirley Yang and the Fatty, "Although these sorceries and enchantments are bizarre, they are still traceable. I see far too many unusual things in this royal tomb. The bronze beasts and figures in the Tiangong alone are baffling. I have a strong feeling I've seen them somewhere before, but I just can't recall where. Furthermore, look at the bronze chariots and horses in this underground passage, and near the earth mound at the far end, there are hundreds of desiccated corpses who suffered brutal torture. Even if they were all sacrificial slaves, such cruelty in execution is inexcusable. This looks less like a royal tomb and more like an execution ground."

After this brief pause for rest, we couldn't wait any longer and rose together to examine the dried corpses and the bronze chariots and horses on the stone platform. Because the corpses were wrapped in wax, the Fatty hadn't managed to break through the hard coating even after licking it for so long. In a twisted way, this was a small comfort, as it meant we wouldn't have to stomach the thought of eating with him immediately after.

As we looked closely, we noticed that among the horrifyingly deceased corpses were old, young, and middle-aged men. They seemed to be slaves, subjected to such severe torture for unknown reasons. However, one thing was certain: in ancient times, live human sacrifice would never involve pouring hot wax over the head, slicing off ears, or gouging out eyes. If they weren't slaves, they must have been criminals who committed heinous crimes.

Looking again at the bronze figures and horses, we saw they were indeed missing something. First, the figures held no implements, and the horses lacked whips. Second, the numbers were wrong. Ancient people placed immense importance on the numbers two, three, six, seven, and nine, especially six. According to protocol, royalty and nobles of a certain rank were entitled to at least thirty-six cavalry escorts; the next rank had sixteen. This contingent of bronze figures and horses numbered less than thirty.

Most importantly, while the bronze horses were relatively intact, these bronze figures were severely corroded, some areas even softened and flaking (bō—no tone). I had seen documentation before showing bronze grave goods unearthed from many Han Dynasty tombs. While they developed patina due to exposure to air and water, the corrosion here was far more severe than what those bronze figures and horses endured.

Even though this passage was infiltrated by pool water, the ambient humidity here was not excessively high. This phenomenon was extremely difficult to comprehend, and I drew a complete blank.

Shirley Yang's mind worked quickly. After a moment of thought, she said to me, "It becomes understandable if we change our perspective. We have been operating under the assumption that this is the subterranean palace housing the Xian Wang's coffin. But we might be wrong from the very beginning. This might not be a burial chamber at all, but rather a workshop dedicated to casting the bronze figures and carving the stone beasts for the royal tomb. The severe decay of these bronze figures likely relates to an imbalance in the copper-tin alloy ratio. This royal tomb is vast; the power of the Dian Kingdom alone would have struggled to construct it. The project must have extensively utilized captured slaves from surrounding nations, likely training some as skilled laborers. But these artisans, selected from the captives, miscalculated the ingredient proportions, resulting in a significant waste of time and material. Since antiquity, there has been the concept of the 'Six Alloys' (Liu Qi) for bronze. For gold, there are six alloys: one part tin to six parts gold, called the Zhongding Zhi Qi (Bronze Bell and Cauldron Alloy); one part tin to five parts gold, called the Fu Ge Zhi Qi (Axe and Halberd Alloy), and so on... Although they are all bronze wares, different ratios yield objects with drastically different properties. If the baseline of the Six Alloys is lost, the resulting castings are scrap. Therefore, these slaves who made mistakes were brutally executed—a public example made—and this workshop was sealed."

I slapped my climbing helmet: "That's right! I was just about to think of that, but you said it first. It makes sense why this doesn't resemble the mysterious inner chamber of an ancient tomb. But if this isn't it, where is the actual tomb passage of the Wang Tomb?"

Shirley Yang turned to me, "No one alive who understands the secret art of Fen Jin Ding Xue (Distinguishing Gold and Fixing the Lair) surpasses you... Of course, that's your self-proclaimed assessment, so I must ask you: we are running out of time. We must find the entrance to the tomb passage quickly."

The so-called "Fen Jin Ding Xue" is a secret art possessed by only a select few Mojin Xiaowei (Grave-robbing Colonels). By discerning Feng Shui elements like "Form, Principle, Energy, Dragon, Sand, Water, and Breath" (Long Sha Shui Qi), and using a Luo Pan (compass) with a golden needle, they can pinpoint the exact location of an ancient coffin with an error margin no greater than the diameter of a golden needle—hence the name Fen Jin Ding Xue.

But the current situation truly put me in a bind. If I could use Fen Jin Ding Xue to find the main chamber of the Wang Tomb directly, I would have done so already. The problem is, the compass went haywire the moment we entered the Worm Valley. Moreover, this "Water Dragon Swirl" (Shui Long Yun) only exists in legends. My inherited copy of the Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Manual only makes brief mentions of it, and even then, it analyzes the situation from a later perspective, outlining the structure but never delving into detail.

Through years of study, I judged that the damaged scroll inherited from my family dates back to the late Qing Dynasty, and its theories are primarily based on the Tang Dynasty's concept of Stellar Positions in Feng Shui. However, the "Water Dragon Swirl" deep within this Worm Valley belongs to the realm of Xian Xue (Immortal Lairs) mentioned in ancient Feng Shui texts. Most later Feng Shui masters believe such Immortal Lairs do not exist in the mortal world, rendering the scroll I rely upon largely useless here.

To rob a tomb, one must first find it. However, some imperial mausoleums and royal tombs lie plainly visible yet remain untouched by grave robbers for two main reasons. First, historically, robbing imperial mausoleums or other massive ancient tombs was typically done by organized groups like warlords or peasant armies. These imperial tombs often required blasting mountains and tunneling deep underground; it was not as simple as digging soil—the sheer engineering effort was comparable to carving a tunnel straight out of a mountain, and that's assuming the tomb passage itself could be located. If you cannot find the passage, you might excavate half the mountain and still not know where the main door lies. Anyone who has seen a real mountain range understands the vast difference between a mountain range and a mere slope.

Second, no matter how heavily fortified an imperial tomb is, it cannot escape grave robbers. No matter how secure or hidden it is, it cannot grow legs and run away; it must remain in one location forever. Even if one group of robbers cannot excavate it, another group will eventually arrive. If they are determined enough, they can spend ten or twenty years digging, and eventually, they will loot it. However, those skilled in Fen Jin Ding Xue understand that terrestrial energy lines (Di Mai) crisscross the land, and crucial branches of the ancestral lines influence the overall pattern and balance of nature. Therefore, they would never dare tamper with imperial tombs built upon vital dragon veins for fear of breaking the grand Feng Shui and causing a major catastrophe in the world.

In this Xian Wang Tomb, since we could not directly confirm the location of the coffin, we had to resort to the most crude method—the technique used by warlords or peasant armies to find the tomb passage. The series of thousand-jin stone gates within the imperial tomb passages were designed specifically to counter this brute-force method, because once the passage is found, one can follow it to locate the door and the main chamber. But the breach in the mountainside I discovered earlier, caused by the downed aircraft, was not the tomb passage. So, where is the passage hidden?

Although I knew it must be located in the deepest part of this valley, within a mile radius below the "Lingyun Tiangong" (Soaring Clouds Heavenly Palace), this deep, sheer-sided pool, resembling a giant green funnel, would take the three of us perhaps ten years to search slowly by hand.

Suddenly, an idea struck me. I immediately turned to Shirley Yang and said, "The Water Eye! That large black vortex—I think that’s the most likely place where the Xian Wang's remains are interred. It's the place most likely to be overlooked. The main chamber must be within the mountain body, but the entrance must be that water eye, which looks like a ghost hole!"

Shirley Yang asked sharply, "You mean there's a coffin beneath the Water Eye? You better tell me clearly, what is your certainty level for this judgment? The undercurrents and hidden eddies there are extremely dangerous. Is it worth us risking that?"

I replied to Shirley Yang, "Even if the Xian Wang isn't in the Water Eye, that must be the entrance to the tomb passage. I have at least a seventy percent certainty. This is an all-or-nothing gamble, and it's worth taking, but even though all three of us are skilled swimmers, I have already experienced how treacherous that Water Eye is. Even if we were willing to risk a hundred percent danger, getting down there won't be easy."

Shirley Yang looked around at the bronze figures and said, "I have a method to increase our safety factor. We still have three of the thickest reinforcing ropes; each one can easily bear the weight of all three of us. To ensure safety, we can anchor them in three separate locations, so if one breaks, we still have two. If we drag a heavy bronze horse to the bottom of the pool, we won't be easily swept away by the currents. That way, descending into the Water Eye, finishing the job, and retreating might not be impossible."

I said to the Fatty and Shirley Yang, "Then let's proceed according to the plan. The Fatty will take the first turn to redeem himself by sealing that Water Eye."