By comparison, the utterly bizarre "Everlasting Candles," with their strange number and glow, were not nearly as unnerving as the sound of fingernails scratching metal seeping from the bronze outer coffin; that scraping noise in the oppressive underground space seemed exceptionally sharp and grating.

I urgently said to Fatty, "Although the function of that bronze mirror is unclear, it’s highly likely it was used to suppress the ancient corpse inside the bronze coffin. Hurry and give it to me; I’ll try putting it back first to see if it still works."

Fatty handed the bronze mirror to me. After taking it, I told Fatty and Shirley Yang to ignore the "Everlasting Candles" that had just lit up over there and immediately wait by the three new candles. After reinstalling the bronze mirror, I would relight the "Lamp of Fate."

I thought to myself, "I’ll cheat this time. The artifacts involved here are too important to pass up. Besides, we’ve broken the rule about 'not touching anything until the cock crows and the lamps die' before. If our ancestral master is watching from above, he’ll probably understand our predicament. Damn it, who told us our skills are a bit rusty and our luck a bit rotten?"

We split into two groups, and I rushed alone toward the bronze outer coffin. Shining my "Wolf Eye" flashlight around, I spotted a circular indentation on the side of the bronze coffin—that must be where the bronze mirror was set. However, Fatty had already pried open a large chunk of it with his entrenching tool. Disturbed by the sound coming from the coffin, I was too unnerved to delay even a moment, quickly pressing the mirror inward, face first.

As soon as I let go, the bronze mirror immediately clattered to the ground. Because of the gap, the already shallow indentation could barely hold the heavy mirror. I quickly picked it up, fitted it back into the bronze outer coffin, and held it firmly with my hand. But this wasn't a long-term solution; I couldn't just keep holding it there indefinitely.

Strange as it seemed, the moment the bronze mirror was set into the bronze outer coffin, the sound of metal scratching inside immediately stopped. It seemed my suspicion was correct: the bronze mirror was likely a magical artifact used for "corpse suppression." Different families have different methods throughout history; I only understood the techniques used by the "Grave Robbers of Mo Jin" to deal with zombies. As for the methods used by Taoist sects and others, I knew nothing, but that didn't matter. As long as a corpse transformation didn't occur, I would be thankful enough.

A sudden inspiration struck me. I first turned back to call Shirley Yang over to relight the three candles. Then I rummaged through my haversack, remembering there was tape, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Coincidentally, I had a small pack of American chewing gum. I thought, If I don't have tape, this will have to do. I stuffed it all into my mouth, chewed furiously for a while, and then plastered it into the gap where the mirror met the opening. I hammered it a couple of times with my fist, then let go. Although it wasn't as secure as the original fit, it was enough to hold for the time being.

Shirley Yang and Fatty’s candles had also all been lit. I rejoined them and told them, "Those candles just went out instantly, the flames didn't even flicker before they vanished. That means the ancient corpse in this tomb is not ordinary. Before it even got dark, we saw strange heavenly signs outside—black pigs crossing the river and rain clouds encroaching—all indicating that the qi of the corpse here is overwhelmingly potent, and it’s definitely not a common zombie."

Fatty said, "Isn't that the Zongzi [corpse] in the bronze outer coffin? Since it's suppressed by the bronze mirror, there's nothing to worry about."

I shook my head. "Not necessarily. We can’t draw a conclusion about what’s inside this bronze outer coffin until we look. And don't forget, apart from when you pried it open, no one has ever touched this bronze mirror. The heavenly signs were already this abnormal earlier, so I suspect... there's something else hidden in this tomb. In any case, stop causing trouble for me. Once we find the Muchen Pearl, no one will stop you from doing whatever crazy things you want."

Fatty was unconcerned. "How is that me causing trouble? I’m the one who rushes to do all the dirty, hard work along the way. The eyes of the masses are sharp. I’ve always been a diligent, hardworking ox. Commander Hu, if you keep slandering me like this, I’ll have to glare coldly at the thousand pointing fingers and willingly become the ox for the masses."

I couldn't help but laugh. "My Commander Wang, for the sake of the Party and the State, can you just settle down for a bit? I never noticed before how skilled you are at beautifying yourself. But does an ox for the masses have as much flesh as you? You’re just a fat ox. Don't glare at me coldly right now; what's most important is for us to check out what those three new Everlasting Candles are about. Damn it, how many corpses are there in this palm-sized tomb chamber?"

After speaking, I led Fatty and Shirley Yang, weaving between the three demonic coffins, until we reached the row of "Everlasting Candles." Embedded in the tomb wall here were three bronze pillars, but there were no lamps made of the "Black-Scaled Merfolk" here. The material used for these three "Everlasting Candles" was far more terrifying than the six grim-faced mermaid lamps.

These were figures resembling obese boys around eleven or twelve years old, crafted as "Guiding Youths." The posture of the "Guiding Youths" was the same as the merfolk: kneeling and prostrating, heads bowed, eyes closed, their expressions utterly serene. The wicks were placed in their navels, with a long section protruding. The youths’ abdomens were integrated with the bronze pillars behind them. Previously, the bronze pillars and human skin might have been filled with oil, which could drip slowly out through the navels.

However, this grease must have drained away a thousand years ago, and the wicks had long since extinguished shortly after the underground palace was sealed. Now, as air gradually entered the depths of the tomb chamber, the residual grease in the three "Guiding Youth" lamps had reignited after two millennia. But it wouldn't last long; once the remaining lamp oil was exhausted, they should extinguish forever.

Shirley Yang sighed, "Gandhi of India once pointed out the Seven Deadly Sins that destroy humanity. Two of them are politics without morality, and science without humanity. These little children became sacrifices for an ancient emperor’s undying dream..."

I said to Shirley Yang, "The burial of child sacrifices was quite common before the Ming Dynasty. It became rare after Hongwu’s reign. I’ve seen it several times. This shows that the closer the era is to modern times, the more futile people considered the dream of immortality to be."

Fatty shone his "Wolf Eye" flashlight back and forth over the three "Guiding Youths." After observing for a while, he turned to me and said, "Commander Hu, look, this child is still clutching a tablet. What do the characters on it mean?"

I crouched down to look where Fatty indicated. Sure enough, in the hands of each "Guiding Youth," rendered as hard as tin sheets, they clutched a bronze tablet inscribed with four ancient characters. Since it didn't know me, and I didn't know it, I had to ask Shirley Yang to decipher it.

Shirley Yang knelt on the ground, shining the flashlight, and said that the four characters read "Guiding Immortals and Welcoming Sages" (Jiē Xiān Yǐn Shèng).

I nodded. "Now I can state with certainty: it’s exactly as the legends describe. These three living Everlasting Candles, the Guiding Youths, are the plaque-holding attendants guiding the path for those who achieve immortality—perhaps they are a type of messenger. That old thief, the Xian King, was quite thorough. But this is still a form of 'Everlasting Candle.' Does this tomb really contain nine corpses? I can't possibly account for this many."

Shirley Yang stood up and walked a few steps to the side, then turned back to me. "There are more than nine. There’s one more, the largest Everlasting Candle... but because it’s too big, it can no longer be lit."

Fatty and I walked over to Shirley Yang’s side and indeed saw another pure black bronze lamp, ten times larger than the Merfolk Everlasting Candles. The bronze lamp was shaped like a bull's head, robust and ancient. Because the wick was too heavy, it had already fallen to the ground. I was absolutely certain that the principle of the number of Everlasting Candles equaling the number of tomb occupants was 1:1. So why were there ten "Everlasting Candles" in this underground palace? Even if the three "Guiding Youths" didn't count, that still leaves seven.

Which other important figure’s body lies here? Except for the Queen, all other high officials should have been buried in auxiliary tombs some distance away. Who exactly are these ten skeletons? This simply makes no sense no matter how much I think about it.

Shirley Yang also expressed confusion, but Fatty said, "What’s there to be so surprised about? Maybe he just had a lot of wives. Let's not get bogged down; hurry up and open the coffins to get rich. Grave robbing is the top priority. How many bodies there are will be perfectly clear once we open the coffins and count."

I said to Fatty, "It’s rare for you to be rational for once. It seems that through long, arduous, and complex struggles, you’ve finally started to mature. If we were at home, just for this, we’d deserve a celebratory meal of pulled noodles."

Our original plan was to open the most valuable sealed coffin first, but after a brief consideration, we decided that since all three coffins had to be opened anyway, it was better to tackle the most menacing bronze coffin first—to fight the assault first and chip away at this hardest bone. The rest would be easier to deal with. Even if there were zombies, as long as we were prepared beforehand, we could ensure safety. If a dignified "Grave Robber of Mo Jin" was scared away by a corpse that hadn't even transformed yet, it would surely be a source of shame. That suspended bronze outer coffin hung at least a meter above the ground, and the coffin body itself was nearly two meters high—truly a behemoth. It was bound with several loops of chain, reinforced with nine heavy locks, and suspended from the ceiling of the tomb chamber by sixteen large bronze rings, likely connected to a weight-bearing bronze beam above.

Shirley Yang said to me, "The bronze outer coffin is suspended in the air, making it hard to access. We need a way to bring it down to the ground."

I raised my flashlight and shone it upward. The "Corpse-Wrapping Net" and "Corpse-Binding Ropes" of the Mo Jin School were indeed difficult to deploy in mid-air. I decided I had to go up first and dismantle those bronze rings, letting them fall. Although this risked smashing the bronze outer coffin, I couldn't think of a better solution at the moment.

So, I climbed up using the Flying Tiger Claws. On this giant bronze outer coffin, I couldn't stand up straight anymore; looking up, my climbing helmet hit the tomb ceiling. I had to stoop slightly, and the bronze outer coffin swayed a bit with even minor movement, causing the rings to emit dull metallic sounds. But the rings and chains were very sturdy and difficult to break. I pushed down hard a few times to test if my own weight could snap the bronze rings.

Who knew that as soon as I stepped onto it, I heard a crisp, scraping crack sound from overhead, and the sound of breaking gradually intensified. I realized something was wrong. It seemed that after hanging for so many years, the fatigue level at several stress points had reached its absolute limit. The chains hadn't broken, but the bronze beam above was about to snap! I quickly told Shirley Yang and Fatty below to get out of the way to avoid being hit, and then I immediately flipped and rolled down from mid-air.

The bronze outer coffin, weighing at least a thousand kilograms, did not hold for long. One of the suspended bronze rings snapped free from the bronze beam, and the remaining support points could no longer bear the load. It crashed down immediately, the impact naturally deafening and causing the ground to shake. Unexpectedly, the bronze outer coffin smashed a large hole in the floor of the tomb chamber. A few sounds of rotted wood collapsing came from below, and the bronze outer coffin only rested on the ground for a moment before sinking into the hole it had created.

The three of us rushed over to look at the ground. Beneath the cracked tomb bricks, there were dense rows of pitch-black square timbers, each as thick as an adult's torso, packed tightly together. However, many of them were severely eroded by the sewage, having rotted to a serious degree. These timbers weren't originally black; the sewage erosion had caused the change. The bronze outer coffin smashed through this rotten wood and fell into the depths.

I immediately tossed down a distress flare, and the area was suddenly illuminated. Below was a small, low, and narrow chamber constructed of square timbers. Besides the fallen bronze outer coffin, there was another very peculiar coffin next to it, emitting a faint luminescence—completely unlike anything worldly. The floor tiles of the tomb chamber we were on, in the layer connecting with the timbers below, were padded with a thick layer of lime, which had all turned into white sludge. The environment below was damp and moist, and a pungent, rotten smell rushed up.

Even though I was wearing a mask, I still felt slightly suffocated. Holding my nose, I said to Fatty and Shirley Yang, "So the old thief Xian King hid here, in the main section of the brick tomb. This is a chamber similar to a wooden outer coffin tomb (Guo or Lü). I never expected it to be broken open by the heavy bronze outer coffin. Otherwise, it would have been really hard to find. Some people say this is coincidence, but I believe it is fate. His Muchen Pearl will surely be in our grasp within the next few minutes."

Fatty picked up a bronze mirror from the ground and said to me, "Commander Hu, you didn't secure this mirror properly..."

I froze for a moment, thinking I was in big trouble; I had completely forgotten about the bronze mirror. I took it and checked—thankfully, it wasn't damaged. I just needed to put it back. But as I looked down into the wooden coffin chamber, I couldn't help but cry out in distress. The chains binding the coffin body had been smashed, and most of the nine heavy locks had fallen off. The lid of the bronze outer coffin... had also flown open. In the flickering light, it seemed several unimaginably long "fingernails" were poking out from the gap. It turned out to be a stroke of unintended luck: another corpse had indeed been added to the skeletal remains in this hidden palace.