Chapter 158: Go Down

After spending the entire afternoon accompanying Han Dongxue, Qin Yang noticed she looked quite tired by nightfall. He mentioned that he needed to go out tonight and might not return promptly. Han Dongxue initially wanted to tag along, but he politely refused. He left behind a ghost soldier to secretly protect her, while he himself took the divine wolf by its leash, accompanied by another ghost soldier, and headed toward the northwest cave.

That northwest cave was over fifty miles away from their location. Qin Yang set off at eight o'clock, hoping to reach the destination as early as possible. What piqued his curiosity, however, was that the group of foreigners he had encountered earlier that day were also setting out at this hour, fully equipped with climbing gear, apparently planning for a nocturnal mountain climb. Qin Yang suspected that these individuals shared his destination. Not only them, but yet another group of people, all wearing gear and wearing hurried expressions, were also heading that way. The more Qin Yang observed them, the more familiar they seemed, until he suddenly recalled a memory he had absorbed—specifically, the memories of a tomb raider acquired inside Zhang Ming's Taoist temple. To his astonishment, he realized that this group bore a striking resemblance to the traditional Gold-Touch Captains from those memories.

The Gold-Touch Captains were official titles established by Cao Cao in ancient times, with popular folklore claiming Cao Cao instituted the role specifically for tomb robbing. However, according to all legitimate historical records, this was a misunderstanding of Cao Cao. If one were to name the greatest tomb robber of the Three Kingdoms era, it would undoubtedly be Dong Zhuo, and his chief henchman Lu Bu frequently engaged in such plunder, ransacking numerous tombs of the Han Dynasty. Over thousands of years of evolution, tomb robbing has developed countless intricate methods, often allowing grave robbers to locate ancient tombs long before professional archaeologists ever do.

In fact, old Qin often felt that individual tomb raiding was called thievery, while state-sponsored tomb raiding was called archaeology—a rather unfair distinction, since they were essentially the same thing. The former simply turned artifacts into money, while the latter turned them into fame and fortune. No matter how much you claimed to be providing archaeological artifacts to the nation or filling gaps in history, it all amounted to unearthing someone's ancestral graves. For all you knew, the tombs they were desecrating might belong to their own distant ancestors. Truth be told, many tomb robbers still retained a sliver of conscience; at the very least, they would kowtow before taking some jewelry, though less sophisticated ones might break a few items. The latter approach, however, was a blatant, unvarnished extraction. Imagine having your corpse dragged out after resting in peace for so many years, soaked in water, subjected to research, put on public display to be pointed at and gossiped about, and written up in academic papers detailing how advanced ancient preservation techniques were, all so the perpetrators could achieve fame and secure promotions.

Who on earth would willingly let a bunch of strangers dig up their ancestors of who-knows-how-many generations, take photographs, carry them back for study, and splash those pictures all over the world just so everyone could gawk at them? Plainly speaking, both tomb robbing and archaeology are destructive acts that violate the wishes of the deceased and their descendants. The only difference is that the former is private, while the latter is official.

Of course, not all archaeologists are mere grave diggers; studying a discovered ruin properly is entirely defensible and even beneficial, as it enriches human civilization and elevates spiritual cultivation. Yet, tampering with people's ancestral tombs remains somewhat absurd. On one hand, they prattle on about how we must respect our predecessors and ancestors, while on the other, they plot against those very same tombs. It is quite laughable.

Qin Yang held no particular aversion to digging up ancestral graves. If you want to use dead people's belongings, go right ahead—provided you aren't afraid of whatever lingering grievances or retaliatory haunting might come with them. He simply detested the hypocrisy. What annoyed him were people with pitch-black hearts who painted themselves as righteous avengers ready to sacrifice themselves at a moment's notice. Besides, he wasn't there to rob tombs; his objective was to take away the spirit of Dong Feng without disturbing a single burial object. He had no interest in such trinkets. Valuable as they might be, he knew that the spirits were watching. Unless he harbored a deep, personal grudge, he had no desire to profit from the dead. Furthermore, wandering spirits already had a hard enough time existing, solitary and forlorn as they were; stealing their personal belongings was utterly heartless.

Racing all the way with the divine wolf, they soon arrived at the location specified by the woman—a small hillside surrounded by jagged rocks, where several bottomless pits could be faintly discerned, appearing as deep as chasms. Seizing the opportunity, Qin Yang activated his Yin-Yang eyes to look down. What he saw caused him to draw a sharp breath: somewhere deep underground, at an unknown depth, a massive mausoleum loomed before him. This subterranean tomb was utterly bizarre, covering hundreds of square meters with numerous burial chambers arranged in a peculiar formation resembling the legendary Eight-Trigrams Battle Formation. Yet, this wasn't what shocked Qin Yang; what truly chilled him to the bone was the presence of yet another mausoleum located a mere two meters beneath the first, larger by a full circle. This lower tomb was laid out in an extraordinarily eerie fashion. Countless wandering spirits swarmed the area, but it was the dense black resentment energy that truly astonished Qin Yang.

The housekeeper had once mentioned that after death, human resentment could condense and cause chaos. Normally, resentment lingered in the mortal realm for only a short time—anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. However, judging by the scale and era of the lower mausoleum, this resentment had persisted for at least a millennium, growing immensely powerful, with weaker wisps scattered around the periphery of the lower tomb. These malevolent energies seemed desperate to burst outward, yet they were held firmly in check by the Eight-Trigrams mausoleum pressing down from above.

"Well, well, this is going to be interesting," Qin Yang stroked the divine wolf's head and remarked, "Whose tomb is this? The construction scale has reached such an extraordinary level, and it's even double-layered."

"Let's go down and take a look," the housekeeper said with a hint of excitement. "However, you must be careful. There are quite a few high-level spirits down there. Of course, my concern isn't just the spirits, but rather the corpses fused with resentment energy and influenced by the subterranean cave, transforming into Jiangshi. These creatures exist outside the five elements and do not enter the underworld. You must be cautious. While they may not dare to attack you rashly, some of the more powerful Jiangshi are unpredictable. Remember to keep the divine wolf by your side at all times; it is the ultimate weapon against Jiangshi."

"Jiangshi actually exist?"

"Where resentment lingers, Jiangshi do not fall," the housekeeper replied. "If one must explain it scientifically, the soil composition in the second-tier mausoleum has an extreme acid-base imbalance, which is unfavorable for organic decomposition, preventing the corpses from rotting. That became the prerequisite for the formation of Jiangshi."

"And then they are infected by resentment energy, turning them into mindless yet conscious monsters known as Jiangshi?" Qin Yang chuckled. "It seems the existence of Jiangshi is indeed real. Could this place be a gathering place of extreme Yin?"

"Limited to the second layer. The first layer, as far as I can see, mostly relies on traps and holds few treasures. The second layer is perilous, but extraordinarily rich in treasures. I suppose that band of tomb raiders has no inkling of this. But if they actually breach the second-tier mausoleum... tsk tsk, the Yin energy down there alone will be more than enough to overwhelm them," the housekeeper laughed softly. "Yin energy, you see, is a delicacy to the underworld. Moreover, your killing intent is exceptionally heavy; those creatures probably won't dare to approach you anyway."

As they were talking, a rustling sound suddenly echoed through the air. Qin Yang fell silent just as three figures approached. The trio looked quite ordinary, carrying scattered equipment: shovels, ropes, flashlights, candles, rubber gloves, and other standard tomb-robbing gear. One of them even had a few black donkey hooves stuffed into his backpack. Qin Yang found it mildly amusing, though he kept a straight face.

"Hey kid, who are you?" one of them, a fierce-looking man with a bushy beard, demanded aggressively.

"A woman told me to wait here for her," Qin Yang said, scratching his head.

The three men exchanged blank looks.

At that moment, a silvery, tinkling laugh drifted over. A flash of motion caught their eyes as a beautiful woman dressed in tight black clothing walked into view. She possessed a bewitching appearance, her phoenix-like eyes seemingly capable of drawing a person's soul away, and lips soft enough to make anyone yearn for a kiss. Her entire demeanor exuded an irresistible allure. Paired with her hourglass figure, it had a lethal effect on most men. The audible swallowing sounds from the three fellows made it obvious, though a hint of lingering awe remained in their eyes.

"Little brother, you're very punctual," the woman said, giving Qin Yang's head an approving pat before turning to the three men. "This is a newcomer. He wants to go down and have a look."

"Red Phoenix, have you lost your mind? Bringing him down there?" the bearded man asked with evident displeasure. "What if he's a cop? What the hell is that?"

The bearded man caught sight of a massive hound emerging behind Qin Yang and jumped in fright.

"He's my pet, very intelligent and doesn't bite," Qin Yang hastily explained. "His sense of smell is incredible, and I was a bit scared to come alone, so I brought him along."

Red Phoenix exchanged glances with the other three, and after a moment, she smiled and asked, "Little brother, what's your name?"

"My name is Qin Yang," Qin Yang replied quickly, while inwardly scoffing: I do have an alias—Ning Ji Nan Jia, damn Nili.

"Alright, both you and your dog can come down, but you must strictly follow big sister's instructions, otherwise it will be extremely dangerous." Red Phoenix blinked.

Qin Yang nodded hurriedly.

Although the three men were reluctant, they ultimately agreed. After gathering their gear, they approached a cave opening. The bearded man asked, "Sanmao, is this the place?"

Sanmao was a bespectacled man with a scholarly appearance and very pale skin that stood out sharply in the dark night. He nodded with absolute certainty.

Another man in the group was exceptionally thin—as skinny as a bamboo pole. True to his form, he naturally took the lead, tied a rope around his waist, and slowly climbed down. The cave sloped downward, just wide enough for a single person to squeeze through. After a short while, the sounds of clinking tools drifted up from below, followed by the thin man's voice confirming everything was clear. The bearded man and Sanmao then descended. At a gesture from Red Phoenix, Qin Yang signaled for the divine wolf to go down.

"It can't go," Red Phoenix frowned and said. "If there are traps below, it might trigger them. If you want to go, you go alone."

Qin Yang thought about it and decided it didn't matter. He patted the divine wolf's head, and the beast let out a few puffs of breath before trotting away.

"Quite spirited, isn't it?" Red Phoenix said with a smiling gaze.

Qin Yang merely chuckled and began his descent down the cave. Red Phoenix followed closely behind. There were four or five hidden passages branching off further down this rock cave, leading to unknown destinations. Local residents never dared to venture near them casually, as rumors claimed these caverns were sacred grounds of immortals that mortals must not profane, and anyone who had ever entered had never returned. Over time, as the legends grew more terrifying, no one dared to enter at all. When Qin Yang climbed down to a certain spot, he distinctly noticed freshly chiseled small holes nearby. Spotting Sanmao ahead of him, he followed closely, harboring a quiet admiration for these fellows—descending via this specific path genuinely led directly to the first-tier burial chamber.