"Boss, did you notice anything?"
Hu Bayi looked at Zhang Tian's furrowed brow and couldn't help but ask. His cultivation wasn't enough to uncover many things.
"This cave was deliberately designed by the tomb owner to attract people and collect yin souls. And I finally understand the design of this island's location."
"Old Hu, do you remember the saying, wolves eat sheep, ghosts eat wolves?"
Zhang Tian suddenly asked in a deep voice. Hu Bayi nodded slightly. Zhang Tian had mentioned it before, but no one had paid attention.
"The people who entered here thought they were wolves, capable of obtaining treasures from the tomb. Little did they know, the sheep they saw as treasures were actually vengeful spirits."
"Coupled with the unique location of this island, the dead souls within festered, continuously supplying the one in the main tomb with death energy."
As Zhang Tian spoke, the design of the tomb gradually became clear.
"No wonder the feng shui of the entire tomb was so good, yet this island appeared. So this was a slaughterhouse."
"Then, Nirvana Rebirth, does it mean using their lives to make the tomb owner achieve Nirvana Rebirth?" Hu Bayi said. Zhang Tian nodded; it seemed to be the case.
"Boom."
At this moment, the dog hole behind them closed. It was likely a one-way passage, and Zhang Tian guessed they couldn't get out. This was evident from the cigarette butts on the ground.
"Remember the book belonging to the Divine Emperor in the Divine Emperor's tomb?"
"Xu Fu must be an evil Taoist!" Zhang Tian said sternly. From all indications, Xu Fu was indeed an evil practitioner. Sacrificing the living and demanding lives after death, even if targeting the people of Fusang Nation was commendable, it didn't change his identity.
"Boss, are there evil Taoists?" Fatty blinked, his expression naive. Throughout their journey, Fatty had only known one Taoist and instinctively assumed all Taoists were good.
"Everyone has their good and bad, let alone Taoists."
"Evil practitioners are often more powerful than true Taoists because they are not bound by rules!" Zhang Tian's voice wasn't loud, but his gaze was sharp.
"My goodness, boss, aren't we in grave danger?" Fatty inquired.
"Not necessarily. With so many of us, are we afraid of a dead person?" Zhang Tian waved his hand.
"Tch, don't worry, boss. Fatty will be the pillar of our team this time. Fatty will go first." Saying this, Fatty's face showed a hint of pride, and he then walked to the front.
"Brother Kaixuan, you're amazing! Wait for me." Wang Banyue said, following suit. Zhang Tian and the others exchanged a smile, then also followed behind the two fatties.
The steps leading down in the tomb were long, with no end in sight. However, the cigarette butts and trash around served as a reminder that the place wasn't as terrifying as it seemed.
"It's so damp, boss. Have we entered the sea yet?" Fatty walked ahead, muttering as he looked at the water droplets seeping from the ceiling.
"We've gone down nearly twenty meters, so we should have." Zhang Tian calculated the distance; it seemed about right.
"My goodness, how deep is this place? Could it be like the underwater tomb before?" Fatty exclaimed, a hint of excitement in his voice.
"It shouldn't be the same. Fatty, let's speed up. There's nothing to see here," Hu Bayi interjected. Fatty's pace quickened. After all, this staircase had likely been trodden by many, and any immediate dangers would have been cleared.
After an unknown amount of time walking.
Soon, at the bottom of the stairs, a bluestone tomb passage appeared before them. The passage stretched straight ahead, seemingly without end. Along both sides of the passage lay corpses, some reduced to skeletons, others beginning to rot.
"There's a ventilation shaft here." Hu Bayi said, looking at the stone bricks in the passage. The bricks were honeycomb-shaped, allowing air to seep in effectively. This ensured that the air within the tomb wouldn't completely dissipate and would also entice more people to venture deeper.
"Boss, I'm really enlightened. Why do foreigners all have the name John these days?" Fatty was squatting by a corpse, touching its head with his left hand while picking up the clothes from its body with his right. On the clothes was a medal inscribed with "John."
"Many foreigners share the same name. However, if this fellow is a foreigner, it implies that this place has also attracted the attention of some Westerners." Zhang Tian said, his gaze shifting towards the end of the passage. Zhang Tian estimated that there were at least a dozen people involved in tomb raiding within this tomb complex.
"Could they be some kind of organization?" Hu Bayi mused.
"It's possible. Fatty, lead the way." Zhang Tian said, not wanting to linger in this passage.
"Alright, finally I can see people in the tomb! We've been the tomb raiders before, now Fatty can guide the way." Fatty was somewhat excited, wanting to see how others plundered tombs.
The passage was long and likely led directly to the side chambers. Walking forward, they soon came to a fork in the road. The group looked towards the other path and saw a door within the side passage. Water stains were visible along the door's edge.
"That's likely another entrance to the tomb. I didn't expect them to create two entrances." Zhang Tian said.
"Could this place be a trap, specifically designed to lure people in?" Wu Tianzhen asked from the side.
"It's possible," Zhang Tian replied, not dwelling on it. The group quickened their pace.
Meanwhile, inside the tomb passage.
In a vast tomb chamber, a group of people, fully armed, stared intently at the door before them.
"Gulp. According to intelligence, this is the entrance to the legendary Xu Fu tomb."
"We've already lost no less than a hundred men. If this attempt fails, we will abandon this tomb and destroy it." The leader took a deep drag from his cigarette, his voice grave. They were a professional tomb-robbing syndicate. Since discovering this tomb complex, they had been dispatching people continuously. However, the results were evident: all dead. Due to the high mortality rate, this was their final exploration. If unsuccessful, they would resort to blowing up the tomb. Given the tomb's size, they could only target one area. The deeper chambers were unsuitable for explosives. Therefore, blowing up the tomb meant only destroying the entrance. Their organization preferred to acquire the contents.
"Um, did you bring the talismans?"
"Yes, boss."
"Garlic, where's the garlic?"
"Also brought it. The firearms are loaded. We can proceed." The commander said, his heart racing.
"But, boss, the five or six gold prospectors we saw earlier went in and there's still no movement. Should we wait a little longer?" a young man hesitated.
"It's been two hours, we can't wait any longer. Plant explosives at the entrance. If we can't have it, no one else will." James said, and the five or six team members nodded in agreement, proceeding to plant hidden explosives. Whether they could blow up the tomb chamber was uncertain, as it wasn't loess soil but bluestone, further protected by reefs. Blowing up the tomb wasn't an ideal solution.
After completing their task, James forcefully pushed open the stone door, which creaked. The heavily armed group entered through the stone door. Shortly after they left, the door closed, and Zhang Tian's group arrived at the location.