That old man was getting on in years and was a bit hard of hearing. Lao Wei spoke to him for a long time, but he didn't hear a single word.

"What did you say?"

Lao Wei had no choice but to raise his voice and shout, "I said, why are you here in the ancient tomb alone? Who brought you down here?"

This time, the old man heard him clearly. He grinned, revealing a mouth with only a few teeth, and said, "I live here! I live here!"

As soon as he said that, I felt a chill run down my spine!

Xiao Liang beside me also shivered with fright!

Living here?

Could this old man not be human? A ghost?

I looked up and saw that Yun Jie was also sweating profusely. He tugged at Hu Wazi's arm and whispered, "Brother Hu... ghost, a ghost..."

Hu Wazi glared at him and cursed, "Useless thing! What ghost? This old man is warm, how could he be a ghost?"

After saying that, he grabbed Yun Jie's hand and made him touch the old man's arm. After Yun Jie touched it, he nodded and said, "It really is warm."

At this time, Lao Wei asked again, "Old man, why do you live here? It's so unlucky here!"

The old man smiled and said, "I'm old and about to die. I don't have any children to take care of me. By chance, I heard that some young people in the village were using explosives to blow up the ancient tomb, and they blew up a large tomb. I thought I might as well live in the ancient tomb. When I die, it will be like being buried directly, hehe..."

After listening, I thought the old man's idea was quite clever.

But then I thought about it again and realized something was wrong. According to what he said, he came down here the year the tomb robbers blew up the ancient tomb. Doesn't that mean he's been living in the ancient tomb for thirty or forty years?

At that time, this old man was already at the age of almost passing away, so how old should he be now?

Thinking of this, I quickly asked, "Old man, how old are you? What year were you born?"

The old man heard me ask him and held up three fingers, gesturing twice.

I quickly guessed, "Were you born in '33?" (referring to 1933)

If he was born in '33, then it would be exactly 72 years old by 2005, which is consistent with his current appearance.

But the old man shook his head and said, "What born in '33? I was born in the thirty-third year of the Guangxu Emperor!"

As soon as he said this, we were all stunned again!

The thirty-third year of the Guangxu Emperor! That's 1907!

Counting to 2005, that's already 98 years!

In other words, this old man standing in front of us is a centenarian!

It took us a long time to recover. We all looked at each other, our faces full of shock.

Finally, Lao Wei asked, "Old man, you said you came down when someone used explosives to blow up the ancient tomb. Do you know what year they blew it up?"

The old man thought for a while and shook his head, "I can't remember, but it should be in the sixties or seventies."

"Then do you know what year it is now?" Lao Wei asked again.

The old man spread his hands, "I don't know."

Lao Wei said, "It's already 2005! Two thousand and five! Old man, all in all, you've lived in this ancient tomb for thirty or forty years! What do you eat? What do you drink? Doesn't what you're saying sound a little illogical?"

The question Lao Wei asked was also what we wanted to ask.

Let alone how this old man lived to be so old, just saying that he's been living in the ancient tomb all these years, he can't just not eat or drink, right?

Could it be that someone delivers food to him in the ancient tomb?

But didn't he say that he doesn't have any children, not even someone to take care of him in his final years?

At this time, the old man suddenly put on a bizarre expression and said to us, "I'll tell you, there's a Crystal Palace in this ancient tomb! I live in this Crystal Palace! Living in the Crystal Palace, you don't need to eat, drink, or excrete, and you won't get sick, and you can live forever!"

What he said made me want to laugh.

There's a Crystal Palace in the ancient tomb? Living in the Crystal Palace, you don't need to eat or drink, and you can live forever?

Even Journey to the West wouldn't dare to write it like that!

Not only me, but Xiao Liang and Lao Wei also looked incredulous, especially Hu Wazi, who laughed out loud and said, "Old man, you're too funny. You can fool little kids with this kind of nonsense, but do you really think we'll believe it?"

The old man saw that we didn't believe him, but he didn't care, as if he was telling the truth and wasn't afraid of us questioning him.

He smiled faintly and asked us in return, "Then what do you think I've been eating and drinking all these years? How did I survive?"

I have to say, this really stumped us.

None of us could answer him.

At this time, Lao Wei asked him, "Old man, is this Crystal Palace you're talking about the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King of the East Sea?"

The old man replied, "I don't know if it's the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King of the East Sea. After all, I've lived there for so many years, and I haven't seen the Dragon King of the East Sea. I only know that it's a house carved out of crystal, a courtyard house, with crystal beds and crystal pillows inside. It's cool and comfortable to lie on."

Hearing this, I suddenly recalled the crystal coffin I had encountered before!

I couldn't help but wonder if the Crystal Palace the old man was talking about had anything to do with the crystal coffin?

Could it be that the same crystal was used for both?

Seeing me lost in thought, Xiao Liang immediately guessed what I was thinking and came over and whispered to me, "Chen Rongsheng, do you also think this Crystal Palace might be real?"

I nodded and said, "Yes, I think there might really be a Crystal Palace in this ancient tomb."

"And this Crystal Palace and the Ge family's crystal coffin might have some connection, right?" Xiao Liang asked again.

I nodded again.

Then Xiao Liang turned to the old man and said loudly, "Old man, can you take us to see this Crystal Palace? It's not that we don't believe you, but seeing is believing!"

Lao Wei agreed as soon as he heard it, "Yes, yes, let us see it too, will you?"

The old man must have been lonely living alone for a long time, so he readily agreed and said, "Okay, no problem. It's been a long time since I talked to anyone. Let's go."

After saying that, he turned around and was about to lead us deeper into the ancient tomb.

But at this moment, I suddenly thought of Liu Huangshu and the others, and quickly asked the old man, "By the way, old man, a group of people entered the ancient tomb a few days ago. Didn't you run into them?"

Lao Wei also asked, "Yes, that group of people should have been active nearby and eaten something."

The old man turned his back to us and shook his head, "I didn't run into them. I usually sleep in the Crystal Palace and rarely come out. Today is the first day I left the palace, and you're the only people I've met."