Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 119 Panlong Sealing Stone
Shunzi has successfully mastered a new way to enjoy delicious hot pot in the snowy mountains.

Zhang Wu noticed that the fire had shrunk a bit, so he took out a few small bags of solid alcohol from his backpack, tore open the packaging, and threw them in. The flames shot up instantly, and the small iron basin bubbled with red oil.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, Shunzi gathered some firewood and tattered felt to keep the fire burning, and fed the horse the hay he had brought.

Zhang Wuxun used snow to clean the small iron basin, put it back in his backpack, and cleaned up the mess the two of them had made.

Shunzi used wire to secure the door from the inside to prevent it from being blown open by the strong winds and snow in the middle of the night.

They filled hot water bottles and kept them close to their bodies, then crawled into their sleeping bags fully clothed and drifted off to sleep to the crackling sound of the fire.

The next day, the wind and snow were even stronger than the night before, and the temperature dropped sharply. Zhang Wuxun put several more hand warmers on his thermal underwear.

As you climb above the snow line, the snow becomes thicker and thicker. At first, it only reached your ankles, but later it covered your knees, making it increasingly difficult to walk.

Shunzi led the horse, looked up at the sky, and turned to Zhang Wuxun, shouting, "Boss Yu, we have to turn back. The clouds in the sky are getting heavier and heavier. It looks like there will be a blizzard tonight. There are no suitable campsites ahead. If we keep going, we'll be buried in the snow."

Zhang Wuxun looked up and estimated that the hot spring source was not far ahead.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Wuxun asked Shunzi, "How much supplies do you have left?"

Shunzi thought he was asking if he could make it back down the mountain, so she replied, "Don't worry, I'll definitely make it down."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wuxun nodded, took out two self-heating meals from his backpack and had Shunzi pack them, then handed him the reins of his horse, saying, "Take both horses back while the snow isn't too heavy yet."

The dangers ahead were unknown, and he couldn't care less about the horse. Rather than let it die with him, he'd rather let Shunzi take it back.

Upon hearing this, Shunzi was immediately stunned. "What do you mean? Boss, you're not coming down the mountain with me?"

Zhang Wuxun nodded, took out a black rectangular object about the size of an egg from his pocket, pointed to the button in the groove on it, and said to Shunzi, "A group of people will come to the village in about half a month to ask you to be their guide. When that time comes, give this to a guy named Wu Xie inside and tell him that I'll be waiting for them at the entrance. Remember to tell him to turn on the switch here."

Under Shunzi's astonished gaze, Zhang Wuxun took out another card and stuffed it into Shunzi's hand along with the signal device. He looked straight at him and said, "The card contains the final payment. I'll tell you the password after we meet up. If you lose the signal device or don't bring them to the place I specify, you won't get a single penny of the money in the card."

Shunzi felt like he'd been cursed out; he was filled with utter utter rage and nowhere to put his mind to it.

Just as he opened his mouth, a gust of wind and snow blew over, shoving all the words he was about to say back. Not only did he get a mouthful of snow, but he also nearly choked to death.

He really wanted to quit on the spot, but looking at Zhang Wuxun's cold eyes, it seemed as if the moment he uttered his refusal, the snow-capped mountain would become his burial ground.

So Shunzi wisely chose to keep quiet. He told himself, "Who would turn down money, right?"

"Where did you specify?" Shunzi asked professionally, while secretly cursing the man in her mind.

“There should be a hot spring nearby. I’ll wait for you there.” Zhang Wuxun patted Shunzi on the shoulder and unloaded his equipment from his horse. Shunzi thought to himself, “How did you know there was a hot spring here? It’s not even marked that clearly on the map.”

Although he had been ripped off, Shunzi still kindly reminded Zhang Wuxun, "Traveling in the snowy mountains at night is extremely dangerous. If you really can't find a hot spring, you'll have to find a sheltered spot and dig a snow nest to make do for the night. The wind and snow will be relatively less during the day."

"Besides, you'll be staying on the snowy mountain for half a month, and this little bit of food won't last long at all." As he spoke, he took out most of the compressed biscuits from his backpack to give to Zhang Wuxun.

"No need, the way back is quite long, you can keep it for yourself." Zhang Wuxun smiled and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll come down the mountain if I really can't hold on any longer."

After saying that, Zhang Wuxun waved his hand and urged him to hurry up, while he himself carried his equipment and turned to walk deeper into the snow mountain.

Watching his thin but determined figure from behind, Shunzi sighed sadly, not wanting to persuade him any further. He put the signal device and card into his inner pocket, turned around, and led the horse back the way they came.

Everyone has their own destiny, and the only thing I can do is to deliver the items to the person that lunatic asked me to do.

He felt the chances of getting the money were extremely slim, and he had given up hope. In his eyes, Zhang Wuxun's actions were no different from committing suicide.

﹉﹉﹉

After the two parted ways, Zhang Wuxun followed the general direction that the system had analyzed and planned in his mind, and walked for nearly three hours in the raging wind and snow before finally finding the secluded valley with the centipede stone carving.

In the original storyline, Wu Xiaoxie and the others were pulled down by a chain reaction caused by Fatty's misstep. At that time, an avalanche had recently occurred in this area, and the valley was covered by collapsed snow. Fatty stepped on the snow layer, which pulled down the others who were tied to the climbing rope.

There hasn't been an avalanche yet, and the dark, bare rocks in the valley are sharp and easy to climb.

I found a relatively easy spot to climb, hammered three pitons into the rock to secure them, tied a Y-shaped anchor knot in the climbing rope and let it hang down, fastened the safety rope around my waist, put my backpack and tools into my storage space, and then slowly climbed down the rock face.

After descending to the bottom and untying the rope, Zhang Wuxun walked towards the massive black stone sculpture not far away.

The stone carving is incredibly lifelike, resembling a real, hundred-legged black dragon coiled and lying on the boulder. If one wasn't prepared, it could easily give them a fright.

After taking a few steps back and taking several photos of the stone sculpture from all angles, Zhang Wuxun put away his camera, approached the dragon head, reached up with his left hand to touch it, and then pressed down hard. Sure enough, the back of the dragon head was hollow.

In the original story, the mechanism of the sealing stone was damaged by falling debris from an avalanche. In the end, Wu Xiaoxie played his role as a top student in architecture, found the stone under the sealing stone that was under the heaviest force, stood to the side and gently tapped it. The balance of force was broken, the supporting force on the sealing stone changed, and the surrounding debris slid down, revealing the rock crevice blocking the back.

Recalling the original plot, Zhang Wuxun reached his left hand into the dragon's mouth, pulled out a black iron chain as thick as a wrist, and leaned back to use the force to pull it.

With a loud rumble, followed by a series of sounds of stone slabs rubbing together, the Panlong Sealing Stone moved, revealing a rock crevice less than half a meter wide behind it, before getting stuck and not moving.

(End of this chapter)