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

Chapter 251 Queen Mother Refining Elixir
The fat man took a look at it and laughed, "Wooden Fish, you're quite capable, kid. You can get all sorts of good stuff. I really admire you."

"What's the use of admiration? You might as well just raise my seniority." Zhang Wuxun joked, quickly taking a few steps away.

"Hey, you Zhang Muyu, you've got some nerve, haven't you!" the fat man laughed and cursed. "You dare to take advantage of me? You're asking for a beating!"

The passageway quickly came to a bottom, behind which was another huge cave. There were man-made steps on the stone walls that spiraled down into the cave.

The abyss below was pitch black, and the headlamp's visibility was insufficient, so the fat man fired three flares in different directions. The fireballs exploded, illuminating the entire cavern as bright as day, leaving no corner unlit.

With ample equipment, the fat man exuded an air of wealth and arrogance, and wanted to fire another shot, but Chen Wenjin stopped him.

"It's already bright enough. If we fire a few more shots, our eyes will probably get burned."

The fat man then gave up, reluctantly putting away the signal gun.

After the strongest burst of light passed, the group, holding onto the cave wall, descended the steps.

The cave is incredibly deep; looking up, you can only vaguely see eerie murals with shadowy figures moving about on the cave ceiling.

The steps here were specially built to resemble the stands of a modern stadium, forming an irregular funnel-shaped ring along the cave, extending downwards step by step, like a sacrificial site that can accommodate tens of thousands of people.

On each step there are many neatly arranged black statues, with blurred faces and bloated shapes, as if they contain something inside.

The fat man's thoughts wandered, and he muttered to himself, "Damn it, are all these people in here? They look a bit like the funerary figurines that Qin used to bury. That old woman, the Queen Mother of the West, is something else, she has such a cruel heart."

Wu Xiaoxie patted him on the shoulder and lowered his voice, as if afraid of disturbing something, "Don't talk nonsense. The burial figurines of Qin Shi Huang were made using a special method, and they are all hollow inside."

"I'm just giving you a random example, Fatty. I've seen the Terracotta Army." Fatty waved his hand impatiently. "But I always feel like there's something hidden inside these black statues, something eerie. If they suddenly come to life after being triggered, that would be terrible. We'd better be careful."

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines from what he said, and upon closer inspection, the blurry faces of those black statues seemed to be facing their direction.

"You beast!" one of the workers couldn't help but curse.

The crowd looked rather grim, and they quickened their pace to continue their descent.

Just as the previous flares were about to go out, the fat man fired two more.

The flares went out just as we stepped through the stone door to the domed chamber at the bottom of the cave.

The group turned on their headlamps and walked toward the stone disc they had seen earlier on the steps above, which was placed in the center of the cave.

The fat man looked left and right, his attention mostly focused on the dozens of bronze vessels of different sizes around the stone slab. He couldn't help but sigh, "The Queen Mother's Clan should probably be called the Mole Clan. They really love digging holes. They actually dug such a deep place under the imperial city, and there are even so many jars of pickled vegetables here."

Chen Wenjin stepped forward to examine the site and speculated, "This might be the sacred ground of the Queen Mother's Kingdom, a place where the royal family of the Queen Mother of the West conducts secret activities. They might be holding some extremely confidential ceremonies here, or practicing some kind of religious cultivation."

The fat man curled his lip, clicking his tongue in disdain. "Damn, this holy land is so dilapidated, it's really disappointing. These Queen Mother clan members are also brainless. What are these bronze artifacts? And these stone carvings, they're... My God! Muyu, Tianzhen, look, what are these stone carvings?!" The fat man pointed at the black statues not far away, his mouth agape in astonishment. He grabbed Zhang Wuxun and started to run over there, shouting, "Damn it, isn't this a jade figurine? Isn't it?"

Zhang Wuxun was pulled to the side and quickly stopped, grabbing him back. "Don't go over there. Have you forgotten the blood corpse in the jade terracotta warrior?"

The fat man slapped his forehead, annoyed, and said, "My memory is terrible."

The young man next to him groaned, covered his head, frowned, and stared intently at the jade figurines, as if he had remembered something.

Wu Xiaoxie gasped, his eyes widening, muttering to himself, "Sure enough, these places are all connected. With so many jade figurines here, could each one contain a living corpse?"

The three men, curious about what the other men were talking about—jade figurines—went over to take a look.

Through the gaps in the helmet plates, they could see a shriveled corpse with a hideous face. The three of them screamed in fright and hurriedly hid to the side.

The fat man chuckled twice, "You're so timid, afraid of a falling leaf hitting your head. It's just a dead man, what's there to be afraid of?"

One of the hot-tempered employees glared angrily and swore a few foul words.

The fat man snorted coldly, too lazy to pay attention to these clowns, and turned to examine the jade figurines. "It seems that the boss was right. This may really be the place where the Queen Mother of the West cultivated. Damn it, these dried-up pieces of meat, could they be the immortals under the Queen Mother of the West in the myth? This is too shabby."

“These jade figurines don’t look as high-end as the one in the Lu Palace. The thing inside was still alive, while these dried out eight hundred years ago.” Zhang Wuxun stroked his chin and said softly, “I guess the one that King Mu of Zhou took from the Queen Mother of the West was the one that was tested and came closer to success.”

Wu Xiaoxie nodded. "It's very possible. According to those records, the Queen Mother of the West and King Mu of Zhou had a very good relationship. It would be reasonable for her to give good things to her friend."

"Furthermore, this cave should have been excavated during the height of the Western Queen Mother's Kingdom, which must have been three thousand years ago. After such a long period of time, even things with moisture would have dried out," Wu Xiaoxie added.

The fat man reached out to touch the black armor, but the young man grabbed his hand halfway through.

"Don't touch them." The young man's expression was serious, his brows furrowed, as if the black jade figurines in front of him were dangerous.

"A pile of dried-up cured meat, does it think it'll jump up and come back to life?" the fat man joked.

The young man shook his head. "I don't know, but these things give me a bad feeling."

"It's better to be safe than sorry. Let's keep our distance." Zhang Wuxun reached out and pulled them towards the middle. "There seems to be something carved on that stone slab over there. Let's go take a look."

Chen Wenjin had been studying the bronze vessels for quite some time. When Zhang Wuxun and the others approached, he said with delight, “These vessels contain materials used by ancient emperors for alchemy. This should be the alchemy chamber of the Queen Mother recorded in the Warring States silk manuscript.”

"I thought it was fabricated by Wang Zanghai to enhance the authenticity of the longevity secret method, but I didn't expect it to actually exist. It seems my guess was right, and the answer I'm looking for must be here," Chen Wenjin affirmed.

Thank you so much to the generous donor, Nie Mowangqing! Sending you a huge heart!
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(End of this chapter)