Tomb raiding: It all started with shocking the archaeological team.

"It's a trap! Spread out to both sides!"

Watching the bronze door slowly rise amidst the rumbling sound, Chen Yibai subconsciously took a few steps back.

Upon hearing that there was a mechanism, the people around were also frightened and quickly retreated to both sides, fearing that something might suddenly rush out from behind the bronze door, or a mechanism like a barrage of arrows.

After all, that's how it's portrayed in many tomb raiding movies.

However, after the bronze door slowly rose to the top, there was complete silence behind it, and there were no dangerous mechanisms as everyone had imagined.

"Who moved anything just now?"

Chen Yibai scanned his surroundings with his eyes and asked loudly.

Everyone looked at each other, but no one responded.

"I was standing at the very back and didn't notice anyone moving around."

Yan Wanlei also glanced around. Almost everyone had been tense, focused intently on the painting on the bronze door, and hadn't noticed anyone touching anything.

That would be really strange. No one touched anything, so how did the bronze door rise up on its own?

Chen Yibai then fixed his gaze on Brother Chicken.

Chicken Bro looked at Chen Yibai with the eyes of a mouse being pinned down by a cat, shaking his head like a rattle drum, while raising his bound hands high: "Captain Chen, don't look at me! The veins in my hands are about to burst from being tied up like this, I can't move them even if I wanted to..."

Chen Yibai turned his attention back to the bronze door and solemnly warned, "Everyone be careful, there are traps inside. Don't touch anything out of curiosity!"

To prevent tomb robbers from being robbed, ancient tombs most commonly employ various treacherous traps and mechanisms, making them difficult for tomb raiders to defend against.

Although Chen Yibai had some knowledge of the various mechanisms in ancient tombs.

However, according to historical records, the earliest appearance of mechanical devices was in the Zhou Dynasty, which evolved from the "Luban Book".

It wasn't until after the Qin Dynasty that mechanisms were gradually used in the prevention of tomb robbery.

This tomb of King Kang dates back to the Shang Dynasty, several hundred years earlier than the Qin Dynasty.

This was Chen Yibai's first time encountering a trap in a Shang Dynasty tomb, so he wasn't sure how powerful it was.

However, judging from the fact that this bronze door rises automatically, it is definitely not simple, so we can only give everyone a heads-up first.

Since the bronze door opened automatically, it saves us the trouble of figuring out how to open it again.

After observing quietly for two minutes, the area behind the bronze door was deathly silent, as if the air had frozen.

After confirming that there was no danger inside, Chen Yibai took a flashlight and carefully walked in step by step.

At the same time, everyone held their breath and followed closely behind Chen Yibai.

Each member of the team carried a flashlight, and the bright beams of light dispelled the darkness that had enveloped them.

look around.

Just as Chen Yibai had guessed and predicted, this was the 'Central Palace'. The entire circular stone chamber was about the size of a basketball court. Looking up, the whole space looked like an inverted bowl, trapping everyone inside.

Compared to the outer passageway, the stone walls here are exquisitely polished and very smooth, and are carved with scenes of sacrificial rituals and divination. The scale is even grander than what we just saw on the bronze gate.

But apart from these, the entire stone chamber was empty, and there was no coffin that Chen Yibai was looking for, indicating that this was not the real tomb chamber.

Wang Haichuan also looked around curiously, but when he didn't see the coffin of the tomb owner that he had been longing for, he was a little disappointed and muttered to himself, "This place is empty, there's no coffin, and it doesn't seem to be the main burial chamber."

Chen Yibai nodded: "Although this is the 'Central Palace,' we haven't truly escaped the 'Eight Trigrams Dragon Locking Formation' yet!"

As he spoke, Chen Yibai went straight to the center of the stone chamber.

In the very center of the stone chamber, there is a huge bronze yin-yang disc, estimated to be five or six meters in diameter.

This bronze yin-yang plate is very special. In the center are two fish representing yin and yang, and there are three circles around it engraved with complex ancient Bagua symbols. At first glance, it looks like a sophisticated combination lock.

This is a mechanism lock designed based on the Yin-Yang and Eight Trigrams.

It is also the most crucial part of the 'Eight Trigrams Dragon Locking Formation'.

Chen Yibai was just wondering to himself how the 'Eight Trigrams Dragon Locking Formation' could be so simple.

So there was this one waiting in the back.

"This is a Yin-Yang mechanism lock. Only by opening this lock can we truly say we've escaped this 'Eight Trigrams Dragon Locking Formation'!"

Chen Yibai narrowed his eyes as he stared at the ancient Bagua runes engraved on the three outer rings of the bronze Yin-Yang plate.

The so-called ancient Bagua symbols include Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui, as well as some special characters used in sacrificial divination.

These ancient Bagua symbols, when combined, generate different hexagrams.

The password to unlock this mechanism is a certain hexagram.

As for what the hexagram was, Chen Yibai didn't know.

It's like knowing how to unlock a door, but not knowing the password...

"Mr. Chen, do you know how to crack this lock? I have some knowledge of ancient Chinese characters. This symbol is 'Kan', and this one is 'Li'..."

Yang Qingyun pointed to the runes on the bronze Yin-Yang plate and said with certainty, as if her knowledge could finally be put to good use at this crucial moment.

However, it wasn't very useful, because Chen Yibai knew all of this better than she did, so not knowing the password was pointless.

"I... I'll give it a try first..."

Chen Yibai rolled up his sleeves. In the current situation, he could only try his luck by guessing.

As he spoke, Chen Yibai squatted down, his expression resolute and his eyes firm, and began to try rotating the outermost ring of the bronze yin-yang disc.

Even after nearly four thousand years, the mechanism of this Yin-Yang disc is still very smooth and efficient.

Click! Click-click! Click!

As the outermost ring rotates, the inside emits a clicking sound, like winding a toy.

Everyone stared wide-eyed, holding their breath, watching Captain Chen's performance with bated breath.

boom!

Suddenly, a loud 'boom' came from behind.

Turning around, he saw the bronze door he had entered through, which suddenly slammed down as Chen Yibai turned the Yin-Yang disc.

Wow…

Before the tension in everyone's hearts could even erupt, several more openings appeared above their heads, and large amounts of silvery-white water poured wildly into the stone chamber.

It's not a water column, it's mercury!

Large amounts of mercury poured into the stone chamber like a waterfall, splashing everywhere as it hit the ground like shards of broken glass.

With that amount, it would take less than ten minutes to flood the entire stone chamber.

The crucial point is that mercury is poisonous!

"Mr. Chen, mercury, it's mercury..."

Now everyone panicked. The bronze door was blocked, and they were about to be trapped and die.

"Little Tiger, grenades! Blow open the bronze door!"

Yan Wanlei also excitedly shouted loudly.

"No! This place has been almost completely hollowed out. If we force a blast, it will all collapse! We'll die even faster!"

Chen Yibai quickly shouted to stop him.

Compared to the panic of the crowd, Chen Yibai remained calm.

It wasn't that he was calm; rather, Chen Yibai had long anticipated that once the bronze Yin-Yang disc moved, the hexagram would change, and this would inevitably be the consequence.

It's equivalent to having no way out once the Yin-Yang compass moves.

Either you guess the correct hexagram and you live, or you die!