Tomb raiding: Intercepting Yin Xinyue and building a family of immortals

The cave that Wu Jizong found wasn't very big, just big enough to accommodate seven or eight people.

There was some water seeping from the rock face, but it was still much better than sleeping in the open and constantly facing attacks from wild animals.

Old Wu and his second brother gathered some thorny brambles and arranged them around the cave.

This will keep out most wild animals!

The only thing to watch out for is the poisonous insects inside the cave.

However, Old Wu was a seasoned veteran. After entering the cave, he sprinkled some grayish-white powder inside.

The powder has a pungent odor with a slight sulfur smell.

"Our homemade insect repellent is sufficient to deal with some venomous snakes and scorpions."

Sure enough, not long after the powder was sprinkled, the rustling sounds inside the cave disappeared.

Several long-legged spiders, geckos, and other insects on the cliff face have all disappeared without a trace.

Seeing this, Su Chen's eyes lit up and he said, "Grandpa, your insect repellent powder works quite well."

"Haha, this is a formula I got from an old, legendary doctor in exchange for a jar of fine wine. In the entire Changsha City, there's no medicine powder more effective than this." Old Wu said with a smug smile.

Tomb raiders often frequent deep mountains and forests, so insect repellent powder like this is an essential item for them.

As they were talking, Wu Jizong took advantage of the fact that it wasn't completely dark yet and decided to go find some firewood.

Old Wu and his second brother took out leather water bags and went to collect spring water from the seepage points on the rock wall.

Generally speaking, water sources in the wild are full of bacteria and cannot be drunk directly.

But because of the filtration of rocks, the water quality of such mountain springs is better than that of many streams.

Before long, Wu Laogou filled a leather bag with water and dutifully handed it to Wu Laobatou.

"Sir, you drink first."

Old Wu took the leather water bag, tilted his head back and gulped down a few mouthfuls. His eyes lit up and he said, "This spring water is quite good, it has a sweet taste."

After saying that, he handed the leather water bag to Su Chen.

Su Chen waved his hand and refused, saying, "Grandpa, you drink it. I'm not thirsty for now."

Old Wu didn't pay any attention and tossed the leather water bag to his two brothers, Old Wu and Old Dog.

Just as the two finished drinking the spring water, Wu Jizong returned carrying a large pile of firewood.

He laid the firewood under a relatively dry rock wall and lit it with the matches he carried with him.

With the campfire, the cave became much brighter.

Old Wu hurriedly handed over the leather water bag, "Dad, have some water."

Wu Jizong took the water bag, and as soon as he pulled out the stopper, he put his mouth to it.

But the next second, his expression suddenly changed. He abruptly put down the leather hose, frowned, and said:

"This water doesn't taste right!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Laogou was stunned for a moment and subconsciously asked, "I got the spring water from the rock face, there's no problem with it."

Wu Jizong did not answer. Instead, he pushed aside Wu Laogou, walked to the rock wall at the end of the cave, and then put his nose to it and sniffed carefully for a while.

Upon seeing this, Old Wu's expression also turned serious. He quickly stood up and asked, "Jizong, is something wrong?"

"This mountain spring water carries the scent of coffin dew!"

Upon hearing the words "coffin exposed," the three members of the family, who had just drunk spring water, all changed their expressions.

Especially Wu Laogou, whose face turned deathly pale instantly, and he even leaned against the rock wall and started retching.

Black-backed Old Six was puzzled and quietly asked, "Brother Su, what do they mean by 'coffin exposed'?"

Su Chen explained, "After a person dies and is buried, the body decomposes inside the coffin. Combined with the seepage of groundwater, liquid will be produced inside the coffin. This liquid is generally called coffin fluid. Although this coffin fluid is not fatal, it contains a lot of bacteria. If you touch it easily, you can easily get skin diseases."

This is not something Su Chen is making up.

Historically, during the excavation of Lady Xin Zhui's tomb, an archaeologist accidentally came into contact with the coffin fluid, resulting in a bacterial infection. His arms were covered in dense red spots, and it took him more than half a year to recover, visiting several hospitals before the infection was cured.

"However, compared to coffin liquid, coffin dew is the truly potent poison. A small bowl of it can kill an elephant. As for how coffin dew is formed, there is currently no definitive conclusion. Some say that there was a zongzi (sticky rice dumpling) in the coffin, and the corpse poison mixed with the coffin liquid to form the poisonous coffin dew. Others say that it is due to the accumulation of earth energy, coupled with the poisonous location where the coffin was buried, that coffin dew was formed."

Hearing this, Black-backed Old Six frowned and said, "Then they..."

Su Chen shook his head and stepped forward to comfort him, "Grandpa, this spring water has been purified and filtered, so it shouldn't be fatal."

"Father, it's nothing. The coffin dew has already been diluted by the mountain spring water! Drinking a little less is good for your health!" Wu Jizong nodded and echoed.

Then, his eyes lit up, and he pointed to the top of the cave, saying, "The fact that this spring water has the smell of coffin dew means that there is very likely a tomb chamber above this cliff!"

Old Wu has lived for so many years, he's had enough, his only worry is the safety of his two grandsons.

Hearing Su Chen and his son's words, he finally relaxed.

He pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Whether we herd one sheep or two, it's all the same. Let's search inside the cave and see if there are any traps or tomb doors."

Upon hearing this, Wu Laogou immediately perked up, stopped gagging, and quickly grabbed a torch from the campfire to carefully examine every part of the cave.

After a lot of knocking and banging and searching for most of the day, the group finally confirmed that the rock wall was solid and there was no mechanism or tomb door.

Old Wu looked disappointed and said dejectedly, "Dad, are you sure you didn't smell something wrong? There's no grave here!"

"You brat, you're asking for it."

Wu Jizong glared at Wu Laogou, then looked at Wu Laobatou and asked, "Father, I'm sure I didn't smell anything wrong. There must be a coffin in the water. Even if the coffin isn't here in the cave, it's somewhere high up nearby."

Old Wu nodded, then turned to Su Chen and said, "Young man, I know my son's abilities. Even if his eyes are wrong, his nose will never be wrong about smelling. What do you think we should do next?"

Su Chen knew that Old Wu was testing him.

If Su Chen shows fear, or knows nothing about tomb raiding.

The revenue sharing between those two companies will probably need to be discussed further, or they might even kick him out altogether.

Thinking of this, Su Chen smiled confidently and got straight to the point: "Grandpa, are you testing me?"

"Haha, not at all. I just wanted to ask for your opinion, young man."

Su Chen wasn't intimidated. He took a few steps inside the cave, glanced at the setting sun gradually sinking below the horizon outside the cave, and the surrounding mountain ranges.

A moment later, he followed the incantation from the Dragon Seeking Manual.

He picked up a half-burnt piece of firewood from the fire and used the charcoal as a pencil to roughly draw the direction of the surrounding mountains on the ground.

“Old man, tombs are divided into graves and mounds... If it’s just an ordinary ancient tomb, it’s a waste of our time to set up a pot there.”

"good."

Old Wu nodded slightly. Only experienced tomb raiders who have truly entered this line of work would not waste time on those ancient tombs.

Unless the deceased is at the level of a tomb or burial mound, or is an official or noble, it is not worth taking action.

Based on just this one sentence, Old Wu was convinced that Su Chen was no newbie, but at least a seasoned veteran in this field.

but……

This alone is not enough to gain Old Wu's complete approval.

A glint of light flashed in his cloudy eyes as he asked, seemingly unintentionally, "In your opinion, what level is the area around here?"