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

Su Chen pondered for a long time but couldn't come up with a good way to deal with the falling rocks.

However, with victory so close, it was not worth giving up now.

He thought for a moment and suggested, "Grandpa, how about this, let's look around and see if we can find other entrances or exits?"

"Generally speaking, in such heavily guarded tombs, craftsmen would usually leave themselves a passageway to survive in order to stay alive."

In ancient times, especially in prehistoric times.

When feudal lords built large tombs, they would often employ hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of laborers and craftsmen.

In order to prevent the secrets of the tomb's structure and the method of opening the main tomb from being revealed, the craftsmen were often trapped inside the tomb after its construction was completed.

After all, only the dead can keep secrets forever.

The most ruthless of all dynasties was undoubtedly Cao Cao!

Cao Cao formed the Tomb Raiders to steal money from large tombs to fund his military campaigns.

Perhaps because he had done too many bad things, he was also worried that his tomb would be visited by grave robbers after his death.

So they gathered tens of thousands of laborers and craftsmen to build seventy-two mausoleums throughout the country.

To ensure that the location of these seventy-two tombs was not revealed, these laborers and craftsmen were trapped and died in the ancient tombs, buried alive with Cao Cao.

In later generations, we often heard news of finding Cao Cao's tomb, only to discover after opening the coffin that it was just a fake tomb!

It must be said that Cao Cao's decision to build seventy-two false tombs did indeed bury his mausoleum in the long river of history.

Upon hearing this, Old Wu nodded: "That's the only way. We'll search all day. If we can't find it, we'll leave it for now and bring more people to excavate it later when we have more time!"

Of the nine gates in Changsha City, only a few are actually occupied.

The vast majority are based on families or powerful forces. Don't be fooled by the fact that Old Wu looks like an ordinary old man; if he raises his arm, he can still gather a force of hundreds or even thousands of people.

In addition, if they really encountered a top-tier imperial tomb, the Nine Gates would share information and the families would work together to excavate it.

After Su Chen and Wu Lao gave their instructions, Wu Laogou and the others picked up shovels and started banging and tapping around the area.

After searching for most of the day, and with noon fast approaching, there were still no clues.

Wu Jizong had no choice but to take out some dry food from his bundle and invite everyone to eat first.

The dry rations he brought were similar to the wheat bran cakes his fourth aunt had made before, and were just as hard as a rock.

After finally managing to bite off a piece, it was so damn hard to swallow.

Su Chen managed to eat half a piece, but couldn't swallow it any longer, so he made an excuse to go look around the neighborhood.

However, this pancake also shows that the locust plague is indeed very severe.

Even the Wu family is in a bad situation!

Su Chen believed that if it were in the past, how could Old Master Wu, as the head of the Wu family, possibly have taken a fancy to a general's tomb in Biaozi Ridge?

Presumably due to the famine, they had no choice but to bring their sons and grandsons and personally set up the cooking pot.

Thinking this, Su Chen descended the mountaintop and arrived at the cave he had visited earlier.

Looking up, the cliff in front of you is not very high, with a maximum drop of less than 100 meters.

Standing in front of the cave at the foot of the cliff, you can just see the two huge rocks above.

"Wu Jizong could smell the coffin dew, which means that whether it was a sacrificial pit or something else, it was inside the mountain."

Su Chen stroked his chin, deep in thought.

"When this sacrificial pit was built, the craftsmen must have hollowed out the mountain. But there are huge rocks piled up at the top, and the bottom is all solid rock walls. How could they possibly get in?"

As Su Chen pondered this, he walked into the cave.

Inside the dimly lit cave, the campfire on the ground still retained its warmth.

It's probably because the effects of Old Wu's medicine powder have weakened, and tall spiders have reappeared on the rock wall.

Mountain spring water seeps continuously down the innermost rock wall.

It falls to the ground, making a ticking sound.

Mountain spring water?

Seeing the mountain spring water seeping down the rock face, Su Chen suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

His face immediately lit up with excitement, and he excitedly told the group, "I know how to get into this sacrificial pit!"

Upon hearing this, Old Wu and the others were all taken aback.

Wu Jizong was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "How do we get in?"

"Do you remember the spring water we drank in the cave last night?"

When Su Chen brought up this matter, Wu Laogou and his second brother's faces immediately darkened.

Because the two of them drank the most, they almost vomited from nausea.

What's wrong with the mountain spring water?

Old Wu is a very experienced leader who has endured all kinds of hardships.

He treated the mere coffin contents as an extra treat and paid them no mind.

Su Chen explained, word by word, "The fact that water is seeping out of the sacrificial pit means that water has been poured in!"

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly realized what was going on.

"Yes, how come I didn't think of that!"

Wu Jizong suddenly realized and exclaimed with delight, "Brother Su, you're amazing! That's why I always say the Northern School is so meticulous in its work!"

Old Wu nodded in agreement, then turned to instruct his two grandsons.

"Go and search for all the water sources on the mountaintop, including mountain streams, creeks, and even pools!"

The two agreed and then ran around the cliff like madmen.

About half an hour later, Old Dog Wu came running to deliver the good news.

"Sir, we've found it!"

Everyone quickly packed up and took all the necessary weapons and supplies.

Wu Jizong also used the leftover firewood from the previous night to make four or five torches to carry on his back.

The group then followed Wu Laogou to a pool of water a few hundred meters away.

The pool is not deep; at its deepest point, it is no more than knee-deep.

Above the pool is a miniature waterfall less than three meters high.

The waterfall was intermittent, leaving only a trickle of water.

Clearly, this is a waterfall formed by rainwater collected at the top of the mountain. When there is a lot of rain, the waterfall is spectacular.

If it doesn't rain for a while, the water supply will probably dry up.

Old Wu knew the way well and led the group to the bottom of the waterfall, pointing out, "Look behind the waterfall, there's a small cave hidden among the vines."

As he spoke, Wu Laogou's second brother used a wooden stick to push aside the vines and carefully squeezed into the cave.

Old Wu explained, "The entrance to the cave isn't big, but the inside is quite large. You can walk through it by bending over."

Upon hearing this, Wu Jizong called out his second son, who then took out a shovel from his backpack.

He went up and used a shovel to cut the vines, cleaned the area outside the hole, and then enlarged the hole considerably.

Once it was large enough to accommodate an adult, he turned and asked, "Dad, shall we go in?"

Old Wu didn't answer Wu Jizong, but instead turned his gaze to Su Chen.

"Brother Su, what do you say?"

"We've come all this way, we can't leave empty-handed!"

Old Wu has his family to support, and Su Chen also has a large family in Su Family Village.

Whether it's a sacrificial pit or something else, we can't just find the way and not go in to take a look.

Upon hearing this, Old Wu nodded and immediately said, "Go in! But be careful, and if anything goes wrong, come out immediately."