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

Seeing that things were not going well, Black-backed Old Six rushed forward, grabbed Wu Laogou by the collar, and slapped him twice.

Old Wu opened his eyes groggily and asked in surprise, "Old Dao, why did you hit me?"

At the same time, Wu Jizong took a closer look and found that Wu Laogou's face had returned to normal.

Old Wu raised his head with a solemn expression and asked in a deep voice, "What exactly happened?"

"What?! I was picking at my mask, and Old Knife suddenly came up and slapped me in the face!"

Old Wu covered his cheeks in grievance, glaring at Black-backed Old Six with a resentful look.

His father, Wu Jizong, quickly said, "Don't talk nonsense, Brother Lao Dao is saving you. Look around you!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Laogou quickly turned around and looked around.

He panicked when he realized he had run so far.

"How did I get here? I remember I was just picking at my mask!"

At this point, he seemed to remember something and added, "Oh right, I remember now, that stone figure had a fox face."

"Fox face?"

The group exchanged glances, all seeing the gravity in each other's eyes.

Foxes are one of the Five Immortals and have always been associated with demons and monsters.

Seeing a fox in a tomb is usually not a good omen.

When the fox face was mentioned, Su Chen subconsciously thought of the blue-eyed fox corpse in the tomb of King Lu Shang.

The Blue-Eyed Fox Corpse can create illusions, drawing people into a dreamlike state without their knowledge.

Thinking of this, Su Chen stepped forward and patted Wu Laogou on the shoulder, comforting him, "It's nothing, just a hallucination. When you pass by the stone figures later, remember not to look at their faces."

"Brother Su, do you know what those stone figures are?"

Old Wu had inadvertently fallen into a trap and was somewhat embarrassed, so he took the opportunity to change the subject.

They returned to the stone figures, about a dozen steps away.

Su Chen explained, "During the Warring States period, the State of Lu had a special army that used the fox as its totem."

"A fox totem?"

Wu Jizong exclaimed in surprise, "I have heard of fox spirit temples in the north, but I have never heard of an ancient army using foxes as totems."

The totems of ancient armies were generally of the following types: tiger, bear, leopard, elephant, and eagle.

They were also known as the Tiger and Leopard Camp or the Tiger and Elephant Camp.

But there is no mention of a fox totem or a fox camp.

Su Chen smiled and said, "That's why it's called special!"

"This army was invincible and extremely famous at the time. One of its battalions was called the Fox Battalion. It is said that the soldiers in the Fox Battalion all wore bronze masks and never showed their true faces. Later, the commander's deputy got drunk one day and accidentally let it slip."

"He said that the soldiers in the Fox Camp were all fox demons in disguise, with fox faces that could bewitch people's minds. On the battlefield, the soldiers in the Fox Camp only needed to remove their masks, and the enemy would be bewitched, making them invincible."

"Some people didn't believe in the superstition and secretly sneaked into the fox camp. But when they were found the next morning, they had gone completely insane."

"From then on, the Fox Camp's reputation grew louder and louder. Almost no one dared to oppose the Fox Camp."

Upon hearing this, Wu Laogou's heart skipped a beat.

His face turned pale, and he asked fearfully, "Brother Su, will I also go crazy?"

"Don't worry, it'll only be a little while, it's nothing serious."

As he spoke, Su Chen thought for a moment, then closed his eyes, turned sideways, and carefully walked between the two rows of stone figures.

Sure enough, the journey was smooth and uneventful, without any problems.

Seeing this, everyone relaxed and quickly followed.

Once the rearguard, Black-backed Old Six, had passed the stone figures, Wu Jizong couldn't wait to ask, "Brother Su, since the Fox Camp is so powerful, does that mean they've already unified the world?"

Su Chen shook his head and chuckled, "Everything has its gains and losses. The Fox Camp committed too many sins and ultimately suffered divine retribution!"

"During a march, the commander of the Fox Camp fell seriously ill and died. That night, lightning struck directly into the Fox Camp. When the local people approached at dawn the next day, they found that the entire Fox Camp had been reduced to ashes, and all the fox-faced soldiers had been struck dead by lightning."

Upon hearing this, everyone was deeply moved.

Old Wu took out a match, lit his pipe, took a couple of puffs, and said, "Everything overflows when it's full. Just like the rules for tomb raiders, we can't take all the treasures from the ground. Even if we're short of money, we have to leave a few things for the tomb owner. This is the wisdom passed down from our ancestors!"

"Sir, these are all old rules. The storytellers in the city say that the laws of our ancestors are nothing to fear!"

"Hey, you little brat, I'll slap you!"

Old Wu raised his pipe, while Old Dog Wu chuckled and dodged away.

He quickly pointed to the end of the passageway not far away and said, "Sir, I was wrong. Let's hurry up and flip the pot."

Following the direction Wu Laogou pointed, everyone looked and indeed saw two stone doors at the end of the passage.

This stone gate is much more impressive than the one inside the previous shaft!

Made entirely of white marble, the gate is over two meters tall and is carved with four auspicious beasts.

And countless flowers, birds, insects, fish, and even inscriptions.

However, these inscriptions are in the Great Seal script from the Warring States period!

"Greater Seal Script" is a general term referring to the collection of scripts used by various states and even tribes before Li Si of the Qin Dynasty standardized the Small Seal Script.

All scripts, including Zhou script, bronze inscription script, and even oracle bone script, can be called Great Seal Script.

The inscription on this white marble tomb door is of this type.

What does it say on this?

Old Wu looked at it for a long time, then frowned and asked.

"Brother Su, can you understand it?" Wu Jizong shook his head and turned to ask Su Chen.

Su Chen pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Although I can't understand it, if I'm not mistaken, it should be the script of the Chu state during the Spring and Autumn Period. It's called Insect and Bird Seal Script."

"Insect and bird seal script?"

"That's right!"

Su Chen pointed to the inscription on the white marble door and explained, "Look at the shape of these characters. Don't they look like insects, and are decorated with bird tail feathers? This is the typical feature of insect and bird seal script."

Su Chen knew these things thanks to his previous visit to the Chu State ruins, where the guide mentioned the insect and bird seal script.

This type of script differs from those of the states of Zhao, Wei, Han, and Qi in the Central Plains. It was created by learning from nature, taking insects and birds as its models.

Su Chen was not an expert in ancient writing, so he could only guess and barely recognize a few characters.

"This is roughly about sacrifices, exorcisms, and curses..."

He extracted a few keywords, and a thought struck him.

Logically speaking, the tomb at Biaoziling should be closely related to King Lu Shang.

The blood corpse inside the main tomb, though its identity is unknown, is definitely of high status.

Su Chen thought for a moment and continued, "Let's open the door first. Once we're inside, we'll know what to say."

Upon hearing this, Wu Laogou was the first to respond, and he quickly went to the side to help Su Chen push the two white marble doors together.

A creaking sound was heard, exceptionally clear inside the passageway.

The two white marble doors were slowly pushed open.