A comprehensive overview of tombs: starting with the Yellow Weasel's Tomb

Now everyone was in a dilemma.

Hu Bayi couldn't help but ask, "Brother Lai, we're in the middle of nowhere. If we don't get a boat today, are we going to have to spend the night on the shore?"

Upon hearing this, Li Chunlai quickly replied, "Don't panic, let's wait a bit, they'll be here soon."

Bai Jing scanned the area, but there was no sign of a ship.

Big Gold Tooth immediately came up with a terrible idea: "How about we go back and check if the car is fixed yet?"

Upon hearing Big Gold Tooth's words, everyone's eyes turned to him. Fatty even cursed, "If you want to go back, then go back! We've been walking for two hours and finally made it this far. If we go back now, wouldn't all our efforts have been for nothing?"

According to Li Chunlai, once they crossed the Yellow River to the other side and climbed over the small hill on the opposite bank, they could directly see the county seat of Gulan County.

Li Chunlai also mentioned that this is why boats frequently pass by on this section of the river, just to ferry passengers across.

After waiting for a long time, everyone finally saw a steamship sailing on the Yellow River.

The crowd quickly started shouting.

The boat captain had obviously heard Bai Jing and the others shouting, and he also yelled, "No, the water's rising!"

Upon hearing the boat captain's words, Bai Jing understood. It was the end of April, and during this time, the snowmelt from the mountains was gradually melting, causing the Yellow River's water level to rise, which was also the annual flood season.

Therefore, boat captains dare not easily take people across the river, for fear that the water level might suddenly rise, making it impossible to control the boat and causing casualties.

After thinking for a moment, Bai Jing pulled a wad of cash from the fat man's pocket, then held up one of the bills and shouted, "One ten-yuan note!!"

Immediately afterward, a moment later, the people on the boat continued to shout, "No, no!"

But Bai Jing had excellent hearing. He could tell that the boat captain was clearly hesitant, so he was overjoyed and pulled out another bill, shouting, "Two ten-yuan bills!!"

As soon as Bai Jing said this, the boat began to turn around and head towards Bai Jing and his group.

Bai Jing and the others were overjoyed upon seeing this. Bai Jing returned the remaining money to the fat man and laughed, "See? Money is still the most useful, isn't it?"

Upon hearing this, the fat man curled his lip and said, "Why don't you use your own money?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Jing replied matter-of-factly, "I didn't bring any money with me when I came!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi, Fatty Wang, and Big Gold Tooth all turned their gazes to Bai Jing, wondering if he was planning to get something for nothing this time.

But considering all the benefits of having Bai Jing with me, I figured I might as well just take advantage of it for free.

Everyone quickly went down to the riverbank, and now they were just waiting for the steamer on the other side to come over. Once everyone got on the boat and crossed the Yellow River, their mission would be accomplished.

Before long, the steamboat arrived at the riverbank, and everyone quickly boarded. They then thanked the boatman profusely, after which the boatman brought out several stools from the cabin and handed them to them.

Give it to a few people.

Everyone understood; the steamship wasn't very big, and there wasn't much seating; having a stool to sit on was already a good thing.

After everyone was seated, the boatman continued, "I'm not trying to extort money from you. It's just that it's been raining these past few days, and the Yellow River's water level has suddenly risen, causing floods recently. In this kind of weather, the worst thing is for the river god to be angry. I'm risking my life to give you this ride."

Hearing the boatman's words, Hu Bayi couldn't help but laugh, and then said, "Brother, where did this river god come from? This is pure feudal superstition."

Upon hearing Hu Bayi's words, the boatman immediately objected and said, "I'm not making this up. One year, the Yellow River's water level rose very quickly and then receded just as fast. A huge fish skeleton was washed ashore. We boatmen here all believe that this fish is the incarnation of the river god, and we even gave it a special name: Iron-Headed Dragon King."

Bai Jing nodded upon hearing this, but remained silent.

Combined with what Li Chunlai said earlier, it doesn't rain when it should, but then it rains heavily and continuously when it's not needed.

It seems we're in for a disaster.

However, Bai Jing was more concerned about that Iron-Headed Dragon King.

Bai Jing knew about the so-called Iron-Headed Dragon King, and there were records of him in the imperial tomb records.

Moreover, after communicating with the Yi family of Lancangjiang, Bai Jing also learned that the Iron-Headed Dragon King was actually a kind of guardian beast specially raised by the Ding family of Huanghe.

These guardian beasts were originally raised using special secret methods, and would then remain in specific waters to monitor the situation in the surrounding waters.

Normally, they will not stray too far from the designated water area.

This suggests that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this underwater tomb likely represents a custom-made underwater tomb by the Ding family of the Yellow River for a high-ranking official or nobleman.

Bai Jing immediately stood up, went to the bow of the ship, looked around, and then confirmed something.

Hu Bayi and the other two were puzzled by Bai Jing's behavior, and Big Gold Tooth immediately asked, "Second Master Bai, what are you doing?"

Bai Jing didn't explain immediately, but instead called Hu Bayi over and said, "Old Hu, come and take a look at the situation around here. Can you figure anything out?"

Hu Bayi looked around for a long time, then suddenly noticed the mountain ranges on both sides, and then the winding Yellow River. He said, "The east and west walls are adjacent to the Yangtze River, with the Yellow River flowing into the middle. The mountains behind act as a screen, preventing the view of the Qinhuai River, a water town."

Bai Jing laughed upon hearing this and said, "Old Hu, your skills have improved."

At this point, Fatty and Big Gold Tooth seemed to understand something. Fatty quickly asked, "What's going on? Is there a tomb here?"

Bai Jing nodded, then shook his head and said, "That's right, there is a tomb, but it won't fall down."

Hearing this, Hu Bayi nodded, but offered no explanation.

At this point, Fatty and Big Gold Tooth were bursting with curiosity.

Bai Jing found it somewhat amusing, but still offered an explanation, which could be considered as dispelling the fat man's greed.

Bai Jing said, "There is a large tomb here, and it is of high standard. However, it is an underwater tomb in the middle of the Yellow River. There is no way to go down into it, let alone enter it."

Hearing Bai Jing say this, Hu Bayi seemed to have thought of something and asked, "Old Bai, I think you went to the bow of the ship after you had some doubts, right? Did you think of something?"

Chapter 189 Iron-Headed Dragon King

Bai Jing nodded when he heard Hu Bayi's words and said, "Yes, when I heard the boat captain mention it, I remembered a reclusive family that I knew of had a secret method to raise a ferocious aquatic beast, which is called..."

These ferocious beasts usually appear around underwater tombs in the Yellow River. I was thinking, since there's one here, could there be an underwater tomb? And when I looked, it really was an excellent burial site.

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi nodded in understanding.

Then, Hu Bayi looked at the boat captain and asked, "Boatman, where did the fish go?"

Upon hearing Hu Bayi's question, the boatman continued, "We can't just dispose of this fish casually, can we? We thought of using its bones to build a temple, but at the time, the villagers couldn't afford it."

As fate would have it, at that very moment, a businessman from out of town arrived. Upon hearing of this, he offered to fund the construction of the temple, hoping to ensure favorable weather and abundant harvests for the region.

The fat man became interested upon hearing this and couldn't help but ask, "Using fish bones to build a temple? That sounds quite unusual."

Upon hearing Fatty's words, Big Gold Tooth laughed and said, "This is not unusual at all. There is a fishbone temple like this in Tianjin as well."

Then Big Gold Tooth looked at the boatman and asked, "Is this Fishbone Temple made with fish bones for beams and fish heads for the temple gate, used to worship the Dragon King?"

Upon hearing this, the boatman knew he had met an expert and immediately nodded, saying, "Yes, yes, I just didn't expect there to be one in Tianjin. It's similar to what you described. The out-of-town merchant said he often travels long distances and frequently crosses rivers by boat, so he paid for the construction of this Fishbone Temple."

Hu Bayi became interested upon hearing this. Since everyone had come all this way to Gulan County, they should at least take a look around. Besides, the Fishbone Temple sounded intriguing, and they should find a chance to see it. So he asked, "Is the Fishbone Temple still there?"

The boatman replied, "Yes!"

Although Li Chunlai was a local, he had never actually heard of the Fishbone Temple. This was because, firstly, he was not a fisherman, and secondly, he was too young when the temple was built.

Upon hearing that the Fishbone Temple was still standing, Li Chunlai became intrigued and immediately asked, "Where is it now?"

The boatman hesitated for a moment, but when Hu Bayi asked again, he finally said, "This Fishbone Temple is located in a valley in Longling, but it has been abandoned for many years."

Upon hearing that the fishbone temple was abandoned, the fat man asked curiously, "Why was it abandoned?"

The boatman replied somewhat irritably, "That out-of-town merchant said there was a place in the deep mountains with particularly good feng shui, and that if a temple were built there, it would surely bring good weather and abundant harvests. But since the temple was built, it has never been effective at all, and over time no one has gone to worship it, so it has naturally fallen into disrepair."

Hu Bayi also found this somewhat interesting, so he got up from his chair, walked to the bow of the boat, and said, "There's something fishy about this. Think about it, this merchant funded the construction of the Fishbone Temple, but a temple should be built in..."

It's by the river, isn't it? How could it be built in these winding mountains?

This doesn't quite fit with feng shui theory, does it? I think it's most likely a tomb raider. Building the temple is a pretense; their real purpose is to steal treasure. They probably have their eyes on some ancient tomb in Longling. Building the temple is just a cover. Old Bai, what do you think?

Bai Jing remained silent; he had a strong premonition that there was danger in the water.

Immediately, Bai Jing stood up abruptly, looking in a serious direction.

When Hu Bayi saw Bai Jing suddenly stand up, he wondered what had happened. Just as he was about to ask something, the ship seemed to have hit something, followed by a violent tremor.

Seeing this, Hu Bayi and Fatty also came to the side of the boat and looked into the water.

Immediately afterwards, a shadow slowly emerged from the bottom of the ship, and its shape seemed to be a huge, strange fish.

Hu Bayi and Fatty immediately realized that this must be the thing that had collided with the ship earlier.

Bai Jing said, "I was right, that's it!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi and Fatty were taken aback at first, then immediately realized that this was what the boatman had said earlier.

Even from the shadows, you can tell that it's really big.

Bai Jing glanced at his equipment and realized it was completely unsuitable for combat. He immediately shouted to the boat captain, "Boatman, do you have a harpoon?"

Hearing Bai Jing's shout, the boatman snapped out of his surprise and quickly replied, "Yes, yes!!"

As he spoke, he took out a harpoon from the cabin.

Just as the boatman handed the harpoon to Bai Jing, the steamship was struck again.

Seeing this, Bai Jing shouted, "Old Hu, Fatty, you guys protect the boat, I'm going into the water to give this damn Dragon King a try!"

As luck would have it, the previously clear sky suddenly started to rain.

Bai Jing didn't care about any of that. He took off his shirt, put a water-splitting pearl in his mouth, held a small divine sword in one hand and a harpoon in the other, and then jumped into the water.

After Bai Jing entered the water, he quickly locked onto the figure.

He dared not delay, and quickly swam towards the target with the harpoon in hand.