The Unorthodox Tomb Raider

...... ..... ...

Fang Yun said calmly.

Wu Xie had no choice but to give up after hearing Fang Yun's words and didn't ask any further questions.

After finishing their breakfast, everyone picked up the branches scattered on the pebble beach, wrapped one end around their clothes, poured some liquor on them, lit them with a lighter, and used them as torches.

However, there was very little liquor, so only one batch could be made, meaning only one person could lead the way, and that person was naturally Wu Xie.

Wu Xie had been through so much, and his physical strength was now several times stronger than before.

Wu Xie didn't refuse. He slowly lowered his body down the cliff and hooked his foot to find a foothold.

Unexpectedly, there were quite a few footholds here. Although the climb was arduous, it was not difficult to climb. As long as you are a little careful and do not fear the boundless darkness below, the height of a dozen feet is not actually that difficult.

It just takes more time and energy.

They had only climbed halfway up when Liang Shiye's legs were already shaking uncontrollably. He looked like a weak scholar who couldn't even kill a chicken.

However, this clerk insisted on staying and refused to give up the factory.

Chapter 320 The Frail and Sickly Master!

As everyone continued climbing downwards, until Wu Xie's feet finally touched the long-awaited ground, about half an hour had passed. For most people, half an hour of rock climbing would be enough to make them physically and mentally exhausted.

At this moment, Liang Shiye was also in the same situation. Wu Xie could clearly see Liang Shiye's limbs trembling incessantly on the cliff face.

Wu Xie looked at the coffins again. Looking at them from below and from above was a completely different experience.

However, this feeling is definitely not a very happy one.

The coffin was made of simple wooden planks nailed together. Although it had some similarities to Han Chinese coffins, it was quite different from a real Han Chinese coffin.

This place is perpetually devoid of sunlight, cold and damp, and the coffins exude a foul, musty odor that is truly nauseating.

Hearing a noise behind him, Wu Xie didn't have time to look at the scene in front of him. He turned around and helped Liang Shiye. If it weren't for Wu Xie's help, Liang Shiye would probably have slipped and fallen headfirst into the coffin.

"I'm truly sorry to have embarrassed you all. I've been weak and sickly since childhood, and I'll collapse at the slightest breeze. There will definitely be no more tomb raiding business like this."

Liang Shiye wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve.

"We haven't fully entered the ancient tomb yet, starting from here. These coffins are a bit strange, but I can't figure out what's wrong with them for now. Be careful where you step."

Fang Yun said calmly.

There was a straight path in the middle of the coffin leading forward, but unfortunately the torches in Wu Xie's and the others' hands were too dim, and they could only see a dozen meters at most. Beyond that, it was pitch black.

However, Wu Xie and Lao Yang felt that they had roughly figured out the path leading to the pit when they were on the cliff, and that they could get there by just walking straight ahead from this side.

Moreover, the smell in this place was so unpleasant that Wu Xie was worried that everyone would feel unwell because of the smell, so he volunteered to take a torch and lead the way.

Before Wu Xie could take more than a few dozen steps forward, Liang Shiye could no longer hold on and grabbed Wu Xie.

"No, I can't go on. I can't walk anymore. I need to catch my breath and check the situation. I also feel that something is wrong."

"I'm panting," said Master Liang.

"Hey kid, I told you not to come with us but you insisted on coming anyway. Now you're just dragging us down. I should have shot you out of the way up here. Stop pretending to be dead. Fang Yun hasn't even figured out what's wrong, and you're already spouting nonsense. Either you stay here by yourself, or you get up and come with us."

Old Yang said without any politeness.

"Old Yang, don't get excited. Let him tell me what's so strange about this place. I also want to hear what's so strange about the coffins in this cave."

Wu Xie quickly stopped Lao Yang.

Fang Yun looked at the coffins in front of him with his hands, and as if he had thought of something, his eyes gleamed with golden light.

“Master Liang, we agreed that we’re all in this together, so don’t drag us down. I don’t see anything wrong with it. I’ve seen the custom of cave burial online, and it’s described in quite detail. The pictures online are about 80% similar to the scene here. Tell me, what’s wrong with this place?”

Wu Xie asked slowly and deliberately.

“That’s right, you’re not wrong. These coffins are basically the same as the cave burial custom. But not everything on the internet is true. You only know that it’s almost the same as the cave burial custom, but you don’t know the other meaning. These coffins don’t have wooden frames next to them. Miao people’s coffins are separated by a grid-shaped frame, and the frame for men and women is different. But here, they look like shipping containers at the coast, which is very different from their customs.”

"Master Liang said quickly."

"Forgive me for being frank, but I really didn't understand what you were saying. However, since you think this isn't a place for cave burial, then what do you think this place is?"

Wu Xie asked.

"I can't tell you the answer just by looking at it from the outside, because my experience alone isn't enough to tell. However, if you could open the coffin lid and let me see what's inside, I could use my experience to figure out what kind of place it is..."

"Master Liang said quickly."

"You make it sound so easy, kid. Do you know how important it is to open a coffin in a place like this? If we don't have the right tools and we actually find a zombie, I'm telling you, we'll all be dead here. And I can tell you very clearly that there are no funerary objects inside coffins used in cave burial customs like this. Even if you open them, you won't get any benefits. On the contrary, it will only increase the danger."

Old Yang said with a disdainful look.

“I don’t think Old Yang’s words make any sense. Besides, Fang Yun hasn’t said a word. We definitely can’t make a decision on our own right now. If we anger Fang Yun, then the trip to the ancient tomb will really be a trip to the ancient tomb! Let’s talk about it later.”

Wu Xie muttered to himself.

“Master Liang, opening this coffin is indeed no small matter. Even if it were normal for the coffin to be placed here, no one would dare to open it easily without a black donkey hoof. Moreover, in such a dangerous place, it is best to avoid touching these things if possible. If you want to rest for a while, you can rest here for a bit. It won't cause too much trouble.”

Wu Xie quickly replied.

"Alright, since you two have said so, I have nothing more to say. Let me rest here at 1.3 for a few minutes, and then we'll continue on our way."

"Master Liang sighed."

Before Liang Shiye could even sit down comfortably, Wu Xie pulled him up. The torch was burning very fast, and the flames wouldn't last much longer.

If the torch goes out in such a place, it will be very difficult to find something to make light again.

The most difficult thing might be that if the flames really go out, then Wu Xie and his group will have to walk on the edge of the coffin, and they can only feel sorry for Liang Shiye, the thin and weak scholar, and dare not let him rest for more than a few steps on the way.

As you walk forward, the ground beneath your feet is a mixture of dead people and rotting coffins, making it particularly unsettling to walk on.

Chapter 321 Coffins as an Array!

Things were starting to move closer to what Wu Xie had predicted. The flames on the torches were burning too fast and were now starting to shrink, showing signs of gradually going out. The area illuminated by the light was shrinking to about five steps around.

The group could only quicken their pace and jog. While running, Wu Xie felt very strange. Looking down from the cliff, it was only about two or three hundred meters away. Even if they crawled, they would definitely reach it in five minutes. It was impossible that they had walked for almost half an hour and still hadn't seen the pit.

"How could such a strange thing happen? Could it be that the darkness and the musty smell here are causing hallucinations?"

Wu Xie couldn't help but have many more doubts.

Undeterred, Wu Xie and the others ran forward for about the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, but the result was the same as before. All they could see were coffins in front and behind them, and beyond that, it was all pitch black and they couldn't see anything at all.

"Damn it, we were too hasty. From up there, the road looked very wide, and we could easily run to the pit. But now that we're down here, all these coffins are blocking our view. No matter where we go, it looks the same as before. We have no idea where we are. We were really careless this time."

Wu Xie secretly blamed himself.

"Wu Xie, haven't you noticed I wasn't following you after running for so long?"

Fang Yun's voice suddenly came from the ground. Wu Xie and the others quickly looked in the direction of the sound and saw Fang Yun squatting on the ground, holding a wooden stick that he had picked up from somewhere, and drawing something randomly on the ground.

"What? Fang Yun, you didn't come with us when we left. Why? Is there really something strange about this place?"

Wu Xie quickly asked.

"This Master Liang is actually quite capable. There are just some things he's not very familiar with yet. You should listen to him carefully. There is indeed something strange about this place. I was just in the same spot, and now you've run for about half an hour and are back in the same place. Doesn't that prove the point?"

Fang Yun said calmly.

"That's impossible. We were moving straight ahead the whole time. I can say with certainty that I didn't take a single detour. After all, the flames hadn't died down yet. There's no way I would have turned a corner and not realized it."

Wu Xie quickly replied.

“Master Liang, you’re following us, so you should get a share of the good stuff too. I can’t be the only one making all the decisions. Share your thoughts with us so we can have a say.”

Fang Yun said calmly.

"There shouldn't be any evil spirits in this place. The key point of the Miao people's cave burial custom is that only those who died naturally can lie in the coffins inside the cave. Anyone who died of illness or murder is not allowed to enter the cave. In my opinion, the reason why we felt like we were walking forward but ended up back at the starting point is probably because there is something wrong with the coffins inside."

"These thousands of coffins are crisscrossed, and it is very likely that the art of Qimen Dunjia was used to turn this huge cave into a maze. You should know that in historical records, Zhuge Liang's Eight Trigrams Formation only used a few piles of stones to trap an army of 100,000. It would be easy for thousands of coffins here to trap us."

"Master Liang said quickly."

"Since you put it that way, why don't we just burn this whole place down? Then everything will be fine, and all that weird stuff like Qimen Dunjia will disappear! It's a one-and-done solution!"

Old Yang quickly replied.

"Are you out of your mind? Starting a fire here, are you trying to burn us all to death? Even if the fire doesn't spread to us, we'll all die from the smoke in this big cave sooner or later."

Wu Xie said irritably.

"By the way, Lao Yang, didn't you go through this once before? How did you get out so easily? Was there any trick or anything? Tell me quickly, don't keep it to yourself anymore, it's already very dangerous at this point."

Wu Xie quickly asked.

"How would I know? When I came out, I was completely lost and confused, wandering around like a headless fly. I didn't think about anything and just ended up here. I didn't encounter any of this so-called Qimen Dunjia at all. I don't think this matter is as mysterious as you say. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have been able to get out last time, and I wouldn't have been able to come back again."

Old Yang waved his hand.

"That's right, your head-down walking style is one of the techniques for getting out of here, and it's a very useful one."

Fang Yun said calmly.

When Wu Xie saw Fang Yun finally speak, he quickly came over.

"You could say this place is cleverly arranged, but you could also say it's not clever at all. It does employ some techniques. This formation is designed to deceive the eye, making you feel like you're always walking in a straight line, but in reality, you're constantly going in circles. The key to getting out of here is to follow your instincts and keep moving forward."

Fang Yun said calmly.

"How could something so mysterious happen? You..."

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