I, a cultivator, have ended up in the world of tomb raiding.

Partridge Whistle asked them with a hint of curiosity:

"How did you two manage to escape? What happened here?"

The girl in red then briefly recounted their encounter.

Partridge Whistle looked surprised and was secretly amazed that they had managed to escape danger all along the way.

He couldn't help but glance at Li Yue, thinking to himself that this Brother Li was indeed exceptionally skilled and unfathomable.

Then he asked, "Miss Hong, where were you all rushing to just now?"

Hong Guniang also looked at Li Yue with a blank expression.

She was just following along without really understanding what was going on; all she knew was that he was chasing monkeys.

Li Yue answered succinctly: "Find the Corpse King of the Yuan Tomb."

Partridge Whistle was startled by this, and immediately realized: "Could it be among the giant rocks where the bottle tumbled down?"

They practically turned the inside of Ping Mountain upside down.

If the Yuan Tomb is indeed still in Ping Mountain, then the only remaining possibility is the mouth of the bottle.

Li Yue nodded slightly, signaling everyone to follow.

Now that we've found the right direction, there's no need to rush like before.

Moreover, he had already separated a sliver of his divine sense and locked it firmly onto the few fleeing monkeys.

Following these auras will not only lead to the successful discovery of the purple-gold coffin,

This would also allow us to wipe out this group of monkeys that have been causing trouble and harming people in the area for years, thus preventing future problems.

Partridge Whistle heard from Li Yue that they could directly find the tomb of a Yuan Dynasty general.

There were no further objections at that moment, and he raised his hand to signal his junior brothers and sisters and Miao Renxiang to follow.

Hua Ling was so tired that sweat beaded on her forehead.

But having traveled all over the country and crossed mountains and valleys with his two senior brothers since childhood, he recovered quickly after a short rest.

The Miao guide had spent years navigating the Old Bear Ridge, knowing the mountain terrain like the backyard.

I just rushed along too hastily and couldn't catch my breath.

He braced himself against the tree trunk for a few moments and gritted his teeth to stand up, but his legs were still weak.

Just then, a very soft yet exceptionally clear "coo~coo~" sound suddenly rang out from the forest.

It was the rumbling of an extremely hungry stomach.

The air fell silent for a moment.

All eyes turned toward the direction from which the sound came.

The girl in red was taken aback at first, then a little bit of red appeared on her earlobe.

She instinctively took a deep breath and quickly pressed her hand against her lower abdomen, her knuckles applying slight pressure, as if trying to suppress the sound.

But that bit of embarrassment couldn't be hidden no matter how hard I tried.

She lightly kicked a small pebble by shuffling her toe on the ground, then coughed lightly, feigning composure.

"What are you looking at? After all this trouble, who isn't allowed to go hungry?"

However, there was still a hint of annoyance and embarrassment in his tone.

Seeing that she was embarrassed, everyone secretly found it amusing but didn't say anything to tease her, pretending not to have heard anything.

Li Yue looked at them and said, "We ran too fast just now, so let's rest here for a while."

The words had barely left his mouth when the Miao guide, who had been holding onto the tree, slid down first.

He plopped down on the ground again.

Old Yangren and Hua Ling quickly distributed dry rations and water bags to everyone.

Hong Guniang stopped being stubborn.

She survived a landslide, encountered a black-clad zombie in a cave, and then faced further trouble from the corpse puppets after descending the mountain.

They fought with the monkeys on the rocks by the stream, and were already starving.

He took the coarse flatbread from Hua Ling and ate it with a mouthful of water and a mouthful of flatbread.

When Li Yue was assigned a task, he took it over, nodded his thanks, and sat down to the side, slowly chewing and swallowing.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, Partridge Whistle looked at the surrounding mountain terrain and turned to ask the guide about the terrain of the back mountain.

The Miao guide was eager for these "ancestors" to sit a little longer so that he could get some rest.

He hurriedly replied:

"You may not know this, but the back mountain is a wild and desolate place with intersecting forests and valleys. The stone pillars and stalagmites standing everywhere are called 'Huyan' by us cave dwellers."

Deep within Huyan lies Nuqing'ao, a mountain range shaped like a phoenix spreading its wings. It is said that the ancestral cave with seventy-two caves still remains at the innermost part.

There used to be stone statues of black birds and black bears, but they have been abandoned for many years, and now even locals rarely set foot there.

Partridge Whistle nodded slightly, a knowing look in his eyes:

"As expected, the Ping Mountain ancient tomb used the technique of warding off evil spirits, using the yin energy of the suspended tomb to suppress the auspicious earth veins of the Yi people's ancestral cave."

Hua Ling, who was holding a water pouch, listened curiously and asked softly, "Senior brother, what is the method of cursing?"

Partridge Whistle, wanting his junior brothers and sisters to broaden their horizons and inherit the secret techniques of moving mountains, slowed down his speech and explained in detail:

"The art of warding off evil spirits or the earth's energy is to use objects, talismans, and feng shui arrangements to suppress evil spirits or the earth's energy. The Yuan people were extremely skilled in this art."

Back then, Yang Lianzhenjia plundered the imperial tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty, burying the remains of emperors and empresses alongside the bones of pigs and dogs. He then built the Zhennan Pagoda to suppress the dragon energy of Jiangnan, which was the most insidious form of apotropaic magic.

They chatted for a while longer, mostly about strange things they had seen and heard, local customs and traditions, and their conversation was quite interesting.

They talked and talked, but eventually returned to the ancient secret art of curses and spells.

"The so-called curses and spells of the past are mostly tricks used by sorcerers to deceive the public and shamans to deceive the world. Our lineage of Moving Mountains has never worshipped ghosts or gods, nor has it believed in fate."

The book *Tiangong Kaiwu* also states: "All strange and unusual phenomena are man-made."

Partridge Whistle continued, "Those ancient curses and Miao witchcrafts are, in the end, all human tricks, not divine punishment or retribution."

"Senior brother."

The burly young man, broad-shouldered and taciturn, looked at Partridge Whistle and suddenly asked:

"Since these witchcraft and sorcery are all man-made tricks, what if we encounter ancient and deeply rooted evil arts that have been passed down for thousands of years..."

He spoke in a muffled voice, his tone tinged with barely suppressed bitterness:

"Can they really withstand it with just manpower?"

Upon hearing this, Partridge Whistle's expression froze.

Hua Ling could also sense the wavering and doubt in these words, and couldn't help but look at her two senior brothers with some worry.

"Fortune and misfortune are not determined by fate, but by one's own efforts." After a moment of silence, Partridge Whistle spoke to the old foreigner.

Don't overthink it.

His face appeared somewhat cold and hard in the dim light under the tree canopy, and his tone was extremely firm.

I just don't know if I'm talking to the old foreigner or to myself.

The barbarian and the girl in red were unaware of the entanglements and misfortunes that had plagued the Mountain Moving lineage for generations; they assumed they were still discussing the Yuan people's suppression of Ping Mountain.

They didn't notice the subtle change in the atmosphere among the three mountain-moving men at all.

Li Yue sat opposite them, listening to every word clearly. As an outsider who had read the original work, he naturally understood.

The old man asked whether human strength could overcome the ancient curse, but in his heart he was questioning the blood curse that had haunted the Zaglama tribe for generations and that they could not escape.

The Mountain Moving lineage did not bear the burden of ordinary witchcraft or curses, but rather the inescapable fate and calamity brought by the Ghost Cave, etched into their very blood.

The curse is ethereal and cannot be dismantled by mechanisms or broken by weapons.

Even a towering figure like Partridge Whistle, after spending half his life searching for a sliver of hope in an endless sea of ​​suffering.

It wasn't that the old foreigner didn't trust his senior brother; it was just that the tragedies of generations weighed heavily on his heart, and even the most resolute mind couldn't help but harbor some doubts in the shadows.

I fear this calamity is beyond human control, and that all their efforts, though risking their lives, will ultimately amount to nothing.

Even more frightening is the possibility that the legendary Muchen Pearl, which could supposedly end the curse passed down through generations, simply doesn't exist.

After filling their stomachs and resting for a while, the group got up and continued walking deeper into the dense forest.