Tomb raiding: Carrying a coffin during a funeral procession, rewarded with the Dragon Elephant Prajn

Li Changsheng and his two companions wandered around Shunfengshan Park for a while, without making any plans to go down into the tomb right now.

After they had gathered enough information about the surrounding area, the three of them had dinner and went back to their hotel rooms to rest.

The next day, Xiang Yunfeng was in charge of purchasing some necessities for the tomb raiding.

He knew of a secret passage that led directly from the low hill next to Shunfengshan Park to the underground palace.

However, this secret passage was blown up by them with detonators last time, so they will have to dig it out with shovels to find the way out.

So Xiang Yunfeng bought a shovel, rope, flashlight, and prepared two backpacks full of dry food, emergency medicine, bandages, and other things.

Seeing this, Wu Xie was a little puzzled and subconsciously asked, "Boss Xiang, is it necessary to bring so much dry food? That low hill in Shunfeng Mountain Park isn't that big. If we finish this quickly, we won't even need it for one night."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Yunfeng gave a wry smile.

"You've got it wrong. The main burial chamber isn't in Shunfengshan Park. The real main burial chamber is in Jiugong Mountain, several kilometers away! This Mustard Seed Marquis Tomb spans several kilometers, hollowing out almost the entire Jiugong Mountain. The deepest point is a hundred meters underground. There are also three underground palaces, countless excavated caves, and a network of underground rivers. The terrain inside is extremely complex; just one underground palace is larger than People's Square in the city."

At this point, Xiang Yunfeng paused, picked up a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and then continued to explain.

"When I went down into the tomb, the two zombies, the Mustard Seed Marquis and his daughter, had already been dug out of the coffin and were chasing us everywhere. Although a master later subdued them by holding a coin in his mouth, the effect didn't last long. As for what happened in the tomb afterward, and where the father and daughter zombies were in the tomb, I have no idea."

Upon hearing this, Wu Xie suddenly understood and nodded, saying, "So, before we go down, we need to find this father and daughter zongzi first?"

"That's right."

Hearing this, Wu Xie had no further questions.

He figured that since he wasn't the one fighting the zombie zombies, he might as well learn something from the experience.

The three waited for several more hours until it was completely dark before driving to the low hill outside Shunfengshan Park.

It was already eight or nine o'clock at night, and the road near the low mountain was quiet, with almost no vehicles coming and going.

Even several of the streetlights along the roadside were broken, and the light was flickering.

Wu Xie drove the Toyota Land Cruiser to an open space next to the low hill, then picked up the hiking backpack that Xiang Yunfeng had prepared, and then took the black coffin on his own initiative.

Li Changsheng sat on the black coffin, closing his eyes to rest, appearing exceptionally comfortable.

Xiang Yunfeng was startled by what he saw and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Wu Xie, you're really strong!"

"Hehe, not bad."

Wu Xie looked smug. In the past, he would have found it difficult to carry this heavy backpack.

But now, let alone a black coffin, even if there were another coffin weighing several hundred pounds, he felt he could easily carry it.

Xiang Yunfeng nodded and quickly led the way.

The hill wasn't very big, and the group walked for about thirty minutes before arriving at the ridge on the other side.

Xiang Yunfeng shone his flashlight around the area and nodded when he saw a stream near the low hill.

"The Shinto path that was destroyed back then should be located in this spot."

As he spoke, he took out a whirlwind shovel from his backpack, spat into his palm, and began to swing it around.

Seeing this, Wu Xie quickly put down the black coffin and picked up a whirlwind shovel to join in.

Working together, the two dug for about half an hour until they broke through the top layer of soil, revealing a deep and winding cave entrance.

Seeing the cave entrance appear, Xiang Yunfeng breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Luckily, I didn't remember the location wrong. This sacred path leads all the way to Jiugong Mountain. Taking this route will save a lot of trouble and allow us to avoid many traps and mechanisms."

Back then, Xiang Yunfeng followed a group of people down into the tomb of the Marquis of Mustard Seed, and lost many of his brothers.

Because the tomb of the Marquis of Mustard Seed is too strange, with one bizarre mechanism after another.

They were even trapped in the tomb for nearly half a month until someone came to rescue them and they escaped.

Wu Xie gave a thumbs up and looked curiously into the cave.

Traces of human construction can still be faintly seen inside this spirit path, with tomb passages made of piled bricks and tiles.

However, due to the passage of time and the fact that it was bombed by Xiang Yunfeng and his group a few years ago, the interior of the sacred path is dark and damp, with water accumulating at the bottom.

Fortunately, Xiang Yunfeng was prepared and took out his rubber shoes to get ready.

He looked at Wu Xie and said with a smile, "Tomb raiding is divided into two factions, North and South. We people from the North are all landlubbers and basically can't go down into water caves. In this respect, you people from the South are a bit stronger."

Upon hearing this, Wu Xie quickly waved his hand, "Actually, I'm not exactly a proper tomb raider..."

"Brother Wu Xie, you're too modest. If the people of the Wu family of the Nine Gates aren't considered proper tomb raiders, then there are no proper people in the South!"

Xiang Yunfeng laughed and didn't believe Wu Xie's words.

While they were talking, they had already changed into rubber shoes.

They turned to look at Li Changsheng, only to see him shake his head.

"I don't need to, Wu Xie can carry the black coffin."

Wu Xie nodded, hoisted the black coffin, and jumped into the spirit path.

This sacred path was built during the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is exceptionally wide and can accommodate a horse-drawn carriage to pass through!

Tombs from the Western Zhou period were characterized by their large scale.

The construction of tombs during this period required the mobilization of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of laborers, and they were often built to the specifications of cities.

A mound of earth covering a tomb is like a mountain!

For example, Mount Li, built by Qin Shi Huang, was a mountain that was artificially constructed.

However, the tombs that came later on were not as large.

On the one hand, the emperors and feudal lords after the Han Dynasty wanted to have a good reputation after their deaths, so they dared not conscript so many laborers.

On the other hand, the larger the tomb, the more conspicuous it becomes, which would be blatantly telling future tomb raiders that there is treasure here...

Therefore, the scale of the tombs of feudal lords in the Han Dynasty, especially after the Three Kingdoms period, became smaller and smaller.

The three of them walked for about one or two hours.

However, Xiang Yunfeng and Wu Xie occasionally chatted about their past experiences of tomb raiding and setting up cooking pots, so they didn't feel tired.

After walking for two hours, the three finally arrived at a burial tomb.

The tomb door of this burial chamber had long been opened, and a crowbar was even left on the ground next to the tomb door.

Wu Xie peeked inside curiously, then his eyes widened in surprise, and he exclaimed, "Huangchang Ticou?!"

Xiang Yunfeng smiled slightly and praised, "Brother Wu Xie is indeed amazing; he recognized it as a 'Huangchang Ticou' (a type of ancient Chinese zither) at a glance!"

Inside the burial chamber, layers upon layers of yellow cypress wood, over three meters high, formed a nearly cube-shaped structure.

The Huangchangticou style refers to the standard for imperial tombs during the pre-Qin period.

The craftsmen would place the emperor's coffin in the very center, and then build it up layer by layer with tightly fitted pieces of yellow cypress wood, each weighing hundreds of kilograms!

The way it was stacked was extremely ingenious, and it was similar to the mortise and tenon structure used in carpentry. This left the tomb raiders helpless against this huge thing that weighed hundreds of tons!

It is said that in the 1980s, a group of daring tomb raiders in the north found an imperial tomb from the Western Han Dynasty and encountered the Huangchangticou (a type of ancient Chinese tomb structure) inside.

Because the tomb is located deep in the mountains, there is no need to worry about it being discovered.

The leader of the tomb raiders, faced with the impasse of the Huangchangticou (a type of ancient Chinese tomb structure), resorted to desperate measures, gathering dozens of kilograms of explosives in an attempt to blast open the outer cypress wood.

But who knew that dozens of kilograms of explosives would only cause minor cuts and bruises!

The tomb raiders had no choice but to leave dejectedly.

Later, the local archaeological department received a report from local residents and discovered the imperial tomb that had almost been robbed.

It took them several months to bring in heavy equipment such as cranes before they were finally able to open the Huangchang Ticou!

When local archaeologists opened the coffin, they found it to be perfectly preserved, with no artifacts stolen!

This incident shows that the Huangchangticou (黄肠题凑) is the anti-theft mechanism that tomb raiders least want to encounter!

Because of the Huangchang Ticou (a type of ancient Chinese tomb structure), the only way for tomb raiders to open it was to spend several months, even using cranes, to slowly extract the cypress wood!

But tomb raiding requires operating at night and hiding from people as much as possible; where would one find the time and equipment to do such a thing?

Therefore, tombs with the "Huangchang Ticou" (a type of ancient Chinese tomb structure) inside are mostly able to prevent tomb robbers.

Historically, there are extremely rare instances of the Huangchang Ticou being stolen.

Unless you're like Cao Cao, who directly sent an army to sweep through, a small group of three to five people simply can't break through!