General of the Heavens

When Luo Laowai saw that there was indeed an ancient tomb in Ping Mountain, he was overjoyed. His old face was as big as a blooming chrysanthemum, while he was cursing under his breath.

"As large as a city wall!"

"That's a ton of gold and precious jewels!"

Ning Chen scoffed, "There are countless of them, but whether you get the treasure depends on fate! If you're unlucky, you might just die!"

"Pah! Pah! Pah! What bad luck!" Old Luo exclaimed anxiously, "Brother Ning, don't say such discouraging things! We have the protection of our ancestral master!"

Ning Chen smiled but didn't say anything. He knew very well that if you wanted to rob a tomb in Ping Mountain, even if the ancestral master protected you, or even if the Bodhisattva appeared, it would be of no use!

This is truly risking one's life to rob a tomb!

Before this, clouds and mist rose from the cracks in Ping Mountain, and rainbows appeared and disappeared. What was beautiful scenery at all was clearly poisonous gas created by poisonous creatures in the mountain!

Without protective measures, how could one survive to seize the treasure? At this time, Luo Laowai and Chen Yulou had already begun making arrangements.

After confirming that there was indeed an ancient tomb in Ping Mountain, Chen Yulou ordered Luo Laowai to gather troops, and his engineering and excavation battalion had already arrived.

This group of people is a bunch of money-grubbing idiots, opium addicts, gamblers, whores—they have all sorts of personalities, it's incredibly diverse.

However, only people like this are not afraid of taboos. For them, digging up graves is like digging for big oceans and small yellow croakers in the soil!

Everyone's eager to do something this good!

Together with Chen Yulou's group of Unloading Ridge Warriors, they had both manpower and tools at hand. Chen Yulou was in high spirits and planned to start work the next day.

The next day at noon, the sun was blazing.

The lurking poisonous creatures within Ping Mountain presented the perfect opportunity for tomb raiding. Ning Chen, familiar with the plot, informed Chen Yulou that the poisonous creatures within Ping Mountain were more numerous and ferocious than he had imagined.

But Chen Yulou has a personality like that; once he makes a decision, no one can stop him. However, considering that Ning Chen's situation might indeed exist, in order to avoid too many casualties among the bandits, he ordered twice as much lime powder.

Before entering the tomb, a large amount of lime powder was scattered, so even if the poisonous creatures in Ping Mountain were very fierce, they would have little effect on tomb raiding.

Chen Yulou was making these plans in his mind.

However, Ning Chen's worry did not lessen at all. He realized that although Chen Yulou could listen to other people's opinions, he was more likely to let his own opinions dictate the overall situation.

"Sigh, I wonder if Chen Yulou will succeed. It seems it's time to make two preparations!" Ning Chen made a decision instantly.

Taking advantage of Chen Yulou's predicament, he then approached Partridge Whistle and asked, "Brother Chen's arrangements are thorough, but riddled with hidden dangers. The final result will most likely be failure. With the methods of your Mountain Moving lineage, do you have any good solutions?"

"Failure? How can you be so sure, Brother Ning?"

Partridge Whistle found it unbelievable that Ning Chen had predicted Chen Yulou would fail. After all, Chen Yulou was a ruthless man who revitalized the Unloading Ridge lineage. Partridge Whistle couldn't find any fault with his arrangements just now. How could he fail?

Ning Chen pointed towards Ping Mountain and said, "Since ancient times, Ping Mountain has been the place where emperors of all dynasties refined elixirs, which is more than a thousand years ago..."

The waste and discarded medicines from alchemy continued year after year. Imagine, even a pig living here for a long time would be full of toxins, let alone the many poisonous insects in western Hunan.

"Brother Ning is saying that the poisonous insects in Ping Mountain may have developed resistance to insect repellents such as lime powder. If so, Brother Chen has indeed overlooked this."

Hearing Partridge Whistle's agreement, Ning Chen quickly asked, "So, what methods are there to deal with this kind of ancient poison that might have become a spirit?"

Without hesitation, Partridge Whistle replied, "In that case, according to the methods of our Mountain Moving lineage, we should use the principles of mutual generation and restraint to find the nemesis of poisons in order to subdue them!"

Ning Chen smiled, "Then, I suggest..."

Before he finished speaking, Ning Chen and Partridge Whistle heard that something seemed to have happened to Chen Yulou. The two rushed over and saw that what Ning Chen had just said was indeed true!

It turned out that Chen Yulou took Ning Chen's guesses very seriously. He was extremely cautious and sent two highly skilled, daring, and meticulous subordinates ahead to scout ahead.

Each of his two henchmen carried a large bamboo basket containing the Centipede Mountain-Hanging Ladder, a unique artifact of the Unloading Ridge Bandits.

This thing is a bamboo ladder made of sections. When the bandits of the Unloading Ridge gang were raiding tombs, they could not do without this tool whenever they encountered difficulties and dangers while going up the mountain or down the stream.

When in use, if one of the bamboo poles is connected longitudinally, it becomes a long bamboo pole. Bamboo tubes for people to step on are inserted on both sides, and a hanging claw is attached to the top.

From a distance, it looks just like a bamboo centipede.

Unable to climb the sheer cliffs, the two took turns using two centipede-shaped mountain ladders, hooking them into the crevices of the pine trees and rocks, which allowed them to quickly ascend the treacherous cliffs.

The prototype of this centipede-shaped mountain ladder evolved from the tools used by the Red Eyebrow Army in the Han Dynasty when attacking cities. It has been repeatedly modified and improved by dozens of generations to become what it is today.

Chen Yulou ordered the porters to pour lime into the deep ravine. The lime bags broke open as soon as they hit the bottom of the valley, and the lime inside splashed and boiled.

He assumed that no matter how vicious the poison was, it wouldn't be able to withstand the violent choking, and even if he survived by chance, he would surely escape far away.

So the two men went down into the valley to search. Chen Yulou wouldn't risk the lives of any of his brothers, so he prepared soft ropes and tied them around their waists. If anything went wrong, they could pull the ropes and Chen Yulou could have someone pull them to save them.

Chen Yulou had made the most careful preparations of his life, but even so, trouble still came knocking on his door after about 35 minutes.

There was nothing unusual on the other side of the rope, but suddenly, the two people seemed to freeze, and the rope stopped moving at all.

Chen Yulou was surprised and had his messenger tug on the rope. To his surprise, the rope was pulled back very easily without any resistance.

After all the ropes were retrieved, they discovered that the two men were nowhere to be found; the two men had simply vanished.

The result must have been ascension to paradise.

Chen Yulou's expression was grave: "Brother Ning's guess is absolutely right. If I send all my brothers down to search for the treasure, I'm afraid we'll suffer heavy losses!"

Ning Chen knew that after the medicine furnace on Ping Mountain was abandoned, many medicinal herbs and minerals were left behind. Over time, the medicinal aroma dissipated into the soil, attracting the five poisonous creatures to gather.

After the ancient tomb cracked open, these poisonous insects used the burial site as their nest. They would devour each other and spread their poison, and with the help of medicine, each of them became extremely venomous.

When the venom gets on a person's skin, it instantly rots into pus and blood. As long as it is flesh and blood, not even a hair, bone, or marrow will remain.

Moreover, poisonous creatures often burrow into the tombs and bite the dead, turning the corpses into sewage that they then absorb. The ignorant locals used the relocation of corpses to explain this rare phenomenon.

So those two brothers are now dead.

Fortunately, Ning Chen reminded Chen Yulou and he escaped a disaster; otherwise, not even half of his Xieling brothers would have survived.

"Brother Ning, what do you think we should do?"

Chen Yulou looked at Ning Chen and asked cautiously.

After this incident, no one dared to underestimate Ning Chen. Even if Ning Chen didn't know how to use General Qiu's methods, his mouth was "blessed" with wisdom!

"I suggest we split into two groups..."

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