As the ancients said: Those who steal tombs, damage their virtue and bring misfortune to their descendants!

Looking out, a gigantic dragon vein stretches from the Gao Miao Temple to the plain. In its middle, twelve majestic peaks rise up out of thin air, known as the "Twelve Linked Peaks." To the east lies the solitary peak of Dangkou Temple, extending over ten kilometers from west to east, like a dragon playing with pearls. Above the main peak, wisps of mist drift and swirl around the mountain's perimeter, where a stone tablet inscribed with "Ancient Dingjun Mountain" stands solemnly.

This was a strategic location during the Three Kingdoms period. Legend has it that Xiahou Yuan, a renowned general of the Wei state, was killed here. Over centuries, countless souls are said to have been lost here, with their spirits still lingering...

Under the hill of Dingjun, there is a large natural depression. At this moment, four people were gathered by the side of the depression, acting furtively, as if they were discussing something.

Zhang Shaohong held a map and stared intently. After a long time, he loosened his furrowed brows and said in a low voice, "The map recorded by the ancestor is 300 meters ahead, but over thousands of years, the celestial bodies have changed, and the crust has also shifted. Fourth brother, go and investigate whether this Big Dipper is water or fire?"

"Yes!" Lao Si took out a very sharp shovel. The head of the shovel was conical and much narrower than an ordinary shovel, specially designed for turning soil.

Soon, a narrow thief was beaten up.

This excavation was almost ten meters deep. Lao Si used his tongue to lightly touch the newly turned soil and then sniffed it forcefully a few times. His eyes lit up instantly, and he shouted excitedly, "Big Brother, this is a burial mound! It should date back to before the Three Kingdoms period, and there are no signs of previous excavation. This time, we're definitely not going to return empty-handed!"

This is chi gong, also known as smelling gong. Thieves from the northern school are well-versed in its ways. By feeling the different sounds and vibrations created when a shovel hits the ground, they can determine the basic state of what lies beneath.

They often, before robbing a tomb, uncover the top layer of earth and hold a pinch under their nose. They try to discern if there's a metallic smell in the soil, indicating whether it has been robbed, and even which dynasty the tomb belongs to.

And the Fourth Brother had already mastered these two moves, and after he had tested ancient tombs, they were practically foolproof.

"Okay, keep digging, see if you can get through directly!"

Zhang Shaohong's face was flushed with excitement. For this ancient tomb, the four brothers had put in too much effort. With success in sight, he became agitated.

Lao Si has always been a digging expert. His speed at breaking ground is incredibly fast. Besides the occasional outburst of anger, he completely immerses himself in the work, powerfully excavating the soil. When tired, he takes a break and collaborates with others, quickly deepening the hole to an immeasurable depth.

"Be careful, there might be a layer of smoldering coal underneath. Let's douse it first. Lao San, bring me the acid water!" Zhang Shaohong shouted, then picked up a glass bottle and poured a tiny bit into the soil. Suddenly, a large cloud of smoke erupted from the ground.

The yellow smoke seemed endless, continuing for over ten minutes. The smoke was still erupting violently, dyeing the sky above the depression a sickly yellow.

Fortunately, the wind here is strong. With a gust of wind, it dissipated.

Not until the yellow smoke had dissipated completely did Zhang Shaohong arrive at the entrance. He lit a miner's lamp at the top and then nimbly crawled towards the depths, followed by the other three.

This small passage was only half a meter wide. Even with both arms outstretched, one couldn't fully fit through it. However, Zhang Shaohong moved incredibly fast and quickly reached the top. Beneath him lay a dark space. Zhang Shaohong pulled out several glow sticks from his pocket and threw them into the blackness. The light from the glow sticks instantly illuminated half of the tomb passage.

Between the flickering lights, in the direction where a luminous rod had just lit up, he seemed to see a ghastly pale face staring at him. But upon closer inspection, there was nothing there.

"Damn, something's fishy!"

"Second and Third, bring out your knives, Fourth, get the black donkey hooves. There seems to be something in this tomb..."

Zhang Shaohong, as he spoke, placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. He threw down a few flares, confirming that there were no traps, before leaping down. The moment he landed, he curled up like a kitten, making only a soft 'thud' sound. The other three followed suit.

After a while of being on guard, they discovered that there was nothing around and finally swallowed their saliva. They began to examine the surroundings. Zhang Shaohong lit candles in several corners of the tomb. The originally dim underground cave suddenly brightened up.

This is a vast area with a diameter of over a hundred meters. The ground is covered in rubble, forming a completely empty expanse. In the center stands a gigantic niche. The surrounding atmosphere is eerily silent. Even in this darkness, not a single rat or bat can be seen. It's truly strange, as if the entire tomb is a dead zone, directly connected to hell. Not even an insect could survive here.

"OOO…"

Suddenly, a tiny sound crept into everyone's ears, like hundreds of little ghosts whispering to each other, or like thousands of venomous snakes hissing from the shadows.

The sound was strange, as if it didn't travel through the air at all. It was sharp, chaotic, and shoved violently into everyone's ears by an unseen hand. No matter how hard they struggled, they couldn't escape it!

The voice fluctuated in volume, then abruptly stopped after a while.

Looking at the four brothers in the tomb passage, each of them with their shirts buttoned up. To be honest, Zhang Shaohong's heart was still uneasy at this moment. Zhang Shaohong prided himself on his vast knowledge, but he had never seen this kind of situation before. Moreover, deep down, he always felt something following him from behind, the rustling sounds, he didn't know where they came from.

The walls of the room were adorned with many bizarre and eerie carvings of spirits and demons. These sculptures were incredibly lifelike, vividly rendered, and no matter where you stood, you felt as if you were under the gaze of these menacing creatures.

"Lao Er, come here. Can you read what's on these walls?" Zhang Shaohong asked.

Zhang Jia Laosi is a man of the rivers and lakes, having traveled far and wide for many years. His experience naturally surpasses that of his other brothers.

"I know of them, but... the detailed depictions of spirits and demons were only popular after the Warring States period. Back then, they were believed to be messengers sent from heaven, and their faces were only recorded on the most prestigious bronze vessels. Logically speaking, they shouldn't be depicted as so ferocious!"

"Could the owner of this tomb be from a dynasty we don't know about?" Lao Er said thoughtfully.

"Wait...and so on." Suddenly, his pupils dilated, his eyes widening. One hand trembled as it pointed at the wall: "Brother, the thing on the wall is alive!"

Lao Er clearly saw that the relief directly facing him, which had been menacing like a furious golden arhat just a moment ago, was now laughing unrestrainedly.

"What?" Zhang Shaohong, upon hearing this, hurriedly swung his flashlight, but couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Kekeke!

Suddenly, a frantic voice came from behind the four people. A pale face flashed past them before disappearing into the darkness.

"Big brother…"

“Don't panic!” Zhang Shaohong forced himself to sound calm. “Old Zhuge is famous throughout the land for his skills with puppets. He takes the skin off living people, marinates it in old salt from Sichuan, and stitches it onto his puppets. Don't lose your footing, or you'll be led into a trap.”

After finishing his words, he continuously threw out several flares, illuminating the room and calming the anxious hearts of the crowd.

The second brother's face was a little pale. He was closest to that thing that had just flashed out, and he had clearly seen it – the puppet's face made changes like a human expression. That is to say, this puppet might have its own thoughts…

But at this moment, he couldn't utter a single word. If he did, it would terrify everyone.

Lao San slowly unwrapped the package, releasing a goose. Several people followed the goose step by step toward the central shrine.

By the light of the cold fire, Zhang Shaohong discovered that the niche was cast from bronze, about two meters high. It had been there for an unknown amount of time, covered in a layer of oily verdigris.

Just like the wall, the surface of the niche was also carved with many eerie faces. There were faces crying, smiling, and expressing anger and sadness. Each face was so lifelike that even the sweat could be seen clearly, as if they were about to burst out of the bronze. For people with poor eyesight, it would seem as if many living heads had sprouted from the large bronze niche out of nowhere!

“Should we lift this large sarcophagus? I bet the burial goods are all inside!” Lao Si said hesitantly. Unlike Wuhou Temple, this large coffin was most likely Zhuge Liang’s true burial place. Without their ancestors' map, they would have never found it. It wouldn’t be believable if Zhuge Liang hadn’t left some tricks in his own tomb, but to return empty-handed felt unacceptable.

"Hold on, let me calculate that!"

The second brother narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the large niche. He then tossed the six copper coins in his hand, and they all landed with their tails facing up, revealing a rare and ominous hexagram.

"Big brother, let's just go! The things in the tomb are beyond our reach."

"Get over yourself, just drop that ridiculous fortune-telling act. I don't believe a dragon will fly out of this big coffin!"

The third brother grumbled and cursed.

"You have to go! Lao Er, if you're scared, just stay here and guard us. If anything comes at us, send it straight to the West Heaven to see Buddha." Zhang Shaohong gritted his teeth and said softly. A fighter never returns empty-handed, right?

Having said that, the three of them rolled up their sleeves and braced themselves, intending to directly overturn this niche.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, a deafening gunshot startled the three of them. The slightly raised alcove crashed back down. Zhang Shaohong turned his head and saw Lao Er trembling, his face pale with fear as he knelt on the ground, his gun still smoking. It seemed he didn't even know when it went off.

"You idiot! I told you to keep an eye on him, why the hell did you shoot?" Zhang Shaohong kicked Lao Er over with a furious kick.

"I... I saw a shadow, crawling out from the gap in that large niche. It was the demon's niche, the demon's niche..." Lao Er's teeth chattered, and big beads of sweat soaked his clothes.

"Aren't they those human skin puppets?"

Chang Shao-hong suppressed his anger and asked, he felt something was amiss. His second brother was a very steady and low-key person, and he was a fortune teller by profession. How could he be so frightened by a puppet?

"I saw the fourth brother. That shadow's face looked exactly like the fourth brother..."

When the second son finished speaking, everyone in the room understood. Several people's faces turned grim, and the fourth brother even gave his three older brothers goosebumps.

"Otherwise, shall we retreat?"

"No, this is Zhuge Liang's main tomb. Look at how strange the niche is; there must be something incredible hidden inside. Besides, the group just opened a passageway. If there was any danger, we would have known by now. All these guys are faces, what Old Three saw might be similar to what Old Four sees. The line of sight isn't good, it's normal to make a mistake."

Zhang Shaohong pondered for a long time, but he still decided to open the niche. If there were rare treasures inside, then this trip would be a real windfall.

The four brothers looked at each other, then raised their eyes to the large niche once more. But greedily as they were, they didn't notice that the candles they had lit had somehow changed color to a sickly green. Old Four's watch also began to act strangely; his entire face twisted and contorted, his eyes and nose shifting out of place, making him look terrifyingly grotesque. Yet at this moment, with the niche already open, everyone was too terrified by what sat within to pay any attention to Old Four's changes.

"Haw haw haw…"

Lao Si's face, illuminated by the green candlelight, suddenly broke into a strange smile, which startled the other three.

Chang Shao-hong was just about to swing his shovel when a large, raised platform suddenly came crashing down on him. Lao Si also staggered and grabbed Lao San's neck, opening his mouth wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth, and bit down...