The monkey took my advice and quickly dug a horizontal tunnel. However, when he reached the Panlong Lock, an unexpected problem arose: "Young Master Duan, things are more complicated than I thought. I can remove the Panlong Lock, but my digging skills are much worse than those of the others. The dimensions don't match at all!"

I heard that the Panlong Lock was unusable, but I didn't think it was a big problem. I instructed the others, "Everyone, get moving and collect some sharpened branches from the surrounding area. Then stick them into the tunnel from the opposite direction. That way, it will be difficult for others to open our tunnel."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Peng raised his bound hands and gestured, "Mr. Duan, everyone needs to go down into the tomb now, and it's really inconvenient for me to be like this. Could you untie me so I can go and help?"

Throughout the morning's march, Zhou Peng behaved relatively normally. Seeing that he hadn't had another episode, I thought for a moment, then untied the rope around his wrists and gestured for Ivan to give him a knife.

There was a grove of trees not far from the summit, and we quickly collected enough branches.

While working, I took advantage of the others' inattention to throw the military dagger I always carried into the bushes, and then put on the rusty knife I had picked up.

The monkey then climbed up and said, "The two tunnels have been connected. I checked them, and there are no traps underneath. We can go in now. You guys go down first, and I'll set up these branches behind you."

Zhou Peng asked in confusion, "Didn't we say we were going to cover up the tunnel? Who's responsible for covering it up after we go down?"

The monkey has recently learned a lot of tricks: "This is simple. Just pile up the soil above the tomb and put it on the travel bag. Then, use a stone slab to hold the soil up behind the pile. As long as you drag the travel bag with a rope, the soil will pour in like quicksand. I dug an L-shaped tomb, which is just enough to hold the soil in place."

"call out--"

Just then, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from the air, followed by a flare that swayed and rose into the sky, appearing to be no more than one kilometer away from us.

Seeing a glimmer of green in the air, my heart skipped a beat: "Someone else has entered this forest. Everyone, go down into the tunnel and we'll talk inside!"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone started lining up to go down into the cave.

The monkey's tunnel was about five meters deep. Ivan and Sasha were the first to climb down, and then they pulled me, Song Laosan, Zhou Peng, and me down with them.

After the monkey landed, we all pulled together on the rope, and the loose soil above quickly poured down.

After everyone gathered, I turned on my flashlight and began to observe the surroundings.

We were in the upper middle part of a brick tomb passage. Roughly estimated, the height difference between the two ends of this passage was at least twenty meters. I don't know if it was because of the ventilation from the previous tomb raider's hole, but I didn't feel stuffy after coming down.

Although the person who dug the tunnel was skilled, a layer of loose soil still inevitably remained on the ground. Song Laosan squatted down to examine it and said, "The footprints here are very messy. There should be more than five people involved. Judging from the size of the shoes, there are no women inside. Your guess is correct. The group that went in is most likely Duan Jinyan's group."

"The fact that they were able to set up the dragon-patterned lock in the tomb passage suggests that they likely knew someone was tracking them, or perhaps these people have always been this cautious. Everyone should be careful while traveling and be wary of any other actions they might take!"

After six months of adjustment, I have gained a wealth of experience in tombs, and during the search for Hu Shahu's tomb, I have also been intensively studying the relevant knowledge of Jin tombs.

The burial style of the Jin Dynasty was not only influenced by the Liao Dynasty, but also inherited from the Northern Song Dynasty. Brick chamber tombs imitating wooden architecture were popular, and they were divided into single-chamber and multi-chamber tombs. Hu Shahu had always harbored ambitions of rebellion during his lifetime. According to unofficial history, his mausoleum was also built according to the imperial mausoleum. Combined with the huge square on the ground, I deduced that the scale of his tomb must not be small.

After my reminder, the others also remained vigilant and moved at an extremely slow pace.

After walking about thirty meters, Song Laosan next to me sniffed and said, "If you count them, this tomb passage is almost fifty meters long, right? But we still can't see the end. It seems that this place is still quite large. It's probably another underground palace."

The monkey, however, disagreed: "Isn't the underground palace a good thing? The larger the scale, the more burial goods there are. Even if Young Master Duan's father really takes that jade seal, we won't go back empty-handed and suffer all this for nothing!"

Old Song scoffed, "There are plenty of treasures in the underground palace, but the traps are also numerous. Haven't you learned your lesson after what happened at the Demon Monk's Tomb?"

When the monkey brought this up, he immediately retorted, "How dare you talk to me like that? We took such a huge risk before, and you only sold the stuff we brought out for a few million. I was young and naive back then, but I will definitely not be fooled by you again this time!"

Amidst their bickering, I kept a close eye on the ground. When I saw a row of nails ahead, I immediately raised my hand to stop the others from proceeding.

Under the beams of several flashlights, a row of iron nails appeared on the ground in front of us, embedded in the cracks in the ground.

The monkey crouched down and examined the nails and the pebbles next to them: "The marks on the pebbles don't match the marks on the stone slab. These nails must have been driven in recently."

I looked at the row of iron nails at the end of the stone slab and the flat top of the tomb passage: "This is an iron chain hanging stone. I encountered it in the tomb of the demon monk. The purpose of these iron nails is to hold the stone slab in place, preventing it from tilting and triggering the mechanism, causing the stone slab above to fall down."

The monkey asked in surprise, "You mean, those people carried so many iron nails in? These things must weigh at least several dozen kilograms, right? Don't they find them heavy?"

"This is the strength of professional tomb raiding gangs. They can deduce the possible mechanisms inside the tombs based on the different burial structures, and then carry the corresponding tools. After using them, they leave them at the scene to reduce the burden. By the time they find the burial goods, they have almost used them all. Then they replace them with funerary objects of equal weight and take them away. Their main focus is professionalism. But this is good. With them clearing the way in front, our risks will be greatly reduced."

I crouched down and gently tested the balance of the stone slab: "Everyone, please line up in an orderly manner and try to choose the middle route. Don't make any big movements."

Led by me, the group passed over the iron chain and suspended stone without any major incident. The monkey stood in front of the iron nails on the other side and scratched his head: "Strange, this stone is five or six meters long. How did those people get over the stone slab on the other side and get to this side?"

My mind wasn't on the mechanism at the moment: "It's probably a counterweight. Someone holds down the stone slab over there and then sends someone over. That's what Qu Ruilin and I did back then."

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple.” Song Laosan shone his flashlight on the wall to one side and pointed to the scratches on it. “Remember when we were at Li Fan’s tomb, did we see that old man from the He family in Shanxi? There was a mechanism on his shoes back then. Duan Jinyan and his gang must have used some kind of method as well.”

I instinctively replied, "Impossible. The Judge's Records do not mention any history of the Duan family using tools."

Song Laosan curled his lip: "I don't mean to discourage you, but you have to understand that although no one can change the blood relationship between Duan Jinyan and you, he is a traitor to the entire Duan family. No one can say for sure what he has learned during his years of wandering outside the mainstream."