The doors of the main hall in front of me were ajar, and firelight was still shining through, but we couldn't see the light from where we were before.

The palace gate was about six meters high and about thirty centimeters thick. I really don't know how Duan Jinyan and the others opened it, but I estimate that they must have spent all their time opening the gate.

Looking through the crack in the door, one could see three tiers of steps leading upwards, with palace lanterns burning on pure gold lamp stands on both sides, their flames leaping.

There are a total of eight huge pillars on the three-tiered steps, and the overall style is mainly red, yellow and blue, which is luxurious and grand.

At the top of these steps is a golden dragon wall, below which is a dragon throne made of pure gold, and on top of it is a golden statue with a blue plaque with yellow characters hanging above its head. The plaque has four Jurchen characters that I do not recognize.

Judging from the layout, the person on the dragon throne should be Hu Shahu.

Below Hushahu, on one level of steps, are cast iron statues of six guards.

On the second set of steps were rows of kneeling statues.

This scene clearly resembles the emperor holding court.

This powerful minister, who plotted rebellion and murdered the emperor during the Jin Dynasty, did not sit on the dragon throne during his lifetime. Instead, he turned his tomb into a palace, which was simply outrageous.

After confirming that there was no one else in the hall, I turned off my headlamp, picked up my shotgun, and prepared to go in and check.

At this moment, Song Laosan reminded him, "Xiao Duan, this hall is sealed off. If Duan Jinyan and the others were inside before, we wouldn't have been able to see the flashlight beams at all, so they must have gone to the top of the mountain."

"I know."

I pointed to a few barely noticeable footprints inside the main hall: "We're not familiar with the terrain outside. Using flashlights to go up the mountain would easily expose us. Since Duan Jinyan came here to raid tombs, he must have checked this place and discovered something. I need to follow his footprints to see what he saw in order to make a reasonable judgment. You two keep a close eye on where I'm standing and don't touch anything here."

As soon as I finished speaking, I walked into the hall first, following a shallow row of footprints on the ground, and headed up the steps.

In the past, the ancient tombs we entered gave people a terrifying and oppressive atmosphere, but the Ze King's Tomb was built according to the style of a royal palace. Even knowing that it is a tomb, this place gives people a solemn, dignified and awe-inspiring feeling.

As we climbed the steps, the ministers kneeling on them were lifelike. The Han ministers wearing turbans and the Jurchen ministers with braids were clearly different. The guards also seemed to be staring at us, as if they would draw their swords at any moment if we overstepped our bounds.

Behind the dragon throne, a statue of Hu Sha Hu, wearing a crown reaching to the heavens, stares disdainfully at the assembled officials, exuding an aura of supreme authority.

"Tsk tsk!"

The monkey looked at the statue of Hu Shahu and gently tapped the dragon table: "These tables, chairs and statues are all made of pure gold. It seems that the rumors about Hu Shahu's years of war and his rampant extortion are indeed true!"

"Don't touch anything here! Although this place is grand in scale, it's just the front hall of the tomb. There aren't any burial objects, not even a coffin. It's definitely not the tomb itself!"

Because the cave was located in the water, there wasn't much dust in the main hall. I didn't find any signs that anyone had touched it, so I stopped the monkeys and began to examine the dragon table.

The dragon desk is very well made, complete with writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, jade seals, and various scrolls. However, all of these items are cast together with the dragon desk and cannot be moved.

As I was looking down to examine the area under the dragon throne, Song Laosan suddenly pointed to a round ball on the armrest of the dragon throne: "Xiao Duan, take a look here, there are friction marks on the bottom of this ball."

I walked over to Song Laosan and examined it. Then I pressed hard on it with the blade of my knife, but there was no mark. I tried other places and easily left a mark. I nodded and said, "This handrail is gilded. The mechanism should have been opened. Everyone, look around for any passages."

As soon as we finished speaking, the three of us started searching separately.

I checked around the dragon throne to make sure there were no problems, then walked over to the pillar next to it. As soon as I stood behind it, I noticed a hidden door that was open on the dragon wall. I snapped my fingers and called the two of them over.

Looking at the dark passage, Song Laosan raised his gun: "I'll go first!"

"I don't know what other traps are ahead, I'll go."

Remembering what he had done in that room under the courtyard, I remained cautious. I held the shotgun in one hand while using my right palm to shield the headlamp, letting only a faint light shine through my fingers.

The tomb passage was empty, with bas-relief murals on both sides, brightly colored. The dome above was decorated with the sun, moon and stars, and a large number of figures were carved on the left and right sides. Except for a few guards carved on the outermost side, all the figures inside were palace maids, and there were not even any eunuchs.

Judging from the content of the mural, the area in front should be the imperial bedroom, which explains why there are no other men besides the guards.

Ancient imperial tombs were generally enormous in scale. The Maoling Mausoleum of Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, even consumed one-third of the country's tax revenue and took 53 years to build. The rammed earth mound on the surface was over 50 meters high, comparable to the pyramids. Therefore, Liu Che was also known as the "Pharaoh of China".

When constructing the mausoleum in the Western Han Dynasty, the raw soil excavated during construction needed to be piled up nearby as raw material for sealing the mausoleum.

Foreign soil is absolutely forbidden in mausoleums. Foreign soil refers to soil transported from other places. The ancients believed that this kind of soil lacked vitality and was inauspicious. Therefore, the size of each mausoleum can be used to estimate its underground space because the burial mound is made of layers of rammed earth, which is more compact than the original soil and has a slightly smaller volume. Therefore, the underground palace of a mausoleum is generally larger than the volume of the burial mound.

The sheer size of Maoling and the density of its artifacts are rarely seen in history.

It is said that even if three to five ordinary tomb raiders work together day and night to dig for treasure, it would take them more than a year or two to reach the center of the tomb.

Even Liu Che's tomb was not built like the underground palace of Hu Sha Hu.

This is not because ancient emperors could not afford such architecture, but because they all believed that their dynasty would last for ten thousand generations and that they should be buried in the ancestral mausoleum after their death. This is why the excavation of imperial mausoleums of all dynasties has revealed burial complexes. If they also built huge underground palaces, there would be no place for other members of their clan to be buried.

Only people like Naropamo and Hushahu, who have ambition but no real power, can occupy a prime location and build their mausoleums without considering family burial sites.

There were three mechanisms in this tomb passage. I recognized two of them, and the remaining one was because the floor tiles were sprayed with an "X" pattern in red paint. Although I didn't see the clue, I still avoided those places.

The stone slabs blocking the tunnel end had been lifted. As soon as I approached the exit, I smelled the sulfurous odor of burning explosives in the air. After confirming that there was no movement above, I crawled up.

The passage ends at the top of the island, where the ground is covered with rubble. More than ten meters away, the rocks have been blasted away, revealing a deep pit.

At that moment, I felt like my heart was about to jump out of my throat.

This is probably the closest I've ever been to this man since Duan Jinyan abandoned me back then.

The monkey, mimicking the monkey's actions, shielded itself from the flashlight beam and went over to inspect the area: "Young Master Duan, there's a rope tied to a rock here that's been thrown down into the tunnel. Your father and the others must have gone down that rope. Should we wait here and wait for them to come down?"

I stared at the rope for a moment, then shook my head. "No, the terrain here is complicated. There are many mechanisms that have been solved that I haven't even figured out yet. There's no guarantee that there aren't other passages below. Just to be safe, we should go down and take a look!"