The monkey, being an impatient fellow, urged impatiently now that the tomb door was open, "Young Master Duan, the door is already open. If we want to know when this tomb was built, why don't we just go in and take a look? Why waste time on the tomb door?"

I replied, "I want to investigate this tomb mainly to see if it is related to the Miao Jiangxian Palace and to understand the burial culture of this area. Moreover, even if we really want to rob the tomb, we need to find out what era the tomb is from in order to know what kind of traps might be inside."

“We haven’t raided any tombs for more than half a year since we came back from the Far East. I’m worried that if we keep wasting time, those guys will take all the good stuff inside. What if they don’t know anything about tombs and damage some priceless treasures? Wouldn’t that be a huge waste?”

The monkey patiently asked, "So, have you noticed anything?"

"The origin of door nails is hard to find, but based on a combination of historical records, archaeological data and physical evidence, the earliest appearance of door nails was during the Northern Wei Dynasty. They were used on the main gates of Buddhist temples. From there, they gradually evolved, took shape, and formed a ritual system, as evidenced by the Song Shaozu Tomb built by Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Yongning Temple Pagoda built by Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei Dynasty."

I threw away the stone in my hand: "Door studs have not been found in the Han Chinese tombs of the Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms, and Jin Dynasties. However, a few examples have been found in the tombs of ethnic minorities. Door studs began to be commonly used in tombs, city gates, and palace gates during the Song Dynasty. The door studs of city gates and palace gates are mostly in a 7x7 pattern, not this messy arrangement. Therefore, I suspect that this tomb was not built by the Central Plains dynasty, because its style does not match any tomb style I know!"

Jiang Man knew what I meant: "So if there are any traps or mechanisms inside, you have no idea, right?"

"Um!"

I nodded: "After what happened at Ping'an Village, I believe you can see that what we are investigating now is an ancient tribe! As the guardians of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, Ping'an Village possesses a terrifying Gu-raising technique, so I can hardly imagine what's inside the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace."

The monkey interjected, "This tomb in front of us isn't the Miao Jiang Celestial Palace, you're getting off track."

“I’m just worried that the tombs built here might also be related to the village tribe, and that some kind of witchcraft or sorcery might appear inside.”

I waved my hand to end the topic: "Let's go in and take a look. If this tomb is really as I guessed, we might be able to learn about the culture of the Miao Jiangxian Palace through it."

After we finished speaking, we went around the destroyed stone gate and entered the passageway ahead.

Because there were still three tomb raiders ahead, I turned on my flashlight and covered the bulb with my palm, allowing the others to continue using the night vision goggles.

The flashlight beam shone through my fingers onto the wall, revealing a dense pattern of fish scales.

In other words, the cave we are in is not naturally formed, but was dug out by human hands.

The advantage of walking inside such a cave is that you don't need to carefully observe the surroundings to see if there are any traps or mechanisms.

After walking about fifteen meters further in, we came to a fork in the road.

The entrance on the left is only half a meter wide and two meters high. If it weren't for the fish scale patterns on the walls on both sides of the cave, one might mistake this path for a natural rock fissure.

The opening on the right is more magnificent, about two meters wide and three meters high, but it is not particularly well-constructed. Although it looks like it was built to resemble a dome, the walls and ceiling are full of pits and have no patterns.

"Young Master Duan, this tomb is a bit strange!"

The monkey looked at the fork in the road ahead, walked over to me, and whispered, "I've followed you through so many large tombs, so I have some understanding of tomb structures. The gilded door of this tomb shows that the tomb owner was of high status, so the interior must have taken a lot of effort from the designer! But look at this tomb passage, it looks like it was chewed by a dog, which means that there was no planning when it was dug, it's just like messing around!"

"This tomb really feels awkward! The fact that they could gild the door nails shows that they already had smelting technology. Without iron tools, it would be difficult to dig such a large tunnel in the mountains. However, this tunnel has no decorations at all, no murals, and no tomb guardian beasts!"

Looking into the deep tunnel, I was completely bewildered: "Whoever built this tomb, shouldn't they have at least some basic aesthetic sense? Who would build such a rudimentary tomb?"

"Do you think someone might be marking off territory?"

The monkey voiced its speculation: "Perhaps some ancient king or nobleman coveted this burial site and wanted to claim it in advance, so he dug out a rough outline and built a gate to seal it, intending to bury the deceased there a hundred years later. But then he encountered some problems, so the tomb was abandoned, just like an unfinished house!"

I nodded: "In ancient times, the construction of tombs by powerful and wealthy people often took decades. What you're saying is not impossible! If that's the case, we've probably just stumbled upon something empty!"

"Brother, I don't think this tomb is empty!"

Lin Que interjected, "Think about it, if there's nothing in here, the three tomb raiders in front should have been able to easily reach the end and then turn back. But five minutes have passed, and they haven't shown any sign of returning! Either the tomb passage is exceptionally long, and they haven't reached the end yet, or there's something deep inside the tomb that's holding them back!"

I heard two completely different opinions and for a moment I didn't know which possibility was more reliable: "Go in and see for yourself, which way do you think we should go?"

"Highway!"

Jiang Man said, "The tomb raiders in the past came in to make money, so they would definitely go in the direction where it would be easier to find burial goods."

"Something's not right with this tomb. Everyone be careful."

I threw out a sentence, then gripped the flashlight tightly and continued leading the way.

The further I go, the more I lean towards the possibility that the monkey suggested.

If it weren't for the gilded door studs on the stone door, the crudely crafted tomb passage alone would have been enough to deter me.

After walking sixty or seventy meters along the tomb passage, my patience was completely exhausted. I don't know what those three people in front of me were thinking. Even after seeing this situation, they still wouldn't give up.

"when!"

Just as I was lost in thought, a knocking sound suddenly came from deep inside the tunnel, startling me. Then, I heard Da Zhuang's voice: "This door is too thick, we can't break it with a chisel. You guys get out of the way, I'm going to plant the explosives!"