After Qu Ruilin fell into the tomb passage, he was not buried. Moreover, Song Laosan's tool bag was found next to him, which contained not only tomb raiding tools but also ten oxygen tanks.

When I heard him say he was going to find the others, I shone my flashlight on the top of the tomb passage and found that all the fallen rubble was right where I had been trapped: "Didn't we fall down with the others? Didn't they fall into the tomb passage?"

"After I fell into the tomb passage, it took me a while to recover. I heard a sound under the rubble, so I rescued you. I didn't see anyone else during the whole process, and there were no footprints on the ground. I analyzed that the collapse of the Void Tomb must have caused us to fall into different places."

Qu Ruilin shone his flashlight on the top of the tomb passage: "Of course, it's also possible that they didn't manage to fall into the tomb and were buried on top of it."

“It’s unlikely that the others were buried.” I recalled: “When the floor of the dungeon shattered, I vaguely saw Xu Hu and the other two fall in first. They must have fallen faster than me. If there was something wrong with the underground fissure, I wouldn’t be here.”

Qu Ruilin was much calmer than me: "No matter what their situation is, we must first find a place where we can live on air. These few bottles of oxygen are not enough to sustain us for long."

I nodded and began to observe the tomb passage I was in.

The walls on both sides of us were covered with large murals, but they had become blurred and indistinct due to the dampness of the cave.

I looked at the layers of silt under my feet and pointed in a direction: "The tomb passages of Tang tombs are all from deep to shallow. The deepest part leads to the burial chamber. Since there is a decoy tomb here, it means that the exit of the tomb passage is likely above our heads. Right now, our only hope is to find the burial chamber and hope that there is oxygen inside."

Qu Ruilin drew his military dagger and held it in his hand: "I am not as good as you under the tomb, I will listen to you."

The two reached an agreement, and I, holding the broken Two Realms Blade, walked deeper into the tomb passage.

After traveling more than ten meters, several steel crossbows, each about the length of a palm and the thickness of a thumb, suddenly appeared on the ground.

On the walls on both sides of the tomb passage, there are holes for firing crossbow bolts, as well as marks left by crossbow bolts hitting the walls.

These traces are both new and old. The new ones are probably triggered by the collapse of the tomb, while the old ones are likely related to factors such as earthquakes.

"The crossbows set up more than a thousand years ago are still functional. This tomb is extraordinary. Be careful!"

I bent down and squatted on the ground, and began to turn over the soil with a knife.

Although it is unknown what material the receiver behind the wall is made of, the principle of a crossbow is similar to that of a pistol. Both require the trigger to fire, and the most common methods are gravity sensing and tripwire.

Upon closer inspection, I found rusted iron rings at the base of the walls on both sides of the tomb passage, but the tripwires had long since rotted away, and many of the floor tiles under the mud showed signs of sinking.

The principle behind this mechanism is simple: a fulcrum with balanced force is set under the floor tile. Once the floor tile sinks, the iron chain connected to the back of the wall will fire a crossbow bolt.

The Judge's Records clearly state that if one encounters an ambush on the road, one should not advance rashly but must first cut off the enemy's attack before all matters can be resolved.

The scarcity of oxygen and the rudimentary tools left me with no time to break down the wall and destroy the mechanisms behind it. Fortunately, with the passage of time, most of the mechanisms supporting the floor tiles had been damaged, and even those that hadn't been destroyed showed obvious signs of sinking.

These hidden crossbow mechanisms are usually only placed in the middle of the tomb passage, so that tomb raiders fall into the trap when they gradually lose their vigilance.

After exhausting two canisters of oxygen, I finally led Qu Ruilin through the section of road that was rigged with crossbows.

To be wary of potential traps along the way, Qu Ruilin and I moved at a snail's pace.

After consuming another canister of oxygen, we finally reached the end of the tomb passage.

The ground in front of them had turned into a single piece of bluestone slab, with a groove in the very center and a hole resembling a sewer on each side of the wall.

Further ahead, there is a magnificent gate, with door studs and animal-face rings carved on it, and a huge tomb guardian figurine on each side.

These two painted stone figures are carved with great life, holding knives and axes in their hands, glaring at us as if they might pounce at any moment.

I shone my flashlight over the ceiling: "The tomb passage of Li Chongrun, the Crown Prince of Yide in the Tang Dynasty, was only about a hundred meters long with seven courtyards. But this tomb has nine courtyards and a longer passage. This shows that although Narai Sapo Mei used Li Chunfeng's drawings, he did not build it exactly according to them. In ancient times, nine was considered the most auspicious number, yet he actually adopted the tomb structure of an emperor! Now I'm starting to believe what Old Master Wei said. This man, a monk from a vassal state, showed contempt for the imperial power of the Tang Dynasty. It's very possible that Li Shimin was killed by him!"

Qu Ruilin glanced at the instrument in his hand and stepped forward: "Our oxygen is being used up too quickly. We need to break down the door as soon as possible within the limited time, or we'll really be trapped here!"

"etc!"

I grabbed Qu Ruilin's wrist and shone my flashlight over our heads: "The tomb passages we've been through before all had domed ceilings, but this one is flat. It's probably a stone-suspended structure with iron chains!"

Qu Ruilin knew what I meant by the mechanism. He shone his flashlight on the five-meter-long stone slab in front of him and said, "You mean this stone is a seesaw, and once we step on it, the pulleys below will disengage the iron chain connecting the stone slab above us, slamming us down?"

I nodded: "Ancient masters could set up such mechanisms by suspending three layers of suspended stones from the top of the tomb passage, so that each layer is independent of the others. I wonder if Li Chunfeng's mechanism was even more ingenious."

Qu Ruilin had already opened the fourth oxygen tank and sprayed it twice into the breathing port of the gas mask: "Is there any solution?"

I shone my flashlight on the silt on the stone slab and said, "There's so much silt piled up here, yet it hasn't caused any rockfalls. There's even a drainage groove dug in the middle of the floor, which means the mechanism is on the other side! There are two ways to get through. The first is to go back and bring back stones of equal weight to weigh down this side and let people pass!"

Qu Ruilin rejected the suggestion without hesitation: "We don't have enough oxygen, we don't have enough time, and the floor tiles at Fu Nu are too wide to move things. Tell me another way!"

I didn't beat around the bush: "The second method is like a seesaw. One person stands on this side, and then the other person goes through to open the tomb door on the other side! Then find a rope or something to pull the rest of the people over. The success rate is very low!"

After I finished speaking, Qu Ruilin and I fell silent at the same time, our eyes filled with deep suspicion as we looked at each other.

The look in someone's eyes when they want to kill them cannot be hidden.

Although he had just saved my life, I could still see the hatred in his eyes.

From the moment I met him, I knew he wasn't joking when he said he wanted to kill me.

The reason he woke me up was because, on his own, it would be difficult for him to find his way in the tomb.

But we've already arrived at the tomb entrance. If the person who gets there first chooses to abandon the others, those who stay behind will only face death.

The scarcity of oxygen prevented us from remaining silent for long. A few seconds later, Qu Ruilin gripped his military dagger tightly and said in a deep voice, "You stay here, let me go first!"