After hearing what I said, the monkey asked curiously, "Young Master Duan, is the person you mentioned your elder? Since you said there wouldn't be anything good in this kind of tomb, your family shouldn't be interested in it, right?"

"I only said that most late Qing tombs don't contain anything of substance, but I didn't say that all late Qing tombs are not worth opening! However, the person I'm referring to isn't from the Duan family, but the warlord Sun Dianying."

I explained, “When Sun Dianying looted Cixi’s tomb, he encountered a similar situation, but there were some differences. First of all, Cixi’s tomb did not have a courtyard for the mute, and the door that blocked them was not this Golden Vault Gate, but the small Vault Gate that we just blew open.”

The monkey couldn't help but ask, "Young Master Duan, stop keeping me in suspense. How did Sun Dianying manage to open this door back then?"

“When Sun Dianying was at Cixi’s tomb, he also encountered a similar situation. They sent many people to push it down. The reason they didn’t use explosives was firstly because they were afraid that explosives would cause the tomb to collapse, and secondly because they were afraid that the shock wave would damage the burial objects in the tomb. So they did not use explosives, but instead used battering rams.”

I explained, “They found a tree trunk outside the tomb, and dozens of soldiers carried the trunk, using its weight to break open the tomb door and the golden vault door. This caused irreversible damage to Cixi’s tomb, and traces of Sun Dianying’s destruction can still be seen today. For this reason, many historians and scholars still condemn Sun Dianying.”

The monkey reminded him, "This is a bit difficult, isn't it? You just said that Sun Dianying used dozens of people to break down this door, while we only have less than ten people at most. That's several times less!"

“Don’t we have electric picks? We can first dig a groove in the door, then dig a few holes to guide the direction in which the stone breaks.”

I turned to the engineer: "We can't bring the tree stump in through our current entrance. Can we still use explosives over there?"

The engineer nodded without hesitation: "No problem. The area behind it, which is piled with stone slabs and you called the Diamond Wall, is very well supported. We can carry out blasting there. It's not a problem to drive a car in, let alone a tree trunk."

I looked at the formaldehyde that had already flowed to my feet and waved my hand: "Go back and prepare."

With everyone's joint efforts, everything was ready in less than twenty minutes.

After I returned to the small hall, I tied a rope to the protruding gate tower above the jade gate to hold the tree trunk up. Then the others carried the tree trunk and kept ramming it against the stone gate.

"Thump! Thump!"

With a muffled thud echoing through the small hall, the stone door, whose grooves had been dug out by the electric pick, gradually cracked open.

"Clang!"

The impact lasted for about five minutes, and the jade door cracked open, revealing a large hole about half a person's height.

"Phew! It's finally done!"

The monkey loosened its grip on the tree trunk and stretched its aching wrists: "Young Master Duan, what work do we still need to do after we enter this door?"

"That's all. Inside is the Golden Voucher, which is the main burial chamber."

I shone my flashlight into the room to make sure there was no unusual smell coming from inside. I said to Xu Le and the old man, "You two, Monkey, and Manjing, come with me to get the body. Everyone else, get out through the passage. Don't crowd here. If we trigger the mechanism, we'll be in trouble."

As I spoke, I glanced at my watch.

It is now 11:40.

There were only twenty minutes left before the body was to be revived.

With such limited time, I quickly checked it out, confirmed that there were no obvious traps inside, and then bent down and crawled over.

This main burial chamber is a traditional Qing Dynasty main burial chamber. Passing through the jade door, I was greeted by a dazzling array of burial objects.

There were very few gold and silver items; most of the items were porcelain, jade, and some Western clocks and jewelry, as well as a few glass mirrors.

"Young Master Duan, the kiln is not very good."

Upon seeing the burial goods in the main tomb chamber, the monkey said with little interest, "I feel that the most valuable thing in this tomb chamber is this coffin inside."

I looked at the lacquered and gilded coffin on the treasure bed in the center of the tomb chamber and nodded: "This coffin is indeed made of good materials. It looks like it is made of nanmu wood, which is of a high grade."

"Given the high status of this coffin, why do you think the burial goods seem somewhat mismatched?"

The monkey shone its flashlight on the vases and other items next to it: "Although it's from an official kiln, the quality is really mediocre. At best, it can only be considered second-rate!"

"Not only are the porcelain items mediocre, but everything else is also off! Look at the Western clock; the signs of use are very strong, indicating that it wasn't brought in as a burial item, but rather something the deceased used during her lifetime. Although many tombs include the deceased's cherished possessions in the burial, bringing in so many everyday items is highly unusual, suggesting that no one prepared many burial items for her."

Looking at the burial objects around me, I guessed: "The owners of these tombs were either members of the royal family who fled during the late Qing Dynasty, or relatives of the emperor who were of noble lineage but had little power and status and were buried in the tombs prepared for other princes and nobles after their deaths."

Xu Le glanced at his watch and urged me and Monkey somewhat anxiously, "Gentlemen, we need to get the person back to the altar as soon as possible. Time is of the essence. Could you please hurry up?"

I shone my flashlight around Bao Chuang to make sure there were no traps, then nodded and said, "Let's get started, Monkey, Uncle Kang, the three of us will pry open the coffin lid. Remember to use finesse!"

Although Uncle Kang was a withered old man, he was incredibly strong. With the help of the strongmen from Manjing, we quickly opened the coffin.

The moment the coffin lid was lifted, I was so startled that I blurted out a curse and instinctively took two steps back.

Having raided so many tombs, I pride myself on having seen it all, but what happened today is just too damn scary.

The body in the coffin was that of a woman around thirty years old.

She was very beautiful, dressed in gorgeous clothes and adorned with headdresses, looking as if she were asleep. Her skin was smooth and even had a rosy glow, as if she could wake up at any moment.

The corpses I've seen before, no matter how much they resembled living people, were always somewhat different. But when I first opened this coffin, I thought someone was sleeping inside.

In this kind of environment, living people are far more terrifying than dead people.

Seeing my appearance, the monkey walked to the coffin and checked my breath: "Don't worry, she's dead, she can't jump up... No, didn't we come here to make her jump up? If she comes back to life, the Hu family will have an easier time!"