The appearance of the jade screen wall has already indicated the general direction of the tomb passage.
Following the direction where I found the rubble, I continued digging around for a short distance and saw a rectangular groove on the stone slab on the ground: "Found it! This is the location of the fixed screen wall. The stones for the entrance to the underground palace should be on both sides of this groove. Everyone, check carefully!"
"Young Master Duan, this stone slab of mine has sunk a bit!"
The monkey pointed to a stone slab at its feet: "There's a huge impact mark where the two slabs meet. The one on the right is fine, but the one on the left has a crack, so it must be hollow underneath!"
I walked over to the monkey and saw a crack spreading across the floor. I tapped the stone slabs on either side with my entrenching tool: "The sound is rather dull. It doesn't sound hollow. Either the stone slabs are too thick to make a sound."
Xu Le had placed all his hopes on me: "Is there any other way to confirm this?"
"No, we can only wait for the explosives."
I looked at the stone slabs under my feet, equally helpless: "You can see these stone slabs too. Each one is at least one square meter in area. The fact that they can withstand the impact of a flash flood means that their thickness is also amazing. I think the stone slab that has sunk is probably the entrance, but with just the strength of a few of us, it will probably be difficult to open it. We will have to use explosives."
“I can give it a try.”
After listening to my words, the old man stepped forward and said, "As long as you can find the location of the entrance, I can find a way to open the stone slab."
"you?"
After hearing the old man's words, the monkey gave him a speechless look: "Old man, how old are you? Still showing off like this? This rock is worth tons. Do you think you're Popeye?"
The old man smiled and said, "Since we're going to wait here anyway, there's no harm in trying, right?"
"Monkey, give me Xiao Bao."
I took the iron chisel from the monkey and began to dig along the gap between the two rocks.
The entrance to the tomb passage of Qing Dynasty tombs was generally located at the corner of the screen wall.
I surveyed the area and then began digging along the edge of the collapsed stone slab.
The tools the monkey brought were all specially made. I held up the hammer and smashed it against the pliers in my hand, and soon dug out a hole the size of a fist.
"when!"
As I brought the hammer down again, a spark suddenly appeared from the hole.
I saw a flash of light inside, shone my flashlight inside, and clicked my tongue in frustration: "We're really unlucky today, this is a tomb from the late Qing Dynasty!"
"Young Master Duan, have you become so amazing now?"
The monkey looked at me with a bewildered expression: "Now you can determine the exact age of a tomb just by digging a hole?"
"I'm absolutely sure! We've hit steel bars!"
I rolled my eyes at the monkey: "Damn it, what bad luck! The tomb's security measures use modern building materials."
"No, did I hear that right?"
The monkey looked at me with a bewildered expression: "This is the first time I've ever heard of grave robbers digging up steel bars! Could there be concrete inside?"
"The use of steel bars in Qing Dynasty tombs was not an isolated case. Similar materials were found in Cixi's tomb. However, when Sun Dianying looted Cixi's tomb, he brought an army with him, using cannons and military explosives to open the tomb!"
I looked at the section of steel bar protruding from the hole and felt a little worried: "I hope the explosives we brought have enough explosive power! This tomb has been reinforced with steel bars, and its strength is probably unprecedented."
In the tomb raiding business, the most feared type of tomb is one from the late Qing Dynasty, especially those from around 1900.
Firstly, the Qing Dynasty was weak at this time, and even princes and nobles had nothing of value left to bury with them.
Secondly, although the Qing Dynasty was closed off from the world, it was not without any industrial development. Therefore, the tombs of this period already used modern materials such as steel bars and concrete.
Not only are they difficult to excavate, but there are also few valuable artifacts. Most importantly, only a little over a hundred years have passed, and most of the mechanisms in these tombs are still in working order.
It's like a chicken rib – tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away.
Our main purpose in coming here today is not to rob graves, but to find the corpses, so the number of burial objects here is not important.
However, the use of steel bars to seal the entrance to the tomb passage undoubtedly increased the difficulty for us.
After hearing what I said, the old man came over and took a look: "Is the tomb passage we're looking for under this stone slab?"
I nodded: "Yes, once our people bring the explosives, we can blow it up."
"No need for that, I'll give it a try."
The old man gestured with his hand to indicate the hole I had dug: "Could you make it a little bigger so I can put my hand in?"
I said to the old man, "We're not sure what's down there yet, so I need to make sure your method won't affect our next steps. What method do you want to use to open it?"
"Human resources".
The old man took out a Wenwang Drum from his backpack: "I'm going to ask the gods to possess me and see if I can use the power of the immortals to lift this stone slab."
I looked at the old man with a skeptical expression: "Does such a thing as invoking a deity to possess someone really exist?"
The old man didn't explain anything: "I just wanted to give it a try. Even if it doesn't work, I won't lose anything."
"Monkey, come help."
When I heard the old man say that, I called the monkey over and we started digging together. At the same time, I whispered, "Young Master Duan, do you think this old man might be playing a trick on us? Invoking a god? Isn't that just a trick of a charlatan? He's so old, do you think we can lift such a heavy stone slab?"
"He's right. Whether it will work or not, we'll have to try to find out."
I whispered, "When we went to India to explore the tomb of the sorcerer monk, I was also possessed by evil spirits. It was Wei Shengnan who used shamanistic methods to expel the toxins from my body. At the time, Wei Shengnan told me that the secret of her method lay in the burning incense, but the drumbeats did indeed make me feel a special sense of peace!"
Whether they actually summoned spirits to their bodies is something I don't know, but since they were able to represent the Hu family's shamanic tradition in the Five Immortals' Succession Struggle, they must have some tricks up their sleeves. If they really wanted to create a mystery, it was just that they didn't want us to know their true abilities.
With the help of the monkey, a hole was quickly chiseled out of the stone slab.
While we were busy here, the old man wasn't idle either.
He had already set up an incense burner and took out a feather garment from his backpack and put it on.
"call!"
The moment the old man put on his clothes, a gust of cold wind swept over him, making the surrounding trees howl and faintly accompanied by ghostly wails.
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