Chapter 14: Fields Everywhere

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No one had slept well last night. Chen Shangke kept yawning, and each breath he exhaled carried a nauseating scent that made Cheng Xiangru beside him feel slightly queasy—he wasn’t sure if it was the smell or a bit of motion sickness. The vehicle's tires were fitted with snow chains, but the rough condition of the desolate mountain roads made the ride extremely bumpy.

In the front, Zhu Luofu and Lin Xiaqing had fallen asleep, leaning on each other. Gao Zhuang hadn’t played any music, leaving the cabin in complete silence. Cheng Xiangru scraped frost off the car window, chipping away at patches of snowflakes.

He longed to see outside, hoping to find traces of other vehicles having passed by, but the small cleared patch he managed to create soon fogged over again, turning into fresh frost that obscured his view. Still, there was no real cause for worry; Boss Zhou sat in the front passenger seat, vigilantly watching the road. He was dependable, which gave Cheng Xiangru a sense of security.

The vehicle had been traveling for most of the morning when it finally came to a slow stop. Boss Zhou called out loudly, “This should be about the spot!”

Zhu Luofu and Lin Xiaqing were startled awake. Though they were a long-married couple, they couldn’t resist a quick kiss regardless of the surroundings, their affection so genuine it was almost enviable.

Chen Shangke, having been force-fed this ‘couple’s sweetness,’ grumbled as he followed behind them, stepping out of the car. Cheng Xiangru was the last to get out, unprepared for the biting cold wind that rushed through his collar and made him shiver, instinctively pulling his neck in.

It was freezing!

Outside, the world was dressed in white, snow blanketing everything within sight, including the foggy sky above. The snow in the wilderness was far cleaner and softer than in the county town; stepping on it made it sink past the ankle and crackle with the crisp sound of breaking ice.

Boss Zhou scanned the surroundings before beckoning Cheng Xiangru over.

Struggling through the snow, Cheng Xiangru made his way to Boss Zhou’s side. “Uncle Zhou, what is it?”

Boss Zhou exhaled a cloud of white breath. “This is the place you mentioned last night where there might be an ancient tomb. Take a look—can you pinpoint the location more precisely?”

Cheng Xiangru looked around, only to see mountains rising near and far, their peaks scattered and shrouded in a thin mist, resembling large white steamed buns in a giant steamer.

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Locating an ancient tomb was an incredibly challenging skill. As the saying went, “Three years searching for the dragon, ten years pinpointing the spot.” Without being a seasoned tomb robber specializing in this craft, hoping to find an unmarked underground tomb amidst countless mountains was practically a fantasy.

Even professional archaeological teams, equipped with advanced surveying instruments and substantial manpower and funding, found it difficult to determine the exact location of a tomb—let alone Cheng Xiangru, who had no prior experience.

“Uncle Zhou, I’m sorry, I...” Cheng Xiangru felt disappointed with himself. Despite having memorized five scrolls of manuscripts inside out, he couldn’t fully grasp the knowledge.

Boss Zhou gently patted Cheng Xiangru’s shoulder, his gaze warm. “Silly boy, you’ve already done very well.” Then he called over to Chen Shangke, “Shangke, can you lock down the direction?”

Chen Shangke hurried over, carrying a compass he must have picked up along the way.

“Boss Zhou, hold on—I’m adjusting the compass.” Without gloves, he stood straight, holding the compass level, carefully rotating the golden dial inscribed with tiny black characters.

Cheng Xiangru, intrigued, leaned in for a closer look. He had only seen compasses in the “Feng Shui Scroll,” and those were hand-drawn, not real objects that could give him such a direct impression.

“Chen, why are there two red lines crossing on your compass?” These two red lines intersected in a cross on the face of the compass—something Cheng Xiangru hadn’t seen in the books.

Chen Shangke grinned proudly. “Little brother, those cross lines aren’t for show. Look at my dial, then look at my needle—how about that? Awesome, right? This is the Wan’an compass. It’s won international gold awards, top of the line!”

Cheng Xiangru was stunned. “They use compasses for tomb robbing abroad too?”

Lin Xiaqing, linking arms with Zhu Luofu, walked over laughing. “Little Cheng, don’t listen to his nonsense. He’s always showing off. Using a compass to pinpoint tombs isn’t a big deal. Once, Luobao and I teamed up for a tomb raid and met a master who was the real deal—he just looked at the stars and found the tomb. Super mystical!”

Chen Shangke wasn’t to be outdone. “That’s nothing. I know a master who’s way cooler. He sets off explosives and pinpoints the tomb perfectly every time!”

Lin Xiaqing’s face flushed red. “Watch your language, there are kids around!”

Chen Shangke smirked mischievously, feigning innocence. “What language? I’m serious. That master’s technique is fierce—he throws two 'mali' bombs, listens for the echo, and can even map out the size and layout of the underground chamber.”

Cheng Xiangru was puzzled and about to ask more when Boss Zhou explained quietly: “Among tomb robbers, there are experts called ‘masters’ who specialize in feng shui and tomb locating. They come in three ranks: third-rate masters read feng shui, second-rate observe celestial phenomena, and top-tier listen to ‘dry thunder.’ Dry thunder is a type of homemade explosive, also called ‘mali’ in the northeast. These top masters have rich experience—they know all kinds of ancient tombs from various dynasties and can judge location and structure by the sound of the explosion.”

“Oh!” Cheng Xiangru looked enlightened. He hadn’t imagined that tomb robbing could be so intricate and mystical.

Chen Shangke grinned and teased, “Hey, Luobao’s Xiaqing, why the blush just now? You think I meant something else by ‘setting off explosives’?”

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Lin Xiaqing looked embarrassed and murmured softly, “I... uh... of course, I knew it was dry thunder.”

Zhu Luofu frowned. “Focus on your compass. Don’t waste time!”

Chen Shangke raised an eyebrow at Cheng Xiangru triumphantly, chuckled, and then bent down to fiddle with the compass again.

Cheng Xiangru was very interested and leaned closer, but Chen Shangke’s expression darkened. His fingers, frozen stiff, could not stabilize the compass’s edge for positioning.

Boss Zhou noticed something was wrong and asked gravely, “Shangke, what’s going on?”

Chen Shangke’s hands were bright red from the cold, and sweat beaded on his forehead despite the chill. “Something’s not right!”

“What is it?” Everyone gathered to see the compass, only to find the central needle swinging wildly, rotating along with the dial.

Lin Xiaqing spat, “What a lousy compass! Not accurate at all! Even a street vendor’s compass is better!”

Chen Shangke panicked. “This is a Wan’an compass, top-tier, impossible to be wrong!”

Boss Zhou grew impatient. “Enough bickering. Let’s get to the point!”

Chen Shangke fiddled seriously with the compass, then spat on it in frustration, pocketing the device. “The magnetic field here is too chaotic. It’s impossible to get a fix.”

Just as he said this, he suddenly froze. “Boss Zhou, could it be possible...?”

“What possibility?”

“Could it be that we’ve actually entered the domain of the Qing dynasty’s dragon vein, but to protect the ancestral tombs from thieves, they laid down a complex magnetic field in this area to disable compasses and dragon-finding tools?”

Boss Zhou’s brow furrowed deeper as he lowered his head in thought. “If that’s true, it would require a huge amount of magnetite. Magnetite is easy to identify and expensive; after hundreds of years, it should have been moved away. Unless... it’s underground! If they thought of anti-theft, they’d also consider using celestial observations and listening for dry thunder…”

His voice trailed off, then he suddenly raised his head, eyes wide with alarm. “We’re in trouble!”