Chapter 61 There Must Be a Mystery Within

These two tomb-guardian beasts flanking the tomb gate looked like mere stone carvings from every angle, yet Leng Ying claimed there was something inside them. This was truly baffling.

"What is the basis for your assertion?" Boss Zhou asked with a frown.

Leng Ying walked over to one of the guardian beasts, tapped the stone carving lightly with the red-tasseled spear in her hand, and replied casually, "Intuition."

The tip of the spear struck the stone carving, producing a dull, muffled thud with a slight echo.

It was actually hollow?

Cheng Xiangru walked over out of curiosity and tapped the stone carving with his knuckles. Both the sound and the tactile feedback clearly indicated that the guardian beast was indeed hollow.

Boss Zhou remained skeptical of Leng Ying's judgment. "A hollow structure is perfectly normal. A stone carving this large would be far too heavy if it were solid, making it impractical to transport. Even if it is hollow, that doesn't necessarily mean something is hidden inside!"

Leng Ying said nothing, seemingly indifferent to Boss Zhou's thoughts. She vigilantly circled the stone carving once, then suddenly noticed that a stone slab on one side of the pedestal differed in color from the surrounding stone, with visible gaps all around its edges.

"Right here!" Leng Ying declared, squatting down. She wedged the tip of her spear into the gap and pried outward with force.

Amidst a low grinding sound, that stone slab was actually pried open at the corner by Leng Ying.

"Give me a hand!" Leng Ying beckoned to Cheng Xiangru.

Unclear of her objective, Cheng Xiangru nevertheless squatted down. With one pushing and the other prying, they managed to pop the stone slab open, revealing a pitch-black opening.

Leng Ying leaned down, raised a high-intensity flashlight to peer inside, and then froze completely, not moving a muscle for quite a while.

"What do you see?" Cheng Xiangru leaned in to look as well, only to find Leng Ying standing up and shifting the flashlight beam away, giving him no chance.

The more she did this, the more curious Cheng Xiangru became.

It was just a flashlight, as if nobody else had one!

Once Leng Ying stepped aside, Cheng Xiangru crouched down, raised his flashlight to inspect the interior of the stone carving, and instantly drew a sharp breath.

The pedestal and the stone carving were connected as a single hollow space on the inside, and embedded within the stone carving were stark white bones.

Where the human face should be was a human skull; within the coiled body of the snake were interlocking segments of animal spine, each segment flanked by half-round ribs; and where the claws were located lay the claw bones of some large avian creature.

These bones were connected in an orderly fashion, looking just like the remains of a complete creature after death, appearing both bizarre and terrifying.

Cheng Xiangru felt somewhat annoyed. "What's so interesting about this?"

Their purpose here was to find clues regarding Cheng Zhifeng's whereabouts. As for whatever might be inside these tomb-guardian beasts, it shouldn't matter at all. Why waste time studying such creepy things?

Leng Ying explained, "I guessed wrong. I thought there would be a mechanism inside to open the Dragon-Suppressing Stone, or perhaps a secret passage."

The Dragon-Suppressing Stone, also known as the gate-sealing stone or self-locking pillar, was a massive stone pillar used to brace the tomb gate from the inside.

This device was ingeniously designed, wedged into a recessed groove and braced against the tomb gate to act as a prop, ensuring the gate could not be opened from the outside. It served as the primary anti-theft mechanism for all large ancient tombs with sloping tunnel-style access ways.

When examining the tomb gate earlier, Cheng Xiangru had noticed that through the finger-wide gap in the middle section of the doors, a certain area was blocked off, presumably where the Dragon-Suppressing Stone was braced.

Chen Shangke curled his lip from the side. "Not to sound uncharitable, but you really overthought this. Whoever built this underground palace clearly didn't want anyone entering, so how could they possibly install a special mechanism to open the gate? If you ask me, we should just blast it open with explosives—quick and clean!"

Lin Xiaqi had recovered somewhat by this point. Supported by the bruised-faced Zhulov, she looked exhausted. "This tomb gate is too thick. It won't be easy to blow through with gunpowder, and there's a risk of collapse. Unless it's an absolute last resort, we'd better avoid using explosives."

The recent ordeal of being hypnotized by the guardian beasts had clearly dealt Lin Xiaqi a heavy blow; she didn't even have the energy to bicker with Chen Shangke.

Hearing this, Cheng Xiangru grew somewhat anxious. "When you chose the location for the盗洞 [盜洞 - looter's shaft], why didn't you pick a spot directly above the burial chamber? If we dropped straight in, wouldn't we avoid dealing with this tomb gate altogether?"

Boss Zhou explained patiently, "It's winter now, and the permafrost layer is extremely difficult to blast through. On top of that, there is a very thick rammed-earth layer above the underground palace, which is tougher than reinforced concrete. If we used explosives to shatter the rammed-earth layer without collapsing the burial chamber, the precision required for the explosive charge would be exceptionally high—virtually rigorous to an impossible degree. None of us here can pull that off."

Cheng Xiangru lowered his head, feeling somewhat displeased. He had thought that after descending into the underground palace, they would just walk around taking what they needed while dodging traps and hazards, and the trip would be over.

He truly hadn't expected that right at the tomb entrance, they would be completely blocked.

Unbeknownst to them, Leng Ying had walked around to the back of the other guardian beast and was using her red-tasseled spear to pry at the side-sealing panel of that stone carving's pedestal.

Cheng Xiangru strode over and asked quizzically, "What else are you looking for?"

Leng Ying paused her movements slightly, looked up, and said, "Under normal circumstances, once the Dragon-Suppressing Stone is lowered, the tomb gate becomes nearly impossible to open. But this place is different. This isn't just an ordinary ancient tomb!"

Cheng Xiangru was startled. "What do you mean?"

Leng Ying voiced her deduction: "If this isn't a decoy tomb, then this is the true imperial dragon vein of the Great Qing. The rulers of the early Qing Dynasty always felt their dynastic foundation was unstable, which is why they mysteriously built this grand dragon vein. Aside from relocating their ancestral tombs here, they also hid countless plundered treasures inside. What were they aiming for?"

Cheng Xiangru raised a hand to scratch his cheek. "Burial goods?"

Leng Ying shook her head slightly. "They must have been thinking that if political turmoil struck one day and they were forced to retreat back beyond the Shanhai Pass, the wealth stored within this Qing dragon vein would be their capital to stage a comeback. If they factored this into their plans, they couldn't possibly have sealed such a massive tomb gate permanently; they had to leave behind a mechanism to open it, or perhaps another secret passage leading directly into the depths of the underground palace."

The underground world was exceptionally quiet. Although Leng Ying did not speak loudly, her words carried clearly into everyone's ears.

Judging that Leng Ying's reasoning made sense, Boss Zhou walked over briskly. "Any discoveries over here?"

Leng Ying pointed at the side-sealing panel of the stone carving's base. "Not sure yet. We'll only know once we open it."

"I'll help you pry it!" Cheng Xiangru squatted down as well, mimicking his previous actions and cooperating with Leng Ying to dismantle the stone slab.

Leng Ying leaned down, swept her flashlight around the interior in a circle, shook her head slightly as she stood up, and disappointment flickered in her eyes.

Without looking, Cheng Xiangru could already guess that the interior of this stone carving was likewise filled with those bizarre white bones.

This was becoming troublesome. The tomb gate was huge and thick, and the Dragon-Suppressing Stone certainly wouldn't be small either. How were they supposed to open the gate?

Zhulov offered a suggestion, "Why don't we use the brute-force method? We've encountered this situation before, and back then, it took us two days to chisel a hole straight through the tomb gate."

Boss Zhou stroked his beard gently and nodded slightly. "We have plenty of people, and our tools are well-prepared. Perhaps it won't even take two days."

Chen Shangke raised a hand in agreement. "Sounds like a plan to me!"

Just then, Leng Ying snapped her fingers abruptly, her tone brimming with excitement. "I've got it!"