Chapter 8: The Tomb Raider's Eternal Doom

  The further down the stone steps, the steeper the trend became. Moreover, the light from the torches was too dim and dark, which brought great inconvenience to our progress. Everyone had to be extra careful and support each other, feeling their way forward.

  Darkness has little effect on me as I was trained by my master to enhance my night vision when I was learning to drive a hearse.

  Apart from me, Sima Lin is the one with the best eyesight here. Sima Lin has been in the grave-robbing business for a long time and often rolls around in dark tombs, which has also trained him to have good eyesight.

  When entering the tomb, the torches used were almost exhausted. Everyone had to change torches. There were not many torches left, and now only six people shared one.

  In this way, a line of people struggled to move down the stone steps towards the depths of the ground. After walking for a long time, they still couldn't see the end of the stone steps. In their hearts, they couldn't help but sigh in admiration at the ingenuity of the ancients. They wondered how much manpower it took to build this ancient tomb and just how many days it would take to complete these stone steps that were carved out solely by human labor.

  After walking for about two hours, we finally reached the end of the stone steps. However, what we did not expect was that there was still a huge stone gate blocking our way.

  Sim Lin held up the torch and, seeing this, felt his way forward, using the torch to illuminate the stone gate. The light had not yet shone near the stone gate when Sim Lin suddenly shouted: "Everyone quickly retreat, there's a ghost."

  After finishing speaking, he turned around and rushed towards us. Hearing his shout, I swiftly drew out the golden dagger and grabbed hold of Sima Lin who was running over, saying: "Don't panic, how come we didn't sense anything? Where is the ghost?"

  "On the stone gate." Sima Lin pointed at the front stone gate in great surprise.

  I let out a cold laugh and hastily took the torch from Sima Lin, the Golden Armor General, and walked towards the stone gate. My sixth brother saw this and also followed me boldly.

  Arriving at the stone gate, I borrowed the firelight and saw that on the gate was printed a very large blood-red ghost head pattern. In my haste, it seemed to be like a living thing. No wonder Sima Lin said there were ghosts. It seems his courage is not as great as mine.

  It's strange that the expression on the ghost's face is extremely painful, as if it's suffering from immense pain and torture, making its already ferocious appearance even more terrifying.

  "Come on everyone, there's nothing scary here, it's just a pattern." I said to the crowd behind me.

  Listen, I'm fine. Hooling was the first to come to my side. After seeing the pattern on the stone gate, he couldn't help but hide behind me quietly.

  "Now the question is how to open this door so that we can get in, otherwise even if there are tremendous horrors and endless treasures inside, we will not be able to know." I said with a bit of concern as I looked at the huge stone gate in front of me.

  "Yes! Brother Gui is right." Sima Lin echoed "Now it's up to you, Huang Yun."

  Third brother took the torch from my hand and began to carefully examine the stone gate. Everyone stood quietly beside him, trying not to disturb him. After a long examination, Third Brother asked: "Does anyone know what's different about this stone gate compared to the one at the entrance of the tomb?"

  "The only difference I see is that there's a ghost head drawn on it," said Second Brother.

  "I don't think it's that simple. This ghost head portrait is indeed terrifying, but it may not be the root of the problem. It might just be something the tomb owner used to scare off future generations. Don't you guys find it strange that there are so many small empty squares carved below this ghost head portrait? I counted them and there are 56 in total. It seems like they need something to fill them up. I think this should be the key to opening the stone gate." The third brother shook his head, disagreeing with the second brother's theory.

  Following his words, everyone couldn't help but look down at the lower part of the Ghost Head Map. Indeed, there were countless small squares hollowed out, about the size of a bee. Counting carefully, there were exactly fifty-six of them. If you didn't pay attention, it would be really hard to spot them in the dark.

  "But what should we use to fill them?" I asked.

  My younger brother shook his head and remained silent, holding the torch and suddenly turned around to carefully shine it on the walls on both sides of the stone steps. I don't know why he didn't focus his attention on the stone gate but instead went to check the walls on both sides.

  After searching around, I couldn't find anything to fill the gap above the stone gate, so I could only shrug my shoulders helplessly at his house.

  "Are we going to be separated from the treasure inside the tomb by this stone gate?" The sixth brother leaned against the stone wall and said in despair. After finishing, he unwillingly rolled up his sleeves and pushed the stone gate with all his might, but no matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't budge the several thousand catty heavy stone gate.

  Just as everyone was at a loss, the clever spirit beside me poked his head out from behind me and whispered, "Third Brother, you've missed one place that hasn't been checked."

  "Did you miss one place?" asked Third Brother suspiciously.

  "Yes, you just checked the stone gate and stone wall but didn't check the stone steps under our feet." Huo Ling solemnly reminded.

  Hearing what Hou Ling said, San Di hurriedly held up the torch and shone it on the stone steps under our feet. Seeing this, everyone hastily moved to one side.

  With a torch, it was indeed only the eight stone steps closest to the Stone Gate that had seven faintly protruding ancient characters as small as fly heads. Since everyone was focused on looking at the Stone Gate, who would notice that there were ancient characters carved on these stone steps?

  "Looking at these ancient characters, San Di guessed and said: 'Everyone looks at these ancient characters, all of which are prominent on the stone steps, a total of 56 should be able to pull out by hand. I think it just fits into the stone gate.'"

  After finishing, he pulled out the square stone blocks with ancient characters carved on them. After pulling them out, they were filled into the stone gate one by one, and everyone was excitedly watching San Di waiting for the moment when the stone gate opened.

  The fifty-six empty squares on the stone gate were soon filled with ancient characters, but the stone gate did not open as everyone had expected. It remained motionless, still blocking our way, and we fell into another stalemate.

  "Brother Sima, you are knowledgeable and experienced, can you recognize these ancient characters?" asked Third Brother.

  Among us, only Sima Lin has frequent contact with ancient objects and may be the only one who recognizes ancient characters.

  Sim Lin walked to the front door, took a glance and shook his head, reciting an ancient poem: "A thousand years of glory is like floating clouds, when the time comes, everything becomes empty. Entering the underground, not leaving any fame in life, past or present. If you look through worldly affairs again, ask later generations how many people are there? There is no precious thing in the tomb, and thieves also have a way."

  The whole poem sounds like it's giving people a kind of enlightenment, as if the tomb owner is telling us profound life truths. Generally, all worldly glory is like floating clouds, and when fate arrives, everything becomes empty.

  "The tomb owner said it well, life is short, spending one's life on the pursuit of wealth and glory, where is there still time to enjoy life? In the end, it's just a pile of dry bones." I sighed to everyone.

  "But I think the tomb owner is warning us about something. Everyone listen to me recite the last two sentences: 'There are no precious objects in this tomb, thieves will also have a way.' On top of that, there's a picture of a tormented ghost head on the gate, it's clear that the tomb owner knew that his grave would inevitably be dug up by later generations. Therefore, he's telling us that after entering the tomb, all we'll get is death, and even after death, we'll still suffer like the ghost head painted on the stone gate. Based on my intuition, behind this stone gate should be the tomb owner's final resting place." Sima Lin said with a hint of realization.

  Everyone nodded in understanding, but the stone gate did not open as we had expected. Everyone fell silent again, and there was no choice but to return by the original route.

  At this time, the third brother suddenly said: "Brother Sima, put the last line in front, put the second to last line in the second line, put the fifth line in the third line, put the third line in the fourth line, put the first line in the fifth line, put the second line in the sixth line, put the fourth line in the seventh line, and then put the sixth line in the eighth line. Then leave only the first character of each line and remove the other six characters."

  After hearing San Di's suggestion, Sima Lin rearranged the order of the poem in a puzzled and hurried manner.

  "Haha... how did the tomb owner start playing word games with us?!" I laughed loudly.

  The tense atmosphere was suddenly greatly reduced, and just as I was laughing, I heard Sima Lin looking at the remaining eight ancient characters softly reciting: "Those who enter the Taoist tomb will not be reborn for millions of years."