Chapter Five: Mò Jīn Xiào Wèi Displays His Divine Powers

  "Right, the geological structure here is so unique and rare, this can't be ignored. The natural hard granite is a good way to prevent tomb raiders from digging into the weak points of the grave. Apart from the good feng shui of this place, the owner of the tomb must have considered this point as well. Considering that Cao Cao was the ancestor of treasure hunting, he should have been quite knowledgeable about such things. Therefore, it can be confirmed that the person buried in the tomb is at least a high-ranking noble, possibly even an emperor."

  After listening to my second brother's analysis, I finally understood why there was only one path leading into the ancient tomb. Thinking about it, that path must have been left over from when the tomb was built into the mountain. It must be the only place in the entire mountain where there is no granite. And since the path is so heavily guarded, the tomb owner must have set up countless obstacles along the way to the main tomb to prevent grave robbers. Moreover, the tomb owner must have been very confident in the obstacles he set up for himself.

  After resting, everyone packed up and started walking towards the ancient tomb. The path leading to the ancient tomb was at the foot of the mountain and wasn't particularly hidden. The tomb owner apparently didn't worry about later generations entering from here.

  The path inside the tomb is very spacious and goes in without going far, it's already dark and lightless. Seeing this, everyone can only light up torches and continue to move forward with the firelight.

  The faint sound of dripping water occasionally came to our ears, the 'ding dong' sound seemed to come from outside the sky. The humid air and cold coolness announced that we were completely isolated from the outside.

  After walking for about two hours, we finally reached the end of the tomb passage. The stone gate that Sima Lin mentioned last night appeared before our eyes. The heavy stone gate could not block us from entering the tomb.

  Sim Lin pointed at a protruding stone on the top of the door and said, "The mechanism for opening the door is right there. Everyone must be careful before entering to prevent any unexpected accidents."

  Then he told everyone about what happened last time he went in, so that everyone would have a mental preparation.

  At this time, the old six who was walking in the front said with great enthusiasm: "Everyone doesn't need to be afraid. If it's a ghost or monster, there's big brother here. If it's not a ghost or monster, there's me, old six, and he can't escape my knife."

  He said, and then put the Ghost Head Knife on his shoulder, with a fearless look. Seeing that everyone was ready, Sima Lin turned the stone block protruding from the stone gate, and the gate slowly rotated open with a dull "rumble" sound, revealing the entrance to the ancient tomb.

  As soon as I entered the stone room, a rather damp and chilly air rushed towards me. The air was filled with a foul smell that made me cover my mouth. With the torchlight, I could see corpses all over the ground, some with their mouths open, others in a struggling pose. What they had in common was that they were all pointing to the stone tablet not far from the tomb gate, looking extremely painful and eerie.

  "Everyone be careful not to touch that stone tablet randomly, otherwise once the tomb door is closed, we will have no way to escape. It's possible that this stone gate can only be opened from the outside." Sima Lin warned.

  "The Ghost Path brother smells so bad in here, I don't know what kind of smell it is." Hook Ling frowned and complained.

  "I don't know but I'm sure it's not the smell of a dead person." I replied.

  Carrying torches, they cautiously approached the stone monument. By the light of the fire, they could indeed see that there were sixteen ancient characters carved on the monument. Although they didn't recognize them, they should be the ones mentioned by Sima Lin - "You don't move, I won't move; you move, I will definitely move."

  At this time, only Old Six was heard shouting loudly in the distance: "Big brother, come and take a look at them quickly."

  Everyone rushed over and saw three newly dead bodies on the ground. At this time, they had not yet rotted, obviously they had not been dead for many days.

  "Are these the companions you came in with last time?" I asked Sima Lin.

  Looking at the corpses, Sima Lin did not respond. It seemed that he had tacitly acknowledged it. The death postures of those few people looked extremely strange. The three of them were tightly leaning against the wall, their faces filled with extreme terror, mouths agape and eyes still open, staring straight ahead as if they had seen some kind of monster.

  Judging from the fact that the mountain-opening knife was still in their hands, it is clear that the three people did not have time to resist and were killed instantly. What's even more inexplicable is that there wasn't a single wound on the corpses, as if they had been sucked dry by something, leaving behind only an empty shell of skin.

  At this time, Sima Lin took out a candle from his travel bag and lit it at the southeast corner of the stone room. This was their old rule. Then he pulled down some clothes from each corpse one by one.

  "After finishing, he said to the three corpses: 'Brothers, you died unjustly here. I, brother, cannot bring you back to your hometown for burial, so I can only take your tokens and inform your families.'" He then bowed three times to them.

  Everyone's faces showed a hint of fear as they looked at the withered corpses, and they couldn't help but feel that there was something strange hidden in this stone room. It seemed that what killed them wasn't ghosts or zombies after all. If it were zombies, there should be clear bite marks on their necks, but there weren't any wounds on their bodies at all. Various questions flashed through my mind like lightning.

  Just as he was about to urge everyone to move forward, he saw Hou Ling still crouching on the ground examining the few corpses. At this time, she was stripping off the clothes of the dead bodies, as if she had discovered something.

  I hastily asked: "Ling Mei, have you seen anything?"

  Everyone who heard me say this went over and crouched down with Guo Ling to examine those corpses.

  "Ghostly Brother, look at their chest, there are marks of being pierced by something." Hook Spirit said with suspicion.

  Along the direction of her finger, I only saw that their chest had indeed been pierced with a faint dark mark. If you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't be able to see it at all. I couldn't help but admire my Miao wife from the bottom of my heart.

  "Was it something that sucked their bodily fluids dry from here? What on earth was it?" I asked Gu Ling.

  "If I'm not mistaken, there should be a giant centipede hidden in one of the corners of this stone room. Judging from the wound on the deceased's chest, it must have been bitten by an enormous centipede. I can't determine exactly how many, but when I was at the mountain stronghold before, a huge centipede appeared on the back mountain and injured many people and livestock. Those who died were all sucked dry, just like this."

  Everyone who heard it was terrified, staring at the dark corners of the stone room, afraid that centipedes would crawl out from somewhere. The stone room is very wide and where we stand is just one corner. I don't know where this thing is hiding.

  Everyone was in a state of shock and confusion when suddenly, a series of muffled yet piercing "hissing" sounds came from the dark corner in the distance, apparently rushing towards us. The speed was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, the sound became very clear.

  Just as they were at a loss for what to do in the face of the danger, Sima Lin suddenly shouted: "Everyone quickly gather together against the wall corner of the stone chamber, don't fall behind alone."

  The sixth brother, who was very bold, stood in front of the crowd without hesitation, holding a ghost head knife that weighed over 100 kilograms, with an fearless look on his face.

  The crowd gathered in the corner of the wall, and by the light of the fire, I saw a large number of crawling insects surging over from a distance, like a tide coming towards us. Upon closer inspection, they were indeed centipedes, each one as long as two feet, their bodies glistening with a bloody glow under the light of the fire. My skin was instantly covered in goosebumps, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

  Just as they were about to rush over, Sima Lin coldly laughed and said: "What's there to fear from a centipede? I thought it was some kind of monster. If even you can't handle me, then I'm not worthy of being called the Golden Armor General."

  As they spoke, he took out several large water bags from his travel bag and handed them to everyone, instructing: "Don't be afraid, these water bags are filled with sticky oil, specially for dealing with those insects. Now, while those bugs haven't approached yet, let's retreat towards the tomb entrance while pouring the oil in the water bags evenly onto the ground. Later, I'll invite you all to eat centipede meat."

  After finishing, he led the way, pouring oil on the ground while quickly retreating to the tomb gate. Everyone followed his example and walked towards the tomb gate behind him. In no time, nearly tens of meters behind them were filled with oil.

  When the centipede encountered oil, its pace slowed down greatly. It was probably because the ground had been poured with oil and became slippery. I couldn't help but admire this Mokkei's calmness in the face of danger.

  Everyone stood at the gate of the tomb and saw that the centipedes were struggling to crawl forward, which was very difficult. The oil seemed to have some special ingredients mixed in by Sima Lin, making it particularly sticky. Before long, the centipedes covered in oil stuck together, forming a large ball of centipedes that struggled to move towards us, but they were stuck together and couldn't budge an inch.

  "Brother Sima is indeed brilliant, having such a way to deal with the insect! Inspector Mokam is truly extraordinary!" exclaimed Second Brother.

  "It's not that I'm great, but we've been in these ancient tombs for years and there are too many poisonous insects inside. If we don't get rid of them, it won't do. These disgusting things are too sinister, who knows how many people have died from being harmed by them inside the stone tomb? If we don't eliminate them today, they'll still harm people in the future, how can we let them live?" Sima Lin said, and without hesitation, he threw the torch in his hand towards the centipede ball in front of him.