Chapter 13: No Connection

Behind the mound of earth stretched another long corridor. As for the room Uncle Wangcai mentioned, full of antiques, I hadn't come across it. At the end of the passage stood a heavy stone door, though it had been damaged, leaving only a narrow gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.

By this point, I understood: Uncle Wangcai wasn’t just lying—there wasn’t a single truthful word in what he said. I had foolishly thought that the dark aura on his forehead meant he might speak honestly before dying.

Regarding the ancient tomb beneath the river, I realized only now how little I truly knew, yet I had rashly ventured inside.

Beyond the stone door lay a vast space, but it was eerily empty. My gaze fell to the ground, where an eight-trigram diagram was etched. Each of the eight directions corresponded to a door; the one we entered through was the "Kun" position.

Kun—the Earth trigram—belongs to the element of earth and represents the great land, generally associated with Yin energy. To be precise, we had entered from the southwest, and the tomb extended toward the northeast.

Suddenly, confusion clouded my mind. If I remembered correctly, our village lay to the northeast of the tomb’s main hall. We had already traveled thousands of meters from that grand hall to reach here.

By that logic, could it be that this tomb lay directly beneath our village?

I sucked in a sharp breath. The thought sent chills crawling over my skin. Who would have imagined that every night while sleeping, I was resting atop an ancient burial site?

"Let's head toward the Kan position," Master Zhang Jiaqian said, counting on his fingers. Whether his calculations were reliable or not, he pointed to the due north.

Kan is the Black Tortoise position, associated with water—water signifies wealth. Kan thus represents the position of fortune and the generation of wealth.

If Uncle Wangcai had obtained antiques, the chances were high they came from the Kan direction.

Seeing that I offered no objection, Liu Qingya silently agreed with this plan. Without delay, we all moved toward the north.

Uncharacteristically, Master Zhang Jiaqian led the way. It seemed this half-baked master possessed some real skill, at least knowing common Feng Shui principles.

---

“This tomb looks centuries old; it probably holds plenty of valuable items. If we can retrieve them, well, that would be something!” I deliberately remarked.

Master Zhang Jiaqian’s eyes gleamed sharply. “I came here to solve the troubles you’ve encountered, not for antiques,” he replied.

Though he said this, his steps quickened eagerly. Meanwhile, Liu Qingya, Uncle Ba, and I exchanged knowing smiles. Even if antiques remained here, the villagers had likely cleared them out long ago.

But Master Zhang had no idea and was impatient to find something.

I hadn’t warned him in advance, planning to let this money-loving master lead us into the depths.

...Behind the Kan position stretched yet another long corridor.

After about ten minutes, the air grew thick and suffocating. The men were still managing, but Liu Qingya struggled to continue. Master Zhang, however, still had a gleam of excitement in his eyes, contrasting starkly with Liu Qingya’s weakening state.

“If you really can’t hold on, go back first. I’ll keep exploring,” I said to Liu Qingya.

Without proper gear, I knew I wouldn’t last much longer either. But if Liu Qingya kept going like this, she might not make it.

“I’m fine. I can still hold on. Don’t worry about me,” she insisted, pushing away my hand as if to prove she could continue.

So stubborn! I gave up trying to persuade her.

If we found nothing soon, we’d have no choice but to retreat.

“Damn, we’ve hit the jackpot!” Master Zhang suddenly exclaimed as I was about to call for withdrawal.

He bent down quickly, picking something up and stuffing it into his cloak.

The dim light made it hard to see the item clearly; it was small and, if antique, wouldn’t be worth much.

“Ahem…” Noticing our curious looks, Master Zhang coughed twice to compose himself. “There’s nothing much here. These items are tainted with mold energy. When I get back, I’ll place this under the bronze statue of our ancestor to dispel the mold. Otherwise, if it gets circulated, you’ll be the ones suffering.”

He struck a grand heroic pose, as if truly acting for our benefit.

That old man’s greed was boundless.

After some more walking, I genuinely couldn’t continue.

---

Liu Qingya was weak and slumped against the wall, and Uncle Ba and the others were gasping for breath. Even Master Zhang, who had led us, had lost his earlier vigor.

“Xiao Chen, I really can’t go on. Maybe we should turn back,” Uncle Ba said reluctantly.

We had paid the money, so we should see this through.

But at this point, it wasn’t about doing well or poorly—it was a matter of life and death.

Five hundred yuan for a life, Uncle Ba felt it wasn’t worth it.

“Then we’ll withdraw...” I began.

“No,” I was cut off by Master Zhang up front. “Hold on one more minute. If we still can’t continue, then we’ll pull back.”

Half a minute later, just as everyone was ready to give up, even Master Zhang seemed hopeless, we rounded a corner and found another stone door.

The door was half-open, showing signs of forced entry. I noticed marks where a crowbar had been used.

It seemed Uncle Dazhuang and his group had braved the thin air here over a decade ago.

Master Zhang hadn’t noticed the crowbar marks—if he had, he’d surely think the tomb had been looted.

Then he probably wouldn’t be so persistent.

Passing through the stone door, the space suddenly opened up, and faint light filtered from above.

The air here was surprisingly fresh.

I looked up to see a bowl-sized hole in the ceiling.

At last, fresh air!

We all gasped deeply, nearly suffocated moments before.

“Heaven smiles upon us! Do you see? Even the heavens want us to delve deeper into this tomb,” Master Zhang said, believing this was divine intervention.

Curiosity piqued within me. Tombs were typically sealed—why was there a hole above?

Something was amiss.

Moreover, we hadn’t encountered any dark curses so far.

Strange indeed.

Could it be that Uncle Dazhuang and Uncle Wangcai’s deaths had nothing to do with this tomb?