ryethenovel Chapter 428: A Great Tomb Lies on Jingguang Mountain—When the Tomb Opens, Rivers of Blood Will Flow!
Chapter 428: A Great Tomb Lies on Jingguang Mountain—When the Tomb Opens, Rivers of Blood Will Flow!
"What does it look like to you?"
When Wu Liuxian asked this question.
Liu Dayou practically answered without thinking:
"Like a pig trough."
Hearing this answer, Wu Liuxian was visibly taken aback, then burst into laughter:
"It really does look like one, long and rectangular, saying it’s a pig trough doesn’t seem wrong either."
Chen Xiao looked up at the mountain.
The entire Jingguang Mountain indeed was long and rectangular, but the top was a barren expanse.
In front of the mountain, there was a huge circular hill.
That rounded hill looked just like a... human head rolling to one side.
"A guillotine?"
Chen Xiao voiced his opinion.
Wu Liuxian immediately looked over and then nodded:
"Exactly. When my father brought me here, he asked the first thing about what this mountain looks like."
"At that time, he said it was a guillotine."
Chen Xiao nodded silently, but there was also a look of confusion in his eyes.
After reading, Liu Dayou started pondering the surroundings of the mountain and then muttered:
"So, this place shouldn’t have a big tomb, right? The people in Jingguang Village under Jingguang Mountain shouldn’t have placed their ancestral graves here, right?"
Wu Liuxian gave a thumbs up: "Brother Dayou indeed has some skills, you’re right... There isn’t a single ancestral grave on Jingguang Mountain. This place is considered a feng shui forbidden zone."
Saying so, Wu Liuxian asked another question:
"Did you know that after discovering the Marquis Jinguang’s Tomb, there was talk of developing this place into a tourist spot?"
Chen Xiao nodded to indicate he knew, and Wu Liuxian smiled and said:
"This place was originally intended to be developed into a tourist spot, and even the villagers of Jingguang Village had negotiated the requisition and relocation matters. At that time, the land and houses in Jingguang Village were quite valuable."
"Unfortunately, later on, the province invited a master who immediately advised stopping everything after taking a look. He said if this place were developed into a tourist spot, incidents were bound to happen."
"At that time, the tourist spot might not bring in any income, and there could even be a bunch of casualties."
Chen Xiao listened as if he were hearing a story.
But he wasn’t going to naively ask Wu Liuxian if it was true.
After all, he had Liu Dayou by his side.
Chen Xiao somewhat believed in the mysterious and the occult.
However, these mysterious occurrences seemed unrelated to what Chen Xiao was currently investigating, right?
While Chen Xiao was pondering, Wu Liuxian spoke again:
"My father once said there was a great tomb on Jingguang Mountain, and when it’s opened, rivers of blood would flow!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Xiao’s eyes abruptly focused.
A great tomb on Jingguang Mountain, and when opened, rivers of blood?
Chen Xiao believed in matters of the occult.
But sometimes, explaining things only with the occult seems a bit much.
However, Chen Xiao said nothing and just nodded slightly.
Wu Liuxian didn’t say more and followed Chen Xiao and Liu Dayou up the mountain.
The three of them chatted while climbing, and after a while, Chen Xiao spoke:
"You mentioned earlier that Uncle went to save a friend. What was his friend’s name? Was he a big name in the grave robbing trade, or someone like Dayou?"
Chen Xiao’s tone was calm, like casual chat after climbing up the mountain.
"Master of the Helm, Zhang Du. Years ago, he had life-and-death friendship with my father on the battlefield."
When the name Zhang Du was mentioned, Chen Xiao just smiled and said nothing.
Before long, the three reached the location of the Marquis Jinguang’s Tomb.
The discovery of the entire Marquis Jinguang’s Tomb was within the mountain, so looking from below with the trees obscuring, one couldn’t see its full scale.
But when getting closer, even Chen Xiao and Liu Dayou could feel the oppressive aura of the ancient tomb.
Especially the tunnel extending downwards, giving off an inexplicable sense of danger.
"This tomb is entirely located within the mountain’s belly. The builders back then must have employed a massive workforce and taken many years to complete it."
"I haven’t gone inside either, but I imagine the archaeological team must have been both shocked and thrilled when they discovered it."
Speaking up to this point, Wu Liuxian couldn’t help but express his curiosity:
"I’ve always been curious about the tomb raiders back then. What were they after? There’s talk that the treasures remained mostly untouched, implying they weren’t there for riches. If it were merely for adventure, there shouldn’t have been signs of murder."
"Why are there rumors that one or two were killed by others and not by traps or flora and fauna?"
When Wu Liuxian mentioned people being killed, he was referring to the Wang Brothers.
The Wu Family Sisters were killed by venomous snakes, Ye Jiadong died from traps, and Jiang Pinggui’s autopsy revealed death from a lethal plant toxin.
Hearing Wu Liuxian’s words, Chen Xiao suddenly wondered:
"Could there be another possibility? Maybe the whole team wasn’t there for treasures, but the Wang Brothers harbored other intentions and were dealt with in the tomb?"
As soon as this possibility occurred to him, Chen Xiao dismissed it.
Based on what he’d learned from Wu Liuxian, tomb raiders generally had three reasons for grave robbing.
The simplest being for treasures within the tomb.
Then, some were merely after the thrill of adventure.
Lastly, there were those who determined from various sources that the tomb held something they wished to acquire.
To them, this item was worth more than monetary value, so they only took that particular item from the tomb!
Combining past life memories, Chen Xiao always felt that the motivation for the tomb raiders might have been for that item within the tomb that exceeded monetary valuation.
Because on the altar within the tomb, one sacrificial plate was empty.
The empty sacrificial plate was covered in ancient script, which translated to a curse.
But Chen Xiao couldn’t share these insights with Wu Liuxian. After donning protective gear, the three headed towards the already excavated tomb.
As they walked, words between the three gradually diminished.
After some time, they finally reached the spots where the six victims met their ends, where they saw the lines redrawn by the police.
Unfortunately, the Marquis Jinguang’s Tomb was set to be developed, and this place no longer resembled its original form.
Moreover, the incidents involving the six individuals did not occur at the same location; the first to die here were the Wang Brothers.
As Liu Dayou and Wu Liuxian were about to move forward, Chen Xiao called out to them:
"Let’s rest here for a moment."
Of course, Chen Xiao didn’t need the rest; climbing a mountain and entering a tomb wasn’t enough to tire him physically.
The real reason he stopped was to utilize his Power of Construction and his understanding of the case to reconstruct the scene.
Watching Chen Xiao lean against the tomb corridor and sit down, Wu Liuxian was a bit curious.
But when Liu Dayou shook his head, indicating he should sit and wait, Wu Liuxian refrained from asking further questions.
The tomb corridor instantly fell quiet.
Leaning against the corridor, Chen Xiao closed his eyes and contemplated for awhile before slowly opening his eyes to gaze back at the path he’d come!