The Pearl That Suppresses Corpses

Under the moonlight that was as gentle as water, the four of them didn't have much trouble reaching the location that was suspected to be the Tomb of Princess Yiyang.

Chen Yu carefully determined the orientation back and forth. Finally, he pointed at a place confidently and said, "Let's start here. I estimate that it won't take long to dig down to the princess's tomb."

Lin Yuxuan's spirits lifted upon hearing this. He immediately signaled to Zhang Feng and Wang Qiang, asking them to assist Chen Yu in starting the excavation.

Before long, accompanied by the dull sound of the Luoyang shovel in Wang Qiang's hand hitting something like a stone, Wang Qiang couldn't help but cheer excitedly. Zhang Feng and Chen Yu, who were sitting on the ground resting, almost simultaneously jumped up from the ground and rushed towards the hole in unison. Lin Yuxuan also quickly stepped up to the hole and shone a flashlight into it.

Wang Qiang stuck his head out of the hole, made a "V" sign with two fingers, and his face was filled with uncontrollable excitement.

Chen Yu took the stone fragment handed over by Wang Qiang and examined it carefully by the light of the flashlight. His hands couldn't stop trembling. "That's right. This brick is from the underground palace of the princess's tomb. It's exactly the same as the bricks used in the underground palaces of the other three accompanying tombs that have been excavated by the state in the cultural relics management office."

At this time, Wang Qiang had already climbed out of the hole. Lin Yuxuan signaled the experienced Chen Yu to go down the hole to complete the final work of breaking through to the underground palace. Chen Yu, carrying the Luoyang shovel, carefully dug and knocked along the tunnel for a while, and finally opened a hole.

A nauseating musty smell slowly wafted out. Chen Yu quickly covered his mouth and nose, nimbly crawled out of the narrow tunnel backwards, plopped down on the ground, and took big gulps of the fresh night air.

Seeing this, Zhang Feng and Wang Qiang beside him quickly turned on the portable air pump and kept pumping air into the tunnel. After working for a while, the musty smell wafting out of the hole had faded a lot. Chen Yu glanced at Lin Yuxuan, who was both anxious and excited, and said, "Mr. Lin, we've succeeded. Now we can enter the underground palace. The tunnel is too narrow. You and Zhang Feng stay up here and keep pumping air into the tunnel to replenish the oxygen. I'll take Wang Qiang down to have a look. Don't worry. I definitely won't embezzle a single piece of all the treasures."

Lin Yuxuan thought for a moment and also knew that his plump figure really couldn't fit through this narrow hole, so he nodded in agreement.

Chen Yu and Wang Qiang carefully put on small items such as flashlights, daggers, and lighters, and then started crawling along the tunnel towards the dark entrance of the underground palace of the Tomb of Princess Yiyang.

After the two entered the underground palace, they shone their flashlights around. They saw that the walls all around were covered with exquisite Tang Dynasty murals and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

The magnificent momentum of the underground palace left the two men full of praise. Several side chambers were filled with exquisite painted pottery and some daily necessities.

They followed the spacious corridor of the underground palace and came to the main burial chamber. As the flashlight beam swept across, the splendor and magnificence in front of them left Chen Yu and Wang Qiang with their mouths agape, and they couldn't make a sound for a moment.

In the center of the main burial chamber were placed two stone coffins, and around the stone coffins were piled up with jade, gold, and silver treasures. Wang Qiang turned on the emergency lighting lamp, and in an instant, the burial chamber was as bright as day.

Chen Yu immediately judged that this was an ancient tomb that had never been looted before. He couldn't help but feel a rush of ecstasy in his heart. This meant that they had discovered a treasure trove containing huge wealth.

Chen Yu and Wang Qiang tried to push open the lids of the stone coffins, but after several attempts, they didn't budge at all, so they had to give up. The two carefully put the jewels and valuables into several cloth bags, backed out of the ancient tomb along the original path, and returned to the ground.

Seeing so many jewels, Lin Yuxuan and Zhang Feng, who were waiting on the ground, were also stunned with amazement. After coming to their senses, Lin Yuxuan began to ask Chen Yu and Wang Qiang about the situation inside the tomb.

Chen Yu remained silent and coldly watched Wang Qiang vividly describe the situation inside the underground palace of the princess's tomb to Lin Yuxuan and Zhang Feng.

When Lin Yuxuan heard that there were two stone coffins in the main burial chamber of the underground palace, he was very surprised. He had originally thought that this princess's tomb was only the single burial tomb of Princess Yiyang, and he secretly regretted not carefully consulting the relevant materials before the operation.

Lin Yuxuan looked at the silent Chen Yu and couldn't help asking, "Brother Chen, what are you thinking about?"

Chen Yu was taken aback for a moment and then understood Lin Yuxuan's thoughts. After all, they had all come together for money. Facing such a huge amount of wealth, it was hard to guarantee that the people around them wouldn't have the intention of monopolizing it. Throughout history, there were countless examples of tomb raiders killing each other for the sake of profit.

Chen Yu quickly said, "Mr. Lin, in my opinion, the most valuable things are probably not these items placed around the coffin. They should be the things that were buried with the deceased in the coffin. That is to say, there may be a greater secret hidden in the coffin that Wang Qiang and I couldn't push open. The real treasures might be inside the coffin."

Lin Yuxuan's eyes lit up, and he smiled and said, "Brothers, we've gone to so much trouble to finally get this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we don't open the coffin and just take some trivial things back, we'll probably regret it for the rest of our lives."

As soon as he finished speaking, the other three people, who had already been excited by the jewels in front of them, quickly echoed and unanimously expressed that they definitely couldn't just go back like this and leave the greatest benefits to those who came later.

Lin Yuxuan looked at Zhang Feng and said with a smile, "Brother Zhang, with you going down to help, I think the three of us working together will definitely be able to open the coffin and take out the treasures."

Zhang Feng exchanged a look with Chen Yu and Wang Qiang. They each thought to themselves: With Lin Yuxuan's greedy nature, he definitely wouldn't trick the three of them into going down and then run away with these jewels by himself. What he really wanted was the rare antiques. He definitely wouldn't run away easily until he achieved his goal. The three of them smiled at each other and nodded in agreement.

So, Zhang Feng, Chen Yu, and Wang Qiang successively crawled into the tunnel and set off towards the underground palace of the Tomb of Princess Yiyang again.

After reaching the main burial chamber, the strong and sturdy Zhang Feng, cooperating with Chen Yu and Wang Qiang, finally managed to open one of the stone coffins with great effort. The body in the coffin had long since decayed, leaving only a skeleton. There were many jewels scattered on the skeleton, and there was also a golden seal ribbon. Judging from the bones, this was a male corpse. Chen Yu guessed that this should be the husband of Princess Yiyang, and this tomb should be the joint burial tomb of the couple.

Since there were so many treasures in the husband's coffin, there must be priceless treasures hidden in the coffin of the more noble princess. The three of them were extremely excited.

Just as they were about to work together to open the other coffin of the princess, Wang Qiang's hand brushed across the coffin lid, and he suddenly felt something strange. He quickly called the other two to take a look together.

They blew off the thick layer of dust on the coffin, and a line of characters clearly appeared: When the peonies bloom, they will reach their peak and then decline!

The three of them didn't understand the meaning, so they sped up and worked together to push open the coffin. To their surprise, a young and beautiful woman in ancient costumes was lying in the coffin. Her face was calm and serene, without any signs of decay. She was as lifelike as the Sleeping Beauty in the legend. A faint white light was emanating from the coffin. It turned out to be the light emitted by a night pearl the size of an egg that was in the princess's mouth. The light was gentle but also carried a hint of desolation.

The three of them exchanged a look. Besides being surprised, they also understood that this night pearl was the most precious treasure in this princess's tomb.

Chen Yu carefully took out the night pearl from the princess's mouth. The moment the night pearl was taken out, the three of them simultaneously widened their eyes. They saw that the princess's beautiful face was rapidly undergoing a terrifying change. In the blink of an eye, she aged into a mummy-like state.

The three of them were shocked and horrified. They no longer cared about anything else. They quickly stuffed the collected jewels into their pockets and fled in a panic towards the exit that had been dug in the underground palace.

After climbing out of the underground palace, the three of them were still in a state of shock, gasping for breath and unable to say a word. Lin Yuxuan looked at their expressions and 隐隐 felt a sense of foreboding. He kept asking what had happened.

Chen Yu shook his head and took out that night pearl from a small leather box. Lin Yuxuan was entranced by it.

Just then, the moonlight gradually dimmed again. The four of them all showed expressions of fear. They didn't care about tidying up the things on the ground. They only took the jewels collected from the ancient tomb and ran all the way.

Fortunately, there were no more accidents this time. Unfortunately, due to their inner fear, the four of them lost their way after running all the way, and the equipment they had prepared for tomb raiding was also scattered on the ground and nowhere to be found.

In front of them, a dark and deep ditch blocked their way. It seemed that there was no way forward. After all, Lin Yuxuan had seen big scenes. After the initial panic, he came up with an idea after a little thought. He instructed everyone to rest where they were and not to run around anymore to avoid any accidents. They would make plans after dawn.

Seeing the other three people huddled together in fear, Lin Yuxuan took out the notebook in his pocket and, by the light of the only flashlight, began to write in the notebook.