As they ran, the group turned around and fired a couple of shots to slow down the approaching creatures, but the attack seemed to have no effect at all. As the horde drew closer, suddenly a river appeared right in front of them.
Caiqingchong shouted loudly, “Jump into the river, these things fear water!”
After hearing Caiqingchong, everyone, without thinking twice, dove headfirst into the river. When the creatures saw the group jump into the water, they rushed into the river as well. However, as soon as they touched the water, they melted away like ice cream under the sun. In a short while, the entire horde that had just been chasing them relentlessly dissolved into water.
Fande biao stared blankly at the water’s surface, washed his face, and said, “Damn, that was a close call. I thought I was about to meet Marx, but who would have thought that water could dissolve them!”
He then turned to Caiqingchong and said, “Even few people know about these creatures, how come you even know they fear water!”
Caiqingchong gave Fande biao a cold stare, then silently ran to the riverbank and sat down on a stone.
Liu Dashao thought to himself, “Caiqingchong sure knows a lot, but why won’t he talk about it?”
Liu Dashao and the others also climbed onto the riverbank. Fande biao said, “How come there’s suddenly a river here? That’s really strange!”
Liu Dashao felt puzzled and asked Daguogua, “Daguogua, why is there a river here all of a sudden?”
Daguogua shook his head, “I really don’t understand this!”
After hearing Daguogua’s words, Liu Dashao felt even more puzzled. He looked toward the river surface, and suddenly noticed a black shadow floating on the water. He quickly signaled Fande biao to retrieve it.
Fande biao picked up the object and threw it next to Liu Dashao, asking, “Why are our backpacks in the river?”
Liu Dashao replied, “When I was attacked by the Yinglong, my backpack fell off the cliff. How could it end up in the river?”
Suddenly, Daguogua jumped up from the stone and said, “I get it now! The bottom of the cliff must have been a pond, not stone slabs!”
Liu Dashao thought for a moment and said, “That doesn’t make sense. If it was a pond, how could the coffin float on it? It couldn’t possibly be made of foam, right?”
Daguogua replied, “We’ll have to wait and see the coffin to find out.”
With that, he signaled everyone to swim further into the river.
Suddenly, Daguogua collapsed to the ground, convulsing violently. Caiqingchong immediately rushed over and helped him up, asking, “Daguogua, are you okay?”
Liu Dashao saw that Daguogua’s face had turned blue, and he was pointing frantically at his stomach, clearly in excruciating pain.
Caiqingchong lifted Daguogua’s shirt and saw a small hole above his navel, from which blood was still oozing.
Caiqingchong’s expression immediately changed. He walked over and said, “One of the creatures got inside him. Judging from how much pain he’s in, it must have injured his intestines!”
Without hesitation, Caiqingchong grabbed the Taoist sword from Liu Dashao and sliced open Daguogua’s stomach. The creature, as if seeing a ghost, immediately darted out.
After the creature was removed, Daguogua visibly relaxed. However, he clearly needed to rest before swimming again. Liu Dashao wasn’t a hasty person, so he let the group rest where they were.
Caiqingchong sat back down on the stone and closed his eyes to rest. Despite his serious injuries, Daguogua still couldn’t resist smoking. Ignoring Caiqingchong’s objections, he lit up a cigarette. Liu Dashao looked at them—each of them was a strange tomb raider in their own way—and thought to himself that the only person he could really talk to was Fande biao, so he decided to go chat with him.
But when Liu Dashao looked around, Fande biao was nowhere to be seen. He immediately felt something was wrong. Just then, a scream rang out—“Ah!”
Hearing Fande biao’s scream, Liu Dashao determined it came from the right side. He grabbed his flashlight and ran in that direction. Daguogua and Caiqingchong followed closely behind.
While running, Liu Dashao observed the surroundings. They were now in a natural cave, and water was continuously seeping from the walls. Liu Dashao thought to himself, “When we first entered, the path was man-made, but now it’s turned into a natural cave. This place must be more complex than we thought.”
As they ran, they approached a bend in the cave. From the other side of the bend, they could see the light from a flashlight. Liu Dashao was certain Fande biao was inside and muttered to himself, “Damn you, fatty! At a time like this, you still run around. Do you really think there’s treasure here?”
Liu Dashao slowed his pace and walked toward the bend. Just as he was about to scold Fande biao, he was stunned by what he saw. Illuminated by his flashlight stood a small golden mountain, about half a meter high, clearly made entirely of gold.
Liu Dashao stood there with his mouth wide open. He turned to look at Fande biao, whose eyes were shining, staring blankly at the treasure.
At that moment, Daguogua and Caiqingchong caught up. They had seen many treasures before and weren’t surprised by this sight.
With the four flashlights now focused together, the entire area became clearly visible. It was a natural cave roughly the size of half a basketball court. Liu Dashao carefully swept his flashlight around the cave. In addition to the gold, there were luminous pearls, bronze swords, jade artifacts, bronze halberds, and countless other treasures.
When Liu Dashao’s flashlight reached a corner of the cave, he noticed a pile of bones. Beside them were several shovels. He immediately called Daguogua over to take a look.
Daguogua was also very surprised. He waved for everyone to come over and investigate.
Slowly, the group approached the bones. There were five skeletons in total, each sitting on the ground with their backs leaning against the wall. Around each of their necks hung the same necklace. The pendant was divided into two parts: the upper part was a cylindrical hollow bronze tube, with inscriptions that were now illegible. The lower part appeared to be made of jade, shaped like a claw without nails. It was transparent in appearance, but upon closer inspection, it didn’t seem to be jade at all.
Without hesitation, Daguogua and Caiqingchong knelt down and kowtowed three times before the five skeletons.
“This thing doesn’t look valuable,” Fande biao, who had appeared beside them unnoticed, pointed at the pendant and asked, “What are you two doing? Why are you bowing to dead people?”
Daguogua stood up and gave Fande biao a cold stare, “Do you even know who these people were? They were grave robbers, just like us!”
He then pointed at the pendant again and said, “This is called a Mōjīn Fú. It’s not something you can buy with money.”
When Liu Dashao heard the words “Mōjīn Fú,” he couldn’t help but gasp inwardly, thinking to himself, “So the Mōjīn Fú really exists in the world!”
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