Volume Three: The Fox Immortal Tomb - Chapter Forty-One: The Gold Ingot

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As we gazed at the carvings on the stone pillar before us, Xu Tian and I could not help but stare in astonishment. Xu Tian sighed. “This is truly beautiful. If we ever saw the real person, she would probably be even more beautiful than this carving.”

I nodded. Seeing that there was nothing else here, I looked toward the wooden gate and said, “It seems these carvings were made in memory of the fox immortals who once lived here. Let’s go and look somewhere else.”

The others nodded, and we walked toward the wooden gate.

When we reached it, we saw that a rust-covered iron chain was wrapped around it. I raised the crowbar and brought it down on the chain. With a sharp crack, the brittle chain shattered like tofu and fell to the ground.

I then reached out and slowly pulled the wooden gate open. As it swung inward, the four of us shone our flashlights inside. Beyond the gate was a passageway, its walls made entirely of stone, while the ceiling was covered with numerous murals.

We merely glanced up at the murals. They appeared to be repeated sections of the paintings in the main hall, for several of them had already been seen by Xu Tian and me.

The passage was roughly three meters wide. When we shone our flashlights ahead, we saw a gray stone double door about twenty meters away.

Seeing this, I said to Li Kun, “Old Li, open your Blood Eye now. If we run into one of the three formations, Xu Tian can break it immediately.”

Li Kun nodded. Slowly, his eyes began to turn completely blood-red.

Once Li Kun had opened his Blood Eye, we walked toward the stone door.

It did not take long for us to reach it. Each of the two stone panels had a bronze ring fixed to it. Li Kun examined the door carefully and said, “I wonder whether there are any mechanisms here.”

Xu Tian shook his head. “There can’t be. Two fox immortals were living in this tomb. Why would the people who built it install traps? Don’t worry.”

I nodded as well. Xu Tian was right. Even if there had been mechanisms inside the tomb, the two fox immortals could probably have destroyed them with a wave of their hands.

Li Kun nodded, then reached out and seized one of the bronze rings. With a powerful tug, he pulled open the massive stone door all by himself.

Da Gou and Xu Tian were both astonished by his strength. Xu Tian had known that Li Kun was powerful, but being able to pull open such a heavy stone door showed just how great that strength really was.

The moment the door opened, we shone our flashlights inside. We found ourselves looking into a circular burial chamber more than ten meters across. More than a dozen coffins lay within it, but what puzzled us was the utter chaos of the place.

The floor was uneven and pitted, with many of the stone tiles completely shattered. The walls were covered in scars, and even the domed ceiling was riddled with holes. Layer upon layer of dust covered the tomb chamber. The coffins on the floor had all been overturned, and numerous white bones lay scattered everywhere.

There was only one word to describe the chamber:

Ruined.

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Faced with the scene before us, we all froze for a moment. Xu Tian raised a hand to fan away the dust in front of him, then covered his nose and mouth.

“What happened here? How could a perfectly good burial chamber have been reduced to this? Could tomb robbers have come through? Otherwise, why would all the coffins have been overturned?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Look at the walls and the dome above us. They’re covered with holes of every size. To damage stone walls and a ceiling like this would require more than human strength. Besides, look.”

As I spoke, I pointed deeper into the chamber. “If people had done this, the weapons of ancient times wouldn’t have been powerful enough to cause such destruction. If I’m not mistaken, this place must have been reduced to its present state after the two fox immortals fought a great battle here.”

After hearing me, Xu Tian nodded. Li Kun, however, had already begun walking into the tomb chamber ahead of us.

“Oh, come on. You two are still standing around discussing it? We came here to find treasure. There are so many coffins in here—we can even save ourselves the trouble of burning Ghost-Worship Incense before opening them.”

With that, Li Kun leapt onto a stone protruding from the layers of earth and began hopping from one to another. His target was clear: the nearest coffin, which had already been opened but was still relatively intact.

Xu Tian and I exchanged helpless smiles.

“Let’s go,” Xu Tian said. “We might as well follow him. It looks as though there’s nothing here besides these coffins. Since we’ve come all this way, we may as well see whether there are any burial goods. Let’s start with a little good luck.”

I nodded. Xu Tian then leapt onto one of the stones buried in the earth, while Da Gou followed behind me toward Li Kun.

By then, Li Kun had reached the coffin. He looked it over. It had nearly fallen apart. Including the lid, it consisted of only four wooden boards. The lid had disappeared, and the coffin itself lay on its side. One of the sideboards had fallen away and was half-buried in the dirt nearby.

The corpse inside had slid out of the coffin. Its pale skeleton was buried beneath the earth, with only one arm bone exposed.

After finding a secure place to step, Li Kun jumped over. He looked at the bones buried in the dirt, pressed his palms together, and bowed several times.

“Sorry to disturb your resting place. I’m just borrowing a few things. Once I get out, I’ll definitely burn incense for you.”

He bent down, seized the wooden board wedged inside the coffin with both hands, and heaved it upward. But in the next instant, his expression darkened.

Aside from a small finger bone, there was nothing left inside the coffin.

Li Kun cursed under his breath. By then, Xu Tian and I had also arrived. Seeing us approach, Li Kun planted one hand on his hip and said, “There’s nothing in the coffin.”

Xu Tian nodded. The four of us turned to examine the other coffins that had fallen apart.

Then Li Kun’s eyes suddenly lit up. He leapt toward a coffin on our right and landed in front of it after a few bounds.

He crouched down and sifted through the dirt several times with his hand. Then he pulled a red cloth pouch out of the soil.

We had followed him over, and when we saw him pick up the pouch, curiosity immediately seized us.

It was an ancient money pouch—the kind people of old used to carry coins. Astonishingly, despite lying in the earth for so long, it had not rotted away.

Li Kun brushed the dust from it, then slowly opened the pouch.

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The moment the pouch opened, Li Kun smiled. He glanced up at us, then took out what was inside.

Under the gaze of the three of us, Li Kun pulled a gold ingot from the pouch. It was nearly half the size of a child’s fist.

Having been buried beneath the earth for so long, the ingot no longer showed the color of gold. At first glance, it was completely black. Li Kun examined it carefully, then rubbed it hard several times. A glimmer of gold appeared beneath the grime.

The moment he saw it, Li Kun broke into a grin. He bounded over to Xu Tian and held it out.

“Old Liu, look at this! I found a gold ingot. Old Xu, hurry up and see whether it’s real.”

Xu Tian nodded and took the ingot. He weighed it in his hand, then turned it over to inspect the bottom. There was a stamped mark on it, but the inscription had become illegible with age.

Xu Tian glanced around, then crouched down and asked Li Kun for his military shovel.

He gripped the gold ingot tightly and rubbed it lightly against the shovel several times before examining it again.

When the brilliant color of gold began to show through, Xu Tian finally nodded at Li Kun.

“An ancient gold ingot usually weighed about fifty taels. This one has the right weight, and the purity is excellent. It’s genuine gold. Not bad, Old Li—you’ve only just arrived, and you’ve already found something this valuable.”

Li Kun laughed. “Good thing my eyes are sharp, or we really would have missed an ingot this big. Hey, Old Xu, how much do you think it’s worth?”

Xu Tian replied, “Ancient gold ingots were generally around fifty taels, but an ancient tael was only about three-tenths of a modern one. One ancient tael should be a little over thirty-seven grams, so fifty taels would come to more than one thousand eight hundred and fifty grams. I don’t know the current price of gold, but you can ask around later.”

After speaking, Xu Tian suddenly seemed to realize something. He stared at Li Kun in shock, while delight was written all over the faces of the rest of us.

Even if gold prices were at their lowest, this ingot would be worth at least several hundred thousand yuan—or more. If gold prices rose in the coming years, it might be worth several million.

We all swallowed hard and exchanged glances.

Li Kun said, “Damn, Old Liu, we’re rich!”

Volume Three: The Fox Immortal Tomb
Chapter Forty-One: The Gold Ingot

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