"Vanished? Impossible! How can a living person just disappear?" It took me a moment to grasp the situation.

King Leader and Third Elder Sun wore somber expressions, clearly weighed down by their troubles.

Third Elder Sun recounted the events in fits and starts.

Compared to the East Ear Chamber, the West Ear Chamber had yielded nothing of substance. This had always been a thorn in Second Elder Sun's side, so when it came time for their nightly tasks, they split up. Second Elder Sun speculated that beneath the West Ear Chamber, there might be hidden chambers, part of the Underground Palace, where bronze and jade artifacts were likely buried.

Third Elder Sun, ever the level-headed one, mocked his Second Brother, saying, "I think you're obsessed, Second Brother."

Upon examining this peculiar incident, I firmly believed that the Main Tomb Chamber, along with the coffin and outer coffin, couldn't just vanish into thin air. I surmised that perhaps an earthquake, coupled with years of water damage, had caused the Main Tomb Chamber to collapse. As such, I felt that the Main Tomb Chamber of this Western Zhou Tomb was still buried underground. This turned the situation into a 'Tomb within a Tomb,' which only complicated matters further.

What is a 'Tomb within a Tomb'?

This phenomenon isn't as rare as one might think, especially in regions historically prone to earthquakes. In essence, it's a natural disaster in evolution.

The subsidence of the Main Tomb Chamber, with its depth and location shifting unpredictably, follows no set pattern. To find it relies more on luck than skill—six parts fortune to four parts strength.

Recently, the Sanxingdui site has surged in popularity. What many may not know is that the Sanxingdui Civilization Site was discovered by the National Archaeological Team back in the 1930s. Despite decades of excavation, they still missed several large pits. It wasn't until recently that these were accidentally uncovered.

This example illustrates how natural disasters like earthquakes can cause a Sacrificial Pit for Burial to deviate severely, creating a 'Tomb within a Tomb.' Thus, it is only now that the millennials and the post-90s generation have the fortune to witness the unearthing of the Ancient Shu Kingdom's gold masks.

Second Elder Sun disappeared in the pit, vanished in the West Ear Chamber—who knows if he fell into some concealed dark hole or perhaps a kind of trapdoor. His fate is unknown. As his brothers, it's only natural for the boss and Third Elder Sun to search for him.

Alive, he must be found; dead, his body must be seen.

They all spent a sleepless night, and at times, Third Elder Sun became agitated, expressing a desire to go down into the tomb alone to search. However, King Leader stopped him each time.

King Leader said, "Third Brother, as the leader of our team, I'm even more anxious about Second Brother's disappearance than you are. But that doesn't mean we should act recklessly! Third Brother, you're always calm. Tell me, are we the first in our line of work to face such an incident?"

"So, Lao San, we still need to call for help."

"Huh? Call for help?" I asked curiously. "Boss, are we actually thinking of calling the cops? To have the police look for Second Brother?"

King Leader gave me a piercing look. "Cloud Peak, has your head been kicked by a donkey? Call the police? Do you want to end up eating steamed buns in prison for ten years?"

I was scolded and stammered, unable to retort.

King Leader told us not to worry about it; he said he would find someone to help. He also made a point of warning me to keep an eye on Third Elder Sun, to prevent him from sneaking off to the tomb alone. He mentioned that the reinforcements he sought would arrive soon.

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I barely slept that night. In the morning, as I was brushing my teeth in the courtyard, I noticed the absence of Sao Niang and her mole – I had no idea where that woman had gone.

"Cloud Peak, go out and get Third Brother a basket of xiaolongbao and a bowl of wonton soup," Third Elder Sun's voice suddenly came from behind me.

Spitting out the mouthwash, I turned around and said, "That won't do, Third Brother. Boss has tasked me with watching you. He said we can't let you leave before his backup arrives."

Third Elder Sun's face turned a mix of green and red.

"Dammit!" He kicked over the trash can in the yard.

Throughout the morning, I was like a guardian deity, following him wherever he went, strictly carrying out the task the Boss had given me, to prevent him from secretly descending into the pit to search for someone.

I never thought tough guys could cry, but there was a moment when I saw Third Elder Sun leaning over a table inside the house, weeping and muttering something about no matter where Second Brother was, he had to hang in there, convinced that nothing would happen to him.

In the afternoon, around three o'clock, two people arrived at the inn – a man and a woman. The man wore sunglasses and a buzz cut, looking lean and sharp, while the woman appeared to be in her thirties, her face etched with frost.

Upon seeing the Boss, he introduced them to me: "Cloud Peak, meet the Yao Family Siblings, renowned in our circles for their heritage. Their uncle is the legendary figure in our trade, Master Yao."

At that moment, I sensed the awe-inspiring presence of the man and woman, their aura unmistakably different. At the time, I didn't know who Master Yao was, as mentioned by the Boss. It was only later that I had the chance to encounter Master Yao a few times.

He was an extraordinary person, also from the same line of work as the Boss, but his end wasn't very pleasant.

If you're interested, you might want to look up Master Yao. His tomb-robbing tales are enough to fill a book. I know a bit more about him than you do, and if we were to talk about this man alone, three days and nights wouldn't be enough.

The reason King Leader sought out these two was mainly because of the woman.

She had studied International Archaeology abroad and had a deep understanding of mechanisms and traps in large tombs, the Diamond Door Sealing Stones, and the likes of quicksand and flip traps. Her expertise was something that could really help us.

Don't think I'm spinning a yarn here; it's just that the majority haven't witnessed these things. The mechanisms and traps in those large tombs, the flip stones, quicksand pits – they truly exist and many are still functioning perfectly to this day.

Let me give you two examples of anti-theft measures in real-life large tombs.

The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, where rivers of mercury flow beneath a soil-sealed mound, is a marvel rarely seen in this world. Towering at one hundred and fifty meters high, nestled within the earth beneath Mount Li, the mercury levels today, two millennia later, still exceed normal standards by more than three hundred times. This was their method of thwarting tomb raiders. In ancient times, without gas masks, should thieves dare to dig a hole into the tomb, they would be poisoned and dead within five minutes.

Let's talk about another mausoleum, the Qianling Mausoleum, the joint burial site of Empress Wu Zetian and Emperor Gaozong. To this day, I maintain that the Qianling Mausoleum is the best-protected imperial mausoleum in history, surpassing even the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor beneath Mount Li.

Who in the trade wouldn't want to step inside the Qianling Mausoleum?

Not to mention anything else, but take Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion" – eighty percent of it is likely in Emperor Li Zhi's coffin. Should anyone manage to sneak in there, let's just say, their descendants for thirty generations would want for nothing.

But the problem is, it's truly impenetrable...

The Qianling Mausoleum spans across Rüshan and Liang Mountains. One night when I was twenty-four, I snuck off to see it.

Standing atop Rüshan Mountain, if the stars are out, you can observe closely – the contours of Rüshan and Liang Mountains align perfectly with the celestial pattern of the Big Dipper. What do you call this?

In the study of geomancy and astrology, this is known as the "Ten Thousand Year Longevity Domain"!

It is said that the architects of the Qianling Mausoleum were Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng, both geomancers and also the highest-ranking officials in charge of observing celestial omens, safeguarding the nation's fate, and averting disastrous stars under Empress Wu Zetian – the Astronomical Observatory Officials.

Throughout history, there have been more than seventy documented attempts to raid the Qianling Mausoleum, seventeen of which are the most notorious.

The military governor Wen Tao led three battalions in an excavation of the Qianling Mausoleum, only to be met with a thunderstorm that struck and killed more than a dozen men with lightning.

During the Huang Chao Rebellion, due to a lack of military funds, a rebel army of four hundred thousand men took up hoes to dig into the Qianling Mausoleum. They split Liang Mountain in half, yet not a single trace was found. To this day, the site is still known as Huang Chao Gully.

This is what you call an impenetrable defense. (To be continued)

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I have also posted the following more chapters [All free]: https://www.readgates.com/article/7b136c