The Grand Underground Palace, a site of national significance, was precisely how Yao Yumen described it at the time.

With the term "national" attached, the artifacts unearthed are inevitably of national importance.

What, then, constitutes a national-level cultural relic?

You may not be familiar with antiques in your daily life, so let me explain.

Unique and of great importance to a major power—this is what is known as a National Treasure-Level Artifact.

According to the classification system of the Palace Museum, there are several tiers: national first-grade top-level cultural relics, national first-grade, national second-grade, national third-grade, and general cultural relics.

Even an artifact like the Gold-threaded Jade Robe is only categorized as national first-grade top-level because it's not unique. To date, a precise count reveals that twenty-one and a half Gold-threaded Jade Robes have been discovered.

Those National Treasure-Level Artifacts surpass even the Gold-threaded Jade Robe. The Changxin Palace Lamp and others of its ilk are unique treasures of the nation. Examples include the Simuwu Cauldron, Square Vessel with Four Sheep, Zenghouyi Chime Bells Set, Bronze Blood Square Rampart, Horse Stepping on a Swallow—these are all among them.

Why, then, did Yao Yumen harbor thoughts of retreat?

In this era, such items could never leave the country; they could only circulate within the domestic market. Yet, no one dares to acquire them because no matter how grand the Big Auction, or how formidable the collectors, the outcome is often the same.

Permanent custody in the National Museum.

Once such an artifact emerges, an official investigation will follow relentlessly until, as a bonus, a lifetime of Permanent Prison Residence Rights is generously bestowed.

Having roamed the tomb raiding scene for forty-six years, Master Yao Wenzhong, known as the Ghost Eye Severing Dragon Vein, met his end by a gunshot on October 17th, 2017. What's not common knowledge is that his downfall was precipitated by tampering with something he should have never touched.

Yao Yumen wanted out because she was scared, but the Sun Family Brothers were not pleased by this.

The atmosphere at the time was tense. Flat-headed Yao Wence's face was grim with fear. With both parties at odds, the situation was as sharp as drawn swords and ready crossbows.

Do you ask if I was afraid then?

To be honest, I was seventy percent fear and thirty percent curiosity. The fear is self-explanatory, but my curiosity lay in what lay behind the Stone Gate of the Underground Palace. It was like facing an unknown world—what other National Treasure-Level Artifacts yet unseen might exist within?

That remained a mystery.

We were just a small team from the Northern Sect at the time. On the streets, there were numerous gangs more formidable than us. Even if we managed to open the Underground Palace Door, even if we deciphered the Natural Stone and gained entry, and even if we managed to take out the artifacts within, we couldn't bear the consequences. For what lay beyond the Stone Gate was akin to a ticking time bomb—only if you dared to take it out and sell it, then it would be the end.

The signal from the walkie-talkie was poor down below, so I relayed the unfolding events to King Leader.

A long silence followed from the walkie-talkie.

"Ladies and gentlemen," King Leader's voice came through as the red light illuminated, "Boss Third, Cloud Peak, Miss Yao is right. This matter... has escalated beyond the point where we can safely extricate ourselves. Come back up. Stop searching for Second Brother... We won't search for Second Brother anymore."

Hearing King Leader's words, the usually composed Third Elder Sun, rubbing his hair, his eyes bloodshot with frenzy, kept kicking the Big Stone Gate. "Damn it! Damn it all!" he cursed.

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The massive stone gate stood immovable, and only a light dusting of ash floated down from above. Third Elder Sun slumped powerlessly in front of the Stone Gate, pulling at his hair.

I felt a twinge at the bridge of my nose and a wave of discomfort. Second Brother was the life of our team, and his sudden disappearance boded ill. We wanted to rescue him, but there wasn't a trace to be found; he had vanished into thin air within this Western Zhou Tomb.

Beyond that pressure, there was a very practical reason we couldn't get in at the time, and that was the Natural Stone behind the door.

Natural Stone, also known as the Door Sealing Stone, is one of the basic methods used in ancient times to prevent tomb raiding. Many tombs have a Natural Stone; for example, the tomb of Emperor Shenzong Zhu Yijun, who was Emperor Wanli, contained a Natural Stone that was one and a half meters long. It's a type of Tomb Mechanism Technique.

Where there are people who study and invent mechanisms, there are naturally those who study how to decipher them.

To break through such a rigid mechanism and get inside, there are generally two methods.

One is the Smart Capture by Ox Nose Ring, and the other is brute force.

A famous incident involved Sun Dianying, who, when robbing Cixi's Tomb, encountered a Natural Stone. Sun Dianying resorted to brute force, relying on a company of strong men and, eventually, using hundreds of pounds of military explosives to blast open the gate and shatter the Natural Stone, stealing treasures of inestimable value like the Night Luminous Pearl, the Jadeite Cabbage, and the Nine Dragon Treasure Sword.

There was another method, known among insiders as the Ox Nose Ring Diversion technique, which Third Elder Sun told me about later.

You've seen the kind of iron rings used on the noses of oxen and for leading them, right?

The kind with a hollow center and small holes on the sides to tie a rope through.

Here's how it's done:

First, determine the position of the Natural Stone behind the door. Outside, use a hammer and chisel to carve out the shape of an ox nose on the surface of the door, allowing you to see the Natural Stone through the gap in the door.

Then, you need a homemade tool called the Semi-circular Dragon Claw. The Northern Sect calls it the Semi-circular Dragon Claw, while the southern faction calls it the Hook Needle.

In the beginning, the National Archaeological Team exhausted every method imaginable, barring the use of explosives, to remove the one-and-a-half-ton natural stone blocking the stone gate of Dingling. In the end, they turned to ancient texts for guidance. Rumor had it that they even enlisted the aid of a tomb raider serving time in prison. It was with this unlikely assistance that they were able to open the Dingling Mausoleum without causing any damage.

The semi-circular dragon claw and hook needle might sound complex upon first hearing their names, but the principle behind them is quite simple.

The hook nail is a metal device with a long handle on one end and a semi-circular shape on the other. It is inserted into the gap of the door, then the circular part is hooked onto the natural stone. A rope is threaded through the hook nail, which is then passed through a prepared bull-nose groove. With this setup, one simply pulls the rope from outside, to the left or right, with great force.

Once the natural stone inside shifts position, the theft-prevention mechanism is broken, and people can push open the stone gate and enter.

The natural stone is but one of the most common contraptions found in ancient tombs.

For thousands of years, ever since people began to believe in resting in peace, the struggle between tomb raiders and their adversaries has never ceased. The one who outsmarts the other gets the last laugh.

That night, at a little past three in the morning, our group still emerged from the thief's hole, climbing up to depart. The expression on King Leader's face was far from pleasant. Having been in the business for half his life, King Leader had a sense of propriety about certain matters.

Even with the hook needle and a rope tied to the door-sealing stone, which weighed more than two or three tons, a mere two or three of us could not hope to pull it open.

King Leader altered the original plan. On one hand, he instructed Eldest Elder Sun to quickly find a buyer for the seven or eight bags of bronze ware so they could be liquidated posthaste. On the other hand, he contacted a woman known as "Mole" to have her people figure out how to backfill the thief's hole promptly. We couldn't leave any traces; we needed to extricate ourselves from Shunde and lay low for a while.

King Leader also sternly warned us not to speak of tonight's events to avoid the risk of imprisonment.

The Sun family's three brothers, who had grown up together, shared drinks, and sought fortune side by side, had suddenly lost one of their own.

Under the leader's urging, Eldest Elder Sun reluctantly began his role as the rice seller, trying to liquidate the bronze ware as quickly as possible.

Not knowing when the goods would be sold for cash, the days of waiting dragged on slowly. Third Elder Sun drowned his sorrows in drink daily, getting thoroughly inebriated.

I saw it myself, sometimes Third Elder Sun, holding his bottle, would murmur to himself in a state of half-drunken stupor.

"Usually, around this time, Second Brother, you're the happiest, your voice the loudest because it's almost time to split the money."

"Second Brother, where in the world are you..."

"Come back quickly and let's divide the money." (To be continued)

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