“Stop, let me say something,” Red Sister seemed to have recovered from her earlier emotions.

“All this scribbling and sketching is pointless. Boss, I ask you, what is the purpose of our trip down here?”

“To find Second Brother,” Boss replied crisply.

“Have we found him?”

Boss shook his head despondently.

But his expression changed almost immediately.

“We haven’t found Second Brother, but we discovered this.”

“Look,” Boss said, pulling out half a cigarette butt from his pocket.

The cigarette butt was battered and barely recognizable, but the brand label was still visible.

“Five Golden Flowers.” It was a Five Golden Flowers brand cigarette.

Boss pointed to the cigarette butt in his hand and explained, “Second Brother only smokes this brand. I've done my homework; this brand isn’t sold locally in Shunde. Five Golden Flower Cigarettes are popular in the Beijing-Hebei region, virtually unseen in the south; they're a regional brand.”

I was aware of this.

At that time, regional cigarettes were a trend in the north, with brands like Official Hall Cigarette, Four-Seven Cigarette, Welcoming Guest Cigarette, White Stone Forest, Red Diamond Second Generation, Monkey King Brand Cigarettes, Jasmine Brand Cigarettes, Red Panda Cigarette, and so on. Each region had its favorite.

What puzzled me was that previously, Mountain Goblin, the squat mule, had pilfered a piece of clothing containing half a pack of Five Golden Flower Cigarettes, which Chen Jiansheng had taken.

This cigarette was the same brand that Second Brother often smoked, so the clothing couldn’t belong to Second Elder Sun, who was lean and wiry, a complete mismatch for the oversized garment.

Yet, Chen Jiansheng had previously claimed that someone in their gang had died, and Five Golden Flowers was the deceased’s preferred brand.

If it were a coincidence, then at least two people smoked this brand. This meant that the cigarette butt Boss found couldn’t prove that Second Brother had been here, nor could it confirm he was still alive.

Looking into Boss’s hopeful eyes, I hesitated several times, not having the heart to tell him the harsh truth.

If Second Brother couldn’t be found in the end...

Then, before that moment, this worthless cigarette butt would serve as a spiritual prop and solace for the two brothers.

So, I feigned excitement and feigned surprise, “Yes, Big Brother! I know, Five Golden Flowers, that’s what Second Brother always smokes! He must have been here, and he must still be alive, otherwise, he couldn’t have smoked, right?”

“That’s the spirit, I also feel that Second Brother is still alive,” Boss pocketed the cigarette butt, his eyes gleaming with renewed hope.

Red Sister had seen through the situation without explicitly stating it.

She deftly changed the subject, "We've shared our ordeal. What about you all?"

"Don't get me started. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil. I told you before, didn't I? To prepare for any special circumstances, I brought along four Detonators before descending."

Red Sister, as the team's logistics expert, was well-acquainted with such items.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She nodded, "Fire Detonators, model Number Nine Point Five. My subordinates helped prepare them. Of course, I'm aware of that."

"What happened? Did you use any? How many?"

"Indeed," the third brother confirmed with a nod, "We used one. Thank goodness for that thing; otherwise, the Boss and I would have been goners!"

"It's a long story, too complex to explain in just a few words. I'll fill you in when we have more time. For now, I'll take you to a place that I believe is connected to the Main Tomb Chamber."

"Cloud Peak, how's the wound on your leg? Can you walk, or should I carry you?"

Enduring the pain, I clenched my teeth and stood up.

"No need, Big Brother. I can manage on my own."

"Fine, that's the spirit of a man. I'll slow down for you. If you can't keep up, just let me know. Don't push yourself too hard."

I nodded in agreement.

The Large Tomb beneath Moth Mountain featured a complex structure. The upper levels were entirely composed of Stone Wall Underground Palace Structures, while the lower levels consisted of Underground Cave Structures. The mountain base was riddled with Underground Rivers and concealed caves, a testament to its intricate design.

The Sun Family Brothers had crafted their own torches, primarily burning clothes and dry branches, which didn't sustain a long-lasting flame. The torches were now beginning to dim.

With torches in hand, following the path along the edge of the pool, the Sun Family Brothers led me and Red Sister to a certain place.

Upon arrival, we were confronted with a Diamond Wall sealed with Liuhetou, a kind of mortar without any doors or windows—simply a wall.

Liuhetou and Diamond Wall are modern terms, akin to White Clay and Green Ointment Clay, names not used by ancient peoples.

In the world of tomb raiding, this wall had a specific term.

"Blue with White, fortune arrives, Sanhetou, Burying the Blue Sky, Diamond Wall, impenetrable."

Sanhetou was a milky-white in color, composed of Glutinous Rice Juice, Clay, and Dung Juice. This mortar could last for a millennium, boasting high hardness and stability, and was also waterproof.

Above it, there were even more complex mixtures like Sihetou and Wuhetou, and it was rumored that the highest was the Seven-Element Diagram, though no one had ever seen it.

The Boss immediately recognized the wall as Liuhetou, which actually had a basis. Sanbai, Four Green, Wuhetou, Six Yellow—these were the colors of the hardened mixtures.

As for the ingredients of Liuhetou, the Boss speculated he could guess only five.

Urine of young boys, verdigris, clay, mulberry leaf powder, glutinous rice juice, and another unknown substance—when these ingredients are gathered, repeatedly hammered, refined, and mixed together, then air-dried, they form what is known as Six-Element Soil.

In the past, not to mention Six-Element Soil, even the cost of Three-Element Soil was exorbitant. With each additional 'element,' the hardness increased a notch, hence the old saying that a bowl of Three-Element Soil could be traded for a bowl of meat.

Walls cast from Five-Element Soil or Six-Element Soil are called Diamond Walls. Officially, a Diamond Wall has only been discovered once, and it was of the five-element kind, in the tomb of Emperor Ming Wanli. Back then, to breach this Diamond Wall, the archaeological team had to exhaust all their ingenuity.

Red Sister tapped on the dark yellow stone wall and frowned, "Third Brother, when we encounter this stuff, there's nothing we can do. A Six-Element Yellow Diamond Wall is unheard of in our line of work. Normally, if someone comes across Three-Element Soil, they would soak it with alum and vinegar, but you guys didn't prepare those two things, did you?"

"You guys couldn't possibly be..." Red Sister's brow suddenly arched.

Boss's face darkened as he said, "Back at the Dingling Mausoleum, behind the Five-Element Soil Diamond Wall lay the emperor's coffin and outer coffin. Having come this far, how could we be content without taking a look at the main occupant here?"

Red Sister looked up, her brow furrowed, "After all, we are inside the underground palace. Two 9.5-inch fire detonators are quite powerful. Aren't you afraid that the underground palace will collapse and bury us all alive?"

"We've considered this, of course, but Little Red, look at it this way: if this underground palace hasn't collapsed in over two thousand years, it shows that the quality is reliable. Third Brother and I are confident about that."

"Well, have it your way then," seeing that Boss was adamant, Red Sister finally nodded, no longer trying to dissuade him.

A Six-Element Soil Diamond Wall is a barrier to tomb raiders. If ancient tomb raiders encountered this, they would almost have no choice but to find another path. Including the Hook Needle, no exotic and erotic techniques would work, nor would an expert adept in the Gold Dividing Burrow Determination method be of any use. To get through, brute force was the only option, regardless of who attempted it.

So, how was the Five-Element Soil Diamond Wall at the Dingling Mausoleum breached?

The archaeological team paid for sixteen robust villagers, each equipped with a heavy hammer and a pointed chisel, working in shifts every two hours.

Eighty, eighty at a time.

Sixteen grand elders hammered away for more than twenty days before they finally managed to chisel a hole through the wall. (To be continued)

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