If the bow of the ship and that tower had not been damaged to such an extent, the underwater scene would undoubtedly have been as magnificent as a crystal palace. However, now the entire wreckage was covered in thick marine rust and silt, lifeless and dull, especially the tower, which had tilted at a forty-degree angle, looking as if it would completely collapse with just one more kick.

Even so, Uncle San and the others were almost breathless with shock. Such a scene, not to mention in the sea, is rare to see even on land. Whose sunken ship grave is this, lying in such a place?

As they got closer, Uncle San noticed that the jade door embedded in the reef was truly enormous, towering over two people and spanning four arms wide. The sea grime on the outer walls of the jade door faintly revealed relief carvings of two door gods, each holding a tiger, looking fierce and terrifying. Uncle San recognized them but couldn’t recall their names. The part of the tower not embedded in the reef had flying eaves and a tiled roof, but most of the tiles had fallen off, leaving only the eave structure.

The jade door was half-open, with a gap two people wide, leading into an unfathomably deep interior, the destination unknown.

On one side, the “ancient corpse of the dance and music” had already sunk into the abyss, completely out of sight.

Jie Lianhuan did not linger and swam into the jade door. Uncle San gritted his teeth, forcefully kicking his legs to speed up, quickly following him inside.

Once inside, they found a long corridor wide enough for six or seven people to walk side by side. The surrounding space suddenly felt cramped, but the light from the exploration lamp became more abundant.

The deep, cold, and despairing feeling from outside eased a bit here; after all, they saw familiar things, which calmed Uncle San slightly.

As they swam forward along the corridor, Uncle San, out of professional habit, roughly observed the decorations around him and found that every inch of space, including the floor, was carved with images of celestial beings.

At the end of the corridor, a staircase appeared, leading upward. Uncle San turned his body and swam up on his back. Suddenly, he was startled to discover that his head had emerged above the water’s surface.

He was taken aback; it was indeed a shocking revelation. After nearly forty minutes underwater, he had never expected there to be air inside this ancient tomb. He hurriedly flipped over and crawled up the steps using all fours.

For someone who had been underwater for too long, once they reached the surface, they would suddenly find their body feeling as heavy as if carrying iron blocks, especially since he was indeed weighed down by lead weights and an oxygen tank. After climbing up, Uncle San nearly collapsed, gritting his teeth to avoid falling back into the water.

Stumbling up the steps, he saw Jie Lianhuan had already removed his diving gear, gasping for breath while shining a flashlight around the tomb chamber.

Uncle San thought to himself, what a rookie! If he had encountered a dead-end, he would have been done for. But seeing that he hadn’t immediately died beside him indicated that the air should be fine. So, he sat on the steps, took off his diving gear, and relaxed his muscles while shining the flashlight around.

At the end of the steps, he found himself in a brick burial chamber, typical of Ming Dynasty style. The height was low, forcing him to bow his head as he walked. The dome above was arched, likely featuring a thickness of seven ribs and seven vaults. The brick seams on the tomb’s ceiling showed a rusty color, filled with iron paste. The bricks were laid with great precision, and the curvature of the dome had no sharp edges or misalignments, almost as if it had been polished.

In the center of the burial chamber, two rows of blue-and-white porcelain everlasting lamps extended deep into the darkness of the chamber. There, it was pitch black, and when he shone his flashlight, he discovered a massive black iron vat placed in the middle of the chamber, obstructing his view and leaving him uncertain of its purpose.

His uncle was taken aback. Having stolen from many tombs, he recognized that while this burial chamber was vast, it was only on the scale of a commoner, likely belonging to a wealthy merchant at most. This was puzzling; given the enormous size of the ancient tomb outside, it would take at least tens of thousands of laborers a decade to construct. If it weren’t for royal connections, how could any common person afford such an extravagant project?

His uncle immediately thought of the wealthy merchant Shen Wansan from that era. If that were the case, then following Jie Lianhuan this time had led him to a significant find, a stroke of luck that one could not hope for in several lifetimes.

He felt a surge of excitement and turned the flashlight to illuminate the walls of the burial chamber. The walls were adorned with numerous murals, equally spectacular. After surveying the murals, he noticed they were continuous, with almost no signs of breaks, and their colors were not significantly faded.

The chamber was filled with moisture, making the preservation of the murals quite remarkable. However, during the Northern Song Dynasty, there were already techniques to protect murals using oil, wax, or egg whites, which were quite advanced. It seemed that such techniques had been employed here, which explained why the colors of the murals appeared slightly murky now.

His uncle had never paid much attention to the murals before, but now he glanced at them and found nothing noteworthy; they seemed no different from ordinary ancient tomb murals. He withdrew the beam of his flashlight and turned it towards Jie Lianhuan, wanting to ask him what had gotten into him earlier.

Jie Lianhuan was exhausted, panting heavily while curiously surveying his surroundings. Clearly, he had exerted himself earlier. When his uncle called out to him, he ignored it, completely captivated by the burial chamber.

Although his uncle had felt a flicker of annoyance when Jie Lianhuan had initially shaken him off, he decided it was not the time to express it, given their current location. He held back his frustration.

The two remained silent. After resting for a while, his uncle calmed down completely, and his heartbeat steadied. He began to prepare the tools for entering the burial chamber while discreetly checking the oxygen tanks for both himself and Jie Lianhuan.

Upon inspection, he realized the situation was not good. His own tank was still manageable, but Jie Lianhuan’s oxygen consumption was too high; he had already used more than half of it. The more experienced a diver was, the longer they could stay underwater. In contrast, those who had just begun diving often struggled to control their breathing. Upon realizing they were underwater, they would desperately exhale, leading to a consumption rate that could be more than double that of seasoned divers. Although his uncle wasn’t an expert diver, he had learned to estimate his oxygen usage, allowing him to conserve more than Jie Lianhuan. At this moment, he understood that Jie Lianhuan would not be able to get out.

However, after a moment of thought, Uncle Three felt relieved. After all, he couldn’t go out anyway, and he would inevitably have to come back in to take him away, so there was no need to rush out. At this moment, Jie Lianhuan walked deeper into the tomb chamber, and Uncle Three followed him. The two of them arrived in front of a massive iron vat.

Uncle Three stopped and approached the iron vat to examine it, while Jie Lianhuan seemed uninterested and walked straight past it. The iron vat weighed over five tons and was adorned with numerous inscriptions, likely a type of ritual vessel. Its base had already sunk into the ground made of blue bricks, and the vat was empty inside, but there was a protruding carving at the bottom resembling a fish, the purpose of which was unknown.

Uncle Three wanted to take a closer look at the inscriptions to see if there were any characters he recognized when suddenly he heard Jie Lianhuan exclaim in surprise. He turned to see that Jie Lianhuan had reached the end of the tomb chamber, and the beam of his flashlight illuminated a three-tiered coffin bed, on top of which lay a gigantic black ornate coffin.

The coffin was almost as tall as Jie Lianhuan’s chest and was an intensely dark color. The surface of the coffin appeared to have been polished and varnished, shining unnaturally. The carvings on it were shallow but very distinct, likely featuring a large amount of bird-script characters. Jie Lianhuan seemed a bit scared upon suddenly seeing the coffin and was backing away.

This coffin exuded an extraordinary presence and was likely the coffin of the tomb’s owner, though it was unclear who was buried inside. Uncle Three had seen countless coffins, from ordinary redwood and miscellaneous wood to solid agarwood coffins, but he couldn’t determine the material of this black coffin. His curiosity was piqued, and he walked around the iron vat to get closer.

Once he stood behind Jie Lianhuan, he could see more clearly. The coffin bed was made of yellow mud bricks, constructed in the shape of a lotus flower round plate. Behind the coffin bed was a wall inscribed with text, likely a tombstone inscription detailing the life of the tomb’s owner. However, after just a glance, Uncle Three felt a chill run down his back, as his attention was drawn to the black coffin. He also understood why Jie Lianhuan had been frightened enough to retreat.

Because on top of this enormous black coffin, there lay a “person.”