This is truly unprecedented, both in the past and future. Even when it comes to zongzi, he had only seen ones that could jump and bounce, never one that could laugh. Zhang Qiling felt a tightness in his chest and hurriedly took a step back, on high alert, ready to respond to its next move. Unexpectedly, the hand of the corpse, which had been pointing to the sky, suddenly moved and shifted to point horizontally towards the east. At the same time, the entire room abruptly darkened; the luminous pearl atop the treasure dome inexplicably went out in an instant.

When they entered, they had turned off their flashlights to conserve battery, and this sudden darkness caused the others to scream in fright. Zhang Qiling noticed that although the room had darkened, it wasn’t completely pitch black. He quickly looked up and saw that the four luminous pearls closest to the walls were still lit, illuminating only a small area like dim streetlights on a dark road. At that moment, he heard Li Si’s trembling voice from beside him: “There’s a… a face on the wall!”

Startled, Zhang Qiling turned his head and saw that the yellow mud brick wall illuminated by the eastern luminous pearl had a light and shadow change, revealing a huge pale human face out of nowhere. Zhang Qiling knew it must be another trick and felt somewhat annoyed as he jumped down from the stone platform and walked over to the eastern brick wall. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that it was actually a shadow painting. Such paintings are formed when light shines from a fixed angle, creating shadows from the wall’s grooves. If the angle of light is incorrect, the painting won’t appear. However, due to the peculiar lines, in a highly tense situation, it was easy for someone to imagine it as a terrifying face.

He took a closer look and couldn’t help but feel a stir in his heart. This painting seemed to be a narrative piece, depicting the scene when the Heavenly Palace was just completed. He saw that the so-called Heavenly Palace was actually built on a very steep mountain, shrouded in mist at the peak, giving the entire palace the impression of floating on clouds. As Zhang Qiling gazed at the mountain, it appeared to be snow-capped and at a very high altitude, though he didn’t know which mountain it was.

Turning his head, he noticed shadow paintings appearing on all four walls. He hurriedly moved to the southern brick wall to continue observing. There, he saw another painting depicting many stone caves connected by walkways on the cliff below the Heavenly Palace. A line of workers was using a “jijiang” (a type of crane) to lift a gigantic coffin from one cave to another up the cliff, while a funeral procession was lined up, struggling to ascend along the walkway. Zhang Qiling exclaimed; could this Heavenly Palace actually be a tomb? If so, who was in that coffin?

Continuing onward, he found the shadow painting on the western wall even stranger. The walkway on the cliff was engulfed in roaring flames. This must have been the soldiers guarding the tomb, who, after the burial ceremony, set fire to the only path leading into the Heavenly Palace to ensure the tomb’s safety. This way, all small-scale tomb raiding activities could essentially be eliminated; no one from either the southern or northern factions would have the capability to climb a hundred-meter cliff at such a high altitude to dig a hole—impossible and unnecessary.

He had never encountered such a tomb in his memory, and couldn’t help but feel surprised. He hurried to the last painting, and once he looked at it, he was stunned, for the painting was surprisingly simple: the heavenly palace atop the mountain suddenly vanished, revealing only a vast expanse of white snow. Not only that, but even the cliffs were covered in white. Although it wasn’t very vivid, Zhang Qiling already understood that this must represent an avalanche.

He speculated that perhaps a great fire had caused the temperature to rise, loosening the snow above the heavenly palace, resulting in a massive avalanche that not only buried the entire palace beneath the snow but also covered the entire mountaintop, turning this palace into a genuine tomb.

Seeing this, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh. He never expected that the final fate of this heavenly palace in the clouds would be such. It seemed that Wang Canghai was also deeply troubled by this; his outstanding work was destroyed by an avalanche shortly after its completion, which would be enough to depress him for the rest of his life. No wonder he chose to record this event in such a secretive manner. This must be a tomb of a prominent figure, and he certainly couldn’t make this work public. However, given his penchant for boasting, he would surely find some way to let future generations know that within his work, there was such a magnificent heavenly palace in the clouds.

The only thing left unknown was who was buried in this tomb. Zhang Qiling took a deep breath, and at that moment, he suddenly saw Wen Jin and two others trying to move the large mirror in the southeast corner. He found it strange and hurriedly asked what they were doing. Wen Jin anxiously replied, “I just saw San Sheng hiding behind this mirror, and then he disappeared in a flash.”

Only then did Zhang Qiling remember his uncle’s situation and rushed to help. The two-meter-high gilded copper mirror with a fortune pattern was extremely heavy. They exerted all their strength and managed to move it half a meter. As everyone leaned in to look, they were surprised to find a square hole, more than half a person high, in the corner behind the mirror. Zhang Qiling shone his light inside, revealing a pitch-black void, with no idea where it led.

When Wu San Sheng was planning the underground palace a few days ago, he hadn’t discovered such a large room here. However, Zhang Qiling already knew that the underground palace was not as simple as he had planned. Unlike land burials, ship burials involved a process of sinking, during which the ship had to maintain absolute balance. Therefore, the symmetry of the tomb was of utmost importance. Although Wu San Sheng’s planned underground palace wasn’t fundamentally flawed, it was clearly top-heavy. If it were to sink with such a structure, the entire tomb would likely topple into the sea.

At that time, he was too lazy to show off and didn’t mention it to Wu San Sheng. Now, thinking back, it wasn’t surprising that there was a passage meant for balancing.

He explained the situation to everyone, turned on his flashlight, and was the first to enter. Since the flashlight had been on while entering the theft tunnel, it was already running low on power. Wen Jin suggested that they each turn on one flashlight in the front and back while the others turned theirs off. The stone passage was quite wide, almost allowing four people to walk side by side. When Huo Ling saw Zhang Qiling and Wen Jin walking so closely together, she felt a bit uncomfortable and squeezed in. At that moment, Zhang Qiling sensed that something was off; he vaguely saw something moving in the darkness ahead.

At the same time, the increasingly strong fragrance in the air caught his attention. It felt as if they were getting closer to the source of the scent. After taking a few more steps, the aroma became so overwhelming that he could hardly concentrate. He turned to ask Wen Jin, only to suddenly realize that the few people behind him had already collapsed on the ground. Wen Jin touched her forehead, looked at him in a daze, and then fell into his arms.

Zhang Qiling felt alarmed and immediately held his breath, but it was too late. He only felt an irresistible drowsiness wash over him, and he began to lean against the wall, gradually losing consciousness. In the haze, he saw his uncle squatting down, staring at him with a blank expression.

At this point, the “Dumb Oil Bottle” took a deep breath, fell silent, and said, “When I woke up, I found myself lying on a hospital bed, with no memory and no knowledge of anything. It wasn’t until months later that I began to recall fragmented memories little by little. Years later, I started to notice that something was wrong with my body.”

I couldn’t help but want to interrupt and ask him if he realized he wouldn’t age, but he didn’t give me that chance and continued, “Three months ago, I ran into your uncle. I found him very familiar, and in order to remember more, I followed you all to the Lu Wang Palace.” At this point, he suddenly turned to me and said, “I found that your uncle has a big problem!”

I was taken aback, not understanding what he meant. He continued, “The piece of silk book you took out from the bronze coffin is actually fake; it was swapped out by your uncle a long time ago.”

I was stunned and exclaimed, “Nonsense! Wasn’t that you who swapped it out?”

The “Dumb Oil Bottle” glanced at me calmly and said, “No, it was your uncle himself. He and Da Kui dug a hole from behind a tree directly down to the bottom of the coffin. This is probably also why Da Kui had to die.”

I felt a chill run down my spine, more tense than ever. Although I still wanted to stand by my uncle, my mind was racing with countless images as if a lightning bolt had struck. I remembered how Da Kui was poisoned, thought about why Panzi was still conscious before climbing the tree but was already in deep coma when we saw him on the ground, and recalled how he had come running with a gas canister before I and the Fatty had even crawled out of that gap.

I couldn’t think any further; it felt as if everything in the world had turned upside down. I didn’t know who was telling the truth and who was lying, and I didn’t know whom to believe. My mind was in chaos, and I couldn’t help but mutter to myself, “No, no, it can’t be this simple. There’s no motive. Why would my uncle do this?”

The “Dumb Oil Bottle” said calmly, “If this person is indeed your uncle, then there is no motive. But—” He sighed at this point.

I didn’t understand what he meant, but it seemed that deep down, I had already begun to believe him. I couldn’t help but smile bitterly. I had always been wondering how much my uncle had been deceiving me, but now I had to think about how much he had not been deceiving me.

The situation has changed so unexpectedly that I really didn’t see it coming. However, upon reflection, I realized that there’s no point in thinking about it now. Whether true or false, it won’t matter until we escape; otherwise, if we die here, knowing the truth won’t change anything.

With that thought, I took a moment to calm myself and relax. At that moment, I noticed that the fat guy had already walked up to the stone tablet, squatting there in a clumsy manner, twirling his hair with his pinky finger. I frowned and called out, “You fat bastard, what the hell are you doing? Can’t you just be quiet for a moment?”

He turned his head, affecting a woman’s voice, and said, “I’m just fixing my hair, for crying out loud! It won’t cost you your life, so why are you complaining?” I was utterly helpless and asked him, “Fixing your hair? Are you planning to go see what’s inside that heavenly gate?”

The fat guy replied, “Of course! With such a spectacular scene, how could I, the great fat lord, miss it? Besides, look at how hard it was for us to come down here. That woman ran away again, and it seems like we can only rely on our commission. No matter what, we have to dig up a few luminous pearls. After all, they say if you have money, you won’t end up empty-handed!”

I cursed, “So you listened for so long just to hear about a luminous pearl?” He became indignant and said, “Hey, you really can’t say that about me! I, the great fat lord, have another very important reason for wanting to enter this heavenly gate. Do you know what it is?”