The moonlight shone pale on the mountainside, with nothing visible around, but various strange sounds could be heard from the dense forest in the valley below, leaving Aguai and the others stunned. The mountain folk were superstitious, and seeing a coffin was always considered ominous. They exchanged glances, but Aguai had no particular thoughts and muttered to himself, “Seeing a coffin in the middle of the night, I’ll need to wash my eyes when I get back.”

Another person leaned down to take a look and asked, “Whose grave is this? Why is it dug so deep in the mountains?” No one answered him, and the clouds seemed to be frightened, hiding behind the bottle-shaped rock.

I was certain this was a desolate grave, not that of a wealthy family. It likely dated back to the Ming or Qing dynasty, as a coffin of this quality could not have survived in such a rainy area for too long. The mud inside the coffin had grass growing in it, indicating that the coffin had been exposed to the elements for at least several years, and the bones inside must have been destroyed.

The pit wasn’t large, and with the flashlight, we couldn’t find any trace of Panma’s father inside. The person was definitely not there, but I had a feeling this might be where Panma hid something, as it was indeed a suitable place for concealment. The iron piece his son mentioned might be right below us.

The dog continued barking, which was annoying, so Aguai pulled the dog away, letting it roam around the area, and then picked up some branches to search inside.

They were hesitant to go down into the pit; most ordinary people would have superstitions about coffins, but the dog’s reaction told us there was definitely something in that hole. Searching like this would surely yield no results.

I looked at the terrain and, even as someone who only knew a bit about feng shui, I could tell this was absolutely not a suitable place for burial. This was a mountain pass, where all the water from the mountain would converge. Burying someone here would lead to decay in just a few days. This grave couldn’t be the grand tomb that the fat guy speculated to be in the Sheep Horn Mountain; it was likely just an ordinary ancient grave on a desolate hill, and should pose no danger. So, I told Aguai to stop fussing, and I went down into the pit with the bottle-shaped rock.

I was quite familiar with entering stolen tombs, let alone just opening a coffin, especially with the bottle-shaped rock by my side. Aguai was very surprised, thinking how could a city dweller like me be so bold. Yun Cai looked on, seemingly unable to process what was happening.

The two of us descended into the pit, which was sloped; one side of the wall was shallow while the other was high, revealing a broken wall formed by the collapsed slope. A half-buried coffin was embedded in the broken wall, and it was quite large. The remnants of paint on it indicated it was a black old wooden coffin, resting in half a foot of mud at the bottom of the grave—either the soil here had settled, or this old coffin was unusually heavy.

Such a rudimentary burial method wouldn’t be affordable for ordinary folk; the coffin looked like it was of decent quality, possibly belonging to a landlord’s agent from the past. The grave was already in a terrible state, with mud everywhere.

I didn’t know if I had caught the fat guy’s nervousness, but seeing the coffin made my heart race as well. I told myself that I had to act like a novice at this moment, or else Aguai and the others would easily become suspicious.

Men Youping took the flashlight, pushed aside the weeds, and after looking around, we noticed some bloodstains from handprints in an inconspicuous part of the coffin. Men Youping asked me to help him shine the light and gestured with his hand; the handprints on the coffin must have been left when someone leaned down to balance their body. Men Youping also crouched down, and right below was a crack in the coffin. Without thinking, he reached his hand into the crack and began to dig through the mud.

Listening to the sound of the mud being stirred, I felt a chill run down my back. He pulled his hand out after only a few digs, holding a muddy object. Shaking off the mud, it turned out to be a plastic bag, which also had bloodstains on it, but after Men Youping shook it a few times, we found that the bag was empty.

“How could this be?” I asked in surprise. “Where’s the stuff?”

“The bloodstains are fresh; he must have taken the items away,” Men Youping looked around and said calmly, “It hasn’t been long; they must be nearby.”

“So, he came here to get the items after he was injured?” I sighed in relief. Since there was some distance from the injury site to here, it meant he couldn’t be too badly hurt if he managed to walk over.

Men Youping felt around again but didn’t find anything. We climbed back up, and I explained the situation to A’Gui. An old hunter without a gun, though tough and experienced, would never be able to escape an attack from a leopard. Moreover, it was strange that after being injured, he still came here; he should have returned to the village immediately. He lost so much blood on his way here to take this iron piece—what was the reason? Did he think it would be dangerous to leave the iron piece here?

We called the dogs back and, with the ancient tomb as the center, everyone spread out to search. One group went up the mountain while another followed along the mountainside. The two of us followed A’Gui and his daughter down into the valley. I asked Yuncai what other things in the forest could attack people besides leopards.

Yuncai said there used to be many, but now they’ve all been eaten. There were many pythons before, but it had been a long time since they were seen. The only thing that could attack people might be wild boars. However, wild boars are very timid and only attack when provoked. Old Man Panma is very experienced and wouldn’t provoke a wild boar without a weapon.

I thought that might be the case, but I still couldn’t explain why Old Man Panma came here to take something. At that moment, I began to suspect that the danger Old Man Panma encountered might not be from animals. Could it be that the mysterious people who burned down the house attacked him? Just as I was pondering this, I suddenly heard a series of urgent barks from the direction of another group of people in the distance.