I reckoned my hearing might be better than average, because inside ancient tombs, I could always hear sounds others couldn't.

I asked Lao Wei and Xiao Liang, "Did you hear that? There seems to be some moaning up ahead."

Lao Wei shook his head. "Didn't hear anything. You sure it's not a hallucination?"

Xiao Liang also perked up his ears and listened for a long time, shaking his head. "I didn't hear anything either."

I said, "Really? Neither of you heard it? Just me? The sound of a woman moaning."

Hu Wazi said, "Brother-in-law, if you heard it, take us to have a look. It's not often there are women in ancient tombs. What if it's An'an? Or maybe that White-Clad Immortal."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's possible."

After all, grave robbers were usually men, relying on brute strength for the job.

I perked up my ears, trying to catch the moaning sound, and led the way, guiding everyone along the tunnel, heading towards the direction of the sound.

After another dozen or so steps down the tunnel, we saw the double-layered city walls outside the Qu Shang Underground Palace again. It seemed this was also opened with some kind of technology. I saw a small, one-meter square breach had been made in the double-layered city walls.

The moaning sound of the woman was coming from inside this breach in the wall.

Reaching this point, Xiao Liang turned to me and said, "Chen Rongsheng, I hear it. There really is a woman's voice."

Lao Wei also nodded. "I hear it too."

I said, "See? It wasn't a hallucination, right? I heard it loud and clear."

"Yeah, you've got good ears." Lao Wei said, genuinely impressed.

But then Hu Wazi peered into the breach in the wall and frowned, shaking his head. "Something's not right. Where's the Crystal Palace? Isn't this supposed to be the Immortal's Cave? Shouldn't the Immortal's Cave lead directly to the Crystal Palace?"

Hearing this, I quickly scrambled up to the breach and took a look. Sure enough, looking from here, there was no Crystal Palace at all. Behind the wall was a dark, gloomy tomb chamber!

"Crap! We found the wrong one!"

My heart sank. This tunnel wasn't the Immortal's Cave at all!

If it were the Immortal's Cave, then following the tunnel all the way down would lead directly to the Crystal Palace.

Lao Wei and Xiao Liang looked into the breach as well, their faces also filled with despair. "It's really not the Immortal's Cave."

"Looks like we made a mistake."

Hu Wazi angrily punched the wall, cursing, "Son of a bitch! Spent a whole day in Nan Shan and still found the wrong one. This is infuriating!"

Xiao Liang asked Lao Wei, "Lao Wei, what do we do now? Just go with it, or go back the way we came? And look for the Immortal's Cave again?"

Lao Wei thought for a moment and said, "Forget it, let's just go with it. Since we're here, let's make the best of it. Let's follow this tunnel and see if we can find the Crystal Palace anyway. Besides, there's a woman moaning inside, we have to go take a look, right?"

Xiao Liang nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

But to be honest, as soon as I realized this tunnel wasn't the Immortal's Cave, I felt a little discouraged.

After all, I was anxious to save Sister Xiaomei. Other than rescuing her, I wasn't very concerned about anything else.

As for who this moaning woman was, I wasn't interested.

I said to Lao Wei, "Lao Wei, do we really have to go find this woman? Could be asking for trouble, don't you think?"

Yun Jie shared my sentiment, but Yun Jie was a bit timid, he was afraid the woman wasn't normal.

He frowned and said, "Yeah, I just feel like a moaning woman underground is kind of scary. Why don't we just go back the way we came and wait until we find the real Immortal's Cave to go down?"

Hearing this, Lao Wei smiled and asked Yun Jie, "What's wrong? Are you scared? Just relax, I've been in the Xiaoling Guard for so many years, I've never encountered any ghosts or gods or anything like that. There's no such thing as ghosts in this world."

Although Yun Jie was timid, he was also someone who cared about his reputation. Hearing Lao Wei say he was scared, he immediately stubbornly retorted, "Scared? Are you kidding me! A pao ge (sworn brother) never backs down! I, Yun Jie, don't even know how to write the word 'fear'! Let's go, I'll go meet this ghostly woman!"

Seeing Yun Jie fall for Lao Wei's goading, I shook my head speechlessly.

Since Yun Jie had already agreed to go take a look, I couldn't very well back out now.

Hu Wazi also didn't feel like going back. The main thing was that if we went back now, it would definitely delay us for another night. We'd have to wait until the next day to continue looking for the Immortal's Cave, which would waste unnecessary time.

He also nodded and said, "Let's go, let's go, we're already here, let's go take a look."

After speaking, he took the lead, climbed over the breach, and entered the Qu Shang Underground Palace again.

Next, we also queued up and climbed into the underground palace, then continued to follow the sound of the woman's moaning. When we reached the first tomb chamber, I saw that the funerary objects in this tomb chamber had been smashed to pieces, all broken and rotting on the ground.

Lao Wei kept saying it was a sin. He analyzed, "Looks like these two groups of grave robbers had a conflict in the tomb chamber and destroyed these cultural relics."

Xiao Liang frowned and said, "Grave robbers are like locusts, leaving devastation wherever they go!"

Passing through this tomb chamber, the woman's voice became particularly clear. I glanced in the direction of the sound, and as the flashlight shone, I saw a complete bronze standing figure at the end of the passage.

Below the bronze standing figure was a slender figure, and the sound was coming from this figure.

Seeing us coming, the person seemed startled, shuddered, and stopped moaning.

Lao Wei quickly shouted loudly, "Don't be afraid! We're not bad people! Relax! Relax!"

I quickly reminded him, "Lao Wei, we're definitely not bad people, but this woman doesn't look like a good person either. Be careful, don't let her catch you off guard!"

Because I was very worried that this person was the White-Clad Immortal, Ge Xueying. If she really was the White-Clad Immortal, her flying knives could be deadly!

But taking a closer look, I recognized that she wasn't the White-Clad Immortal. First of all, she wasn't wearing white clothes, but a set of black mountaineering clothes. Secondly, I had seen this woman before. She was the zhi guo ren (cook), Yin Huanshe (Banded Krait), whom I had met by chance in the restaurant a few days ago!

Lao Wei was cautious after all, shouting to Yin Huanshe, "Put your hands up, don't try anything. Are you injured? Don't worry, we'll get you out of here."

Yin Huanshe sighed helplessly upon hearing this, and said with a wry smile, "You're with the government, right? Talking so formally. My hand is injured, I can't raise it, but don't worry, I don't have any weapons on hand, come over here..."