Chapter 1 The Nanshan Mountain

As expected, Xiaojuan wasn't exaggerating. Nanshan Mountain was practically her backyard. She led us, twisting and turning on the hillside, and soon we found five tomb-raiding holes one after another.

The largest of these five holes was about five meters in diameter, while the smallest was only a little over a meter. Two of the holes had been backfilled, leaving three that could still be entered.

However, these holes were all quite old, and their entrances were overgrown with vegetation. This didn't match the characteristics of the White Fairy's Immortal Cave, so Lao Wei rejected them all.

Seeing that the sky was getting darker and darker, and it would be even harder to find anything if we delayed any longer, Xiaojuan became a little anxious. She put her hands on her hips and asked us, "Can you tell me the specific location of this Immortal Cave you're looking for? At least give me a rough idea, right? Nanshan Mountain is huge, and there are twenty or thirty tomb-raiding holes. If I have to take you to each one, I'm afraid we won't finish searching until midnight!"

Lao Wei thought for a moment, estimated the location of the Crystal Palace in his mind, and then led us towards the middle of Nanshan Mountain, pointing to the ridge and saying, "It should be somewhere in this area. How many tomb-raiding holes are there within this range?"

Xiaojuan pondered for a moment and said, "There aren't many tomb-raiding holes in this area, only two or three, I think. Follow me."

After speaking, she started walking up the mountain, and we quickly followed behind.

Soon, Xiaojuan found the first tomb-raiding hole on the ridge, but it had also been backfilled and completely blocked, making it impossible for anyone to go down. Clearly, it wasn't the Immortal Cave we were looking for.

Xiaojuan took a look and continued walking forward. After walking about twenty or thirty steps, she suddenly made a sound of surprise.

Curious, I quickly asked, "Xiaojuan, what's wrong? Did you find the Immortal Cave?"

Xiaojuan shook her head and said, "Not the Immortal Cave, but there's a tent here."

We walked over and were also taken aback. We saw a tent in the depths of the grass ahead.

The tent looked quite new, and the surrounding weeds had just been cleared. It was clear that the tent had just been set up recently, and there might even be someone living inside.

"Be careful, retreat! If it's a lookout for tomb raiders, they might resist!" Lao Wei whispered to us, winking at two of his colleagues.

The two Xiaoling Guards immediately understood and took out their weapons from their waists. They walked slowly towards the tent, one on the left and one on the right, asking as they walked, "Is anyone there? Is anyone there? If someone is there, please come out!"

After asking twice, there was no response from inside. Lao Wei also walked over, went around to the front of the tent, and suddenly lifted the tent flap.

We looked inside and saw that it was empty, without a single person.

"No one," Lao Wei said, shaking his head.

The two Xiaoling Guards quickly put away their weapons.

Afterwards, Lao Wei didn't stand on ceremony and went straight into the tent, rummaging through it. Although there was no one inside, there were still many daily necessities left behind.

Lao Wei found a few bottles of mineral water, two rolls of toilet paper, two cans of food, a can of eight-treasure porridge, two packs of cigarettes, and a lighter.

Two of the bottles of mineral water had been opened and drunk, and the cigarettes had also been opened. There were also many cigarette butts on the ground around the tent, clearly indicating that someone had been living there.

After taking a look, Lao Wei confidently said, "This is clearly a place where *haozi* (grave robbers) have set up camp. They probably haven't been gone for long."

I asked doubtfully, "Why didn't they take the tent with them when they left? Isn't leaving these things behind deliberately leaving clues for us to catch them?"

Lao Wei narrowed his eyes and said, "I also find it strange, but judging from the traces at the scene, the *haozi* in the tent must have left in a hurry. Something important must have happened temporarily."

At this moment, Xiao Liang squatted on the ground, picked up a half-smoked cigarette, and said, "Look, this cigarette was only smoked halfway before it was put out. The *haozi* in the tent must have suddenly received a message and encountered an emergency, so they didn't bother to finish the whole cigarette and immediately moved, and they didn't have time to pack up the tent."

Lao Wei took a look and nodded in approval, "Not bad, Xiao Liang, you really are a top student. You've learned your 'Trace Evidence' very well. This reasoning makes a lot of sense!"

Xiao Liang smiled shyly and pointed to the trampled weeds on the other side of the tent, saying, "It looks like the *haozi* here went that way. Let's go take a look."

"Okay, let's go take a look!"

With Lao Wei's order, our group marched mightily along the trampled grass towards the depths.

After walking for about ten meters, a large tomb-raiding hole appeared ahead. Xiaojuan immediately told us, "That's right, there's also a tomb-raiding hole here, and it's right in the middle of the ridge."

Hearing this, I immediately became vigilant and asked, "Could this be the Immortal Cave?"

Lao Wei walked over quickly and took a look, but shook his head and said, "That's not right. This tomb-raiding hole is also quite old, at least seven or eight years old. Xiaojuan, this tomb-raiding hole has been here for a long time, right?"

Xiaojuan nodded and said, "Yes, I saw it when I came to the mountain to play during my summer vacation the year before last. At that time, the tomb-raiding hole was already overgrown with grass."

Lao Wei decisively denied, "Then the time doesn't match. The old man living in the Crystal Palace said that the Immortal Cave above the Crystal Palace was newly dug. This tomb-raiding hole is at least seven or eight years old, so it shouldn't be that Immortal Cave..."

However, just as Lao Wei said this, Xiao Liang suddenly squatted down next to the tomb-raiding hole and pointed to some traces on the edge of the hole, saying, "Look at this."

I quickly leaned over and looked down. I saw two inconspicuous little holes, about the thickness of a thumb, on the ground that Xiao Liang was pointing to. These two little holes were quite deep, and they went all the way into the soil.

Xiao Liang pointed to the side again. About a meter away, two more little holes, about the thickness of a finger, appeared side by side. These few little holes looked like they had just been poked out recently, and the soil that had been turned up was still damp.

I was relatively unfamiliar with this kind of hole. At first glance, I didn't know what these holes were for at all, but Lao Wei was very experienced. After only one glance, he immediately said, "These are holes for fixing rope ladders! It seems that someone has gone down this tomb-raiding hole recently!"

After Lao Wei said this, I remembered.

I had come into contact with tools such as rope ladders and centipede mountain climbing ladders when I went to tombs before.

Some of these ladders were hung on trees, and some had barbs that could be hooked directly into the soil to support the weight.

The holes that Xiao Liang found were obviously where the barbs at the top of the rope ladder had been poked into the soil and hung on the edge of the tomb-raiding hole. This was indeed a trace left by the *tufuzi* (local grave robbers).

I asked Lao Wei, "What exactly is going on? Isn't this tomb-raiding hole an old one from seven or eight years ago? But I see that the holes for the rope ladder are new."

Lao Wei narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, and said, "It's possible that this group of tomb raiders is re-using an old trick. They discovered that the location of this old tomb-raiding hole was good, so they simply went down along the old tomb-raiding hole and dug a new tomb-raiding hole below. They turned this old tomb-raiding hole, which was originally dug in the wrong direction, into an Immortal Cave. That's also possible!"