Chapter 1 The Blood Tomb

The frame was much heavier than it looked. It took everyone working together to barely move it. Fatty had thought there would be a secret door underneath, like in TV shows or movies, but it was just cold, hard floor tiles.

Knocking on them didn't produce any hollow sounds.

But Luo Tianhe squatted down, his body low to the ground, and used his fingers to pick at the cracks between the tiles. After a moment, he actually managed to pry something out.

It looked like dirt, but it was dark red.

Bringing it to his nose, he could smell a strong, metallic odor.

"This is..." Everyone instinctively looked at Luo Tianhe.

Luo Tianhe stared at the red soil in his hand, his brow furrowing with an unusual grimness. After a long pause, he finally spoke, "Grave soil, and a very special kind."

Yuan Shanyuan said in a low voice, "Blood corpse tomb. Legend has it that only the grave soil in such places will be stained with such a strong bloody scent."

Luo Tianhe didn't speak, seemingly agreeing with Yuan Shanyuan's guess.

Looking up, Yuan Shanyuan surveyed the wooden frame with a strange expression. "No wonder they used old coffin wood for the frame. Otherwise, ordinary pagoda or willow wood really couldn't suppress something so evil."

Taking a deep breath, Luo Tianhe looked out the door with a meaningful gaze. "Even old coffin wood might not be able to suppress something so evil. I've only heard of blood corpse tombs, never seen one. Legend has it that those who have seen them are haunted by resentment, plagued by bad luck, and only one in ten survives. Those who enter the tomb are sure to die."

"The question now is, what exactly did these people dig out of the blood corpse tomb?" Luo Tianhe's face was very unpleasant. He really didn't know what the Wu family was thinking, daring to hide something like this in their home.

Fatty swallowed hard, feeling suffocated by the heavy atmosphere. "Are you saying... the Wu family brought back the master of the blood corpse tomb and put it on this frame?" The thought of that image made him feel sick. He also thought Master Wu was crazy, or perhaps he had special preferences.

Fortunately, Luo Tianhe directly denied this crazy and bizarre guess. "Impossible. If that were the case, the entire Wu family would have died overnight. They definitely wouldn't have lasted until now."

"The things on these frames should be funerary objects from the blood corpse tomb."

Lin Qianqian's soft voice came, making it hard to refuse. "Mr. Luo, Grandpa Yuan, you two are elders and experienced. Please give us some advice."

After a moment of thought, Luo Tianhe analyzed that the Wu family probably didn't have the ability to rob a blood corpse tomb. They must have bought these things, or obtained them through some special channels. They knew these things were unusual and were already being careful, knowing to use coffin wood to suppress them. But they had underestimated the evil nature of these things, and Master Wu's tragic death was related to these funerary objects.

The most urgent task now was to find out where these funerary objects came from, and what exactly the Wu family had been doing behind the scenes.

But out of caution, before these things were clear, they should never alert the enemy. Everyone had experienced similar tasks before. The Wu family... they were probably not reliable.

Including that seemingly refined Second Young Master, he might not be a good person either.

Before leaving the storeroom, everyone worked together again to move the frame back to its original position. After confirming that they hadn't left any clues, they closed the door and left.

Not far from the hall, they ran into the Second Young Master's lackey, Lai Fu. Lai Fu greeted them apologetically, saying that the Second Young Master was entertaining some very important guests and didn't mean to neglect the masters.

"The Second Young Master is too kind. We're here to help solve the problem, not to be guests," Jiang Cheng continued to chat with Lai Fu. "I presume the guests here at this hour are here to offer condolences for Master Wu."

Lai Fu shook his head upon hearing this. "No, they are our merchants. Our Wu family started with medicinal herbs. We supply medicinal materials to pharmacies in the surrounding counties and towns. They came to discuss business."

"Drug merchants..." Everyone remembered the Wu family's identity. This identity seemed to have a subtle feel.

"Yes, our Wu family's old brand is very famous," Lai Fu said proudly.

Then, Lai Fu explained his purpose. He brought some money for everyone and urged them to find out the cause of Master Wu's death as soon as possible and solve the problem of the corpse change, otherwise the entire Wu family mansion would never have peace.

"Okay, we'll hurry," Jiang Cheng replied on behalf of everyone.

"By the way, the main gate is open. If you need to go out, you can go through the main gate. It's very close to the street, and the transportation is convenient nearby. You won't get lost if you go that way," Lai Fu reminded them, turning back after walking a few steps away.

"Thank you."

Following Lai Fu's guidance, the group passed through several courtyards and finally arrived at the main gate of the Wu mansion. It was already dark when they arrived earlier, so they didn't see the gate clearly. Now that they looked at it, the Wu family's old brand was quite powerful, at least financially. The gate was built very impressively, but Fatty felt uncomfortable no matter how he looked at it. There was an unspeakable sense of oppression, like a large stone was pressing on his chest.

Fatty looked up, especially at the lintel. Although it was tall, but...

"Ouch!"

Fatty wasn't paying attention and tripped, falling to the ground.

"Damn it, what's up with this threshold? It's so high!" Fatty stood up in pain, glaring at the threshold on the ground. The threshold was ridiculously high. He had already lifted his leg very high, but he still fell.

Yao Shunyu's voice came slowly. It couldn't be said that he was gloating, but it sounded that way to Fatty. "These families who claim to have status will build the threshold relatively high, meaning that their vision is high. Some third-rate people are not worthy of entering their house, so let them retreat in the face of difficulty."

This statement was reasonable. Fatty had also heard of it, so he had no place to vent his anger. After all, he fell on his own, not because Yao Shunyu pushed him.

But Jiang Cheng and the others seemed to be interested, their eyes fixed on the threshold, revealing a suspicious expression.

"Even for wealthy families, there's no need to build the threshold so high," Li Bai said with a suspicious expression. After a while, he suddenly looked outside the door and said in a strange tone, "Or is this threshold intentionally raised to this height, not to make people awe, but to prevent some things from entering?"

"I heard the older generation say that some evil things have stiff ankles and can't bend. They rely on smell to identify directions. Once they identify a direction, they will keep walking. If they encounter a high threshold, they will be blocked and unable to enter."

"So in some remote places, people will build the threshold high and strong."