Chapter Sixty-Eight: A Chill Without Cold

The two groups were about to part ways when Li Zimu was suddenly called back by Lord Wei. “Li Zimu, come with me for a moment.”

Li Zimu looked troubled, hesitating as he glanced at Ye Dong.

Ye Dong spoke loudly, “Lord Wei called you, so you should go. Now that you’re with me, he won’t beat you for delaying his delivery, right, Lord Wei?”

Faced with the status Ye Dong gave himself, Lord Wei replied coldly, “Young Master He’s reputation is widespread—even the police show him respect. As a mere practitioner of a few tricks, a little yellow snake like me must give you face. Besides, even when beating a dog, one must mind the owner, isn’t that so?”

Lord Wei’s words were layered; he acknowledged Ye Dong’s influence by offering him proper respect, but also hinted at his own prowess, likening himself to a snake capable of burrowing and escaping, showing he was not intimidated by Ye Dong’s power.

“I’ll go then, Brother Tian.” Li Zimu followed Lord Wei nervously, soon disappearing into the night.

“Li Zimu won’t be in trouble, will he?” Liang Lingzhi sounded worried. “Lord Wei is the kind of person who plays with rotten corpses; who knows what he might do to Li Zimu.”

Ye Dong waved his hand. “Don’t worry. Lord Wei isn’t a fool. He knows Li Zimu was only acting on my orders, so he won’t kill him recklessly. He probably just wants to get information about us from him.”

...

“Li Zimu, you know my methods, so I won’t waste words. I’m going to ask you a few questions now.” Lord Wei lightly patted Li Zimu’s shoulder. “Think carefully before you answer.”

Li Zimu nodded as if walking on thin ice. “Lord Wei, you saved my life. I’ll tell you everything I know, nothing will be held back!”

Lord Wei sneered and got straight to the point. “Did He Wentian’s goods really get seized by customs?”

“It was all over the news, and I was really there, Lord Wei. His men are bold—they fought customs officers with guns! The machine gun bullets were flying right onto our boat!”

Lixing scoffed. “Hmph. The kind of boss you have, the kind of subordinates you get. That female bodyguard of his, Huiyan, isn’t a pushover either.”

Lord Wei smirked and pressed further. “Li Zimu, what were you doing there at the time?”

Under Lord Wei’s suspicious gaze, Li Zimu forced a bitter smile. “To tell you the truth, Lord Wei, I was out at sea for a side job. Who could have guessed I’d run into a firefight between customs and smugglers? I was just caught in the crossfire, really!”

Lixing mocked him. “I think you were planning to run off with the money, weren’t you?”

Li Zimu waved his hands frantically. “I wouldn’t dare! I still remember vividly the last seller who died right in front of me. How could I betray you all?”

“Oh?” Lord Wei’s eyes narrowed. “Then why did He Wentian lock you up?”

Li Zimu’s face grew even uglier at the question. “It was just bad luck—being at the scene of the fight. He Wentian thought I had something to do with his goods being seized, accused me of being a police informant, and beat me up badly. For self-preservation, I ended up telling him about my antique dealing, and then he forced me to ‘make amends’ by helping him find a national treasure-level artifact, demanding I reveal my supplier—meaning you all.”

After hearing Li Zimu’s explanation, Lixing raised his knife and said coldly, “So you betrayed us?”

Li Zimu felt a chill down his back. “No, no, no! He Wentian wanted to do business with you, that’s why he wanted a meeting. The guy’s crazy, spends lavishly, and the profits are huge! I was only trying to help you all make big money!”

Lord Wei chuckled. “Listening to you, you sound utterly loyal to us, don’t you?”

“Of course, Lord Wei! You gave me the channel to move goods and make money. I have to be loyal! Besides, if this deal works out, we’ll have He Wentian as a financial backer. Just thinking about it is exciting!”

Lord Wei thought to himself, “You want that backing for yourself, don’t you? But people are greedy and always aim too high.” He then asked sharply, “Did you see anything unusual at He Wentian’s house? Think carefully about this.”

“Alright, alright.” Li Zimu pondered for a moment. “If liking to watch muscular men fight in cages counts, that’s one thing.”

He paused, then suddenly recalled, “Oh, right, he loves extreme sports. His house is full of gear, and he has lots of modified race cars.”

“Extreme sports?” Lord Wei stroked his chin and asked Lixing, “What do you think of He Wentian’s skills?”

Lixing analyzed, “He’s not especially skilled, but his moves are ruthless. He’s got a wild streak, real trouble if he gets desperate.”

After Lixing finished, Li Zimu added, “That day, when I mentioned your tomb-raiding activities, he was very interested, said tomb raiding must be thrilling, insisted he had to see an ancient tomb himself.”

Li Zimu continued with a bitter smile, “He even said he wanted a mummy for his home. Do you think he’s crazy?”

Lord Wei, Lecheng, and Lixing exchanged amused glances. “This lunatic truly lives up to his name—a reckless brat who knows nothing of his own limits.”

Back at their lodging, Liang Lingzhi noticed there was no conversation between Ye Dong and Huiyan, making her hesitant to speak.

At last, Huiyan couldn’t help but say, “Tian, you shouldn’t have touched that corpse just now.”

Ye Dong replied coldly and self-mockingly, “I thought no one would care if I died.”

“You!” Huiyan started to scold him, then stopped. “Don’t do that again. If something goes wrong, it’ll delay the plan.”

Ye Dong didn’t answer, his mind filled with thoughts of Yayi, whose appearance was so similar to Huiyan’s. “Yayi, if you were here, I suppose you’d still worry about me?”

“There won’t be any accidents,” Ye Dong said with absolute determination. “With my background, even Lord Wei has to give way. He’s not the kind of villain to go all out against me. First, it’s unnecessary to make powerful enemies; second, he has no motive to harm me. After all, I’m there to deliver money.”

Huiyan couldn’t argue with Ye Dong’s reasoning but still pouted, “Eliminating unnecessary risks is the best guarantee for the plan.”

“Yes, yes, you’re both right, truly right!” Liang Lingzhi finally interjected. “Both of you are doing it for the plan’s sake. Don’t argue. Come, shake hands, you’re still friends!”

Seeing Ye Dong and Huiyan both sulking, Liang Lingzhi grinned and placed their hands together. “With Huiyan’s martial arts, Tian’s courage, and my wisdom and beauty, our three swords combined will surely accomplish great things! Quarreling is normal, isn’t it?”

The two were eventually amused by Liang Lingzhi’s shameless self-praise; Ye Dong took the initiative to hold Huiyan’s delicate hand and apologized. “You were only thinking of my safety. I shouldn’t have spoken so harshly. Sorry.”

Huiyan pouted, “It was your fault, wasn’t it?”

“Hey, why aren’t you following the script? I already admitted my mistake, so you should let go of your pride and forgive me!”

Huiyan retorted coldly, “Oh? So now you blame me for not playing along? Now you know how your partners feel when you don’t follow the script—pretty annoying, isn’t it?”

Ye Dong pursed his lips, pondering how to handle this tricky situation. Just then, Liang Lingzhi came to his rescue. “Brother Tian, your performance just now was brilliant—what a show-off!”

Ah! Loved less than by my master, understood less than by an idiot!

Ye Dong forced an awkward smile. “I can’t compare to you. You were the star at the auction!”

“Not at all!” Liang Lingzhi laughed. “But honestly, showing off felt great. Even Wan Tianze and those big financial groups had to be respectful—marvelous!”

“What’s so marvelous?” Officer Li and Chen Yao entered, pushing open the door.

Ye Dong and his companions quickly stood up. “Officer Li, Master.”

“No need for formalities. Just report directly.”

...

Wan Zhengzheng was playing with the long-absent Huahua as she chatted with Nian Xue. “I haven’t seen Ye Dong in ages. I wonder how they’re doing?”

Nian Xue smiled serenely. “I heard that in ten days, Lord Wei will take Ye Dong to explore a tomb. Aside from acting, their main activity has been intensive training—combat, escape, cultivation. Their schedule is packed, so their progress must be significant.”

“If that’s so, they’re working too hard.” Wan Zhengzheng chuckled bitterly. “I feel useless, unable to help at all.”

Nian Xue comforted her. “Silly girl, without your kindness, we wouldn’t have discovered this shocking case.” She took Wan Zhengzheng’s hand. “If you write about this story of police and citizens working together to crack the case in your column, it’ll spread even more positive energy.”

Wan Zhengzheng’s eyes lit up. “Yes! I can write the story and publish it after the case is over. That would be a good thing!”

Nian Xue gripped her Sun Jade pendant tightly, feeling a pang of emotion. “Zhengzheng worries about Ye Dong, just as I worry about the idiot’s safety.” But recalling the idiot’s infuriating behavior at the auction, her feelings cooled. “That fool, when smug, really makes me want to smack him!”

“So, planning to give this jade pendant to your beloved?” Wan Zhengzheng teased.

Nian Xue was embarrassed. “What are you saying? I wouldn’t give it to him, not even if I threw it away!”

“If there’s a ‘him,’ that means you have someone in mind. That must be Liang Lingzhi, right?”

“Oh, Zhengzheng, you’re such a gossip!”

...

While Chen Yao was overseeing Ye Dong and the others’ cultivation, his phone rang—it was Zilong on WeChat. “Master, I found a clue. Yue Lang, as you said, was at the Mongpolor base and stayed for some time.”

Chen Yao replied, “Good disciple, thank you. Stay safe and be careful.”

He looked at Ye Dong meditating and felt uneasy. “Yue Lang and I are from the same sect. If his disciple infiltrated the tomb-raiding group, that would be terrible.”

But there was another matter he cared about even more. To confirm his suspicions, he went down to the ancient well to find Daoist Weizi. “Uncle, I have a theory about the Tomb of Eternal Life I’d like to discuss.”

Daoist Weizi saw Chen Yao’s troubled expression and asked, “Coming here so late, it must be important.”

Chen Yao gave a bitter smile. “It’s just a hypothesis. Remember I told you Officer Li took me to see a robbed ancient tomb—the one with the ‘three-six-nine’ levels of Yuan Spirit Attendants?”

Daoist Weizi nodded. “I remember. So what?”

“I suspect that tomb is actually an accessory tomb to the Tomb of Eternal Life.”

An accessory tomb, or companion tomb, is like a luxury mansion beside the ultimate mansion, highlighting the grandeur of the main tomb.

“Oh? You mean the Tomb of Eternal Life has other entrances besides the ancient well?” Daoist Weizi pondered. “That would explain why the seal at the well wasn’t broken, but the stone chamber’s seal was.”

Chen Yao squinted, continuing his deduction. “If the theory of ‘three-six-nine’ companion tombs holds, then... there must be two more companion tombs!”

Daoist Weizi was shaken. “When all three companion tombs are activated, the Tomb of Eternal Life will be revealed!”

Chen Yao’s gaze turned cold. “I suspect there’s something in those three companion tombs that someone needs, so they have to deal with them first—like permits or keys!”

He shook his head again. “If they’re keys, what doors are they meant to open?”

Chen Yao kept thinking, and suddenly recalled Ye Dong’s mention of Wan Tianze’s jade pendant, the 'Canghai' pendant used to open the stone gate of the Tomb of Eternal Life.

“That’s it! It’s ‘Canghai Yue Ming!’ Two jade pendants: ‘Canghai’ opens the stone gate between ‘ice, fire, water,’ and ‘Yue Ming’ opens another door to the Tomb of Eternal Life!”

Daoist Weizi thought aloud. “Even if your theory is correct, that person can already enter the tomb—why go to such lengths for the ‘Yue Ming’ pendant?”

Chen Yao tensed. “Because only by combining both pendants can the true treasure be unlocked—the secret buried in the Tomb of Eternal Life!”

“The Soul-Fixing Immortality technique?” Daoist Weizi frowned deeply. “If so, that’s disastrous! Has that person already obtained the Yue Ming pendant?”

Chen Yao traced shapes on the ground. “If we put the Tomb of Eternal Life at the center of a triangle, and connect it to the already excavated companion tomb, we can easily deduce the locations of the other two tombs.” He drew an equilateral triangle and continued, “This reasoning assumes the person knows about the Tomb of Eternal Life and then seeks the companion tombs.”

“If you raise the central tomb a few levels and connect the four points, you get a pyramid, with the Tomb of Eternal Life at the apex.”

Daoist Weizi nodded. “Suppose he knows the tomb’s location but not the companion tombs—could it mean he learned about the tomb from someone else?”

Chen Yao agreed. “It’s possible. After all, Wan Tianze learned the secret from a wandering old Daoist.”

“Following this logic, the old Daoist likely shared the secret with others besides Wan Tianze?”

Chen Yao frowned. “If that’s true, another insider may have turned rogue. Now the question is whether he, like Wan Tianze, received a pendant from the old Daoist at the start.”

“If he got the tomb’s permit and deliberately explored the three companion tombs, the situation could be even worse!”

As their deductions led to conclusions, a more chilling theory formed in Chen Yao’s mind. “Could there be something even more valuable here than the Soul-Fixing Immortality?”