212: Golden bead painting, Brother Ye, you have this skill too!

Ye Bai said, "There's no other way now; we can only take it one step at a time."

After walking for a while, the Passage widened. They arrived at a small room filled with ancient utensils.

"This seems to be an annex to a Tomb Chamber," Ye Bai said.

Zhang Dada looked at the utensils and asked, "Could these things be useful?"

Ye Bai shook his head and said, "I don't know yet. Let's look for an exit first."

They searched for an exit in the room but found none. Just as they were feeling desperate, Ye Bai suddenly discovered a Mural on the wall.

The Mural depicted a mysterious ritual: a group of people surrounding a coffin, holding various Magical Artifacts. Above the coffin, there was a shimmering Bead.

Ye Bai's heart stirred. He remembered the Golden Bead they had found in the karst cave. Could that Bead be related to the one in the Mural?

"Look at this Mural," Ye Bai said, pointing at it.

The others gathered around to look at the Mural. Yang Mi asked, "What does this Mural mean?"

Ye Bai said, "I think this might be related to the Golden Bead we found. Perhaps this Bead is the key to unlocking the secrets of the Ancient Tomb."

Zhang Dada asked, "So what do we do now?"

Ye Bai thought for a moment and said, "Let's go back first and see if those rotting corpses are still there. If they're gone, we'll go back to study the Runes on the coffins."

The group cautiously returned to the Tomb Chamber and found that the rotting corpses were gone. They breathed a sigh of relief and began re-examining the Runes on the coffins.

After careful observation, Ye Bai discovered that these Runes seemed to form a mysterious pattern. He tried to decipher its meaning but had no clue.

"What on earth does this pattern mean?" Ye Bai muttered to himself.

Yang Mi asked, "Could it be related to that copper plaque?"

Ye Bai's eyes lit up. "It's possible. Let's take out the copper plaque and have a look."

He took out the copper plaque and compared it with the Runes on the coffin. Gradually, he seemed to discover some patterns.

"I've got it!" Ye Bai said excitedly.

The others hurriedly asked, "What did you figure out?"

Ye Bai said, "The pattern on this copper plaque corresponds to the Runes on the coffin. I think if we decipher the Runes according to the pattern on the plaque, we can find the secrets of the Ancient Tomb."

Everyone came to a sudden realization, smiles appearing on their faces as they looked at Ye Bai excitedly.

Ye Bai continued analyzing the pattern on the copper plaque, saying, "First, we need to clarify what the pattern on the plaque actually means."

Ye Bai held up the copper plaque and pointed to a horizontal bar, saying, "There are two horizontal bars here. They represent the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. Let's assume the Heavenly Stems represent the eight directions of Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui. This way, we can infer the principles of the Five Elements' mutual generation and overcoming. We just need to categorize the Five Elements items to grasp the essence of their interactions."

Ye Bai then pointed out the other directions to everyone, saying, "Look, the Heavenly Stems are Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, and they all have five intersection points; Wood overcomes Earth, Fire overcomes Metal, Metal overcomes Wood, Wood overcomes Earth, and Earth overcomes Water. In that case, Wood overcomes Earth, Fire overcomes Metal, Metal overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire. Metal overcomes Wood, Wood overcomes Earth..."

Listening to Ye Bai's words, Meng Ziyi and the others were dumbfounded. They had initially thought Ye Bai was talking nonsense, but they didn't expect him to actually be right.

"This is just too amazing!" Zhang Dada praised.

Ye Bai smiled slightly and said, "You see, these horizontal bars are all intersection points of the five directions. We can count upwards along these bars to find the meaning of this Mural."

He reached out and lightly swiped a horizontal bar, and one immediately fell off. Ye Bai continued swiping downwards until all the bars had fallen. Then, he tapped the center of the bars a few times and discovered that each had a hollow structure inside, realizing the correct answer was hidden within.

Ye Bai traced a few lines on the wall with his finger and then placed the copper plaque into the hollow groove.

When he finished, the entire Mausoleum suddenly shook violently.

Zhang Dada was shocked: "Oh no! Those Zombies are going to come out again!"

Ye Bai quickly said, "Don't panic, this is a sign that the Mausoleum is about to collapse. We need to escape quickly."

Zhang Dada said anxiously, "But..."

Ye Bai said, "There must be a Secret Door or mechanism here. Let's get out quickly, or we'll die."

Zhang Dada said anxiously, "But what if we run into those Zombies after we go out?"

Ye Bai said, "Don't worry. Since we dared to enter this Mausoleum, we certainly considered the consequences. Besides, is anyone willing to go outside with me?"

He scanned the group and saw that no one spoke. Ye Bai said, "It seems we have to take some risks."

Zhang Dada said with a long face, "But we almost died out there just now. I haven't lived long enough yet."

Meng Ziyi said, "This time it's our fault for not listening to your warnings and insisting on exploring this tomb. Now that it's collapsing, even if we die, we deserve it."

Ye Bai snorted coldly and said, "'Deserve it,' indeed! Are you afraid of death? If you don't want to go out, that's fine. I'll go alone. Anyway, I'm strong and fit; I won't die."

Meng Ziyi gritted her teeth and said, "I'll go out with you. It's better than everyone staying here to die."

The others hesitated for a moment and then all agreed to leave.

Thus, the group walked out of the Underground Palace with the copper plaque. Ye Bai led them to the Stone Chamber they were in before. The coffins here had been moved aside, revealing the copper plaque inside. Runes still remained on the plaque, though they were very dim now.

Everyone gathered around, carefully examining the copper plaque, trying to see what it was about.

Ye Bai said, "Do you see? The copper plaque is surrounded by horizontal lines, which means it records the Heavenly Stems. Counting from left to right, the Heavenly Stems are Kun, Zhen, Gen, Xun, and Dui. Kun, Zhen, Gen, and Xun are the foundation of the Five Elements' mutual generation and overcoming, while Dui belongs to Yin and is the most likely thing to destroy this foundation."

Ye Bai paused and pointed to a horizontal bar, saying, "This should be Dui. Let's follow this bar to find Dui."

After speaking, he pointed to a nearby blue brick and said, "This is Li."

Then he pointed to another blue brick and said, "This is Xun."

Ye Bai pointed to a horizontal bar and said, "This is Gen."

Then he pointed to another horizontal bar and said, "This is Dui."

Along the way, Ye Bai kept repeating, "Li, Kun, Gen, Xun, Zhen, Dui."

As Ye Bai spoke the positions of the Heavenly Stems, the others followed him nervously and confusedly.

At this point, the vibrations in the Ancient Tomb became more intense, and debris fell from above from time to time.

"Ye Bai, are you sure this will find the way out?" Yang Mi asked with a sob in her voice, her beautiful face covered in dust and her hair in disarray.