267: Don't be afraid, I'm a professional.

Ye Bai walked over and indeed saw a Stone Door tightly closed.

Yang Mi unlocked the chains and carefully pushed open the Stone Door.

A stench of rot hit his nose. Ye Bai frowned slightly and looked up at several fluorescent stones embedded in the ceiling of the Cave. These stones emitted a dim glow, illuminating the entire cave.

In this dim light, Ye Bai could clearly see the full view of this cave.

“What is this place?” Meng Ziyi asked in confusion.

“I'm not sure either.” Ye Bai shrugged. “Anyway, this should be the core of the First Emperor of Qin's tomb. I suspect these outer coffins and the antiques inside them were moved out from here.”

“How do you know?” Yang Mi asked in surprise.

“Just a guess,” Ye Bai said.

“You're really good at making wild guesses,” Yang Mi muttered.

Ye Bai chuckled. “I’m just trying to lighten the mood.”

“...” Yang Mi rolled her eyes.

Meng Ziyi said, “Since we've already found the entrance, we might as well keep going.”

The three of them continued forward.

This cave wound and twisted, seemingly without end.

A short while later, the group of three arrived before the final set of Stone Steps.

“My God! It's so high!” Meng Ziyi looked up at the steep, vertical Stone Steps, a look of fear and dread appearing on her pretty face. “If we fall from here, wouldn't we be smashed to pieces?”

Ye Bai climbed up easily and said calmly, “Don't worry, it's not that exaggerated. I'm a professional.”

The three of them stepped onto the Stone Steps together and slowly climbed upward.

After climbing for an unknown amount of time, they finally saw light.

The three of them stopped in their tracks.

Ahead of them was an empty platform. In the center of the platform sat a coffin.

“A coffin!”

Yang Mi covered her mouth in surprise.

Ye Bai stared at the coffin and murmured, “It looks like we've found the right place.”

He walked quickly toward the coffin.

Yang Mi and Meng Ziyi followed behind, wanting to stop him from getting too close.

Ye Bai turned his head and glanced at the two of them. “Don't block the way.”

The two women immediately shrank back and obediently retreated.

Ye Bai stood about five meters away from the coffin, looking at it with piercing eyes. He reached out and lightly touched the Coffin Lid.

The coffin was covered in a thick layer of dust, clearly untouched for a long time. With a slight tug from Ye Bai, the Coffin Lid suddenly popped open.

“This...” Yang Mi and Meng Ziyi cried out in shock at the same time.

The coffin was completely empty; there was nothing inside.

“No wonder there was such a strong, foul stench. It turns out there wasn't anything valuable inside at all,” Ye Bai remarked, then snapped the Coffin Lid back on.

Yang Mi and Meng Ziyi both looked disappointed.

Ye Bai walked to the front of the coffin and looked down inside. It was a withered male corpse; the skin had long since become wrinkled and stiff, without a trace of color on its body.

This should be the corpse of that King of Qin.

Ye Bai squatted down and began searching the corpse.

Suddenly, he noticed something peculiar.

A jade pendant was hanging from the left sleeve of the corpse. He reached out and pinched the jade pendant, pulling hard. A crisp metallic clink sounded from the pendant, followed by a clatter as a severed arm fell to the ground.

Ye Bai picked up the severed arm and took a look. The cross-section of the arm was incredibly smooth, as if it had been cut through like tofu without any resistance.

Ye Bai frowned. “This thing looks like some kind of weapon.”

He had just felt a faint aura on the palm prints of the severed arm, which should be the aura of blades, spears, swords, or halberds. He just didn't know what grade this weapon actually was.

Ye Bai didn't tell the other two women about this. After all, he knew nothing about ancient culture, and bringing it up rashly would only invite trouble.

Ye Bai put the severed arm back in its original place, then turned to look at Yang Mi behind him and said, “Let's go, let's continue the exploration.”

Yang Mi nodded quickly. “Mm-hmm.”

She was desperate to solve the mystery, so she didn't notice the flaw in Ye Bai's words at all.

Meng Ziyi hesitated. “Aren't we waiting for Sister Ziyi to wake up?”

“Let her sleep. She'll wake up naturally tomorrow morning,” Ye Bai said.

“Alright then.” Meng Ziyi had no choice but to drop it.

Ye Bai led the two women further ahead. After walking for about four or five minutes, they came to another fork in the road. Yang Mi took out her divination compass and began calculating the direction.

“Turn right.” After a moment, Yang Mi made her decision.

The three of them walked down the fork on the left, and gradually, their field of vision opened up.

This was a massive karst cave, winding downward in a spiral, layer after layer.

On the rock walls, vivid scrolls were carved. These scrolls depicted the local customs, history, culture, and cities of various countries. The text merged perfectly with Chinese characters, filled with a mysterious and eerie beauty.

Besides the text, there were also exquisite artworks such as Murals and illustrations. These artworks were well-preserved and still looked as good as new.

These artworks were replaced every few decades, and the current tomb complex preserved at least a hundred different years of them.

“My God!” Yang Mi couldn't help but exclaim when she saw the Murals.

“What's wrong?” Ye Bai walked over and asked.

“This is... 'The Great Qin Empire'!” Yang Mi said excitedly. “I can't believe I'm seeing 'The Great Qin Empire' paintings in my lifetime! This is amazing! I simply can't believe it!”

Meng Ziyi also shouted excitedly, “Wow! It's 'The Great Qin Empire'!”

Hearing this, Ye Bai also carefully examined the Mural.

The protagonist of this 'Great Qin Empire' was the Qin imperial family, namely the First Emperor of Qin, Ying Zheng. He sat under the eaves of a palace, guarded by many soldiers, while many civil and military officials knelt on the ground below the palace walls.

“This picture is very strange,” Meng Ziyi said, pointing at the Mural.

“What's strange about it?” Yang Mi asked curiously.

“First of all, why is the First Emperor of Qin sitting while everyone else is kneeling on the ground?”

“Perhaps it's because the Qin imperial family had a lofty status, so the imperial family could sit on the dragon throne while everyone else had to kneel,” Yang Mi explained.

“No,” Meng Ziyi shook her head.

Yang Mi asked, “What's not right?”

Meng Ziyi thought seriously for a moment and said, “You say the Qin imperial family had a lofty status, but this picture reflects something else. Look, this eunuch seems to have a very high status as well.”

“A eunuch?” Yang Mi was stunned. “How could that be?”

“Let's look at the next Mural.” Meng Ziyi flipped through the Murals again and pointed to the top one. “Look here.”

The background of this Mural was the family of a Qin official. In front of the official's family gate stood an Old Locust Tree.

“This Old Locust Tree is very peculiar. It's growing right in the middle of the courtyard, while all the surrounding flowers and plants have withered and died,” Meng Ziyi said. “Although this Mural looks ordinary, it gives off a strange feeling, as if it were alive.”