34: Chapter 34 Three-tiered coffin, a startling sound of breathing can be heard from within.

Since entering the Ancient Tomb, this was the first time Su Chen had said so firmly that they must open the coffin.

This inevitably made Captain Song Lei and the others somewhat excited.

"Alright, then let's open it!"

"We've come this far anyway; even if there is danger inside this coffin, I want to see exactly what's in there!"

The group sprang into action. Under Su Chen's guidance, they first carefully scraped away the sealing wax from the gaps in the coffin lid.

Once they had cleared away the dust that had accumulated on the coffin,

they discovered that there were characters carved onto it.

The characters were naturally ancient, and since they couldn't read them, they had to ask Su Chen to take a look.

He scanned them briefly and let out a soft sigh of relief.

"That's right, this must be King Lu Shang's coffin!"

Cao Hua was so happy he nearly jumped up.

"What, what does it say? Tell us quickly."

"It's also about his life. It says he died before he was fifty, leaving no children behind."

"It also records several classic battles he fought, which is much the same as what was written on the coffins outside," Su Chen said.

"That's enough. As long as we've confirmed this is King Lu Shang's coffin, that's all that matters."

"This old guy hid himself pretty well, but what good did it do? Didn't yours truly just flush him out?"

Cao Hua completely shed the awkwardness he felt after his previous mistake and was now thoroughly elated.

He looked at Wang Yi triumphantly and said,

"Daoist Master Wang, envious? Jealous?"

"Can't help it. Besides having great strength, I'm also quite lucky."

Wang Yi snorted, too lazy to pay any attention to his blatant provocation.

"Well then, lucky strongman, the iron chains on this coffin are left to you."

"No problem! Leave it to me!"

Cao Hua didn't hesitate; he drew his long knife and raised it high.

Gathering all his strength, he prepared to slash at the iron chains.

However, just as he swung the blade,

a sound suddenly emanated from within the coffin!

The sound was like someone breathing softly inside!

"Don't move!" Su Chen shouted, stopping him.

Cao Hua had already committed his strength to the swing, but upon hearing Su Chen's words, he hurriedly pulled back.

He stumbled and nearly fell over.

After barely regaining his balance, he asked in confusion,

"Wh-what's wrong?"

"Shh, listen." Wang Yi made a shushing gesture and pointed at the inside of the coffin.

The six of them all leaned in, pressing their ears almost directly against the coffin.

A moment later, there was another extremely faint breath.

Although it was faint, the surroundings were deathly quiet, so they heard the sound very clearly.

"Th-there's a breathing sound! The corpse inside is alive!" Cao Hua exclaimed in surprise.

"Give it a rest. If it's alive, can it still be called a corpse?" Wang Yi questioned, criticizing his lack of precision.

"This is too strange. The coffin is completely sealed. Even if the corpse had been alive when buried, it couldn't have lasted long in there."

"But King Lu Shang's era was thousands of years ago; how could he still be alive? Even without considering the issue of oxygen, he would have long since turned into a pile of bones."

Captain Song Lei frowned, unable to figure out what was going on.

"Could it be... that it's turned into a Zongzi?" Tang Xiao speculated.

"That's possible." Captain Song Lei nodded, and as if deciding to just go for it, continued:

"Oh, forget it. Whether it's a person, a ghost, a monster, or an animal, let's just proceed with opening the coffin as planned."

"I don't believe that with the six of us, we can't handle whatever is inside this coffin."

Su Chen nodded.

"Captain Song is right. Let's continue opening the coffin and see what kind of trickery is hiding in there!"

Cao Hua swung his blade, and the iron chains were severed.

The heavy bronze coffin lid was pushed aside, but what appeared beneath was not the corpse they had imagined.

Instead, it was another wooden coffin lid inlaid with gemstones.

"What's going on? Is this a nesting doll?" Cao Hua was dumbfounded.

"This is a Guan Guo. In the past, burials rarely used a single layer of coffin; they used a nested structure of at least three layers, known as a Guan Guo."

"The bronze lid we just removed was the first layer, and this gemstone inlay is the second. If I'm not mistaken, there should be at least one more layer beneath it," Su Chen explained.

"It's great to have an expert in the team. If I hadn't known about the Guan Guo, I would have definitely thought King Lu Shang was playing us!" Cao Hua's admiration for Su Chen rose to a new level.

Meanwhile, Ye Xing was leaning over the edge of the coffin, staring at the gemstone inlay with near-greed.

"A rare find! A true treasure."

"This gemstone inlay is just too precious and exquisite. I believe that if this were placed in a museum, countless people would come just to admire its beauty."

Ye Xing then took out his own tools.

However, compared to the aggressive weapons of Su Chen and the others, his tools appeared much gentler, and their lethality seemed quite average.

Ye Xing picked up his tools and carefully removed the gemstone inlay.

"It's truly beautiful. The ancestors really knew how to pick them."

"This is a national treasure! Why didn't discovering this gemstone inlay trigger a Heavenly Dao reward? This inlay is so exquisite, doesn't it deserve one?"

"Haha, you up there are too greedy. Do you really think Heavenly Dao rewards are given out in wholesale? You can't just have one whenever you want!"

"Exactly! Besides, we've already received quite a few rewards. Everyone should be content."

"I think Heavenly Dao rewards are triggered when discovering naturally strange phenomena. This gemstone inlay is man-made, so it's likely not within the scope of rewards."

"Damn, you're right! That actually makes a lot of sense!"

"The Heavenly Dao rewards the scarcity of an item. This gemstone inlay just has a high value, so it doesn't fall within the scope of rewards."

"I'm not in the mood to care about any inlays right now. I just want to know what those breathing sounds from inside the coffin mean. Is it really a reanimated corpse?"

"That remains to be seen. Let's see what Su Chen and the others find once they open the coffin. I'm really nervous and excited right now."

Viewers from other countries on the live stream were also filled with anticipation.

Only their anticipation was quite different from that of the Dragon Kingdom's audience.

They were hoping that a terrifying creature would emerge from inside the coffin.

Preferably a final boss-level entity that could wipe out Su Chen's entire expedition team.

That way, they would feel balanced.

Under the watchful eyes and eager anticipation of everyone, Ye Xing finally carefully removed that layer of gemstone inlay.

And beneath it, just as Su Chen had said, a layer of lacquered wooden coffin was revealed.

As the two layers of the Guan Guo were removed, the breathing sounds from within the coffin became increasingly distinct.