Chapter 6: The Bronze Eight-Trigram Cipher Lock!
Zhang Xuan: “It’s a very powerful mechanism. I’ll tell you more about it when I get the chance.”
“While these insect eggs are still immature, let’s open the tomb door first.”
The four of them suddenly brightened, finally reaching the crucial moment!
“How do we open it?”
Zhang Xuan: “With fire!”
“Perfect, we can burn the insect eggs on top along with it.”
Terry: “Using fire to burn it?”
“Won’t it just explode?”
Zhou Ze Yi was also stunned. The door was coated with explosives; this wasn’t a joke.
Zhou Cheng glanced back at the tomb door: “It should burn fiercely but not explode!”
“Besides, we’ll stand back a bit!”
“Right, Brother Xuan?”
Zhang Xuan gave a thumbs up: “Smart!”
The tall, thin man nodded and motioned for everyone to step back. He stripped the gunpowder from the detonators and then spread it along the stone door, forming a five to six meter-long fuse!
“Master San, be careful!”
He lit a lighter and glanced back, but the others had already retreated more than ten meters.
The flame flared up.
The gunpowder burned rapidly toward the tomb door, emitting sparks!
Boom!
A huge blaze suddenly rose!
The tomb door was instantly engulfed in flames!
The scorching heat surged forward along the tomb passage.
Though the group had moved more than ten meters away, they could still feel the intense heat wave.
Terry’s eyes flickered: “My goodness!”
“If we were closer, we’d be roasted like baked sweet potatoes in an instant!”
In the live stream room, Zhang Xuan stared at the flames, his eyes faintly shining.
Something seemed different from his memory.
Why did the insect eggs form the shape of a giant human face? He couldn’t find an answer immediately.
It seemed there was something new in between.
But that only made it more thrilling!
The live stream’s online viewers had already reached 150,000!
They were all stunned upon seeing the tomb door burning fiercely.
“No way... I thought you were about to make a breakthrough, but instead you messed up big time?”
“Brother Xuan, inciting tomb robbers to destroy cultural relics is a serious crime!”
“Oh no, the streamer has gone crazy!”
“The ancient tomb is burning.”
“Are you guys stupid? The tomb robbers are trapped inside the tomb. If you don’t burn the white phosphorus, how else do you open the door? This is choosing the lesser of two evils!”
“Yes, this is the streamer’s only effective method. Those who criticize without understanding are disgusting!”
Seeing the barrage of comments in the chat, Zhang Xuan didn’t respond.
The higher the popularity, the greater the controversy. But he trusted the discerning would see clearly!
No matter how much fools explained, they wouldn’t listen.
Within the manor filled with an antique atmosphere,
A black-faced, chubby man wearing casual clothes, holding a vajra bead bracelet and a white jade Guanyin pendant, stared oddly at the television.
The ashtray on the coffee table was stuffed with cigarette butts.
Clack, clack, clack.
A woman in a black and gold qipao with a slit up to her thigh sashayed in wearing high heels. Upon entering, she covered her nose with a folding fan.
“Smoking again!”
“Old Han, don’t you know your blood vessels are bad?”
Before she could touch the cigarette in the man’s hand, she pulled him into an embrace.
His gold teeth gleamed like a nouveau riche’s, but he spoke with a southern accent.
“Watching Third Mazi getting scolded by some kid is hilarious.”
The woman patted him: “Stop touching me.”
Then she turned to look at the TV: “Who is it?”
Old Han smiled: “Third Mazi from Shacheng.”
“I looked for him for some time with no news. Didn’t expect he really went into the tomb.”
“But it looks like he’s going to be stuck inside.”
The woman’s face showed surprise: “What tomb?”
“Even Third Uncle couldn’t handle it?”
Old Han sighed: “The Western Zhou King’s tomb!”
The woman immediately stood up: “Ah?”
Old Han pulled her back gently: “Don’t get so worked up.”
“But they’ve wrecked the tomb.”
“They’re connected to a streamer, asking a kid for help.”
“After this, Third Mazi’s reputation in the south is ruined.”
The woman gasped: “Third Uncle is no ordinary man.”
“If he risks his reputation for something like this, it means they truly encountered a very thorny problem!”
Old Han nodded: “Exactly. This Western Zhou tomb is terrifying!”
“But blame Third Mazi’s overconfidence.”
He took another drag on his cigarette: “But on the other hand...”
“The kid streamer he connected with is no simple character.”
“Third Mazi is like a rookie compared to him!”
The woman’s eyes flickered slightly: “Isn’t he a treasure appraisal streamer?”
“How does he know about tomb raiding?”
Old Han shook his head: “Who knows.”
“Old Han says he’s from the Zhang family.”
The woman was surprised again: “The Zhang family?”
Old Han laughed: “The Zhang family vanished decades ago. How could that young man be one of them?”
“Third Mazi must be out of his mind.”
The woman spoke seriously: “If he really is from the Zhang family, he would definitely know your Blood Pearl!”
Old Han’s smile slowly faded: “You mean...”
“Find him to take a look?”
The flames gradually died down.
The thick smoke dispersed.
A pair of stone doors with double beast carvings appeared before them!
The two stone doors looked extremely heavy, with beast sculptures on the sides facing a circular plate wedged in the door seam.
Zhou Ze Yi seemed to have discovered something and quickly approached the tomb door.
He scanned it swiftly, his gaze landing on the circular plate in the middle: “Bronze structure?”
“This is a combination lock!”
“Qiongqi and Taotie stand on either side!”
“These are guardian beasts of the tomb!”
“As expected, this is the entrance to a Warring States tomb!”
“Hard work pays off!”
A dark head leaned over.
“Master San, can you open it?”
Zhou Ze Yi blinked: “This is a bronze Bagua lock.”
“The structure is very complex.”
“The difficulty may even surpass a bank’s vault lock!”
Terry looked astonished: “That impressive?”
In the live stream room,
Zhang Xuan was eating fruit, watching the screen as if enjoying the spectacle.
He had muted his mic so the others couldn’t hear him.
“Brothers, here comes the big haul again!”
“A perfectly preserved and possibly still functional Warring States bronze Bagua dial — I bet there’s only one like this in the world!”
“And the tomb owner chose to use it as a mechanism lock.”
“The mechanism behind it must be even more ingenious!”
“This is incredible, incredible!”
“This entire stone door likely represents the pinnacle of Warring States mechanical craftsmanship!”
“But opening this lock dial will be extremely difficult!”
“Let’s see if they can open it, shall we?”
Sure enough, the comment barrage surged.
“When I saw the streamer mute himself, I knew he was holding back!”
“Brother Xuan, are you testing them?”
“Even Third Uncle recognized the bronze Bagua lock, so there must be a way to open it.”
“Did the Warring States period really have such amazing mechanical craftsmanship? That’s astonishing!”
“Brother Xuan, how much do you think this lock and tomb door are worth?”