Chapter 52

The climate in the north is dry, and naturally, the rain doesn’t compare to that of the south. The mountain’s forest isn’t as crowded as the southern mountains with trees that are as tall as the sky, where the ground becomes dangerously slippery. However, on the other hand, this kind of inaccessible mountain forest that hasn’t been modified by tourism is even more dangerous, if anything were to happen, the police won’t be able to find them.

This whole time, Qin Cheng paid close attention to Tang Jie’s moves, who was in front of him. Qin Cheng quietly put the copper coin on Wu Hai’s hand, who was looking at him with a confused face.

Wu Hai saw that Qin Cheng was carefully looking at Tang Jie, who was still leading the way without making any sound, and took what Qin Cheng was handing to him. After Wu Hai saw what it was, he was startled, feeling how a cold sweat ran through his body.

“What do we do?” Wu Hai whispered as low as he could, and then frowned: “Should we run away?”

Qin Cheng was about to say something when Tang Jie, who was in front of the two of them, turned around abruptly: “We’re going down the mountain now, to take the downhill road. You see, that mountain in front of us has the shape of a cat.”

Qin Cheng looked at the mountain, and smiled. “It’s quite ordinary, but the air is good. The scenery is beautiful from here, so the trip wasn’t in vain. I think that it’s fine to just look at it from here, besides, we’re already too tired to continue.”

After hearing Qin Cheng’s words, Tang Jie moved his eyebrows, narrowed his eyes, and smiled: “It’ll be a pity to not look at it closely. It’s impossible to say if there’s a ‘coal mine’ in that mountain from this distance! Aren’t you two studying geography? I told it to the villagers yesterday, and everyone is expecting you two to dig up some treasures for us to get out from poverty and become rich.”

When Tang Jie said this, how could Qin Cheng not know that he wasn’t willing to let them go? The Faqiu sect was focused on the team’s assistance. So, if Tang Jie told the village about them, then that meant that there was something wrong with the village itself.

Qin Cheng even thought of the possibility that there may be people following closely behind them. Even if they could call the police from the deep of the mountains, they’d have to wait for the police to arrive, and they don’t know what will happen in the meantime.

“Well, we’ve seen it, so let’s leave now.” Wu Hai pretended to not understand Tang Jie’s words. He smiled broadly, and put his hand on Tang Jie’s shoulder, who was half a head shorter than him: “I’m already grateful to Tang-dage for leading the way here. We weren’t familiar with the land, and you were so kind to help us.”

“Hahaha, yes. If it weren’t because you guys wanted to come to this mountain, I really wouldn’t have helped you.”

“Hmm? Is something wrong with this mountain?”

“What’s wrong with it? There’s no way you two don’t know, right?”

If Tang Jie had a plan, then he wouldn’t bring the two of them here alone. No matter what, Tang Jie couldn’t fight two big men all by himself, so there’s a 100% chance that he brought helpers. Qin Cheng and Wu Hai would only suffer if they fought. After thinking about this issue, Qin Cheng pretended to look puzzled, and asked: “Tang-dage, what do you mean?”

However, as soon as Qin Cheng said this, Tang Jie laughed out loud: “What do I mean? You took my copper coin and didn’t give it back. What does that mean?”

At this point, what was there to not understand? Qin Cheng clenched his fists, and clenched his teeth: “You did it on purpose?”

“I did lose the copper coin on purpose. However, if I hadn’t tested you two like this, I wouldn’t be sure if you two are really from the same profession.”

After hearing this, Wu Hai immediately bent his hand on Tang Jie’s shoulder and jammed Tang Jie’s neck.

“What do you want?”

“What do you two want? That’s what I want to know! How did you two know that there’s something hidden inside this mountain?” Expecting that the two men in front of him wouldn’t dare to do anything to him, Tang Jie narrowed his eyes, and continued: “At first, I wasn’t sure if you two were treasure hunters, so I spoke to you. Only then did I realize that you two came specifically for this mountain! What’s hidden inside this mountain, only the Tang family knows about it. Both your surnames are Qin and Wu, and you two aren’t from here, so how would you know the secrets of this mountain?”

“We didn’t come here to take anything away. We just want to know if this ancient tomb has been here for thousands of years. You know, it’s better to investigate with less people, if the word gets out, it will probably lead a lot of grave robbers here.” Although Qin Cheng didn’t say it, Wu Hai could guess why Qin Cheng wanted to come to this mountain specifically. He must’ve seen something inside Ninghua Village’s tomb.

“Oh? Do you think I’m easy to fool? Jokes on you! There’s no way anyone who knows this ‘thing’ doesn’t want it!” After saying so, Tang Jie made a gesture behind Qin Cheng and five peasant-looking men came out with weapons in their hands. Two of them rushed directly to Wu Hai, trying to hit him with iron shovels.

“Holy shit! Have these people been following us all the time?!” Wu Hai hurriedly let go of Tang Jie, and dodged the two men’s shovels, running towards Qin Cheng’s side to be on guard.

As Wu Hai dodged the attack, the five men noticed that Qin Cheng and Wu Hai were unarmed, so they surrounded them.

“Let me ask you, Tang Jie, what was the fucking benefit of bringing them here? There’s an 80% chance that these two know what’s inside the mountain!”

“Yes, and now we can’t let them go. If they spread the news of the village, what’s going to happen to us?”

“Damn it, I don’t want to share this profit with others! If the news spread, then what else is there for us? Fuck, these two know that we’re grave robbers, and if this comes out, we’ll end up in jail!”

Tang Jie frowned after listening to everyone’s complaints: “We won’t let them go….”

‘The thing’? Qin Cheng was a little confused when he heard them talking about ‘that thing’. Su Jingmo had said before that the mountain peak was ready to become his mausoleum, but he died before the construction was finished, so there shouldn’t be anything inside. Su Jingmo told Qin Cheng that this was merely an special landmark, to use the mountain peak with the shape of a crouching tiger to find his father’s mausoleum, and see if his fifth brother, Su Jingyan, had put anything else inside.

However, after listening to Tang Jie’s words, it seemed that there was actually something hidden inside that mausoleum? What Su Jingmo didn’t know, must have been put in after Su Jingmo died!

After thinking about it, Qin Cheng’s heart began to beat violently inside his chest, but he had to suppress his emotions. “We really don’t know what’s inside that mountain. A professor who came here told us that there must be something on this mountain, so he told us to come here and have a look. Tang-dage, think about it, if we knew about this mountain, then why would we ask you to show us the way? When you think it that way, it’ll make us look stupid.”

Qin Cheng spoke half-truths, and Tang Jie couldn’t help but have some doubts. If they really know this place, it was indeed impossible for them to ask him to lead the way. If they already knew what’s hidden inside the mountain, then they will 100% know what kind of people the Tang family were beforehand….

“You said that your professor asked you two to come here?” Considering the credibility of Qin Cheng’s words, Tang Jie asked: “Which university are you from?”

“X University.”

As soon as Qin Cheng said this, not only Tang Jie froze, but even the five men surrounding them changed their faces. The reactions of these six men were obviously unexpected. Qin Cheng exchanged glances with Wu Hai, and they agreed to not say anything else.

“X University, huh….?” The man who spoke was standing not that far from Tang Jie. He was wearing dark blue coarse clothes, and he should be around 40 to 50 years old. His skin was of dark complexion, and he had sporadic sparse hair. His trousers were wide and his shoes were black, covered with dirt after not having been washed for a long time. “That’s a good university to learn archeology. What’s the name of your professor?”

Once Qin Cheng heard this, his eyes moved. He had always felt that Li Guoxian knew something about Ninghua Village’s tomb. He also suspected that he knew something about what was hidden in Shanxi…

“Our professor’s name is Li Guoxian. Is there a problem?”

“Li Guoxian? A professor?” The middle-aged man laughed mockingly when he heard these words. “That man is really fucking shameless. He simply asked his students to explore the truth for him, so that he can pick up the results, and become famous, claiming them as his own achievements! After so many years, why hasn’t he been caught by the police? Are those policemen even working?”

This new information contained so many interesting remarks that Qin Cheng and Wu Hai, who were somewhat suspicious of Li Guoxian, become stunned.

‘ Does this man know Li Guoxian? And he even seems to know him quite well? ’

“What are you talking about?” Qin Cheng looked at that man, and asked with a frown in his face.

“What I’m talking about?” The middle-aged man looked at Qin Cheng and Wu Hai’s eyes, almost feeling sympathetic: “You didn’t hear? Li Guoxian already knew the tomb was dangerous before letting you two come to explore it! You two may as well have been sent to your deaths by him, but you would’ve still looked at him with gratitude! ‘This is a secret information that my professor entrusted to me!’ hahahahahahaha…..”

Even if there were doubts in his heart, these words still frightened Qin Cheng’s heart, and he was unable to speak for a long time.The difficulties in Ninghua Village…. were his three classmates’ miserable deaths caused by Li Guoxian himself? Moreover, this man even said that the crouching tiger mountain is a mausoleum, which means that someone was buried there? But, who was buried there?

Since the things Qin Cheng went through weren’t Wu Hai’s personal experiences, the speculation about Li Guoxian was little. But, at this moment, Wu Hai was no less surprised than Qin Cheng. After hearing those words, his face was quite ugly: “You said that Li Guoxian knew that this mountain tomb was dangerous? Does he even know that this mountain is a mausoleum?”

“He killed so many people that it’s impossible to know the exact number.” As if thinking of something, the middle-aged man simply asked with a smirk on his face: “I’ve heard that he has been busy with the big tomb in Xi’an, am I right? How many people have died there?”

“Are you trying to say that he killed those people?”

“Yes, exactly!” The middle-aged man hooked his lips: “You’re his students, you should’ve also been in the tomb. But, have you ever seen him step inside the tomb?” Without waiting for the two of them to give him a reply, the middle-aged man continued: “He definitely didn’t, right?”

Qin Cheng looked at him, and pursed his lips: “Why are you so sure about it?”

“Because, ten years ago, people died in that Ninghua Village….”

Ten years ago was the 4th year after the discovery of the great tomb in Ninghua Village…

‘ People died? I’ve been working in Ninghua Village’s tomb for a few years, but I’ve never heard of such a thing….. ’

That mountain mausoleum is even more mysterious now, who’s buried there? Is it SJM’s fifth brother? (　☉д⊙)

And now we know that LGX is scuuumm, QC was right to be suspicious of him ✨ (。-`ω-)ｰ

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