Tomb Raiding: The Bloodline of Dragons and Snakes, Starting from the Kunlun Divine Palace

Chapter 105: Immeasurable Karmic Fire Consumes the Body

Hu Bayi handed the candle to him as a sign of respect for him as the "Heavenly Official Who Uncovers Tombs".

After lighting the candles, we officially began work.

Fatty and Peter Huang worked together to clear away the human-shaped tombstone, making room for it.

Wu Yutian examined the corpse below.

It is speculated that it was originally made of ice and water was poured on it.

Then it solidifies into a single block of ice floor.

Finally, the pattern was sculpted on the ice, resulting in its current appearance.

Therefore, it is different from the frozen corpses that are completely frozen in ice on the wall.

Fatty and Hu Bayi each took out a small metal can from their backpacks.

Before setting off, Hu Bayi put all the ginger juice that everyone had squeezed into jars like these.

The container is pressurized, making it very convenient to use.

Like using an insect repellent spray, ginger juice will spray out when you press it.

The two first sprayed ginger juice on the ground.

Once the ice had penetrated sufficiently, they used the imported ice axe provided by Wu Yutian to carefully carve out a rough outline.

When the progress was almost complete, they used a thick screw to drive into the ice and tied a rope to the other end.

The thick screw was quickly frozen solid inside, as sturdy as an expansion bolt.

The four of them worked together to pry off the ice covering the corpse.

The candlelight in the southeast corner flickered slightly, but it caused no harm whatsoever.

Several people breathed a sigh of relief.

This step is generally the most dangerous step in the tomb.

If nothing is found when the coffin is opened, it means there will definitely be something to gain, and there's no need to face the zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).

Inside the coffin was a thick layer of cold mist, and air currents surged after the coffin was opened.

The misty chill quickly dissipated, revealing the true form of the corpse inside.

The corpse was curled up, its entire body covered in a layer of white stuff.

It resembles ice but is not ice, it resembles snow but is not snow.

Salt crust!

Wu Yutian felt a chill run down his spine, realizing that this must be a thick layer of salt crust.

Where the salt crust occasionally peels away, the golden body inside is revealed.

It looks like it's made of gold.

That must be the gold syrup poured on.

Upon seeing the golden, radiant object, Uncle Ming's eyes widened in disbelief.

"What's going on here?" the fat man asked, bewildered. "Why is it arranged in such a way? It's already in its eternal sleep, can't it at least be in a more comfortable position?"

Hu Bayi and the others also frowned in confusion.

“This is related to the doctrines of the Samsara Sect,” Wu Yutian explained. “The Samsara Sect takes ‘reincarnation’ as its name because it believes that people are reborn after death.”

"This curled-up posture is just like that of a fetus before birth."

"Oh~ I get it! I get it!" The fat man nodded in realization. "Tsk, that's why they say Brother Tian is a professionally trained actor; he knows so much."

"But what is all that white stuff?" The fat man looked around the tomb and, seeing that there seemed to be no burial goods, focused all his attention on the corpse. "Is that gold inside?"

"Make way! Let the professionals take a look." Uncle Ming squeezed out of the crowd and made room for Han Shuna.

Han Shuna took out a pair of surgical gloves from somewhere and put them on in a very professional manner.

He crouched down and carefully analyzed the corpse by shining a flashlight on it.

"The extreme environment here is indeed extremely favorable for the preservation of ancient corpses."

After looking at it for a while, she reached out and plucked a bit of the white stuff off the corpse.

He held it under his nose and smelled it, then said with certainty:

"It's swamp salt! This is indeed a golden mummy from the snow-capped mountains!"

"That's great! That's great!" Uncle Ming exclaimed excitedly.

The fat man looked completely bewildered: "Mummy? Aren't those foreign? The stuff from the Egyptian pyramids!"

Uncle Ming's face was beaming with joy as he explained to the fat man:

"Fatty, I told you to read more books, but you just don't understand."

"This 'mummy' is just a burial method; it doesn't mean that only those inside pyramids are mummies," Uncle Ming said with great enthusiasm.

“The method of making this kind of snow mountain golden mummy is extremely complicated.” Han Shuna’s face was a little flushed, obviously she was also very excited about this corpse. “The specific process is to first arrange the corpse in a fixed position, then put it into a container and fill it with salt marsh.

"After about three months, the salt will completely replace the water in the corpse, and it will be cured."

"Good heavens, they even marinate the meat before burial, so particular?" The fat man was dumbfounded, recalling how his hometown made cured meat before the Lunar New Year.

"This is only the first step." Han Shuna looked at the corpse, her eyes gleaming.

"Next, we need to use sandalwood, spices, various medicines, and soil to mix a cement-like slurry."

"The body is covered with this mud, and as the mud gradually solidifies and hardens, the parts of the body that have shrunk due to pickling, such as the eyes, cheeks, and abdomen, will naturally expand, achieving a harmonious proportion, just like a living person." That makes sense; the body did not shrink like cured meat.

"Finally, a layer of molten gold lacquer is wrapped around the outside, and that is the golden body."

"The final step is to cover the corpse with another layer of salt marsh."

"The process of preparing this kind of corpse is complicated, time-consuming and laborious, and only people of very high status have such an honor."

Han Shuna recounted the strange and unusual events to everyone in detail, as if she knew them by heart.

Hu Bayi and the others were secretly amazed when they heard this, never expecting that there were so many intricacies involved in a corpse.

"Great! Great! We're rich now!" Uncle Ming's face flushed with excitement.

Hu Bayi and the fat man exchanged a glance, their expressions showing surprise.

"Uncle Ming, this thing is so hard to make, it must be worth a fortune, right?" the fat man asked tentatively.

"Of course! I can vouch for that!" Uncle Ming patted his chest and said.

Then, pointing confidently at the mummy at his feet, he said:

"This thing is absolutely worth less than 1.5 million!"

Hu Bayi and his companions were startled.

Wu Yutian understood, after all, this was the early 1980s.

You can buy a small courtyard house in Beijing for 20,000 yuan.

One and a half million is enough to buy several alleys.

However, real estate transactions were not fully liberalized at that time, and it wasn't possible to acquire an entire street simply by having money.

“In foreign pyramids, only top nobles like pharaohs have the opportunity to be mummified. This is most likely the leader of the Samsara religion,” Shirley Yang chimed in.

"Based on the orientation of these heads, the Nine-Story Demon Tower is located on this line."

Wu Yutian nodded upon hearing this, but remained silent.

"Peter, get this mummy up there," Uncle Ming happily instructed his bodyguard.

"Wait a minute." Hu Bayi, who was standing next to them, changed his expression and called out to them.

Seeing that Hu Bayi's expression was off, Uncle Ming's smile gradually disappeared as well.

The bodyguard who had just crouched down, ready to make a move, slowly stood up.

The atmosphere inside the tomb suddenly became heavy and somber.

However, Uncle Ming was a businessman, and with a smile on his face, he said:

"Brother Hu, don't worry," he said, pointing to the golden mummy from the snow-capped mountain on the ground, thinking Hu Bayi was discussing the distribution of the remains.

"After the goods are sold, you will receive your share, not a penny less."

"That's not what we meant," Hu Bayi shook his head slightly and said calmly.

"Yeah, do you think everyone's like you?" the fat man quickly chimed in.

Wu Yutian could tell that the fat man was very interested, but at this moment, his stance was more important than anything else, and he had to put his interests aside for the time being.

"Worried about the profit-sharing ratio? That's easy to solve." Uncle Ming was still smiling, looking completely unconcerned.

“That’s not what I meant, Uncle Ming.” Hu Bayi shook his head helplessly and added, “Uncle Ming, what I meant was, since it has been confirmed that this is the tomb of the leader of the Samsara Sect…”

"Based on the direction the corpse's head and horns are pointing, we have determined the direction of the Nine-Story Demon Tower."

Hu Bayi glanced at the frozen corpse on the ground. "Our goal is the Nine-Story Demon Tower."