Tomb Raider: The man is in the Nine Gates, but the system insists it's the Primordial Era.

Wearing a white button-down long gown, holding a fan painted with landscapes and poems, but with an incongruous white gentleman's hat on his head, Chen Yulou, the new leader of the Xieling gang, observed from the crowd.

Invited by the leader of the soldiers, Luo Laowai, he is about to embark on his first major feat of leading the entire Xieling faction into the tomb.

To this end, he did not hesitate to issue the Green Forest Order, calling on heroes from all over the world to come and help him.

All for the sake of ensuring a smooth first battle between the new and veteran disciples of the Unloading Ridge Sect.

This also added a significant chapter to his tomb raiding career, allowing him to step out of the shadow of his father, the old tomb raider.

On the surface, most people thought that he launched this campaign against the entire Xieling clan in order to provide relief to the refugees who were pouring in from all directions.

In reality, those inside knew that he wanted to use this opportunity to establish his authority and take over the real Xieling faction from his father.

Of the four schools of tomb raiding, the Mountain-Moving Taoists, the Tomb-Touching Captains, and the Tomb-Excavating Generals, the other three have long since vanished into the annals of history.

Currently, only his Xieling sect is still developing and growing vigorously.

Even during the turbulent Republican era, it was able to stand firm and occupy a mountain peak.

"This young man is not bad, he's worth using. Ma Guai, go and check him out. If he's alright, bring him to our side."

Chen Yulou patted his folding fan and smiled as he instructed his subordinates beside him.

The skinny man with a buzz cut nodded, pushed through the crowd, and walked quickly forward.

"You're not badly injured, are you? Here, take this to treat your wounds. They deserved it; who told them to bully a Miao person like you who doesn't understand Mandarin?"

Su Mu casually tossed one of the bags of money he had received to the Miao boy.

The boy was flattered and overwhelmed, holding the money bag, unsure of what to do.

Su Mu stepped forward and patted the other person on the shoulder: "Take it. Which village do you live in?"

"I know this child. He often sneaks over to sell things in a village about ten miles from our north gate. Nobody in the village knows about it. The Miao people are very eccentric and generally don't interact with the outside world."

A skinny man named Hua Maguai walked out from the crowd and began to explain.

"Do you understand Miao language?" Su Mu asked Hua Maguai.

Hua Ma shook her head: "Their language is hard to learn unless you've lived there since childhood. What skills does he have that make him worth protecting like this?"

Su Mu ignored Hua Maguai, one of the four masters of the Unloading Ridge Sect who had suddenly appeared, and continued to say to the Miao boy in front of him: "Take the money and go back to the village. It's not safe outside. You don't understand Mandarin, so you'll inevitably be discriminated against and bullied."

"Sister, sister, um, um Ren." The boy stammered out a few words, his face streaked with tears.

"Go ahead, I'll come find you later." Su Mu nodded.

The boy stuffed the money bag into his pocket, looked around, and then started running wildly out of the city.

"Oh."

Hua Maguai let out a cryptic laugh: "This kid's still afraid of being robbed again. Young man, what's your name...?"

"That's interesting."

Hua Ma Guai watched Su Mu turn and leave, his smile stiffening as he narrowed his eyes.

Among the onlookers.

As Su Mu passed by, notification sounds began to appear one after another:

"Are you crazy, kid? That's Hua Maguai, one of the three top generals under the captain!"

"Sigh! You missed a golden opportunity! Brother Ma Guai clearly has his eye on you and wants to recruit you! What a fantastic chance!"

"Here, that person can decide your life or death with a single word. You'd better pray for yourself, kid. Heh."

"You're blind! You're making me so angry!"

"Kid, it's a good thing you're not one of us from the Unloading Ridge faction. If you were, well, let me interrupt you..."

When the last person spoke, Su Mu paused, glancing at them out of the corner of his eye.

The man instinctively shut his mouth, recalling the bloody scene of Su Mu teaching those thugs a lesson.

He admitted that if it were him, he wouldn't have been able to take down those people so easily either; in fact, he might have been defeated.

"Finished talking? I'm leaving now."

Su Mu shook his head and continued walking back the way he came.

After looking around, he found nothing unusual except for the 'strange' blood flowing from the Miao boy's body.

However, even now he still doesn't know how to 'obtain' that 'foundation of witchcraft'.

Does it want to suck blood?

Even if he drained the Miao boy's blood, Su Mu would at most obtain a "weak bloodline of a witch".

Thinness signifies an inability to truly possess the foundation of the ancient "Great Witch".

Lacking the bloodline of a "Great Witch" is merely icing on the cake for someone who already possesses a physical body with the foundation for ascension.

Even the most beautiful additions to brocade cannot compare to providing charcoal in the snow.

"Hey buddy, come take a look. My stall is full of genuine, high-quality goods. See if there's anything you like?"

At the intersection, taking advantage of the dense crowds of people coming and going in the city, the vendors, whose faces were increasingly unfamiliar, called out to Su Mu.

Su Mu glanced at it, sighed, and shook his head.

He can't identify antiques; he can't tell at all whether something is good or bad, real or fake.

So whether the goods on the stall are fake or real, he won't spend money to buy them.

"Huh~"

Just as he was about to walk away, he suddenly noticed that the stall owner was taking out goods from the package and accidentally tearing off an old talisman from the ground.

[Damaged Talisman for Suppressing Evil]

He bent down and picked up the talisman that the stall owner had carelessly discarded as waste paper, pondering as he continued walking forward.

Right in front of us was a stall selling all sorts of items that claimed to have been blessed and warded off evil.

The stall owner was a Taoist priest wearing a Taoist robe and sporting a mustache, who looked quite like a feng shui master.

"Young man, would you like a peach wood sword? Or other exorcising items? I have everything! They're all blessed, all talismans drawn by the Celestial Master's Mansion. How about I sell them to you cheaply, hehe."

The middle-aged Taoist priest introduced the items on his stall with a beaming smile.

However, after Su Mu examined all the items, no system display similar to the one in his hand appeared again.

Those that can be displayed by the system must be of extraordinary quality.

But these talismans at the stall should all be legitimate products, so why don't they have any effect?

Does this mean that only items from an older era will be displayed by the system?

However, most antiques are products of the old era, but very few can be displayed by the system.

Su Mu still couldn't figure out the reason.

"Why don't any of the talismans on your stall look like the one I have?" Su Mu casually asked the Taoist stall owner who sold talismans, peach wood swords, and other items.

The Taoist stall owner carefully examined the tattered talisman in Su Mu's hand, then suddenly said seriously, "Most of these old talismans have been lost to time."

Su Mu asked in confusion, "Haven't your Taoist traditions been passed down without interruption?"

The Taoist priest, whose stall had few customers, shook his head and smiled wryly: "It hasn't been a complete break, but the process of making talismans used to be too strict. A talisman is a talisman, and a register is a register. To put it this way, in the past, people needed to choose an auspicious day and time to draw talismans, and they had to purify themselves and their hands three days in advance, fast and burn incense. They also had to consecrate the brush, paper, ink, and water."

One must contemplate, clench one's teeth, perform hand seals, chant incantations, and execute the ritual steps in one continuous motion before applying the seal. Often, it takes a year and ten months to produce just one talisman.

In the past, the pursuit of Taoism was rigorous. They felt that only by spending so much time and sincerity on a single task could they be worthy of the gods and the talismans they drew, and they hoped that in doing so, the talismans would truly be effective.

Hey, isn't this just a scam... cough cough, are you going to buy it or not?