Chapter 2367: Chapter 2270: The Wealthy Alchemist

Xie Daoyuan clearly knew his young disciple was just a pampered rich girl, this kind of dirty labor was entirely unsuitable for her. So after glancing at Su Qingqing, Xie Daoyuan unceremoniously said to her:

"It’s enough to have your senior brother follow me in, you stay outside and wait quietly."

Su Qingqing felt very dissatisfied in her heart, wanting to retort, but under Xie Daoyuan’s sharp gaze, her momentum weakened instantly, and she obediently released Huo Sining’s hand and turned into a quail: "Oh."

Huo Sining couldn’t help but want to laugh, her shoulders shaking, finding Qingqing’s timid demeanor quite amusing.

It’s worth knowing that when Huo Sining first met Su Qingqing, Qingqing was extremely afraid of Xie Daoyuan, her master. As years passed, this fear of her teacher in Qingqing remained unchanged.

However, being afraid of Xie Daoyuan had its advantages. At least Huo Sining didn’t need to persuade her arduously, otherwise, this girl would’ve insisted on following stubbornly, and Huo Sining really wouldn’t have been able to handle her.

After putting on gas masks, small oxygen tanks, and other necessary equipment, the group started crawling into the tomb tunnel.

The Oil Rat led the way, with Xie Daoyuan and Huo Sining in the middle, and Ding Liang at the rear, as the four crawled towards the ancient tomb.

Although the distance was only a little over a hundred meters, since the Oil Rat’s tunnel only allowed space for one person to climb, and the surroundings were loose soil providing no leverage, their crawling speed was very slow.

It took them a good ten to twenty minutes to finally reach the end.

The Oil Rat in front shouted, "Stop, we’ve reached it," making Xie Daoyuan, Huo Sining, and the others freeze immediately.

Soon, they heard rustling noises as the Oil Rat picked up his Luoyang Shovel and started clearing again, quickly and skillfully. Originally, the Oil Rat had covered the entrance hastily with stones and soil for a quick escape, pressuring it lightly; thus, within three to five minutes, an empty echoing sound came, indicating the tomb tunnel had been reopened.

After a while, once the Oil Rat cleared the whole tomb entrance, he was the first to crawl through into the tunnel, followed by the other three who heard him shout from the front: "Alright, crawl over, the air here is quite clean and breathable."

The three of them were able to relax their tense emotions slightly, quickly crawling out of the tomb into the ancient tomb passage, finally feeling a sense of openness and relief.

The ancient tomb’s passage wasn’t very large, but at least they could stand upright and walk. Huo Sining and the group didn’t feel crowded standing there in the passage.

Many tomb chambers, due to being sealed for long periods, often have turbid air inside, low oxygen levels, and even toxins, rendering normal breathing impossible. However, once the Oil Rat entered the passage, he immediately removed his gas mask, looking calm and comfortable, clearly undisturbed.

Seeing this, Huo Sining and the others also followed suit, taking off their masks. However, this wasn’t necessarily good news; on the contrary, they all knew the situation wasn’t optimistic.

The pure breathable air inside the passage proved the tomb had allowed in a large influx of fresh air, suggesting the entire tomb’s artifacts and antiques faced the danger of weathering and damage.

Thus, Xie Daoyuan’s brow remained tightly furrowed, his expression appearing rather serious.

The passage was built entirely with blue bricks, the Oil Rat’s tomb entrance had pried away seven or eight blue bricks to chisel out a tunnel entrance large enough for an adult to pass through in the wall.

During the crawl, they hadn’t noticed, but now Huo Sining realized the Oil Rat had created a sloping tunnel. Digging from the ground to enter the passage was akin to carving out the height of nearly a thirty-story building, leading directly into the side wall of the passage.

But when they crawled in, they hadn’t felt the downward slope, indicating the great skill of the Oil Rat in digging tomb tunnels.

The passage was approximately two meters high and one and a half meters wide, allowing an adult to stand upright. Such spatial design should have been intended for the coffin’s smooth entry; if too narrow, the coffin wouldn’t fit, leading to a laughable situation.

By the light from the miners’ lamps on their heads, Huo Sining also noticed drainage channels and Changming Lamp slots installed on both sides of the passage, but the drainage channels were dry without any sign of waterflow, and the lamp oil in the Changming Lamp slots had dried out, unable to be lit again.

Xie Daoyuan gestured to Ding Liang to use high-definition equipment for filming, directing the others, "Let’s go."

He then led the way deeper into the tomb path.

Due to the lack of ventilation, the air grew somewhat stifling as they moved deeper. Though the specific condition inside was unknown, taking precautions, they put on gas masks and oxygen tanks before continuing forward.

The passage stretched about thirty to forty meters long, built tightly with blue bricks, smooth and intact, suggesting the tomb’s scale rivaled those of several princes’ tombs from the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

This was understandable, as Ge Hong was quite famous back then, with many dignitaries wishing to associate with him, even the Emperor wanting to invite him to serve at the palace.

Of course, such service wasn’t about attending to the emperor’s daily affairs but hoping Ge Hong would provide elixirs for the Emperor.

The wealthy all longed for longevity, particularly Emperors, willing to spare no expense in researching the secrets of immortality to protect their power.

If the Emperor was so inclined, naturally, wealthy dignitaries couldn’t be an exception, which led to the Guangcheng’s prefect offering an olive branch to Ge Hong during his journey to Jiaozhi, expressing willingness to supply him with elixir materials for life.

Guangcheng’s prefect didn’t make such an offer out of philanthropy, but to retain Ge Hong and receive elixirs and longevity cultivation methods from him.

With records of such interest from the Emperor and Guangcheng’s prefect, many other dignitaries would also vie for Ge Hong’s favor, offering financial incentives for this namebearing alchemist, who was never short of wealth, with his fortune possibly surpassing that of ordinary princes and nobles.

Thus, it wasn’t surprising he could construct such a grand tomb for the veneration of his own physical body, though Huo Sining admitted she couldn’t fully imagine what was buried inside this ancient tomb.

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