As soon as Lao Qifeng spoke, some people's expressions turned cold.
Everyone had pooled their resources to enter this place; at most, it was a cooperative relationship. Who was he to give orders?
However, no one spoke up to refute him. They all acted as if they hadn't heard him. Some stood still, while others tapped the stone walls with their weapons or examined the marks.
Lao Qifeng was not in a hurry; he just stood there with his arms crossed, watching everyone fuss about.
He did indeed intend to seize control, which was why he had deliberately omitted the polite formalities in his previous statement.
One thing leads to another, and another. As long as everyone followed his instructions a few more times, the Beggar Clan would naturally become the leader in this matter, which would be beneficial for the subsequent struggle over the Jia Yi Divine Skill.
Moreover, there wasn't a single false word in what he had just said. Currently, in the tomb chamber, there was no way up or down. No matter how much they delayed, they would eventually have to do as he said.
However, Li Miao had no patience to play this game of finding mechanisms with these people.
"Let me take a look," Li Miao said.
With that, he stepped forward, walked to the stone wall, and even said to Lao Qifeng, "Chief Lao, please move aside."
Lao Qifeng's expression was displeased, but he moved aside, watching what Li Miao was up to.
When he hit the stone wall and stone slab with his palm, he could only hear that there was a mechanism inside.
But Li Miao's hearing was so keen that he could eavesdrop on Liu Baiyun and Mei Qinghe speaking through two or three floors of doors. He already had a general idea of the mechanism's shape.
Li Miao first scanned the wall up and down, then walked to the edge of the stone wall, raised his hand, and punched the wall.
This punch wasn't heavy; at least, in everyone's eyes, it was just a typical punch from a second-rate body-hardening master.
But this strike created a commotion more than ten times louder than Lao Qifeng's.
Click—click—
Bang, bang, bang—
They only heard a series of sounds coming from within the stone wall, like heavy objects falling, and also like the rubbing of winches and chains. The sounds continued for a moment before gradually ceasing.
The stone wall, however, remained motionless.
Lao Qifeng, relieved, said, "Li Daxia also understands mechanisms?"
"A little, just a little," Li Miao said with a smile. "As a rogue in the martial arts world, I'm used to relying on myself for everything, so I have to know a little bit of everything."
Lao Qifeng turned to look at the stone wall, then turned back to face everyone and said, "Since Li Daxia has tried, and none of us understand mechanisms."
"Everyone, let's do as I said."
He hadn't even finished speaking when he heard a rumbling sound from behind him, and everyone's expressions changed simultaneously.
Lao Qifeng suddenly turned his head, but like everyone else, he was too astonished to speak.
They saw Li Miao insert one hand into the bottom of the wall. Without any visible exertion, he actually "lifted" the stone wall, revealing a dark, cavernous opening behind it.
That was a bluestone slab three or four feet thick and about ten feet wide! It weighed more than ten thousand catties!
How could Li Miao lift it as if he were simply raising a curtain!
"Li Daxia, you, you—"
Li Miao turned and smiled, "Ah, there's no need for everyone to be surprised. This stone wall rose by itself; I merely gave it a push."
Li Miao couldn't lift a giant stone weighing tens of thousands of catties by brute force either.
His punch just now was a "strike through the mountain" technique, precisely destroying the "lock" of this stone wall through the wall itself. Then, he lifted it, giving the stone wall an upward momentum, triggering the mechanism, and the stone wall naturally rose.
After he explained this, everyone's expressions calmed down.
Lao Qifeng also quickly tried to smooth things over, "Thanks to Li Daxia, otherwise it would have taken much more effort."
"Everyone, since the path ahead is open, let's quickly go in."
With that, he led everyone into the dark opening.
Once everyone was inside, Li Miao let go, and with a flash, he appeared inside.
As he let go, there was a loud "bang," and the stone wall suddenly fell, sealing off their retreat.
Everyone's expressions changed simultaneously: "Li Daxia, this!"
Li Miao clapped his hands, "Ah, I forgot."
"If this stone wall isn't held up, it will automatically trigger the closing mechanism."
"The opening mechanism is outside. We're probably trapped. This is bad!"
Hearing him say this, everyone became even more flustered.
Lao Qifeng heard Li Miao's relaxed tone and quickly asked, "Li Daxia, this is no time for jokes."
"If our retreat is sealed, even if the people outside realize it and start digging, it won't be cleared in ten or half a month. We didn't bring enough food for many days, and even if we have profound internal energy to meditate and recuperate, half of us will probably die by then!"
Li Miao waved his hand, "Chief Lao, there's no need to panic."
"Although our retreat is cut off, there's a faint breeze coming from ahead."
"There must be a passage ahead; we just need to continue exploring forward as we are."
He did it on purpose.
Although Li Miao understood some mechanisms, he wasn't familiar with tomb raiding.
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According to everyone's plan, they would explore little by little, and if there was a life-threatening danger, they would retreat and re-enter after discussing countermeasures.
But Li Miao didn't have the patience to explore little by little with these people. So he simply cut off their retreat, forcing them to explore together.
No matter how high Li Miao's martial arts were, he couldn't be in multiple places at once. If they encountered situations that required splitting up to explore, the experts who had come in would be useful.
Lao Qifeng heard that Li Miao didn't seem to be joking. While secretly becoming wary and suspicious of Li Miao, he also sighed helplessly.
"In that case, we can only go all the way to the end."
Everyone nodded, took out torches and lamp oil from their satchels, and lit up their surroundings.
When they were speaking just now, they were relying on a sliver of light coming through the cracks in the stone wall. They could only vaguely see the movements of the person opposite them, while their surroundings were completely dark.
As the torchlight illuminated their surroundings, everyone gasped in unison.
This place was a narrower passage compared to the outside, leading downwards. They couldn't see the end of it by the torchlight.
On the walls on both sides of the passage, there were no longer poisonous insects, but rather things embedded in them, subtly protruding from the wall surface.
Everyone looked closely and saw countless pale white bones embedded within the walls!
Lao Qifeng forced himself to remain calm and stepped forward to examine them. He then let out a sigh of relief.
"They're not human. They look like the bones of household animals like mice, chickens, and ducks."
As he examined them, he walked two steps forward, then frowned.
"No, this isn't right."
"These bones, they seem to have some sort of pattern."
The Sect Leader of Qingcheng asked, "If Chief Lao has found something, please say so directly."
The two usually didn't get along, and they had even argued during dinner last night. But in the current situation, Lao Qifeng couldn't afford to bicker with him.
"Sect Leader Hao, please come and see."
Lao Qifeng called out, pointing at the wall, "From the stone wall to here, it's all mouse bones."
"Then from here to here, it's fish bones."
"Further back, it's poultry like chickens, ducks, and geese. The sections are clearly demarcated, as if arranged from smallest to largest."
Lao Qifeng looked at the deep, dark passage ahead.
"Looking at this distance, this passage is far more than one or two hundred meters long."
"If we extrapolate based on the change in animal size and the distance along the wall, there might be a section of bones in the middle that are human-sized."