China, a dense primeval forest in the southwestern border region.
A scientific expedition team led by archaeological expert Professor Lin was making preparations; they were about to enter a small cave that had been exposed due to a geological collapse caused by a minor earthquake.
Under the watchful eyes of local village guides and government officials, Professor Lin instructed everyone:
"Let me emphasize again, this cave might be a combination of a natural cave and an Ancient Tomb.
In my experience, a tomb built on the foundation of a cave is highly likely to be a Tang Dynasty royal tomb.
Although it's been a long time and the mechanisms inside might have failed, everyone still needs to pay attention to safety. Wear your gas masks, iron shoes, and helmets properly."
Upon hearing this, everyone meticulously rechecked their equipment, fearing any oversight.
At the rear of the team, a young, ordinary-looking, medium-built member, after checking his equipment, frowned at the cave entrance.
This young man was Shi Jiu, only 24 years old this year, a first-year graduate student who had just been admitted to Professor Lin's research team.
The Tang Dynasty was powerful and populous, and there were indeed many precedents of royal tombs being built by excavating mountains. However, the sites for these tombs were generally in the mountains of central China.
Although the southwestern border region now belongs to China, during the Tang Dynasty, it was not within the sphere of influence of the Central Plains but belonged to states established by different ethnic minorities.
So, how could a royal family choose a site here?
When Professor Lin stated his conclusion, Shi Jiu politely raised his doubts. But Professor Lin seemed unwilling to elaborate on this conclusion and vaguely glossed over it.
Shi Jiu was also perceptive and didn't ask further, thinking he could inquire later if there was an opportunity. Isn't this 'not seeking a thorough understanding'? Shi Jiu found it quite amusing.
After the survey began, the interior of the cave didn't seem as large as everyone initially thought. Professor Lin led the scientific expedition team and explored the cave in just one morning.
However, after the exploration, no useful conclusions were drawn.
This was indeed not a mountain tomb of Tang Dynasty royalty or nobility, nor did it resemble tombs from other known dynasties. Instead, it somewhat resembled a Daoist temple or a Buddhist monastery's Dao field, which made everyone frown.
However, the scenes depicted in the reliefs and other carvings above were much more exquisite than the relics excavated in modern times.
On the floor of the innermost chamber, there was also an extremely complex carved diagram, which was breathtaking to behold.
Having discovered so many unprecedented ancient works, Professor Lin no longer bothered to speak with Shi Jiu and the other expedition members. He carefully picked up a few unearthed artifacts and hurriedly left the site.
Shi Jiu knew with his toes that Professor Lin was most likely in a hurry to announce to the outside world the discovery of a peculiar and novel relic comparable to "Sanxingdui," and then busy writing and publishing a paper as soon as possible.
These are the qualities expected of politician-scholars with dean and professor titles.
However, when Professor Lin left, he did arrange tasks for Shi Jiu and the others.
Shi Jiu, together with Zhang Yuanyuan, a second-year graduate student, and Li Xiu, a senior, cleaned the complex-looking carved array diagram.
Within a few days, the mud and dust on the carved diagram were mostly cleaned, making it appear even more majestic and magnificent.
These past few days, Professor Lin only brought a few people who seemed like dignitaries to inspect the site once, and then he didn't bother with them.
That afternoon, all the relics were cleaned, and the more valuable artifacts were temporarily stored by Professor Lin at the local museum.
Li Xiu and Zhang Yuanyuan were not there that afternoon, saying they went to the museum to see the unearthed old objects. But Shi Jiu knew they went on a secret date.
However, Shi Jiu did not expose them. After all, they were his seniors, and he might need to ask them for advice in many areas in the future, so there was no need to be clever and expose them.
Leaving them aside, Shi Jiu also quite liked working alone; he felt it allowed him to calm down and think about things.
Anyway, the cleaning work was basically coming to an end, and an extra person or one less wouldn't affect anything.
But just as Shi Jiu was humming a song and repositioning a stone into a groove,
Suddenly, the entire relic seemed to vibrate with a "humming" sound.
And the carved diagram Shi Jiu was kneeling on suddenly emitted a white light, and a bewildered Shi Jiu disappeared with a "whoosh" from the carved diagram.
After Shi Jiu disappeared, several of the stones placed on the carved diagram cracked with a 'crack' and crumbled into dust.
In another cave, on a complex carved diagram, a strong light flashed, and with a "thump," a figure fell down—it was Shi Jiu!
However, Shi Jiu at this moment had lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.
He didn't know how long it had been, but Shi Jiu groaned and woke up, opening his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar place.
The decorations in this place looked similar to the previous one, except that besides having the same carved diagram on the ground, it also seemed to have some strange Qi.
Shi Jiu moved his body and felt nothing uncomfortable except for a slight dizziness in his head.
"Where am I? What did I touch just now? How did a white light flash, and I ended up here?
Could this complex carving be the legendary teleportation array, and the stone I repositioned was the switch for teleportation?"
Thinking of this, Shi Jiu quickly stood up and looked around. Indeed, it was exactly the same as the relic Professor Lin discovered.
The difference, however, was that there was dust everywhere here.
Shi Jiu searched around but found no useful clues, so he walked towards the exit according to his memory.
"Oh my god! How are there dead people!"
Shi Jiu suddenly screamed in fright, retreating several steps and pressing tightly against the wall behind him.
It turned out that at the exit, there were two dead people who had already turned into skeletons. Their clothes had long disappeared under the erosion of time.
Only one had a black short sword stuck in his head, and the other was pierced through the chest by a small red knife. It looked as if they had died together here.
Although Shi Jiu had seen many ancient corpses in his archaeological work, he was always somewhat mentally prepared beforehand.
Encountering skeletons around a corner like this still scared him so much that he almost peed a few drops.
Shi Jiu calmed himself down and slowly moved closer. In this unfamiliar place, he seemed to have just experienced the legendary teleportation, which made Shi Jiu have to be cautious, as he might encounter some unknown dangers.
After pondering for a moment, Shi Jiu squatted down and slowly walked to the two skeletons, pulling out the two weapons from their bodies.
He swung them a few times, producing a crisp whooshing sound. For self-defense, they would probably be very useful.