A week later, the mercenary group Feng Gou traveled towards a forest that was a few days away by horseback. Along the way, the group discussed many things and asked a lot about Long Ming's new weapon, as it was unconventional. As one might expect, they were quite skeptical about the weapon's effectiveness, but when Long Ming faced a group of bandits alone, they decided to trust him.

And, as predicted, they reached the entrance of the forest a few days after starting the journey.

"Be vigilant, as there are several monsters living in this forest," Hu Tao warned everyone as he unloaded all their equipment from the carriage they had rented and entered the forest. Since the carriage horses were well trained, the moment Hu Tao gave a simple whistle, they understood that their job was done and returned to their owners.

Soon, the group entered the forest and began searching for the entrance to the tomb.

"The map only says that the tomb entrance is in this forest, so we'll have to find it. Does anyone have any ideas on how to search?" Hu Tao asked the others.

"Well, I suppose the tomb should be in a cave somewhere since, if it hasn't been found by now, it must be well hidden. Moreover, being the tomb of a great cultivator, I wouldn't doubt there are some concealment formations around the entrance," Long Ming spoke, laying out all his theories.

"That makes sense. Long Ming, try using a rune to detect discrepancies in the surrounding Qi, while the rest search for suspicious places, especially near stones and rocks that could serve as an entrance to a cave," after these instructions, everyone nodded in agreement and followed their orders.

They kept a distance of up to ten meters between each other, so they could react if anyone was attacked by a monster, and began exploring the forest.

Their exploration lasted for hours before Long Ming noticed an anomaly in the area. He then called the others and said to them, "Have you noticed that the monsters seem to avoid the center of the forest? Especially where that mountain is. Maybe that's where the entrance we're looking for is."

"Yes, or it could also be the territory of a powerful monster that others fear," Yong Gan, one of the mercenaries, retorted.

"Maybe, but we can try to observe from a distance. Moreover, this forest is considerably close to Cui Shi, so I don't think they would let a very powerful monster settle in this forest, as it would pose a substantial risk," Long Ming was referring to the Li Clan that controls the city Cui Shi. In fact, although monsters present a substantial risk to mortal cities and ordinary people overall, the same did not apply to cities ruled by clans or with many cultivator families.

Furthermore, monsters possessed very valuable resources, so it was common for cultivators to kill any monster they encountered in order to profit. And even if clans might leave some monster populations alive to serve as training for the new generations, they would not be so careless when it came to the presence of very powerful monsters, as they could result in significant losses. In other words, ultimately, although there were some monsters around the city, they would not be very dangerous monsters, ranging between the first and second realm of cultivation.

"... all right, I think it's worth exploring that area. Moreover, if it were in an easily accessible place, it would have been looted long ago," Hu Tao replied, then they all held their weapons and approached the center of the forest, alert to the approach of any creature.

In a few minutes, they reached a large stone relief, over twenty meters high and seemed to extend for several kilometers.

"Long Ming," upon hearing his name called, he already knew what to do, so he took a stone from his bag and broke it.

Instantly, a strange colored mist emerged from the pieces of that stone and floated for a few seconds, trembling heavily as it constantly changed color. It was as if there was a storm in that region, even though the group felt nothing but a gentle breeze.

"Yes, there's something strange about this place," Long Ming replied after observing the reaction of that mist. Long Ming had used a rune that, in a simple way, reacted with the Qi of the environment. So, the denser the Qi of the environment, the mist would glow in a more intense color, besides taking on the color of the predominant element; furthermore, if there was turbulence in the Qi (a characteristic of formations and spiritual objects) the mist would tremble, as if there were a strong wind.

In short, in that place, there was a very strong concentration of Qi, including various types of elemental Qi, and a strong instability.

"All right, then the entrance must be somewhere on this relief. Look for illusions or openings that may be omitting an entrance," instructed Hu Tao, shortly after he also began searching.

Long Ming closed his eyes and remained still for a few seconds, then, after a little less than a minute, he opened his eyes again and observed that huge stone wall. His eyes had a golden color and seemed capable of observing all the things in the universe, whether the smallest particles of matter or the esoteric laws of the Dao; however, Long Ming's soul was still too weak to perceive the full potential of this state.

Then, after a few seconds observing that wall, he walked towards a corner of it and placed his hand on one of the stones. Long Ming could see that a lot of Qi was concentrated in that place and, indeed, seemed to 'enter' those stones.

After placing his hand on the stone, he used his thoughts to disperse that concentration of Qi, and, to his surprise, encountered some resistance. Then he looked around and noticed small symbols engraved on some of the stones of the relief.

He took a knife from his bag and, still in this strange state of resonance with the energy of nature, 'scratched' the stones with symbols, breaking their runes and, consequently, dispersing that concentration of Qi.

Shortly after that, his eyes lost the golden color and returned to black, and Long Ming noticed the sudden appearance of an opening in that relief. There was no surprise on his face because of this, as he already expected this result, so he said to the others, "I found it!"

The first to arrive was Lin Fei, who looked curiously at the entrance. The entrance was about two meters high and one meter wide; compared to that large relief, it seemed like a rather small opening, but not so small as to go unnoticed by them.

"So, there really was a formation here...," she murmured, taking a step forward and preparing to enter, but at that moment, she felt a grip on her arm, preventing her from entering: "What's wrong?"

"... let's wait for the others to arrive first. We don't know what might be inside there, so it's better to be cautious," Long Ming, who had unconsciously grabbed Lin Fei's arm, was also surprised by this behavior, but quickly made up an excuse to stop her. Although he came up with an apparently convincing excuse, Lin Fei wasn't convinced, but decided to ignore it for now.

"All right..." fortunately, they didn't have to wait long, as soon the other three members approached the entrance and discussed before deciding to enter the cave. The first to enter was Hu Tao, as he was the strongest and most experienced, then Long Ming, Lin Fei, Yong Gan, and Jin Mei, the last member of the group.

The entrance was considerably long, and they had to walk about ten meters through a narrow corridor until they reached a spacious, yet dark, area.

"Long Ming, light up one of the illumination runes, but don't use any of the fire element," ordered Hu Tao, unable to see practically anything in that cave. Being at the peak of body tempering, he had better vision than ordinary humans and could see even if there were hardly any light sources, but in that cave, he couldn't see anything that was a hand's breadth away from his face.

Long Ming nodded in agreement and rummaged through his bag for an illumination rune. After a few seconds, he found one by touch and broke it, causing a small ball of light to appear in the air and start floating, illuminating a large area around them.

Thanks to this light, everyone could observe that area in more detail. It was a huge and spacious place, with several stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and various colorful rocks embedded in the walls, with varied colors and shapes.

"Are those...spirit stones?" Yong Gan asked surprised, pointing to some bluish minerals shaped like prisms on the walls of that place.

Hu Tao approached one of the rocks, picked up one of the minerals, and observed it. Then, somehow, that mineral began to glow with a bluish color, illuminating a considerable area.

"That's right," Hu Tao confirmed, while trance-like, looking at that stone. Then, upon noticing the impressed looks of the others, he hastily added, "A few years ago, I learned how to use a spirit stone to illuminate our surroundings; if you want, I can teach you how to do it, but first, let's focus on our mission."

The other four remained silent but trusted his answer and began to explore that place.

As they walked through that place, Jin Mei approached one of the walls where, to her complete amazement, there were two pillars with the sculpture of two remarkably well-detailed serpents. And between the two pillars was a two-meter gate, which Jin Mei instinctively opened.

"Look, there's a gate here!" she called the others, not daring to enter alone.

Then all the others approached the gate and looked at it closely, then Long Ming threw a rune inside that gate. As it fell to the ground, the rune broke, generating a bright light that illuminated that place, revealing a long and spacious corridor.

A few seconds later, before any of them could think of entering the corridor, several arrows suddenly emerged from the sides and collided with the wall on the other side, making a loud noise of steel hitting steel.

The group shivered upon noticing there was a trap in that corridor.

"Perhaps the trap is triggered by touching the ground?" Lin Fei theorized, while the others also considered possibilities for this trap.

Long Ming was quite confused by this trap because, although he had read about this type of trap in books, he always treated these traps as fiction; since it didn't make sense for a system that, upon touch, would release several arrows from the sides. Especially in ruins like this, which shouldn't have received maintenance for a long time.

"Perhaps this trap works through a formation?" a few seconds later, he shared his thought with the group. As someone who knew some things about formations, he thought this should be possible, but it would require a constant source of Qi to preserve all the mechanisms.

"Hm, if it's a formation, maybe you can deactivate it?" Yong Gan asked.

"I can try," with these words, he stepped forward and stood facing the gate. Then he closed his eyes and recited the mantra from his manual, Resonance with Heaven and Earth. Almost a minute later, he opened his eyes again, which had that golden color once more.

Then he began to observe the interior of that corridor, being able to notice several Qi streams traveling from the floor to the sides.

'The Qi of the environment is acting as a sensor!' it took only a few seconds for Long Ming to understand the triggering mechanism of that trap. The principle of the trap was quite simple; the Qi would detect any obstruction in the air and 'alert' the trap that there was something there; it was as if the air notified the walls that there was something in the corridor.

Although he understood the principles behind the trap, Long Ming was still extremely shocked by it. After all, as someone who knew the basics of formations, he knew that manipulating the Qi of the environment in such a specific and complex way as this was extremely complicated, and only someone very experienced would be able to create this type of formation. Furthermore, considering it was a tomb, the creator of the formation must have made it so that this trap would last for decades, if not centuries!

Long Ming continued to observe that corridor until his eyes lost their golden color, marking the end of this resonance state. Then he began to explain his theories and conclusions to the others.

"... so, what can we do?" Hu Tao asked, intrigued by Long Ming's conclusion and even somewhat skeptical.

"I can try to create turbulence in the Qi of the environment, making it 'confused' and not detecting us. Fortunately, none of us have Qi, otherwise this plan could fail."