Panda Taoist Priest

Xinjiang, Taklimakan Desert.

The temperature in the Taklimakan Desert during the day was unbearable. Aside from a few plants that were resistant to drought, there were no signs of animals. Looking around, his eyes were filled with sand.

It was different from the dry heat on the surface. Somewhere underground, the temperature was very comfortable. It even felt somewhat cold.

Inside a huge cave, three people came before a stone door.

Two of them pushed against the stone door with all their might. Maybe it was because they were too old, or perhaps the stone door was too heavy, but the two of them spent a lot of effort to open it.

Creak Creak … Creak Creak …

The huge stone door, accompanied by the ear-piercing sound of grinding stones, slowly opened. Waves of cold wind blew over, carrying with it an aura of decay.

Chu Xiong casually threw a bird into the entrance, and the sound of flapping wings rang out and the bird flew in.

The three listened intently.

"There's no problem with the oxygen." Chu Xiong said.

"Brother Xiong, we're rich!" The skinny man who was pushing the door wiped the sweat off his forehead and shone his searchlight into the room.

There was a long corridor behind the door. Although he did not find anything, the skinny man knew that this trip would not be in vain. How could an ordinary grave be built along a corridor?

"After this, I won't have to worry about eating and drinking for the rest of my life." The other person who pushed open the door let out a sigh of relief. His face was also filled with excitement.

"Don't be careless. You can sail a ship for ten thousand years if you are careful." Chu Xiong looked at the two of them and warned.

The more important the tomb was, the more treasures there would be inside. However, the corresponding dangers would also be inside the tomb.

Upon hearing this, their faces changed. They looked at each other, and the previous ease was gone.

The twenty-meter long corridor was empty and the floor was covered in a thick layer of dust. The desert and the long corridor seemed to be in another space. There was no sand on the ground except for dust.

The three of them were veterans and did not immediately enter the empty corridor. Instead, they took out two shields made from special materials, one on the left and one on the right, which were just enough to protect the three people in the middle.

"Let's go."

The group quickly entered the long corridor, and dense bamboo arrows were shot out from both sides of the wall.

When the arrow hit the shield, it made a crackling sound, clear and pleasant to the ear. No matter how sharp the bamboo was, how could it penetrate a special shield that even bullets could block?

"Bamboo arrows?" The thin man looked at the bamboo arrows on the ground. He was somewhat surprised, but at the same time, his nervousness lessened.

Generally, these kinds of mechanisms in tombs were made of metal, but bamboo. It was indeed rare to see such a mechanism.

Accompanied by the melodious sounds of arrows, the three of them quickly arrived at the end of the corridor which was over twenty meters long.

At the end, it was completely dark. The thin man threw out a few glowing sticks. The brightness of the glowing sticks instantly lit up the dark stone room.

At the end of the corridor was a gigantic underground cave!

In the center of the underground cave, there was a statue.

As for coffins, there was none at all!

"No …" It won't be in vain, right? " The thin man's eyes were wide open as he carefully examined the interior of the cave. Other than the statue in the middle, there was nothing else.

The tomb was too old. If there was nothing of value compared to the modern era, it would be normal, but there was nothing at all. This was a little abnormal.

Especially such a large tomb.

"We'll see." Chu Xiong frowned as he looked at the statue in the middle of the cave.

Since there was only one statue in the cave, he could only look for valuable things on the statue.

The three carefully walked towards the statue. Compared to the dangers of the other tombs, this tomb was surprisingly safe. Other than the bamboo arrows in the hallway, there was nothing else.

Could it be that the tomb lord is so confident?!

As he was walking, a glint flashed across Chu Xiong's eyes. He realized that he had been wondering where the strange place was ever since he entered the tomb.

The floor was made of stone, the walls were made of stone, the roof was made of stone, and everything around them was made of stone. More importantly, the rocks at different locations were all connected together.

The entire stone chamber seemed to be connected to one another, completely formed from a giant rock that had been hollowed out in the middle!

How was this possible!

Humans that were so old, how could they have this kind of technique?!

What had been buried in those years when there was no history to be found?

No wonder I can't find a single grain of sand here! There was not a single crack, so where did the sand come from?

"Brother Xiong!"

The skinny man and the tall man exclaimed at the same time, waking Chu Xiong from his shock.

Following the gazes of the two, Chu Xiong looked at the statue in the middle of the stone room.

"This …" Chu Xiong's expression froze.

Because this statue is not a person, but,

A bear, or rather, a bear.

Panda!

The three veterans who had long stolen the scene were all a bit stunned at this moment.

Tomb robbing, often stealing is a human's tomb, the tomb of a beast …

For the first time in history, he was stumped!

After a moment of shock, Chu Xiong was the first to react.

The ancients had the habit of treating animals as totems, and the statue in front of them was most likely the totem of an ancient tribe. In other words, this place was most likely not a tomb, but an altar. However, treating the Panda as a totem...

The three of them circled around the statue, trying to find a valuable treasure.

However … There was no sign of any treasure at all.

"Brother Xiong, what should we do?" The thin man asked with a bitter face.

In the vast desert, the three of them had searched for clues regarding the tomb for over a year before finally arriving at this place. They thought that they could make a windfall, but in the end …

Chu Xiong frowned, his face was ugly, he raised his head to look at the statue's forehead.

Hm?

Chu Xiong was stunned, there were actually two ancient characters on it. As the statue was quite tall, he didn't notice it at the beginning. Chu Xiong moved closer to take a closer look.

In terms of family background, Chu Xiong was not an ordinary family. His family started out as a tomb robber, but was founded in New China. His family also followed the development of the era, using his ancestral skills to transform the tomb robber into an archaeology. Calculating, this should be the fourth generation archaeologist.

However, Chu Xiong was not interested in archaeology. He always wanted to take advantage of his youth to get rich.

He then returned to the old path of his ancestors, robbing tombs.

Because his family had been doing this for generations, he had studied many ancient languages. Of course, Chu Xiong had also learned them. He could also be considered a master at speaking of ancient languages. He recognized these two words.

"Chi, you."

Chu Xiong slowly read the two ancient characters.

As soon as the voice fell, the statue's eyes lit up, and two small balls of fiery red light flashed up. They silently ignited in an extremely strange manner.

Goosebumps instantly appeared all over their bodies. The skinny and tall man were so scared that their faces turned pale.

In an ancient tomb that had existed for an unknown amount of time, a statue suddenly reacted. If an ordinary person were to see this, they would definitely be scared to death. They did not turn around to run, but they already had the courage to do so.

"Chi You?" Chu Xiong narrowed his eyes and pondered.

This statue even had the word 'Chi You' carved on it.

Chi You, a legendary figure, had once lost to the Yellow Emperor.

Why was Chi You's name carved on the statue of a panda?

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. When he looked at the sculpture again, he already had some guesses.

Wasn't that mount of Chi You the Iron Eating Beast?

And the Iron Eating Beast in the eyes of the ancients was the modern, innocent and charming panda!

However, the Iron Eating Beast in front of him was tall and powerful. It bared its teeth and glared furiously. It exuded a fierce aura and was vastly different from the national treasures that had been protected.

It was worthy of its reputation as an Iron Eating Beast!

"This should be Chi You's mount, the statue of the Iron Eating Beast." Chu Xiong turned his head and said to the two of them.

"Iron Eating Beast!" The skinny man looked up at the statue and curled his lips. "Isn't it just a panda …"

The tall one nodded his head in agreement.

"You two, stand here. Let me see what the flames in its eyes are like." As Chu Xiong spoke, he extended his hand and crawled towards the statue.

There were no other treasures in the stone chamber. If he did not want to return empty-handed, he would have to spend some time and effort on the statue. Especially the sudden appearance of the flame; it was most likely some sort of mechanism.

With this thought in mind, Chu Xiong climbed up the statue that was dozens of meters tall.

Suddenly, Chu Xiong raised his eyebrow and retracted his outstretched hand. He saw that there was a gash on his palm, and a lot of blood had flowed out.

It turned out that he had been scratched by the statue's claws.

"It's sharp enough!"

Chu Xiong licked his wound and continued to climb. This little injury was not enough to stop him from begging for money.

Phew...

Suddenly, the crimson flames in the statue's eyes became two fire snakes and shot towards Chu Xiong who was still climbing.

Ah!" A cry of alarm rang out.

Without being able to defend himself, Chu Xiong was enveloped by the flames and his entire body instantly ignited with a raging fire.