If the timing wasn't so inappropriate, Mu Fei really wanted to complain bitterly, you're really a stubborn dead duck!

Mu Fei's gaze fell on the drum beside Tan Xiao, recalling that the shaman figurines also had drums: "Right, this is also a type of Chu shaman ritual instrument, right?"

"Yes, the Chu shamans drummed and shot arrows. This phoenix bird hanging drum is a unique musical instrument of the Chu state. It's also one of the accompaniments when shamans perform ritual dances." Tan Xiao also looked at the drum with the phoenix bird pattern. From its appearance, it had many similarities with the drums used by modern spirit masters. The origins of music and dance were inseparable from ancient witchcraft.

"Do you think it might be afraid of this? This was used by the head shaman of the Chu state." Tan Xiao even felt that it might have nothing to do with him, and the giant snake was afraid of the drum?

Mu Fei didn't understand who he was talking about for a moment: "Who?"

The Spring and Autumn and Warring States period was too far away from them. It had been so long since graduation. If she could recite the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period, she would have done justice to her middle school history teacher.

"The owner of this tomb. The Chu land's worship of shamanism and ghosts stemmed from the leaders' influence over the commoners. The Chu emperor was the greatest shaman in the Chu state." Tan Xiao thought for a moment and said, "The Chu emperor is half a colleague of yours."

He even still said "you" instead of "us".

Mu Fei's mouth opened wide: "...Awesome, awesome."

In ancient times, it was normal for divine power and royal power to be united. The Shang emperors were also the leaders of the shamans. The Zhou dynasty began when shamanism was not so prosperous. But the Chu state inherited the origins of the Shang, and records of successive Chu emperors performing shaman rituals are common in handed-down literature.

These burial objects were all of human size, obviously belonging to the category of human tools, and were the tools used by the tomb owner during his lifetime, different from the miniature size of the tools used by the human figurines.

Looking at the uniquely shaped phoenix bird hanging drum, Mu Fei felt a deep sense of shock. Who knew when this Chu emperor had died, his bones had rotted away, and his country had also perished long before the common era.

But after more than two thousand years, could the sound of his drum still deter the giant snake in front of them?

"Then I'll try too?" Mu Fei wanted to drive the giant snake away. She slapped her palm on the drumhead, once again making a deep drumming sound, and said sternly, "Retreat quickly!"

The giant snake swayed its body slightly in place, not moving. Its eyes, which were very human-like, even flashed with disdain.

Mu Fei withdrew her hand and said nonchalantly, "Forget it, it's a cultural relic. I can't afford to break it."

It seemed that the Chu shaman who had learned the snake dance was more professional. Her drumming was of no use at all.

Seeing that Mu Fei's attempt was ineffective, Tan Xiao became even more uneasy: Why? Why??

At this moment, both the humans and the snake were somewhat at an impasse, neither side making a move easily.

Unless necessary, Tan Xiao and Mu Fei actually did not want to take action against the giant snake, because the chamber was full of artifacts. The giant snake occupied such a large area that if it pressed down casually, it would be a tragedy.

Not to mention that Tan Xiao had doubts about himself in the first place.

"Bang!"

A gunshot broke the silence, sounding particularly piercing underground.

Mu Fei suddenly looked over, her heart also tightened by the sound of the gunshot. It was needless to think about who made this sound. Old Ji and the others had brought guns, but everyone had an understanding that they would definitely not use them unless it was an extraordinary situation.

Now that a gunshot had sounded in the tomb chamber, who knew what they had encountered.

Moreover, judging from the sound, they should be not far away...

After the gunshot, there was also the sound of something dragging on the ground, long and fast.

Hearing this movement, Tan Xiao couldn't help but say, "Could there be another snake?"

Mu Fei's throat tightened. The giant snake's body was coiled in the darkness. In fact, with the current illumination, they couldn't see how long it was and where its body extended to. They could only judge from its vague shape that it was extremely large. "It couldn't really be reproducing underground, one male and one female, right?"

At this time, disorderly footsteps sounded outside, and Mr. Xu's voice rang out, "Go to the altar, there are ritual instruments used by the Chu emperor there, it might be safer."

Several people rushed in, and the professional high-wattage light they were holding also shone over, falling right on the two people and one snake in a stalemate.

Everyone: "..."

Mr. Xu exclaimed, "How did you also come down?"

He had blood all over his face. If it weren't for his familiar voice, Mu Fei wouldn't have recognized him. The others also had injuries on their bodies to some extent, and the safety ropes tied to their bodies had long since disappeared to who knows where.

A big brother holding a gun said in despair, "Another illusion!"

Who knew what they had encountered, but his gun was also aimed at Mu Fei.

"No, no, no! This morning I ordered KFC for you to eat. The illusion definitely wouldn't know that today is Crazy Thursday," Mu Fei raised her hands in fright. She couldn't stand this. "The capstone collapsed and we fell down. Didn't you hear it on the walkie-talkie?!"

Hearing her say this, the gun barrel was moved away.

Old Ji was carried on another person's back, upside down, looking very disheveled. He looked upside down and asked the same question as Tan Xiao, "There's another snake?!"

Mu Fei saw his condition clearly and exclaimed in shock, "Old Ji, are you okay?"

Although Old Ji had previously stated that he was in good physical condition, he was still an elderly person after all.

"He's fine, he was thrown from the previous fight, nothing serious." The big brother carrying Old Ji said helplessly. Old Ji could really be described as fierce in the tomb. He rushed up and fought the giant snake... Although he lost.

Mu Fei: "..." No wonder Old Ji could forcefully pull two hundred and fifty pounds.

At this moment, the shadow of another snake had already appeared behind them. Before it reached them, its shadow was already jumping on the wall.

Mr. Xu also felt it was very tricky. There were snakes in front and behind. He led everyone to take shelter in the room and glanced at the ritual instruments on the altar. "Little Tan, do you know which ritual instrument here is the most powerful?"

The instruments he had brought had already been broken. These were used by the Chu shamans in the past and might have some effect. With a mindset of giving it a try, he asked the theoretical knowledge expert first.

Old Ji struggled to raise his head again, "If we must use them, let me record how the items are placed first!" The placement of each cultural relic needed to be recorded.

Mu Fei called out to him with a strange expression, "Mr. Xu, wait..."

Mr. Xu: "?"

Mu Fei said to Tan Xiao, "Little Tan, you should try it!"

Everyone looked at the two in surprise. What did this mean, asking Tan Xiao to try? Starting from his mother, hadn't they already changed careers?

Tan Xiao panicked, "I don't think I can." He himself didn't understand what just happened.

Mu Fei encouraged him, "There's no blood on your face."

They tumbled a few times, but compared to Mr. Xu's blood-covered face, Tan Xiao looked much more refreshed. Moreover, Tan Xiao was a descendant of Chu's shamans, which made Mu Fei feel he was more suitable and had a better chance. Their previous experience just proved this point.

Mr. Xu: "..."

Tan Xiao hesitated for a moment, wondering if he really had some strange ability?

After thinking for a while, Tan Xiao looked around the altar, picked up the feather-patterned fan on the table, held the fan in one hand, and tapped the phoenix drum with the other. At the same time, he stepped the Yu steps, circling the drum body, using a square inch of space as the nine layers of heaven, stepping according to the nine palaces and eight trigrams.

His movements were nimble and gentle, which was a characteristic of Chu's dances, but compared to Chu's dances, there were a few more peculiar points, flexibly bending with the waist as the center. The clothes fluttered, giving a sense of fluidity, full of a mysterious and romantic shaman style.

The drumbeats became more and more dense. For the shaman, the drum was not only the accompaniment of shaman music and dance, but also a tool for communicating with gods.

After turning around, Tan Xiao hit the drum and made a gesture with his hand!

Everyone watched familiarly, and suddenly remembered that the hand gesture Tan Xiao made was the same "shackle gesture" that the shaman figurine had made before, and the spirit weapon he used was the human version used by the shaman figurine - this was really using the other party's way to fight back.

Tan Xiao's movements were like flowing clouds and water. Although there was still some uneasiness on his face, his mouth and hands cooperated as if it was muscle memory. Every move was very stylish, and he chanted, "The five-colored divine light harmonizes, suppressing the ominous calamities."

The boy's clear voice echoed in the dark tomb, along with the ancient rhythm.

In the blink of an eye, a pair of upturned phoenix eyes seemed to suddenly look at him from the darkness!

Tan Xiao's heart was startled, but when he looked closely, it was just a pair of giant snake's vertical pupils...

Everything seemed to be just an illusion in the blink of an eye.

Before he could figure it out, the two giant snakes, whose bodies were originally moving restlessly, fell to the ground, showing a somewhat stiff state, as if they were really shackled. After Tan Xiao began to chant the spell, they flipped their bodies again and swam towards Old Ji.

The big brother carrying Old Ji was so scared that he wanted to shoot again, but was stopped.

The giant snakes slowly crawled past them, winding their huge bodies out of the tomb...

Everyone held their breath and watched until the snake tails were all out before sighing in relief. This was what it meant to be professionally matched. The snakes in the Chu tomb, which were so fierce before, still had to be dealt with by the Chu shaman.

Old Ji had someone put him down and muttered to himself, "Where are they going?"

"I don't know." Tan Xiao was also very confused. He just followed the procedure to perform the so-called exorcism ritual. "Why don't we go and see?"

Although he didn't know where they were going, at that moment, he seemed to no longer feel their threat, and was even very curious. How could these snakes live in the tomb and satisfy their physiological needs?

At this time, the giant snakes' movements were not as fast as before. They simply followed and saw that the two giant snakes actually swam into the main tomb chamber. This place was completely different from ordinary Spring and Autumn and Warring States tomb chambers. It was as spacious as a place where people lived, with coffins as bright as new.

The coffin was divided into nine chambers, each more than ten meters long and wide. The red lacquered inner coffin had embossed phoenix patterns, and there were many diamond-shaped patterns on both sides, interspersed with some circular patterns.

The giant snakes familiarly crawled onto the inner coffin and coiled around the coffin in circles.

The two giant snakes intertwined on the coffin. The only sound in the room was the sticky and cold movement, which gradually made them indistinguishable, as if one snake had grown two heads.

The patterns on their bodies also gradually changed color, almost merging with the coffin, and also turned into those diamond-shaped patterns. And their eyes became circular patterns.

There were a total of nine pairs of such patterns.

As if one snake had grown nine heads...

Only then did Mr. Xu slap his forehead and realize, "Could this be the legendary Xiong Hui?!"

Tan Xiao recited from the book of "Chu Ci" in a low voice: "The Xiong Hui has nine heads, coming and going in a flash, swallowing people to increase its heart."

It turned out that the nine-headed snake was actually nine snakes intertwined together, indistinguishable from each other.

Mu Fei felt the muscles on her face twitch. "According to the records of our Bureau 404, the world has not seen traces of Xiong Hui for at least a thousand years. We also once doubted whether there really was a nine-headed snake in the world.

"I didn't expect it to appear in the Chu tomb, like a living tomb guardian beast, and its form seems to be able to switch between yin and yang, concealing its body shape. It's too amazing, no wonder it's rarely seen in the world!"

Their Bureau 404 had a detailed classification of monsters. What category this Xiong Hui belonged to, seemingly a monster or a ghost, she felt that it might need further study.

Old Ji suddenly remembered something and exclaimed in shock, "Not only is it a tomb guardian beast, but also a coffin binder!"

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

Old Ji explained, "In ancient times, there were no nails, and coffins were bound with leather and hemp ropes. Last time, I was still wondering why the coffin of the Chu emperor had no coffin binders. Could it be that they had rotted and fallen into the dirt pile?"

Now it seemed that it was not that there were none, but that the Chu emperor's tomb was actually bound by Xiong Hui.

Looking at the huge body of Xiong Hui, Old Ji even felt that the tomb might not have been able to be built so far beyond the productivity of the era without its involvement.

At present, the shamans' influence on this Chu emperor seemed to shock them even more than his royal identity!

A staff member also said with lingering fear, "I remember that the wooden figurines were outside. When we first came down, Mr. Mo was fine. It was only after opening the coffin that something happened to him."

- The shaman figurine could only be considered a command. The real mechanism was inside the coffin. The opener of the coffin would die.

Mr. Xu then looked at Tan Xiao, "Can they still move?"

"In theory, they can't hurt people. They are shackled." Tan Xiao's words were full of uncertainty. Seeing everyone looking at him, he said bitterly, "Even if you keep looking at me, I can't guarantee the after-sales ability. This is my first time doing this kind of thing..."

Everyone: "..."

Someone said in disbelief, "But your movements were really very smooth."

Before, they were chased by Xiong Hui and almost thought they were going to be wiped out, but under Tan Xiao's hands, the Xiong Hui, if not obedient, could at least be considered honest.

Tan Xiao thought, how could he not be smooth? "Because I have been practicing hard since I was a child, but I swear, I have never had this effect when doing these rituals before."

Everyone was curious and suspicious, especially Mr. Xu. He also entered the door at a young age and had the cultivation of being instructed by a famous teacher and practicing hard. He didn't understand how Tan Xiao could have no knowledge of his own abilities.

Mr. Xu asked, "Who did you practice on before?"

Tan Xiao: "Tourists."

Mr. Xu and the others were a bit choked up, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"It seems you are different from your mother, you have a strong ability, just haven't applied it to the right environment." Mr. Xu sighed, "I've seen too many people wanting to enter this field but unable to, yet there are also those like you who possess a jade ring without realizing it."

Tan Xiao wasn't convinced: "That's not entirely accurate, what do you mean by not applying it properly? During the peak tourism season, our performances and merchandise sales generate monthly revenue of 100,000 yuan. How much do you make per deal?"

Everyone: "..."

Not to mention Mr. Xu, even Mu Fei's face twisted. She tried to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, let's not talk about these depressing things!"

Mr. Xu wiped some blood from his face and muttered to himself: "I have a stable job, that's the advantage."

Old Ji gently shook his head, "I see everyone is injured, we've got what we came for, and the Xiong Hui is locked up. Why don't we think of a way to go up and recuperate first? Didn't Master Mu say the capstone collapsed."

Since the excavation had just begun, the lamps brought this time were all battery-powered. Running them at maximum power couldn't last very long. Everyone agreed to go up first, so they all walked in the direction they came from.

When they reached the passage, they could already hear the sound of construction. Sure enough, the collapse of the capstone had been discovered above, and rescue efforts had begun. A hole had been dug, and it could be seen that outside, dawn was just breaking!

Old Ji said in shock, "This doesn't make sense, how long have we been in here?"

"I was just saying, why did the lights go out so quickly." Someone said with lingering fear. They had brought a lot of lighting equipment and weren't always running them at maximum power, yet they were consumed extremely fast.

Mr. Xu was already loudly communicating with the rescue personnel above. They stopped the machines and lowered climbing ropes instead. Two burly men helped everyone up. As for Old Ji, they directly tied him with a rope and held him in their arms as they climbed up.

When it was Tan Xiao's turn, the big guy carefully said, "Can you fly up?"

He had only seen Tan Xiao operate like a divine soldier. Tan Xiao looked like a tough guy to him, so he thought Tan Xiao was like an immortal.

Tan Xiao: "..."

In the end, the muscular man still helped Tan Xiao climb up.

Tan Xiao looked back at the dark passage, as if it was another world. Raising his head, the morning sun was just rising. He slightly shielded the sunlight with his hand, the red light leaking through his fingers, reminding people of the ubiquitous bright red hues in the Chu emperor's tomb. Everything seemed different...

Old Ji, standing to the side, also let out a long sigh as he looked at the bottom of the tomb.

"Old Ji, are you worried about Professor Mo?" Mu Fei comforted, "Since Tan Xiao is a true spirit master, once he rests up, he can undo the spell on Old Mo. At worst, we've already brought up the missing parts of the shaman figurine, there will always be a way."

"No, no, I know Old Mo will definitely be safe." Old Ji said with a bitter face, "I was just thinking, if I write in my paper that the Chu emperor's coffin ties are made of snakeskin, would that be considered academic fraud?"

"..." Everyone unanimously made a sweating soybean face.

Old Ji looked ahead bitterly, then remembered something. He looked at Tan Xiao and waved for the young man to come over. He kindly put his arm around his shoulder, "Little classmate, what grade are you in?"

Old Ji had never mentioned having a teaching position, but students could always keenly sense a teacher's aura. Tan Xiao stood up straight, "I'm in 11th grade."

"Haha, what do you say, have you thought about what major to apply for in the future?" Old Ji asked humorously, "What courses have you chosen? Don't tell me you want to study tourism management?"

From the moment Tan Xiao started discussing the Grand Nuo Mourning ritual, Old Ji had taken a great liking to him. He seemed to have the makings of someone in history and archaeology, it was just a pity that his family had a business. Of course, this didn't stop Old Ji from expressing a few words of concern.

"Of course not." When Tan Xiao spoke of this, he thought of Tan Chunying, who was still in some unknown mountain, and couldn't help but gaze into the distance and sigh. "My mom wants me to delve into true skills, master various rites and ceremonies, and carry forward the Chu shamanism..."

Old Ji: "Oh?"

Tan Xiao stammered, "So it's best to choose physics and chemistry majors to decode and learn all the 'powers' of the competitors as well."