The Chronicles of the Tomb Robbers归档 - 第76页共91页

4 3 月 2025

160 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 30 – The Path of Shadows

Shunzi and Panzi were left speechless, muttering to themselves, “What the hell is going on? Did we take a wrong turn?”
“Not at all!” Both I and the Fatty had some experience and immediately understood what was happening: “The tomb passage has shifted. When we were inside the burial chamber, the old passage moved to another location, and a new passage has appeared here.”
“Can it really be done?” Panzi’s mouth fell open in disbelief.
“It can!” The Fatty and I nodded vigorously. In our minds, we thought, this was just the tip of the iceberg. Given the design of the tomb by Wang Canghai, it was no surprise that strange things were happening.
I felt a bit scared but also somewhat reassured because the change in the tomb passage suddenly made me understand why Shunzi’s father and several other corpses had been trapped and died in the gold. If one didn’t understand Wang Canghai’s schemes, the bizarre changes in the tomb’s chambers and passages could easily drive a person insane. We had nearly lost our sanity in the underwater tomb, but once we grasped the principle behind the sudden changes in the passage, it didn’t seem so terrifying anymore.
With the change in the passage, the crossroads we had come from no longer existed, making it impossible to return. Although we didn’t know what lay at the end of this new passage, if we stayed here without leaving, our fate would inevitably be the same as those corpses.
At that moment, I thought that at worst, the end of the passage would lead to nothing—a dead end. That wouldn’t be such a big deal; the corpses were likely trapped here for the same reason. Without explosives, the path we had come from suddenly disappearing would naturally leave one at a loss, leading to that expression of despair.
Looking back, I realized I was still too young. The deep despair etched on the faces of the corpses indicated that what they encountered was far more unimaginable than I had thought, and my thinking at the time was far too simplistic.
I shared my thoughts with the others and explained the principle behind the passage’s changes to Panzi and Shunzi. They finally came to their senses, showing expressions that suggested it wasn’t such a big deal. However, Panzi thought a bit further ahead and said, “If that’s the case, theoretically, the structure of this underground palace could be infinitely complex. Wouldn’t we end up like being trapped in a Rubik’s Cube, unable to find our way out?”
I reassured him, “That shouldn’t be the case. To be honest, Wang Canghai’s tricks are just psychological pressure on grave robbers. If he really wanted to trap people to death, it wouldn’t be easy. I suspect many people ultimately died from mental breakdowns due to the torment.”
In any case, we had to explore this newly appeared passage and think of a way out. If we couldn’t find a way out, as the Fatty suggested, we could first determine a direction and then blast our way out step by step. Now that we had explosives, we felt much more confident.
With that, I took the lead and stepped into the passage, with the Fatty and the others following closely behind. Suddenly, I felt something was off. The murals around us were too chilling; with so many large shadows, it felt as if the surroundings were filled with such things, making one extremely uncomfortable. I suddenly thought: Could it be that the end of this secret passage contained such a thing? If its shadow fell on the wall, we would surely fail to notice it.

However, since I had already walked in, it would be too embarrassing to turn back. I had no choice but to brace myself and walk at the front, trying not to think about these things. Soon, the tomb entrance behind us was no longer visible, and we had arrived at a place that seemed to lead nowhere.

As we walked, Panzi asked Shunzi about his father and the expedition team. Shunzi told him a bit, and Panzi said to us, “Just now, on our way here, all the sealing stones were blasted open using directional explosives, which is the latest technology. This indicates that they didn’t come in the same way we did. It seems there must be more than one way out of here.”

I replied, “Definitely. Look how fast A-Ning and the others are moving. The fact that they can reach the treasure room before us by taking the same route shows that we were lacking in information.”

But I couldn’t help but wonder where A-Ning and the others had gone. They should have also reached the treasure room we just saw. Did they encounter the moving tomb passage as well? Was their tomb passage the same as ours? Moreover, what about Third Uncle? Was he in the same situation?

I felt uncertain. We had entered the underground palace according to Third Uncle’s secret signals, but he hadn’t given us any follow-up signals. It seemed that after entering the underground palace, he might also be at a loss.

As we talked and walked, after about twenty minutes, the beam of the flashlight ahead reflected back, indicating that we had reached the end of the tomb passage. We couldn’t help but feel tense and immediately quieted down, slowing our pace and moving forward little by little. Soon, we saw a jade door at the end of the tomb passage.

When the jade door first appeared, I was taken aback because it looked exactly like the one we had just seen. Then I thought that most doors in ancient tombs were crafted by the same artisan, so it made sense they would be similar. The stone material of the door was still of good quality, and there was a hole at the bottom, also blasted open.

It seemed that someone had been here before, which was good. No matter who it was, it was a good thing for us, as it at least proved that there were no traps or pitfalls.

We once again streamed in, and since there wasn’t much cold smoke left, this time Panzi didn’t bother to light any cold smoke but instead lit a few fire sticks. As we looked around, we were taken aback.

Behind the tomb door was a room identical to the treasure room we had just seen. The room was piled high with gold and silver treasures, forming small mountains, and there were four massive pillars in the corners of the room, almost identical in layout.

I thought to myself that there must be more than one such room in this underground palace. Just how much treasure was piled up here? No wonder the Eastern Xia Dynasty, despite being so weak, could still construct such a magnificent tomb and underground palace. They must have hoarded so many treasures. It seems that hoarding wealth is a habit of ruling powers; Genghis Khan’s spirit treasures are buried beneath the Mongolian grasslands, and it is said that Hitler’s Nazi gold is buried in Tibet. The Jin Dynasty’s treasures of the Yelü brothers are right here.

While I was lost in these thoughts, suddenly, Panzi shouted my name loudly, startling me.

I thought something had happened and turned to look at him. He had his mouth wide open, standing on a mountain of gold, trying to speak but unable to get a word out as he was out of breath. I hurried over to see, and I was also taken aback. Among the treasures here, there were several bodies curled up.

I asked curiously, “Shunzi, how many fathers do you have… oh no, how many people are in your father’s group?” Before I could finish my question, I suddenly noticed a chilling phenomenon. Next to the pile of corpses, there was a neatly arranged collection of gold items. When I shone my flashlight on it, I realized it was exactly the same set of items we had just organized in another treasure room, in the same order and category.

The胖子 could no longer contain himself and lit a cold firework, which illuminated the entire tomb chamber. As we descended, we took a closer look, and these items were clearly the same ones we had just taken out.

The胖子 exclaimed in shock, “What’s going on? Is someone imitating our actions…?”

I furrowed my brows, stood up, and took a look around. A sense of familiarity washed over me, and I said dumbfounded, “No… we’ve come back to where we started! This is the place we left from!”

4 3 月 2025

159 Yunding Tiangong (Part 2) – Chapter 29 – The Expedition Team from Ten Years Ago

In the end, Shunzi did not cry. After a moment of excitement, he relaxed and respectfully tidied his father’s hair. However, the body was severely dehydrated, and the hair fell out at the slightest touch. After much effort, he managed to fix it, but his father now resembled Ge You. I knew that this kid was still feeling bad inside; perhaps he had held onto the hope that his father would be alive for the past ten years. Now that hope was shattered. One could say he felt relieved, or one could say he was in despair.

The fat guy and Panzi didn’t understand what was going on and were sweating profusely. I briefly explained my guesses to them, believing I wasn’t wrong. Upon hearing this, the fat guy also shed tears and said, “My old man left early too. He spent his whole life serving the country in the revolution, only to be labeled a counter-revolutionary in the end. Shunzi, I can understand your feelings. But people should always think positively. In ten years, father and son can reunite. Heaven has taken care of you; try to look at it more openly.”

When the fat guy cried, Panzi’s eyes also became moist. He said, “Alright, alright. You both still have your old dads. I never even got to see my dad’s face. Third Grandpa has always been like my father, and now his life and death are still uncertain.”

I hurriedly said, “What’s wrong with you two? Shunzi hasn’t even cried, and you’re both making a fuss. Let’s see why they died here.”

Since they could walk in here, there was no reason they couldn’t get out. If they died here, something must have happened. We were also in this tomb, and I didn’t want to follow in their footsteps. At the same time, I felt it was a bit strange that several bodies appeared here. Shunzi’s father was just a guide, but the others, according to Shunzi, insisted on entering the mountains at an inappropriate time. They shouldn’t be ordinary tourists; did they have some ulterior motive? Was it a coincidence that they ended up here? I had to find out.

We began to search through the backpacks of these people. There was all sorts of stuff inside: decayed novels, notebooks, pencils, nylon ropes, army tents, old flashlights, vintage Swiss army knives (which surprisingly still worked), a 1986 edition of a Korean-Chinese dictionary, bubble gum, old lighters, flasks, lipsticks, sanitary pads, medicine boxes (including gauze, alcohol, cotton, and several types of medicinal liquor), military compasses, and so on.

One of the novels was “How the Steel Was Tempered.” It was an old book, and I didn’t dare to open it; if I did, it would surely fall apart. The notebooks were also old work notes, which I had seen my dad use when I was in elementary school. There were three in total, and when I opened one, I saw it was filled with accounts and phone numbers. Back then, those were the only functions of such notes. Moreover, there was nothing to prove their identities, and most importantly, none of them had an ID.

We laid all these items out in a row. The gear was nearly complete; although not as advanced as ours, it should be sufficient to get out. In any harsh environment, these supplies could manage reasonably well.

This was strange, I thought. No matter what, under the premise that they had the ability to leave, these people should have died on the way out, not sitting here as if waiting for death. Could it be that they were reluctant to part with the treasures here? That seemed even less likely.

If that’s the case, could it be that dying here is more than meets the eye? A sudden sense of foreboding surged within me, and I felt as if something in this tomb was watching us, causing me to shiver involuntarily.

The fat guy, looking at the items we had laid out, suddenly clicked his tongue and said, “Comrades, have you noticed that something is missing from these items?”

We all pondered his question, and upon his prompting, we took a closer look at the items. However, in my mind, I felt that all the essential things were present, and I couldn’t think of anything that was missing. I asked him, “What’s missing?”

The fat guy replied, “Food! There’s no food! No one has any food in their bags.”

As soon as he said this, we all jolted. Looking again at the row of items, it was indeed all equipment, with nothing that could be used to stave off hunger.

I asked in confusion, “There really is no food. This suggests that these people didn’t die from an accident. If it were an accident, it wouldn’t be so coincidental that everyone had no food. Wait a minute, could it be that they… ran out of food and starved to death here?”

But that didn’t make sense either. A person can survive a month without food, as long as there’s water (and please, if you’re 2.27 meters tall and only weigh 90 pounds, don’t argue with me). As long as they had the will to leave, they wouldn’t starve to death here. If these people died of starvation, there could only be one explanation: they couldn’t get out.

Thinking of this, I recalled the disappearing tomb passage in the underwater tomb, and I hurriedly jumped up to the pile of gold to check the tomb door we came through. To my relief, the door was still there and hadn’t disappeared at all. I finally breathed a sigh of relief, though I was still a bit flustered, fearing that the door might suddenly vanish.

The fat guy knew what I was worried about and said to me, “If we really encounter that kind of situation, we have explosives with us this time, so we don’t need to be afraid.” I felt much more reassured.

“Could it be like this?” While pondering, Panzi asked Shunzi, “Do you know how many people were in your father’s expedition team?”

“I think there were only seven people, according to my mother, but that was just what she saw. She didn’t know how many there actually were; anyway, my father left with seven people.”

“Then here we have… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, a total of 6 corpses, and at least two people are missing.” Panzi said, “Could it be that those two people, seeing the wealth, killed the others and ran away?”

I shook my head in denial. There were no signs of a struggle among these people. The positions and expressions of the corpses at the time of death indicated they had curled up together. It didn’t seem like poisoning, nor did it look like they died from external forces. What troubled me the most, and made me feel the need to clarify the cause of their deaths, was that the expressions on the corpses were strikingly uniform, all revealing a deep sense of despair, as if they had fallen into a hopeless situation.

This was the first time I had seen such corpses, and I couldn’t shake off the feeling. I had a premonition that what happened here back then was definitely not simple, and the deeper I speculated, the more I felt an indescribable chill and unease enveloping the surroundings. Among this pile of gold, there was an eerie feeling that something was watching us, becoming increasingly pronounced.

After pondering for a long time without coming to any conclusion, the fat guy and the others couldn’t hold back any longer and wanted to start fiddling with the gold artifacts. This time, I calmly stopped them and said, “These dead bodies died amidst the gold artifacts; I really can’t let this go. Let’s not touch anything for now; don’t forget the purpose of our coming here.”

As soon as I said that, they realized their mistake. The fat guy suddenly thought of something and said, “I really lost my mind and forgot what we came here for. That mark led us here, the door was blown open, but inside is just a treasure chamber? There’s no coffin. I can see that the mark indicates there are ritual items, and it must have been left by An Ning and the others so that their second team could come to collect the treasures.”

I replied, “The door was likely blown open by these corpses, but this is just a burial chamber for accompanying items. The coffin definitely isn’t here; we need to head in the opposite direction.”

Although it didn’t make sense, I had always thought this passage was the main tomb passage, with one side being the tomb door and the other leading to the center of the underground palace. Now it seemed that wasn’t the case. Could it be that this passage still isn’t the main tomb passage? Just how big is this underground palace? I wondered if it was like a maze. Then I recalled those marks—could it really be that the underground palace is so complex that they left these marks behind?

“What about those things?” the fat guy asked, a bit reluctant.

I said, “Just taking one of them would be enough for you to live a carefree life for half your life. There’s no need to be too greedy, and we can always come back later.”

After seeing the corpses, the fat guy clearly had doubts in his mind, but since he couldn’t leave empty-handed, he picked a few smaller gold artifacts to tuck into his pocket. Shunzi insisted on taking his father’s body out, so he strapped it onto his back using a backpack. The body had already dehydrated and didn’t weigh much, so it wasn’t hard to carry.

We took one last look at the dazzling pile of gold and agate, steeled ourselves, and filed out through the blown-open tomb door.

As soon as we exited the tomb door, I heard the fat guy let out a “Hmm.” I had a premonition and quickly turned on my flashlight to look around, and I couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

The murals on the walls of the tomb passage outside had changed from when we walked in earlier; I didn’t know when it had happened, but the red murals had all transformed into the shadows of large-headed black figures.

4 3 月 2025

158 Yunding Tiangong (Part 2) – Chapter 28 – The Inexpressible Coffin

This tomb chamber was nearly ten times larger in height and width than the burial wine chamber we had just seen. Four massive, intricately carved columns stood in the corners of the chamber. The floor was piled high with all sorts of items, and when the cold flames flickered to life, we discovered a small mountain of gold and silver vessels, gemstones, and pearls. Our flashlight illuminated them, casting brilliant reflections that were almost blinding.

“My grandfather—” the胖子 exclaimed, his eyes wide open, his face twisted in disbelief.

I was equally stunned, nearly losing my balance. 潘子 murmured, “What did I say? The treasury of the Jurchen, the tribute of the Southern Song. I wasn’t wrong, was I?”

After being in this line of work for so long, I had only encountered broken copper and iron. I thought I would escape my fate this time as well, but I never expected to find so many treasures in the tomb of this small, weak frontier kingdom. Could it really be as 潘子 said, that all the treasures after the fall of the Jin dynasty were hoarded here? It wasn’t just about getting rich; even taking a few items from here would allow one to live comfortably for a lifetime.

The胖子 wanted to roll into the pile of gold and silver, and I felt an urge to join him, but a sliver of reason held me back. I stopped him from getting carried away; many of the gold items in tombs are coated with deadly poison. Rolling in there and getting poisoned would be foolish. It was best not to touch any of these things.

However, while I held back the胖子, I couldn’t stop 潘子. He had already dashed into the pile of gold, grabbing a handful of gold items, staring in awe as the reflected golden light illuminated his face. He was trembling all over. Then he loosened his grip, and the items fell through his fingers, making a clattering sound.

Seeing 潘子 grab a few handfuls without any harm, I relaxed and couldn’t help but join in, grabbing a handful myself. The heavy weight almost made me laugh uncontrollably. I don’t know who said it, but the love of humanity for gold is written into our genes, becoming an inherent, irresistible instinct. They were absolutely right.

Even for someone like me, who outwardly maintained a facade of propriety, the thrill I felt upon seeing gold came from deep within. I wanted to deceive myself, but I couldn’t; I liked these things.

In an instant, we all forgot everything else. We rushed into the pile, scooping up various items, then running to another pile to examine a gem-encrusted headband closely. These items were all true masterpieces; just one of them would be a treasure in any museum. Yet here, there were so many that we felt no regret in taking or stepping on them.

The胖子 had already begun stuffing items into his bag. He emptied all his gear, discarding everything, and forcefully packed his bag until it was full. Then he realized something was off, emptied it again, and started packing different items, all the while making meaningless sounds.

But soon we all realized that no matter how much we packed, we couldn’t take away even a fraction of this treasure. After packing one thing, we would immediately discover something even better and more precious beneath it. Once we grabbed that more precious item, we would find another exquisite piece we had never seen before, leaving us utterly at a loss for how to proceed.

I had been crazy for a long time, and it wasn’t until we were exhausted and people calmed down from their extreme excitement that I felt something was wrong—why hadn’t I heard Shunzi’s voice since we came in? I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead, stood up from the pile of jewelry, and shone my flashlight around. I saw Shunzi standing on a pile of gold artifacts, seemingly looking at something.

I walked over and asked him what he was doing, wasn’t he excited about all this gold? He didn’t respond but pointed below. Following the direction of his finger with my flashlight, I discovered that nestled among several piles of gold artifacts were several people curled up, motionless, seemingly dead.

I was instantly startled; the excitement I had felt moments ago vanished, replaced by goosebumps all over my body. The fat guy and Panzi saw that Shunzi and I were standing there in a daze and thought we had discovered some treasure. They rushed over, only to find several bundles wrapped in cloth, which surprised them as well.

We descended into the depression among the gold artifacts, turned our flashlights back on, and examined closely. It was indeed dead bodies, and they had been dead for some time; the skin of the corpses was frozen and dehydrated, resembling orange peels. What was strange, however, was that these people were wearing rotting woolen overcoats—modern clothing—and nearby were several badly deteriorated old military-style backpacks.

The fat guy asked, “What’s going on? Who are these people? Are they our fellow travelers?” I shook my head and put on gloves to rummage through the backpacks and clothes. This type of clothing was popular in the 1980s and 1990s; even now, people in their forties or fifties in rural Northeast China might wear them. We had seen quite a few middle-aged men like that in Ying Shan Village. Judging by the level of decay, these people had likely been dead here for 5 to 20 years.

Panzi asked, “Could they be herbalists or hunters from Changbai Mountain who accidentally wandered in and couldn’t find their way out?”

“Not likely,” I said, pulling apart the clothing of one corpse. It was a female body. I looked at her ears, where old-fashioned earrings hung, and on her wrist was a watch that had long since rusted and stopped. “Look, this is a Meihua watch, an old model. Even a mayor-level person back then might not have been able to get one. This woman must have had some status; she doesn’t look like someone from the countryside.”

“Could they be lost tourists from the 1980s?” Panzi asked again. “Could the markings we’ve seen along the way be theirs?”

I shook my head; it was impossible that those markings were made by them. I had seen those markings in the underwater tomb; they were definitely made by related individuals, either Anning and her group or the Silent Oil Bottle. It was possible they were lost tourists, but could anyone really get lost in a place like this? A tomb passageway—ordinary people wouldn’t dare to venture down without considerable courage.

However, if this woman had some background, perhaps she was the child of a leader or had connections with local officials, her disappearance could have had a significant impact locally. Shunzi was no longer young; he might have heard about any sensational missing persons cases in the last 5 to 20 years. I turned to ask him, but when I looked back, Shunzi hadn’t followed us down; he was still standing on the pile of gold artifacts, his expression very stiff.

I thought it was strange. Could it be that Shunzi was also affected by the ghostly tongue like Pangzi? I didn’t see anything on his neck, and I noticed he was trembling a bit, which made me feel something was off.

Pangzi said to him, “What’s wrong? Are you afraid of dead people? I didn’t see you scared just now.”

Shunzi ignored Pangzi and walked down step by step with heavy feet, coming to one of the corpses and squatting down. I noticed he was so nervous that he was almost about to fall over.

Suddenly, I realized what was happening.

Pangzi wanted to go over and pat him, but I stopped him and waved my hand. Pangzi quietly asked me, “What’s wrong with him? Is he possessed?”

I shook my head. If I guessed correctly, these corpses might be the ones Shunzi mentioned, the ones his father brought into the Changbai Mountains ten years ago. The corpse Shunzi was looking at could possibly be his father, which explained his extremely tense behavior.

I couldn’t believe it; he had really hit the nail on the head. Following us, he could actually find his father’s remains…

But was this just a coincidence? Did the team from ten years ago accidentally end up here? Or was there something else we didn’t know about?

4 3 月 2025

157 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 27 – A New Mark

I can’t quite remember what the symbols in the underwater tomb looked like, but I still vividly recall the two symbols that were just carved at the bottom of the moat and at the entrance of the passage. Now, this one symbol is completely different from those two.

Fatty Pan and the others really have no concept of English letters; they can’t distinguish between them at all, so they didn’t pay attention earlier. However, as someone who has been to university and taken the CET-4 and CET-6 exams, I may not have done well, but I at least know that these two are different words.

I always thought this was just a simple guiding symbol, similar to any basic shape, meaning “go this way.” But if it’s just a guiding sign, the symbol shouldn’t change. According to general human psychology, once you enter a tomb passage, your attention should be entirely on the surrounding environment. It’s unlikely that someone would deliberately change the design while carving symbols, especially since the carving was done very hurriedly. This indicates that the person leaving the mark was not in a very calm situation, which further rules out the possibility of them whimsically changing the symbol.

Now, this phenomenon can only mean one thing: these symbols have different meanings. While they guide us, they also seem to convey some information.

The question is, what exactly is that information? This foreign text isn’t really foreign, but it consists of English letters, and it’s hard to tell what language it is. However, it definitely isn’t similar to common languages like German or French, as the arrangement of the letters is too irregular.

Moreover, the symbol we saw at the bottom of the river and at the entrance of the passage didn’t lead to any danger. If we assume the meaning is: safe to enter, then this different symbol carved here must have a different meaning. It could very well be a warning, indicating that there is some terrifying danger in the direction of the tomb passage.

Fatty and the others found my thoughts somewhat troubling. We paused in place, not daring to act recklessly for the time being.

However, having reached this point is already a significant breakthrough; we can say we have succeeded halfway. At this moment, the question of which way to go in the tomb seems less important. Even without guiding symbols, we are not panicking.

It’s just that once we enter the underground palace, especially after the main tomb passage, we must be particularly cautious. Because if there are traps and mechanisms inside the ancient tomb, they are definitely in this segment, so we need to spend some time here.

Panzi said to me, “Little Third Master, you’re the only one here with some knowledge of foreign languages. If even you can’t recognize this, then we really can’t figure it out. Why don’t you translate these English words into Chinese? Even if we don’t know the entire sentence’s meaning, we can at least make some guesses.”

Panzi doesn’t know any English at all. He probably thinks that English is like Chinese characters, with one letter having one meaning. I was too lazy to enlighten him and said to them, “If we’re going to guess, we might as well guess who left this symbol and what their purpose was. That way, we might have a better chance of figuring out the meaning.”

Fatty asked curiously, “We don’t know who left it, but do we really need to guess the purpose? It’s definitely to guide us!”

I shook my head and said, “I used to think that way too, but not anymore. If this was really left for us, at the very least, it should be written in symbols we can understand. The form used by the person who carved these symbols is so obscure that it seems the purpose is not to help us; we might have just stumbled upon something trivial. These symbols might be meant for someone else.”

Panzi thought for a moment and found it somewhat reasonable, then asked, “So who is this ‘someone else’?”

“An Ning and the others have a lot of people, and they might have acted in batches. These symbols could be codes between their small teams,” the fat guy said.

I nodded, acknowledging that it was a possibility, but there was no solid evidence, making it impossible to guess the actual situation. I added, “It could also be for other reasons; speculating about it now is pointless.”

What concerned me the most was the information contained in these symbols. Such symbols should be similar to the legends on international adventure maps; some paths in primitive jungles are marked with different levels of danger. A symbol not only indicates that a path is passable but can also inform you about what you might encounter along the way. For example, if there are hippos in the river, there would be a symbol indicating their presence.

Now that we were here, the fact that this symbol had changed made its special meaning worth considering. Could it indicate that there are zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) in this tomb? That thought was quite frustrating.

I recalled the “Beware of Bears” sign on off-road vehicles; perhaps the person who left this symbol had a theoretical approach to adventure. This symbol could mean “Beware of Zongzi.” Then I thought about whether I should stick one on my little gold Mercedes if I made it out alive, to express my personality.

Panzi, unaware that I was lost in my thoughts, suddenly said to me, “That’s not right. I think the information conveyed by this symbol cannot indicate any danger. Think about it: in a tomb, you wouldn’t know if there’s danger until you walk through it. There’s no reason for them to carve this symbol after they’ve walked through; it means this symbol was carved just before they entered the tomb, indicating the direction they took and informing future explorers of their route. As for what lies inside, they wouldn’t have known at the time of carving. This actually has a significance, called ‘tracking language.'”

I had never heard of this concept, and the fat guy asked him, “What do you mean by tracking language?”

Panzi replied, “Before I hunted monkeys in Vietnam, I studied cultural subjects while serving in the military. Because I served in the jungle, I learned a lot about rescue techniques. ‘Tracking’ language means that if you encounter danger and get lost in the jungle, while you’re trying to find your way out, you must mark your walking route. There are specific rules for how to do this. When the rescue team sees your markings, they can understand what you’ve done in that area. For example, a marking indicating sufficient food is one type of sign, while a marking indicating that food has run out is another. If someone in the team has perished, that’s yet another sign. The rescue team can follow your markings to know your situation. If things worsen, they can use these markings to adjust their rescue strategy. I heard this was something invented by the Americans during their conflict with the Vietnamese.”

The fat guy asked him, “Since you’ve studied this, can you understand it?”

Panzi shook his head and said, “What I mean is, maybe this code is completely different from what I learned at the time, and I can’t recognize it. But I believe it should be a kind of tracking language. There’s no need for us to decipher it; the changes in this symbol might just mean that he twisted his ankle here.”

The胖子 sighed and said, “This is not good. If it really is a ‘tracking’ language, it means the person who left this symbol is not aiming for success; he’s preparing for his second team. This means he doesn’t have confidence that he can come out alive this time.”

Panzi replied, “Exactly! So after all this talk, it’s of no practical use. I think since this symbol wasn’t left for us to see, we should pretend we didn’t see it. Our main task now is to find Third Master. The symbol wasn’t carved by him, which means he might not have taken this path. Following it, no matter how smoothly it goes, won’t help us. We should take our own path. We’ve faced many challenges before, and we’ve encountered situations like this. I refuse to believe we can’t even handle exploring a tomb.”

This line of reasoning resonated with胖子, who nodded in agreement and said to us, “Old Pan, now that sounds more like it. How about we split into two groups? You and Xiao Wu go that way, and I’ll go with Xiao Shun to this side. Let’s see who finds something first. It’s a straight path anyway. If we reach the end and find something wrong, we can just turn back. The other group can wait outside the coffin chamber. Hesitating here won’t help.”

I felt uneasy about this plan and said, “That’s true, but I’m afraid this main tomb path isn’t that easy to traverse. Look at the four-foot stone slabs on the ground; this kind of tomb path likely has mechanisms like crossbows and trap doors. What if both teams reach the end and end up dead in the tomb? We might say goodbye forever once we split up.”

胖子 mocked me, saying, “By your logic, you shouldn’t have come at all. If you’re so worried about this little issue, why come down here? Since we’re already in the underground palace, we shouldn’t be afraid of such minor matters.”

I thought to myself, this was my choice to come here. My lifelong dream has always been to be a wealthy little citizen. I don’t know what kind of luck I’ve had this year, always running into sticky situations. Now I’m not even afraid of sticky situations, but they won’t let me be cautious. What kind of nonsense is this?

Panzi shared my thoughts and said to胖子, “No, Xiao San Ye is right. Just one reason: the people from Aning’s horse team must be nearby. We need to guard against the sticky situations, but we also have to guard against people. Two guns are definitely better than one. And what if one team goes out and disappears without coming back? What will the other team do? It’s better for us to stick together for support.”

Shunzi, who had been silent, also expressed his stance: “No matter what, I have to get Boss Wu there. I have to follow him.”

胖子 raised his hand in surrender to the three of us: “You two are engaging in personal worship here, isolating me! Talk about bad luck. Just do whatever you want; it’s all the same to me—might as well die together.”

Panzi said, “We’ll first head in the direction marked by the symbol. If it’s wrong, we’ll turn back. We should be careful about everything.”

We nodded in agreement. I understood very well that at this point, discussing things here was useless. Now, which way to go and how to proceed all depended on luck.

Then I got up, and Panzi pulled out a folding walking stick similar to a blind man’s cane, tapping it against the ground as we walked toward the direction marked with symbols.

We proceeded with extreme caution. In my heart, I was already very annoyed with this kind of place where even walking couldn’t be done in peace, but there was no other choice. Since we had come this far, we couldn’t skip this step; otherwise, all the hardships we had endured before would have been in vain.

I initially thought we would spend at least half an hour in this tomb passage, but unexpectedly, this section was very short, less than two hundred meters, and it suddenly widened, revealing a huge jade door at the end.

I recognized at a glance that this was the entrance to the Ming Hall, as the tomb door at the entrance wouldn’t be made of such good stone. The lower half of the door had already been blown off, revealing a large opening. Clearly, someone had entered before us; I didn’t know if it was An Ning and the others or someone else.

I felt a surge of joy in my heart; this meant we were on the right path. Behind the door was the core part of the entire underground palace. Many classic tomb structures immediately came to my mind. Although this was the royal tomb of Dongxia, it was built under the guidance of Han people, so it probably wouldn’t be too different from the tombs in the Central Plains. What would we see once we entered? I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous, wondering what the coffin of the King of Ten Thousand Slaves would look like and whether there were accompanying coffins around.

The jade door of the tomb would most likely have traps, and the stone walls on both sides might be hollow, filled with poisonous stone powder. Moreover, these traps often had no way to be deciphered because once the tomb was closed, it was never intended to be opened again. Even if you were the craftsman who designed the door, you wouldn’t be able to enter once it was shut.

However, since the door had already been blown up like this, it was likely that any traps had also been damaged, so there was no need to worry about that. We bent down and entered one after another into the tomb chamber behind the door. Out of caution, Fatty lit a cold smoke fire to enhance our lighting, allowing us to clearly see the layout of the tomb chamber.

The moment the cold smoke fire lit up, we were confronted with a breathtaking scene that left us all in shock. None of us expected to see such a sight, and we were almost frozen in place, unable to move.

4 3 月 2025

156 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 26 – Mark

I crouched down again, trying to decipher the strange foreign symbols, but to no avail. The lines were too chaotic; although I could tell it was the same word we had seen at the entrance of the square hole, I couldn’t figure out which letters made it up. I even began to doubt whether it was English at all.

The胖子 (Fatty) was also curious: “Are you sure this isn’t something left by your Third Master?”

Panzi nodded, indicating absolute certainty. “The Third Master wouldn’t be this fancy. If he wanted to leave a mark, he would just carve a notch. This definitely isn’t left by him. I think we should be cautious; not all marks are meant to guide.”

I understood his meaning: if this mark wasn’t for guidance, it could be a dangerous warning. However, nothing dangerous had happened after I saw that symbol in the underwater tomb, and there were only two passageways; it was either this one or that one. With no certainty about either, hesitating seemed pointless.

Fatty took the lead, and I followed behind him into the passageway. Inside, it was very wide, enough for two Liberation trucks to pass side by side. As soon as Fatty entered, he remarked that this was a mule path, used for transporting mules during construction. This was indeed possible, as I had never seen such a wide tomb passage before. The ground still faintly bore the traces of old wheel ruts. However, strangely, the passage was very cold inside, the temperature had dropped significantly, and a cold wind blew in from within, seemingly coming from outside. We all knew that ancient tombs were usually designed to be airtight; where was this wind coming from?

“This is ‘natural wind,'” Panzi said, lowering his voice to create a spooky atmosphere. “Our ancestors called this ‘ghosts breathing.’ This often happens in large tombs, but it’s not dangerous.”

“Is there an explanation? How does it occur?” I asked.

Panzi shook his head. “Most of the explanations passed down are just sayings; no one has studied it. Besides, it’s probably best not to investigate this matter.”

I thought to myself that in that era, tomb robbers were only concerned about survival. As long as they knew whether it was dangerous or not, they couldn’t afford to waste time pondering the origins of various strange phenomena.

The beginning section of the passage was relatively smooth, but soon we began to notice collapses and cracks in the ground. Many black stone slabs had been pried up, causing the ground to rise and fall. This was natural damage caused by tectonic activity. On either side of the passage, there were reinforced arch beams at intervals, each intricately carved with single dragons coiling around columns; many of them were cracked. I thought that without these reinforcements, this passage would have collapsed long ago.

We walked in silence for about seventy or eighty meters when Fatty suddenly stopped and pointed ahead. “A door?”

We all halted, shining our flashlights forward. At the end of the passage, there was a black stone tomb door. The eaves and tiles were carved with patterns of cloud dragons, grass dragons, and double lions playing with balls. The door appeared to be metallic, with a sheep carved on the left door and an unknown creature on the right. Upon closer inspection, the stone door was tightly shut, with the seams and bolts sealed with copper paste. However, on the left door, there was a hole the size of a basin in the sheep’s belly, and the cold wind was blowing out from there.

“This is not a door.” I pushed it, saying, “If it can’t be opened, it’s not a door. This is a sealing stone, built with large black stones and then sealed with molten copper to form a solid structure that resembles a door. The fat guy was right; this passage is a mule path, and it’s built this wide to facilitate the mules dragging these stones.”

The fat guy squatted down to look at the hole in the tomb door: “There’s a sealing stone in the tomb passage. It seems this passage is quite important, leading to the center of the underground palace. The path is correct; that marking seems to really be guiding us. And the hole is already made; they’ve gone inside.” As he spoke, he leaned in halfway, extending his flashlight inside to illuminate the situation.

We asked him what he saw inside. He said, “It’s still the tomb passage; there’s another sealing stone inside. It seems the Emperor Wannu lacked a sense of security since childhood.”

I said, “What nonsense! Your door has three locks, right? There are at least three sealing stones; in a world of three thousand, do you understand?”

The fat guy didn’t hear what I said; he placed the flashlight inside and squeezed through the hole in the door, arriving on the opposite side of the sealing stone. I heard him stutter and mumble to himself, “Damn, it’s cold.”

Panzi handed him the gun and crawled in after him. I followed behind, while Shunzi brought up the rear, and we all crawled into the hole. Sure enough, it was still the tomb passage, and the temperature was even lower than on the other side, making us feel tight all over. Right in front was another sealing stone, but this one was simpler, lacking the eaves of the outer one. A hole had also been blasted into this sealing stone, larger than the previous one.

We didn’t stop and continued to crawl past; the tomb passage continued on, and in front of us was another sealing stone with a hole in it.

“Damn, is this ever going to end?” the fat guy muttered.

I replied, “This is normal. Typical sealing stones weigh seven to eight tons, and a longer tomb passage might have six or seven layers of sealing stones. These are relatively good; their thickness might only be half. Our ancestors didn’t have explosives, so they had no way to deal with these sealing stones blocking the paths in ancient tombs.”

As we spoke, we passed through the last sealing stone and found ourselves at a crossroads. Another tomb passage intersected with ours at a right angle, and this intersecting passage was wider by half and much taller than the one we were in.

We gradually made our way to the center of the crossroads and discovered that this passage was not the same black as before, but a bright red. It was adorned with numerous vibrant murals that almost blended together, covering even the areas that the flashlight couldn’t reach, including the ceiling of the passage, which was also filled with colorful paintings.

I exclaimed, “This must be the main tomb passage, leading directly to the coffin chamber, the central axis of the entire underground palace. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be decorated so lavishly.”

“Enough with the admiration; we’re thieves. The same old problem—where do we go now?” the fat guy asked. “Quick, see if there are any guiding markings nearby!”

After several crossings in the narrow passage, we had long since lost our sense of direction. To distinguish which end of this main tomb passage led to the center of the underground palace and which led to the main tomb door, we could only rely on the hints left by those who came before us; otherwise, we’d have to flip a coin to decide.

Our flashlight beams swept back and forth in the tomb passage, searching for those symbols. The red murals emitted an unsettling light, reminiscent of the style we had seen before entering the mountains, in the crevices of the hot springs—depicting celestial chariots and beautiful maidens, seemingly devoid of any special meaning. Of course, if one were to consult an archaeologist, they could probably elaborate on some significance, but to us, murals without narrative quality were purely decorative; we couldn’t decipher their symbolic meanings.

After searching for a while, Panzi suddenly let out a sound and beckoned us over. As we gathered around, we indeed discovered another symbol carved into the corner of the tomb passage wall.

“This is going to save us some trouble; we’ve encountered a live Lei Feng from the tomb-raiding world,” the胖子 said. “We just need to follow this path.”

At that moment, I shook my head because I noticed that this symbol was already different from the few we had seen before.

4 3 月 2025

155 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 25 – Monkey Head Roast

Panzi noticed that I looked unwell and suggested I take a break. I was indeed feeling a bit overwhelmed, so I sat down on a wine vat to catch my breath. The others tidied up their gear again, while Shunzi, who had never been to such a place, picked up a cold firecracker and curiously looked around. He said, “I really had no idea that there was such a place buried in Changbai Mountain. This time, I’ve really learned something new.”

“There’s more down there that you haven’t seen,” Panzi said. “I suspect that the treasures the Jin Dynasty plundered from the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, along with the tributes from the Southern Song, either fell into Genghis Khan’s hands or are definitely in this place.”

“Don’t think too optimistically,” the Fatty said. “Most of the tributes from the Southern Song were silks and satins. These things don’t keep well and are hard to sell. Even if there are some left, they’re probably mostly rotten by now. We shouldn’t always be fixated on the treasures in the tomb; it’s better to consider the immediate benefits.”

As he spoke, he started to examine the wine vats, trying to move one to see what was written on the bottom.

I told him, “These vats are too crude; don’t bother. Even if you gave them away, no one would want them for selling sheep offal or pickled vegetables.”

The Fatty said, “Who said I was interested in this vat? Don’t think your Fat Grandpa only likes valuable items.” He used a dagger to break the seal on one vat of wine, and a peculiar smell immediately wafted out. It wasn’t exactly fragrant, nor was it foul; after smelling it for a while, it became quite intriguing, though I had no idea what kind of wine it was.

I had read about ancient tomb wines in many texts, but this was the first time I had seen it in person, so I was curious and leaned in to take a look. The wine was black and very pure, with almost all the moisture gone, leaving only half a vat. Anyone who knows wine would recognize this as a characteristic of aged wine; this half vat contained the essence of the wine, which was indeed tempting. However, considering how long it had been stored, I wondered what its shelf life had been at the time.

I remembered that the oldest wine in China was unearthed from a tomb dating back to the late Shang Dynasty in Henan in 1980 and is currently housed in the Palace Museum, with an estimated history of over 3,000 years. I heard that when it was opened, the aroma immediately overwhelmed several people; I wondered if those people had tasted it at the time, as that would have been a good reference.

The Fatty dipped his knife into it, wanting to take a sip, but I grabbed his arm. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? It’s expired food; be careful of food poisoning.”

The Fatty replied, “You don’t understand. Cave-aged wine can last for thousands of years without going bad. I’ve heard that the dregs from a thousand-year-old wine can even grant immortality. Our ancestors used to dig for treasures, and some even went for that wine. Tasting it won’t be a problem; the worst that can happen is a stomachache.”

Before he could finish, Panzi came over and kicked over the vat of wine with a ‘thud’, spilling the black liquid and the dregs all over the ground. A rich, strange aroma immediately filled the air. The Fatty was about to explode with anger when Panzi said to him, “Hold on, don’t get mad just yet. Look at what’s in the dregs!”

The Fatty and I turned to see that inside the black, mud-like dregs, there were many dark red, fluffy substances that looked like scraps of low-quality blankets—something we often see in waterlogged coffins.

The Fatty poked at it with his dagger, and his expression changed. I leaned in to take a closer look, and suddenly, my scalp tingled, and I felt a wave of intense nausea, almost ready to throw up.

The red, fluffy substance is the body of an infant that hasn’t fully decomposed; the flesh has completely dissolved into the alcohol, but the skin and bones remain, forming a clump that looks like shredded cotton.

Panzi looked at us, who were dumbfounded, squatted down, and said, “This kind of liquor is called ‘Monkey Head Wine.’ This isn’t human; it’s an underdeveloped monkey. It’s a type of wine from Guangxi, possibly a stored wine that was offered as tribute during the heyday of the Jurchens in the Jin Dynasty to the Southern Song.” As he spoke, he patted the fat man and, using a dagger, poked at the clump of ‘cotton,’ making a gesture as if to invite someone to partake. “I don’t know if it can grant you immortality, but I’ve heard it has great effects on enhancing virility, so don’t hold back.”

The fat man disgustedly swatted it away with his knife, cursed, and asked Panzi, “How do you know so much? Have you drunk this wine before?”

“I’ve seen this kind of jar in Nanguo, Shanxi. At that time, Dakuai and another buddy of ours took out a jar. I always thought it was inappropriate, so I didn’t touch it, but they didn’t care. In the end, they drank it down to the bottom before discovering what was underneath. Later, Dakuai ended up in the hospital for two months because of it.” Speaking of Dakuai, Panzi became somewhat sentimental: “I’ve actually been quite nice to you guys. If I really wanted to harm you, I would wait for you to take a sip before knocking over the jar. You’d have a real show to watch.”

The fat man’s face twitched; he wanted to explode but had no excuse, looking quite comical.

At that moment, the cold flames gradually extinguished, and darkness enveloped us. We turned on our flashlights again, and the atmosphere around us suddenly became oppressive.

After resting for a moment, we resumed our journey. The fat man wanted his beloved rifle back and pulled the bolt, which is actually a habitual action for those with guns to boost their courage. He glanced at the two sides of the tomb passage and quietly asked, “Which way should we go?”

We all paused, and at that moment, Shunzi pointed to the left. “This way seems a bit safer.”

In situations like this, it would usually be Panzi and me responding, but now Shunzi popped up with a remark, leaving the fat man confused. “Why?”

Shunzi shone the flashlight on the ground at the entrance of the left passage, and we saw that in a very discreet spot, there was an inscription of a foreign character. “I just happened to see this. I think someone is trying to guide you,” he said to us.

4 3 月 2025

154 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 24 – The Underwater Drainage.

The square hole is about half a person’s height, roughly shaped, and surrounded by stones the size of watermelons. There are quite a few stones inside as well, indicating that someone has previously blocked this hole. Inside the square hole, it is pitch black, and it’s unclear where it leads, resembling the reservoir culverts we often see in the south.

Among the pile of stones on one side of the square hole, there is a relatively flat stone with some words crudely carved into it. The engraving is very shallow and appears to have been done in a hurry. If it weren’t for the fact that those words are in English letters, they would look very out of place in this royal tomb, and even Shunzi might not have noticed them. Unfortunately, the content of the carving is completely unrecognizable.

I wondered if it was something my third uncle had carved to guide us. However, my third uncle’s English is quite unreliable; it’s not his style to come up with such a code in English.

Fatty curiously walked closer to take a look and suddenly exclaimed, waving at me, “Xiao Wu, these twisted English letters seem familiar. I think we’ve seen them somewhere before.”

I walked over, and just one glance made my heart skip a beat. It wasn’t just a feeling; we had indeed seen these symbols before. They were the same ones that Fatty had spotted on the wall of the pool when we were in the underwater tomb. After seeing this symbol, the Mysterious Oil Bottle had rushed down into that pool, and then he recalled what had happened in the underwater tomb. Why were they suddenly appearing here again?

At that time, I had always thought that this symbol was carved by one of the people my third uncle brought down with Wenjin, but its sudden reappearance here clearly indicated something was amiss.

Looking at the carving marks, it was evident that they had been made haphazardly with a climbing pick, and the marks were so fresh that they must either have been left by my third uncle or by the Mysterious Oil Bottle or An Ning, as only these few people would have had a climbing pick. The person who left this symbol must have already entered the square hole.

At that moment, a thought suddenly struck me: could it be that the English symbol in the underwater tomb was carved by the Mysterious Oil Bottle? That would explain why he recognized it and said, “I’ve been to this place.”

There was indeed a possibility of that, and when he reappeared, I would have to ask him.

Seeing me in a daze, Panzi asked what was going on. I shared with him and Fatty what we had encountered in the underwater tomb, and Panzi also found it intriguing. However, he said, “I’ve been with Third Master for ten years, and I’ve been to at least fifty tombs, some of them quite large. I’ve never seen him leave a code, and Third Master can’t even fully recognize the ABCs, so this definitely isn’t left by him.”

I thought to myself that it must be An Ning or the Mysterious Oil Bottle. I turned to them and said, “Regardless, it seems we’re on the right track. This hole has already been entered by someone, and the entrance to the underground palace should be right below us. Should we go in now?”

“Let’s go!” Fatty immediately replied, “What are we waiting for? There are several groups ahead of us. I’ve always been the vanguard; it’s just my luck to have you unfortunate kids trailing behind. Let’s not waste time; if we wait any longer, they’ll finish their business and come out, and we’ll have no face to compete with them.”

Panzi turned to me and asked, “Don’t worry about us; are you physically up for this?”

I nodded and said, “The Fatty is right; we can’t delay any longer. Anyway, when we encounter the Zongzi, even if I’m not injured, I’m still dead. Now that I am injured, I’ll just die a bit faster, so I’m not afraid.”

The Fatty, already taking off his backpack, clicked his tongue upon hearing this and said, “Can’t you say something more auspicious? Don’t you see where we’re going?”

I glared at him and said, “With you around, even if I put two door gods on my forehead, it wouldn’t help. You should take care of your own hands first.”

We each prepared our gear. Earlier, we had packed in a military style, but now we put the wind lamps and fuel into our bags, took out the cold smoke bombs, glow sticks, and explosives, and secured them to our tactical belts. The Fatty and Panzi each pulled back the bolts of their guns, removed the magazines, and loaded the bullets from the belt into the guns. After fully loading their ammunition, they secured their hunting knives and daggers.

The Type 54 pistol was too long and might not turn around in the square tunnel, so the Fatty handed the gun to Shunzi and took out a climbing pick instead. A few of us tested the brightness of our flashlights. The Fatty took out his gold-finding talisman, held it in his hand, and prayed to the sky.

Shunzi, also an expert with guns, took the weapon, familiarized himself with it with a few clicks, and felt a sense of nostalgia. He then said to us, “Gentlemen, I don’t know much about your line of work, but I want to remind you to be careful of snow worms when drilling holes on Changbai Mountain. If you sense something is off, stuff cotton in your ears first. At this time of year, their heads are still soft and can only drill into your ears. By summer, when their shells harden, they can drill directly into your skin, leaving two little tails sticking out. If you pull on the tails, they’ll break, and the whole worm will be stuck inside. You’ll have to dig out the wound to get it out. Also, these worms can drill into your anus, so be very careful when sitting.”

The Fatty gave Shunzi a disgusted look and instinctively tightened his belt, saying, “So now the worms have that habit too?”

Shunzi replied, “I’m not joking with you. If you get infected, figure out a way to deal with it yourself. Don’t come asking me.”

We felt a chill in our lower bodies and nodded. The Fatty took the lead and crawled into the square tunnel. We followed one after another, entering the ultimate unknown world underground.

Inside the square tunnel, we had to crouch down to walk. The tunnel was excavated in parallel, and we looked around as we moved. Because of the low height, we were moving very slowly. The rock floor here was very solid, and judging by the chisel marks, this tunnel was clearly dug using the most primitive methods. I wondered how long it took to build such a large-scale imperial tomb. It must have taken at least twenty years, right? Many emperors started working on their tombs as soon as they ascended the throne. Twenty years to excavate this tunnel seemed quite difficult; it seemed that the people who escaped back then must have been a large group.

The further we went in, the more traces we saw of people who had been there. There were multiple footprints from climbing shoes, but no sign of snow worms. However, I noticed some strange side tunnels at the top of the tunnel.

These tunnels were not large, only able to accommodate one person, and they curved at 180 degrees. After going straight up for a while, they would make a big turn downward, forming a curve like the number ‘9’. There seemed to be one of these tunnels every ten meters or so.

Since I entered this line of work, I have crawled through holes countless times, yet I have never seen a structure like this. From the perspective of construction accounting, the volume of work required to create these holes is almost equivalent to that of digging an entire tunnel. Therefore, there must be a compelling reason for these holes to exist; otherwise, it would be uneconomical. However, I really cannot see the value of these holes.

Later, Panzi said to me, “Young Master San, have you noticed that this tunnel looks a bit familiar?”

“Familiar?” I paused and turned to ask him why he thought so.

Panzi replied, “When we were at Guazi Temple in Shandong, the corpse hole we passed through, wasn’t the entrance tunnel similar to this one? That old man hid in the hole above to harm us, right?”

When he said this, I looked closely at the top of the hole. Back in Shandong, I was so scared that I didn’t pay much attention to the top of the corpse hole and the water thief hole, and now I couldn’t compare. However, since Panzi mentioned it, there must be some truth to it. I was curious and asked him, “Are you sure?”

Panzi was not entirely sure; he said, “We only learned from that old man’s words that there was a hole above. When we passed through, it was pitch black, and we didn’t notice anything.”

I stopped and carefully examined these side holes, and I quickly understood their purpose. I said, “That corpse hole was also a water thief hole, right?”

Panzi nodded in agreement. I continued, “These side holes are actually for breathing. You see, when water fills this drainage channel, the curved structure of the side holes retains air within them. Thus, you can swim for a while, then stick your head into a side hole to take a breath before continuing.”

Panzi exclaimed in surprise, “What a clever method! So, this drainage channel was indeed underwater back then?”

I replied, “Pretty much. It seems that the water thief hole at Guazi Temple might have also been dug by Wang Canghai’s people.” But then I realized that this didn’t quite add up. That thief hole was ancient; Uncle San speculated it was dug during the Warring States period, possibly when King Shāng of Lu went into the mountains to build his tomb. Could it be that Wang Canghai saw it later and borrowed the techniques of the ancients? That was indeed quite possible.

We walked for a long time, and I had no idea how far we had come. The drainage channel gradually widened, and we finally saw an exit. We crawled out, and in front of us was a very deep irrigation ditch, about ten meters deep and five to six meters wide, with no water left in it.

I examined the situation of the irrigation ditch and said, “This is a water diversion channel. The water from the city moat is diverted here to ensure that the water remains fresh and does not stink, while also preventing backflow.”

On both sides of the ditch were embankments wide enough for a person to walk on, with a stone bridge built over it. We carefully made our way across and reached the other side of the river. The fat guy asked how we would proceed now.

I said, “This channel is connected to the outside channel; it should count as one channel. We’ll follow the water.”

Panzi squatted down to look at the flow marks and pointed to one side, “Over there.”

We continued forward, and before long, we spotted a very regular square hole in the stone wall next to the embankment.

The胖子 lit a cold firework and threw it outside, illuminating the black stone slabs on the ground outside the square hole, which were clearly the sealing stones of the underground palace. The胖子 squeezed out and continuously lit many cold fireworks to throw around, then greeted us, prompting us to crawl out from the tunnel.

The place we emerged into was a tomb chamber built of black rock, not very high, but spacious enough for a person to barely stand upright. The walls of the tomb were neatly lined with many jars, likely used for burial offerings, each about half a person’s height. Roughly estimating, there were over a thousand jars, suggesting that the Emperor Wan Nu might have been a heavy drinker.

On the black walls, there were some simple relief sculptures depicting scenes of the emperor hosting banquets. The reliefs were not well-preserved, possibly due to the connection of this place to the outside world. Although the volcanic gases here were not as deadly as Panzi claimed, their corrosiveness was certainly stronger than ordinary air. The fact that the murals had survived at all was a miracle, but unfortunately, the preserved images could only be seen in a general sense.

On the left and right walls of the tomb chamber, there were stone gates, behind which lay dark, gloomy passageways. A cold wind blew out from inside, and the胖子 picked up two cold fireworks, throwing one inside without seeing the end.

4 3 月 2025

153 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 23 – Boring Code

Xuanwu Rejecting Corpses! What a load of nonsense about Xuanwu rejecting corpses.

After I figured it out, everything became clear, and I couldn’t help but laugh. It was completely a misunderstanding. The four characters my third uncle mentioned were not those four characters at all. Because of our preconceived notions about burial scriptures, as soon as we heard four characters that sounded similar, we immediately made the connection. Just as I had anticipated, this code was not really a code at all. My third uncle used a very clever method to convey this almost straightforward statement in front of others, but the real meaning was something only I could understand.

It seems my third uncle had long thought of this; not everyone who came with me to this royal tomb was necessarily someone he arranged. A few people noticed the drastic change in my expression and immediately knew that I had come to a realization, so they hurriedly asked me what I had thought of.

I explained, “We really misunderstood. The main reason my third uncle said this sentence is something I can understand is not because of our commonalities, but because I grew up in Hangzhou.”

A few people still didn’t understand. The fat guy asked, “So, is this related to the scenery of Hangzhou? No way, I’ve been to Hangzhou, and I’ve never heard of a scenic spot called ‘Xuanwu Rejecting Corpses’!”

Panzi shook his head and said, “What are you talking about? It definitely has nothing to do with the scenery. Just because someone grew up in Hangzhou doesn’t mean they are familiar with its famous landmarks. Look at our Third Master; he has settled in Hangzhou for almost ten years, and he only knows about West Lake. Last time he took us to Baoshi Mountain for tea, he got us lost, and by the time it was dark, we ended up at Yuquan.”

I nodded; indeed, I am also that kind of person. Who says that someone who deals with antiques must love historical sites? I haven’t visited many attractions either.

The fat guy frowned and said to me, “So it has nothing to do with the scenery? Then what the heck does it mean? Just tell me directly; I’m dying of anxiety here.” He wiped his sweat as he spoke.

I didn’t want to keep him in suspense, so I said, “It’s very simple. Although someone who grew up in Hangzhou might not be familiar with the scenery, they definitely—can understand the local dialect of Hangzhou. That is the key point.”

Everyone was stunned for a moment, clearly starting to grasp something, but still not fully understanding. The fat guy asked, “Is it about pronunciation?”

I nodded. Among the few people here, only I was proficient in the Hangzhou dialect. Panzi had spent years in Changsha; he could understand some Hangzhou dialect, but if you went deeper, he couldn’t keep up. The fat guy had a Beijing accent, and it was obvious he had been mingling in Beijing for a long time. As for Shunzi, he was even less capable; he couldn’t even speak Mandarin fluently. If my third uncle spoke in the Hangzhou dialect, only I would be able to understand.

Unfortunately, Shunzi, due to his poor Chinese, only remembered the pronunciation and didn’t catch the tonal changes between the earlier words and the latter part. So, when he pronounced it, it turned into a completely nonsensical phrase.

Panzi slapped his own head and said, “Damn, I really didn’t think of that. What does ‘Xuanwu Rejecting Corpses’ mean when pronounced in the Hangzhou dialect? That seems hard to pronounce too.”

I smiled and said, “Let me analyze it for you. In fact, Uncle Three’s coded message isn’t just four words, but rather ‘the land where Xuanwu rejects corpses,’ which is six characters. The first character ‘Xuan’ is pronounced similarly to ‘yuan’ in Hangzhou dialect, and it also resembles ‘yan.’ The pronunciation of ‘wu’ is the same as that of ‘hu,’ but in Hangzhou, ‘hu’ can refer to both a lake and a river. The characters ‘ju’ and ‘qu’ are pronounced the same, ‘shi’ sounds like ‘shui,’ ‘zhi’ and ‘zhi’ sound alike, and ‘di’ and ‘di’ are homophones as well. Put together, it means—’along the river and canal to the bottom!'”

As soon as I finished explaining, a few people exclaimed ‘ah’ and showed a look of realization. The fat man nodded, clearly finding my translation quite reasonable and without flaws.

Panzi clicked his tongue and murmured, “Uncle Three is indeed Uncle Three. If Chen Pi Ah Si heard this, he would never have thought it meant this; he would definitely rack his brains trying to figure out what ‘Xuanwu rejects corpses’ means.”

“River and canal water?” After a while, the fat man said, “But there are no rivers or canals here. Would there be a river in the royal tomb?”

I replied, “There definitely wouldn’t be a river in the tomb. There could be springs, but there shouldn’t be a river because the water level of a river is uncontrollable. If the water is too high, it would flood; if it’s too low, it would lose its flow, and river water would expose the location of the ancient tomb. The ‘river and canal’ mentioned here might refer to the city moat.”

The flesh on Panzi’s face trembled with excitement as he said, “So we stumbled onto the right path by accident?”

“I can’t say for sure,” I shook my head. After all, I had never been inside a royal tomb and didn’t know what the situation was like inside. However, based on the current signs and everything I had seen in the past, my analysis still made sense.

“If the ‘river’ refers to the city moat, then the ‘canal’—it can’t possibly be that one we just saw,” the fat man stood up and looked toward the side where the stone figurines lined the burial trench. It seemed to fit perfectly with Uncle Three’s coded message. We all turned our heads, our hearts racing.

“However,” Panzi looked a bit uncertain, “there’s no water in that canal.”

I shook my head and said, “Uncle Three hadn’t entered this royal tomb at that time. What he said was probably just a hint he got from somewhere else, possibly from some ancient texts or maps. The person who created such maps or texts probably never imagined that one day, the city moat would have no water at all.”

The rocks piled up on the riverbank showed signs of corrosion, indicating that there must have been water in this river before. However, after a thousand years, the source of the river water—whether it was an underground river or a hot spring—might have dried up. Without replenishment, the river water gradually seeped underground, leaving nothing behind.

The fat man couldn’t hold back any longer. With a ‘click,’ he pulled back the gun’s bolt and tilted his head at us, saying, “Comrades, our personal interests and revolutionary interests are perfectly aligned. What are we waiting for? Let’s go all out together!”

This time, we couldn’t find any reason to refute the fat man’s suggestion. However, he was clearly too eager to set off immediately. Panzi pulled him down and said, “Since we have a lead now, there’s no rush. Look at how badly Little Third Master is injured; he hasn’t even recovered yet. Do you want to go alone, or do you want us to leave him here to wait for death?”

The fat guy was taken aback for a moment, realizing it made sense, but he was really burning with desire. He patted Shunzi and said, “Let’s go scout it out first. The early bird gets the worm. You two can rest here, and I guarantee what we get will be no less than what that old Third Master gave you.”

To his surprise, Shunzi shook his head and said, “Boss, my task is to bring him,” pointing at me, “to your Third Master. After that, I don’t care about your lives or deaths, but right now I have to keep an eye on him.”

I chuckled and said to the fat guy, “Now you know who the big shot is around here, right?”

The fat guy spat in annoyance and said, “Fine, you all rest here. I’ll go by myself. Wait until I come back with some treasures; I want to see if you’ll be envious. Let me be clear: whatever I find is mine, and I won’t share it with any of you!”

With that, he picked up his gun and walked off. But after taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, hesitated, and turned back. We all burst into laughter, asking him what he was doing, and why he was backing down.

The fat guy huffed and kicked his backpack aside, sitting down across from the wind lamp. “What do you mean I’m scared? You actually want me to go! I’m not that foolish. Once I find something, you three will rush over to grab it. A fierce tiger can’t fight off a pack of wolves; I’d be giving you an advantage. Who knows, you might even conspire to rob me of my life and wealth. I’m not going to engage in such foolish business!”

Seeing that the fat guy was still in a bad mood, Panzi took the opportunity to mock him, saying, “This is called a petty mindset. Do you think we’re all like you?”

I was worried he might take it too seriously, so I interrupted them, saying, “Alright, enough of that. It’s getting close to midnight. Although we can’t see the sky here, we need to make the most of our time to rest.”

Panzi glanced at his watch and nodded. He turned up the wind lamp, making the surroundings warm, then pulled out an inflatable sleeping bag and inflated it. Soon, several of us crawled inside.

The fat guy lit a cigarette, saying he couldn’t sleep and would take the first watch. I looked at him and warned, “Just don’t go off by yourself in the middle of the night looking for treasures. You can take whatever you want once you’re in the mysterious palace, but don’t underestimate this place.”

The fat guy was furious, saying, “Am I that kind of person? I’ll keep watch and ensure your safety.”

We were exhausted from the journey. By the time we reached the snow peak, it was already evening. We had been in the ice-covered palace for almost ten hours, equivalent to a full day and night of strenuous labor, which included climbing, sprinting, jumping, and falling during failed jumps. Just thinking about it made me tired; as soon as I got into the sleeping bag, I quickly fell asleep.

I slept soundly. Since I was an injured party, I wasn’t assigned to keep watch. When I woke up, it was still pitch black around me, and the wind lamp had dimmed significantly. Panzi had taken over the watch from the fat guy, who was snoring like thunder.

I checked the time; I had only slept for five hours. However, when you’re seriously injured, sleep quality is usually very good due to the body’s strong need for repair. I was basically in a semi-comatose state, but when I woke up, my mind was clear, though my body felt even more fatigued, with severe aches in my back and waist.

I rubbed my face and crawled out of the sleeping bag, stretching my limbs while telling Panzi to get some sleep. He replied that it wasn’t necessary; he was used to not sleeping more than three hours a day when not in bed in Vietnam.

I ignored him and sat down on another stone, lighting up a cigarette to clear my mind. The two of us fell silent for a while, and suddenly Panzi asked me if I could estimate how Uncle San was doing now. Was anything wrong?

Seeing his expression, I could tell he was genuinely concerned and worried, which made me feel a bit emotional. Logically speaking, someone like Panzi, who had come down from the battlefield and had seen so much death and parting, shouldn’t have such deep feelings. But in reality, Panzi’s loyalty and trust towards that old man made me, his own nephew, feel ashamed. I had no idea what had happened between Panzi and Uncle San in the past, but I really wanted to ask him about it when I had the chance.

I reassured him, saying, “Don’t worry. That old fox will definitely take care of himself. A person like him is tough. If something were to happen, it wouldn’t have waited until now. We just need to take care of ourselves for now. At this stage, we should be the ones worrying others, because we still know nothing.”

Panzi nodded, sighed, and said a bit regretfully, “It’s a pity my mind isn’t sharp. I can never understand what Third Master does. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have to do such dangerous things himself; I could just go.”

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly. I thought to myself that what Uncle San was doing wasn’t necessarily very dangerous. In fact, I felt that we were the ones in the most danger, always following Uncle San and guessing his intentions, getting led around by him. If this continued, no matter how lucky we were, we would eventually get caught.

For example, this time, from the clues Uncle San gave us about the entrance to the underground palace, it seemed he had something on him that allowed him to know the structure of this tomb in advance. “Along the river channel to the bottom” is a phrase in Classical Chinese; Uncle San doesn’t speak in that tone, so this phrase must come from ancient texts. And according to Shunzi, Uncle San entered the snow mountain alone, clearly not falling into the hands of Aning and the others. If he successfully entered this volcano, he very likely was already in the underground palace of the royal tomb.

It can be inferred that the “thing” that allowed him to know the structure of the tomb in advance should be related to his purpose for going to the Xisha Islands a few months ago. This could also explain why Aning’s company appeared here; their target was likely not the underwater tomb, but the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace here, collaborating with Uncle San to go to the Xisha Islands, only to search for clues about the underground royal tomb of Changbai Mountain in the underwater tomb.

And Aning had been separated from us for a long time in the ancient underwater tomb. While we were exhausted and driven crazy by the traps and mechanisms, what had this woman been doing in the back hall? Had she, like Uncle San, also obtained the key to the underground royal tomb here? We couldn’t know for sure, but the well-equipped corpses we saw in the front hall proved that Aning’s team had arrived here before us. According to Shunzi, their large team should never have passed through the border defense line, yet they came through unscathed, indicating they must have known a secret route that no one else did.

This at least proves that Aning and her team knew things we didn’t.

This is the absolute difference between us and them. We are completely ‘ignorant’; we have no way of estimating what awaits us in the underground palace, which is actually the worst situation. However, we must continue moving forward and cannot choose to retreat; this is the worst of the worst.

I did not share any of this with them because, for Panzi, Uncle San is everything. Whatever Uncle San asks him to do, he must do it without questioning the motives. For Shunzi, he is completely an outsider; this is a transaction to him, and he only cares about the final outcome. As for Fatty, it’s even simpler; he came here for the “Jialama,” and the things in the tomb are the key. To him, our Uncle San is just a synonym for trouble. These analyses seem only useful to me, and only one person is in a state of confusion.

The others live so simply that it makes me feel a bit envious for the first time.

After chatting about other topics for a while, Panzi asked me how my body was holding up. I checked and found that after some sleep, I felt much better. At that moment, I could probably manage to walk on my own without assistance, but clearly, fighting was still out of the question. Panzi suggested it would be better to rest a bit longer, as it was rare for it to be so quiet here, and it seemed quite safe. Once we enter the underground palace, we probably won’t have such an opportunity again.

I thought he was right and wanted to crawl back into my sleeping bag for a nap, but I couldn’t fall asleep. Fatty kept mumbling in a dialect I couldn’t understand, seemingly haggling with someone. When he got particularly animated, Panzi threw a stone at him. It hit Fatty, and he immediately quieted down, but after a while, he started again, making it very noisy. When I was tired, I couldn’t hear any of this, but now, as I was trying to sleep, it was quite bothersome.

With my eyes closed, I endured for another two hours, but then Panzi threw a stone that was too big and woke Fatty up. At that point, no one could sleep anymore, and Shunzi was also disturbed.

After packing up our things and having a bit of dry food, we walked back to the sacrificial channel we had seen earlier. The decayed black stone figurines still stood silently there, forming a long line that extended into the endless darkness on both sides.

I was helped down into the sacrificial channel, and as I stepped in, I was surrounded by the figurines. From above, they seemed less imposing, but once I was down among them, they were at my height, and the surrounding dark shadows generated a strong sense of unease within me.

Fatty shone his flashlight in both directions and asked me, “Your Uncle San told us to follow the water, but there’s no water here now. Where should we go?”

I looked at Panzi. He had participated in the special warfare phase during the Sino-Vietnamese War and should have some knowledge about such things.

Panzi approached one of the figurines, touched the cracks on it, and pointed in the direction the figurine was facing. “Look at the traces of water flow on the stone; that way should be downstream.”

Fatty leaned in closer but couldn’t make sense of it and skeptically said, “Life and death are at stake; don’t just say anything.”

Panzi ignored him, reminding us to be careful, and several of us began to follow the channel into the darkness of the moat.

I have no idea about the length of the moat. When I looked at it with a flare from the cliff, the entire imperial city appeared as a distant view; we could only see the tops of the buildings, while the moat was obscured by the dense dead trees surrounding it. When we were on the bridge above, the light from the flashlight was insufficient to illuminate everything in the darkness. So we walked straight along the sacrificial channel for about half an hour, but the utterly silent bottom of the moat still seemed endless.

The sacrificial channel was uneven, with several sections where the figurines inside were severely shattered, as if something enormous had stepped on them. The hard, unknown stone material was crushed to pieces. I even noticed that beneath the bottom of the channel, the heads and limbs of figurines occasionally appeared, suggesting that there was still a layer of such remains buried in the soil beneath the sacrificial channel.

One might think that this channel was originally meant to be buried, but for some reason, the construction was halted, leaving so many figurines unburied.

As we walked deeper, it grew darker. Initially, the flashlight reflected off the riverbank, providing at least some reference points, but as we continued, even the towering riverbank disappeared from view, leaving us surrounded by darkness. We couldn’t help but slow our pace. Panzi reminded us to stay alert and not to get distracted.

At that moment, the chubby guy in the front stopped. Just as we were about to move closer, we saw him gesture for us to stop.

I walked over to him and followed his flashlight. I noticed that we had reached the end of the sacrificial channel; the line of figurines had vanished, and before us was a massive stone riverbank. We must have reached the other side of the moat. On the riverbank, there seemed to be a large carving resembling the Leshan Giant Buddha, but the flashlight couldn’t reveal the full picture, so I didn’t know what it was. I could only see a square hole at the base of the riverbank, covered by rubble. Much of the stone had already been moved, revealing a dark entrance.

This was similar to the passage we had entered earlier; this hole was also one of the secret passages dug by the craftsmen during the construction of the tomb. It was the only exit they had after the underground palace was sealed.

“Is this another reverse tunnel?” Panzi exclaimed in surprise. “How could the opening be here? That’s impossible!”

“How can it be impossible?” the chubby guy asked. “You didn’t build it.”

Panzi replied, “This was underwater back then. Do you think those craftsmen were all fish?”

I waved my hand to quiet them. At that moment, Shunzi said with a ‘hey,’ “Come look, there’s something here.”

As he shone the flashlight over, we saw that there were some characters carved into the stone on one side of the square hole.

4 3 月 2025

152 Yunding Tiangong (Part 2) – Chapter 22 – Burial Canal

If I hadn’t been dazed from the fall, I might have suggested that we go take a look, but seeing the deep darkness in the distance, I held my tongue. The胖子 (Fatty) didn’t sense my fear and asked, “You have a point. So where are they going? Why don’t we go take a look? After all, this river isn’t that long.”

Panzi immediately shook his head in disagreement, saying, “We can’t afford to waste any time. Young Master San is injured; if something else happens, we won’t even be able to run. We shouldn’t spend our energy here. We still don’t know what the message from San Ye means. Instead of complicating things, we should take this opportunity to think carefully about where the entrance to the underground palace that San Shu mentioned is. Besides, those strange birds don’t seem to be flying down.”

This was exactly what I thought, so I nodded immediately. Then I coughed a few times to indicate that I was seriously injured. Shunzi also remained silent. Seeing us like this, Fatty couldn’t help but feel a bit frustrated. He shrugged and said, “Forget it then.”

Shunzi led them up the stone statue channel, and we returned to the place where I had fallen. Panzi took out a wind lamp from his backpack, lit it to warm us up, and I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything for almost a day. My stomach immediately growled, so the four of us sat down to eat a bit of dry food.

When we opened our luggage, we discovered that most of our food was actually in the bags of Chen Pi Ah Si’s group. The food we had on us was clearly insufficient, especially for Fatty, who had basically run out of food after this meal. However, almost all the equipment was with us, like ropes, grappling hooks, fire-starting tools, and other essential exploration gear.

Panzi checked and said to us, “It seems that Chen Pi Ah Si put some thought into distributing our gear. All the equipment is carried by our people, while the food is carried by theirs. This way, neither side can let the other down, and neither can run off on their own. I really didn’t notice this tactic.”

Fatty mocked, “What the hell did you notice? Fortunately, I never expected anything from you and your San Ye. Every time I run into you guys, it’s bound to be a losing deal. I predicted this day would come back on the train.”

Panzi spat and said, “Shut up with your sarcastic remarks. You’re not exactly a good person either. If you hadn’t caused us trouble, I’d be grateful just for that.”

Shunzi, worried that they would start arguing, said, “Gentlemen, if you have the energy to argue, why not think about what your San Shu meant by that statement?”

I also gave Panzi a nudge to calm him down and asked Shunzi, “When San Shu came to find you, what was the situation? You need to tell us in detail. That one sentence is too vague; we haven’t even entered the royal tomb yet, and we really don’t know how to think about it.”

As soon as I asked, Fatty and Panzi quieted down and turned to look at Shunzi together.

Shunzi sat down, furrowing his brows and said, “That was probably about a month ago. At that time, I was also taking some guests up the mountain, though not as intensely as you guys did. We were just walking around, looking at the snow-capped mountains. Your third uncle was mingling among those guests, and later, when we were spending the night on the mountain, he suddenly called me out, looking all mysterious. He said he wanted to go up the snow mountain alone and told me not to mention it to anyone else. Then he gave me some money and asked me to wait for someone named Wu Xie at the foot of the mountain around this time. He said as long as I could bring you guys to him, I would get a big sum of money. That’s the hint he gave me at that time, and he emphasized that it was ‘you’—once I heard it, I understood immediately.”

“Did he really say that?” I asked.

Shunzi nodded, his expression very certain.

I found it a bit strange; it seemed like he was emphasizing the listener rather than the content of the message. As long as it was ‘me’ who heard it, I could understand right away. Did I have some quality that set me apart from the others?

“How did you know to tell us all this after getting rid of Chen Pi and A Si?” Fatty asked.

Shunzi chuckled, revealing a completely different expression than before, and said, “I’m not an idiot. Your third uncle told me how many of you there were, saying that if the number was wrong, I could only pass the message to one person. The moment I saw you all, I felt that the atmosphere of your group was off, as if there were two different factions mixed together. At that time, I didn’t know what you were up to, so I had to play dumb and observe. After all, I had taken someone else’s money, and if things went wrong, it would be bad for you.”

Looking at Shunzi’s expression, I sensed a cunningness, and a knot formed in my heart. So it turned out that his earlier simplicity had been an act? Wow, people really can’t be judged by appearances. No wonder he became more composed as we went further; it was because he revealed his true self.

Panzi, being an old hand at this, suddenly turned serious and said, “It can’t be that simple. You seem to know more, don’t you?”

Shunzi smiled faintly and said, “I served in the military here before I retired, and I’ve walked the snow mountains a lot. My parents are ethnic Xian people who fled from North Korea during the 718 turmoil and hid in the mountains for several years. There are many legends about this mountain from ancient times, and we’ve encountered all sorts of strange events. Every year, countless people come into the mountains with various odd purposes. If you say I don’t know anything, I do know some things. So when I saw you heading towards this mountain, I guessed what you were up to.” He paused and gave me a meaningful look, “If it weren’t for your third uncle’s instructions, I definitely wouldn’t have let you go further at that spot where the avalanche occurred.”

Panzi looked at me, then at Fatty, and suddenly couldn’t find the words.

After a long pause, Panzi took out a cigarette and handed it over, saying, “Shunzi, I didn’t recognize the mountain for what it is. Now that we’re on the same side, here, have a smoke.”

Shunzi didn’t take the cigarette, looked up and said, “I’m a straightforward person, so let’s skip the small talk. I’m helping you not because I like you, but because I’m after money. That Third Uncle of yours promised me a sum that would be enough for two lifetimes, so I have to bring you in front of him no matter what. You should quickly figure out what that phrase means.”

Panzi felt awkward because of him and had no choice but to put the cigarette in his mouth, giving me a wry smile.

I asked Shunzi, “Can you repeat Third Uncle’s exact words from back then?”

Shunzi recalled and said, “He seemed to say this: ‘When Wu Xie arrives, tell him that the entrance to the underground palace is in the place where Xuanwu rejects corpses.’ Then I asked him what it meant, and he said just to say that, and if it was you, you’d definitely know.”

“It’s still the same,” I sighed, thinking that the key part of the whole sentence was ‘I’, but the truth is I didn’t understand that sentence at all. Where did Third Uncle get this confidence in me? Wasn’t he just setting me up?

Everyone looked at me with eager expressions, but I shook my head and sighed deeply.

Fatty, seeing that I was confused, asked, “Could it be that this hint is related to something that happened in your family before? Something only the Wu family would know?”

“That’s not quite right,” I replied. “I know Third Uncle’s personality. He’s not the type to give a super complicated code and then make us guess. Since he had Shunzi relay the message, it must be very clear. There must be some misunderstanding on our part.”

“However, since Third Uncle said it’s something ‘you’ can understand, not ‘we’, it must be a code related to a commonality between you two,” Panzi said. “Why not think about what commonalities you share?”

I felt that this was also somewhat unreliable, but at that moment, I had no other options, so I began to ponder.

The common points between me and Third Uncle aren’t many, and they must be specific to us. If Panzi and the others share them, they don’t count. For example, we are all men, and since Panzi is also a man, that doesn’t count. If we think about it, we all share the surname Wu, which should count as one, but that probably has nothing to do with the code.

Another thing is that we both have a somewhat offbeat reaction to women, but that’s quite vague; he would never admit it. Aside from that, if we talk about common points, the only thing is that both of us live in Hangzhou, and our main living area is Hangzhou.

Wait! When I thought of this, I suddenly felt a jolt, as if something had clicked in my mind. A spark of inspiration suddenly appeared in my brain—

‘Xuanwu rejects corpses’—Third Uncle’s hint—Hangzhou—’I’ would definitely understand—

I suddenly realized that these four characters actually meant this!

4 3 月 2025

151 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 21 – Moat

After landing for several minutes, I was completely dazed, my mind still unclear about what was happening, unsure if I was dead or alive. Suddenly, a sharp liquid surged up from my throat, backflowing into my airway, and I started coughing uncontrollably, blood spraying from my nose and trickling down to my chin.

It took me quite a while, about half a cigarette’s worth of time, to recover, feeling my senses gradually returning to my body. I sat up unsteadily, surrounded by complete darkness, unable to see anything. I felt the ground beneath me, which was covered in dry stones and sand; the bottom of the moat was dry. Fortunately, the stones were relatively flat; otherwise, I would have either died from the fall or injured myself severely.

My gas mask was cracked, and one of the lenses was shattered. I touched it and found that the entire mask had caved in. When I felt the front, I discovered a sharp stone where my face had hit. It seemed that I was lucky the mask had protected me; otherwise, my face would have been badly injured. However, the mask was now completely useless.

I struggled to unfasten the back strap and carefully removed it from my face. As soon as I held it in my hands, it fell apart into four pieces and could no longer be worn.

Without the mask, the sulfur smell in the air around me became even more intense, but after taking a few breaths, it seemed I wasn’t feeling too uncomfortable. It appeared that the toxic gas here wasn’t as severe as Panzi had said, or perhaps the air quality beneath the moat was still acceptable. I cursed under my breath, threw the mask onto the ground, spat out the blood left in my mouth, and looked up.

The moat was at least ten meters high, and the area above was shrouded in gray mist. I could only see the beams of flashlights from Fatty and the others shining down from above, moving around as if searching for me. I could also hear some shouting, but due to the buzzing in my ears from the moment I landed, I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

I tried to shout a few times, but as soon as I exerted myself, a tearing pain spread from my chest to the rest of my body, and my voice turned into a groan. I didn’t even know what I was saying or if I was making any sound at all.

To let Fatty and the others know I was still alive, I picked up the gas mask I had discarded earlier and began to hit it against the ground, making a ‘clap clap’ sound. The noise wasn’t loud, but in the quiet of the moat, it echoed sharply.

After a while, suddenly a cold smoke bomb was thrown down from above, landing beside me. I cursed and dodged it, then saw a head peeking out from the broken edge of the bridge; judging by the size, it seemed to be Fatty.

I crawled over, picked up the smoke bomb, and waved it at him. He immediately saw it and shouted, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying at all. I could only produce a few meaningless sounds. Fatty pulled his head back in, and shortly after, he threw down a rope that swayed down to the bottom of the riverbed. Fatty, carrying an automatic rifle, started to climb down.

Ten meters is about four to five stories high—not too high, but not too short either. Fatty quickly slid down to the bottom, let go of the rope, and first pointed his gun around to check for any movement. After confirming it was safe, he ran over, crouched down, and asked, “Are you alright?”

I said hoarsely and weakly, “It’s nothing? Why don’t you try falling once?”

When the fat guy saw that I could still joke around, he breathed a sigh of relief, whistled up to the top, and soon, Panzi and Shunzi came down carrying their gear.

They helped me up and first sat me down on a nearby rock to lean against. Then they had Shunzi hold me in place while they took out a first aid kit to check my condition.

Seeing the first aid kit made me feel a bit more at ease; I thought to myself that it was a good thing we were well-prepared. Panzi confirmed that I didn’t have any fractures, took out some bandages, and helped to dress the larger wounds. Then he scolded me, “I told you to stop, but you kept jumping. You’re lucky to be alive; otherwise, how would I explain this to Third Master?”

I was furious and retorted, “You’re blaming me? I was already in mid-air when you called to stop! This isn’t a videotape; you can’t rewind it!” Before I could finish my sentence, a sudden sharp pain twisted my chest, nearly causing me to contort in agony.

Panzi was startled and quickly pressed me down, telling me not to move. I gritted my teeth and wanted to curse him again, but the pain was so intense that I couldn’t even speak, only gasping for breath.

The fat guy handed me a water bottle and said, “But you’re lucky to be alive. At this height, with rocks below, most people would definitely either die or be crippled.”

I took the water bottle, thinking that it should be called being “cheaply alive.” I probably survived because I hit those two iron chains; I didn’t know if it was luck or misfortune. Lately, I kept encountering falling from heights, and somehow I always survived—it was really exhausting.

After drinking a few sips of water, I washed away the blood in my mouth, and my throat felt a bit better. I asked him what that thing was earlier, and Panzi said they clearly saw it this time; it was definitely a strange bird, and it was quite large—about the height of a person. Unfortunately, they didn’t hit it, or else they could have seen what it really was.

The fat guy said, “Damn, that’s eerie. The people I saw over by the divine path might have been this thing—a headbird, probably some kind of owl.”

Shunzi looked up and said, “Strange, those strange birds don’t seem to be flying down anymore.”

I also looked up, and sure enough, the invisible pressure from before had clearly vanished, and nothing was diving down anymore. “Is there something peculiar about this place that makes them afraid to come down?”

Panzi hesitated a bit, and the fat guy said, “How about this? I’ll go look around first. If there’s something wrong here, we need to head back up right away. You guys stay here; Xiao Wu, you should rest for a bit.”

I nodded, and Panzi said he would go with me, so the two of us went off in different directions.

Before long, the fat guy, who was searching on one side, whistled for us, as if he had discovered something.

Panzi raised his gun and looked towards the fat guy’s direction. We saw that he had walked far out along the bridge, and the beam of his flashlight was already dim. Within the range of his flashlight, we saw a large patch of black shadows behind him, as if many people were standing in the darkness far away. The shadows intertwined and stretched out in a continuous line, making it impossible to count how many there were.

We all went on high alert; Panzi clicked the safety off his gun, and Shunzi drew his hunting knife. Panzi shouted towards the fat guy, “What’s going on? What is it?”

The fat guy called back, “Come over and see for yourselves!”

Based on our earlier feelings on the bridge, the moat is nearly sixty meters wide and extends deep in all directions. Compared to the river’s absolute width, the place where the fatty is standing isn’t actually far from us, but due to the thick darkness surrounding us, we can’t see what he is illuminating with his flashlight at all. However, from the fatty’s tone, it seems there is no danger over there.

Shunzi looked at me and asked if I could walk and whether we should go take a look. I nodded, and he helped me up. We hobbled along, three of us limping towards the place where the fatty was.

The bottom of the moat was covered with uneven black stones, some of which were quite large. It was clear that the original construction was a massive project. The large area of interwoven black shadows illuminated by the fatty’s flashlight was right beneath the stone bridge above.

After a difficult trek to the fatty’s side, those shadows became clearer. I stepped closer and took the flashlight from the fatty to see what those things were.

At the spot where the fatty stood, the riverbed had a fault, and below this fault was a trench about a meter deep, roughly twenty meters wide. Countless life-sized ancient human and horse figurines, mixed with the remnants of bronze chariots, were arranged within the trench in a continuous stretch. As I approached a few of them, I could see that the surfaces of the human figurines were severely corroded, their faces indistinct and features unrecognizable. Many of the figurines were holding bronze vessels, which were also covered in greenish patches of decay.

Most of these figurines were standing closely together, while many had collapsed and were piled haphazardly. From my vantage point, illuminated by the flashlight, it seemed like the area was filled with these things—a vast expanse of dark shadows at the eerie base of the royal tomb, making it quite spine-chilling.

“What are these things?” Shunzi asked, dumbfounded as it was his first time seeing such sights.

“It seems these are burial figurines, and these are chariot and horse figurines, symbolizing the welcoming party or the procession during the emperor’s outings—” I stammered. “Strange, how the hell did these things end up here? Shouldn’t they be placed in the underground mausoleum or the burial pits?”

The fatty also found this puzzling. He knew this place was a royal tomb, not some childish game. The quantity of items in the underground mausoleum and the arrangement of all the burial goods in the burial pits were quite meticulous, unlike the tombs of ordinary nobles, which could be treated casually. Royal tombs emphasized grandeur and power; piling burial goods in the open like this was akin to a mouse stain on a piece of fine jade—a major taboo. If the emperor were to see this back then, it would surely lead to a family confiscation. Although Dongxia was a hidden little country on the fringes at that time, the renowned Wang Canghai, who built the tomb, would certainly not make such a basic mistake.

The fatty climbed down into the trench, holding his gun in one hand for protection while using the flashlight to illuminate a headless human figurine. He said to me, “The clothing seems to be from the Yuan dynasty, possibly from a minority group.” As he spoke, he reached out to touch it.

I warned him, “Don’t touch anything. These things are mysterious and placed here for a reason; there might be something amiss.”

The fat man scoffed, “What are you afraid of? Do you think they can come back to life?” However, my words had some effect; he withdrew his hand, slung the gun over his shoulder, and with one hand held the flashlight while the other drew the hunting knife from his waist. He jabbed the figure a few times, but it showed no reaction. Turning to me, he said, “Authentic stuff, stone people.”

Panzi, curious, climbed down into the trench and walked over to the fat man. I still felt a bit uneasy and said, “You guys be careful.”

The fat man waved his hand dismissively, indicating he didn’t want to talk to me. He sheathed the hunting knife and attempted to lift the nearest figure, asking, “Xiao Wu, you’re in this line of work. Are these things valuable or not?”

I nodded and told him, “These things have some worth. Not to mention the whole, even just parts can be valuable. I know a terracotta warrior’s head is worth 2 million, and that’s in U.S. dollars. Those horse heads are even rarer than human heads, so their price is hard to say.”

The fat man looked around with a regretful expression, saying, “What a pity, what a pity. These things are hard to carry—”

I still felt it was quite strange that these items should be here. People say that every object in an ancient tomb carries a story behind it. The presence of these items here must have some significance or story attached to them. What was the intention of the designer at that time?

From the distances on both sides, it appeared that these figures were standing in the trench located at the deepest part of the moat. When the royal tomb was newly constructed, these items should have been submerged at the bottom of the moat, hidden from view. The blurred faces of the figures were evidence that they had been long submerged in water. This means that once the royal tomb was completed, the people above would not have seen these things.

What significance was there in placing these figures here? Were they construction waste, defective products? Did the craftsmen lazily dump this rubbish into the moat? It didn’t seem so; they were arranged so neatly, not like a pile of rejects.

It was truly impossible to fathom the thoughts of the ancients. I sighed inwardly; if I hadn’t fallen, I wouldn’t have seen what was under the bridge at all. This was a stroke of luck—was it a sign from heaven?

At that moment, the fat man suddenly clicked his tongue and said, “Have you noticed that all the figures here are facing the same direction, making walking motions? It’s quite different from what we see in the market.”

I hadn’t noticed it before, but once the fat man pointed it out, I looked as he suggested, and indeed it was so.

It’s quite common for accompanying burial figures to be arranged facing the same direction; I had never seen such a chaotic arrangement. However, the walking motions the fat man mentioned were indeed very peculiar; I had never seen anything like it. I carefully shone the flashlight on the lower parts of the figures, and suddenly, a strange feeling surged up.

“These figures—” I furrowed my brow and said, “They seem to be marching.”

“Marching?” Panzi looked at me.

I nodded, “From the clothing of the figures on the carts, this appears to be a royal procession. Look at these horses, these carts, and the actions of these people; they are all heading towards the same place. The arrangement of these figures and their motions seem to depict a dynamic scene.”

We all looked in the direction the line of puppets was facing, and saw that this eerie procession extended deep into the darkness of the moat, making it impossible to discern their ‘destination’.

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160 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 30 – The Path of Shadows

159 Yunding Tiangong (Part 2) – Chapter 29 – The Expedition Team from Ten Years Ago

158 Yunding Tiangong (Part 2) – Chapter 28 – The Inexpressible Coffin

157 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 27 – A New Mark

156 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 26 – Mark

155 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 25 – Monkey Head Roast

154 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 24 – The Underwater Drainage.

153 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 23 – Boring Code

152 Yunding Tiangong (Part 2) – Chapter 22 – Burial Canal

151 Cloud Top Heavenly Palace (Part 2) – Chapter 21 – Moat

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分类目录归档：The Chronicles of the Tomb Robbers