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.