I thought he was trying to scare me, but looking at his expression and his personality, he didn't seem like that kind of person. The oil bottle kept making a "clucking" sound, but his mouth didn't move. The four of us looked at him, feeling so cold, thinking that it couldn't be possible, could it be that the oil bottle was actually a member of the Infernal Affairs?
Uncle San saw his horrified expression and pulled Pan Zi out. Suddenly, Menyouping stopped talking. The tomb was completely silent. I don't know how long it took. I was getting impatient and was about to ask him what was going on when the coffin suddenly flipped up and began to shake violently. Then a spooky and chilling sound came out of the stone coffin. The sound was very similar to what my grandfather described in his notes. It really sounded like the sound of frogs.
Da Kui was so frightened when he saw this that he sat down on the ground. My legs also went weak and I almost sat down. My third uncle had seen a lot of things in the world, so although his legs began to tremble, he didn't fall down.
When the oil bottle heard the sound, his face turned very ugly. He knelt down on the ground and kowtowed heavily to the coffin. When we saw it, we immediately followed suit and knelt down and kowtowed. The oil bottle raised his head and made a series of strange noises, as if he was chanting some kind of spell. Uncle San broke out in a cold sweat and whispered, "Is he talking to it?"
The sarcophagus finally stabilized and stopped shaking. Menyouping kowtowed again, then stood up and said to us: "We must leave here before dawn."
Uncle San wiped his sweat and asked, "Little brother, were you bargaining with this Zongzi Grandpa just now?"
Men You Ping made a gesture to stop asking: "Don't touch anything here anymore. The owner of this coffin is extremely powerful. If this is released, even the Great Luo Immortal will not be able to get out."
Pan Zi didn't know what was good for him, so he asked with a smile, "Hey, young man, what foreign language were you speaking just now?"
Menyouping ignored him and pointed to the passage behind the coffin, saying, "Go gently, don't touch the coffin!" Uncle San calmed down. To be honest, with such a person by our side, we were much braver. So we packed up our things, Uncle San led the way, Menyouping followed the last, we turned on the mining lamp and went straight down to the tunnel behind the coffin. When Da Kui walked past the coffin, he pressed his back against the wall and tried to keep a distance. He looked very funny, but I had no interest in laughing at him at this time.
The tomb passage slopes downwards, and there are inscriptions and stone carvings on both sides of the tomb passage. I took a look at them, but I didn't understand what they meant. In fact, I do rubbings and antique business, so I have some research on these, and I can understand a few words.
But I can say that even if I understand all these words, it is very difficult to understand their meaning because there are no punctuation marks. The ancients spoke very concisely and skillfully. For example, "Yes", I remember a king of Qi asked his military advisor a question, and the military advisor nodded and smiled, saying "Yes". The king went back and pondered for a long time whether "Yes" meant agreement or opposition, and as a result, he became ill from overwork. On his deathbed, he told the military advisor the answer he had considered and asked the military advisor if this was what he meant at the time. The military advisor laughed and said "Yes". The emperor died immediately.
Uncle San walked very carefully, and each step took a long time. The mining lamp did not have strong penetration power, and it was black in front and behind. It felt the same as when we were in a water cave. I felt very uncomfortable. After walking for about half an hour, the tunnel began to move upwards. We knew we should have walked halfway. At this time, we saw a robbery hole, and Uncle San was startled. He was most afraid that someone else would get there first, so he hurried over to check.
This tunnel must have been dug recently, even the soil is relatively new. I asked Uncle San, "The old man said that a group of people entered this valley two weeks ago. Could it be that group that dug it?"
"I can't tell, but this hole was dug in a hurry. It looks like it was dug for exiting, not for entering! I'm afraid we were really overtaken by someone."
"Don't be discouraged, Third Master. If they are lucky, they will definitely go out by the same route. It seems that something must have happened. I think the baby should be there." Pan Zi comforted.
Uncle San nodded and said, "Let's continue going. Since someone has already walked through the minefield for us, there is no need for us to be so fussy."
We quickened our pace and walked for another 15 minutes until we reached a thickened corridor. This section was more than twice as wide as the one we came from, and the decorations were much more sophisticated. It seemed that we had reached the main tomb area. At the bottom of this corridor was a huge jade door, which was very transparent and now it was wide open. It seemed that someone had opened it from the inside. Next to the jade door, there were two statues, two hungry ghosts, one holding a ghost claw and the other holding a seal. They were all pitch black.
Uncle San checked the Jade Gate and found that the mechanism on it had been destroyed. We went in through the crack in the door. There was a large space inside and it was pitch black. The power of the mining lamp was insufficient and it could not illuminate clearly.
But we can already get a rough outline. This should be the main tomb. Pan Zi took his mining lamp and scanned it, then shouted, "Why are there so many coffins!"
Without a strong light source, it was very difficult to see what was in the tomb. I scanned it and saw that there were indeed many stone coffins in the middle of the tomb. And I could tell at a glance that they seemed to be arranged in some order, not in a very regular and neat arrangement. Above the tomb was a large ceiling covered with murals, and all around were solid stone slabs with densely written characters. I put the miner's lamp on the ground to one side, and Pan Zi put the one in his hand in a direction that crossed with mine. We took a general look and saw that there were two side chambers beside the tomb.
My third uncle and I walked to the first sarcophagus and lit a tinder. That sarcophagus was completely different from the one we saw when we went down the tunnel. This one was covered with inscriptions. I took a look and actually understood some of them!
The text above records the life of the owner of the sarcophagus. It turns out that the owner of the tomb was a prince of the State of Lu. This man was born with a ghost seal, which allowed him to borrow ghost soldiers from the underworld, so he was invincible in battle. He was named King Lu Shang by the Duke of Lu. One day, he suddenly asked to see the Duke of Lu, saying that he had borrowed soldiers from the underworld for many years, and now the little ghosts of the underworld were rebelling, so he had to return to the underworld to repay the debt of favor to the underworld. (Of course, the original sentence was not written like this), hoping that the Duke of Lu would allow him to return to the underworld to report. The Duke of Lu approved the request at that time, and King Lu Shang kowtowed and passed away.
The Duke of Lu thought that he would come back, so he built a mausoleum for him and preserved his body, hoping that he would continue to serve him when he came back. It was very long-winded, and it also described in detail the battles he fought. Almost every time he showed his ghost seal, a large number of ghost soldiers came out from the underground and plundered people's souls. After listening to my explanation, Pan Zi sighed: "He is so powerful. Fortunately, he died early, otherwise it would be Lu that unified the six kingdoms."
I laughed, "That's not necessarily true. People in ancient times were very good at boasting. You, King Lu Shang, can borrow soldiers from the underworld. Then who in Qi can even borrow soldiers from heaven? I remember there were also generals who could fly. You must have read the Classic of Mountains and Seas, right?"
"Anyway, we finally know who we are fighting against. However, there are so many coffins here, which one is his?" Pan Zi asked.
I looked at the inscriptions on several other coffins. Most of them were similar, with the same content. We counted and found that there were seven in total, which was exactly the Big Dipper. There was no record on the seven coffins that could provide any clues. While I was studying some other inscriptions that I couldn't understand, Da Kui shouted, "Look, this sarcophagus has been opened."
I walked over to take a look and found that the coffin lid was not 100% sealed with the coffin, and there were traces of fresh prying with a pry bar in many places. Uncle San took out our pry bar from his bag and pried open the coffin lid little by little, then shone the light inside. Pan Zi made a strange sound, looked at us, and asked in confusion: "Why is there a foreigner in there?"
When we looked, there was indeed a foreigner inside. Not only was he a foreigner, but he was also very fresh, and it must have been less than a week since he died. Pan Zi wanted to reach in to take something, but the oil bottle grabbed his shoulder. It seemed that he used a lot of force, and Pan Zi grimaced in pain, "Don't move, the real owner is under him!"
We took a closer look and found that there was indeed another body underneath the foreigner. We couldn't see clearly what it looked like. Uncle San took out a black donkey hoof and said, "It should be a black-haired one. It's better to strike first."
At this time, Da Kui pulled my clothes from behind and pulled me aside.
He was usually quite straightforward, so I felt strange and asked him what was wrong. He pointed to the opposite wall, where our shadows were cast by the mining lamp, and said softly, "Look, this is your shadow, right?"
I said angrily, "Why, are you afraid of even shadows now?"
His face was not very good. When he heard what I said, his mouth trembled a little. I thought, no way, are you really that scared? He waved his hand to stop me from talking, and then pointed at the shadows: "This one is mine, this one is Pan Zi's, this one is San Ye 's, and this one is Xiao Ge's. You have seen them all, right? Including yours, there are five in total, right?"
I nodded, and suddenly, as if he had discovered something, Da Kui swallowed his saliva, pointed at another lonely shadow that was not with us, and asked with tears in his eyes, "Whose shadow is this?"