Xuanwu refuses corpses! Bullshit Xuanwu refuses corpses.
After I figured it out, everything became clear and I couldn't help laughing. This was a complete misunderstanding. The four words that Uncle San said were not these four words at all. Because of our preconceived notions about the Burial Sutra, as soon as we heard the four words with similar pronunciations, we matched them to the code. And just as I expected, this code was not a code at all. Uncle San used a very clever method to make his almost straightforward words conveyed in front of others, but the real meaning was only known to me.
It seems that Uncle San had already thought of it, that the people who came to this imperial mausoleum with me might not all be arranged by him.
Several people saw my expression change drastically and immediately knew that I had come to my senses. They asked me what I had thought about.
I explained: "We really thought wrong. The most important reason why I could understand what Uncle San said was not because of the similarities between him and me, but because I grew up in Hangzhou."
A few people still didn't understand, so the fat man asked, "So, this has something to do with the scenery in Hangzhou? No, I've been to Hangzhou, but I've never heard of a scenic spot called 'Xuanwu Rejecting Corpses'?"
Pan Zi shook his head and said, "What are you talking about? It has nothing to do with the scenery. People who grew up in Hangzhou may not be familiar with the famous places and historical sites in Hangzhou. Look at our Third Master, he has settled in Hangzhou for nearly ten years, and he only knows about West Lake. Last time he took us to drink tea on Baoshishan Mountain, he even got us lost. In the end, when it got dark, we found that we had arrived at Yuquan."
I nodded. Indeed, I am such a person too. Who says that those who deal in antiques have to like historical sites? I haven't been to many tourist attractions.
The fat man frowned and said to me, "It has nothing to do with the scenery? Then what is TND ? You'd better tell me directly. I'm so anxious." As he said that, he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
I didn't want to keep him in suspense, so I said to him, "It's very simple. People who grew up in Hangzhou may not be familiar with the scenery, but they can definitely understand the Hangzhou dialect. This is the key point."
Several people were stunned for a long time. They obviously had some feeling, but still didn't understand. The fat man asked: "Is it the pronunciation?"
I nodded. Among the people here, I am the only one who is fluent in Hangzhou dialect. Panzi has been in Changsha for many years, so he can speak and understand Hangzhou dialect a little, but if you want to get deeper, he is no match for him. Fatty speaks Beijing dialect, and you can tell he has been living in Beijing for many years. Not to mention Shunzi, who can't even speak fluent Mandarin. If Third Uncle speaks a sentence in Hangzhou dialect, I am indeed the only one who can understand it.
Unfortunately, Shunzi was not good at Chinese and only remembered the pronunciation. He did not hear the change in intonation between the previous words and the following words, so when he read it out with his mouth it came out as a completely nonsensical sentence.
Pan Zi patted his head and said, "Fuck , I really can't think of this. What does 'Xuanwu Jushi' mean when pronounced in Hangzhou dialect? It seems difficult to pronounce it too."
I smiled and said, "Just listen to my analysis. In fact, Third Uncle's codeword is not four words, but 'Xuanwu Reject Corpse Land'. The first word 'Xuan' is pronounced the same as 'Yuan' in Hangzhou dialect, and is similar to 'Yan'. The pronunciation of 'Wu' is the same as 'Hu', but in Hangzhou, 'Hu' can be pronounced as both a lake and a river. 'Ji' and 'Qu' have the same pronunciation. 'Shi' and 'Shui' have the same pronunciation, 'Zhi' and 'Zhi' have the same pronunciation, 'Di' and 'Di' have the same pronunciation, so put them together and it means - along the river channel to the bottom!"
As soon as I finished my explanation, several people exclaimed "Ah!" and showed a look of sudden enlightenment. The fat man nodded. It was obvious that my translation was very reasonable and had no flaws.
Pan Zi said "tsk", and muttered, "Third Master is Third Master". If Chenpi A'si heard this, he would never guess that this was the meaning, and would definitely rack his brains to figure out the meaning of "Xuanwu Rejects Corpse".
"Canal water?" After a while, the fat man asked, "But there are no canals here? Is there a river in the imperial mausoleum?"
I said, "There is definitely no such thing in the mausoleum. There can be springs in a mausoleum, but there should not be rivers because the water level of the river is uncontrolled. If the water is too high, it will flood. If the water is too low, it will break the mausoleum. Moreover, the river water will expose the location of the ancient tomb. The river channel mentioned here may refer to this moat."
The flesh on Pan Zi's face trembled with excitement, and he said, "So we stumbled upon this by accident, and took the right road?"
"It's hard to say." I shook my head. After all, I had never been into the imperial mausoleum and didn't know what was going on inside. However, based on the current signs and all the information I had read before, my analysis still made sense.
"If the river is the moat, then the canal, can't it be the one we just saw--" The fat man stood up and looked at the burial ditch full of stone figurines on the side. It was exactly in line with the secret signal of Uncle San. We all turned our heads and our heartbeats quickened.
"But," Pan Zi was a little uncertain, "there is no water in that canal."
I shook my head and said, "Uncle San hadn't entered the imperial mausoleum at that time. What he said was probably just a hint he got from somewhere else, maybe some ancient book or map. The people who made such maps or ancient books at that time probably couldn't have imagined that one day, there would be no water in the moat."
There are signs of corrosion on the rocks that make up the river walls here. There must have been water in this river before, but after thousands of years, the source of the river water, whether it is an underground river or a hot spring, may have dried up. The river water could not be replenished and gradually seeped into the ground, and finally there was not a drop left.
The fat man lost his patience, pulled the bolt with a "click", tilted his neck to us and said: "Comrades, it's rare that our personal interests and revolutionary interests are highly unified. What are you waiting for? Let's go together."
We couldn't find any reason to refute Fatty's proposal this time. But he was too impatient to leave immediately, so Pan Zi pulled him down and said, "Now that we have a clue, there is no need to rush. Look at the Third Master, he is so badly injured and hasn't recovered yet. Do you want to go alone, or do you want us to leave him here to die?"
The fat man was stunned for a moment, thinking about it, it made sense, but he was really burning with desire, so he patted Shunzi and said, "Then let's go check it out first, the diligent bird eats the first vegetable, let them rest here, I guarantee that what you get is no less than what the third master gave you."
Who knew Shunzi also shook his head and said, "Boss, my job is to bring him to your Third Master," pointing at me, "and from now on, your life or death will have nothing to do with me, but now I have to watch him."
I laughed and said to the fat man, "Now you know who the big shot here is, right?"
The fat man made a "Puh" sound and said unhappily: "Okay, you all rest here, I'll go by myself. When I get a few treasures, I'll see if you guys are jealous. Let me be frank, whoever I get is mine, but I won't get any share, none of you will get any!" Then he picked up his gun and left.
But after walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, paused, turned around and walked back. We all laughed and asked him what he was doing and why he didn't dare to do it again?
The fat man snorted, kicked his backpack away, sat down opposite the lantern, and said, "What do you mean you don't dare? You really miss me. I'm not that stupid. When I find my stuff, the three of you come up to grab it. I'm a tiger and can't beat a pack of wolves. If I let you take advantage of me, I might even kill you for your money. I won't do such a stupid business."
Seeing that Fatty was always unhappy, Pan Zi took the opportunity to ridicule him, "You are a mean person. Do you think we are all like you?"
I was afraid he would get serious, so I interrupted them and said, "Alright, stop talking. It's almost midnight now. Although we can't see the sky here, we have to take a rest."
Pan Zi looked at the watch and nodded, turning up the wind lamp, which instantly made the surroundings warm. Then he pulled out the inflatable sleeping bags, blew them up, and several people fell asleep in them.
The fat man lit a cigarette and said he couldn't sleep, so he came to guard the first shift. I looked at him and told him not to go out to look for things in the middle of the night. You can take whatever you want in the Xuan Palace, and it's quiet here. Don't look down on me.
The fat man was furious and said, "Is he such a person? He kept watch at night to ensure our safety."
I was tired from the journey. It was already evening when I reached the top of the snow. It took me almost 10 hours to get here and enter the palace in the ice sheet, which was equivalent to a day and a night of hard physical labor, including rock climbing, sprinting, long jumping, and falling off the building after a failed long jump. I was so tired that I fell asleep quickly as soon as I got into the sleeping bag.
I slept very soundly. Because I was a wounded soldier, I was not asked to keep watch. When I woke up, it was still pitch black around me. The wind lamp was much dimmer. The person on guard had been replaced by Pan Zi. He was leaning against a rock and smoking, and the fat man's snoring was like thunder.
I looked at the watch and realized I had only slept for five hours. However, when you are seriously injured, your sleep quality is usually very good because the body is repairing itself so intensely that you are basically in a semi-comatose state. But when you wake up, your mind is clear but your body feels more tired and your back aches badly.
I rubbed my face and climbed out of the sleeping bag. While stretching my arms and legs, I asked Pan Zi to go to sleep for a while and said I would watch over him. Pan Zi said no, as he was used to it in Vietnam. He could not sleep for more than three hours a day if he was not in bed.
I ignored him and sat on a rock on the other side. I also asked for a cigarette to smoke to clear my head.
The two of us were silent for a while, and suddenly Pan Zi asked me if I could estimate how Uncle San was doing now? Was there anything wrong?
I saw his expression, he was really concerned and worried, and I felt a little emotional. Logically, someone like Pan Zi, who had been on the battlefield and seen the rain of bullets, separation and death, shouldn't have such deep feelings, but in fact, Pan Zi's loyalty and trust in this old man made me, a nephew, feel ashamed. I don't know what happened between Pan Zi and my third uncle in the past, I really have to ask him when I have the chance.
I comforted him, "Don't worry, that old fox will never mistreat himself. People like him are tough, if anything happened, it wouldn't have waited until now. We just need to take care of ourselves now. At this stage, we should be the ones that others are worried about, because we don't know anything yet."
Pan Zi nodded, sighed, and said with a little regret: "It's a pity that my brain is not good. I can't understand what the Third Master does. Otherwise, he wouldn't have to do such dangerous things personally. I can do it myself."
I smiled bitterly in my heart, thinking that what Uncle San did was not necessarily very dangerous. On the contrary, I felt that the most dangerous thing was us. We always followed Uncle San and guessed what he meant, and then were led by him. If we continued like this, no matter how lucky we were, we would get caught.
For example, this time, from the clues that Uncle San could give us about the entrance to the underground palace in advance, it seems that he has something that allows him to know the structure of the underground palace in advance. "Along the river channel, the water reaches the bottom" is a sentence in classical Chinese. Uncle San does not speak in this tone. This sentence must come from ancient books. And Shunzi said that Uncle San went into the snow mountain alone. Obviously, he did not fall into the hands of Aning and others. If he successfully entered the crater, he might have been in the underground palace of the imperial mausoleum.
It can be speculated that the "thing" that allowed him to know the structure of the underground palace in advance should be the purpose of his trip to the Xisha Islands a few months ago. It can also explain why Aning's company actually appeared here. Their target should not be the underwater tomb, but the Yunding Palace here. Going to the Xisha Islands in cooperation with his uncle was just to find clues to the underground imperial tomb of Changbai Mountain in the underwater tomb.
Aning was separated from us for a long time in the underwater tomb. When we were exhausted and driven crazy by the traps, what did this woman do in the back hall? Did she get the key to the underground imperial tomb like Uncle San? We don't know this, but the well-equipped corpses we saw in the front hall just now prove that Aning's team has arrived here before us. According to Shunzi, such a large team would not be able to pass the border line anyway, but they came here unscathed, indicating that they must know a secret road that no one knows.
This at least proves that Aning and the others also know things that we don't know.
This is the absolute difference between us and them. We are completely "ignorant". We have no idea what is waiting for us in the underground palace. This is actually the worst situation. However, we must keep moving forward and cannot choose to retreat. This is the worst of the worst.
I didn't tell them all this, because for Pan Zi, Third Uncle was everything. He had to do whatever Third Uncle asked him to do, regardless of his motives. For Shun Zi, he was a complete outsider. This was just a business deal, and he only cared about the final result. Fatty's situation was even simpler. He came here to "catch the Lama". The things in the mausoleum were the key. Our Third Uncle was just a synonym for trouble to him. These things that were analyzed seemed to be useful only to me. Only one person was in the confusion.
Other people live such a simple life, and for the first time I feel a little envious.
After chatting about other things for a while, Pan Zi asked me if I was OK. I felt that after sleeping, my body had improved a lot. I should be able to walk without help, but obviously, I still can't fight. Pan Zi said it's better to rest for a while. It's rare that it's so quiet here, and it seems safe. I'm afraid that after entering the underground palace, there will be no such opportunity again.
I thought so too and wanted to get into the sleeping bag for a nap, but I couldn't fall asleep. The fat guy next to me kept talking in his sleep in a dialect I couldn't understand, as if he was bargaining with someone. When he was most excited, Pan Zi threw stones at him. Once hit by a stone, the fat guy would immediately become quiet, but would start again after a while. It was very noisy. I couldn't hear any of this when I was tired, but it was very difficult for me to fall asleep now.
With their eyes closed, they endured for another two hours. Then Pan Zi picked up a stone that was too big and hit Fatty, waking him up. No one could sleep anymore and Shunzi was also woken up.
After packing up our things and eating some dry food, we walked back to the burial channel we had just seen. The rotten black stone terracotta warriors were still standing there silently, and the long queue extended into the endless darkness on both sides.
I was helped to climb down the burial channel, and suddenly walked into the group of terracotta figures. I was looking down at the terracotta figures from above, so the feeling was not very strong. But once I got down there, the terracotta figures became as tall as me, and the intertwined black shadows all around made me feel a strong sense of uneasiness in my heart.
The fat man used a flashlight to shine in both directions and asked me, "Your Third Master told us to follow the water, but there is no water here now. Where should we go?"
I looked at Pan Zi. He had participated in the special warfare phase during the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, so he should know something about this kind of thing.
Pan Zi approached a figurine, touched the crack on it, and pointed in the direction the figurine was facing. "Look at the traces of water flow on the stone. That should be the downstream."
The fat man came closer, but couldn't figure out what was going on. He said distrustfully, "Human lives are at stake. Don't talk nonsense."
Pan Zi ignored him and told us to be careful. Several people started walking along the ditch towards the darkness of the moat.
I had no idea of the length of the moat. When we used flares to look at it from the cliff, the entire imperial city was a distant view. We could only see the tops of the buildings, and the moat was blocked by the dense dead trees around it. When we were on the bridge, the light from the flashlight was not enough to illuminate the entire darkness. So we walked along the burial channel for half an hour, but we still didn't reach the end of the silent moat.
The Burial Canal is high and uneven, and in some sections, the human figurines inside were severely shattered, as if they had been stepped on by something huge. The hard, unknown stone was shattered into pieces. I even found that in the ditch, From time to time, the heads and limbs of human figurines appeared underneath, as if there was a layer of such things buried in the soil under the burial canal.
Or you can think of it this way, this trench was originally going to be buried, but for some reason, the project was stopped, so there are still so many human figurines that have not been buried.
It got darker and darker as we walked. Originally, the flashlight shone on the river wall on one side, and there was still a little reflection. At least there was a reference. As we walked, we couldn't even find the towering river wall on one side, and everything was dark. Yes, we couldn't help but slow down. Pan Zi reminded us to be smart and not to be distracted.
At this time, the fat man walking at the front stopped. We were about to step forward when we saw him making a gesture telling us to stop.
I walked up to him and looked in the direction of his flashlight. I saw that we had reached the end of the burial channel. The line of terracotta warriors had disappeared, and in front of us was a huge stone river wall. We should have reached the other side of the moat. There seemed to be a huge object like the Leshan Giant Buddha carved on the river wall. As the flashlight could not show the whole picture, I had no idea what it was. I only saw a square hole covered by rubble at the bottom of the river wall. Now a lot of the stones had been moved away, revealing a pitch-black hole.
This is the same passage we came in from just now. This hole was also one of the passages secretly dug by the craftsmen who built the mausoleum. It was the only passage for them to escape after the underground palace was closed.
"Another counterattack tunnel?" Pan Zi asked in surprise, "Why is the opening here? This is impossible."
"How is it impossible?" the fat man asked. "It's not you who built it."
Pan Zi said: "This place was underwater back then. Do you think all those craftsmen were fish?"
I waved my hand to tell them to stop arguing. At this time, Shunzi said, "Come and see, there's something here."
As he spoke, he shone the flashlight over there and we looked over, only to see that someone had carved a few words on the stone on one side of the square cave.