Ancient tomb excavation traces

The young Taoist priest and I took turns keeping watch at night, but to be honest, with Ge San just dead and us in such an eerie place, how could we possibly fall asleep? I acted coy and told them to sleep a little longer, while I went to the campfire.

To avoid any hidden poisonous dangers beneath the fallen leaves, I cleared them away and placed my windbreaker, wrapped in a cloth, under my bottom. Then, I glanced at my watch, relieved it still worked. When I first arrived here, the numbers on it had erratically changed, as if trying to adapt to the new environment. Later, relying on the time Old Wang had given me, I roughly estimated the time; the watch now showed 02:04 AM. The forest was already very cold. Like Ge San had said, this was a slaughterhouse where only the fittest survived; we would become the prey, or perhaps the hunters.

"Huff...huff..." At this hour, the injured Bao Cai had already fallen asleep, and I was truly grateful to have him in this lonely and helpless time. Although his snoring was as disturbing as Lao Tiao's, it was, for the moment, the only sound of life in this open space. Because at this moment, the chirping of insects abruptly stopped, even the trees ceased their swaying, leaving behind static shadows.

I felt something was off, looking around at everything that enveloped us, wondering: Why is it so quiet all of a sudden? I got up, grabbed my Mongolian knife, and nervously walked around. Then, somewhere in the woods, I heard a sound, a strange sound. I vaguely remembered it; it sounded like the clanging of gongs and drums when my great-grandmother passed away when I was a child. I thought something was wrong. How could there be such a sound in a place like this? I hunched over, one hand on a tree, trying to calm myself down. The sound grew louder and louder, and someone was humming a very sad tune. The sound made my hair stand on end. I stared intently at the dense forest behind where Bao Cai was. I vaguely saw a chaotic black light mixed with a cold white light, colder than the fluorescent lights of years past, but I couldn't see anyone in the light, only a very lively feeling.

I thought it was due to recent nervous tension, but then the young Taoist priest also got up. He stared solemnly at the eerie white light and said, "Oh no, those are wandering ghosts!"

I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me?" But the young Taoist priest's expression didn't seem to be a joke. He told me to urge Bao Cai to get up, while he took out talismans and systematically stuck them onto the tree. I asked him if they would work, and he said, "There are at least dozens of them. If they find us, they'll definitely come for our lives. My talismans probably won't last long. We have to leave quickly before they find us!"

I didn't want to be grabbed by dozens of ghosts and have a heart attack from the fright, so I nodded and shakily ran to Bao Cai's side, urging him to get up. He stopped snoring for a moment at my urging, but still didn't wake up. I grew increasingly nervous because the sound was getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, I remembered a ghost story my grandfather told me when I was little. It was about a friend of his who liked to live in the mountains, so he left his house in the village to his son. But not long after, the son developed a high fever, vomiting and having diarrhea, as if possessed. When he regained consciousness, he was in the hospital. My grandfather went to see him, and the son grabbed my grandfather's hand and said, "Old friend, I thought living in the mountains would be peaceful, but I never imagined it would be more lively than our town!"

I was young then and thought Grandpa made it up to scare my brother and me because he didn't want us to go to the mountains to play. But now I think that there might really be another ethereal world out there, a world we can't see but can feel at certain times.

I shuddered. Just then, Bao Cai started cursing and complaining that someone was making a racket in the middle of the night. But after a while, he came to his senses.

We ran for a long time until the sound was far away from us before we stopped. But tonight has become the most terrifying and unbearable night of my life.

I was panting heavily, and Bao Cai was crying and screaming, saying that he had suffered terribly. But I was glad that we were still alive and could wait for the dawn to tear the darkness apart.

The next day, I was completely exhausted and sat weakly next to a big tree. I had obviously dozed off for a short while because of my fatigue, so when I woke up, I had a splitting headache and felt even more uncomfortable.

I rubbed my dry eyes; we were out of water and dry rations. All we had were some tender stems and wild fruits the young Taoist had found. Bao Cai confirmed they were all edible and had a slightly sweet taste. After resting for a while, the young Taoist led us deeper into the forest.

Actually, in our time, I heard my grandfather talk about locating burial sites, but most people relied on a compass to do so. Very few people truly relied on feng shui to locate burial sites; those were usually the experts and masters in tomb raiding. They could find the core of the burial site, that is, the place where wind is contained and energy is gathered, by observing the terrain and the yin and yang principles.

The young Taoist priest led us through the dense forest using his methods. The sun had already risen in the east, and there was a warm spring air in the air that made us very uncomfortable. Moreover, the appearance of this spring air would awaken all kinds of deadly creatures such as poisonous snakes and leeches.

We walked cautiously, our steps faltering. I used my Mongolian knife to remove the vines blocking our path, but perhaps because of the trauma from last night, I had a kind of "once bitten, twice shy" feeling towards anything thin and long.

The deeper they went, the thinner the light became. When they saw scattered stones and moss on them, the young Taoist priest got excited. He said that there might be a water source further ahead.

I was delighted to hear this and asked him how he knew all this. He said that he and his master had practiced in the mountains and forests, which was very hard, but those days were fulfilling, and he learned many survival skills.

As he expected, after walking for a while, we saw a clear spring hidden in the valley. It was lively and lovely, and it brought us vitality. We enjoyed the sweetness of nature's gift. After resting for a while, we continued on our way.

We walked almost to the edge of the dense forest, and we saw the trees gradually thinning out and the light coming in. Bao Cai and I were overjoyed and ran out from under the shadows of the trees. The beautiful scenery we saw at that moment was just like a landscape painting by a master of artistic conception. It was so beautiful.

We marveled and walked aimlessly to the edge of a wide stream. On the opposite bank were endless mountains, their peaks beautiful and majestic. Enveloped in swirling clouds, they resembled guards from afar. And in the middle of these mountains, shrouded in mist, there seemed to be another mountain.

At this moment, the young Taoist priest looked intently at the scene before him and chanted, "Mountains are yin, water is yang. The plains are open, the water flows like a jade belt, the mountains are like a screen, solid as a fortress, layered and orderly, with a true dragon's lair, its nobility hidden..." After speaking, he pointed to the beautiful scenery in front of us and said, "This is it... Here the energy gathers and the mountains cluster, the water is beautiful and converges, the wind and energy blend together, this is the place we are looking for."

Upon hearing this, I was overjoyed. Bao Cai then adapted Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring," reciting: "The forest ends at the source of the stream, and there come mountains. The mountains are shrouded in a thin mist, appearing from afar like a misty fairyland, intoxicating, intoxicating indeed!"

Seeing him shaking his head and swaying like a storyteller, I teased him, "Stop showing off! We're not here to see the scenery!"

Bao Cai shook his head and said, "Young master, you are mistaken. I, Liu Bao Cai, have followed you on this journey, not knowing when I will die. Before we reach that Chu tomb, I must first cleanse my soul. Otherwise, once we enter, my eyes will be polluted by filth, leaving a shadow. It will be useless to purify them then, won't it?"

I said, "Bullshit! You're just a pretentious artsy type with lots of fancy talk." The little Taoist priest listened to us talking, looking at us with a puzzled expression. I guess he couldn't understand our vulgar language, so he couldn't get a word in edgewise.

I noticed his predicament and immediately said, "I just heard you say it's a great place!"

Upon hearing this, the young Taoist nodded, a look of delight on his face, and said, "It is a rare and precious burial site. If the tomb we are looking for is inside, then the owner of this tomb must be of very high status."

Upon hearing this, Bao Cai's eyes burned with interest, seemingly forgetting about the hole in his buttocks. He interjected, "Such a distinguished person, the burial objects must have been very valuable!"

I saw his eyes gleaming with golden light, sighed, shook my head, and planned to go to the stream to wash my hands. But after taking only a few steps, my foot kicked something hard, and I fell face-first into the mud.

Seeing my disheveled state, Bao Cai mocked me, saying, "Young master, are you still a child? Why are your legs so weak?"

I rolled my eyes at him, then looked back at my feet and saw a smooth, round stone.

I cursed under my breath: Damn bad luck! I got up and was about to leave when I noticed a pattern on the stone. I was startled and turned back to squat down next to the stone.

By this time, Bao Cai had reached the stream. He mocked, "Young master, you wouldn't be a Scorpio holding a grudge and want to destroy that stone, would you?"

I cursed, "Go to hell!" and then began to examine the patterns on the stone.

Perhaps seeing my serious expression, the young Taoist priest walked up to me and asked what was wrong. I said, "The thing that tripped me just now was a bit unusual..." I plucked a few blades of grass still covered in dew and gently peeled away the moss from the stone, making the fine lines even more visible.

I excitedly put down the cloth bundle behind me, then took out a mini shovel and carefully shoveled away the dirt around the stone. Just then, Bao Cai, who was not far from us, suddenly cried out, "Mom!"

The young Taoist priest and I were startled and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

Bao Cai collapsed to the ground, pointing at the stream, then turned back with a terrified expression, saying, "A face...a human face!"

A human face? His words were no small matter. The young Taoist priest and I immediately jumped up and ran over. In the clear water, through our deep reflections, I saw what appeared to be a human face. I gasped, exchanging a glance with the young priest. Looking closer, it was a stone human statue, about a meter tall, with a large head. The features had been eroded by the water, leaving only a vague outline. Looking further, I saw many more such stone statues, lying silently in the water, exuding an eerie and terrifying aura.

I suddenly realized something and hurriedly asked the young Taoist priest to help dig up the stone that revealed the mysterious pattern. It took a lot of effort and a lot of work, but the thing was finally revealed. It was also a stone human figure, but this one was clearer than the one in the water, and you could see its facial features.

After studying it carefully, I found that the stone sculpture was in a kneeling posture. The body was carved in relief. Judging from the style of the clothes, it was a robe. The part that was exposed just now was about his shoulder. I saw a pattern there. It was a long and curved line. The line was very shallow, but I still found the rest of it!

"Man-eating vine!" After some research, I was quite surprised by my own answer.

Bao Cai looked around in alarm and asked, "Man-eating vine! Where is it?"

I pointed to the very shallow patterns on the stone carving and said, "The long lines are vines, and those that look like ivy leaves are the man-eating vines we encountered last night!"

Upon hearing this, both the young Taoist priest and Bao Cai's expressions changed.

I said, "This is too strange. Why are there so many stone human figures here, and why are their clothes patterned with man-eating vines?"

Bao Cai shook his head in confusion. The young Taoist priest said, "Brother Feng, look at his features. Although it's unclear, don't you feel a sense of peace?"

I nodded and said, "There's something strange about it beneath the calm!"

The young Taoist priest looked at me earnestly and said, "What you're saying sounds strange, doesn't it? Is it a kind of pious devotion?"

When I heard what the young Taoist priest said, the doubts that had been weighing on my mind were immediately released. I looked up and said yes, because their eyes were closed and their facial features were mostly incised, which made them look a bit frightening.

The young Taoist priest analyzed, saying, "They might be some kind of sacrificial stone statue!"

"What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled.

"Brother Feng should know that sacrifices are a great way to show respect to the gods, and there are also those who worship their ancestors. But if, as Ge Yun said, this is a Chu tomb, and we have indeed arrived near the tomb, then the existence of this thing is very likely a form of worship for the tomb owner."

Confused, I frowned and asked, "Worship?"

The young Taoist priest said, "There's a saying that when a powerful person dies, their soul leaves their physical body. The living either have to be buried with them or have such stone statues made, entrusting their spirits to these statues as a form of reverence. During the sacrifices, the spirits within these statues will break free and submit to the dead person!"

"The living submit to the dead? That's so bizarre!" I exclaimed in surprise, thinking: Who is so powerful that they still have such a great influence after death?

The young Taoist priest nodded and said, "These things aren't inside the tomb, but rather around the burial site, suggesting a lifelong guardianship. Once we cross this stream and reach the middle of those mountains, entering the tomb, we might be able to understand why the tomb's occupant had such a great influence!"

His analysis set my heart ablaze. I desperately wanted to know why the man-eating vines and the stone statues were entangled together, and what the identity of the owner of the Chu tomb was. Bao Cai, upon hearing that we had to wade through the water, exclaimed, "What! Down there are those human-shaped stone carvings, it's like people are lying down there! Walking through this feels like being grabbed by water ghosts! Can't we go around them?"

The young Taoist priest shook his head and said, "We need to enter the tomb before nightfall, otherwise we might run into some trouble again."