Ancient tomb excavation traces

The guide was a young Taoist priest, whom the patriarch, after learning of his abilities and identity, particularly wanted to recruit. However, the young priest said that he only wanted to resolve his doubts about the tomb and did not intend to make a living from it. Upon hearing this, the patriarch chuckled and said that he would never let someone he had set his sights on escape.

The path we traveled was lined with intertwined branches, heavy with a touch of chill. The birdsong of ancient times was remarkably clear and melodious, which particularly excited Bao Cai, who said that if he had a camera, he would definitely document these bird species that had disappeared in the 21st century.

As I walked forward, the humid heat emanating from the forest made my sweat stick to my close-fitting clothes. It was obvious that the terrain was starting to rise, and my legs were getting a little tired. According to the location of the tomb that the young Taoist priest had determined by the stream, it was in the middle of several mountains.

The further in you go, the more bushes and thorny brambles there are. Even with Chu Ba's skillful knife work clearing the way, it's still inevitable to get pricked in such a place.

After a hard day's work, Bao Cai complained several times. I carefully took my steps, and upon closer inspection, I saw many triangular venomous snakes with colors similar to the plants and purplish centipedes entwined in the bushes. The two venomous creatures intertwined, making my scalp tingle and my whole body itch. However, my ancestors' grave-robbing team was quite well-prepared. Liang Jiu knew that this was the first time Bao Cai and I had ever raided a grave, so he took out some herbs to repel snakes and insects from the basket behind him. He lit them, and the herbs immediately emitted a slightly yellowish thick smoke. Even we teared up from the smoke, let alone those venomous creatures that were sensitive to it.

With a complete and well-organized team, our trip went relatively smoothly. However, as the young Taoist priest had said, the atmosphere here was tense, quiet yet subtly oppressive, leaving us feeling uneasy. To find a shortcut, we didn't take a detour, emerging directly from the bothersome bushes. We reached a flat area filled with eerily red death flowers. Up close, they resembled faces, welcoming us into their death zone.

Having experienced the labyrinthine place once, I told the ancestors about the power of this flower. To avoid being bothered by it, on the eighth day of the lunar month, I tore open the sleeves of the short shirt I was wearing and quickly tore it off. Then, I soaked some very strong chili water in the cloth. This stuff was very stimulating when held to the tip of your nose, making it impossible to lose focus.

Bao Cai, a native of Hunan, had a penchant for this kind of thing and didn't find the smell bothersome. However, Chen Cai couldn't stand it, muttering, "This stuff is for girls to use against perverts, and now I'm masochizing myself!"

I mocked him, saying, "You're just a lecherous womanizer. Let you experience it first, so you'll learn your lesson!"

As soon as Chen Yi heard me scolding him, he quickly poked his mouth out and shouted, "Pah, Grandpa, I..." He was about to continue when his brows furrowed and he let out a loud, earth-shattering sneeze.

Bao Cai and I laughed out loud at his ridiculous appearance, but we didn't dare say much in the flower bushes, for fear that we might be bewitched by the flowers if we weren't careful.

Our group walked through the middle of the "Death Flower," and after passing several rows of towering trees that acted as a barrier, the scene before us was like a celestial palace. The sunlight reflected off the water vapor, transforming into a golden veil, which clung to a few clusters of pink wildflowers, creating a hazy and mysterious atmosphere.

Here, birds sing in unison, auspicious grasses grow lush and green, and water murmurs softly, creating an ethereal atmosphere that is truly delightful.

With a sense of awe, we stepped into this blessed land. Before us lay a massive cliff face. A waterfall cascaded down the middle of the cliff, forming several tiers like a fountain, cascading down a white curtain and scattering countless silver flowers. The sound of the cascading water was clear and bright; sunlight refracted, and a vibrant rainbow appeared in the mist. In the pool below, a white bird swooped down, snatching a small fish from the water. Upon closer inspection, we saw that the pool, shimmering with golden light, branched out into five streams, all flowing back in the direction we had come from.

A mystical aura swirls around the waterfall, with a white veil enveloping it. In the middle of the pool, there are several stone piers, and in front of them, in the center of the pool, is an altar with an ancient stone table used for sacrifices. All these things are on the water, which gives you an idea of ​​how deep their roots are.

This must be the place where the Miao people usually come to perform sacrifices, because the offerings on top are still fresh. After the shaman arrived, she knelt down with utmost devotion, chanting something. We didn't restrain her for long, because she had been fed poison by her ancestors, so she was relatively obedient along the way.

We approached the pool with an almost unbelievable, almost mesmerizing, fascination. Unexpected scenes were carved into the cliff face: figures in magnificent robes, their expressions lifelike and devout, as if dancing, surrounded by a group of musicians. Among them stood an ethereal woman in a robe, her slender fingers pointing upwards, towards which a deer rode on clouds towards a celestial palace. Before that palace stood a benevolent deity, smiling down upon the people on earth—a scene resembling a ritual of communion with the heavens and earth. These carvings on the cliff face were numerous, but the focus was always on the woman in the robe. I wondered: Could this be the woman I had seen in my modern fantasy? An ancestor of Tie Niu?

At that moment, I stared blankly, marveling at the exquisite craftsmanship of the massive sculpture. After studying it for a long time, when my gaze fell upon the eerie skull exposed between the cracks in the waterfall, all the shock I felt turned into a chill. The skull, hidden behind the curtain of water, had jagged teeth that grinned in a chilling arc. Its ambiguous smile, paired with a pair of dark, deep-set eyes, was extremely unsettling.

I peered deeper into the water and saw many skulls, arranged in rows behind the curtain of water, eerily watching the gravediggers. In the gaps between these skulls, I vaguely saw some kind of fragment, like pottery.

The old man said that the water came from the valley behind the cliff, and that the Chu tomb we were looking for was behind that valley. He suspected that we might need to wade through water to enter the tomb, because these pottery pieces should not have been on the waterfall steps. They should have been somewhere in the tomb, as funerary objects. It is possible that there was a water feature inside the tomb itself.

I asked our ancestors, "Most Chu tombs are vertical pit tombs, so why would anyone choose this kind of place?"

The ancestor said, "Looking at the carvings on this cliff, I suspect that the woman was a witch who could sense the heavens and the earth. Because the Chu people revered shamans, they were very careful in choosing the location of this woman's tomb. The undulating mountains here have excellent feng shui, so it may be the place where she was used to communicate with the heavens and the earth after her death."

Listening to the elders' analysis, I thought to myself: indeed, this place is breathtakingly beautiful, a fine burial site. If this woman truly is a witch, then her burial beliefs might differ from those of ordinary people. Most ancestors believed in the peace of being buried, but as a witch, she might inspire thoughts of immortality. Believers would generally hope she would reach the heavens and bestow blessings upon mortals. Thinking this, I glanced again at the witch behind me; she stared blankly at the carvings, looking deeply troubled.

We were trying to find a quick way to cross the valley and enter the tomb, but the young Taoist priest remained standing by the pool. Following his gaze, I saw a crimson snake writhing from the eye socket of a skull. The snake's scales shimmered with a metallic sheen; it was probably still a juvenile, so it didn't look very robust. However, the pattern formed by its scales looked like terrified eyes. It flicked its tongue from its deep eye sockets and then slowly sank into the water…

In a moment, I saw its head, which was a perfect triangle and looked extremely venomous. There was more than one snake. After the small snake went into the water, I saw two other snakes, each about the thickness of a wrist, flicking their tongues and coldly watching us before they also swam into the water.

My hair stood on end as I racked my brain for the types of venomous snakes I could think of. Just then, Bao Cai arrived. He watched as more and more snakes hissed as they cascaded down the waterfall into the pool, and he broke out in a cold sweat. Old Tiao asked him, "Have you figured anything out?"

Bao Cai glanced at us, swallowed hard, and said, "This is... this is fucking amazing! I once studied a book called 'Records of Ancient Objects,' which recorded some legendary animals. One of them was a venomous snake called the Crimson Flame Alchemist, with black and white stripes on its body that looked like eyes, and it was extremely venomous. This snake is very similar to the blue snake in Duan Chengshi's 'Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang' from the Tang Dynasty. It is said that once an ancient person was bitten by this Crimson Flame Alchemist, they would die soon after. But before dying, they would have terrifying hallucinations, and to cure the poison, they had to eat its tail immediately."

"That's so strange?" I felt a chill run down my spine after hearing Bao Cai's description, but then I thought to myself that we didn't have to go into the water, and I said with relief, "It's a good thing we don't have to go down, otherwise we would have been swimming in a snake's pool."

"Hey, who said we wouldn't go into the water? Just now, this little Taoist priest was staring at that spot, and I suddenly thought of something!" The patriarch stood behind us, arms crossed, looking nonchalant. He glanced at the young Taoist and continued, "Don't you find it strange that these skulls are there, and that so many poisonous snakes can go in and out?"

The young Taoist priest nodded and said earnestly, "The cave is hidden by beautiful scenery, and the gate is behind Shuiyang. The waterfall is like a curtain in a young girl's boudoir. It must be the Chu Tomb inside, and the place we are in now may be outside her residence."

After listening to the young Taoist priest's words, I suddenly understood. In ancient times, officials or important figures with power and status would take their worldly glory with them after death so that they could enjoy the same blessings in the afterlife. The owner of this Chu tomb had taken advantage of the feng shui of this place to make it her ideal and most superior final resting place.

Pulling back the curtain of water, we would enter her boudoir, but the presence of those snakes made us very hesitant. However, when my ancestor went from the pool to the waterfall, we had no other choice.

Before we entered the water, the witch stared at us coldly, her chilling aura warning, "Going in is blasphemy against our ancestors; you will be cursed..."

Upon hearing this, the old man gave her a disdainful look and said, "You talk as if you've been inside yourself! Let me tell you, I don't believe in those curses, and besides, you're going in with me!"

Hearing this, the witch didn't speak, only a deep smile appeared on her lips. I wanted to ask her if she knew something, but by then Chen Yu had already jumped into the water without a care, while Bao Cai complained beside him, saying he should stay here and guard for us. Old Yu watched him from the water, pushed some water on him, and shouted, "Old Liu, this forest might not be as safe as the tomb at night. You should stay with us. If something really happens, we'll all die together, so you won't be left alone!"

"Pah, you jinx! Your brother Bao still has to go back to get married, who's going to die with you!" Bao Cai looked like he absolutely refused to go down. In fact, I was a little hesitant too, because the pool was very deep and had a cold, deathly feel to it.

However, urged by my ancestor, I went into the water anyway. He and Lao Tiao seemed completely unconcerned about the hissing snakes slithering through the water. But for me, beyond the tomb lay the deep underground world, and an unprecedented excitement filled my heart. As a child, I had watched many tomb raiding movies; the mysterious things inside, the rare treasures on display—they possessed an innate allure that could drive countless people to risk their lives for them.

The witch was pushed into the water by Liang Jiu. Because she had taken the ancestor's poison, she was powerless to stop herself from getting there. Now she was furious and cursed Liang Jiu, but because Chu Ba was following behind her, she had to restrain her emotions. Looking at her unwilling appearance, I thought to myself: the saying goes, one thing subdues another, and the devil is always one step ahead of the saint. It's such a realistic problem.

Afterwards, Bao Cai reluctantly got into the water. His expression was even worse than someone constipated, so Chen Yu and I couldn't help but tease him. This eased my tension and anxiety. Now, the ancient tomb was right before us—something art students like me, living ordinary lives, had never imagined. Life is short; to do something unforgettable with my buddies makes life worthwhile.