Ancient tomb excavation traces

(The programmer reads book reviews online every day, and his favorites are those about the characters and plot. After all, those are from people who have actually read the novel, not just casual readers. Of course, casual readers are welcome too. The programmer is easygoing and hopes the novel will develop naturally. He also secretly hopes that fellow readers will support him, hehe.)

------------------------------------------ Today is the happy dividing line for completing the editor's requirement of "4,000 words" ---------------------------------

Instead of cranes and phoenixes, the tall pillars were entwined with strange, dragon-like beasts. These beasts had ferocious expressions and stared at us on the ground, as if they wanted to devour us. They were clearly also there to guard the tomb.

Before the altar, there were tables and chairs set up for banquets for civil and military officials. Various funerary objects were indeed placed on the tables and chairs, but most of these funerary objects were bronze wine vessels and bronze jue vessels with a somber color. We knew what was inside them, and a chill ran down our spines.

Beyond the table lay Chen Tiao's nightmare. Because of the light overhead, we could vaguely see dozens of women sitting there, but their former beauty was gone. Their hair was thinning, their faces like crumpled parchment, their eyes sunken into large holes. Their noses and lips were gone, leaving only their nostrils and bare teeth. In their hands were various strange, even extinct, ancient musical instruments. These instruments looked out of place on their withered claws; some were clearly still attached to their flesh, fused together.

An underground palace is, after all, an underground palace. It will not have dazzling rosy clouds or dancing fairies; it will only have dark and somber colors.

A musty, dry, sandy smell filled the air. Chen Yu, remembering that he had just touched the girl, kept wiping his hands on his clothes. What surprised us was that this smell was also mixed with a strong, metallic scent of blood.

I remembered the lotus pond I had just seen, and my heart skipped a beat. If the "Immortal Palace" scene I had just witnessed was caused by resentment, then that pond must exist. But what would it be like if it became real?

The ancestor paused, then took off the crossbow and arrows he was carrying, picked up the tomb guardian torch, and walked to the pool. The torchlight touched the pool, making it appear pitch black. I had a bad feeling. The ancestor spoke, "Blood..."

Speaking of blood, I recalled the fissures where the cocoons were located in the "Hall of the Underworld" when I first entered the Underworld. Those fissures were numerous, forming a fan shape. The young Taoist priest had mentioned that there were cocoons in the fissures, and their structure was quite unique, suggesting they might have been used by the tomb's occupant for a blood sacrifice. In the west chamber where the cocoons were stored, I had also seen grooves with dried bloodstains on them. Thinking of this, I shared my findings with everyone.

The old man's expression darkened slightly. He said that when he was alone, he had also seen the grooves. Now I suddenly understood; those grooves were like blood vessels, transporting blood to this blood pool. But how could blood be pumped here from the bottom up? And what was this blood used for?

I was puzzled, so the old man said, "Look ahead again..."

No sooner had the words been spoken than a loud commotion was heard, and a dark, blood-red shadow suddenly leaped out of the blood pool. It roared excitedly, holding a knife in its hand, and like a monkey, it wrapped itself around the ancestor. The ancestor was caught off guard and could not break free for a while. The man used the force to fall down, and the ancestor fell into the blood pool with him.

Before I could react, I saw that besides the ancestor and the sudden shadow in the pool, there were two water streaks with gentle waves approaching the ancestor.

"Damn it!" I cursed, and without thinking much, I was about to jump into the pool when the little Taoist priest beat me to it. In an instant, blood splattered everywhere, covering my face. I felt nauseous, wanting to vomit but unable to.

I clutched my chest, my eyes glued to the blood pool, where chaos reigned. Just then, Lan Quexi, supporting Chu Ba, arrived at the sound of the commotion. The torch in the ancestor's hand had fallen into the blood pool; only the one in the Miao girl's hand remained.

I grabbed the torch and hurried over to the pool. I saw that the heads that were sticking out were covered in blood and almost indistinguishable. I was afraid that the ancestor and the young Taoist priest had been outnumbered and had suffered a loss. I was about to go down and help when Chu Ba weakly pulled me back and said, "Young master, Piao Ba Zi is no ordinary person. Besides, there is the Little Celestial Master. If you go down, you will distract them."

Hearing Chu Ba's advice to stop, I thought to myself that he at least understood the power of our ancestors, so I stopped and could only wait anxiously.

The pool was in chaos. I heard the ancestor cursing in ancient Chinese, then the sound of something being crushed, followed by a painful scream. It seemed that the ancestor had pulled something into the pool.

The unseen struggle was terrifying, but soon the pool returned to silence, and then two heads emerged from the water, panting and wiping the blood from their faces.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was the Ancestors. But then I heard Lan Quexi and Chen Yi scream. Before they could turn around, they felt something stab them in the waist. The Ancestors and the young Taoist priest quickly jumped out of the pool and headed towards whatever was attacking us from behind.

I was thrown to the ground by the sudden force. Thankfully, my ancestors had foreseen this and had me wear sharkskin, so the blunt weapon hadn't injured me. Looking back, I saw the four women in purplish-black robes I'd seen before. Their faces were expressionless, like natural killers. Chen Yu, already severely injured, had been struck by a deadly knife and could no longer hold on, kneeling on the ground. I saw a woman grab his hair, holding a cleaver, about to take his head. A chill ran down my spine; I'd seen this scene before in the front room. Was it a premonition? My heart stopped. In a flash, something swept across the woman's face. I was shocked to see it was Bao Cai, who, like me, had worn sharkskin and escaped unscathed. He was holding a silk pouch containing a jade bracelet. The bracelet struck the woman's nose and shattered instantly.

Bao Cai, heartbroken, grabbed Chen Yu and pulled him aside with all his might, saying sullenly, "Fatty Chen, because of you, I finally found this treasure and it's broken! You have to compensate me!"

Seeing Bao Cai sacrifice his beloved possessions to save Chen Yu in his moment of crisis, my eyes welled up with tears. Then I looked at the Miao girl; though she had also been stabbed, thankfully not fatally. Despite being a woman, she possessed a strong will. I watched as she gritted her teeth, got up, and said to me, "It's alright..."

I told her to step aside, and she nodded. At that moment, the witch in the purplish-black robe covered her bleeding nose, her bewitching eyes revealing a venomous glint as she glared fiercely at Bao Cai. Bao Cai swallowed hard, stealthily crouching down, trying to avoid looking at the bewitching witch.

They were here before us, and they didn't come up through the passage below, meaning there's another secret passage. I just didn't expect them to be so quiet and patient in the pool, like ninjas.

Logically speaking, the strange man is a descendant of the Eight Witches. Their ancestors, who fled to be sacrificed alive (essentially jumping ship midway), should not be so familiar with the mechanisms and secret passages of the ancient tomb, even if they and their ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years. Because for an ancient tomb designed by the meticulous Sima Yan, it would be impossible to break in unless one is a professional tomb raider or familiar with the mechanisms.

There was no time to think further. Besides the four priestesses, more and more shadowy figures emerged from the darkness—hunched, strange people! Among them were children as young as ten, carrying sharp knives…

Seeing this display of force, Bao Cai said, "We're doomed. They've brought their entire families and come out in full force. We're going to be wiped out."

Despite being covered in wounds of varying sizes, Chen Yu, hot-blooded and gritted his teeth, rose to his feet, determined to fight to the death. The patriarch and the young Taoist, both seasoned fighters who had honed their skills in the mud, now calmly stood their ground, their eyes flashing with murderous intent as they surveyed their surroundings.

After a few seconds of stalemate, a woman with an icy demeanor, somewhat resembling Lan Quexi, turned her head and began to speak rapidly to the person behind her. Her tone was icy, and the fierce monster seemed like a lamb in front of her, obediently nodding. Clearly, this woman held a very high position among the monsters.

As soon as she finished speaking, she stepped back, and behind her, those grotesque figures with ferocious expressions, resembling a cannibalistic tribe, charged towards us wielding various weapons. Seeing this, the ancestor quickly picked up a crossbow from the ground. This crossbow, probably designed by the monsters themselves, was incredibly powerful; the moment it was fired, the last monster was struck by an arrow. It seemed to be designed for venomous attacks, hence its long range.

The old ancestor looked at the crossbow and said in bewilderment, "It's really not as easy to use as my own crossbow." I felt ashamed to see him complaining about his equipment even in front of a formidable enemy. Just then, the man at the front pointed his knife directly at the old ancestor's abdomen. The old ancestor didn't dodge, and the knife pierced his sharkskin. However, the sharkskin was made of some kind of impervious material, so even after several thrusts, the knife couldn't break through his abdomen.

At this moment, the ancestor grabbed the strange man's bare arm, quickly pulled out a crossbow from behind his back, and thrust it straight at the man's brow. Not a drop of blood flowed when it pierced through. The ancestor silently watched him, his expressionless face more terrifying than a demon.

My heart skipped a beat. The ancestor who had killed me was a completely different person from the ancestor who used to be so carefree and playful!

At the same time, the remaining strange men rushed towards us; there were at least seven or eight within my field of vision. I gripped my knife tightly, and Bao Cai said in a trembling voice, "I've never really fought before. With so many gleaming knives around, will I get hacked to pieces?"

What Bao Cai said was exactly what I was thinking. When I was in school, I only saw petty thugs fighting, and they all used folding daggers to scare people. This knife is no joke. The old ancestor moved his neck back and forth a few times, stepped on the strange man's chest, pulled out the crossbow bolt, and said to us, "Barbarian girl, protect the light source! Leave the rest to us!" After he finished speaking, we saw the old ancestor's ears twitch slightly, and he quickly grabbed the neck of a strange man who was flying down, lifting him high. The strange man struggled, and his eyes became bloodshot.

Beyond the light source, shadowy figures appeared before us. Though not as terrifying as the shrouded corpses, they were incredibly fast and ferocious. The sheer number of swishing sounds around our ears was enough to intimidate us. For a moment, I was at a loss, gripping my knife, looking left and then right. But unexpectedly, the first to attack me was the strange figure in front of me.

Just then, I saw the man stab me in the chest with a knife. I thought I was going to die and stared at the strange man in shock. But he also looked surprised. Before I could catch my breath, I remembered that I was wearing sharkskin. I was overjoyed and instinctively stabbed the strange man in the chest with the knife.

This was my first time killing someone. Realizing this, I took a step back in panic. I saw a beam of light coming straight at my head from the left. Just as I was about to die, someone grabbed my collar from behind and dragged me backward. I fell to the ground silently and heard the sound of weapons clashing.

"How was it?" the Miao girl asked me, bending down. I stared blankly as the young Taoist priest used the red copper to block the knife that was originally coming at me. The red copper was a divine knife; when a dull object struck it, it was like an egg hitting a stone. The strange man's knife broke in two instantly. The young Taoist priest took advantage of this moment and swept the blade horizontally. Before the knife even touched the strange man, blood spurted from his neck.

Having been beaten to this point, the previously weakened Chu Ba used his knife to prop himself up. As Chen Yi had previously said, the reason he and Chu Ba were compatible, besides alcohol, was that the sound of fighting would get their blood boiling. However, this time Chen Yi was truly exhausted. After being stabbed twice, even with his thick layer of fat, he had to give in and collapse.

He was half-lying on the ground watching us fight the monster, his heart burning with rage, constantly muttering, "Over here, over here! Over here! Kill him!"

Lan Quexi couldn't stand his gesturing and said, "Shut up!" Chen Yi had been saved by her before and had a good impression of her. He looked at her with a submissive expression.

On the eighth day of the lunar month, his yang energy was drained, leaving him very weak. Although his knife skills were not as sharp as before, they were still fast, and he had already chopped down several people.

To be honest, I don't want to see this happen. We sacrifice ourselves for a living, and they sacrifice themselves for the blind loyalty left by their ancestors, only to die in front of the coffin of the person they were guarding. How ironic.

However, they had become killing tools prepared for the tomb guardians, and they wouldn't stop until they had killed us. Under the white light, several more figures rushed towards us. The ancestor stood in front, grabbing the attacker's arm, only to be astonished to find it was just a seven or eight-year-old child. He hadn't yet fully transformed into the hunched, grotesque figure; his eyes were so clear in the white light, but unlike the other innocent children, he wasn't pure; his face was filled with murderous intent…

The ancestor's hand, which was holding an arrow, remained suspended in mid-air as he silently watched the child. The child struggled in his hand, and seeing that he could not break free, he bit his wrist with all his might. The ancestor did not utter a sound, nor did he shake him off.

This reminds me of the children, aged three or four, who were sacrificed as funerary offerings in terracotta urns. The cruelty of ancient nobles robbed them of their innocence. Besides this, I've also seen a film called *Beasts of No Nation*, about child soldiers in Africa. The interests and selfishness of adults brought despair and helplessness to the children, forcing them to mature prematurely, becoming bloodthirsty and cruel. One monologue in particular stuck with me; it was spoken by a black child named Agu: "God, are you watching?"

The old ancestor couldn't bring himself to harm the child, and said in a deep voice, "Go..." His tone was cold, yet tinged with heartache. My heart tightened. The child probably sensed the old ancestor's chilling aura and relented, retreating backward...

But warriors on the battlefield, once they attack, how can they retreat? A sharp, crisp sound rang out, and the child suddenly collapsed to the ground, everything happening so unexpectedly. The poor child's limbs were still twitching on the ground, his two clear eyes wide open, gazing at the holy white light pouring down from above. Perhaps that was the freedom and beauty he longed for, just like Lan Youyu and Lan Quexi back then. But like them, children bound by their past are always so powerless to control their own destiny.

The arrow had come from the location of the four witches. The ancestor stared blankly at the child he had released, now lying on the ground. His back revealed neither anger nor sorrow. After a moment, he looked up, veins bulging, and said coldly, "You won't even let the child go?"