The police wasnât willing to release the blockade on the ancient tomb, and on the other hand, the archeological team kept insisting on continuing their research. After so many homicide cases in the tomb, even if the police didnât block the information, over time, there were all kinds of rumors circulating around. Some young people, who didnât know the depth of the matter, posted about it on the internet, causing a huge uproar.
The murders had already happened in a mysterious way, which then got magnified by media and online discourse, adding a touch of creepiness to the case.
Many netizens published posts on the internet trying to guess who the murderer was, and many other netizens joked that it was actually the tomb ownerâs fault. However, that was the typical online talk, so no one took those nonsensical speculations seriously.
Ever since the incident broke out on the internet, Jiang Ping has been paying close attention to the trends of peopleâs public opinion online. The murder case on Ninghua Village appeared on the internet with a high informative flow for only a week, and then it began to slowly fade from the netizensâ view. When he thought that it was finally over, Jiang Ping hadnât expected that the day after the young archeologist named Qin Cheng disappeared, an anonymous post would appear online. The post explained almost completely the several murders that happened in Ninghua Village, and even the strange death of Lin Hongxing was described, which extremely shocked Jiang Ping. However, it wasnât the ownerâs post knowledge on Ninghua Village murder cases that surprised him, but rather that personâs analysis of the case.
â[âŠ]So, this is revenge. I donât know who remembers the powerful army that mysteriously disappeared hundreds of years ago. With a few strokes history described the end of the most excellent army at that time. However, the meaning hidden in those few strokes is unknown to everyone: â Pu Huang drank all the water of Changâan <sup>1</sup> , and Xuanyuan <sup>2</sup> took the opportunity to travel to Jingzhao <sup>3</sup> . â Pu Huang was the name of the army.
â Drinking all the water of Changâan. â That proves that Pu Huang army was at Changâan at the time. When the water is exhausted, that refers to death, but why did they die?
The latter sentence, â Xuanyuan took the opportunity to travel to Jingzhao. â Refers to the legendary Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan.
â Travel to Jingzhao. â Only in the Tang Dynasty was Changâan called Jingzhao.
Iâm afraid that the historians who recorded this historical fact deliberately wrote this sentence in an obscure way because they were afraid of that Emperor. That Emperor wasnât Xuan Yuan, and they thought that the Tang Emperorâs spirit was coming to them with the wind.
The location where the Pu Huang army disappeared is almost the same at the present-time Ninghua Village, and itâs said in the âPu Huangâs Talesâ that Pu Huang army had secretly carried out thieving activities under the command of the Government. I guess that they were trying to carry out an Official robbery on that ancient tombâŠ. and they got killed by the fierce spirit of the tombâs ownerâŠ.
In other words, these series of strange homicide cases must have something to do with what happened hundreds of years ago[âŠ]â
This post, with a length of more than 3000 words, spread like wildfire overnight, which brought a lot of attention to the mysterious ancient Mausoleum. Jiang Ping frowned when he heard Xiao <sup>4</sup> -Wangâs report.
The police didnât release any information about the murder cases, but this person was so familiar with the case⊠and even his guesses about the case were more comprehensive than what Jiang Ping had in mind.
With his fingers tapping on the table, Jiang Ping stood up abruptly and said as he walked away: âFind the person who wrote this post!â
What bullshit is that of ghosts hunting? And even if the goodman ghosts really exist, how could there be a tragedy without human prompting! The person who wrote that post must know more about this case than he does as a police detective. So something is definitely wrong with all this!
Right now, Ninghua Village is under direct lockdown and is inaccessible. Even the eldery people, who have been living in Ninghua Village all their lives, were asked to move away from there temporarily.
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Since negotiating with the police department has been fruitless, and also knowing that there wasnât a way out for the police station, the archeological team slowly calmed down and started to think of other solutions.
When they finally dug into the tomb that day, Li Guoxian was busy with Lin Hongxinâs situation, and when he came back, he heard that Qin Cheng had disappeared. He briefly heard about the current situation around the tomb from Tang Jiaming.
Although Tang Jiaming, Wu Hai and Zhang Jun stepped into the tomb that day, at that time, they couldnât afford to explore it any further. It wasnât easy to stay alive there, so who had the time to properly examine the structure of the tomb?
The only one who knew more about the tomb right now was probably Qin Cheng.
So, when Qin Cheng came out of the hospital the next day, he was inevitably called in to report.
âYou said that there was an astronomical map <sup>5</sup> painted on the roof? The roof of the whole Underground Palace?â
Li Guoxian almost screamed, and for those who donât know anything about archeology might not understand. Itâs said that the top of the Underground Palace of the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty had an entire painting of 28 stars, bringing the outside world to the Underground Palace after his death. However, so far, they have never seen a Mausoleum depicting a complete astronomical map that represented the level of ancient astronomical research.
For starters, it was difficult to draw a picture of the astronomical map on top of the Underground Palace, and on the other hand, even if the painting was drawn at that time, very few of the murals could be preserved with the passage of time.
âDid you take pictures? The mural is so old that it will fade quickly if it comes in contact with the outside air!â
Qin Cheng shook his head: âAt that time, I went alone and didnât bring my camera⊠BesidesâŠâ Qin Cheng wanted to say that he didnât realize that he was in danger, but when he thought of Su Jingmo, he lowered his head and covered his expression: âBesides, I donât know what happened later.â
âYes, Professor, when the three of us entered the Underground Palace, Qin Cheng was lying on the ground.â Zhang Jun, after a pause, said. âItâs just that this time, why did you disappear Qin Cheng? What happened?â
Qin Cheng had already thought of something to say when asked this: âThat day, I just wanted to find out what was going on in that ancient tomb, but somehow I fell unconscious. When I woke up, two whole days had passedâŠâ
Li Guoxian let out a long sigh: âIt seems that this tomb is untouchable for the time being. Not only is Ninghua Village under lockdown, but the internet is making a lot of noise about the murder cases and the tomb. At this time, itâs really not suitable to continue the excavation.â
Qin Cheng knew that people were talking about the tomb online, and he also read a lot of posts. However, ever since that anonymous netizen posted that 3k word post, from time to time the topics: âTaoist priestsâ, âmonksâ, and âtreasure huntersâ have popped up on the Internet about the tomb in Ninghua Village. Some of them even said: âEven grave robbing families and highly experienced priests wouldnât dare to touch that part of Ninghua Villageâ âŠâŠ It was also said that: âThe tomb is a Cave of the Damned, and no one can escape the slaughter of the tombâs ownerââŠâŠ
The slaughter of the tombâs owner? Qin Cheng felt uncomfortable with this description. Although he knew that Su Jingmo wasnât the kind person he appeared to be on the surface, and even though he might be an Asura <sup>6</sup> , in any case, Qin Cheng still couldnât attach the word âslaughterâ to that man with peach blossom eyes.
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Humans are like this sometimes, even though theyâre aware of the dangers, they still canât resist their curiosity. This is why after these seemingly supernatural posts appeared, some curious people have been running to Ninghua Village one after the other, hoping to find out what the âCave of the Damnedâ, which spreaded all over the internet, looked like.
Because of this, the police had to deploy more staff, not allowing anyone to enter the area.
However, the police canât stop the people who want to trespass regardless. Li Guoxian didnât know about this, Zhang Jung also wasnât aware of that, but Qin Cheng knows, because he was the one who sneakily entered the ancient tomb.
There were almost no courses for his third year of postgraduate, and since his work at Ninghua Village had to stop for the time being, Qin Cheng agreed on the surface to not go near the tomb. However, in reality he kept on going there secretly.
During the day, the police guarded the place more closely, but at night, when it was dark everywhere, the police seemed to know something about the tomb, so the officers were instructed to not go near the tomb at night. Therefore, at night was the best time to sneak there, because the security was more loose.
So, Qin Cheng sleeps during the day, leaving around 5:00 pm towards the tomb. Since the only entrance to Ninghua Village was guarded, he had to spend an extra two hours a day walking up the mountain from the side, which was at the back of the Mausoleum.
Of course, there were some people also going in the same direction as him with the same intention as him, which was to enter the tomb. However, their purposes were different. Furthermore, those so-called âexplorersâ were in fact âgrave robbersâ. Almost every tomb robber will start working in the middle of the night, and they started at least three or four hours after Qin Cheng arrived at the tomb, which was why he didnât meet them on the road, but since he stayed inside the tomb until very late at night, when he heard some noise coming from outside the Mausoleum, only then did he realize that some grave robbers were trying to get inside the tomb.
It was because he had the Jade Pendant that Qin Cheng dared to step into the tomb at night and go straight to the Underground Palace. To his surprise, actual grave robbers showed up this time, and he could also hear the hungry ghosts outside the Underground Palace, shrieking thistly. But every time he left near 4:00 am, he didnât see any dead bodies from the grave robbers.
This group of grave robbers failed to enter the ancient tomb completely, but at the same time, they didnât die, proving that these grave robbers werenât ordinary. They probably knew something about this tomb, and even knew some of the art of Qi Huang <sup>7</sup> âŠ.
Qin Cheng looked at Su Jingmo, who was standing next to him in a casual manner, and couldnât help but say: âI think these grave robbers are unusualâŠ.â
Su Jingmo squinted and replied with a smile: âThose people are still unable to enterâŠâ When he looked at Qin Cheng, who was carefully picking up pieces of a crushed vase, Su Jingmo asked: âZhen is a little curious, instead of taking the valuable treasures, youâre here sorting through these worthless broken pieces? If you take anything of value out of this Mausoleum, youâll probably be able to eat and buy clothes for the rest of your life.â
âI didnât come here because I wanted gold, silver and jewelryâŠ.â
Su Jingmo doesnât believe this. Since ancient times, there have been people who werenât motivated by money⊠but still the number of people with such determination was particularly small, and he doesnât think that the man in front of him wouldnât love money at all.
Su Jingmo raised an eyebrow and chuckled: âIf⊠you can really do what we agreed on, then why canât Zhen give you some treasures?â
Qin Cheng didnât hear the temptation in Su Jingmoâs words, he simply smiled helplessly and replied: âThose who take treasures out of a tomb wouldnât have the guts to sell themâŠ..â Speaking of this, Qin Chengâs heart was suddenly moved, and he looked back at Su Jingmo, blurting out: âItâs enough for me to have that Jade pendant.â
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These words really stunned Su Jingmo for a moment, but right the next second his usual smile came back to his face as he nodded his head: âThatâs right. With that Jade pendant, you can buy a whole fortress.â
Even though Su Jingmo answered that, for some reason, Qin Cheng felt depressed. As for the reason behind his depression, Qin Cheng doesnât know and doesnât want to look deep into it, so he chose to change the subject instead: âYou see, this porcelain vase has characters inside, and a porcelain vase with a pattern like this should have been made at the time of your death.âŠ.â After a brief pause, Qin Cheng continued: âIt should have been made after your death, and I noticed that there were characters engraved on the inside of the vase, so whatâs written inside should more or less tell what happened after you died.â
In addition to the main tomb chamber, there should also be four side chambers, where the treasures should be stored. Qin Cheng originally thought of looking for them, with the hope of finding any book in the tomb that hadnât decayed. However, he wasnât able to find any of the four side chambers.
Strangely enough, nine bronze tripods <sup>8</sup> were usually poured into the Mausoleums of Emperors in that period of time, symbolizing that the owner of the tomb was the â Nine-Five Sovereign <sup>9</sup> â. However, Qin Cheng wasnât able to find it inside the main coffin chamber. After thinking about it, Qin Cheng, with his searchlight in hand, stood up, put the searchlight on a white marble, took a pen and a notebook, and began to sketch the general structure of the entire tomb, adding the location of the Empressâ Mausoleum and the burial pit of a thousand people not far away from the main tomb.
Su Jingmo looked at the small pen in Qin Chengâs hand and became interested, he had never seen such a small thing before that could write on paper: âWhatâs this? Itâs quite strangeâŠâ He took it from Qin Chengâs hands to examine it: âPeople in the current time donât use brushes anymore?â
Qin Cheng didnât expect Su Jingmo would ask such a question, so he was stunned: âThis is a foreigner⊠well, it was invented by a foreigner⊠Nowadays, people still use brushes, but itâs more common for everyone to use a pen like this one.â
âForeigner? Has the country in the current time been reduced to using the objects made by foreigners?!â This was probably the most unimaginable escenario for Su Jingmo, so he sneered: âGreat Xu has dominated this land for dozens of years, which foreign countries werenât competing with each to pay tribute to us? Even the great powerful nations in the distance were also amazed by Great Xu and were also proud to know our language. How is it possible that after thousands of years, this land had declined like this??â
Qin Cheng didnât know how to answer this. The dark history <sup>10</sup> was too long, and Qin Cheng could only briefly describe the situation at the end of the Qing Dynasty: âThe war was too long, and it happened far behind. Some things can only be caught up step by step. In the last 200 years, the world has seen the most dramatic changes, such as this hard pen. However, it has only been around in China for a hundred years or so. Nowadays, you donât even need a pen to write.â After all, everything can be typed on a computerâŠ.
âNot⊠using a pen anymore?â
The man in front of him, who has always been indifferent and only showed a smile on his face, hiding away any other emotion, right now had a rare and complex expression. Qin Cheng couldnât help but smile for some reason: âThatâs right, I donât use a pen anymore. In ancient times, war horses traveled thousands of miles every day, and they were the fastest way of transportation. However, nowadays we donât have to use horses to travel. Our fastest way of transportation can⊠um⊠can fly 4000 Li <sup>11</sup> in an hour.â
â4000 Li? One hour? Flying?â
âThatâs right.â Gazing momentarily at Su Jingmo, Qin Chengâs eyes had already been unable to move away from him. With a smile on his lips, he replied: âIn the future⊠will you follow me outside the tomb to look at the modern world?â
Iâll try to explain what the 3k word post meant. The historians from that era recorded that historical fact that way because they were scared of what had happened, the fact that they thought Su Jingmo was an Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is because his Imperial Mausoleum is located at Changâan (current Xiâan) which was the capital in the Tang Dynasty, so he mustâve been an Emperor from the Tang Dynasty right? (wrong haha itâs even older).
Ahhhh this chapter is so long and has so many footnotesâŠ. đ