Chapter 12 The Truth Comes to Light

After arriving on the third underground level, the truth finally came to light, and we finally found the ancient Shu tomb that should have been here.

Xiao Liang suddenly asked, "Do you think even Master Gao didn't guess there was a Ming Dynasty tomb here?"

"It's very possible," Jiang Yongguang said. "Master Gao identifies auspicious sites; he's only responsible for finding the dragon veins and selecting burial spots, not for grave robbing. Without a field investigation, he definitely wouldn't know that a Ming tomb was built on top of the ancient Shu tomb."

Old Wei squinted and said, "Now I'm increasingly curious to know who the occupant of this Ming tomb is. This guy is too insidious, directly stealing the ancestral yin residence and seizing their good fortune!"

I speculated, "Judging from the gold ingots above, it might really be the Black-Robed Prime Minister, Yao Guangxiao."

Xiao Liang questioned, "But didn't Officer Jiang say that Yao Guangxiao was buried in the southwest suburbs of the capital?"

"Well..." I scratched my head, unable to explain.

Soon, we followed the underground passage to the entrance of the ancient Shu tomb's underground palace, where two giant bronze doors still stood.

Both doors had been opened, but unlike the bronze doors of the Tuojiang ancient Shu tomb, these two doors were undamaged and looked quite sturdy.

I couldn't help but walk closer to take a look, and found that the luster of these two doors was different from that of the Tuojiang ancient Shu tomb's bronze doors. These two doors didn't have a blue sheen, but instead radiated a faint yellow light.

Seeing me examining the two doors, Jiang Yongguang immediately understood my concerns and asked, "Xiao Chen, are you wondering why these two doors aren't damaged, and why their luster seems different from the previous ancient Shu tomb?"

I quickly nodded and said, "Indeed, that's exactly what I was thinking, Officer Jiang. What's going on?"

Without saying a word, Jiang Yongguang went up and patted the door, making a deep sound.

I was startled and quickly stopped him.

After all, based on past experience, the bronze artifacts of the ancient Shu Kingdom would shatter upon slight touch.

Jiang Yongguang smiled and said, "Don't panic. These two doors won't break because they're not ancient Shu-era bronze doors at all. They were clearly restored during the Ming Dynasty."

"Really?" I asked dubiously, "How do you know?"

Jiang Yongguang pointed to the metallic luster of the door and said, "The key lies in the color of the copper. The ancient bronze smelting had a certain ratio, containing tin and lead, so the copper produced was blue, called bronze. But from the Ming Dynasty onwards, the various ratios of copper smelting changed. The content of zinc in the copper began to increase, and the copper produced was more yellow, also known as brass. These two doors are obviously brass doors, not bronze doors."

As I listened, I learned new knowledge. I took a closer look at the two doors and indeed, they were made of brass.

Then I suddenly remembered the statues at the entrance and quickly turned to look. Both statues were also made of brass, not ancient bronze.

I finally understood why the artifacts in this ancient Shu tomb were so new and well-preserved.

I couldn't help but sigh, "It seems that this Ming Dynasty guy was meticulous. He even helped the ancestors repair the tomb."

"Of course, after all, he was moving in to live here himself. Before moving in, wouldn't he have to renovate the old house?" Jiang Yongguang said with a smile.

Uncle Mei quickly reminded, "We also need to be wary of the Ming Dynasty tomb owner setting traps in the ancient Shu tomb! The traps above were so dangerous, there must be deadly traps below as well!"

"That's true." Jiang Yongguang immediately became serious and said earnestly, "We really have to be careful of traps."

Passing through these two bronze... oh no, brass doors, was the first chamber of the ancient Shu tomb.

The tomb chamber was still filled with a large number of bronze funerary objects. These funerary objects should be the originals, because I saw that some bronze statues had been damaged and broken.

The bronze artifacts here were very similar to those in the Yazi River ancient Shu tomb, and were also expressed in the form of combining humans and trees. Based on previous understanding, I knew that this represented the special totem worship of the Shu Kingdom's Baiguan Dynasty.

The first tomb chamber contained three stone coffins, two large and one small. The style of these stone coffins immediately made me think that this might be the joint burial of a family of three.

But upon closer inspection, I saw that the coffin lids of the three stone coffins were covered with a piece of cloth of unknown material. A rather beautiful pattern was embroidered on the cloth with silk thread, looking like some kind of talisman from afar.

I looked at it in confusion and nudged Xiao Liang with my elbow, asking, "Xiao Liang, look, what's that covering the coffin?"

Xiao Liang glanced at it and shook his head, "I don't know, it looks like a Taoist talisman."

I asked Jiang Yongguang again, "Officer Jiang, what are those things on the stone coffins? What are they for?"

Jiang Yongguang looked at it, but didn't recognize it either, so he could only turn to Old Wei for help.

Old Wei was quite knowledgeable in this area and said, "These are Buddhist mantras. They seem to be used to appease the resentment of the deceased. It must be because that Ming Dynasty guy usurped the nest and stole their yin residence, fearing that the original owner of this tomb would take revenge as a lingering spirit. That's why he invited these mantras to be attached to the coffins to protect himself."

"I see," I nodded gently.

Uncle Mei said from the side, "If you don't do anything wrong, you don't have to be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door. I really don't know what this Ming Dynasty tomb owner was thinking. There are so many feng shui treasures in the world, why did he have to steal someone else's yin residence... Isn't he afraid of retribution on his descendants!"

Old Wei shook his head and said, "Third Brother, you're wrong about that. It's precisely because this Ming Dynasty guy wanted his descendants to be rich and noble that he stole the tomb of the ancient Shu king. In this way, the spiritual energy and good fortune accumulated by the ancient Shu king for thousands of years would all be stolen by him. From a feng shui perspective, his descendants would actually be blessed."

"Really?" Uncle Mei said with a disbelieving expression, "Stealing someone else's tomb, and the descendants are actually blessed? Damn it, is there any justice?"

"Hahaha... Third Brother, you're a very upright person," Old Wei said with emotion.

However, as we were chatting, I suddenly heard a cry from outside the tomb chamber.

The crying was muffled and low.

At first, I thought it was the sound of the wind in the tomb passage or the sound of the underground river, and didn't pay much attention.

But soon, Xiao Liang walked to my side with a pale face, tugged at my sleeve, and whispered, "Chen Rongsheng, listen, did you hear... a cry?"