Chapter 21 The Coffin

Recalling the coffin and the dark figure I had seen on the Tuo River that night, I felt a chill run down my spine!

I quickly stammered, "Uncle Mei, Xiao Liang, the coffin! The coffin on the Tuo River that night!"

My reminder instantly brought the scene back to Uncle Mei and Xiao Liang's minds. They were gripped by the same fear as I was, their faces turning as pale as paper!

Xiao Liang said in horror, "No way? Are you saying that the floating coffin that was swept out of the whirlpool that night was the tomb owner's coffin?"

I nodded and said, "It must be. Officer Jiang said that only people of high status were worthy of wooden coffins, and the coffin that night was clearly wooden. It must have been the tomb owner's coffin!"

Jiang Yongguang agreed, nodding slowly.

"Xiao Chen is right. It seems that the coffin you witnessed was most likely the tomb owner's coffin. It was indeed washed away by the underground water and swept to the surface."

Uncle Mei frowned and asked, "Did you salvage the coffin? I saw you pulling up drowned rats, but what about the coffin?"

Jiang Yongguang shook his head regretfully and replied, "We couldn't salvage the coffin. Maybe because it was too old, the wooden coffin had deteriorated too much. It was smashed to pieces by the waves. Our people searched in the water for a long time, but they couldn't even find a fragment..."

What I was concerned about wasn't whether the coffin was salvaged, but what was inside it.

I asked nervously, "What about the dark figure that crawled out of the coffin? Did you find it? Could that dark figure be... the owner of this tomb—the ancient Shu king?"

My question made Xiao Liang and Uncle Mei's expressions turn solemn.

Jiang Yongguang said with a wry smile, "What? Xiao Chen, you don't think that an old coffin cadaver that died thousands of years ago can be resurrected, do you? That's too ridiculous. No matter how brilliant the ancient Shu civilization was, they couldn't have mastered the technology of resurrection. The owner of this tomb has long turned into a pile of bones. The dark figure in the coffin couldn't be the ancient Shu king, absolutely not!"

"If it wasn't the ancient Shu king, then who was the dark figure that crawled out of the coffin? And why would he crawl into the coffin in the first place?" Xiao Liang asked uneasily.

Jiang Yongguang shrugged and said, "I don't know right now. We don't have enough evidence. How about this, let's find the ancient Shu jade slip that Master Gao wants first, and then follow the trail to wipe out this group of rats in one fell swoop. After questioning them, we'll definitely get an answer."

I couldn't think of a better plan, so I had to listen to Jiang Yongguang's arrangement for the time being.

Xiao Liang then said, "Since the tomb owner's coffin is gone, could the jade slip have been taken away with it? Tu Xingsun (Earth Walker Sun) said that the jade slip was most likely on the tomb owner's body or in the coffin."

Jiang Yongguang snorted coldly and said, "None of the rats I've dealt with are honest. You can only believe half of what they say."

Uncle Mei also said, "Now that we've come to this main tomb chamber after so much hardship, we have to search it thoroughly. We can't leave empty-handed!"

Jiang Yongguang didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Third Brother, why does that sound like a common saying among the rats?"

Next, everyone began to split up and search for the whereabouts of the ancient Shu jade slip in this huge main tomb chamber. The scale of this tomb chamber was quite grand, at least five to six times larger than the previous tomb chamber.

While we were searching for the jade slip, Xiao Liang couldn't help but joke, "Our current behavior is really a bit like tomb robbers."

Jiang Yongguang nodded and said, "That's right. In the black language of the Southern School tomb robbers, this is called 'sweeping the warehouse.' The Northern School calls it 'filtering the pit.' What we're doing now is what tomb robbers often do."

Xiao Liang immediately said, "But our purposes are different. Our purpose is to protect national treasures and prevent them from being smuggled abroad. Tomb robbers are the opposite of us."

"Of course," said Jiang Yongguang.

While "sweeping the warehouse," I paid special attention to the rock walls of the main tomb chamber, because I had heard Tu Xingsun (Earth Walker Sun) say that one of their "legs" accidentally chiseled through a waterproof wall, causing underground water to pour in and almost drown all of his companions.

Presumably, the tomb owner's coffin was washed away at that time.

The underground water currents were surging, and there was always the possibility of another backflow. I had to be careful first, so I wouldn't be caught off guard by a surge of water.

Facts proved that Tu Xingsun (Earth Walker Sun) was not lying about this matter. I quickly found the chiseled waterproof wall.

At this time, the opening that had been chiseled open had been blocked by naturally collapsed broken bricks and stones, thus preventing further backflow of underground water, but this opening was still very dangerous. Once these broken bricks and stones collapsed, the underground water would still pour in again.

Just as I was about to remind the Xiaoling Guards to pay attention to the opening, Uncle Mei suddenly shouted in the tomb chamber, "There's a mechanism!"

I looked in the direction of the sound and saw Uncle Mei standing below the huge dragon skeleton, pointing to the position of the dragon's neck, and said excitedly, "There's a mechanism here!"

Before he finished speaking, he raised his hand to pull one of the protruding bronze bones.

Seeing this, Jiang Yongguang quickly dissuaded him: "Third Brother, stop! Don't move it yet!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. Uncle Mei moved quickly, grabbed the bronze bone, and pressed it down.

With a "crack," the long-neglected bronze ware was instantly broken off by Uncle Mei. One move affected the whole body. Once this bone broke, the entire dragon skeleton trembled, and then the huge dragon skull lost its balance and fell from the air towards the ground!

Jiang Yongguang shouted in despair, "It's over!"

Xiao Liang covered his eyes, unable to bear to watch.

The next second, the huge dragon skull crashed to the ground, shattering into pieces in an instant.

Uncle Mei said in shock, "This thing... is so fragile?"

But at the same time as the bronze skull shattered, I suddenly saw a dark black wooden box pop out of the crevice of the dragon's upper jaw. The wooden box rolled to the ground and broke into pieces, and then a piece of warm-colored, crystal-clear plate-shaped jade appeared inside!

It looked like a tablet computer, but it was thicker than a tablet computer, and it was entirely made of jade. There were also several lines of mysterious symbols similar to hieroglyphs engraved on it!

The ancient Shu jade slip!

I immediately guessed that this must be the ancient Shu jade slip that Master Gao had been dreaming of!

Uncle Mei had accidentally benefited from disaster and actually found the jade slip!

Jiang Yongguang was also overjoyed and shouted, "Third Brother! You've made a great contribution! It's the jade slip! The ancient Shu jade slip!"

Uncle Mei smiled and said triumphantly, "You Xiaoling Guards are not as sharp-eyed as I am. I could tell at a glance that there was a mechanism on the dragon bone. You searched for a long time and didn't find anything!"

Jiang Yongguang quickly stepped forward and carefully picked up the ancient Shu jade slip from the ground. Xiao Liang and I also hurried over to check it.

I saw that the jade slip was crystal clear and well-preserved. Although it had only been unearthed after thousands of years, it was as good as new.

Especially the mysterious symbols on it, which were clear and complete, without any signs of wear!

At this moment, Jiang Yongguang trembled and said excitedly, "This cultural relic is too important! It's too precious! The advent of the ancient Shu jade slip is very likely to push our great Chinese civilization forward by thousands of years!"