Volume 3 Chapter 16: Climbing
The cool master immediately put down the food in his hand and briefly told us about the backgrounds of these two people.
The two The two bosses from Guangdong, Wang Qi and Li Pipa, were both from Foshan and were very famous in the local antique world. We already knew about Li Pipa’s background, and he made his fortune by recording the locations of a large number of ancient tombs in the “He Mu Ji.”
As for me The reason I know this is because Lao Yang and I once overheard him talking, but everything he said was his own version of events, and there was a bit of exaggeration, so we don’t know. Now that we’re hearing it from the cool-headed old man, it’s very convincing and much more believable.
Wang Qi’s family background is not as prestigious as Li Pipa’s, but it is more authentic. His ancestors were called chaofeng.
What is chaofeng? Chaofeng refers to the pawnbrokers who work in pawnshops. They sit at the counter, high above the customers, and their job is to determine the value and authenticity of an object in a short time.
Among them, those who are responsible for the appraisal of high-end items and daily administrative affairs are called “big pawnbrokers.” A big pawnbroker in a big pawnshop can be said to be the person who has seen the most treasures in the world. He has seen all kinds of strange and weird things. Wang Qi Wang Qi’s ancestor was a famous Da Chaofeng, called Wang Xianchu. In his later years, he wrote a book of notes called “The Strange Records of the Ancient Yu Zhai,” which is a strange book. It records the strange objects he encountered in his life, and records the owner’s explanations, his judgments, etc. in detail. It has a strong horizontal reference value for archaeological work.
Wang Qi He was not highly educated, but he had a very good memory. He had read the “Record of the Strange Things in the Ancient Yu Zhai” many times and had unconsciously memorized everything. Coincidentally Once, at a street fair, he saw a white jade lion that looked very much like the kind of head-covering box described in the “Record of the Strange Events of the Gu Yu Zhai,” so he put the white jade lion in the tea water in front of everyone, following the instructions in the “Record of the Strange Events of the Gu Yu Zhai.” Not long after, the lion opened its mouth and spat out a gold leaf.
As for when these two people came together, the old counselor couldn’t say for sure, and he didn’t want to ask.
Hearing this, I asked the old counselor why these two people had to come here themselves this time. These people are used to being pampered, how can they stand this kind of trouble?
Lao Yang said, “There’s nothing to think about. This is called idle money burning the brain. It’s caused by having too much money. These rich people, when they have too much money, they don’t know who they are. They all want to find the value of their own lives. Some people with millions of dollars still go out to beg. This is not strange.”
The cool master smiled and said, “I thought the same thing at first, but then I found out that it wasn’t. This time, the two of them were very determined. According to my estimate, there may be a hidden reason. The answer is in this ancient tomb.”
I asked He said, “Right, Counselor, since you’ve read the ‘River Wood Collection,’ do you know how to get to the waterfall and then what to do next?”
The Counselor Master Liang looked at me and said, “This ‘River Wood Collection’ is Li Pipa’s treasure. I only took a quick look at his notes after Li Pipa’s death. I saw a lot of other content, but I didn’t see the part about entering the tomb. Later, the boss surnamed Wang took it in his hands, and I didn’t have a chance to see it. But judging from what I saw yesterday, the entrance to the tomb is almost certainly in the pile of bodies below.”
Since Since the cool master said he didn’t know, we had to believe him. After we had finished breakfast, we put on our backpacks. I loosened the belt of the cool master, then took off my clothes and tied them around my waist. The three of us were ready, and we came to the stone bridge. We began to try to climb down the first step.
Ironically, of the three of us, I might be the strongest, so I took the torch. I thought I was the least important person in the Lu Palace, but now I was given such an important responsibility. I didn’t know what to think.
However, I had no choice but to follow the others’ lead. We slowly lowered ourselves down the cliff, inch by inch, and crawled towards the bottom of the dark cave.
It was The climb was very difficult. I almost slipped off the cliff a few times, but overall, although it was steep, it wasn’t difficult to climb.
When we were halfway down, the counselor’s feet were shaking uncontrollably. It seemed that this person wasn’t used to climbing mountains. It took him about half a pack of cigarettes to get my feet to touch the ground again.
Looking at the bodies from the ground Looking at the bodies from the ground, I felt a strong, indescribable fear. These bodies should all be slaves or prisoners of war who were buried alive. The bodies had been in the cold, damp cave for many years, and the bones were black with mold. The air was filled with a strong moldy smell. Many of the bodies had been dismembered, and the expressions on the bodies were hideous. I even found that many of the bodies seemed to have fangs.
I helped helped the cool master down from the cliff. He stumbled and stepped on a skull, making a hole in the already decaying skull. Fortunately, I pulled him back before he fell in. He finally stood up, wiped the sweat off his head, and said, “I’m really embarrassed to let you see this. I’ve been weak and sickly since I was a child, and I fall over at the slightest breeze. With my body, I’m afraid I won’t be able to do this business again.”
I reassured him a few words, raised the torch to illuminate the surroundings, and looked at how to go.
The bodies were piled up like a mountain, and between the bodies, there was a small path that led straight ahead. The light was limited, and we could only see a dozen meters away, but when we looked from the cliff, we could see that the road led directly to the flat ground. We estimated that we could get there as long as we went forward.
Liangshi Master Liang was exhausted and couldn’t walk anymore. I told him to take a breath here and take a look at the situation of the bodies here.
We looked around for a few turns and for a long time. I noticed that Master Liang had a change in expression. I asked him, “What do you see?”
He said to me, “It seems that there are some bodies here that are not human. The structure of these skulls is not right.”
I had goosebumps and thought to myself, “Could it be the bones of a vampire after the corpse has turned?” I asked If it’s not human, what is it?
Liang Shiyue said to me, “It’s hard to tell now. If you want to know, I need to see more. It’s best to find some that haven’t completely decomposed. I wonder if there are any inside the pile of bodies. Do you want to take a look?”
Lao Yao gasped and said, “You make it sound easy. The bodies here are covered in such heavy negative energy, there must be signs of corpse transformation. If we make a zongzi, we don’t have black donkey hooves, and you can’t jump or dance. If we don’t do it right, I’m afraid all three of us will have to answer for it here.”
I thought the same way as Lao Yang, so I said to the cool master, “No need, we’re not doing research.”
The cool master Master Liang had probably heard a lot about the zongzi earlier, and he nodded to us and said, “I’m just saying, I wouldn’t do it if I were you.”
I saw that the torches had been used for a long time and were burning quickly. The flames wouldn’t last much longer. In this kind of place, if the torch goes out, it’s a matter of life and death. It would be very difficult to make something to light up again. In the worst case, we would have to walk around the bodies, so we didn’t let them rest much, and after squatting for a few times, we urged them to go on the road.
We We walked along the path, with rows of corpses on both sides. In the middle of the corpses, I was relieved to see many stone men mixed in. The bottom of the cave was covered with mud, which surprised me. Walking on it was not very stable. Thinking that these black things might be made of dead people’s rotting flesh, I felt a chill in my feet.
After walking for a while, After a while, the flame of the torch went down, and the range of light gradually narrowed. We quickened our pace and began to run forward. After a while, I began to feel strange. From the top of the cliff, it was only about 200 meters away. The worst runners would definitely reach it in five minutes. How come we had walked for nearly a quarter of an hour and still hadn’t seen the pit? Was it dark and disoriented, and had we taken a wrong turn somewhere?
We We ran forward for another cigarette’s worth of time, but it was still the same. We could only see piles of bones in front and behind, and the farther away it was, the more it was a dark blur. I couldn’t help but curse, and I miscalculated. I didn’t think that I would end up here. The view here is limited by darkness, and no matter where you look, it’s all the same. Now I don’t know which corner I’ve run to.
At this time the time when the cool master really couldn’t take it anymore, he grabbed me and gasped, saying, “Little Brother Wu, don’t… run, it’s useless, we may have been caught.”