Volume 5 Chapter 5 The Spirit Palace in the Womb

We tidied up our equipment, put out the smokeless stove and put it away. All the picks and shovels were folded up. It seemed that everyone had tacit understanding, and they were very fast. Soon, they were all packed up and gathered around the hole we had dug.

This is a typical behavior when people have a common goal. In fact, it is very childish to say that no matter how fast you pack, it has nothing to do with whether you can go down a little earlier, because no one has ever touched the imperial tomb.

So there was a funny scene: after surrounding the hole, everyone suddenly didn’t know what to do, just like many people discussing where to go for a long time, and then finding out that no one knew the way after deciding. Several people looked at each other, a little stunned.

I looked into the hole and analyzed it in my mind. The other things were okay, but there was a fatal problem. We were located directly above the abyss, with a drop of more than 100 meters and a horizontal distance of more than 20 meters from the cave where the spirit palace was located.

Chen Pi A Si, who was behind us, saw us like this and sneered, “A bunch of losers.” He stood up and told us to move aside.

I laughed to myself, thinking that Chen Pi A Si’s old man mentality was still unavoidable. We have always looked up to him, and after the fat man showed off his skills, he was inevitably uncomfortable. At this time, seeing us like this, he couldn’t help but say evil words to restore his status. This is the common mentality of many old people.

We made a gap for him, and Hua Sheng laughed self-deprecatingly, saying, “Old man, we’re all so happy, we’ve never seen such a big scene. How do you think we should fight this battle?”

Chen Pi A Si helped Ye Cheng to squat down and looked into the hole, saying, “The root of all change is the same. Be careful. Let’s find someone to climb up the wooden pillars that support the ice dome, then climb along the pillars to the top of the cave, and then use a rope to get down to the roof of the building outside.

We looked at the ice-covered wooden pillars. Each pillar was more than 100 meters long. It definitely wasn’t a single log. There must have been wooden dowels connecting several pieces of wood. This structure could withstand pressure, but we didn’t know if it could withstand tension. If it doesn’t work, it’s all over. If one of the wooden pillars collapses, it will inevitably fall on the other pillars, and the entire ice dome may collapse. This method is still very risky.

But at that time, everyone was eager to go down, and they didn’t think too much about these things. Moreover, it seemed that there was no better way.

Only Pan Zi was suitable for this, and the others were not qualified in terms of their physical strength and weight. So Pan Zi had to take on this responsibility.

We tied a butterfly knot rope around his waist, and he only had some light equipment on his body. Pan Zi looked a little excited. Chen Pi A Si gave him a sip of wine to calm him down, saying, “Don’t get too excited. Our goal is not here. Go down and pay attention to what I say.”

Pan Zi nodded, took a deep breath, and then carefully climbed into the ice well. He then used the flying tiger grappling hook to climb up the wooden gallery on one side, swinging like a special forces soldier on a rope, and suddenly climbed up onto the wooden gallery post.

As soon as he stepped on it, the wooden gallery post emitted a series of very uncomfortable cracking sounds. We all held our breath, and Pan Zi also stood motionless with a pale face, afraid that the gallery post would disintegrate and break.

Fortunately, after waiting for more than ten minutes, the cracking sound stopped and the surrounding area returned to a state of calm, and the pressure was restored to a state of equilibrium.

I thought to myself, maybe I was worrying too much. The ice dome above was so heavy, and the pressure between the wooden corridors was very high.

We were like ants, and there shouldn’t be a problem. Several people let out a sigh of relief. After such a scare, we all became a little more sober, and the inexplicable excitement had somewhat subsided.

Pan Zi continued to move forward, walking more carefully, almost dancing to an extremely slow rhythm. Our hearts beat in time with his steps. Finally, we reached the cliff at the end of the corridor, where the cave was located more than 100 meters below.

The light from the flashlight we gave him was too scattered, so Pan Zi took out five or six fluorescent sticks and threw them down one by one.

Several lights fell straight down in the darkness, some disappeared like shooting stars at the end of the abyss, and some fell more than ten meters and hit the roof, bouncing a few times before stopping. At the same time, the chemicals in the fluorescent sticks reacted to the violent shaking, and the light became brighter and brighter, faintly illuminating the situation inside the ice dome.

Then Pan Zi dropped the rope, which reached the roof below, and then quickly slid down.

We were relieved to see Pan Zi land safely on the roof tiles. He then gave us a few gestures to indicate that the process was safe.

We were excited again. The next person to go was Hua, and we followed suit, carefully following his lead.

The 100-meter balance beam and the 100-meter rope climb were no joke. I could hardly stand after I got down, and I had to be held by Pan Zi to stand on the glazed tiles. Recalling the feeling on the ice pillars, my legs began to feel weak.

We used seven flashlights to shine around, and found that the slope of the ice dome was almost 30 degrees, almost vertical. The cave was very deep, and the palace went straight into the mountain, so we couldn’t see the innermost part. The top of the mountain and the top of the spirit palace almost fit together, and the roof we were standing on was the roof of the outermost layer of the “palace” in the air. The eaves were all dragon heads facing the phoenix, and the ridges were both sides of the house. The yellow tiles and red beams were very imperial. We stood on it crookedly, feeling like we were in a Stephen Chow movie.

The fat guy wanted to lift up a tile to take a look, but found that the tiles and rafters were frozen solid and couldn’t be removed. We carefully climbed down the dragon heads on the eaves one by one, and used a rope to get to the porch outside the main entrance of the spirit palace.

The porch is similar to a sacrificial altar, with an elevated paved floor of stone slabs. The constant cold has made the stone brittle, and it creaks and cracks underfoot, ready to break at any moment. This should have been the end of the mountain trail when it was built, but now the trail has been demolished. On one side is a pitch-black abyss, and on the left and right are a row of bronze cauldrons covered with ice chips, filled with black, unknown ancient ashes.

The style of the bronze vessels and the palace are very obviously Han-style. It seems that Wang Zanghai, when he went there to undertake the project, was unable to go beyond the limitations of his own people and his own time in terms of design. Or, it could be that, given the power of the Dongxia at the time, he could only loot the Han people on the border to make do.

On the other side is the gate to the spirit hall. In front of the gate stands a stone tablet with no inscription. Behind the stone tablet is the white jade gate to the palace. The gate is very large, almost three people tall and two people wide. The stone gate is carved with many strange birds with human faces dancing in the clouds, but I can’t name them. The brass door scroll above the gate is a tiger’s head. The door crevices and door shafts have all been watered, and now the two sides of the door are frozen as one.

Standing here looking at the ice dome above, the faint light coming through from above makes my eyes seem to be covered in a layer of fog. Everything I see seems much older, and it’s hard to express this feeling in words.

Hua Shifu wanted to take some photos here, so we took a break and looked around. Ye Cheng walked around and, after seeing the cliff below, said with emotion, “I really don’t understand why the Emperor Wan Nuo had to build his mausoleum in such a remote place. Isn’t it better to build it on flat ground? Isn’t this torturing people?”

I said, “The emperor’s thoughts are different from those of ordinary people. Maybe it has something to do with their religion. You see, there are many temples in Tibet, all of which are built in places that are basically inaccessible to people. The reason for this is to get close to the spirit of heaven. This is something that we ordinary people cannot understand.”

The fat guy shook his head and disagreed: “I think the reason for building it here is very simple. It’s because he doesn’t want anyone to come up. There must be something good in this imperial tomb. The old guy, Emperor Wan Nuo, is keeping it as a treasure and won’t let anyone have it even after he dies. We have to educate him this time.” He said, and together with Lang Feng, took out a crowbar to pry open the door.

I laughed, the fat guy is really something, if he were emperor, I wonder where he would have built his tomb.

There was no stone behind the jade stone door, so we used the crowbar to force it open. The ice on both sides of the door hinge burst, and we used a chisel to smash the ice in the door gap, and then the door could be pushed open with difficulty. A black mist came pouring out, so we quickly hid. Hua said it was fine, it was just the moisture-proof paint on the back of the door, now frozen into powder.

The door opened a crack, but then it couldn’t move anymore, it seemed like the door hinges had rusted to death. I shone my flashlight inside, but I couldn’t see anything in the empty hall. The darkness inside seemed to absorb the light.

Ye Cheng couldn’t wait to go in, but was stopped by the fat man. He turned to ask Mian Youping, “Brother, take a look first. Is there any hidden mechanism in this place?”

Mian Youping touched the door and looked at the relief on the door. After looking at it for a long time, he shook his head and said he wasn’t sure. “Follow me and don’t talk.”

It was already our consensus that we must listen to what this person says. Me and the fat man nodded vigorously, and everyone took out something for self-defense.

Muyoubing slipped past the knee-high threshold and walked in first. We followed closely behind, crossed the threshold, and walked into the darkness inside.

I suddenly thought, for nearly a thousand years, we may be the first people to step in. What happened in this huge palace that no one has ever seen in a thousand years?