Volume 6 Chapter 16 The sunken ship

If the bow and the pavilion had not been damaged to such an extent, the underwater scene would have been as spectacular as a crystal palace. However, now the entire wreck was covered with a thick layer of rust and sea dust, and it looked lifeless. In particular, the pavilion had tilted 40 degrees, and it looked like it would collapse completely with just one more kick.

Even so, Uncle San and the others were so shocked that they could hardly breathe. This kind of situation, not to mention in the sea, even on land, there is not much chance to see, who’s tomb is this shipwreck, why is it sunk in such a place?

When he looked closer, he noticed that the jade door embedded in the reef was huge, more than two people tall and four arm spans wide. Under the seaweed on the outer sides of the left and right walls of the jade door, he could vaguely see two door gods in relief, each holding a tiger in their hands. The uncle recognized them, but he couldn’t name them. The part of the building that was not embedded in the reef had a flying eave and a tile roof. The tiles had mostly fallen off, leaving only the eave bones.

The jade door was half open, with a two-person wide gap in the middle. It was extremely deep inside, and it was not known where it led to.

The “ancient corpse dancing and playing music” on one side had already sunk into the abyss and could no longer be seen.

Xie Lianhuan did not stop, and swam into the jade door. Uncle San gritted his teeth and swung his feet hard, increasing his speed. He soon followed in.

Once inside, it was a long corridor that could accommodate six or seven people walking side by side. The space around him suddenly became cramped, but the light from the flashlight became more abundant.

Just outside, the feeling of deep cold, despair and fear was slightly alleviated here. Seeing something familiar, Uncle San was slightly calmer.

As he swam along the corridor, he noticed the decorations around him. He noticed that every inch of the place, including the ground, was carved with a continuous picture of immortals.

At the end of the corridor, there was a staircase. He swam up, turned his body, and lay on his back. As he swam, he suddenly got a fright, because he noticed that his head was exposed above the water.

He was shocked. It was indeed a very surprising thing. After being in the water for nearly forty minutes, Uncle San had never thought that there would be air in the tomb. He quickly rolled over and crawled up the steps on all fours.

A person who has been underwater for too long will suddenly find that his body is heavy as if he is carrying a block of iron, not to mention the lead weights and oxygen cylinders on his body. After Uncle San got up, he almost collapsed, and he gritted his teeth hard to prevent himself from falling back into the water.

He stumbled up the steps and saw that Xie Lianhuan had already taken off his diving equipment. He was panting heavily and shining a flashlight around the tomb chamber.

Uncle San thought to himself, “What a fool! If you had run into a dead end, you would have died long ago. But now that he’s not dead on the spot, it means that the air should be fine. So he sat down on the steps, took off his diving equipment, relaxed his muscles, and took off his flashlight to shine around.

At the end of the steps, where he was, was a brick tomb, typical of the Ming Dynasty style. It was not very tall, so he had to bow his head to walk through it. The roof was arched, and it was estimated to be seven-spoke and seven-section thick. The brick seams on the roof were iron-colored and filled with iron slurry. The bricks were laid extremely carefully, and the curvature of the roof did not have any sharp edges, as if it had been polished.

In the middle of the tomb, there were two rows of blue and white porcelain lamps, which led to the depths of the tomb. It was pitch black there, and when he shone his flashlight, he discovered that in the middle of the tomb, there was a huge black iron cylinder, which blocked his view and he didn’t know what it was for.

Uncle San was shocked when he saw it. He had stolen many tombs and knew that although this tomb was huge, it was only the size of a commoner’s tomb. At most, it was the size of a wealthy man’s tomb. This was very strange. The size of the tomb outside was so huge that it could not have been built without tens of thousands of people working for ten years. If it wasn’t for a member of the imperial family, which commoner could have built such a magnificent tomb?

Uncle San immediately thought of the wealthy Shen Wansan from that time, just like us.

In that case, following Xie Lianhuan this time, he actually came across a treasure trove, which is a blessing that cannot be achieved in several lifetimes.

He was also excited, and turned on the flashlight again to illuminate the surrounding tomb walls.

The walls of the tomb room were painted with a large number of murals, which were also quite spectacular. After taking a look around, he found that the murals were continuous, with almost no signs of breakage, and the fading was not severe.

It is rare that the murals can be preserved in such a way in this humid environment. However, in the Northern Song Dynasty, there were already techniques for protecting murals by applying oil wax or egg white, which was quite advanced. It seems that this technique was used here, so the colors of the murals are a little bit muddy now.

Uncle San never looked at the paintings on the murals, but now that he had a few glances at them, he didn’t get the point. He just felt that they were no different from ordinary ancient tomb murals, so he put the flashlight away and went to look at the side of the tomb to ask Xie Lianhuan what had happened to him.

Xie Lianhuan was exhausted, looking around with curiosity while panting like a cow. It was obvious that he had just used all his strength. Uncle San called out to him, but he ignored him and was completely absorbed in the tomb.

Originally, he had just shaken off Uncle San, who was angry, but since they had already come to this place, it was not appropriate to act up again, so Uncle San endured it.

The two of them had nothing to say, and after Uncle San rested for a while, he completely calmed down, and his heartbeat also slowed down. He casually began to prepare the tools for entering the tomb, and at the same time, he kept an eye on it and secretly checked his oxygen tank and Xie Lianhuan’s oxygen tank.

He knew at once that it was not good. His own oxygen consumption was not too bad, but Xie Lianhuan’s oxygen consumption was too high, already half gone.

The more experienced the diver, the longer he can stay underwater. However, a novice diver often cannot control his own breathing. As soon as he finds himself in the water, he will desperately exhale. Compared to the consumption of an old diver, it may be more than double. Although Uncle San was not a good diver, he was much better than Xie Lianlian because he always estimated the oxygen tank. At this point, he immediately understood that Xie Lianlian could not get out.

However, after thinking about it, Uncle San was relieved. Since he could not get out anyway, he would have to come in again to take him out, so there was no need to rush out.

At this point, Xie Lianlian walked deeper into the tomb chamber, and he got up and followed him. The two of them walked to the huge iron tank.

Uncle San stopped and looked at the iron tank, but Xie Lianhuan seemed uninterested and walked straight past it.

The iron tank weighed more than five tons and was covered in inscriptions. It was probably a sacrificial vessel. The feet of the tank had sunk into the ground, and the inside of the tank was empty, but there was a protruding fish-like carving on the bottom of the tank.

Uncle San wanted to take a closer look at the inscriptions to see if there were any characters he recognized, when he suddenly heard Xie Lianhuan exclaim.

He turned around and saw that Xie Lianhuan had already reached the end of the tomb chamber. Xie Lianhuan’s flashlight revealed a three-tiered coffin bed with a huge black carved coffin on it.

The coffin was almost as tall as Xie Lianhuan’s chest and was very dark. The surface of the coffin seemed to have been polished and varnished, making it very unnatural. The carvings on it were shallow but very distinct, and they were probably a large number of bird-shaped characters. Xie Lianhuan was probably a little scared when he suddenly saw the coffin and was backing away.

This coffin was extraordinary and domineering, and it must be the coffin of the tomb owner.

Uncle San had seen countless coffins, and he had seen coffins made of not only ordinary redwood and baiji wood, but also whole pieces of agarwood. He was suddenly curious and walked past the iron cylinder.

When he got behind Xie Lianhuan, he could see more clearly that the coffin bed was made of yellow bricks, stacked in the shape of a lotus flower. Behind the coffin bed was a wall, covered with writing. It was probably an epitaph, written about the life of the tomb owner, but after a quick glance, Uncle San felt a chill down his spine. His attention was drawn to the black coffin, and he also knew why Xie Lianhuan had been scared and backed away.

Because on this huge black coffin, there was actually a “person” lying on it.