A small plot of land in a mountain village

Chapter 93 The Iron Box

Everyone stared at the cold, eerie passage behind them. Such a place was far too dangerous for those of them who had little experience. They needed to find someone who could make decisions. So they turned their gaze to Third Uncle.

"Third Uncle, is the main burial chamber behind this passage?" The village chief asked uncertainly after examining the passage for a long time.

"It's hard to say. Even I, an old man, am a bit confused by this place." He stood at the entrance of the passage, looking completely bewildered.

"Should we go in now, or wait a bit?" Zhang Niu asked anxiously.

"No rush. You're just going to sneak in like this? Have you considered that this is an ancient tomb? The ancients would have set up traps and mechanisms along the way to prevent tomb raiders from disturbing the deceased's eternal rest. Aren't you worried about running into them?" Uncle San said with a smile.

Yes, how could I be so confused? I think that's what they said on TV the night before last. Uncle San was so thoughtful.

"Zhang Wa, go back and get some wooden sticks and scraps of cloth, tie them together to make torches. Also, have someone go to the edge of the forest and cut down a thin bamboo pole."

After they finished speaking, everyone got busy. Uncle San walked up to the stone statue and carefully examined the facial expression on it. With a few rough strokes, he sketched out a perfect expression. Even Uncle San, who often painted, had to admit that the ancients' painting skills were truly divine.

The stone statues are adorned with iron weapons; were they used to open doors? Stone tools have always been used. Why iron? Is there some connection?

Only a short while later, the people who went up the mountain to cut bamboo returned. The three-meter-long bamboo stalks, with the forks removed, were now smooth and bare.

No one knew what they were going to do with the bamboo they cut, but since Uncle San told them to cut it, there must be a reason.

Zhang Niu returned carrying several bundles of cloth with wooden handles. Old clothes were wrapped around the tops of the handles, and a faint smell of gasoline could be detected if you got close.

"You're probably wondering what we're going to do with all this stuff, aren't you?" Uncle San asked openly, seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces.

"A wooden handle, I know this is used for lighting. That's how it's shown on TV," someone shouted. This elicited laughter from everyone.

"That's right, this wooden handle is for lighting, but it also serves another purpose: to test if the carbon dioxide level inside is too high and if the air is circulating." Seeing that everyone seemed to understand, he continued, "These thin bamboo poles are for everyone to walk in and tap on the walls around them. Although a long time has passed in this passage, in case there are still any traps or mechanisms left, we can deploy them in advance. The three-meter-long bamboo poles should be usable."

"Third Uncle is right. No wonder he was a teacher. If we had found out, we would have rushed in all at once."

"Yes, yes, that's what I thought at first too."

Uncle San's words were like a lecture, teaching the villagers a lot of knowledge. If they ever discovered an ancient tomb in the future, at least they wouldn't rush in recklessly.

The village chief was getting impatient. "Let's go inside."

"Before we go in, I have to say one more thing: once you're inside, please remember not to touch the walls around you. Make sure you remember that." Uncle San reminded everyone again before they went in.

"Understood!" everyone shouted in unison.

One person was responsible for carrying a torch, and the other for carrying a thin bamboo stick, as they began to step into the passage.

The torches were burning brightly, and although they could only illuminate a distance of three meters in front of us, we were quite satisfied.

Everyone proceeded cautiously, even the person carrying the thin bamboo sticks tapped their surroundings gently. After all, this was a test.

"Third Uncle, come and take a look!" someone called out quickly. The voice echoed through the passageway.

The passage was only wide enough for three people to walk side by side. The villagers on the outermost side, by the light of the fire, could see many simple strokes carved on the wall, seemingly describing something.

Holding a torch close to the stone wall, one can clearly see that the objects are depicted with just a few strokes.

"This depicts some things from ancient times. Look, this is a person. See this character? It's just three simple strokes," Uncle San said, pointing to one of the symbols on the wall.

"Third Uncle, these all seem to be pictographs, right?" Zhang Niu recalled the ancient characters he learned at school.

He waved his hand and said, "That's wrong. This isn't a pictograph; it's more like a picture with a story inside."

Zhang Niu still couldn't hear it clearly, but he still had to take a look.

Uncle San watched with great interest, stroking his beard with one hand.

Keep walking along the wall.

This describes how, after ancient wars broke up the village, this clan migrated to a place now called Zhangjia Village, where they began to multiply and thrive, as can be seen from the simple houses and land clearing depicted above.

The mountain village, which had been peaceful for a long time, was suddenly visited by many outsiders who begged the clan chief to take them in. The clan chief learned from their conversation that several decades had passed outside, so he agreed to let the outsiders move in.

One dark night, a group of bandits on horseback stormed into the mountain village. To the clan chief's surprise, there was a bandit accomplice among this group of outsiders. He kept looking at the murals ahead, then suddenly they disappeared.

My third uncle watched and explained, but he stopped right there.

"Third Uncle, why did you stop there?" Zhang Niu asked, intrigued by the story.

Uncle San chuckled. "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? It just got here and it's already broken."

When Zhang Niu approached the stone wall, he was dumbfounded to find that there was indeed nothing behind it.

"This clan chief is really a bit foolish. He insisted on entertaining people from other clans, and now he's reaping the consequences," Aimin from the village shouted.

My third uncle didn't offer much of an opinion on this point. In ancient times, everyone had their own way of life, and the head of a clan had to consider the clan's well-being. The higher one's status in ancient times, the more things they had to consider.

"Let's keep going. I think we'll find a satisfactory answer up ahead." The dark, windswept passage still made everyone feel chilly.

"Watch out, there's a turn ahead."

After rounding a bend, the passageway that had previously allowed three people to walk side by side widened considerably, and the torches in their hands still burned brightly.

After walking for so long, there were no traps or mechanisms in the passage, which reassured Uncle San a lot. This thing should have gotten moldy and unusable by now.

As Zhang Niu walked along, he stared at the wall, but unfortunately he didn't find any more carvings on it.

This section of the wall is made of large, rough stones, not as finely crafted as the previous sections, and there is a lot of green moss growing between the stones.

It seems that a lot of rainwater has seeped into this passage. Otherwise, it would be difficult for moss to grow in it.

"Stop! Don't go any further, there's a deep pit ahead!" shouted the person shaking the thin bamboo ahead.

"A deep pit?"

Could it be that ancient traps and mechanisms have become exposed over time? This is what most people are thinking.

Zhang Niu walked forward with a torch, only to find a deep pit appearing in the pitch black ahead.

The light shines through, and you can see that it is a pit about four meters long. You can't see how deep it is. This is an ancient trap.

Zhang Niu came in carrying several torches, lit one, and threw it down.

By the firelight, one could see that the surrounding walls were covered with moss, and the pit was about three meters deep. What terrified Zhang Niu and his men the most was that there were iron spikes standing upright at the bottom.

"Damn, this is insidious! If anyone falls in, even ten lives wouldn't be enough to kill them," Zhang Niu cursed, looking down at the iron spikes.

The iron spikes at the bottom were indeed frightening, but now we realize that Uncle San's solution was truly ingenious.

Several skeletons remained at the bottom of the iron spikes, particularly noticeable in the pitch-black passage.

So many skeletons, they must be the people who fell down by the bandits. Were they guarding the other side before?

"Then how are we going to get across?" the village chief asked, sounding a bit impatient.

"That's easy, we can just build a tree ladder and that will be fine," Zhang Niu said without thinking.

Yes, just cut down a few trees near the edge of the forest and lay them across this long pit. The path in isn't winding but straight; that little bend isn't a problem either, you can easily bring the trees in.

Since there was a way, select a few people to go out and cut down trees, while the rest of them squatted by the wall to rest.

Uncle San stared at the trap before him. This place didn't even seem like an ancient tomb. It was more like a refuge. Otherwise, why would there be skeletons down there? Back then, it seemed like not many people practiced human sacrifice.

"They're here!" Everyone heard footsteps coming from the passageway outside.

That's fast, but considering the forest is right next door, cutting down a few trees is still a very quick process.

Everyone stood along the wall in turn, making room for them to place the trees.

Several small trees, about the size of a fist, were placed on the ground, and Liang Shan followed behind, carrying leftover wood bark, hemp rope, and iron nails.

Six trees placed together already make the space feel quite spacious.

The rope was tied securely. Nails were hammered in, and the simple tree ladder was complete.

Several people lifted it up. They placed it on the opposite side and pressed it down several times with their hands; it was very stable.

"Who goes first?" The ladder was set up. But no one dared to move.

"I'll do it!" Zhang Niu shouted first.

If it weren't for the iron spikes below, none of them would have been afraid. However, the tree ladder was placed against the wall, which made it much safer, and they also had a three-meter-long bamboo pole to use as a walking stick.

Unsteady on his feet, Zhang Niu carefully made his way up the ladder, keeping close to the wall. He could feel the tree ladder wobbling slightly beneath his feet, clearly indicating that it wasn't positioned correctly.

Zhang Niu's legs trembled a little as he walked up the tree ladder, but he still managed to get across with ease.

As soon as I got to the other side, I felt a chill on my back.

"I'm here, it's alright." He quickly called out to the other side.

You can sit down on the tree ladder as a rest, or you can say that you're using your weight to stabilize yourself.

One by one, the people behind came over, even my third uncle. And he was in good spirits, smiling broadly.

Everyone raised their torches and walked forward. The passage that was just wide enough for three people had narrowed to one person only. Everyone had to line up to go in. Everyone was a little puzzled by the narrow passage. If it was wide enough in front, why was this place made like this? Wasn't this just making things uncomfortable?

The passage was narrow, but the distance was short. Then the space opened up before them. They were now in a large room.

There were six stone gates lined up in front of everyone.

Liang Shan carried in a lot of firewood, placed it in the middle, and lit it.

The room suddenly lit up, revealing six doors in front of it. There seemed to be no other exit. Was this the end? If so, where had everyone who retreated gone?

Zhang Niu stood up and walked to the stone door. He noticed a round protrusion next to the door. He guessed this was the mechanism to open the door and carefully pressed it.

The stone door opened with a whoosh. A gust of wind swept in, and Zhang Niu instinctively covered his eyes and took a few steps back. A foul odor wafted out with it.

Pah, pah. It turned out that when the stone door opened just now, Zhang Niu, who was standing in front of it, was exposed to a lot of dust. Although his eyes were covered, his mouth was full of dust.

"Are you alright? Why did you just press it on like that? What if it had shot out an arrow?" The village chief rushed over and checked on Zhang Niu. Luckily, he was alright.

"Thank goodness, my mouth is full of dust, damn stone gate." He hurriedly spat out the dust from his mouth. He patted the dust off his head; his hair was now completely white, looking rather strange.

Everyone resting by the fire saw it. They burst into laughter, thinking, "That impatient kid got what he deserved!"

The smell emanating from the stone gate had faded considerably, and everyone began preparing to go inside to see what valuable treasures were inside. This was what everyone was most interested in.

This stone house is the same size as the one outside when we came in.

To the right of the entrance is a raised platform with two futons on it, but now only the marks remain. On the wall opposite the futons is a large character "净" (jing, meaning clean/pure).

Could this be a meditation room? Seeing this place, Uncle San suddenly remembered.

"Third Uncle, is this a meditation room?" the village chief asked, looking around.

Uncle San wasn't entirely sure. "Yes, it's hard to say."

The place was completely transparent, and Zhang Niu quickly decided to check out the next stone chamber, as it was really boring here.

After finding nothing particularly interesting inside the stone chamber, everyone came out to prepare to enter the next stone chamber.

Having learned from their experience of opening the first stone chamber, everyone leaned against the stone door, activated the mechanism, and fired two sharp arrows.

Everyone was startled by the two arrows. Now Zhang Niu realized how lucky he was. If he had arrived at this room earlier, he would have been riddled with holes.

After waiting for a long time, and seeing that no arrows were shot, everyone bent down and went inside. When they stood up, they found that it was a library. The entire room was framed with stone carvings, and bundles of bamboo strips were placed on top of them.

The room in front is a stone chamber, and this room is a library. What exactly is this place for?

Curious villagers walked in and reached out to touch the bamboo strips.

"Don't touch it!" came a shout from behind.

The third uncle, who came in later, hurriedly called out.

However, it was too late. The moment his hand touched the bamboo strip, the seemingly solid bamboo strip turned into ashes in an instant.

"Um, I didn't mean to just now, I was just curious and wanted to see."

"It's alright, these kinds of things are hard to preserve after so long," Uncle San sighed softly.

The fact that this library was carved out of stone makes one wonder whether it is a tomb, a refuge, or just a facade with the stone tablet outside.

Uncle San walked up to the stone chisel and looked at the documents in front of him. He felt a little heartbroken that they had been turned to ashes. The value of these documents was truly indescribable.

Huh! What's this? Uncle San's eyes lit up when he saw the single stone chisel in front of him. Inside the chisel was an iron box covered in brown rust.

"Third Uncle, why is there an iron box here? Could it be some kind of treasure?" Zhang Niu walked over and also noticed the box on the stone chisel.

Seeing his third uncle remain silent, Zhang Niu scurried over to the stone chisel. Only when he got closer did he see that the iron box was placed on a protruding round stone pillar.

The simple cylinder supported the box, and I couldn't help but reach out and gently lift it up, shaking it lightly. It was very gentle, and there was no sound from inside.

As soon as the iron box was taken out, the protruding round stone pillar made a "crack" sound and immediately shrank back.

The stone chamber trembled slightly as soon as the sound was heard.

"Oh no, this is a trap! Everyone run!" Uncle San could tell at a glance that Zhang Niu had acted recklessly.

The village chief carried his third uncle on his back and followed behind.

Gravel kept falling from the top of the passage. Those in front kept running forward. If they didn't run faster, they'd be buried alive.

Zhang Niu hugged the iron box tightly. He hadn't expected that it was a mechanism. The clan leader was too clever; he used a box as a trigger.

Everyone thought it was going to be a landslide, but instead, fine white sand leaked out from the top and drifted down in large swaths, getting bigger and bigger as it fell.

"Don't stop, everyone! This is a sand flow." The knowledgeable Third Uncle recognized it as a sand accumulation technique commonly used in tombs.

This is a common method used in tombs. Once the mechanism inside is activated, quicksand in the interlayer will flow out, burying the tomb raiders alive.

When everyone ran out, they were covered in white quicksand. Several people had abrasions from running.

"It's impossible to get into this tomb chamber now, and it's also difficult to break through from the upper level," Uncle Three sighed regretfully.

Everyone sat on the stone steps, panting heavily; the quicksand was far too dangerous.

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