Book 1: Chapter 34: Mute Emperor

Book 1: Chapter 34: Mute Emperor

Fatty continued, "In the legend of the Mute Emperor, when the expert gave him those spells, he said, Dont open your eyes. Weve already learned from the murals that youll die if the eyes open, so its not wrong to compare them to the legend. These experts must have participated in the construction of this king's tomb, so the legend of the Mute Emperor may not be groundless. The legend also mentioned a spell where paper men become soldiers, so we need to be on guard.

I remembered that the legend had said these paper men and horses were blind, which was why they had lost to the real soldiers.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

"If there really are paper men, they wouldve been burned long ago, I said to him. But even if they didnt burn after all these years, paper can't stand the test of time. It will definitely crumble to powder. Since there were ceramic statues in the other tomb passage, there should at least be golden nanmu (1) statues inside the tomb chamber."

"Shit, you never thought the eyes from the legend would be the eyes painted on the mural, Fatty said. This paper may also be painted on the mural. Maybe there are other strange things, too. Are you going through menopause or something? You havent listened to a thing weve said."

After thinking about it, I decided Fatty was right to call me out. I really hadnt been listening to people recently and I didnt know why.

The tomb chamber behind the gate mustve been filled with mud, and considering how someones hair had been mixed in it, I was afraid a corpse was leaning against the gate.

The South Sea King had limited financial resources, so it wouldnt have been easy to build this tomb. Based on the location and contents of the burial pit, we should expect to see a six- or seven-meter tomb chamber in front of us once the gate was opened. There should be side chambers on the left and right sides, along with a tomb corridor leading to a sealed gravestone. The main tomb should be behind this gravestone, with two side chambers and a back chamber situated around it.

If my theory was correct, then the scale was much smaller than I had originally thought. Although this was a region where Han culture had mixed in, Minyues witchcraft customs were still the mainstream. In fact, it wasnt uncommon for their sacrificial grave goods to be full of all kinds of strange and mysterious things.

"To dig a well shaped like a seven," I said. This was a huge project that would require a well to be dug above the underground rivers water level. The well would have to be dug horizontally and then vertically, which would also explain why the tomb hadnt completely flooded. This well mustve been dug relatively high, so even when the water level was at its highest, it may have just barely passed the wellhead. As a result, not much mud poured into the wellhead. This ancient tombs drainage system also seemed very complicated, which helped it stay relatively dry up to this point.

I touched the back of my neck. When the three of us were walking in the mountains in Fujian, I had a very interesting idea. I had the vague sense that there was a huge underground water network under all the mountains in southern Fujian. If there was an underground river here, did that mean I had guessed right? Was there something at the center of this water network?

Fatty seemed to read my mind and asked me, "What are you thinking?"

I was just about to answer him when Poker-Face covered my mouth and pulled me aside. I calmly looked at where I had been standing just now, only to see something coming from the other side of the gap in the tomb gate. It had almost hit my ass just now. I thought it was the probe, but when I looked carefully, I realized that it was two long, sharp fingernails.

****

TN Notes:

(1) Nanmu is basically a Chinese cedar or Chinese giant redwood. Its a precious wood thats unique to China and South Asia, and was historically used for boat building, architectural woodworking, furniture, and sculptural carving in China. The highest grade of nanmu wood has a bright golden color. More info here

(2) A Huangchangticou is a special type of ancient royal burial that emerged in the Spring and Autumn Period and took prevalence in the Han Dynasty. "Huangchang" refers to the yellow core of the cypress wood, while "ticou" refers to the structure of the tomb (mainly the heads of the wood facing the outer coffin). More info here (the pg. 614 one, paragraphs on the left side of the page).