From Yunhe Daozhang, I learned that he had no idea what a tomb keeper was, nor had he ever heard his master mention what they needed to guard.
He said that if there was anything to guard, it would only be the Taoist temple, because his master had instructed him before falling ill that he must not leave Xiaoqing Temple under any circumstances.
This left me somewhat confused. Could there be an ancient tomb beneath this Xiaoqing Temple?
I found Song Bing, who had extensive experience in tomb raiding. I asked him if there was a possibility of imperial tombs in the vicinity.
He replied, "It's hard to say. From a Feng Shui perspective, the northernmost part belongs to the source of the dragon脉 (dragon脉 - a metaphysical concept of subterranean energy lines). And the Feng Shui here is indeed good. If there were indeed imperial tombs built in this area, it wouldn't be impossible."
"Then how can we determine if there are imperial tombs here?" I asked.
He said, "We would need to find a Feng Shui master who is proficient in Feng Shui to assess the situation, identify the most likely locations for imperial tombs, and then excavate to determine..."
Hearing this, I couldn't help but think of Bai Hanyan. It was a pity that I hadn't seen that girl since New Year's. It wasn't practical to ask her to come over now.
After staying at the Taoist temple for another day, I felt that continuing to stay here was not a viable option. Finally, I packed up Chen Shang's notes and manuscript drafts and took them all with me.
I asked Yunhe to keep the remaining books safe, and I would come back to collect them next time.
Before leaving, I gave Yunhe a sum of money. At first, he refused to accept it. I said it was for the temple's incense offerings, and only then did he accept.
The amount wasn't much, just over a thousand yuan.
However, I knew that for Yunhe, this money might be enough for him to live on for several years.
Leaving Xiaoqing Temple and returning to Shizi Ling Village, I found the entire village bustling with activity.
Many villagers were carrying hoes and heading towards the mountain, all as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
Er Mao went to inquire and came back to tell us, "Boss Guan has the villagers digging on the mountain?"
"Digging?" Er Mao nodded and whispered, "She told everyone she's building an orchard over there. But I took a look, and nine times out of ten, she's raiding tombs!"
Er Mao said indignantly, "When we first came to Shizi Ling, we found a small tomb. And here they come, finding a big tomb right away!"
"How do you know they're raiding tombs?" I asked.
"Who digs a foundation by digging a patch here and a patch there?" Er Mao said. "They are one hundred percent looking for the tomb entrance."
The "tomb entrance" he mentioned is the entrance to an ancient tomb.
Generally, there are two types of tomb raiders: one is small groups that raid tombs, and they choose to enter directly from the top of the tomb, not looking for the main entrance.
The other type involves more people, mostly formal archaeological teams. They do not damage the ancient tomb's architecture; they find the main entrance of the ancient tomb and then find a way to enter.
Guan Zhenwan is the owner of an overseas auction house. She came here, and it was obvious that she had smoothed over many connections, which is why she dared to do this so brazenly.
I guessed that she was now claiming to be building an orchard. Once they unearthed an ancient tomb, she would find someone to say they were conducting archaeological research.
However, I was not concerned about her affairs. Why should I care about what she was doing? What did it have to do with me?
I told everyone to prepare themselves, rest for a day, and then we would head back to Mohe.
Er Mao seemed somewhat unwilling. After dinner, he ran up the mountain to join the excitement, saying he wanted to see what kind of tomb they had found.
I didn't bother with him. After all, he was just a guide I had hired. What he wanted to do was his own business.
Fatty, Song Bing, and I played Dou Dizhu (a card game) in our lodging. Around nine o'clock, we were preparing to sleep when Er Mao rushed back, bringing news.
"It's eerie!" Er Mao exclaimed.
I couldn't help but ask, "What's eerie?"
"Guess what they dug up on the mountain?"
"What?"
"Human heads! Countless human heads!" Er Mao said with lingering fear. "All those heads were wrapped in mud. At first glance, they looked like dirt balls. But when they exploded, they were all human heads! All sorts of human heads, it was terrifying!"
Fatty and I exchanged glances. I asked, "Why are there so many human heads?"
"Who knows? In my opinion, they've dug up a sacrificial pit," Er Mao said.
Song Bing remarked, "While that's a possibility, I've never heard of people being buried with human heads as sacrifices..."
I also had the same doubt. Sacrificing human heads? What kind of burial practice was this?
Er Mao continued, "Let me tell you, there's something even eerier! It's not just the human heads; the problem is, under those heads, guess what else they found?"
"What?" Fatty couldn't help but ask.
Er Mao licked his lips and said, "Blood water!"
"Blood water?"
"Yeah, red water was constantly gushing out from underground. That water was just like blood... Now, no villagers dare to dig anymore; they've all run back," Er Mao grinned. "I think Boss Guan might come away empty-handed this time."
Red liquid gushing from underground? This was indeed quite novel. Not only was I curious, but I saw that Fatty was also curious.
"Brother Xiang, have you ever seen anything like this before?" Fatty asked.
I shook my head, "Never seen it. I've never even heard of it before."
"Why don't we go take a look tomorrow? And leave in the afternoon?" Fatty suggested.
I thought about it for a moment, "Alright, then we'll go see it tomorrow morning."
...
The next morning, after breakfast, we went up the mountain. Ever since Er Mao told us about those things last night, I even dreamed about them, which startled me.
When our group arrived at the location, we saw several large tents set up on a clearing. Even before we got close, we could see smoke rising from bonfires.
We walked around the tents and reached the construction site. The place was already unrecognizable, having been excavated extensively.
It was a large basin. As we walked over, I soon saw the human heads Er Mao mentioned, piled up into a small hill.
I didn't go closer to look. After all, there was nothing to see. Besides, if I went to look closely, I probably would have vomited up my breakfast.
I only glanced at them with my peripheral vision and then stopped looking.
"Look over there!" Er Mao pointed to a pit not far away.
We looked over and saw that the pit was entirely filled with red liquid. At first glance, it looked like a pool of blood, which was extremely frightening!
Especially when contrasted with the surrounding white snow, the color was even more shocking.
"My god! It really is blood!" Fatty exclaimed.
Just as I was about to go and take a closer look, a voice called out from behind us, "Mr. Xiang, why have you come here?"
I turned around and found Guan Zhenwan.
"Boss Guan, good morning. I heard yesterday that you unearthed some incredible things here, so I came to take a look," I said with a smile.
She smiled slightly, "Since you're here, why don't you come to my place for a cup of tea?"