I explained my deductions. Jin Qiaoyue mused, "What kind of treasure would make someone willing to cut open their chest and hide it inside their own body?"
As soon as she said that, a thought struck me.
"The Marquis Sui’s Pearl!"
Jin Qiaoyue and I said it almost in unison.
Our purpose for coming here was to find the Marquis Sui’s Pearl, though we had always assumed that since it was called a pearl, it should be round.
Could we have been misled by the literal meaning?
Was the Marquis Sui’s Pearl not round?
It wasn't impossible!
Hearing our words, Fu Kui instructed A Yuan to photograph all the murals.
After a while, finding no new discoveries in the stone chamber, we proceeded into the passageway on the left.
The passageway wasn't long, only about ten meters. It led to another stone chamber, which was also small.
In the center stood a stone tablet with an iron chain attached.
I walked over to examine it. Beside the tablet lay a pile of bones, with one bone still bound by the iron chain.
It appeared this person had been chained to the stone tablet.
I shone my flashlight onto the tablet and found three characters inscribed, all in regular script.
Due to the thick layer of dust, I couldn't discern the characters. I asked Fatty to bring me a pair of gloves. Wearing them, I gently brushed away the dust.
Soon, three large characters were revealed: "Nation Ender."
Seeing these words, I frowned slightly. Nation Ender?
What did it mean? Was this deceased person a traitor?
The others gathered around.
Besides the three characters on the front of the tablet, there were no other inscriptions on the back.
However, I soon found something dark and sticky on the ground. Fu Honglang wiped some with his finger, sniffed it, and said, "This is blood."
Beneath the stone tablet was a stone platform covered entirely in these dark blood clots. How much blood would it take to accumulate such a thickness?
"I once excavated a tomb in the Western Regions," Old Man Qu began. "We found many valuable items from that tomb, and one of them was covered in this same kind of blood scab. I had an expert in Western Regions culture examine it. He said it was a custom in Western Regions culture. Those who committed grave sins were bound and starved to death. Afterward, their bodies would be doused with animal blood. The intention behind this was to ensure they would be reincarnated as beasts in every life, never to become human again."
He then looked at the thick layer of blood scab on the ground. "This person was called a Nation Ender, clearly having committed no ordinary crime. I wonder how much animal blood was poured onto them."
I glanced at the pile of bones and shook my head helplessly. Fatty asked me, "Master Xiang, is this place some kind of prison?"
I shook my head, not entirely sure. I surveyed the surroundings, finding nothing else in the stone chamber, and no other exits.
Retreating from that chamber, we proceeded into another passageway.
This passageway led to a vast stone chamber, easily over a hundred square meters, perhaps even more.
After A Yuan set up the electric lamp, the entire chamber was revealed to everyone.
This chamber differed from the previous ones. It contained numerous stone tablets, each over two meters tall, arranged in four rows.
At first glance, they resembled dominoes, but these stone tablets all had bases and were firmly planted.
The stone tablets were covered in thick dust, but upon closer inspection, faint patterns could be seen beneath the dust.
I approached a stone tablet and brushed away a patch of dust, revealing a colored painting.
The stone tablets were painted on both sides, seemingly to record something.
Finding no other passages in the chamber, Fu Kui instructed everyone to clear the dust from the stone tablets so I could see what was depicted.
Some tools were procured, and everyone got to work. Soon, dust filled the chamber, so thick that had we not been wearing gas masks, we would have choked.
The dust made it difficult to open our eyes. After working for a while, we retreated into the passageway, waiting for the dust to settle before re-entering.
After about half an hour, when the dust had settled, we went back in.
The paintings on the stone slabs were now clearly visible. Fu Kui glanced at me and said, "Mr. Xiang, thank you for your hard work."
I didn't say much and walked to a stone tablet to examine it closely.
With such exaggerated paintings, understanding them wasn't difficult. Familiarity with some history made it easy to deduce their meaning.
I began with the first stone tablet. It narrated legends of the Taohuais kingdom.
It generally spoke of how, long ago, the ancestors of the Taohuais kingdom were celestial beings from heaven. They committed an offense in the heavens and were exiled to the mortal realm.
Upon arriving in the mortal realm, he took in many wandering souls, and together they established their new homeland.
However, their good fortune was short-lived. When the celestial beings in heaven learned of this, they flew into a rage and destroyed their homeland.
They also captured the exiled celestial being, who was the king of the Taohuais kingdom.
After the king was captured, the queen led her people to flee. To escape the pursuit of the heavenly gods, they wandered constantly, afraid to stay in one place for too long.
Thus, they became a nomadic people. Before long, the queen gave birth to a child. This infant possessed divine blood, making him a demigod.
His birth brought renewed hope to the tribes. Under this child's leadership, the Taohuais kingdom grew increasingly prosperous, eventually boasting its own army and castles.
They began to resist the heavenly gods, but how could mortals contend with gods?
They were soon defeated, and the new king perished in battle.
Afterward, they selected a new king, who led the people to continue their nomadic existence.
Until one day, while wandering, they encountered a thief. This thief attempted to steal the Taohuais kingdom's treasures and was apprehended.
Just as the king was about to sentence him to death, the thief presented a treasure that could transform a mortal king into a celestial being.
Upon receiving this treasure, the king, following the thief's instructions, cut open his chest and placed the treasure inside his body. To everyone's surprise, after doing so, the king fell into a deep slumber.
At first, everyone believed the king was dead. However, his body refused to decay and, remarkably, still had a heartbeat. They concluded that he had merely fallen into a deep sleep.
Subsequently, the tribes buried the king, awaiting the day of his awakening.
The person who offered the treasure was bound by iron chains and starved to death.