Chapter 15 The Missing Coffin

Hearing Uncle Mei's voice, we followed the sound and saw Uncle Mei standing behind the dragon skeleton's skull, directly below the sternum.

In that spot, a pile of severely rotten, dark black wood was stacked on the ground. The wood had clearly been eroded by groundwater and was now scattered, but one could vaguely see that it had been neatly arranged before.

In the center of the wood was a bronze bracket. Judging from its outline, it could hold a coffin perfectly.

But now, the coffin was gone, and the bronze bracket was empty. It wasn't hard to guess that the coffin had likely been washed away by the sudden surge of groundwater into the main burial chamber.

We immediately walked over to the pile of wood and began to discuss it.

After observing for a while, Jiang Yongguang deduced, "Uncle Mei is right. There should have been a coffin here. If I'm not mistaken, the owner of the coffin is the owner of this tomb. His identity is likely to be one of the ancient Shu kings."

I couldn't help but ask, "But didn't you just say that this tomb wasn't built for humans, but for dragons?"

Jiang Yongguang shook his head. "I thought the dragon bones were real back then, so I said that. Since the dragon bones are bronze replicas, this tomb can't be an ancient dragon's tomb. I guess this dragon skeleton was probably made for the tomb owner as a tomb guardian beast."

I had heard of tomb guardian beasts. They were a common funerary object in ancient tombs. It was said that they were most common in the tombs of the Chu state during the Warring States period. These tomb guardian beasts could be fierce beasts, mythical creatures, or people with ferocious appearances.

But I never imagined that a tomb like this one would directly cast a dragon skeleton more than ten meters long out of bronze.

Xiao Liang couldn't help but exclaim, "This Shu king was really generous. He was able to create such a lifelike dragon skeleton..."

Speaking of this, she started to use her imagination and speculate wildly:

"Do you think the ancient Shu king's tomb guardian beast was just a skeleton? I think when he was buried, this dragon might have been more alive than it is now? Would its body be covered with the fur of other beasts, or dyed with colorful paints to make it look like a living dragon!"

Jiang Yongguang agreed with Xiao Liang's statement and nodded:

"I think you're right. The ancient Shu people wouldn't necessarily use a cold skeleton to bury the Shu king. The dragon must not have been like this when it was buried, but more lifelike. But after thousands of years, the fur and decorations covering its skeleton rotted and disappeared, leaving only a skeleton..."

Listening to these two people's discussion, I felt as if I had instantly returned to thousands of years ago, and I was personally witnessing the completion of this tomb, as well as the lifelike dragon shrouded above the tomb owner's coffin!

What kind of intelligent people could have built such a magnificent underground tomb and cast such a shocking bronze dragon in such ancient times!

Just as we were imagining the scene from back then, Uncle Mei pointed to the pile of dark wood and asked, "What is this wood for? Did the tomb owner want cremation back then? Is this wood used to burn his coffin?"

Jiang Yongguang couldn't help but laugh when he heard this, and shook his head:

"Third brother, you're really humorous. People didn't practice cremation back then. This wood is also part of the coffin. In fact, it's the 'guo' (outer coffin) of the coffin."

This stunned Uncle Mei. In fact, not only Uncle Mei, but even I was confused.

"This thing is a guo?" Uncle Mei asked with wide eyes.

"Yes."

Jiang Yongguang nodded and explained,

"Coffin and guo, although often said together, are actually separate. The coffin is used to directly contain the remains, and the guo is used to wrap the coffin."

I knew that Jiang Yongguang was going to lecture us uncultured people again, so I quickly listened attentively.

Jiang Yongguang spoke eloquently:

"Primitive humans had neither coffins nor guo after they died. They were simply wrapped in straw mats and thrown into the wilderness. Later, human society gradually progressed and realized that exposing corpses in the wilderness was not very civilized and disrespectful to the dead. Gradually, coffins were invented to contain corpses.

After another period of time, human society became divided into noble and lowly. People with noble status tried their best to distinguish themselves from the lowly. They not only enjoyed different treatment when they were alive, but even when they died, they had to die more decently than others.

How to be more decent? Others used coffins to hold corpses, but they had an extra procedure. They not only used coffins to hold corpses, but also built a frame out of precious wood outside the coffin to protect the coffin. This frame is the most primitive guo."

Speaking of this, Jiang Yongguang raised his finger and pointed to the pile of wood in front of Uncle Mei, and said:

"This wood is the oldest guo. The guo unearthed from the Yin Ruins Shang Dynasty tombs is in this form, directly stacking large wooden strips into a square or '亞' shaped wooden frame to wrap the coffin."

After Jiang Yongguang's popular science explanation, we finally understood.

The top student, Xiao Liang, immediately took the initiative to ask a question after the teacher finished speaking, "When did the guo evolve into the kind of large coffin that fits outside the coffin?"

"Teacher Jiang" immediately replied:

"It started in the Zhou Dynasty. The *Book of Rites* stipulates that the emperor's coffin should have four layers, the feudal lords three layers, the scholar-officials two layers, and the common people one layer. At that time, the guo had already evolved into a large coffin that fit outside the coffin. The emperor's coffin even had four layers inside and out. This etiquette system has been used until modern times."

At this time, Uncle Mei asked in a deep voice:

"After talking for so long, this pile on the ground is all guo, so where's the coffin? Where's the tomb owner's coffin?"

Jiang Yongguang guessed, "Maybe it was destroyed by the rats, or maybe it was washed away by the groundwater."

Uncle Mei wondered, "Really? The coffins in the other tombs are all fine, so how could the tomb owner's coffin be destroyed instead? The tomb owner's coffin is not as strong as the coffins of those burial figures?"

Jiang Yongguang nodded and said, "You're right. The tomb owner's coffin is really not as strong as the coffins of the buried people. Because in ancient times, only people of noble status deserved wooden coffins, and people of low status could only use stone coffins."

"There's actually such a thing!" Uncle Mei finally understood.

I also suddenly realized that the coffins in the other tombs were indeed stone coffins, and only in the main tomb did we see wooden burial objects.

"Then it seems that the tomb owner's coffin should have been washed away by the groundwater." I deduced, "After all, even if it was destroyed by rats, it couldn't have left no trace..."

As soon as I finished saying this, a chill suddenly rose in my heart!

Because I suddenly remembered the black coffin that emerged from the whirlpool of the Tuo River's undercurrent that night!

And the strange black shadow that screamed out of the coffin!

Could that be the tomb owner's coffin?

The black shadow in the coffin—is the owner of this tomb: the ancient Shu king?!