Chapter 58

Main Text Chapter Fifty-Nine: Robbers' Cave

Robbers' Cave 2

The roof of the Fish Bone Temple swayed slightly in the mountain wind, making creaking sounds that made one's heart feel uneasy, but after observing it for so long we found that although the temple was dilapidated, it was very sturdy, possibly because its framework is made of a whole fish skeleton.

The clay statue of the Dragon King in the temple retained less than one-fifth of its original form, the upper part having long since disappeared; the base of the altar is shaped like a coral disc, also made of clay, its color having faded, making it look quite unsightly.

I estimated that if there were a robbers' cave in the temple, it would most likely be beneath this mud altar; Pangzi asked me what basis I had, but I didn't tell him, my inspiration came from the then-popular martial arts novels.

We put our belongings on the ground, rolled up our sleeves, and Pangzi and I heaved at the altar; we broke off many chunks of mud from the altar, but the altar as a whole and the lower half of the clay statue remained unmoved.

I thought that brute force wouldn't work; maybe there is some mechanism?

Pangzi, however, ignored any mechanism, flew into a rage, swung an engineer's shovel and smashed the altar; although the altar was made of mud, it was extremely hard, Pangzi chopped and hacked, sweating profusely, before he managed to break off half, revealing a stark white stone stub below.

This showed there was no passage beneath the altar; we had wasted half a day's effort, and we all felt somewhat discouraged.

Da Jin Ya had been helping nearby; when Pangzi smashed the altar, Da Jin Ya stepped back to avoid flying debris, then suddenly said, 'Old Master Hu, Old Master Pang, take a look at the back of the altar—maybe there is a hidden passage, perhaps built on the side, not the straight vertical tunnel we imagined.'

After Da Jin Ya's reminder, I crouched to look at the back of the altar; the altar is more than half a person tall, rectangular, situated deep in the main hall, and the gap behind it is narrow, allowing only one person to pass.

I had previously looked back there and thought it was part of the altar's mud core; moreover, I had assumed the tunnel entrance should be on the ground, so I never considered this possibility.

Upon careful observation, I tapped the back of the altar with my hand; to my surprise, it produced a hollow echo, and by touch I sensed that beneath the outer layer of mud lay a thick wooden board.

I kicked it with my foot, and with a few crackling sounds a hole appeared at the back of the altar; lifting the wooden board revealed that the robbers' cave was indeed beneath the altar, though the upper part was built of brick and mud, solid and substantial, without pretense, while the rear entrance was the wooden board, coated externally with the same mud as the altar and painted over, the board actually being movable, able to be opened and closed from inside or out, invisible from outside.

I said to Da Jin Ya, 'All right, Golden Master, truly a word that awakens the dreamer—how did you come up with that?'

Da Jin Ya flashed his big golden teeth and said, 'I just made a casual remark; I didn't expect to actually hit the mark—looks like our luck is decent today, we stand to make a big score.'

The three of us could not contain our joy, hurriedly moving our belongings to the rear of the cave entrance; I switched on my wolf-eye flashlight and shone it inside—the entrance's diameter is neither large nor small, Pangzi can crawl in with room to spare, but his build prevents him from turning around inside; if he wanted to retreat midway, he would have to crawl backward on his feet.

I blurted out praise: 'What an excellent job, Little Fatty, Golden Master—look at how this hole is dug, neat and tidy, the round parts as if drawn with a compass, and the shovel marks on the cave walls, evenly spaced, so uniform.'

Da Jin Ya, coming from a prominent family, certainly knows a few skills, and he voiced his approval as well; only Pangzi failed to see the point, Pangzi clutching two large white geese said, 'It's time for these two to go up front—let them serve as pathfinders.'

I said, 'No need to rush this; the robbers' cave has long been sealed, so first we should dispel the foul air inside, then send a goose down to scout—we've worked hard most of the day, let's eat and drink first.'

Pangzi then put the two geese back in their basket, took out beef jerky and white liquor—since the Dragon King Temple is a fake, we needn't worry about many taboos, and the three of us sat on the altar to eat and drink.

While eating we discussed entering the robbers' cave; Da Jin Ya kept wondering, if the mountain is hollow, why go to all the trouble of digging a tunnel at the Fish Bone Temple? Wouldn't it be easier to just dig into a natural cave?

I said otherwise; although this area has karst topography, widely distributed and not small in scale, based on the information we gathered, we can reach the following conclusion:

Locals call this place either 'Dragon Ridge' or 'Serpent-Coiled Slope'; the name doesn't matter, they're just describing the complex terrain here.

The most important point is that people who know this place almost all say the caves in this mountain are a labyrinth; the name 'Dragon Ridge Labyrinth' comes from this, so I think this cave system is not a single large cavity but fragmented, with big and small parts; some sections of the mountain are solid, others hollow; these caves vary in depth, length, and size, yet they interconnect, forming a complex network, so anyone who falls in finds it hard to get out.

The Grave-robbing Colonel who built the Fish Bone Temple, since he could accurately locate the ancient tomb's position in a mountain range whose momentum had been broken, must possess abilities beyond ordinary people; his skill in assessing terrain and situation is exceptionally superb.

This robber's tunnel slopes downward; tomb raiding also emphasizes the four steps of observation, listening, inquiry, and cutting. 'Observation' means scanning with the eyes to assess the feng shui and pinpoint the tomb's exact location—the hardest part. 'Listening' means examining the soil to discern its quality and grasp the tomb's geological structure and soil information. 'Inquiry' means getting close, deceiving to gain trust, chatting with local elders to learn information about the tomb. Finally, this 'cutting', in the technique of digging robber tunnels, is a specialized skill called 'cutting': one precisely calculates the azimuth, angle, terrain, etc., in advance, then digs a tunnel from a distance, and this tunnel goes straight to where the tomb owner's coffin is placed.

The tunnel before us, with its slight downward tilt, is probably a 'cutting' tunnel; as long as we gauge the straight-line distance correctly, even if the tunnel is half-dug and enters a cavern, we can follow the pre‑calculated direction, pass through the cavern, and keep digging toward the underground palace, so we won't get lost in the Dragon Ridge Labyrinth.

I greatly admire the expert who dug this tunnel; it should be the best golden route from around here to the tomb's underground palace, a pity we didn't live in the same era, so I cannot exchange experiences with that predecessor.

The three of us ate and drank, smoked a few cigarettes; we estimate that the stale air in the cavern has already been dispelled by more than half, but what surprised me was the length of this robber tunnel—it's really too long.

Earlier I had Pangzi buy two large geese, intending to tie their legs with rope and drive them into the tunnel to test the air quality, but I didn't expect the tunnel to be this deep.

I said to Pangzi and Da Jin Ya: 'The tunnel very likely passes through the caverns around Dragon Ridge; those caverns are interconnected and may contain water, in which case we wouldn't have to worry about breathing problems. If it's a solid tunnel, then each breath we take inside will increase the carbon dioxide concentration a bit…'

Da Jin Ya said: 'This is actually very dangerous; without adequate measures to prevent breathing poisoning, we must not rush in. Since we've already found the tunnel, we should seal it off first, wait until we're fully prepared, then proceed—the ancient tomb won't run away on its own.'

I said: 'No need to worry; I'll go ahead, wearing a simple gas mask, and after walking a stretch I'll plant a lit candle in the tunnel—if the candle goes out, it means there's too much harmful gas that doesn't support combustion, and I'll retreat immediately. Besides, I can first tie the two large geese with rope and drive them ahead; if the geese wilt, I'll retreat right away. Moreover, though my few simple gas masks aren't as good as professional ones, they'll hold up for a while.'

Da Jin Ya, seeing that I had said it so reliably, also felt moved; he insisted on joining us to go into the underground palace and have a look. People in this trade have this compulsion: if you don't let him know where the underground palace is, it's fine; but once he knows, and it's nearby, if he doesn't go in to see, he won't be able to rest.

Not to mention someone as vulgar as Da Jin Ya; even the scholar Guo Moruo once joined with several archaeologists in repeatedly petitioning the premier to open Emperor Li Zhi's Qianling Mausoleum, speaking righteously, claiming they were worried that Qianling happened to be built on an earthquake zone, so if an earthquake struck the relics inside would all be destroyed; in fact, those scholars just wanted to see what's inside the underground palace before they died, having spent their whole lives doing this work—the longer they worked, the stronger their curiosity grew; at the thought of seeing Wang Xizhi's authentic calligraphy among the burial goods, they became anxious and could no longer restrain themselves; finally the premier's reply was: no disturbance for ten years. Only then did those people give up.

So I well understand Da Jin Ya's feeling; if those in the antiquities trade could enter the main tomb's underground palace and have a look, they'd have something to talk about when they returned, and their status could rise by a notch or two.

I urged him a few more times; seeing he was determined to go, I gave him a gas mask, then Pangzi led the way, pulling the two large geese as we crawled into the tunnel.

I followed closely behind, holding a lit candle in my hand, Da Jin Ya brought up the rear; the three of us crawled forward slowly. In the tunnel, there were fixed wooden frames at intervals, so we didn't have to worry about collapse, but it was dark and oppressive. After crawling a stretch, my eyes felt a sting; I quickly lit another candle, which did not go out, indicating the air quality still allowed us to move forward.

The further we crawled, the more oppressive it felt. As I was crawling, Da Jin Ya tapped my foot from behind; I turned to look at him, saw his face covered in sweat, breathing heavily—I knew he was tired, so I called to Pangzi ahead to stop, and meanwhile stuck the candle into the ground. Just as I was about to ask Da Jin Ya how he was and whether he could keep going, I saw the candle planted in the ground suddenly go out.