Chapter 60: Main text Chapter sixty‑one Netherworld Hall

Main text Chapter sixty‑one Netherworld Hall

Netherworld Hall

I used the "Wolf's Eye" to carefully shine on the stone wall at the end of the robber's hole; unlike the hole on the left, here someone had dug upward along the stone wall. It seems the person trapped in the hole by the stone wall, with no way to escape, chose the most difficult method.

The robber's hole of the Fish Bone Temple was originally in a mountain gully, sloping downward, threading through hills and natural karst caves within the hills. If one were to dig a vertical shaft upward from the hole to escape, the straight‑line distance would be the longest and the workload the greatest. Moreover, this mountain mass has been eroded by nature, full of holes inside, prone to collapse; unless absolutely necessary, no one would take such a measure.

I looked up, but after just a glance I lost all hope—less than ten meters above, a huge stone slab sealed it. These stone slabs that appeared out of nowhere are like a giant stone coffin, tightly sealing the surroundings; being trapped inside is truly heaven‑blocked, earth‑sealed.

Seeing no way out, I retreated to the fork of the robber's hole and told Da Jin Ya and Pangzi the situation. Pangzi and I have long been in dangerous straits; although the current circumstance is strange, we aren't overly tense.

Seeing that we weren't panicking, Da Jin Ya also calmed down. Humans are a strange species; panic is the fastest‑spreading virus in a crowd, but if most people stay calm, it's like erecting a firewall that stops panic from spreading.

Excessive panic impairs accurate judgment; at this moment the worst thing is to frighten oneself. From my experience, we just can't figure out how that strange stone wall appeared, but if we can find even a clue, we can find the exit and won't be trapped to death here.

Da Jin Ya blamed himself: "Alas, it's all my fault for being too curious—I had to come in with you two. If I had stayed above to keep watch, there would have been someone outside to respond. Now all three of us are stuck here—what can we do?"

I comforted him: "Master Jin, don't be too nervous; we haven't reached the point of exhausted mountains and waters. Besides, even if you stayed outside it wouldn't help—that stone slab probably weighs a thousand jin; without explosives you couldn't open it."

Seeing me calm and composed, Da Jin Ya asked: "Old Hu, you're so relaxed—do you have an escape plan? Please tell us so I can relax too. To be honest, I'm so scared I'm about to wet my pants; I'm just holding on."

I laughed at myself: "What escape plan? We'll take it step by step. If Heaven really wanted to take us, it would have done so in the Yellow River; there's no need to wait until now. I think our fate isn't to die yet—we'll surely find a way out."

Pangzi said: "I'd rather fall into the Yellow River and drink the yellow soup than suffocate like a rat in this hole."

I told Pangzi and Da Jin Ya: "Don't panic. Of the four robber holes, three are blocked; the remaining one should lead into the Netherworld Hall of the Tang‑dynasty ancient tomb. Moreover, judging from the surroundings, the person who dug the holes for the Fish Bone Temple—a Gold‑seeking Colonel—must have become trapped after returning from the Netherworld Hall. We haven't seen his corpse yet; maybe he found another way out elsewhere. We'll only know for sure after we go into that Netherworld Hall and have a look."

Pangzi and Da Jin Ya both agreed with my words. This robber hole still has a long stretch before reaching the Netherworld Hall; there's no delay—let's go into the ancient tomb's Netherworld Hall to see what's really there.

Then Pangzi led the two geese ahead, with me and Da Jin Ya behind, as we crawled into the forward robber hole. While moving, I muttered to myself: "Damn it, today's bad luck landed us in this robber hole. I thought it was a route opened decades ago by a grave‑robbing expert—sure to be foolproof—but who knew this hole would have so many spooky tricks. Damn, I'm overconfident. If we can still get out this time, I'll learn my lesson and never act so recklessly again."

In fact, being impulsive is a major flaw in my character; I know it myself but can't change it. This temperament suits only a junior officer in the army, not a Gold‑seeking Colonel. Tombs are extremely perilous, full of unimaginable things—danger lurks almost everywhere. 'Caution' should be an indispensable baseline for the grave‑robbing trade.

I suddenly thought: if Shirley Yang were here, she definitely wouldn't let us rush in headfirst like this. Too bad she's wealthy—she'd never spend her life crawling around in robber holes like a rat. I also don't know how she's doing in the United States, or whether Professor Chen's mental illness has been cured.

Just as I was lost in thought, Pangzi called out ahead: "Old Hu, we're about to pass through the karst cave."

I heard dripping water, hurried forward, saw Pangzi already out of the hole, and followed him out. Scanning with the Wolf's Eye, I saw the ground littered with loose soil—likely the spoil from when earlier diggers made the side holes.

Then Da Jin Ya also crawled out. We looked around and found we were in a narrow shaft inside the mountain, not a karst cave; the dripping sound echoed from far away through the cavern, indicating that the legendary Dragon Ridge Labyrinth lies that way.

The robber hole passes through this narrow shaft and continues outward at the same angle as before. Da Jin Ya pointed toward the dripping sound and said: "Listen—doesn't there seem to be a large karst cave over there? Why didn't the builder of the Fish Bone Temple try to find a way through the cave instead of putting so much effort into digging this hole?"

I told Da Jin Ya: "Around here people call those karst caves mazes; inside you can't tell direction, so how could one easily find an exit? But since we haven't seen that predecessor's corpse, maybe he realized escaping the hole was hopeless and went into the labyrinth; if that's the case, whether he can get out is uncertain."

Pangzi said: "Why worry about all that? The hole isn't finished yet. I think we should first go into the Netherworld Hall to have a look; if there really is no way out, we can then consider heading this way."

I said: "You've got ulterior motives, not just drinking— I've never seen you this eager. You definitely want to go into the Netherworld Hall to grab treasures, but you don't get it: if we can't get out, what use are those treasures?"

Pangzi said: "I'm looking at this strategically. Think about it—we don't know yet whether we can get out, but the tomb's Netherworld Hall certainly contains funerary objects. Regardless of whether we can escape, let's first grab the grave goods, stuff them in our pockets, then figure out an exit. If we make it out, we'll be rich; if not, dying with valuable grave goods is better than dying penniless."

I waved my hand to stop Pangzi: "Enough, quit talking—my one sentence set off all that. Save your energy and think of a way to get out, okay? Let's do as you said and first enter the Netherworld Hall."

Pangzi drove the two white geese into the hole, ready to crawl in, but I quickly pulled him back and had him and Da Jin Ya put on simple gas masks, keeping an eye on the geese's movements. The front section of the hole connects to a vent in the mountain, and far off there seems to be a karst cave, so the air quality is fine. However, this final stretch of the hole is the same as the tomb's Netherworld Hall; I estimate there is still an upward segment leading from the hall's lower level out. If the tomb has only this one outlet, air would stagnate far longer than the ventilation cycle, so we must take precautions.

We put on the gas masks, soaked a towel in water from the canteen and wrapped it around our necks. Da Jin Ya gave Pangzi a jade pendant of Guanyin, and I gave Da Jin Ya a paratrooper's knife for self‑defense.

After brief preparations, the three of us crawled one after another into the second robber hole. This section is extremely short—we crawled forward over fifty meters, then turned upward another ten or so meters, and indeed passed through a layer of green bricks.

The green bricks of the Tang tomb are three to four palms thick, all foundation bricks that can be pried open with a shovel and crowbar. These bricks are laid beneath the Netherworld Hall; the rest of the floor and four walls are large stones fixed with iron rods, the gaps filled with molten iron to seal them airtight. Only this small area at the center of the Netherworld Hall is a slightly weak void.

Since the Yuan dynasty, the practice of leaving a 'void' to trap wind has largely changed, because such spots are easy to break through; yet the tradition of retaining a void persisted into the Qing dynasty, merely reduced to a few inches—too small for a person to enter.

Nevertheless, overall the Tang tomb's solidity and grandeur are still notable in Chinese history; below the sloping passage there are several massive stone gates, deep in the mountains, surrounded by thick stone walls—this is not something that can be described as 'impregnable.'

Above the void in the Tang tomb there is one or several mechanisms; these devices are hidden within the Netherworld Hall's tomb bricks. Once the void's brick is broken, the mechanism is triggered. According to the tomb's layout, there may be quicksand, pitfalls, stone pillars, or a falling flap that would seal the Hall completely. They would rather break the wind‑trapping, qi‑gathering void than let the burial goods benefit tomb robbers.

Before us, that mechanism had already been disabled by the Gold‑seeking Colonel who entered earlier, saving us considerable trouble—we don't need to waste effort on those devices.

Pangzi placed the two white geese into the hole overhead to test the air quality in the Netherworld Hall. We crouched in the hole waiting, while I kept thinking about blocking the stone walls around the hole—it's as if a wall had suddenly appeared in the air; I've never heard of such a formidable mechanism. Could it be a ghost‑built wall? But the legendary ghost‑built wall is nothing like this. What strange thing does this tomb contain? Who is the tomb's occupant? Did that earlier Gold‑seeking Colonel manage to escape?

At that moment Pangzi pulled the two white geese back, seeing nothing abnormal, and tugged my arm; the three of us crawled out of the hole and arrived at the Netherworld Hall. This tomb's Hall is truly not small—about two hundred square meters. We illuminated it with the Wolf's Eye, looked around, and couldn't help but ask: "In the Netherworld Hall……where are the coffins?"