Chapter 62: Main Text Chapter 63: Lamp Shadow

Main Text Chapter 63: Lamp Shadow

Lamp Shadow

The candlelight's shadow flickered uncertainly in the corner of the underworld hall, lighting the wall's edge alternately bright and dim, and at the edge of the shadow a huge, deathly pale face appeared, while his body remained hidden in the darkness beyond the candle's illumination.

The three of us—myself, Da Jin Ya, and Pangzi—stood at the stone door connecting the front hall and the underworld hall; the underworld hall was spacious, my wolf‑eye flashlight couldn't reach that far, and because of the distance the face looked blurry and hard to make out, giving off a grim, ghostly aura.

When we first entered the underworld hall, we had carefully examined every corner; at that time the hall was empty except for the uncolored paintings on all four walls, which depicted plump palace maids, and there was no such huge face. Although the distance was great and we couldn't see clearly, we wondered whose face that was, appearing in the corner by the candlelight.

We faced each other in silence for a while, the other side showed no movement, and Pangzi lowered his voice to ask me, "Lao Hu, I think that fellow over there is no pushover; we shouldn't linger here—let's withdraw."

I also lowered my voice to Pangzi and Da Jin Ya: "Don't act rashly; first find out whether he's human or a ghost."

I couldn't tell whether the owner of that face was male or female, old or young; the underworld hall had no coffins, so naturally there were no zongzi. It's possible that the person slipped in through a robber's tunnel while we were in the front hall—a tunnel not just anyone would dare to dig—and maybe that person is also a Grave Robber Colonel.

Thinking of the Grave Robber Colonel, I immediately thought of the senior from the Fish Bone Temple—could it be… that he hasn't died yet? Or perhaps he never found a way out, died nearby, and what we're seeing now is his spirit?

Even if it were a ghost, it wouldn't be a big deal—we have the Golden Buddha and Jade Guanyin protecting us, and if the other party really is a Grave Robber Colonel, we share a bit of incense‑burner affinity, so he might be able to point us the way out.

Whether the other party is human or ghost, we must first break this stalemate; staying locked like this does us no good. So I shouted toward the person in the southeast corner using the secret phrase: "Black‑fold seeks the dragon, lifts the treasure lid; Moving Mountains opens the hill, reveals a cavern; the star‑net suddenly opens, the Northern Dipper gathers southern light."

I said these words very politely; basically I meant we're all scratching a living in the same grave‑robbing trade. Since we've run into each other, there must be a first‑comer and a late‑comer—we're the latter, so we won't steal anyone's thunder; we'll just make our way out politely.

As the saying goes, "Three hundred and sixty trades, each produces its own top scholar." These three hundred and sixty trades refer to all kinds of livelihoods in the world; in life one must have a skill to stand in society, earn a living by one's ability, and need not worry about starving or freezing to death on the streets.

Beyond those three hundred and sixty trades there are also the eight outside trades, which are unconventional—not part of the regular livelihoods, nor of the farmer‑soldier‑scholar‑merchant classes; among these eight outside trades is the grave‑robbing and tomb‑tilting line.

The state has its laws, each trade its rules; even beggars have a gang leader overseeing them. This secretive, mysterious trade of tomb‑tilting has many more regulations—for example, after opening a tomb's chamber, one goes in to grave‑rob and then comes out; a Grave Robber Colonel is absolutely not allowed to go back and forth multiple times in the same robber's tunnel.

At most one may enter once and exit once; after all, that is a place of rest, not someone's backyard, and the myriad rules of this trade are too many to list.

One rule states that when two grave‑robbing parties both take a liking to the same tomb chamber and want to move the mountain‑casing, whoever arrives first gets the claim; later arrivals may also enter, but any finds should be chosen by the first party to go in.

Because the Grave Robber Colonel's discipline is strict, unlike ordinary tomb thieves who take only one or two items from an ancient tomb and then stop, and because the burial goods in noble tombs are extremely rich, there is rarely major conflict between them.

The rule of taking only one or two items from a tomb exists first to avoid undertaking too big a job—one's fate cannot bear such great wealth, lest it bring disaster.

Another important reason is that, no matter how many ancient tombs there are in the world, they will eventually be exhausted; one must not work to the point of extermination—after making a fortune, one must leave a way of survival for one's fellows.

This is the biggest difference between a professional Grave Robber Colonel and ordinary tomb thieves: the latter often fight to the death over one or two burial items, kin killing kin, because they rarely find large tombs, don't understand the dangers, don't realize that burial items are omens of disaster, and taking too many brings retribution.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Mengde established the offices of Hair‑Digging and Grave‑Robbing to raise military funds; in fact the military ranks of Colonel and the like were set up by Cao Cao, but the titles of Grave‑Robbing and Hair‑Digging, as well as the Moving Mountains and Unloading Ridges sects, are four tomb‑tilting schools that existed since the end of the Qin and beginning of the Han. However, the disciples of these schools acted in secret, unknown to the world and unrecorded in official histories; by the Song‑Yuan era the Hair‑Digging, Moving Mountains, and Unloading Ridges schools had all been lost, leaving only the Grave‑Robbing school.

In the Grave‑Robbing school, one isn't considered a disciple just by receiving instruction from a master; there is a whole set of special signs, cuts, and techniques—anyone who knows the trade's terminology is a fellow member. For example, a robber's tunnel that cuts into the underworld hall from an empty position can only be made by a skilled Grave Robber Colonel. I learned part of this from my grandfather, and another part from Shirley Yang on the way back from the desert.

So I feel that, as fellow disciples of the same path, there's nothing hard to negotiate—of course this assumes the other party is still alive; if they are a ghost or spirit, they probably won't turn hostile either, and at worst we could simply bury their remains with proper respect.

After I said that, I waited for a reply; normally, if the other party is also a tomb‑tilting expert, having given them due respect, they likely wouldn't make trouble for us, and even if it were the spirit of a Grave Robber Colonel who entered decades ago, it probably wouldn't give us a hard time.

But after waiting a long time, there was still no response; the candle had burned more than halfway, and the person in the southeast corner of the underworld hall remained just as indifferent as before, motionless like a clay or stone carving.

I thought maybe they weren't one of our trade and couldn't understand my secret language, so I spoke again loudly in plain speech, but there was still no reaction.

Now we were all on edge; the worst thing is this voiceless silence—not knowing what medicine the gourd holds. If we wanted to leave the underworld hall, we'd have to go to the central tunnel entrance, but the figure behind the shadow stared straight at us, unsure what they wanted, and we couldn't guess their intent, so we dared not rush forward.

I changed my mind—perhaps this person isn't a Grave Robber Colonel but the tomb's owner, which would be troublesome. I shouted toward the southeast corner of the underworld hall: "Hey… you over there, who exactly are you, what divine being? We just happened to pass by, saw a robber's tunnel, dug in to look around, and harbor no ill intentions."

Pangzi, seeing the other party still silent, grew impatient and shouted: "We're about to go back the way we came; if you don't speak, we'll take it as your consent—don't regret it later……"

Da Jin Ya whispered from behind: "I say, Lord Hu, Lord Pang, maybe that's just a figure from the wall painting; we didn't see it clearly, and the candlelight is dim and wavering—it's easy to mistake it for something else."

After he said that, both of us felt even less certain, doubting our own memory; damn it, if that were really the case we'd lose face big time—we were almost scared to death those few minutes, but it really doesn't look like a painting.

This underworld hall, and indeed the whole tomb, is exceedingly evil; when we first entered the hall we really found nothing, but when we went into the tunnel there wasn't even a giant stone along the way, and it's hard to guarantee that the hall won't suddenly conjure something out of nothing—is it a person? A ghost? A demon? Or, as Da Jin Ya guessed, just the painting on the tomb wall?

Seeing the candle on the ground about to burn out, we could wait no longer; I secretly drew my sabre‑like umbrella blade in hand. This blade came from Russia to China, specially made to cut ropes—for example, after a paratrooper jumps and his chute catches in a tree, leaving him suspended in midair, one can use this special knife to cut the chute's cords. The knife is short and handy, with a long handle and short blade, very sharp, and easy to carry. Since we were in inland Shaanxi and didn't dare carry a dagger, we each carried a few of these short umbrella blades for self‑defense.

With my other hand I held the Golden Buddha, gave Pangzi and Da Jin Ya a look, and we all moved forward to see what the other party really was; Pangzi also pulled out an entrenching shovel and handed the two large white geese to Da Jin Ya to lead.

The three of us formed an inverted triangle: I and Pangzi in front, Da Jin Ya leading the geese and holding the flashlight behind, stepping slowly toward the candle in the southeast corner.

With each step my palm gripping the umbrella blade grew slick with cold sweat; I couldn't tell whether I was scared or nervous, and I even hoped the opponent was just a zongzi that would leap out so we could have a good fight—this silent, ghostly presence standing in the dark corner is even more creepy than a hairy, leaping zongzi.

Just as that person was about to enter the beam of our wolf‑eye flashlight, the candle on the ground burned down to the end, puffed out a wisp of green smoke, and went out silently.

As the candle went out, the face behind the shadow instantly vanished into total darkness.