Chapter 65: Main Text Chapter Sixty-Six Stone Steps

Main Text Chapter Sixty-Six Stone Steps

I said to Da Jin Ya: "Master Jin, you're not giving me a hard time, are you? If I knew what the distinguishing features were, I wouldn't need to ask you."

Da Jin Ya said: "Oh dear, look at my mouth, it's become second nature; whatever I say is just that old-antique dealer's spiel, putting on airs, pretending to be profound, just to baffle and convince the buyer."

Pangzi said beside him: "Exactly, Old Jin, you really are enough; don't you see what time it is? In this situation, none of us should be telling tall tales; speak plainly, one thing one, two things two, speak truthfully."

Da Jin Ya repeatedly agreed, then continued our earlier conversation: "I'm not in archaeology, and I wouldn't dare be so certain about anything else, but the features of this Western Zhou human face are very obvious; I once saw an introduction at the Luoyang Museum, and the impression left was deep, so I dare say that this human-faced stone coffin is from the Western Zhou."

The biggest characteristic of Western Zhou human-face carving decoration is that the facial lines are smooth and flowing, with no gender features, only ears larger than ordinary people's, yet from the face you can't tell male or female, young or old; moreover, throughout Chinese history only the Western Zhou favored thunder patterns, and looking at the base of that stone coffin in the underworld hall, layer upon layer are thunder-pattern decorations—this can be said to be the best proof.

Looking back before the Western Zhou, among the Yin-Shang dynasty unearthed relics, many have facial carvings or patterned designs, but they appear overly vigorous and archaic, lacking smoothness and flow, and gender features are obvious: silkworm eyebrows, round eyes, large nose and wide mouth indicate males, drawn from the legend of the emperor's four faces; after the Han dynasty, human-face patterns and carvings become even more distinct, with males having beards on their faces.

After hearing Da Jin Ya's words, I understood his meaning: starting from the Yin-Shang, there had been craftsmanship for carving and casting human faces, but only in the Western Zhou period did a strange, genderless facial appearance suddenly emerge; afterwards, aesthetics and craftsmanship returned to the earlier style. I asked Da Jin Ya: "Why is it that only during this Western Zhou period did such a change occur?"

Da Jin Ya said he didn't know either, and that we should consult an expert; although he could tell that the facial carving on the stone coffin belonged to Western Zhou craftsmanship, he couldn't explain what cause or background produced this strange stone face.

I asked Da Jin Ya: "What does the legend of the Yellow Emperor's four faces refer to?"

This legend is widely known; most people who study history and early antiques know a bit about it. Da Jin Ya answered: "As the name suggests, it means the Yellow Emperor had four faces, one each in front, back, left, and right, each gazing in a different direction; another version says it refers to the Yellow Emperor sending out four envoys to inspect the four directions."

I said: "I see, but this seems unrelated to the stone coffin in the underworld hall; that stone coffin has five human faces carved on it, with one on the lid facing upward—could the shape of that face be related to the tomb's occupant?"

I know asking is pointless; we three are now like lost in a five-mile fog, unable to tell direction. Based on Da Jin Ya's words, we can't necessarily confirm that this stone coffin and those strange tomb walls are products of the Western Zhou period.

Seeing my half-belief, half-doubt, Da Jin Ya added: "If we could find some bronze cauldrons nearby, or a place inscribed with characters, that would allow further confirmation."

Pangzi asked: "Old Jin, do you even know how to read inscriptions? I've never heard you mention it before; I didn't expect you to be so learned—your hairstyle doesn't match the knowledge in your belly, truly one cannot judge a person by appearance."

Da Jin Ya, who keeps a big ponytail, rubs a lot of hair oil every day and has been teased by Pangzi about it; seeing Pangzi bring up his hairstyle again, he realized his hair hadn't been tidied in a while, hastily spat into his palm, smoothed his hair back, and showing his gold tooth said: "I don't dare claim expertise, but if I saw an inscription, I could at least tell whether it's Western Zhou."

The three of us discussed for a long time but came up with nothing; the tomb passage ahead is passable on both sides, though we don't know where it leads, and there's a gap overhead where the great stone coffin with human faces is placed in the underworld hall.

I said to Da Jin Ya and Pangzi: "Our situation is quite embarrassing, to the point we can't even tell where we are; but if this tomb passage really is the Western Zhou architecture Da Jin Ya mentioned, then I could roughly judge the overall layout here: Shang-Zhou tombs aren't as luxurious as Tang ones, but they're larger in scale, built with big stones stacked into separate halls, and divided into several levels, not a flat structure. When we just entered the robber's hole, we were blocked by a huge stone wall; that thick, massive stone wall is likely the outer wall of the Western Zhou tomb, some distance from the main burial chamber. Still, I can't figure out how it suddenly appeared—damn it, getting out this time is really tough."

Pangzi said: "Lao Hu, I think you shouldn't bother thinking about this; it's not something we can figure out. Originally I believed our trio could handle any tomb: you provide the skill, Old Jin the experience, and I the strength—I'm not boasting, I could at least hold my own against the two of you..."

Da Jin Ya interjected: "We have skill, experience, and strength, but I think we lack brains."

Pangzi said: "Old Jin, haven't you heard the saying that three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang? Aren't we three stronger than a bunch of clumsy cobblers?"

I said to Pangzi and Da Jin Ya: "I think we have skill, experience, and stamina, but we're lacking a goddess—a luck goddess; our luck is terrible. When we go back we need to find a way to turn our fortune, and we shouldn't dawdle here; the more we think, the more foolish we get. If this is a Western Zhou tomb structure, the lowest layer's passage leads to the burial pits, with no exit; I think we should first return to the upper level's underworld hall and then look for the robber's hole exit."

Pangzi said: "Wait a minute, shouldn't there be some treasures in the burial pits? Let's pick up a couple on the way back before looking for the robber's hole—returning empty-handed isn't our style; otherwise we'd have gone through all this trouble for nothing."

Da Jin Ya said: "Forget it, Pangzi; your thick arms don't know fatigue, and my legs feel like they're filled with lead. We shouldn't go looking for trouble; as Master Hu said, going back to find the robber's hole is the best plan. Besides, this place is so strange—who can guarantee there aren't traps or mechanisms in this tomb passage? By the time we regret it, it'll be too late."

Seeing that I and Da Jin Ya were determined to climb back up, Pangzi, helpless, led two geese along with us and suddenly said: "Hey, I say, shouldn't we pry open that stone coffin to see if the corpse inside has grown such a strange face? Maybe there's a mask or something; if it's gold, it'd be valuable."

I and Da Jin Ya ignored him; in this situation there's no mood for that. I supported Da Jin Ya and pushed him onto the underworld hall on the tomb passage, and Pangzi and I then climbed up one after another.

The underworld hall hadn't changed; the large stone coffin carved with strange human faces still sat quietly in the corner. We turned on all three flashlights and searched the floor for the robber's hole entrance.

The entire underworld hall, aside from six stone stands prepared to hold six jade pieces and the stone coffin in the corner, was empty, with nothing else; it's unimaginable that a Tang dynasty underworld hall would actually house a Western Zhou stone coffin.

Pangzi pointed at the place we just climbed out of and said: "Is there any other exit around here? Isn't the place we just came out of exactly that robber's hole we entered earlier?"

I shone my flashlight and looked down at my feet; sure enough, it was the robber's hole we first crawled into, but how could jumping down lead to a tomb passage? Before I could think further, Da Jin Ya also noticed: "Master Hu, look beside the stone coffin—there's an extra……flight of steps."

I and Pangzi looked in the direction Da Jin Ya indicated, and indeed beside the stone coffin a stone staircase had mysteriously appeared, leading upward; the steps were wide, each tier made of whole large stone blocks. I went down and shone the light upward; the beam was swallowed by darkness, and beyond ten or so meters everything was pitch black, unable to see what's above.

I could no longer stay calm, so I told Pangzi and Da Jin Ya: "Damn it, this ancient tomb is simply haunted—the robber's hole turned into a tomb passage, a Western Zhou stone coffin appeared in the Tang tomb's underworld hall, and now a stone staircase has popped up. I think we should go all in, follow one path into darkness; the robber's hole surely leads nowhere. If this is a Western Zhou tomb, then this staircase beside the stone coffin should lead to the uppermost level, which connects to the passageway, perhaps offering an exit."

Pangzi said: "What are we waiting for? I'll go first, you two follow." Before his words finished, he lifted his foot onto the stairs, took two steps, then suddenly recalled something, turned back and asked me: "Lao Hu, what was that 'way' you just mentioned? What is it used for?"

I and Da Jin Ya also stepped onto the stairs; as I walked I told Pangzi: "The passageway—put simply, it's a tunnel. When building a tomb you have to hollow out the mountain; the excavated earth and stone are all carried out through the passageway. After the tomb occupant is interred, the tunnel is sealed, and the craftsmen, slaves, and such who built the tomb are also buried alive inside. If we're lucky, we might find a secret passage they secretly left behind, which would let us leave this haunted place."

The three of us talked while walking; after about five minutes I suddenly noticed something odd: when we first stepped onto the stone steps, I saw a crescent-shaped notch on the edge of the second step, possibly chipped during construction; however, every twenty or thirty steps we went up we found the same crescent-shaped notch. At first I didn't think much of it, but after careful counting, there is one every twenty-three steps.

This is certainly no coincidence; we might be walking in circles. I quickly called out to Da Jin Ya and Pangzi: "Don't keep going up—climbing like this will exhaust us to death, and we still won't reach the top."

The three of us hurriedly turned to go down, but the downward path also seemed endless; walking up and down the steps was fast and effortless, yet after walking a long time, compared to the time it took us to go up earlier, we found we couldn't make it back to the underworld hall no matter what.

All three were exhausted, panting like oxen; Da Jin Ya's physique was never good, and now, worn out, his breathing became coarse and hurried, his lungs making a wheezing sound like a broken bellows.

Seeing that continuing down would require Pangzi to carry Da Jin Ya, but carrying a person down these steps is hardly easy, and besides we don't even know if we could make it back to the underworld hall, going down like this wouldn't work, so I had Da Jin Ya and Pangzi rest where they were.

Pangzi plopped onto the ground, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said to me: "Good heavens, Lao Hu, if we keep torturing ourselves like this, in just a few hours we'll starve to death in this haunted place."

When we came to the Fish Bone Temple we brought plenty of food—wine and meat—but to be able to carry treasures from the ancient tomb we also needed some simple gear, so we left all the food at the Fish Bone Temple and didn't carry it on us; each person only carried a kettle of water.

Although we had eaten and drunk before entering the robber's hole, after all this exertion our stomachs began to growl; now when Pangzi mentioned hunger, all three of our bellies rumbled in unison.

Our situation is now even more perilous; we rashly charged onto the stone steps and got trapped like by a ghost wall, unable to reach either top or bottom; we'd be better off thinking of another plan in the underworld hall, and it truly proves Da Jin Ya's earlier remark about Pangzi: by the time we regret it, it'll be too late.

I sighed and inwardly scolded myself for being rash and impulsive; if I hadn't had this flaw back in the army, I wouldn't now be a petty trader; I really feel like slapping myself twice.

Pangzi said to me: "Lao Hu, blaming yourself now is useless; even if we don't climb these steps, we'll end up trapped somewhere else—conserve your strength and think about whether there's any other way."

After thinking, I said: "This staircase seems to repeat every twenty-three steps, cycling both upward and downward; right now, whether we go up or down, we can't reach the end."

Pangzi said: "Then it's over—this is definitely a ghost wall; we'll never get out, we'll just be trapped here to death, waiting for the next group of grave robbers to come collect our corpses."

Hearing Pangzi's words, Da Jin Ya felt sorrow well up and couldn't stop two tears of sadness: "Poor my eighty-year-old mother, and my eighteen-year-old sweetheart—I'll never see them in this lifetime… If there's still a next life, I… I swear I'll never do this line of work again…"

Pangzi, annoyed by him, said to Da Jin Ya: "What's the fuss? Regretting now—what should you have done earlier? Even in death you should die like a man; stop sniveling, I'll snap your gold tooth out first."

Da Jin Ya treasured his gold tooth almost as much as his hairstyle; hearing Pangzi want to pull his tooth, he quickly covered his mouth with his hand and said: "Pangzi, I already told you beforehand—we're both dying men; you ought to leave me a whole corpse, don't wait until I'm too weak from hunger to move, then take advantage of my peril to pull out my gold tooth."

I said to the two of them: "You two quit talking nonsense—damn it, no matter what we say we can't just starve to death here in this haunted place; dying like that is too pathetic; if we're going to die, we should find a swift way."

Pangzi said: "Although that's how it sounds, wanting to die painlessly in this place isn't easy either." Saying this, he drew his paratrooper knife and told me: "I see only two options: one is to roll down the stairs and fall to death—since the stairs have no end, maybe the outside world has already achieved the four modernizations, and we haven't rolled all the way down yet; the other is to slit the wrists—if you can't bring yourself to do it, I'll cut you both, and once the blood flows you'll be near death; I think this is the swiftest method."

Da Jin Ya said to Pangzi: "Pangzi, when did you become so sincere? You didn't catch the meaning in Lao Hu's words? If I haven't misunderstood, his implication should be: we haven't yet reached desperation, we won't die." He turned to me and asked: "Lao Hu, was that what you just meant?"

I said to Da Jin Ya: "What I just said was indeed just venting, but I now seem to have suddenly found a clue; please be quiet a moment while I think it over."

Seeing that I had finally managed to come up with a clue after great effort, Pangzi and Da Jin Ya feared any disturbance would lose this slim chance, so they both fell silent, not even daring to breathe heavily.

I said I was almost thinking of a solution; that was just offhand appeasement to keep them from arguing further. At this moment things quieted down, and I mentally replayed the whole scene from when we entered the Fish Bone Temple up to being trapped on these stone steps, like watching a movie, complete and intact, trying not to lose any detail.

After thinking for who knows how long, I asked Da Jin Ya: "In this ancient tomb we really are like having hit a ghost wall—no matter which path we take, something strange inexplicably appears; Master Jin, have you heard of ghost walls?"

Da Jin Ya said: "I've heard of it but never seen it; back when there was a disturbance on Di'anmen Street, nearby folks wouldn't dare go past after midnight unless they wandered until dawn, still unable to leave that road. I've also heard some rumors from elsewhere, but what we've encountered probably isn't a ghost wall—ghost walls are said to just make you walk in circles; how could they be this powerful? Besides, we're wearing so many protective charms, how could we encounter a ghost wall?"

Pangzi also said: "Lao Hu, you forgot you yourself said that a place with good feng shui gathers wind and qi, so there fundamentally aren't wandering spirits, nor hopping corpses or anything like that—how come you're now thinking of ghost walls?"

I shook my head and said: "I'm not saying we've encountered a ghost wall; I just wanted to verify, to confirm that our present situation isn't a ghost wall—if it isn't, then my analysis could be correct."

Pangzi asked: "One person's plan is short, two people's plan is long, so speak up, and I and Old Jin will help you analyze."

I thought for a moment, then said to Pangzi and Da Jin Ya: "I think I already know what we've encountered, but... I have to say it out loud, you two don't be scared."