Chapter 250: How Deep He Says It Is, That Is How Deep It Is

The scorching sun hung in the sky, and the stone steps were baked piping hot. The chirping of cicadas was intertwined, deafening and incessant.

Leaves tumbled in the sunlight, revealing their dark green undersides; the air was hot, humid, and stifling, as if one had entered a steamer.

The flood had long since ceased flowing, and silt had settled at the bottom of the valley, gradually drying out and cracking into deep fissures like the back of a tortoise.

Suddenly, a gust of Wind came, and the scent of damp, musty mud lingered in the nasal cavity.

Sun Jiamu raised his binoculars and looked around. Wang Qi Zhi stood to one side, a strange expression in his eyes.

"You leave the Neolithic site unexcavated and run over here to join in the excitement?"

"Division Chief Sun, isn't it very busy over at the Archaeological Cabin today?"

Sun Jiamu had no time to talk; he merely nodded.

Lin Sicheng had already cleared the surface layer and finished excavating the first cultural layer, not to mention he had also created an extremely sound and systematic follow-up excavation plan. Next, according to the plan, one just needed to dig downward slowly; it didn't matter if he, the Division Chief, went or not.

Compared to this, Sun Jiamu was actually more curious: what exactly did the Luanbai Jade look like, the one Lin Sicheng would rather reject the olive branch offered by him and Deputy Department Head Wu to find? He was even more curious about how Lin Sicheng could infer a kiln site through a tomb.

After looking back and forth several times, Sun Jiamu looked suspicious: "Professor Wang, I don't see any tomb?"

"Indeed, it cannot be seen, and there are no markers!" Wang Qi Zhi nodded: "Lin Sicheng said it is only a possibility... so I estimate it is still buried underground!"

Sun Jiamu was stunned for a moment.

He had thought the tomb Lin Sicheng spoke of was one washed out on the day of the flood, which Lin Sicheng had stumbled upon by accident.

After all that, it was still buried underground?

"Right, there isn't even a marker on the surface?" Sun Jiamu looked around, "Then how does he find it?"

Wang Qi Zhi thought for a moment, then pointed toward the foot of the mountain: "He knows Feng Shui!"

What the hell?

Sun Jiamu raised his binoculars again: halfway up the mountain, Lin Sicheng was circling the ridge, suddenly heading east, then suddenly heading west.

From time to time, he would stop, look up at the sky, look at the mountain peak, and then look at the canyon below the mountain. Sometimes he would even count on his fingers.

He was holding something in his hand that seemed to be reflecting light; upon closer inspection, it was, surprisingly, a Compass.

Sun Jiamu was completely bewildered, eyes wide and mouth agape, before he finally said: "So, is Lin Sicheng doing Dragon Seeking and Point Acupoint?"

Wang Qi Zhi nodded: "Putting it that way, it's not wrong!"

It was no wonder Sun Jiamu was this surprised; the contrast between before and after was truly too great: the Archaeological Cabin that Lin Sicheng designed was advanced and avant-garde enough that even Department Head Wu couldn't stop praising it.

But in just a few days, Lin Sicheng suddenly took a Compass and started acting like a Daoist? It felt like a Gundam traveling back to the Jurassic period.

Sun Jiamu had been in archaeology for half his life; he had only heard of Grave Robbers relying on Feng Shui, but he had never heard of archaeologists relying on Feng Shui too?

Wang Qi Zhi agreed deeply: to tell the truth, he hadn't heard of it either. Not until he came to Xijing and met Lin Sicheng.

Sun Jiamu exhaled forcefully: "The school doesn't teach it, so where did he learn it?"

"From books!"

Sun Jiamu's eyes widened: "Professor Wang, aren't you talking nonsense? Who teaches this in proper books?"

Wang Qi Zhi let out a "ha": "I didn't say he learned it from proper books, did I?"

Sun Jiamu was speechless.

"Division Chief Sun, you don't believe it, right?" Wang Qi Zhi smiled, "Then tell me, where did he learn about that Archaeological Cabin?"

Where else could Lin Sicheng have learned it?

Naturally, self-taught.

But then again: Lin Sicheng relied on just two meeting documents, without even a clue, and built that cabin entirely based on imagination; how do you explain that?

As for whether it's useful... everyone who has used it knows. Compared to that, isn't Feng Shui easier to learn than this?

Although it is a bit mysterious, at least it has a basis and a theory.

Sun Jiamu just couldn't figure out one thing: "Why is he learning this?"

"Naturally, for archaeology!"

"Is it useful?"

Wang Qi Zhi thought for a moment and didn't speak.

To say it's useless: wasn't the Zhang Anshi Tomb incident the best example? If it weren't for Lin Sicheng finding it quickly, dozens of tombs would likely have been emptied out, and the Police wouldn't have even been able to find the people.

To say it's useful: archaeology, especially regarding ancient tombs, has always been passive, rescue-based excavation; so-called Feng Shui knowledge is basically never used.

To put it bluntly, it's a bit like a dragon-slaying technique—one learns it but cannot put it to use—which is why Sun Jiamu was so astonished.

Just as he was secretly turning this over in his mind, Lin Sicheng waved his hand toward the mountain, and Sun Jiamu and Wang Qi Zhi put away their binoculars and went down the mountain along the stone steps.

Ten minutes later, the three of them met at the foot of the mountain.

Wang Qi Zhi was impatient: "How is it?"

"There is indeed a tomb, if not Song, then Jin. But it's not large; it should be of a landlord, wealthy family, or merchant among the commoner class. If it were an official, it wouldn't exceed the seventh rank..."

"Where exactly is it?"

Lin Sicheng raised his hand and pointed: "Due east, slightly south, on that slope about two hundred meters from here... The tomb passage runs east-west and does not exceed fifteen meters. The tomb chamber faces south, a figure-eight or circular Brick Chamber Tomb. The tomb chamber is not large, about twenty square meters or so. The tomb garden is also not large, about one and a half mu..."

Sun Jiamu stood to the side, becoming more suspicious the more he heard: if Lin Sicheng had used Feng Shui knowledge to find an ancient tomb at the foot of a mountain with no markers, he would at most be half-believing.

Because some Grave Robbers do rely on Feng Shui knowledge to find tombs, though, of course, one needs to be extremely proficient in Feng Shui and very professional.

But if Lin Sicheng could determine where the tomb was, what dynasty it was from, and what grade it was just by spinning a Compass on a ridge a few times—including how big the tomb garden was, how big the tomb chamber was, and even the direction and length of the tomb passage—Sun Jiamu absolutely did not believe it.

This is Feng Shui, not fortune-telling; no matter how studious or learned Lin Sicheng is, he must still respect science.

The more Sun Jiamu thought about it, the stranger it felt; for a moment, his face was full of suspicion, wanting to speak but holding back.

Wang Qi Zhi knew exactly what he was thinking as soon as he looked at him, but the words reached his lips and were swallowed back down.

Seeing is believing, and hearing is doubting; once he sees it for himself, he will know that Lin Sicheng is even more magical than he imagined.

Just as he was secretly turning this over in his mind, Lin Sicheng picked up the walkie-talkie: "Station Tian, Station Tian, do you see the two elm trees at the seven o'clock direction? Thirty meters due east, use the Diesel Probe Machine... depth three point five to four point five meters, be careful not to use too much power, and increase speed only when encountering obstacles. Do not connect the probe rods too long, and remember to stop drilling when you hit a void... Secondly, pay attention to vertical probing, and try to ensure the integrity of the soil layers!"

"Teacher Lin, understood!"

After a reply, the Archaeology Team moved; two pickup trucks rushed up the gentle slope and began assembling the QianTanjie.

It wasn't far, just on the opposite side, but because they had to cross a ravine, they had to drive around.

By the time the Jeep Grand Cherokee crossed the bridge, Tian Jie had already assembled the machine. When the vehicle reached the spot, the drill bit had already entered the soil.

With a few whirring sounds, mud slurry welled up in the drill hole; Sun Jiamu stood to the side and took a look: "What are you preparing to explore, the soil layer?"

Lin Sicheng was concise: "A tomb chamber!"

What the hell?

Sun Jiamu was stunned for a moment, then looked left and right.

This was a gentle slope at the foot of the mountain, over a hundred meters long from north to south. It was even longer from east to west, with no end in sight.

In such a large piece of land, there wasn't even a mound on the surface; saying there was a tomb underneath was already astonishing enough.

So when Lin Sicheng made the arrangements, Sun Jiamu had thought it was just to let the Archaeology Team do a trial survey. He even thought: it would probably take at least eight, nine, or ten attempts, and it wasn't even certain they would find anything in the end.

But as it turned out, Lin Sicheng said: there is a tomb chamber underneath?

And he was extremely certain, without any words like "possible," "should be," or "perhaps."

So, out of tens of thousands of square meters, finding a tomb chamber of about twenty square meters in one go—what kind of probability is that?

Subconsciously, Sun Jiamu thought of the two times his local colleagues often mentioned:

The first time, Lin Sicheng was wandering in the wilderness with a probe rod, and as he walked, he probed down once and hit a pit of Wood Ash.

The second time was even more mysterious: he just walked around the mountaintop and drew a simple diagram. It included the location, size, and type of the Kiln Furnace and its supporting facilities. As it turned out, after the excavation, it was exactly as he had drawn it.

Especially the Kiln Furnace, which had never been discovered before and wasn't even recorded in historical documents, but after it was unearthed, it didn't deviate in the slightest from Lin Sicheng's deduction, as if he were the one who had built that furnace.

But to be honest, Sun Jiamu had always been skeptical. He didn't deny that Lin Sicheng had ability and even more talent, but not to the point of being deified.

Therefore, he was still very skeptical now: pointing a finger at random and saying there was a tomb here, and even being able to deduce the specific location of the tomb chamber, was truly a bit exaggerated...

In a flash of thought, Sun Jiamu kept his eyes on the drilling rig. It started very smoothly, drilling three meters in a row with basically no obstacles.

But after connecting the fourth Exploration Probe, just halfway through drilling, the sound of the engine suddenly became low.

Sun Jiamu glanced at the horsepower gauge: "Rusty sand layer?"

"Doesn't look like it!" Lin Sicheng tilted his head to listen, "It sounds like Sanhe Soil!"

Sun Jiamu widened his eyes: What is that, Sanhe Soil?

In the middle of nowhere, how could such a thing appear?

Unless there really was a tomb underneath.

But that was secondary; the key was that moment when Lin Sicheng tilted his ear: he never knew this thing could be done by listening?

In astonishment, Tian Jie adjusted to high power, and the speed of the drilling rig increased. But not long after drilling, the QianTanjie began to roar again.

Lin Sicheng tilted his ear slightly: "Brick Chamber Tomb roof, depth fifty to sixty, keep adding power, pay attention to collecting brick dust..."

Tian Jie responded, added another Exploration Probe, and then opened the diesel engine's throttle to the maximum.

The noise was loud, and Sun Jiamu didn't ask anything else, just stared at the drilling rig. Ten centimeters, twenty centimeters, thirty centimeters... The newly connected probe had drilled halfway when a "hiss" was heard, the sound dropped sharply, and the drilling rig's rotation speed suddenly accelerated.

This is... drilled through?

Sun Jiamu looked as if he were stunned: Three meters plus one meter, plus half a meter, how much is that?

Exactly four point five meters.

What did Lin Sicheng say before?

Three point five to four point five meters.

Three point five is the surface layer of the Sanhe Soil, which is the surface layer of the tomb roof, and four point five is the bottom layer of the Brick Chamber Tomb roof.

It means however deep he said it was, that's how deep the tomb is...