Chapter 18: Seven Stars: Big Tree

I carefully crawled out of the hole; outside there was only a small ledge where I could stand, and beyond that was a cliff, at least fifteen meters down, and the wind was very strong, so I had to press myself against the cliff wall to observe the place. I really don't know how to describe what I saw. Before me was a huge natural cave, roughly the size of a football field. There was a large crack in the roof of the cave, and moonlight streamed in through that crack, just enough to outline the entire cavern. My current position was on the western wall, with nothing above or below to climb. I swept my gaze around and found that the cave walls around us were densely packed with holes—tens of thousands of them—so dense it looked as if the wall had been strafed dozens of times by super-heavy machine guns of various calibers.

But what was most stunning was the tree in the middle of the cave, nearly ten stories tall and so thick that ten people linking arms couldn't encircle it. And that huge tree was entwined with countless vines as thick as utility poles, crisscrossing and wrapping around anything they could. Their branches hung down like willow catkins, some dangling in midair, some already touching the ground, and some even reached into the holes in the cave walls. Wherever you looked, there were vines spreading, even a couple creeping along the edge of our own hole.

If you looked carefully, you could also see many things hanging from the inner branches. At first I thought they were fruit, but their outlines didn't seem right. Hidden behind the dense vines, they occasionally trembled in the wind, looking very eerie.

At the bottom of this natural cave was a stone corridor that started from a small altar-like structure and led all the way under the canopy. I could faintly see that at the end of the corridor there was a stone platform with more than ten steps, on which was placed a jade bed, and it actually seemed like someone was lying on it! The distance was too great—I could only make out an outline, nothing else. I didn't dare jump to conclusions.

Fatty was extremely excited, shouting, "Damn, I really found it! This must be the main chamber of that Western Zhou tomb. The corpse lying on that jade platform has to be King Lu Shang's body. That old King Lu Shang was really unscrupulous—like a cuckoo taking over a nest, he emptied someone else's tomb and moved in himself. Today, Lord Fatty will act in Heaven's stead and teach this unprofessional bastard a lesson, so he knows this is what happens when you rob tombs!" He got carried away, forgetting what he himself did for a living, and ended up insulting himself too.

At that moment Panzi suddenly said, "You'd better not make any rash moves. King Lu Shang is very sinister. I think there must be some other trick here. I say we find a way to climb back to the surface through the crack above."

I looked up at the top and clicked my tongue. Climbing to the top was already hard enough, and then we'd have to hang upside down from the ceiling for a long distance to reach the crack. We weren't Spider-Man—how could we do that? So I turned to ask Fatty's opinion, only to see him already half out over the cliff, completely ignoring Panzi's words. Seeing how agile he was, I didn't stop him. He climbed down more than two meters in a few moves, reaching another hole. Just as he was about to continue down, a hand suddenly reached out from that hole and grabbed his foot.

Fatty flinched in shock and kicked hard at the hand to shake it off, when a man's voice came from the hole: "Don't move! Take one more step and you're dead." I was startled to hear it was Third Uncle. Delighted, I called out, "Third Uncle, is that you?"

The man below replied in surprise, "Nephew, where the hell have you been?! Damn it, I was worried sick! Are you alright?"

Hearing that it was indeed Third Uncle, I breathed a sigh of relief and called back, "I'm fine, but Panzi's hurt! It's all that Fatty's fault!" I leaned out to look, but the hole below was directly under the protruding ledge where I stood, so I could only see Fatty's lower leg. I gave up. Then I heard Fatty yell, "Comrade, could you please not grab my foot, okay?"

Third Uncle cursed, "Where the hell did you come from, you fatso? Stop your smart mouth and come down. Don't step recklessly, and whatever you do, don't touch those vines."

Fatty said, "Which ones? These?" And he pointed with his toe. Third Uncle shouted, "Don't!" But before he finished, the vine, which had looked perfectly ordinary, suddenly reared up like a snake, its end opening like a flower, looking for all the world like a ghost hand. It stood there, seemingly sensing Fatty's position. Whenever Fatty moved, it followed, swaying left and right as if a man was coaxing a cobra. It suddenly dawned on me—the ghost hand with five fingers that Panzi and I had seen earlier was these things.

That Fatty was really something. He actually started circling his foot around, teasing the vine. I thought, this guy is so unreliable—no wonder he has to rob tombs alone. If he kept following us, he would definitely get us killed one day. Just as I was thinking that, Third Uncle really lost his temper. "I said, are you ever going to stop? Do you know what that is? Get down here now!" As soon as he finished, Fatty was in trouble. The vine snaked around his foot, then yanked hard, almost pulling him off the cliff wall. Back in the stone chamber, Fatty and I together couldn't overpower a single vine. Now, on the cliff with nothing to brace against, Fatty was clearly about to lose. In desperation, I tried to find a rock to throw at the thing, but this damn cliff was bare—not a single piece of gravel could be pried loose. As I fumbled around, I suddenly felt my foot tighten. I looked down—damn! A ghost-hand vine had appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around my foot. I tried to grab onto something, but it was too late. A tremendous force pulled me out. Before I could react, I was already in midair.

In that instant, it felt like weightlessness—my hands and feet couldn't grab onto anything. Then I was slammed hard against the cliff wall. It was worse than if I had jumped myself—I was practically slapped against it! I was knocked dizzy, almost coughing up blood. Then the vine pulled again, dragging me downward. I clawed at the wall until my hands bled, but caught nothing. Then came free fall—fifteen meters down. I closed my eyes. That's it! I'm dead for sure.

Just then, three or four more vines were attracted to me and wrapped around from the cliff. One was especially thick and coiled around my waist. I was twisted in the air like a Chinese doughnut several times. Then that extra-thick ghost-hand vine yanked, and the back of my head scraped hard against the stone wall. My brain went buzz, and I was dazed. I felt the vines dragging me, hitting branches and rocks all the way, every part of my body suffering. I was battered and seeing stars, nearly losing consciousness.

When I hazily realized I had stopped moving, I felt extremely nauseous and dizzy. I tried to open my eyes, but it seemed like there was a layer of sand over them. I took a few deep breaths, gradually recovered, and my vision cleared. Then I saw that I was hanging upside down from a branch of that giant tree. Below my head was the stone platform where the mysterious corpse lay. I looked closely and was shocked. It wasn't just one corpse on that stone platform. Beside the one I had seen lay a young female corpse, draped in white gauze, eyes closed, face peaceful. She even looked somewhat pretty, and showed no signs of decay—if I didn't look carefully, I would have thought she was just asleep. The male corpse lying on the other side wore a bronze mask shaped like a fox's face, was clad in tight armor, and held a purple-gold box between his hands.

I glanced at this armored corpse several times, feeling there was something unsettling about it. Looking more carefully, I saw through the eyeholes of the bronze mask that the corpse's eyes inside were actually open. Those two green eyeballs were staring coldly at me.