Chapter 191: Whistle Coffin

Third Uncle's flashlight shone on the coffin. The moment he saw that "person", he almost broke out in goosebumps, his scalp tingling. He subconsciously stepped back and turned the knife in his hand.

Not that Third Uncle was a coward, but the situation was truly bizarre. In such a hidden ancient tomb, to have a "person" lying on top of the coffin—anyone would shudder at the sudden sight.

During this fright, Xie Lianhuan also retreated to Third Uncle's side. He must have never been in a tomb incident before; his face turned pale with fear as he stumbled back, stepping on Third Uncle's foot.

Third Uncle nearly fell from the step, but then, by the flashlight's beam, he clearly saw the situation on the coffin. It was a false alarm: the person on the coffin was a bronze figurine, tightly attached to the black coffin.

This bronze relief had a very strange shape, with flowing clouds and sideburns, exaggerated features, somewhat like the acrobat figurines of the Qin dynasty. Its limbs were thick, fat, and extremely short like insect legs. The most eerie thing was its mouth—neither smiling nor angry, but stretched wide open as if screaming in agony.

As Third Uncle looked on, he immediately felt a sense of wrongness. Ordinary people valued peace and tranquility, but the combination of this iron coffin and bronze figurine was indescribably sinister and strange—something was off. Was this really the tomb owner's coffin? He shone the flashlight around the chamber; it was clear at a glance that there were no other coffins. Obviously, if this was the main burial chamber, then this had to be the tomb owner's coffin without a doubt.

Third Uncle trusted his intuition and felt a bit uneasy.

To get a closer look, he pushed Xie Lianhuan aside and walked over. As he approached, he was even more astonished to find that this huge black coffin was actually a carved iron coffin, and the bronze figurine seemed to be an ornament added later. Even stranger, the position of the bronze figurine's mouth was sunken into the coffin lid, creating a deep hole in the lid. He didn't know if it penetrated the lid and reached inside the coffin.

"No way!" Third Uncle sucked in a cold breath as he looked. Then he suddenly recalled the

The iron-sealed coffin had holes in its body—could this be the "whistle coffin" that the old-timers used to talk about? The term "whistle coffin" came from before the Liberation, not going back a hundred generations; Third Uncle had only heard about it from the old folks. It was said that back then, around western Hunan, there was a warlord with a crew of skilled grave robbers, led by a man named Zhang Yancheng. This man was supposedly a descendant of Cao Cao's Corpse-Raising General, with supernatural abilities. His left hand had five fingers of extraordinary length, almost exactly equal, able to level mounds and taste soil to locate tombs—his grave-robbing skills were formidable. This warlord joined Sun Yat-sen's Northern Expedition, and Zhang Yancheng was tasked with raising military funds by robbing ancient tombs using traditional methods. Heading north, countless hidden tombs were unearthed by him, earning him great fame. At the time, in western Hunan, there was a saying: "When Yancheng comes, the little ghosts jump; even the King of Hell changes his path." On one hand, he was mythologized; on the other, it showed how rampant Zhang Yancheng's grave robbing was.

This man had a special routine when robbing tombs: whenever he encountered a coffin unearthed from a bloody, sinister, and evil place, he would drench it with ox blood and observe its reaction. If strange sounds came from inside, it might mean the corpse had turned; the soldiers would then drag the coffin out into the sun and open it. If there were no unusual noises, he would check the coffin's surface. In most cases, the ox blood wouldn't clot but would flow down the coffin to the bottom, indicating safety for opening.

But there was another very special situation: when the ox blood was poured on, it seeped into the coffin's body as if onto sand or stone—an even more ominous sign than a corpse transformation. This indicated that the thing inside the coffin might not be a human corpse.

If it wasn't a human corpse, what was it? The answer: a corpse that could not be named. In China, such things were collectively called "yao" (demons).

At that point, Zhang Yancheng would order men to dig a pit on the spot, sink the demon coffin in it, smear it with mud, then melt down weapons and seal the coffin with molten iron, leaving only a hole at the top big enough for one hand to pass through. Once the iron hardened, he would reach in with one hand to retrieve the contents. Legend had it this was his ancestral skill: the two-finger probing technique of the Corpse-Raising General.

While probing, he would have men secure his arm with a three-foot pipa scissor, tying the trigger rope to a horse's tail. If something went wrong, someone could instantly startle the horse, which would pull the trigger, and the razor-sharp pipa scissor would immediately rotate and cut off his arm to save his life.

Because of the hole on top, such a processed coffin would eventually resemble a huge iron whistle, hence the name "whistle coffin."

In his lifetime, Zhang Yancheng reportedly used this two-finger probing technique only three times, each time withdrawing his entire arm unscathed. His best haul was a twenty-four-fragrance golden grape the size of a molar, said to be hidden in a corpse's mouth. Later, amid the warlord conflicts, Zhang Yancheng disappeared. Some said he joined the revolution and died in a shelter; others said he died at Huanggutun. Either way, he remained a mysterious figure.

Regarding his legend, the old-timers generally had two views. One believed he truly possessed the Corpse-Raising General's skills, that his two-finger probing was no sham. The other held that Zhang Yancheng was a fraud who exploited common soldiers' superstitious fear of coffins, passing off ordinary coffins as demon coffins and putting on a show to boost his own status.

No one knows the truth.

My grandfather, however, believed Zhang Yancheng was a master, supported by certain circumstantial evidence. It was said that before Liberation, during the course of a Yellow River flood course change, a bronze coffin similar to Zhang Yancheng's description was found in the silt. There was indeed a hole as thick as an arm on top, but no one dared reach in. The bold ones used fire tongs and only pulled out a lot of yellow mud. Later, during the Great Leap Forward, that coffin was thrown directly into a steel furnace to be smelted—whether anything happened is unknown.

This iron coffin, though exquisitely crafted and completely unlike those roughly cast with molten iron, had a deep hole on top that closely resembled the legendary "whistle coffin."

That was strange. The tomb chamber that Xie Lianhuan had led them to should be the burial chamber of the tomb owner. So why was the main coffin on the bier like this? Could it be that the tomb owner wasn't human, but a monster? Thinking about it, Third Uncle felt a chill run down his spine. This ancient tomb was deep in an abyss beneath the sea, so eerie and mysterious—maybe it really wasn't a human tomb, perhaps even the Dragon King's. Then he remembered what Jude Kao had asked Xie Lianhuan to do, and felt uneasy. Could it be that Jude Kao knew the tomb owner wasn't human and had asked Xie Lianhuan to take photos for study? But Third Uncle was young at the time and didn't take the old folks' words too seriously. Though a bit unnerved, he wasn't afraid. Instead, curiosity got the better of him. What could be inside? By then, Xie Lianhuan had also realized it was a false alarm and came back over, looking at the iron coffin with lingering fear. After a look around, he tried to push the coffin lid open.

Third Uncle could see his legs trembling, so he knew Xie Lianhuan was still scared. This act might have been an attempt to show off in front of Third Uncle and save face after being frightened earlier.

Third Uncle found it amusing and shone his flashlight on Xie Lianhuan's face, telling him not to waste his strength. If this was a "whistle coffin," then apparently the person who made this iron coffin belonged to the same lineage as Zhang Yancheng. The thing inside was definitely no good, and the coffin had been built precisely to prevent anyone from opening it. To get something out of it, you'd have to stick your hand into that hole, just like Zhang Yancheng did.

Saying this, he climbed up and shone his flashlight into the hole in the coffin to see what he could spot.

Looking down through the hole, the inside was pitch black and indistinct. Shining a flashlight into a hole wasn't the best method—the scattered light could only penetrate so far before fading. He only felt a chill emanating from below the throat of the "cast figure," making his neck stiffen just from looking. To actually reach a hand in and feel around—that truly wasn't something an ordinary person could do.

Remembering the materials Xie Lianhuan had gotten from the foreigner, Third Uncle felt his guess was correct: that foreigner was so familiar with the structure here, he must have sent someone in to explore before them. But why hadn't that person completed the task? He was probably an old hand in the trade too, and upon finding such an iron coffin inside, knowing the gravity of an iron-sealed corpse, he had abandoned the mission on the spot. That was why the foreigner had ended up hiring a half-baked amateur like Xie Lianhuan.

In that case, they definitely shouldn't touch this coffin, or else they'd just end up as cannon fodder for Jude Kao.

Still, if they didn't touch it, it seemed a bit too cowardly. He and Xie Lianhuan had come down here. Xie Lianhuan could go back empty-handed and it wouldn't matter much, but if Third Uncle did the same, how could he show his face after Xie Lianhuan told the story? Besides, this coffin was really quite tempting.

Third Uncle couldn't decide, but after a moment's thought, reason won out. He told himself that according to ancestral experience, the coffin should be saved for last. For now, he should check out the rest of the place for anything valuable. He'd leave the coffin alone today. This ancient tomb wasn't going anywhere. Tomorrow night, they could come back with fire tongs and a black donkey's hoof, which would be much safer. That didn't make them cowards.

With that, he felt relieved. He told Xie Lianhuan to stay there and take photos of this coffin if he wanted—the foreigner would understand. Then Third Uncle began searching the corners of the tomb chamber for other burial goods.

This tomb chamber had no side chambers; it went straight in a single line, a very peculiar layout. The ancients believed in "serving the dead as if serving the living," so tomb layouts generally imitated the owner's living quarters. That implied the owner's residence had been the same, which was hard to imagine. There were no ordinary burial goods inside, only those huge, priceless porcelain vessels.

(These things would be worth about three billion nowadays.) Third Uncle made a circuit of the chamber but found nothing portable. He came back around. Behind the coffin bier stood a screen wall. He went behind it to check; there was still some space, but the ground was completely empty.

He cursed under his breath. Talk about stingy—how could there be nothing at all? Was it possible that the coffin, huge and made of iron, had been used as a safe, with all the burial goods stuffed inside? The thought was plausible, and it made him quite disgruntled. Then he noticed that the back of the screen wall was carved with very intricate reliefs.

Murals are not valuable, but the stone carvings in ancient tombs are priceless. Although this screen wall was too large to be moved out, Third Uncle still couldn't help but take a look when he saw it.

When he shone the flashlight over, he was quite surprised. The relief behind the screen wall was not carved with the usual auspicious beasts, clouds, Buddhas, or scenes of ritual music and ascending to immortality, but rather several palaces with flying eaves and phoenix tops, carved beams and painted rafters, extremely finely detailed—even the roof tiles were individually carved in relief. Moreover, each palace had a different appearance; some were two stories, some were one story, and visually they were arranged with distance and proximity, in a pleasing disorder. Third Uncle counted them: there were seven in total, arranged in the pattern of the Big Dipper. Between each palace, countless pavilions and towers could be seen half-hidden, while other details were obscured by carved clouds and mist. The background of this relief was huge rocky cliffs, clearly a large mountain, and the composition of the palaces was in the lower part of the entire relief. The meaning was clear: these were seven palaces built in a huge valley, where clouds and mist filled the valley, obscuring everything beyond the palaces in a hazy and mysterious way.

What did this relief mean? Third Uncle was taken aback. All murals in ancient tombs had meaning—either symbolic or praising the tomb owner's great achievements in life. Did this relief represent a mythical immortal kingdom, or was it praising something about the tomb owner? At that time, Third Uncle didn't know the tomb owner here was Wang Zanghai, so he had no reference for association. However, this exquisite relief left a very deep impression on him. He told me that even at that moment, this screen wall was a priceless treasure; if he could take it out, he would put it in his bedroom and look at it every day.

However, the screen wall was too huge; it was impossible to transport it out at that time. Although Third Uncle was itching with desire, there was nothing he could do. He looked it over carefully several times, then thought of calling Xie Lianhuan over to take a picture of it, so he could brag about it among peers later.

Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly smelled a strange odor, as if something was burning.

He was stunned, thinking to himself, what's going on? This is a tomb chamber—how could this smell appear? He hurriedly ran out from the screen wall to look outside. Then, he saw a sight that left him dumbfounded.

He saw Xie Lianhuan standing on the iron coffin, at a loss, and from the mouth of the bronze figure on the iron coffin, rolling black smoke was actually pouring out.