Chapter 23: Seven Stars: Coffin Chamber

My gaze was instantly fixed, and I couldn't look away. However, I didn't know if it was because of the armor piece I ate from the belt. Although I couldn't turn my head, I surprisingly didn't experience any hallucinations. My vision blurred repeatedly, but my mind remained clear.

At that moment, I suddenly heard the sounds of Third Uncle and the others rushing over. My heart screamed "no good!" They hadn't experienced the sorcery of this fox corpse and didn't know how dangerous it was. If they came over recklessly, something would definitely happen. I wanted to shout to warn them, but my throat felt like it was stuck by something. I opened my mouth wide but couldn't utter a word. I was so anxious I nearly burst a blood vessel.

Suddenly I had a flash of inspiration. I found that my hands could still move a little. I immediately made a pistol gesture with both hands, pointing at the head of the fox corpse and nodding repeatedly. In my heart I shouted: Panzi, you had better be sharp this time; if you can't understand this gesture, you really might as well go eat shit! I had only nodded a few times when a gunshot rang out from behind. The head of the blue-eyed fox corpse exploded right before my eyes. My mouth was open at the time, and the corpse fluid splashed all over my face and into my mouth. I vomited almost instantly. This stuff was even more disgusting than eating shit. I nearly emptied my stomach before I turned around and saw Panzi in the distance, one hand covering his wound and the other making an OK gesture at me. I cursed silently and wiped the corpse fluid off my face with my sleeve. There was a distance from where Third Uncle was to the sacrificial platform, and the path was full of vines, very dangerous. But Third Uncle had his ways: he used stones to lure the vines away and then went over himself. Soon they climbed onto the sacrificial platform. He was very worried that something had happened to me and immediately came to check. As soon as he smelled the stench on me, he furrowed his brow and nearly threw up. I was already feeling bad, and seeing him like that, I pounced and gave him a hug, nearly making him fall off the platform in disgust. Seeing that they were all safe, I remembered something and demanded, "Third Uncle, why did you abandon me and run off in the main tomb? You scared me half to death! How could I stay alone in that damned place?"

Upon hearing this, Third Uncle gave Da Kui a knock on the head: "I told this kid not to touch things recklessly, but he just wouldn't listen." Then he recounted what had happened to them. It turned out that in another side chamber of the tomb, they had seen a curtain wall. Generally, if there's a curtain wall in an ancient tomb, there must be a hidden room behind it. Naturally, they hadn't expected that in this tomb, all hidden doors opened downward. Third Uncle, being as sharp as he was, spotted the mechanism immediately. Unfortunately, Da Kui was too fast; before Third Uncle could figure it out, Da Kui had already pressed the mechanism. Then, just like us, they fell into the Western Zhou tomb on the next level. After that, the story seemed extremely twisted and bizarre. Third Uncle's tale grew more and more outrageous until I could see he was getting off track, so I quickly stopped him.

Third Uncle said, "Don't be so incredulous. Take a look at this thing." From behind his back he took out a black box. With a click, the box magically transformed into a gun. I knew a thing or two about guns, and this one was quite famous. One look and I was startled.

It used pistol rounds, about the size of a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, and weighed less than six jin. It was easy to handle, but of course, due to its small size, the gun was also very unstable.

Third Uncle said that in the tomb passage, they had also found several corpses. This gun was taken from one of them. Moreover, the whole place was full of bullet holes, suggesting a fierce battle

I carefully examined the gun, feeling very puzzled. It seemed that the grave robbers who came in before us were extremely well-equipped, at least much better than us. I wondered who they were. None of them came out after entering—could they all have died here? If not, where were they now? Thinking this, I leaned against the sacrificial platform. Unexpectedly, the seemingly solid stone platform couldn't support me. Before I'd put my full weight on it, the platform suddenly sank and dropped by half. We were terrified, thinking we had triggered some trap, and quickly crouched down. A series of mechanical sounds started from under our feet, spreading all the way, until finally a loud crash came from the stone platform in the distance. We peeked and saw that a large crack had opened in the giant tree behind the platform. Inside the crack, a huge bronze outer coffin secured with iron chains appeared. Those chains had fused with the tree trunk and were wound several times around the bronze coffin.

Third Uncle was stunned. He let out an "Ah" and said, "So the real outer coffin is here."

Da Kui shouted excitedly, "Damn, such a big coffin must be worth a fortune, right? At least we didn't come for nothing!"

Third Uncle smacked him on the head and said, "Worth a fortune, you say. Don't always be thinking about money, you bastard. Even if it's valuable, you can't carry it away. How many times have I told you? This is an outer coffin, not a coffin! Stop embarrassing me!"

Da Kui rubbed his head and dared not speak again. I looked carefully and felt something was off. I said to Third Uncle, "Strange. Usually, once a coffin is nailed shut, no one expects it to be opened again. But looking at this setup, the mechanism of this stone platform seems designed for someone to find this outer coffin. Could the tomb owner have intended to have his coffin opened one day? And look at these iron chains—they're tied so tightly. They don't seem meant for securing, but rather to keep something inside from getting out."

Third Uncle looked closely and indeed saw it the same way. We exchanged bewildered glances. All the way here we'd encountered countless unbelievable things. Could there be another monster inside? Then should we open it or not?

Third Uncle gritted his teeth and said, "I figure all the valuables in this tomb are inside. If we don't go through, wouldn't it be a wasted trip? Damn it, what if there's a zombie inside? We've got guns and ammo now. If worst comes to worst, we'll take up arms and fight it out."

I nodded. Third Uncle continued, "Besides, even if we try to go back the same way, it's unlikely. Every hole in this cliff almost leads to that stone path maze. It would take who knows how long to get out that way. The best option is to climb out from above."

We looked up and saw the crack in the cave ceiling. Moonlight streamed down through it, casting a desolate glow. Third Uncle pointed at the giant tree: "Look, the top of this tree is very close to the cave ceiling, and there are many vines extending from the tree to the outside. This is practically a natural ladder. And with all those branches, it's very easy to climb. It'll help us get out."

Panzi said, "Third Master, why are you talking nonsense here? That tree is a man-eating tree. Climbing it would be suicide." Third Uncle laughed loudly: "This is the Nine-Headed Snake-Poison Cypress. I already thought of that. Didn't you notice how none of those vines dare to touch these stones? This stone is called Tianxin Rock, specifically effective against the Nine-Headed Snake-Poison Cypress. If we rub some stone powder on ourselves, we should get through smoothly."

Da Kui worried, "Will that work?"

Third Uncle glared at him. I knew he was about to start cursing again, so I quickly said, "Alright, why don't we go try and find out?"

Without another word, we acted immediately. Da Kui carried Fatty on his back, Third Uncle helped Panzi up. I packed the gear and glanced back at the cave, thinking we were all safe now, but I wondered how Poker-face was doing. Third Uncle noticed my worry and said, "With his skills, he can definitely protect himself. Don't worry."

I nodded. Honestly, I had no right to worry about Poker-face. His skills were far above mine, and he seemed to possess some strange arts. If anything, he should be the one worrying about me.

I walked ahead with my gun. They followed behind me as we slowly ascended the high stone platform. When we had rushed down earlier, I hadn't looked carefully. Now I saw that the platform was built of large blocks of Tianxin Rock. How such huge pieces had been brought in was beyond me. The steps were carved with deer heads and cranes—a rare kind of relief. I wondered just what rank of feudal lord King Lu Shang was, for his tomb to have such an unusual scale.

By this time, we had reached the tree hole. Only then did I see clearly that the hole hadn't split open on its own; it had been torn open by more than a dozen iron chains from inside. The huge bronze outer coffin was right in front of us, at least 2.5 meters long. I saw it was densely covered with inscriptions.

The script of the Warring States period was quite complex, and the scripts of Qi and Lu were commonly used by scholars at that time. After Chu annexed Lu, it absorbed a great deal of Lu's culture. Their script was also quite similar to Lu's. Most of the Warring States period rubbings that pass through my hands are from that era, so I could make out the general meaning of these inscriptions.

For some reason, no one spoke, as if afraid of waking the tomb owner. Third Uncle took out a crowbar and tapped the coffin. A dull echo came from inside—it was definitely packed with something. Third Uncle knew I was interested in these things and asked softly, "Can you understand what's written on it?"

I shook my head. "I can't read the specifics, but I'm sure the owner of this outer coffin is the King Lu Shang we're looking for. This text should be his biography. He seems to have died before the age of fifty, without children. The circumstances of his death, as I learned before, were that he suddenly achieved seated transformation before the Duke of Lu. The rest should be about his life."

I wasn't interested in the humanities of Lu during that period, so I only glanced over a few lines and stopped.

"Then what do these characters mean?" Da Kui asked me. I looked. In the middle of the coffin was written the character "Open," and below it a long string of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches: zi, chou, yin, mao. These characters were slightly larger and more conspicuous. I knew they represented a date, but during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Zhou court was in decline, the feudal lords each did as they pleased, and the calendar system was chaotic. So I had no idea which specific day it referred to. I said, "This should mark the date of the coffin's burial. But I don't know what date it is."

While I was studying the inscriptions, Third Uncle was figuring out how to open the coffin. He shook those iron chains—each one was as thick as a thumb. Back then, China had just entered the Iron Age, so this stuff would have been a luxury. After so many years, most of them had decayed beyond recognition, basically just for show. I told them to step back, pulled back the bolt, fired a few bursts, and the chains snapped completely, leaving only a few fixed in place.

Third Uncle told me to back off, saying, "Stop studying it. Let's get it open first!"