Chapter 52: Raging Sea: Untitled

I reached back and touched it, only then realizing it was where the lotus arrow had struck me; those four iron hooks had embedded themselves in my flesh, and though they hadn't taken my life, they still scraped off several patches of skin. Now with sweat dripping down, it actually started to sting and itch.

Not only that, the other spots on my body where arrows had hit also began to itch faintly, but this itch was still bearable. I had no time to dwell on these subtle bodily sensations; after rubbing it vigorously a few times, I went back to studying this strange tomb chamber.

I don't know much about the standard underground palace structure of Ming dynasty ordinary tombs, only a little about noble tombs. I wasn't sure if the differences between the two were significant, so I had to force myself to match what I saw with what I knew.

According to my reasoning, the place I was in now was the left side hall. Opposite me, across the way, should be the right side hall. The left and right side halls should be symmetrical, and in theory each should contain a coffin platform made of white marble. The platform surface would be paved with gold bricks (clarified slurry bricks), and in the center there would be a rectangular pit filled with yellow earth, called a "golden well." None of that was here now—only a large pool.

That was just one strange thing. Another was the door between the two side halls; it should lead to the rear hall, where the coffin would be placed. So why was there a coffin in the side chamber, and in the shape of a washbasin? I knew that kind of basin-shaped coffin was from the Warring States period, something the Ming dynasty would never have.

Speaking of the Warring States, I remembered the snake-browed bronze fish we took from the Lu King's Palace. That object had appeared in both places, and now here was a coffin from the Warring States period—was this a coincidence?

In an instant, my thoughts were in such a tangle I couldn't think any further.

By this time I had already walked a full circle around the pool and was back at the entrance. The large porcelain jar I had used as a weapon was lying there. Something stirred in my mind, so I picked it up casually to look at the porcelain painting on it.

This must have been an object from another side chamber, but a single image didn't convey much information. I only saw a person dressed in Ming dynasty clothes standing on a mountain, looking down at a construction site. Beside him were a few men in official robes. It looked like a scene of an inspection of a worksite. From the patterns on these porcelains, I could roughly guess that the tomb owner was certainly not a royal noble; he was likely a craftsman or architect. Only such a person would have the ability and knowledge to use such a bizarre design in an ancient tomb. Even if others had the idea, they wouldn't have the skill to build it.

And in the early Ming there weren't many skilled masters. Judging by the scale of this tomb, its owner must have been a prominent figure, someone who could be ranked. This person not only had the qualifications to build a grand project as vast as the Ming Imperial Palace, but also had to understand feng shui and strange, ingenious arts. Someone like that wasn't hard to guess.

I thought for only a few seconds, and a name jumped into my mind: Wang Zanghai.

This man could be called a prodigy. His mastery of feng shui was at the pinnacle. Because of this, he was appointed to directly participate in designing the entire Ming Imperial Palace, and also designed several major cities in China. At one time, a single word from him could even make several cities completely disappear from China. I had also learned from ancient texts that he had written a book on feng shui, so profound it bordered on glimpsing the secrets of heaven. Unfortunately, his descendants only copied a few volumes, and they were all lost. Moreover, it was said that the underwater tomb of Shen Wansan at the bottom of Yinzi Bang in Zhouzhuang was also designed by him. For a man like that to build a tomb for himself was more than sufficient.

I felt my speculation was very reasonable. Now all I needed was to find a bit of written evidence to confirm whether I was right or wrong. Unfortunately, it seemed the tomb owner was illiterate—not a single inscription was left behind.

Just then, suddenly a few gurgling sounds came from the pool. I was so startled my train of thought broke. I hurriedly shone my flashlight over and saw that in one corner of the pool, bubbles were starting to rise—sometimes big, sometimes small, in bursts, with no pattern. It seemed that something was moving in the water, whose depth couldn't be seen.

I panicked at once, raised my gun, and stared nervously at the bubbles. Suddenly something white and fleshy burst out of the water, rolled to the wall, and gasped heavily. Overjoyed, I saw it was Fatty. He had taken off his shirt, revealing a big belly heaving up and down. Panting, he noticed me, waved his hand, and said, "Motherf—, I almost—almost—drowned!"

I was just about to ask him what happened when another person emerged from the water at my feet. I saw it was Poker-face, also bare-chested, but the black kylin on his body was nowhere to be seen. He obviously wasn't as exhausted as Fatty; he just tilted his head back and took a big gulp of air. Seeing me, he asked, "Is this the left side or the right side?"

I said left. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat down, clutching his wrist. I saw a black claw mark on his wrist, and suddenly a bad feeling came over me.

Fatty panted for a long time before he caught his breath. He clutched his belly and sighed. I asked how they got over here. He spat a few times and said, "Don't even mention it. Lucky you didn't see it—it scared the shit out of me. Damn it, luckily there was a hole under the stone slab beneath that coffin that led here, otherwise we'd have died in that place."

I was confused and asked, "What was so terrifying?"

Fatty said to me, "Fuck, I can't even describe it. In a word, that six-limbed corpse chain's belly—there was another damn thing inside it."