Daomu Biji: Restart

We didn’t understand what Liu Sang meant by this. I figured that no matter what his situation might have been before, he had definitely descended into madness now. I fully understood how the stressful environment and depressing feeling of an ancient tomb could make people change. Ancient tombs were different from ordinary places in that they could push people to their limits. In other words, no matter how strong your resolve or how well you did under pressure, an ancient tomb could directly push you over the edge. In the end, it was really just a matter of how long your bottom line could last.

I was more suitable for this line of work because my bottom line was strong enough. It probably had something to do with my dismal operation of Wushanju over the years. No matter how difficult or scary the tombs were, I could survive as long as I thought of all the times the shop’s utilities got cut off.

To sum things up, Fatty thought that Liu Sang had gone crazy and he was saying there were people everywhere because he was scared stupid. We didn’t know what was below, so we should just let him be. If he was a good man, God would bless him. If he was a psychopath, it was time for him to pay for his life.

I always felt that the rumors in this business weren’t credible, but there was definitely a huge risk in going down to the drainage level without proper equipment. This clearly showed that Liu Sang wasn’t experienced enough. If it were me, I would definitely change the name of my Bluetooth device to: “The hot spring below has hot pot”.

My conscience was telling me to go down and save Liu Sang, but my reasoning was telling me that the South Sea King’s tomb was "waking up". The situation here was completely different from the tomb we had been swept into before. Moreover, we were grave robbing this time to find answers, not to make money, so we weren’t outlaws like before. My reasoning brought with it a hint of fear, which made me hesitant.

Fatty and I looked to Poker-Face, and I said to him, “It’s possible Liu Sang said there are ‘people everywhere’ because he doesn’t have a light. There’s something in this tomb that makes a sound like a market. In the dark, it’s like being in a sea of people. With his good hearing, he’ll start to go mad if he stays in the dark for too long."

I didn’t know where this sound came from, but those thunder god statues seemed to resonate with it. As long as a statue lay on the back of your neck, you would feel that the sound was both near and far, as if this "market" was in motion.

Poker-Face's attention wasn’t on our discussion, but on both sides of the tomb passage wall. I didn't know what he was thinking.

The sounds had disappeared when Fatty set off the explosions at that time and I suddenly remembered that I had seen something under the flames. There had been a lot of small, ceramic figurines lining both sides of the tomb passage where we were standing. At that time, this was the place where the market had sounded the loudest.

I quickly went to fiddle with the gravel and tomb bricks, looking through them with the help of my phone light. I noticed that the walls in this section of the tomb passage were slightly different from those on either end. There were numerous porcelain pavilions on the murals here and small people were sitting in them.

These porcelain inlaid relief patterns were on both sides of the tomb passage. Other than the Xianshan Penglai (1) pavilions by the sea, there were countless ships filled with immortal stones. It looked as if the ship awnings were supported by dougong brackets. The ceramic little people were playing with shadow puppets, carrying things over their shoulders, or hoisting the sails on the ships. The whole scene was like a strange and complex immortal sea market.

When I got to the place where Fatty had set off the detonators, I saw that the whole relief had been blown up. The wall area behind the relief was hollow and there were a bunch of pipes that reminded me of organ pipes.

"The sound is coming from the walls," Poker-Face said. "Do you remember when we were at the Yang family’s ancestral grave? Even though you were down in the tomb, you still heard me when I called to you from aboveground."

I nodded and he said, "This is the same method."

I felt a sudden burst of excitement in my heart. The more evidence there was, the better. This proved that not only had Uncle Three been here, but he also had a good understanding of the structure of this place.

"Why would a tomb chamber be structured like this?" Fatty asked.

I thought for a moment, and suddenly had an epiphany, "Wait, wait, wait. Let me think, let me think. I probably know what’s going on with this tomb."

****

TN Notes:

(1) Xianshan= mountain of Immortals. Penglai= one of three fabled islands in Eastern sea, abode of immortals (i.e., fairyland)