Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 44

"Old Xu, say something, what do we do now?" Huang Zhihua asked me. The young master nodded at me, while the girl was still in shock, her face pale.

I thought for a moment and said to Huang Zhihua, "Do you have any more flares? Let's fire one and see." Huang Zhihua didn't say anything, took out a flare, attached it to the muzzle, and fired it into the darkness.

The flare streaked across the darkness in a pale white light before falling, followed by a flash of water. I could see clearly that there was still water ahead, nothing else.

The flare was still burning when suddenly, right in front of it, I saw what appeared to be a shadow floating on the water... the shadow of a human.

"Damn it, what is that?" the young master stammered.

The girl, who had been silent until now, whispered, "It looks like a floating corpse..."

I forced a smile, inwardly cursing my bad luck. Why did we always seem to run into these unclean things? I couldn't help but say, "This is an ancient tomb; it's normal to find corpses here." But even I knew that this statement lacked conviction. This was a tomb from a thousand years ago. Unless it was a high-quality coffin and the corpse had been treated with excellent preservation techniques, how could it have remained intact for a thousand years?

The corpses appearing near the flares now don't look like skeletons, but rather rotting bodies...

"Let's go take a look!" Huang Zhihua said, supporting the girl while holding a gun in one hand. He instructed the young master to hold the wolf-eye flashlight, and I carried the bronze ancient sword on my back. The four of us swam towards the depths of the pool.

"It's so cold..." I don't know how long I've been in the water, I just feel colder and colder, and my hands and feet seem to be cramping. If we can't find the shore soon, even if there are no monsters in the pool, we will die of exhaustion.

Even with Huang Zhihua's support, the girl couldn't hold on any longer. Her face was terribly pale, and her once neat hair was now plastered to her face, with water droplets constantly streaming down her smooth and delicate face.

"Damn it!" I cursed angrily, feeling like I'd sworn more lately than I'd ever in my entire life. I looked at Huang Zhihua and said, "Fire another flare. I need to see... how much longer until we reach the shore."

Without wasting words, Huang Zhihua, with the young master supporting the maid, deftly loaded the flare and launched it. The flare drew a pale white arc on the water's surface, illuminating the ancient tomb that had been sleeping for thousands of years.

Ah... Before I could even speak, the young master suddenly cheered, "Old Xu, we'll be at the shore soon... It's really tough being in the water."

Yes, this time I can see clearly. Indeed, just five or six meters ahead, I can vaguely see white stone steps. The riverbank is not far from us. I suppressed my joy, and Huang Zhihua and Ya Tou were also very excited. The three of us worked together and swam quickly towards the riverbank. In no time, with the help of the miners' lamps above our heads, we could see the opposite riverbank, rows of white stone steps, like beautiful jade architecture.

I can't describe this feeling for a moment—there's an indescribable strangeness in my heart, and this scene seems a little familiar to me.

"Oh my god... could this pool be a swimming pool?" the young master exclaimed.

Indeed, a swimming pool—no wonder something felt off to me. The white jade steps beside the pool do resemble those of a modern luxury swimming pool. Is it a coincidence, or... something else, that a swimming pool-like structure exists in an ancient tomb from the Western Zhou Dynasty?

For a moment, my mind was a complete mess. What surprised me even more was that the fish monster in the water didn't attack us, and I didn't find any floating corpses. Perhaps those weren't corpses at all, or perhaps the bodies had already become food for the monster fish?

Soon, the four of us reached the shore, collapsing onto the white jade steps, all of us exhausted, panting heavily. Only the girl looked strange. I turned to look at her; her originally delicate face was now deathly pale, and her bright eyes, in the flashlight beam, appeared somewhat eerie…

"Girl, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" I asked with concern. That damned old man from the south, I'll hold a grudge against him for the rest of my life. Why did he have to drag the girl into this? It's one thing for the three of us grown men to be involved, but the girl's health is already weak and she can't withstand this kind of ordeal. If she accidentally develops some kind of chronic illness, wouldn't that be my fault?

The girl turned to me, forced a smile, and said, "It's nothing, he just feels this pool is too easy to cross." The young master retorted, "What are you saying? Do you expect some monster to attack from the pool?" I understood the girl's thoughts. If there were no monsters in the pool, it wouldn't be so bad, but we clearly discovered just now—a strange fish with four arms, and that strange floating corpse.

"Well... I think there's something I need to say," Huang Zhihua said, frowning. He hadn't spoken until now.

"What?" I asked curiously, not expecting the People's Liberation Army uncle to say anything unpleasant at this moment.

Huang Zhihua sighed, reached into his backpack, and quickly pulled out a plastic bag, handing it to me. "Take a look at this," he said. I instinctively took the bag. It was wet, and inside was a very ordinary notebook and a ballpoint pen. Curious, I asked, "What's this?"

Huang Zhihua wiped the water droplets from his face and said with a wry smile, "This thing is a plastic bag, a very ordinary document bag. If it were left outside, even a three-year-old wouldn't be interested in it."

I nodded. That was indeed the case. Of course, if the contents of this notebook were truly horrifying, that would be a different story.

But Huang Zhihua then said something that left us speechless: "But, don't you find it strange that something like this would appear in an ancient tomb, a tomb that is still closed?"

"Ah..." I couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. He actually found this thing in an ancient tomb?

But that's not surprising. In that stone chamber just now, I found a pair of feet wearing sneakers, which proves that someone entered the Shadow Kunlun Eye of Wind before us. The girl is very smart and voiced her guess.

However, Huang Zhihua still smiled wryly and shook his head, saying, "Your shop's speculation is very reasonable, but have you ever considered how many entrances a typical tomb chamber would have?"

The young master and I had no say in this matter, but the maid said almost definitively, "One!"

"No way?" I looked at the girl, puzzled. "An entrance? What does she mean by that?"

If... a typical tomb chamber has only one entrance, and the Shadow Kunlun eye of the storm also has only one entrance, then how did the corpses we discovered enter? Above the Shadow Kunlun eye of the storm, there's the old man from the South, guarding it. Moreover, Huang Zhihua mobilized labor, excavating for a whole day and making a huge commotion before allowing us to enter this thousand-year-old tomb. If... if... it was just ordinary tomb raiders, how could they have entered without anyone noticing?

Of course, there are many extraordinary people in the world. If the old man from the South could find the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye, others could too, but the premise is how to enter without being known by others.

The young master almost groaned as he grabbed the maid's hand and said, "Are you sure there can only be one entrance?"

The maid shook off the young master's hand, rolled her eyes at him, and said angrily, "If you were to die, would you leave multiple entrances so people could come in and rob your grave?"

The young master paused, "That's right." Regardless of who the tomb's owner was, having built such a massive tomb, they would undoubtedly have preferred to remain undisturbed after death. The only entrance would likely be a path for the descendants carrying the coffin to exit. Of course, many craftsmen, fearing the tomb's owner might betray them on their deathbed and use them as burial goods, would leave a backup plan to ensure the secret remained forever. However, these backup doors were generally secret passages that could only be used once; exiting didn't guarantee re-entry, and they were absolutely undetectable from the outside. Imagine if the back door left by the craftsmen were discovered from the outside—would it still serve any purpose?

The young master snatched the plastic bag from my hand and said, "What's the use of being poor? Why don't you open it and take a look?" I nodded in agreement.

I asked Huang Zhihua where he found the plastic bag.

Huang Zhihua said, "Do you remember that bronze artifact in the pool just now? What do you think it was?"

“That’s called a bird-shaped vessel, a ritual and musical instrument from the Western Zhou Dynasty,” I explained.

Huang Zhihua shook his head and said that he didn't know anything about antiques, but he had just discovered underwater that the bird-shaped vessel was hollow inside and had a mechanism. He had originally planned to invite me to look at it together, but when I surfaced for air, he opened the mechanism himself and found this plastic bag inside.

I was both amused and exasperated. Inside a bird-shaped bronze vessel from the Western Zhou Dynasty, I found a modern product—a plastic bag? Oh, and a ballpoint pen too… Haha… This is truly the most ridiculous thing ever.

At this moment, the young master had already rashly opened the plastic bag, taken out the notebook inside, and after flipping through a few pages, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Old Xu, come quick and look... damn it..."

"What's wrong?" I asked anxiously, and as I spoke, I leaned closer. It was an ordinary notebook, the kind you could buy for about a dollar at any small shop on the street, but the contents inside were unbelievable.

I thought I was probably going to die. My gaze involuntarily fell on this sentence, and my heart sank. The handwriting was very simple, neat and tidy, not very precise, but very clear, and it was simplified Chinese characters from after the liberation.

I took the notebook from the young master and handed it to the maid, saying, "You read this." After all, with four people gathered together, it was really impossible to figure it out. The maid took the notebook, flipped through a few pages, and smiled strangely, saying, "It seems that someone did enter the tomb before us. This is a police officer's diary..." The maid quickly flipped through a few pages and said, "This should be a police officer from the area near the Yellow River... Ah... Wang Quansheng's wife and children are dead?"

The young master and I had inquired about Wang Quansheng's family before and learned that his wife and children had died mysteriously. However, we didn't say anything when we got back because we were afraid of scaring the girl. Now, seeing the girl's shocked expression, it's clear that this work diary contains information about Wang Quansheng's wife and children.

The girl whispered that, according to the work diary, Wang Quansheng's wife and children also died from the bizarre curse of the Yellow River Dragon Coffin... This police officer was one of those who helped with the funeral arrangements. Afterwards, they unfortunately discovered the bronze artifacts Wang Quansheng had retrieved from the Yellow River. Although the officers didn't know what they were, the fame of bronze artifacts was already legendary, so they quickly reported it. Originally, this matter shouldn't have been related to this lowly officer. But unfortunately—his colleague, worried about the bronze artifacts, asked him to stay and guard the bronze bird-shaped vessel while he went back to report the case.

"What happened next?" the young master and Huang Zhihua asked almost simultaneously.

"Later..." The girl cleared her throat and read in a low voice, "The sky gradually darkened, the room was very dark, and Little Li hadn't returned yet. I thought about how two people had just died in this room, and their deaths were very bizarre... I felt a little scared, and I was about to go out for a smoke when I heard a sigh behind me..."

Chapter Nine: The Girl on the Star Chart

"This...this is impossible!" Huang Zhihua stammered.

I didn't say anything, but I was suspicious. I wondered if this officer was a coward. Someone had died in the room, so he was afraid to be alone. Heaven knows how he became an officer? Maybe he thought the dead were more terrifying than the living?

The girl ignored Huang Zhihua and continued reading, "There was no one else in the room. I was terrified. In an instant, my back was soaked with sweat. I turned around, but... there was no one there. I've never believed in ghosts or spirits, so I just assumed I'd misheard. But then, I heard a sigh behind me again. No... no... the sound didn't seem to come from my back, but from the depths of my heart... I was terrified and screamed, but the room was completely silent. I just wanted to escape... to escape quickly, but my feet wouldn't move. Just then, I heard the sound of chains dragging. It was a strange sound, like someone walking with chains on their feet... I stood there, frozen in place. A moment later... the door to Wang Quansheng's house opened, and a tall figure walked out. In the darkness, I couldn't make out its features, but it didn't look like a living person..." The girl's voice echoed in the empty tomb, a strange and subtle sense of dread creeping into everyone's hearts...

"What happens next?" I asked eagerly.

How did that police officer's work diary end up inside the bronze bird-shaped vessel? And... what happened to him afterward? Did he die, or live? The girl handed me the diary. I flipped through it. The beginning was mostly about the officer's daily family life and work-related matters—nothing particularly interesting. The only thing I could tell from the diary was that the officer was very diligent. The diary did indeed end there. I checked the date; it had been about six months. Presumably, Wang Quansheng's woman and child died shortly after he left home. Didn't those Yellow River ghosts tell me that a police officer disappeared along with the bronze bird-shaped vessel? Could it be this officer? But—who was the figure he saw at Wang Quansheng's house? I thought for a moment, then put the notebook and pen into a plastic bag and handed it to Huang Zhihua. Huang Zhihua understood what I meant; if there was a chance to get out of here, he hoped these things could be given to the poor officer's family.

Huang Zhihua rallied his spirits and forced a smile, saying, "Everything we are facing right now cannot be judged by common sense. Whether we can get out of here alive is also unknown."

I didn't speak, but I was thinking—is there really a way to break the curse in the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye? Now it seems that more and more people are getting involved. What secrets does this damned Yellow River Dragon Coffin hold? And that old professor, knowing full well how dangerous this thing is, why did he still let it be revealed?

I regret it, I regret it so much. If I hadn't been greedy and bought that bronze artifact from Wang Quansheng that day, I would still be living a carefree life in Shanghai. Why did I have to do this shameful thing?

During this time, the four of us rested and recovered a lot of strength. We walked up the stone steps by the pool step by step. Everything here was strikingly similar to the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum. The same pool, the same... white stone steps, even the black corpse was the same. I was almost certain that this place was connected to the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum.

I don't know if it was because the surrounding darkness was too intense, or because the miner's lamps above our heads weren't bright enough, but in the dim light, I felt a gust of wind blowing behind me from time to time, a gloomy and bone-chilling cold, and I couldn't help but turn around to look.

Behind me was a pool of water, but just moments before the pool had been as still as a corpse, now a huge splash had suddenly appeared, and I involuntarily stopped in my tracks.

"What's wrong, Old Xu?" The young master noticed my strange expression and couldn't help but look back.

"What...what is this?" Huang Zhihua exclaimed in surprise, but he was quick enough that a flare, glowing a pale white light, was shot toward the splashing water.

"Ah..." The little girl clung tightly to my clothes, gasping in surprise, then frantically covered her mouth with her small hand. I stared dumbfounded at the pool... It was a huge, dark shadow, over a meter thick, covered in scales, and judging by its appearance alone, it should be a section of some kind of reptile... a snake—it must be a snake!

Now, the entire giant snake was tumbling its black body on the surface of the water. By the light of the flare, I could clearly see that it had a strange fish in its enormous mouth, stretching its neck as if to swallow it.

"Damn it... Run!" I grabbed the girl and ran as fast as I could up the white stone steps. This snake could devour the strange fish in the pool, and it could also come ashore and devour us. But what shocked and terrified me even more wasn't the snake itself, but the snake itself. If the girl's information was correct, this strange snake—should be the legendary Hua She (化蛇). But wasn't the Hua She cut in two with a single sword strike in the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum, separating its head and tail? How could it be here?

For some reason, I suddenly remembered the small black snake I saw in the young master's guesthouse. That small black snake was only smaller, but in essence, it was exactly the same as the legendary serpent. The Eight Trigrams and the Sixty-Year Cycle, divine secrets and hidden ghosts, the magnificent serpent and dragon bones, the flaws of heaven and earth...

I couldn't help but think about these sixteen characters again, wondering what they really meant.

Just as I was lost in thought, we had already reached the top of the stone steps. Looking back, the pool was now completely calm, as if the serpent had never appeared. The young master patted his chest, his face pale with fright, and frowned, saying, "Thank goodness, this thing didn't attack us... otherwise, the four of us would definitely not have been enough for it to have a good meal."

I shook my head... For some reason, an absurd thought suddenly arose in my mind—the snake had followed us all the way to the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye.

"Brother Xu, look!" The girl tugged at my clothes, pointed ahead, and said excitedly.

I was stunned for a moment, then looked up and saw a huge stone gate facing the pool. The pure white building material, under the light of the flashlight and miner's lamp, faintly emitted a luster like mutton fat jade, which was extremely luxurious.

I couldn't help but approach and examine the magnificent masterpiece of our ancestors. Indeed, it was an absolutely unparalleled treasure. On the pure white stone gate, a mythical beast that resembled both a Qilin and a dragon stared intently at us, who had intruded without coming in person, with its two enormous eyes.

On either side of the stone gate crouched two enormous stone turtles—no, they shouldn't be called stone turtles, because turtles don't have horns, but these two stone turtles each had two dragon horns on their heads... Of course, I've never seen a dragon, but the horns on these stone turtles' heads do indeed resemble those of the legendary dragons.

"Come and see!" the young master exclaimed excitedly. "There are characters carved on the back of this old tortoise..." Huang Zhihua was seeing something like this for the first time and was also very excited. He couldn't help but go over and touch the huge stone tortoise statue. The maid, with a drunken smile, explained, "This isn't a tortoise, it's a Bixi, the son of the dragon in legend. It likes to carry heavy loads and often drags stone tablets. Strange..."

As she spoke, the girl walked over and carefully observed the two enormous stone turtles in front of the stone gate.

"What's strange?" I asked curiously. I knew about Bixi, but the legendary Bixi didn't seem to have horns, did it? Of course, it's a legendary creature after all, and the statues from different dynasties are all different. Who knows if the Bixi in the Western Zhou Dynasty had horns or not?

The girl explained that she was just curious why these two bixi (a mythical creature) weren't carrying the stele, but were simply enjoying themselves here so easily. I couldn't help but laugh at what the girl said, while Huang Zhihua called out, "You two come and see what words are carved on the back of this old tortoise?"

It's quite common for guardian beasts to have inscriptions on their backs; I've even seen people carve their own names directly on the backs of turtles. In any case, turtles seem to have been quite unlucky in Chinese history.

"It's bird script, it looks familiar..." The girl had already moved closer. The bixi (a mythical tortoise-like creature) was quite tall, almost as tall as a person, and the girl had to stand on tiptoe to see the characters carved on its back. I quickly went over too. Although I didn't recognize bird script, I guessed it was of the same type. Thinking this, I walked to the other side and stood on tiptoe to take a closer look...

I was immediately dumbfounded. I naturally didn't recognize the bird script, but the two large stone turtles had eight characters carved on each side. They were quite old and had become somewhat blurred. However, I was very familiar with the last four characters. These four characters were exactly the same as the ones on the bronze sword in my hand. I did recognize the bird script. Because of my love for the bronze sword and the fact that I had it for a long time, I was naturally familiar with it. These four characters—were they the ones that the old man from the Southern Climbing Script had mentioned, "Heavenly Cripple and Earthly Imperfection"?

The preceding twelve characters naturally form the phrase: "Eight Trigrams and Sixty-Year Cycle, Divine Mechanisms and Ghostly Secrets, Transformation into Serpent and Dragon Bones...Heavenly Imperfections and Earthly Flaws."

What exactly is the meaning of these sixteen characters? Why did they appear in the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum and here as well? The same sixteen characters are also on the Zhenhe Seal inside the Yellow River Dragon Coffin.

What kind of connection exists between the tomb owners in these three places? Huang Zhihua, being more practical, was already thinking of a way to open the stone door. I coldly stared at the dragon-shaped, or rather, unicorn stone carving on the stone door. For some reason, this thing gave me the feeling that it was alive... It seemed to be alive, sizing up us intruders.

Dragon...dragon bones? My heart skipped a beat, and a vague thought crossed my mind. Could this thing be a dragon? As I pondered this, I pulled out my wolf-eye flashlight from my backpack and shone it on the stone gate, but I didn't see anything. However, when I shone the flashlight on one of the stone turtles... God is my witness, I wasn't seeing things—I saw that damned tortoise's eyeball actually...move.

Good heavens... the eyes of the stone tortoise sculpture can actually move? I suppressed my panic, calmed myself down, and continued to look.

"No! Absolutely not!" I yelled suddenly, "Get out of the way..." As I spoke, I didn't care about anything else and grabbed the girl who was studying the stone tortoise mechanism. Generally speaking, the stone carvings at the entrance of a tomb chamber hide powerful mechanisms. As long as the stone door is opened, the mechanism will be activated, killing anyone who tries to enter.

But it was too late... Just as I was pulling the girl away, a deep, angry roar, like thunder, echoed from the ground.

What the hell? The young master seemed to have lost his mind, standing there dumbfounded and not knowing what to do. Fortunately, Huang Zhihua was quick enough to pull him back. At the same time, the two stone turtles shook their heads and crashed heavily into us.

“They’re not stone sculptures…they’re living things!” I took a deep breath and said.

Just as I was speaking, the two stone turtles charged at us. The young master screamed in fright and ran to dodge. These two huge creatures, whose weight was measured in tons, were definitely not easy to deal with.

"Be careful," I warned the girl, raising my ancient bronze sword and slashing at one of the bixi (a mythical creature).

With a clang, my bronze sword seemed to strike cast iron, the impact making my arm tingle and my hand ache. But I had no time to think. My bronze sword had no effect on the Bixi, which had already turned its head and thrust its dragon horns toward my chest.

Damn it, if this thing hit me, I'd be in deep trouble. In this critical moment, it was too late to dodge; the only option was to fall heavily to the ground. Because of the speed, my back made intimate contact with the hard white stone slab, almost knocking me unconscious. If anyone told me at this moment that a tortoise isn't as fast as a hare, I'd call them an idiot. This... thing is definitely faster than a hare! Just as I fell to the ground, one of the giant tortoise's feet slammed down on my head like a mountain crashing down...

Oh no... I was terrified. If it were to step on it, my head would definitely burst open like a watermelon in summer.

At the critical moment, I heard Huang Zhihua and the young master scream, and then gunshots rang out. I closed my eyes in despair and instinctively swung the bronze sword in a last-ditch effort. But at that moment, I suddenly felt my body lighten, as if I were flying through the clouds. The huge impact almost made me vomit on the spot, and I could no longer hold the bronze sword in my hand. It fell to the ground with a "clang".

I heard from an old man that people hallucinate when they are about to die—I think I was hallucinating too. I didn't even dare to open my eyes, for fear of seeing my own bloody and mangled corpse, while my soul floated in the air.