Ghost Flag - Chapter 20
"It's all right now." Wei Bu reported that everything was alright, and I finally felt relieved.
I quickly walked to where Xiahou Ying had been and offered my hand for her to draw a talisman. The feeling of her sharp fingers drawing on my palm was strange; it tickled and almost made me pull my hand away.
"Now I understand why Sun Huizu managed to pull off a dead man's head," I changed the subject to shift my focus. "The first challenge was rage. The torn flag immediately affected him, but his martial arts skills were exceptional. Iron arrows couldn't kill him for a moment, but seeing his brothers die before his eyes, he was consumed by rage and only wanted revenge. So he charged straight in. The next challenge was madness, which only fueled his anger, leading him to pull off a dead man's head. Moreover, when people go mad, their potential is forced out. Otherwise, no matter how strong he was, he probably wouldn't have been able to charge that far."
Xiahou Ying withdrew his hand, but only sighed softly, turned around and continued walking forward following Wei Buhui's footprints.
The next tomb chamber was indeed dotted with short iron arrows, making it impossible to distinguish which ones were fired back then and which ones were triggered by Wei Buhui just now. The mechanisms here probably have an automatic reloading function, which can be activated repeatedly. Sun Huizu acted as a human mine-clearing machine back then, but now iron arrows are still being fired.
Following the footprints on the ground and looking at the scribbles on my hand, I finally entered the final tomb chamber without any surprises.
This final burial chamber was constructed of massive bluestones, and indeed, it was completely clean, without any markings or mechanisms. In the center lay a huge jade coffin, its lid broken into several pieces scattered on the ground.
Seeing this, I was somewhat surprised. The tomb owner must have been of very high status. Although the jade coffin in front of me was huge and could hold some burial items, it was extremely simple compared to the several stone chambers that were usually used by kings and nobles to store burial items.
Upon closer inspection, the remains inside the jade coffin were badly damaged. Years ago, after Sun Huizu went mad, he wreaked havoc, leaving none of the burial goods in the jade coffin intact. The skeleton was scattered, the spine broken into several pieces, the right upper arm torn off, and the headless body lying askew within the coffin.
The original layout of the jade coffin was as follows: the body of the master was in the center, some weapons were placed on the left, several bamboo scrolls were on the right, and wine vessels were placed at the feet. Now it was all in a mess.
Xiahou Ying held onto the edge of the coffin, looking at the headless corpse's remains, and remained silent.
Wei Buhui sighed deeply: "What a heroic figure he was in life, yet his great achievements vanished in an instant, and even his remains have become like this."
Xiahou Ying should know the identity of the tomb's occupant, but I could tell she was holding back her words about it. I had been saved by her, so I couldn't press her for details. But judging from Wei Buhui's tone, he actually knew too?
"Do you know who this is?" I couldn't help but ask him the question that had been bothering me the most.
"What a joke! If I didn't know whose tomb this was, why would I have spent so much time researching it back then? But you, even now, still don't know that this is the tomb of Cao Cao, Cao Mengde?"
For a moment I was struck dumb, so shocked I couldn't even finish my sentence: "Cao...Cao Cao?"
This is Cao Cao, the most famous warlord in Chinese history, the ruler of the Wei Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period, who held the emperor hostage to command the feudal lords, and who, according to legend, laid down seventy-two false tombs after his death!
Wei Buhui turned to look at Xiahou Ying and said, "Since your surname is Xiahou, you must have some connection with Cao Cao, right?!"
Cao? Xiahou? A thought flashed through my mind regarding relevant records in the *Records of the Three Kingdoms*, and I remembered that Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, was originally surnamed Xiahou. He changed his surname to Cao after recognizing the eunuch Cao Teng as his adoptive father. The Xiahou clan was powerful; while Cao Song's lineage branched out, others retained the Xiahou surname. For example, several fierce generals under Cao Cao, such as Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun, were actually relatives of Cao Cao.
Xiahou Ying then came to his senses and nodded, replying, "Cao Cao is a collateral descendant; by my reckoning, I am the fifty-seventh generation descendant of him."
"So Cao Cao had a third eye!" I blurted out.
"What third eye?" Xiahou Ying frowned, completely not understanding what I meant.
"It's on his head, just above the center of his eyebrows, that he has a third eye."
“That’s not a third eye.” Xiahou Ying finally understood what I was talking about, but shook his head in denial.
"If it's not a third eye... then what is it?"
The Secret of the "Third Eye" (7)
Even Wei Buhui looked at Xiahou Ying this time, clearly he also wanted to know the answer.
Xiahou Ying sighed again and said, "Although only our family knows this, it's not a big secret, so I might as well tell you. The talismans on the walls of this heart-shaped tomb chamber, and the ones drawn on my clothes, are actually a kind of knowledge passed down by my Xiahou clan for thousands of years. This knowledge is extremely profound and powerful, but it has a major flaw: it can cause learners to suffer from an unknown headache. The more in-depth their study, the more severe the headache becomes."
Perhaps while constantly giving these suggestions to others, one's own brain is unknowingly being damaged.
I immediately thought of Xiahou Ying's sudden headache on the plane; it turned out to be a consequence of studying this subject. Historically, didn't Cao Cao die from a headache?
"Those in our family who have studied this art for generations, especially those with high levels of skill, almost all died from headaches, and many went mad. So, in the last hundred years, fewer and fewer people have dared to touch these symbols. When I was a child, my grandfather was afraid that this thousand-year-old secret technique would be lost, so he taught me a little bit. But I became addicted as soon as I came into contact with it, and my progress was very fast. After the age of fourteen, my headaches became very serious. Cao Cao, on the other hand, is a genius in our family records. No one has ever been able to surpass him in this area. If he had not mastered the symbolism to perfection, he would not have been able to conquer the Central Plains or control the emperor."
My mouth dropped open slightly as I listened. It turns out that Cao Cao's rise to power in the chaotic world, attracting so many fierce generals and capable ministers like a magnet, was not only due to his personal talent and charisma, but also to his subtle influence on people's hearts through suggestion! And this suggestion could also help him a lot on the battlefield, as can be seen from the military flag alone.
"According to clan records, after Cao Cao's death, he set up many fake tombs in the Central Plains. Everyone thought that Cao Cao's tomb must be within his territory, but they did not know that he had a secret agreement with the ruler of Wu that he would be buried in Wu after his death and that his army would not cross the Yangtze River. Therefore, when Wei launched an attack in the later period, it always attacked Shu and never launched a large-scale attack on Wu. With this shift in power, after Jin replaced Wei, Eastern Wu lasted much longer than Western Shu. However, when Cao Cao built his tomb in Wu, he also chose a remote place and set up several feints. In addition, with his deliberate hints, even the ruler of Wu and we did not know the exact location of his final tomb."
At this point, Xiahou Ying glanced at me and said with a wry smile, "When I met you in Nepal this time, and heard what you said, and then saw this flag, I knew that you had entered Cao Cao's tomb. Although it is said that Cao Cao also died of headaches, I have suffered from this for many years and always hoped that this exceptionally talented person had found some way to combat headaches. But when I saw that head outside just now, I already knew his method back then."
I already had a vague idea, but the answer was so surprising that I couldn't help but ask, "What method?"
"Hua Tuo will perform craniotomy!" Before Xiahou Ying could answer, Wei Bu Hui blurted out.
Xiahou Ying nodded slowly.
According to unofficial historical records, Cao Cao suffered from headaches and invited the legendary physician Hua Tuo to treat him. Hua Tuo's solution was craniotomy, but Cao Cao did not believe him and imprisoned Hua Tuo. As a result, Hua Tuo died in prison, and Cao Cao died from headaches.
In the end, Cao Cao agreed to Hua Tuo's method, but this overly advanced surgery failed, leading to Cao Cao's death, and Hua Tuo was naturally executed as well.
No wonder Xiahou Ying showed that expression when he saw the wound on Cao Cao's skull.
Xiahou Ying rummaged through the bamboo slips for a while, then took out a scroll. The material was like silk or cloth, and it hadn't spoiled even after so many years. It seemed to be made of the same material as the military flag.
Xiahou Ying unfolded it slightly, glanced at it a few times, and said, "Indeed, it's just some insights and techniques for using suggestion. This is what the Sun brothers are looking for, but this kind of knowledge cannot be mastered overnight."
"What...is this book?"
Xiahou Ying showed me the beginning of the scroll, and my eyes widened immediately.
"The Heart Book of Mengde"!
"So, so it's this 'heart,' not 'new' or 'old.' Didn't Cao Cao write the military treatise 'Mengde's New Book,' but later, dissatisfied with it, burned it himself?"
Wei Buhui laughed heartily: "History books are full of errors, how can they be believed entirely? I've robbed so many tombs, and any one of the truths I know could cause a magnitude 7 earthquake in the Chinese historical community. This time, although it surprised me enough, it's just one of my many experiences. For me, the fun of tomb raiding lies in this!"
end
Returning from Cao Cao's tomb, Xiahou Ying, Wei Buhui, and I went our separate ways. Xiahou Ying took "Mengde's Heart Book," while Wei Buhui took a bamboo scroll, a long sword that hadn't rusted for a thousand years, and a yellow jade wine pot. According to Xiahou Ying, books, weapons, and wine were Cao Cao's favorite things in life, so he wasn't buried with gold or silver artifacts, but only these items. I, however, persuaded by Wei Buhui not to "enter a mountain of treasures empty-handed," took a bronze wine pot and two bronze cups, placing them in my bookcase at home. Even guests would never guess that these were Cao Cao's cherished possessions. I wonder if this was the same set of wine vessels he used when discussing heroes with Liu Bei over wine. It seems Liu Bei was indeed no ordinary man, especially compared to Cao Cao, who was a master of subtle hints.
Even when faced with such a master, he remained unmoved. No wonder Cao Cao praised him as "among all the heroes in the world, only you and I are worthy of the title."
When I said goodbye to Xiahou Ying, I told her that although Cao Cao's brain surgery ultimately failed, the technology of that time was incomparable to that of today. What was impossible back then may be possible today.
She said with a wry smile, "If it really comes to that, we'll have to try everything."
After saying that, he drifted away.
A few days later, Wei Buhui also left the central "three-story building" and disappeared without a trace. I knew that he had returned to his old ways, and the king of tomb raiders who had disappeared for sixty-seven years was about to reappear.
However, to my surprise, the X organization eventually got involved. A week later, after an interview, I passed by the central "three-story building" and unknowingly walked in. I was shocked to find that the staircase that used to lead to the basement was no longer there; it had been sealed off with cement.
I then received a call from Liang Yingwu. Although he hadn't intentionally leaked the information to Agency X, he still apologized. Because I was already under close surveillance by Agency X, and getting Liang Yingwu to process my Nepalese visa required leveraging their connections, the agency had taken the opportunity to investigate my intentions. My actions weren't deliberately concealed, yet Agency X uncovered the whole story step by step, and then acted swiftly. Just five days after we emerged from the tomb, they sealed off the basement and created a secret passage leading underground.
Since things had come to this, I took the opportunity to tell Liang Yingwu about the heart-shaped tomb chamber, so that Agency X could be prepared to avoid any accidental deaths, which could be considered doing him a favor. As for the half-military flag and the diary, they were useless to me, so I took them and gave them to him before Liang Yingwu even asked. Of course, the bronze wine vessel remained openly displayed in the bookcase.
I also reminded him that I had given Zhong Shutong some pictures before, and those pictures were what caused Zhong Shutong's death. Two hours later, Liang Yingwu told me that the things had been retrieved from the police. Zhong Shutong had been studying these pictures for hours before his death, so the police took these strange pictures. Fortunately, the police don't stare at pictures for hours like Zhong Shutong did, so there was no major problem.
The "Cao Cao's Tomb" project of Organization X was not in Liang Yingwu's charge, so I don't know whether he ultimately figured out the secrets of those talismans and allowed the Xiahou family's secrets to leak out. However, I often discussed related topics with Liang Yingwu.
For example, there's a topic that goes like this: if there are such talismans that can make people want to die, then why couldn't Cao Cao have killed whoever he wanted? Why was he so slow to conquer Western Shu and Eastern Wu? If someone was in his way, he could have just written a letter and taken their life, or drawn such talismans on his military flags instead of instilling fear. Wouldn't it have been easier to make people want to die just by looking at them?
The discussion concluded that such suggestions to lead to death violate the most basic survival instincts of living beings, making them extremely difficult to implement. An environment similar to a tomb passage, with a sufficiently strong energy field, is required for them to be effective. Zhongshu's advanced age and declining mental capacity, coupled with his prolonged exposure to such images, ultimately led to this tragedy.
Furthermore, while ancient technology was less advanced, people in ancient times were far more resilient than modern people. It was even more difficult to influence famous generals and capable ministers. It was already quite an achievement for Cao Cao to gather them under his command through subtle hints. He would have been far from able to control the life and death of figures like Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang through hints alone.
Liang Yingwu also told me that, according to the findings of the X organization, after the advancement of modern science, some skills that are difficult to explain by science have gradually been lost or gone underground; and in the Three Kingdoms period, it was not only the art of suggestion that was a secret art, there were many talented people, and even Cao Cao had to be wary of it.
After this incident, I finally returned to my normal journalistic life, busy with interviews and publishing articles every day, and often having to watch my boss's mood. Whenever I was unhappy, I would think, if only I had asked Xiahou Ying to write a talisman for me and stick it on my computer desk, giving passing leaders a hint: "This person is exceptionally talented and capable of great use." My boss would have directly promoted me to department head, so I wouldn't have to run around in the wind and rain every day, wouldn't that be wonderful? Or perhaps he could have written a talisman for me to draw directly on my white T-shirt, so that all the beautiful women who saw it would fall in love with me, allowing me to pass through a sea of flowers without getting a single petal on me, which would also be a wonderful thing.
Layout work is so tiring!