The Complete Collection of Yellow River Ghost Coffins

Chapter 7

This is mainly because the Nanpai people believe that there is a kind of magic in the eyes of the living that can bring the dead back to life. They don't know when this tradition was passed down, but the Nanpai people still follow it to this day and dare not violate it even once.

When I first saw the group of pharmaceutical merchants, I found it strange. These two had an odd air about them; they were unremarkable in appearance, looked a bit simple-minded, and had a strong earthy smell, but their skin didn't resemble that of farmers. They were poorly dressed, yet they were very generous with their money. I never imagined that these two would actually be Nanpaizi (a type of smuggler).

However, Nanpaizi was very cautious and would never reveal his identity. These two people came to my room in the middle of the night and revealed their identities. Could it be that they wanted to surrender and want to go back to the antique business and give up tomb raiding?

I sensed something was off; these two might be up to something unusual.

But at that moment I was really sleepy and had no interest in anything, so I became fully alert and asked, "You're really giving me too much credit. You... want our help? Do you want us to go tomb raiding?"

The drug dealer hurriedly shook his head: "You can't say that," he lit a cigarette, "Actually, we've already broken the rules. We would never have revealed our identities, and we would never have brought outsiders into our operations, but now we simply don't have the time, so we had no choice but to do this."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's a long story. Do you remember the cave you found today?" a medicine merchant asked.

I nodded. How could I forget? He said, "About half a year ago, we were traveling south by boat. When we passed this section of the Yellow River, one of our older folks saw that mountain range along the Yellow River. He glanced at it and felt it looked very familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before."

The feeling was very strong, but the old man couldn't remember it until they arrived at their destination. Then the old man suddenly exclaimed that the mountain range along the shore of Donghua Mountain was exactly the same as the Kunlun Mountains.

The old man immediately realized something was wrong. Kunlun is the origin of the dragon veins of the world. If it were a naturally formed mountain with the same direction as Kunlun Mountain, the probability of that would be almost negligible. Now that this situation has occurred, he concluded that the mountain must have been repaired by someone some time ago and made to look like Kunlun Mountain.

The mountain range on one side was very low and had no power, so they felt that it was pointless to build this low Kunlun Mountain. They thought that if they built it, the lack of power would only create a "trapped" situation.

However, the old man had a unique perspective. He said that was not right. Although the mountain looked short, you could not see the part below the Yellow River. If the Yellow River dried up, the mountain would immediately rise. This was a kind of hidden-head feng shui, which was very ingenious.

However, this fake Kunlun dragon vein is not used for burial. This feng shui pattern has only one purpose: to suppress the river. In other words, at some unknown time, many years ago, someone used the power of moving mountains to transform the surrounding mountains into a small Kunlun dragon to suppress the water here and prevent the Yellow River from flooding.

The old man asserted that the treasure eye of the dragon vein must contain a precious object to suppress the river, which could be of considerable value.

To verify this assertion, the group traveled north by boat. When they passed through this area, they had the boat linger nearby for a long time, and the old man used plum blossom divination to calculate the location of the auspicious burial site.

Because of the Yellow River, several calculations failed. On the last attempt, when they put down the Luoyang shovel and inserted it into the river mud, they found something in the silt after only two meters.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered it was willow wood shavings. The old man then said that there was a river-suppressing tomb underwater.

River-suppressing tombs are a special type of burial site. The objects buried in these tombs, discovered in various locations, are extremely strange, but definitely not human. Sometimes it might be a large fish, sometimes a piece of iron shaped like a human. They exist from every dynasty, with the earliest river-suppressing tombs discovered in the early Warring States period. Who built these tombs and what their purpose was remain unknown, making them incredibly mysterious. Anyone who studies feng shui knows that these tombs don't contain gold or silver treasures, but they might contain rare and powerful artifacts.

They drilled more than a dozen holes to determine the approximate location, and then decided to wait until the Yellow River was low in water before coming over.

The old man then blended into the local village, waiting for his chance, while the two young men went out to do their own thing.

A while ago, we received a telegram saying that the Yellow River had dried up, so they rushed over and happened to be traveling in the same car as us.

By this time, I had a general idea of what was going on, and my interest was piqued again, so I asked, "You mean the cave we found is the entrance to the Zhenhe Tomb you mentioned?"

Chapter Thirteen: Entering the Cave

They said, "Yes, that's right. We've actually gone to check many times, but the water is still too deep, so we're still waiting. We didn't expect you to go too, discover the hole at the bottom of the lake, and then this big incident happened. This matter will spread very quickly, and if we don't act soon, we'll miss our chance. That's why we came to you."

I immediately asked, "Do you know anything about this dead person? What's in the Zhenhe Tomb?"

One of the medicine merchants laughed and said, "I don't know, we haven't been inside yet. Besides, let me tell you, we Southern Paizi have a saying: anything can happen inside an ancient tomb. A person dying is nothing unusual for us."

Looking at these two men who claimed to be from the South, I felt very suspicious and asked, "Then what kind of help do you need from me? I can't help you."

One of the southerners laughed and said, "None of us can swim."

I was both amused and exasperated. I said, "Even if I can swim, it won't work. I'm not a fish. It's six or seven meters deep down there. I absolutely can't go down without a submersible."

Even someone as good a swimmer as Shan Jun died in there, let alone me.

The man from the south said, "We have a submersible, but it's rather rudimentary." As he spoke, he pulled a large, round motorcycle helmet from his bag, with a leather jacket attached to it. I noticed that a leather tube was protruding from the back of the helmet's head, and the helmet's mouth area was clearly specially designed.

I took it and looked at it. It was a simple underwater working device. I had seen it at the pearl diving site. Before liberation, many people used this to go into the sea to dive for pearls. I didn't expect that they could get their hands on this.

Nanpaizi said, "Although this thing is rudimentary, it can definitely be used underwater at a depth of six or seven meters without any problem."

The young master said, "Then why don't you go down yourself? With this thing, what does it matter if you can't swim or not?"

One of the southerners chuckled: "Yes, if there are no problems, it's possible, but the ancient tombs require flexibility. We've spent our entire lives on land and have never thought about going into the water. Our underwater adaptability is definitely inferior to yours."

The young master sneered, "You're too scared to go down, aren't you?"

Both of them were quite embarrassed. One of them said, "You can go down together, or you can go down with one of us. If anything comes up, you can choose first. You two are food vendors, so the food you bring out is definitely not bad. Besides, if we build this relationship, we'll have more opportunities to work together in the future."

The young master snorted: "We'll go down there and fight to the death, while you guys watch from up here? It's not that easy!"

One of the southern bandits said, "Absolute fairness is impossible. If you don't help, we'll have to blast the hole open to prevent the villagers from entering, and then dig another hole next to it once the water dries up. It'll just take some time. The reason we're in such a hurry to find you is already a last resort. Think it over carefully. You can choose first. One item you pick might be worth more than everything in the tomb. Actually, it's still a better deal for you."

Upon hearing this, the young master asked if this was true. I nodded, confirming that it was indeed so. The items in the tomb, according to their collection value, can be divided into porcelain, jade, gold, silver, and bronze. Porcelain is actually the most expensive. However, the items in the water should be from the Western Han Dynasty, so there is probably little chance of finding porcelain. But the chance of finding ancient jade is very high. The price of a single piece of high-quality ancient jade is astronomical.

When the young master saw that this was indeed the case, he hesitated.

I also became interested because I really wanted to know what the situation was like down in the cave, why Shan Jun had that expression before he died, and whether there was something terrible in the cave.

The young master pulled me aside and asked me what I thought. He said that if he could get to know a couple of Nanpaizi (a derogatory term for people from southern China), his shop in Nangong would definitely be able to stay afloat. The young master was a very practical person. But since he was on my side, he didn't want to express his opinion directly and wanted to hear my thoughts.

I thought about it for a moment, unable to suppress my curiosity, and nodded. The young master immediately turned around and said, "Okay, we agree to help you with this."

At the time, I didn't know that this decision would be the most important one I would ever make, one that would affect my entire life.

Nanpaizi had already prepared the tractor. When we set off, it was already dawn. We introduced ourselves on the tractor. The fat one was called Hu Lai, and the thin one was called Wang Ming. The young master said, "You two are 'Hu Lai who's risking his life'."

We had traveled the same mountain road as the tractor before, so we were very familiar with it. They let us rest along the way, and I immediately fell into a deep sleep, drifting off to sleep in no time.

When we arrived at Danjun Cemetery, we rested for a while before continuing our journey. We soon returned to the place where we had camped the day before. It was still afternoon then. A few of the tomb raiders said that according to their ancestors' rules, tomb raiders must enter at night. I asked why, and they said that the ghosts in the tombs go out to work at night, which is equivalent to breaking into an empty house. We laughed when we heard that.

That scoundrel asked us if we had thought it through, whether the two of us would go down alone, or if one of us would accompany us. I considered it carefully. It's very common for tomb raiders to double-cross each other, but as long as we don't hand over the treasures to them, they won't harm us. I know the young master well, and we have a certain understanding. We can look out for each other after we go into the water. If I go down with someone else, and that person finds something good down there and has bad intentions, they might try to ambush me. Then they could say that I had an accident in the water, and the young master can't do anything to them. It would be very dangerous for the two of them and the young master alone.

In a flash, I considered many things, but in the end, I decided that it was safest for the young master and me to go down.

We spent two hours carrying nearly 500 pounds of equipment. This pearl-diving gear from the 1970s is actually a diving platform, suitable for use in fast-flowing waters, and doesn't require special training. It's homemade, and although very sturdy, it's incredibly ugly and bulky. Wearing it, I felt like I wanted to censor myself.

As darkness fell, we pushed the boat into the water and sailed to the center of the lake. Nanpazi handed me their equipment belts and used ropes to lower the two of us into the water. Soon the sun disappeared, and the icy temperature became apparent on our bodies. As we tied the ropes around ourselves, we turned on our headlamps. A feeling of suffocation came over us; our lungs were under pressure, and breathing became extremely difficult.

"It's not as comfortable as naked diving," the young master gestured to me.

This thing is mainly used to breathe through a tube attached to the helmet, but we also carry a large plastic tube on our backs. With this thing, we can breathe for five minutes if the tube breaks.

Breathe through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This way, carbon dioxide won't accumulate, and we'll float down to the bottom as we exhale bubbles.

At night, underwater visibility was almost zero; the only thing we could see was the halo of our flashlights.

Soon, I felt the soft river mud under my feet. I supported the young master, loosened the buttons on his back, and fell into the mud, which reached my knees in an instant.

When we stepped on it, the mud and sand below immediately swelled up. I didn't expect the mud to be so fluffy. I've heard that the muddiest parts of the Yellow River can't be called muddy water, but should be called cement, and that's really true.

"Damn it," I cursed. "No wonder the Yellow River is so deadly; even turtles would have a hard time surviving in this environment." We clung tightly to the rope, barely managing to maintain our balance, but even so, moving forward was extremely difficult.

The young master on the side also unbuttoned his shirt and fell into the river mud. I could only see a rough shadow of him. He gestured for me to follow him forward.

I found the location of the cave and followed the young master, step by step, towards the deepest part of the lake.

Soon, through the murky yellow sand and mist ahead, the huge black cave at the bottom of the lake gradually came into view.

We brushed away the sand to make things clearer. We came to a spot two or three inches from the edge of the cave, but fearing the ground might collapse, we dared not go any further and instead stood up to look.

The cave looked terrifying at this moment, like the mouth of a wild beast, with a ghostly passage inside. I swallowed hard, telling myself that it wasn't too late to regret it. But at that moment, the young master had already squatted down and crawled into the cave.

I saw him gesturing to me, so I helped him. I've gotten used to using this diving equipment now. I watched as the young master slowly sank into the cave. Soon, the flashlight beam became very small. My heart was pounding, and I felt cold sweat inside my leather jacket. I didn't know what I was afraid of.

When he reached the bottom, I saw the flashlight go out – a signal for me to come down. By then, I was so nervous I felt weak all over. I calmed myself down, carefully stepped onto the cave wall, and slowly floated down.

The opening of the cave was as big as the front of a car, but once you got down there it was only the size of a small window. As I walked down, darkness surrounded me, and I felt like I was going down into hell.

The entire descent took less than fifteen seconds, but it felt like an hour. Soon I was sinking to the bottom of the tunnel. Looking down, I saw that both the bottom and the top seemed to be covered in silt. The young master was waiting for me nearby.

I took a deep breath and stepped down. The mud here wasn't as thick as above, but it wasn't thin either. After I steadied myself, I immediately turned on my flashlight and looked around to see what was below the cave.

Looking around, I discovered that below was a small stone chamber, everything buried in the silt. I saw several terracotta figures, half-buried like corpses. When I shone my flashlight through them, I was startled.

The young master was about to start scooping things out of the mud when I sensed something was wrong. I looked around and saw a passageway carved into the stone wall. It was pitch black inside, and I had no idea how deep it was.

The two southerners said that most ancient tombs are multi-layered and have a simple structure, like a well. However, if you see a passageway inside, it means the tomb is very large, so you have to be extra careful. I patted the young master and said, "The good stuff should be in the burial chamber. Don't waste time here. Let's go into the passageway."

Chapter Fourteen: Underwater Stone Chamber

I shone my headlamp into the tunnel, but it was pitch black and I had no idea how deep it was. It seemed to have collapsed quite badly. Even with our heavy diving helmets and armor, I wondered if we would have any problems.

The walls of the passageway were made of some kind of stone, which appeared a very dull bluish-gray under our lights. We could see that one side of the stone wall was also carved with many patterns, but due to the large amount of mud and sand attached to it and the years of water soaking, it was severely corroded and the patterns were no longer discernible.

Although the passageway was deep, it was not wide, only about five or six feet. There were no burial objects in the entire passageway. As we walked, we saw many places with handprints, which must have been made when Shan Jun came in.

We walked in for a while and started to have some difficulty breathing. We were probably ten meters deep now. The pressure underwater was different from that above, and I felt like I couldn't inhale much with each breath.

The young master's condition wasn't much better than mine. I patted him to warn him that if he went any further, he might suffocate.

He blew bubbles and nodded at me. At that moment, I saw the reflection of a flashlight beam in front of me, and I looked and saw a jade gate appear at the end of the passageway.

The young master leaned closer; his flashlight was much bigger than mine, and as soon as he got closer, the surroundings became much brighter.

I helped him steady himself and looked around. I was immediately drawn to the relief carvings on the door.

The door is semi-arched, with two qilin carved on it. The carving is so lifelike that when I saw it, I almost felt that it was about to jump down from it.

The young master gestured, asking if we should push the door open. I nodded and pushed hard, but the door wouldn't budge. I knew there was a mechanism inside. When Nanpaizi came down, he taught us a couple of tricks, using a tool called the "Myriad-Image Hook" to open tomb doors. I hadn't learned it yet, but the young master was good at it. After a few tries, mud and water gushed out from under the tomb door, and then we pushed, and the jade door opened.

A bone-chilling cold emanated from inside, causing me to shiver involuntarily, and both of us instinctively shrank back.

It was pitch black. When I shone my flashlight in, it was just that cotton-like darkness that completely enveloped the light. How big was inside?

We hesitated for a long time at the tomb entrance, neither of us daring to go in. I think he sensed it too; an eerie atmosphere emanated from the darkness ahead. In the end, the young master gritted his teeth, made a "go for it" gesture, and pushed me inside.

I thought to myself, "Damn it!" After finally managing to stand up, I quickly shone my flashlight around and saw that this place was much bigger than where we had just come down. It was about the size of two basketball courts, and the flashlight beam couldn't illuminate the whole area at all.

The mud on the ground was only a thin layer, and visibility was still acceptable. I saw four strangely shaped figures standing behind the stone chamber in the darkness. Other places were also shadowy.

I had never been inside a tomb before, so I couldn't tell what those things were, but at that moment I was undoubtedly excited, knowing that this trip might be very rewarding.

The area where those dark figures are located should be where the coffin bed was placed in the tomb chamber. If this is the rear hall, then the coffin should be in that position.

Those two scoundrels said this was a river-suppressing tomb, and that it might not be a human burial site. What could be inside the coffin? I felt a mix of fear and curiosity.

There was no one underwater. Those strange black shadows seemed to be terracotta figures, and I felt a chill. I shone my flashlight and cautiously approached. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were four enormous bronze figurines, all kneeling and holding something in their hands. Looking more closely, I discovered they were four bronze mirrors, all facing the center of them.

I turned to look at the young master and found that he hadn't followed and was still outside the tomb. I cursed him in my heart for not being loyal enough, and then turned and swam towards the middle of the four bronze figures.

There was a raised stone platform there, which should have been the coffin bed. However, instead of the large coffin I had in mind, I saw a giant stone coffin on the coffin bed. The stone coffin was almost square, just like a stone platform placed on the coffin bed.

I have never seen anything like it before.

I looked at it bit by bit and found that, just as the young master had said, this thing could not be completely called a coffin. Judging from its size, it should be a sarcophagus, and the real coffin should be inside this sarcophagus.

I struggled to decipher the patterns on the coffin, and was secretly astonished.

The system of coffins was established during the Western Zhou Dynasty. The emperor's coffin consisted of four layers. The first layer, called "Pei," was covered with rhinoceros and water buffalo hides. The second layer, called "Di Ye," was made of linden wood. The third layer was called "Shu," and the fourth layer was called "Da Guan." However, each dynasty had its own variations. For example, when Sun Dianying opened the Yuling Mausoleum of Emperor Qianlong during the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong's coffin only had two layers.

The burial system using pure stone coffins was very common; I recall seeing examples in various places. However, in later generations, wooden coffins were basically standardized. This burial system must have existed before the Western Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, this stone coffin must be over a thousand years old.