Chapter 526: A Victim of Violence
Chapter 526: A Victim of Violence
“What’s wrong?” Zu An was shocked. His body immediately tensed, instinctively expecting danger.
Mi Li continued, “According to the burial customs, both the tomb and the path leading to it would be constructed to represent the status and glory of the one buried there. The tombs of the most glorious individuals would have four paths leading up to the tomb, from the four cardinal directions. These tombs have layouts that are similar to the character ‘ya’ (亚), which is why they call it the ‘Ya’ style tomb. Only monarchs are bestowed the honor of being buried in these types of tombs. For those in the next highest rank, their tombs have two paths to the north and south, and they have ‘Zhong’ (中) style tombs. These are usually the tombs of high nobles. They are located in a different place, and the tombs are smaller. For individuals with status just below that, their tombs have only one path leading up to it, and their tombs are called ‘Jia’ (甲) style tombs. These are often granted to lesser nobles.
“In summary, those who were considered of significant status while they were alive would all be buried in one of these three types of tombs. However, this tomb only has a tomb pit, and not even a single tomb path leading to it, so the one buried here should be someone ordinary. However, considering the scale of the sanctuary above and the abundant amount of items they were buried with, as well as the fact that they were buried near the monarch’s tomb, the occupant of this coffin should have been an extraordinary figure, no matter how we look at it. However, their tomb is so… so simple.”
“Perhaps Yinshang’s tombs were different from those of later generations,” Zu An remarked. “I’ll check to see if the jade badge Jiangjiang needs is somewhere here.”
There was a large pile of items around the coffin, and he couldn’t make them out clearly from where they were standing.
Pei Mianman was worried that something might happen, so she followed him down into the tomb pit.
There were all sorts of burial gifts arranged around the tomb pit. Most of them were bronze artifacts, but there were also several artifacts made from jade, ceramic, bones, ivory, and other items of jewelry.
To the north of the coffin were all types of bronze cauldrons. In ancient times, cauldrons weren’t only used to cook food, but were also a symbol of authority.
On its south side were square wine vessels, square cups, earthenware, jars, pots, goblets, and other articles the deceased had used while they were alive. The burial customs of the ancient Shang Dynasty attached great importance to making sure that the dead were treated just as they had been while they were alive, which was why these things would accompany them in burial.
Of course, Zu An didn’t recognize these bronze artifacts, which were all of different shapes and sizes. Mi Li was the one who explained them to him.
She was a Qin Dynasty empress, so she knew much more about these things. She also had the accumulated knowledge of the imperial library at her disposal, so her knowledge was even more extensive. She felt incredibly refreshed after explaining everything to him.
Zu An wasn’t all that interested in her ramblings, yet he didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm either, so he changed the topic instead. “The things off to the side seem to be weapons. Huh? What is this weapon?”
Zu An noticed that there were many bronze weapons on one side of the tomb. There were spears, pikes, and arrows, but one particular type of weapon seemed strange to him. It was shaped like an axe, but the blade pointed upwards.
“That’s a Yue!” Mi Li’s expression grew serious. “That isn’t an ordinary weapon. It’s not usually used on the battlefield, but is used as a symbol of authority instead. It is often bestowed by the emperor upon a general, granting him the power to command the military wherever he wishes. One, two, three… There are actually seven such weapons here. This individual must have wielded exceptional authority within the military! Why have I never heard anything about him before, though?”
“The people of this era did not have the ability to leave books or other written records for later generations to study, so it’s quite expected for you not to have heard of him,” Zu An remarked. “There isn’t any jade badge here. Let’s take a look elsewhere.” Zu An thought about bringing back some of the bronze artifacts with him. After all, every single one of them would be priceless national treasures in his previous world!
However, he swiftly changed his mind. These things weren’t very valuable in this world, and they were just some ordinary artifacts with nothing really special about them. They weren’t really useful to him at this point.
Pei Mianman suddenly spoke up. “Hey, this thing is really cute.”
Zu An rushed over. He thought that she found the jade badge or something, but she was only staring at a bronze artifact with a big smile.
The bronze artifact was indeed special. It looked like a water buffalo, but it was also rather different from an ordinary depiction of a buffalo. This bull had a well-built physique. Its head stretched forward, and its mouth was slightly open. The other parts of it, like the eyes, ears, nose, horns, torso, and tail, were vivid and lifelike.
There were dragon, bird, tiger, elephant, and other animal designs carved all over its body, giving it a rather magnificent and elaborate look.
Even though it looked bold and powerful, its head was tilted slightly, and its mouth was open as well, which made it look charmingly naive. No wonder Pei Mianman had taken a liking to it.
“If you like it, we can take it with us.” Zu An held Pei Mianman’s hand, a doting smile on his face.
Mi Li rolled her eyes.
“It’s okay.” Pei Mianman shook her head. “Since this was buried with the deceased, it was probably something they liked when they were alive. Let’s not steal something like that. Also…”
She glanced at the giant coffin beside her, then moved over to Zu An’s side. She said in a quiet voice, “This place is way too strange… Things could get messy if we incur the owner’s anger and it comes out to settle things.”
Zu An couldn’t help but smile when he heard this. Pei Mianman always seemed so bold and daring. He didn’t expect her to be so afraid of these supernatural things.
Mi Li’s voice sounded in his head. “Stop flirting already. There’s another place you haven’t looked at yet.”
Zu An jumped in fright when he saw her eyeing the coffin. “You want to open the coffin?”
Mi Li snorted. “Of course! The best funerary objects are always buried inside the coffin. Your jade badge might just be inside.”
Zu An swallowed. “Isn’t that a little improper? We’ll be disturbing his sleep.”
“Closed-minded!” Mi Li berated him. “This is an opportunity! The one who refuses to explore a mountain of treasure is the greatest fool. You even promised that girl that you’d find it, and you need to find the mechanism to leave this dungeon as well. This tomb is quite unusual. Who knows if there are any key clues hidden inside?”
Her words seemed reasonable to Zu An, and his resolve was further strengthened when he recalled the girl’s tragic past. He made up his mind. “Fine, then!”
Pei Mianman jumped in fright when she saw that he was going to open the coffin. She quickly moved to stop him, but Zu An repeated what Mi Li had said to her.
Pei Mianman bit her lip, but nodded in assent in the end. “Okay then. Since you’ve already made up your mind, I’ll support your decision. Just be careful.”
Zu An gave her an acknowledgement, then bowed towards the coffin. “Respectful elder, I apologize for disturbing your peace. We need to find a way out of here, and have been left without a choice. Please forgive our actions.”
Mi Li snorted when she saw his actions. “What a waste of time!”
The coffin had two parts to it—an inner and outer one.
The outer coffin was painted mainly in black, with some red and yellow patterns.
After Zu An paid his respects, he picked up a bronze spear from the side and inserted it under the lid to lever it open.
Several funerary objects were placed in the space between the inner and outer coffins, for example, the helmet of a general and some fine pottery. However, the jade badge the young lady had spoken of was nowhere to be seen.
Despite this, their hope swelled. The stuff inside the coffin was much better than what was left outside, which meant that the inner coffin probably held even more valuable items. The jade badge might just be inside!
The inner coffin was painted red, and covered in delicate dragon and fish designs. The lid of the coffin was bordered with gold leaf. Gold was scarce back in the Yinshang period, and given the amount of gold on the coffin, it was easy to imagine the respected status of the one buried here when they were alive.
Zu An wanted to copy what they did in ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’[1], which was to light a candle in the corner of the coffin and see if it went out, just as a precaution. But after thinking about it, he reasoned that the both of them were cultivators, so any traces of carbon dioxide inside the coffin would probably not do them much harm. If worse came to worst and something weird jumped out at them, they would still be able to fight it off. Given the number of times they’d already fought against the undead, lighting a candle as a precaution really seemed a little excessive.
As such, he warned Pei Mianman one last time to be on her guard, before using the spear to pry the lid open.
There were many jade artifacts inside. A jade annulus and other jade pieces were arranged along both sides of the buried individual’s upper body, and four dragon-shaped ornaments were arranged on his back, forming almost a straight line from top to bottom. Jade pipes were placed on its chest and abdomen, while shells were on his lower body. The bottom of the coffin was full of cinnabar.
Pei Mianman subconsciously leaned against Zu An. “Why… Why is his posture so strange?”
The buried individual hadn’t been reduced to bone yet, but seemed like a rather complete and dried up corpse. They could even vaguely picture what he would have looked like while he was still alive.
This wasn’t strange, however. What was strange was how the figure had been placed in the coffin.
He wasn’t lying on his back or his side like how a regular person would have been buried. He was facing downwards instead.
Mi Li’s voice sounded. “This is probably what was known in legends as the prone burial. Only two types of people are buried like this. The first is those of inferior status, which is clearly not the case. This leaves only one other possibility. This man didn’t die naturally, but suffered a violent death!”
A sinister wind blew around them as soon as she said this. The temperature dropped, and chills ran down their bodies.
1. A popular web novel about grave robbers seeking buried treasure, first published in 2006.