So he turned to Big Katydid and said, “Those wearing the Money-Seeking Talismans are all seasoned tomb raiders. Could it be that these few people have already looted this tomb? But if they succeeded, why would they die here?”
Big Katydid shook his head and replied, “This is called Jia Jade Money-Seeking Talisman. It’s made by soaking a pangolin’s claw in jade solution for forty-nine days, and then consecrated by Money-Seeking Officers using their sect’s special rituals. The Jia Jade Money-Seeking Talisman was most commonly used during the Three Kingdoms period. By the Tang Dynasty, the incantation for consecrating it had already been mostly lost. That these people were tomb raiders is definitely true. As for why they died here, well, only they themselves would know.”
Fan Debiao, both delighted and furious, said, “Damn it! So this tomb was looted a thousand years ago by these Money-Seeking Officers. Fortunately, they were stopped here; otherwise, the cultural relics would have been lost again. Everyone should tidy up and call the archaeological team.”
After saying this, Fan Debiao approached Liu Dashao and whispered, “Young Master, later on, pick a couple of small items and hide them. This trip could be considered life-threatening if not actually deadly. We need to get something out of it.”
“Wait, these aren’t burial artifacts from this tomb!” suddenly interrupted the Caterpillar.
Hearing this, Big Katydid quickly picked up a piece of jade and a bronze sword from the ground and examined them carefully. Frowning, he said, “This jade should be from the Qin Dynasty, and this bronze sword is from the Shang Dynasty. How could they appear in a Han Dynasty tomb?”
Caterpillar added, “These burial artifacts must have been taken by them from other tombs and then brought into this one.”
Upon hearing this, Big Katydid exclaimed in amazement, “Could these people be the ‘official tomb raiders’ from the Three Kingdoms era? But if they were official tomb raiders, this group seems a bit small.”
Still puzzled, Fan Debiao asked, “Official tomb raiders? What exactly are they?”
Actually, Liu Dashao knew a bit about them and started to explain to Fan Debiao, “The Three Kingdoms period was a time of warlord chaos, and also the most rampant era for tomb raiding. The largest-scale tomb raiders were the ‘official tomb raiders.’ They didn’t just raid tombs—they literally dug up graves. Their sole purpose was to plunder treasures to fund their armies. Every tomb they raided was completely stripped bare. The most famous official tomb raiders during the Three Kingdoms period were the units under Cao Cao.”
After listening to Liu Dashao’s explanation, Fan Debiao nodded, though he still looked rather confused.
Fan Debiao whispered to Liu Dashao, “Since these people were these so-called official tomb raiders, it proves all this wealth is ill-gotten. We should definitely take something!”
Liu Dashao was so exasperated he felt short of breath. He gave Fan Debiao a cold stare but said nothing. Seeing Liu Dashao’s indifferent reaction, Fan Debiao didn’t press further and went off on his own to admire the treasures.
Seeing Big Katydid still frowning, Liu Dashao asked him, “Big Katydid, do you feel something is off?”
Big Katydid rubbed his chin and said, “All five of them carried Jia Jade Money-Seeking Talismans, so they must have been professional Money-Seeking Officers. Official tomb raiders would never bother with such talismans. But these five couldn’t possibly have carried away all these burial artifacts alone. There must have been others. But where did those others go? Could they have died elsewhere?”
After Big Katydid’s explanation, Liu Dashao was also puzzled. Just as he was about to think more deeply, Fan Debiao suddenly ran over with a bamboo scroll and shouted, “Quick, look! I found a martial arts manual!”
A martial arts manual… Hearing Fan Debiao’s words, Liu Dashao almost burst out laughing if the situation hadn’t been so serious. He turned around, took the bamboo scroll from Fan Debiao’s hand, and examined it carefully for a while, frowning.
The scroll was covered in characters he couldn’t read. Thinking these five Money-Seeking Officers were from the Three Kingdoms era, the writing was probably also from that time. Helplessly, Liu Dashao handed the scroll back to Fan Debiao and said, “Brother Biao, I can’t read it. Can you explain it?”
Hearing this, Fan Debiao was overjoyed. Usually, Liu Dashao was the cultured one, but now he was asking Fan Debiao for help.
Fan Debiao proudly took the scroll and said, “Young Master, this is exactly what they call a tiger in a fallen state being bullied by a dog, hahaha…”
Inwardly cursing, Liu Dashao thought, “Damn it, even when trying to look down on someone, you compare yourself to a dog. You really are so cultured.”
Big Katydid interrupted, “Hurry up and tell us what’s written on the scroll!”
Fan Debiao gave Liu Dashao a smug look and began reading the scroll carefully. He frowned and stared at it for quite a while without saying a word. At this point, Big Katydid got impatient, “Come on, hurry up! What are you hesitating for?”
Fan Debiao closed the scroll helplessly and said, “Damn it, I can’t read it either.”
“Huh!” Big Katydid grunted, quickly snatching the scroll from Fan Debiao’s hand and examining it carefully for a while. He said, “No wonder. This is written in tomb raider jargon. It’s normal that you can’t read it.”
Fan Debiao muttered beside him, “These Money-Seeking Officers are really cunning. They even developed their own language!”
Liu Dashao gave Fan Debiao a cold stare and said, “Stop talking nonsense. This is called being cultured!” Then he turned to Big Katydid and asked, “Big Katydid, what does it say on the scroll?”
Big Katydid took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and refreshed himself before saying, “This scroll records the number of tombs these Money-Seeking Officers have raided along their journey and some strange occurrences.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Dashao’s curiosity was piqued. This was more interesting than any novel!
Big Katydid explained the scroll’s content, “These five Money-Seeking Officers were official tomb raiders under Cao Cao. Together with over a hundred subordinates, they were directly managed by Xu Chu, the Commander of the Tiger Guards. After Cao Cao fell ill with a persistent headache, he heard of the legend of an elixir of immortality and dispatched his Money-Seeking Officers to raid large tombs across the land in search of it. These five Money-Seeking Officers crossed mountains and rivers, looting one Shang Dynasty royal tomb and two Warring States period noble tombs, but they couldn’t find any clues about the elixir of immortality. Just as the five were feeling down, Zhang Yan, a former Yellow Turban rebel general who had surrendered to Cao Cao, presented a map claiming it contained clues to the elixir. Cao Cao examined the map and saw it was a tomb-seeking chart, so he ordered these Money-Seeking Officers to take their subordinates and the looted treasures to the location indicated on the map.”
Big Katydid continued, “The five Money-Seeking Officers immediately recognized the map’s hidden characters. They dug through the earth and entered an unfinished ancient tomb of unknown age. Later, beneath that uncompleted tomb, they discovered the cave tomb of Zhang Jiao.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Dashao said, “Wow, if it weren’t for Yinglong accidentally breaking through the tomb wall, we might still be wandering aimlessly in that unfinished, unidentified ancient tomb like headless flies!”
Fan Debiao cursed, “Who the hell put a tomb on top to lure us all in? That person was really despicable.”
Big Katydid paused and continued, “When they reached the coffin, they realized this Eastern Han tomb was indeed the resting place of the great sage Zhang Jiao. Legend has it that this great sage could summon strange insects capable of fighting armies. These insects should be the Chus. Just as they were about to open the coffin to retrieve the elixir of immortality, something suddenly appeared…” Big Katydid stopped here.
As soon as Big Katydid stopped, Liu Dashao was so anxious he couldn’t stand it and quickly asked, “What did they encounter?”
Big Katydid shook his head and said, “That’s it. The bamboo scroll ends right here.”
Liu Dashao thought there might be a second volume of the scroll and immediately asked Fan Debiao to look for it. Fan Debiao replied, “There’s no second volume. There’s only this one here.”
After hearing Fan Debiao’s words, Liu Dashao was very disappointed. He turned around and asked Big Katydid, “Big Katydid, what do you think they finally encountered?”
Big Katydid shook his head, “I don’t know!”
After hearing Big Katydid’s reply, Liu Dashao felt a sense of loss. Just when the mystery was about to be solved, there was a twist. Liu Dashao paused and asked, “Big Katydid, you just said this was Zhang Jiao’s tomb. Was Zhang Jiao really that capable?”
Big Katydid rolled up the bamboo scroll and said, “Zhang Jiao was from Pingxiang, Hebei. He was the leader of the peasant rebellion army ‘Yellow Turbans’ in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the founder of the Taiping Dao. He received the ‘Taiping Qing Ling Shu’ (i.e., ‘Taiping Jing’) from Daoist priests such as Yu Ji, and took on the mission of saving the world through religion. He used some of the religious concepts and socio-political ideas in the text to organize the people, probably around the beginning of Emperor Ling’s Jian’ning reign. In the first year of Emperor Ling’s Zhongping reign, Zhang Jiao used the slogan ‘The Blue Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise; this year, in the year of Jiazi, all under heaven will prosper!’ He called himself ‘Heavenly General’ and led the people in an uprising known as the ‘Yellow Turban Rebellion.’ Unfortunately, Zhang Jiao suddenly died soon after, and the rebel army was quickly suppressed by the Han Dynasty.”
After listening to Big Katydid’s explanation, Liu Dashao nodded in understanding. At that moment, a thought struck him about the scroll mentioning a sorcerer who could summon insects. Suddenly enlightened, he said, “Fan Debiao, you once learned in a restroom about an ancient sorcerer who could summon Chu insects. It seems the person lying in that coffin must be him.”
Fan Debiao nodded and said, “That makes sense. I was wondering why Cao Cao would think the short-lived Zhang Jiao had the elixir of immortality. If that were true, why didn’t he himself become immortal?”
Hearing Fan Debiao’s words, Liu Dashao retorted, “The ways of sorcery are profound and vast. There are many secrets we don’t know. Perhaps Zhang Jiao didn’t die suddenly but ascended to immortality.”
So he turned to the big cricket and said, “Those with the gold-touching talismans are experts in tomb raiding. Could it be that this tomb has already been raided by these people? But if they succeeded, why would they die here?”
The big cricket shook his head and said, “This is called the jade gold-touching talisman. It’s made by soaking pangolin claws in jade solution for forty-nine days, then consecrated by a gold-touching captain using the secret methods of the gold-touching school. The jade gold-touching talisman was most commonly used during the Three Kingdoms period. By the Tang Dynasty, the consecration incantation for the jade gold-touching talisman had been mostly lost. It’s certain that these people came to raid the tomb, but as for why they died here, only they would know.”
Fan Debiao, both delighted and angry, said, “Damn it, so this tomb was raided by these gold-touching captains a thousand years ago. Luckily, they were ‘harmonized’ here, otherwise, these cultural relics would have been lost. Let’s pack up and call the archaeological team!”
After saying this, Fan Debiao leaned over to Liu Dashao and whispered, “Dashao, later, pick out a couple of small items and hide them. This time, even if it wasn’t a life-and-death situation, it was still extremely dangerous. We need to get some benefits.”
“Wait, these aren’t artifacts from this tomb!” Suddenly, the green caterpillar beside them spoke up.
Hearing this, the big cricket quickly picked up a piece of jade and a bronze sword from the ground, examined them carefully, and frowned. “This jade should be from the Qin Dynasty, and this bronze sword is from the Shang Dynasty. How could they appear in a Han Dynasty tomb?”
The green caterpillar said, “These artifacts must have been taken from other tombs and brought into this ancient tomb.”
Hearing this, the big cricket clicked his tongue and said, “Could these people be the ‘official tomb raiders’ from the Three Kingdoms period? But if they were ‘official tomb raiders,’ this scale seems a bit small.”
Fan Debiao, somewhat confused, asked, “Official tomb raiders? What are those?”
Liu Dashao, who knew a bit about the matter, explained to Fan Debiao, “The Three Kingdoms period was a time of warlord chaos and rampant tomb raiding. The largest scale tomb raiding was done by the ‘official tomb raiders.’ They didn’t just raid tombs; more accurately, they dug them up. They raided tombs to fund their military campaigns, so they would completely plunder the tombs they raided. The most famous ‘official tomb raiders’ during the Three Kingdoms period were the troops under Cao Cao.”
After hearing Liu Dashao’s explanation, Fan Debiao nodded, though he still looked puzzled.
Fan Debiao whispered to Liu Dashao, “Since these people were those so-called official tomb raiders, it means these are ill-gotten gains. We should take some for ourselves!”
Liu Dashao was so angry with Fan Debiao that he felt like he was suffocating. He gave Fan Debiao a look but didn’t respond. Seeing that Liu Dashao didn’t say anything, Fan Debiao didn’t press further and went off to examine the treasures.
Liu Dashao noticed that the big cricket had been frowning the whole time and asked him, “Big cricket, is there something that doesn’t seem right?”
The big cricket stroked his chin and said, “All five of them had jade gold-touching talismans, so they must have been professional gold-touching captains. Official tomb raiders wouldn’t bother with such things. But these five couldn’t have carried so many artifacts by themselves. There must have been others. But where did those people go? Did they die somewhere else?”
After hearing the big cricket’s words, Liu Dashao was also puzzled. Just as he was about to think it over, Fan Debiao suddenly ran over to the group with a bamboo scroll in his hand and said, “Quick, look! I found a martial arts manual.”
A martial arts manual… Hearing Fan Debiao say this, if the atmosphere hadn’t been so tense, Liu Dashao might have burst out laughing. He turned around, took the so-called “martial arts manual” bamboo scroll from Fan Debiao, and examined it carefully. He couldn’t help but frown.
The scroll was covered in incomprehensible characters. Liu Dashao thought that since these five gold-touching captains were from the Three Kingdoms period, these characters must be from that era. Helplessly, he handed the scroll back to Fan Debiao and said, “Brother Biao, I can’t understand this. Can you explain it?”
Hearing Liu Dashao say this, Fan Debiao was overjoyed. Usually, Liu Dashao was the cultured one in front of him, but now Liu Dashao was asking him for help.
Fan Debiao smugly took the scroll and said, “Dashao, you know what they say? ‘When the tiger falls to the plains, it’s bullied by dogs.’ Haha…”
Liu Dashao cursed in his heart, “Damn, he can’t even insult people properly. He just compared himself to a dog. What a cultured guy.”
The big cricket, standing nearby, said, “Hurry up and tell us what’s on the scroll!”
Fan Debiao gave Liu Dashao a smug look, then opened the scroll and began to read carefully. He frowned for a long time but still didn’t speak. The big cricket grew impatient and said, “Hurry up! What are you dawdling for?”
Fan Debiao closed the scroll and said helplessly, “Damn it, I can’t understand it either.”
“Hmm!” The big cricket grunted, quickly snatched the scroll from Fan Debiao, and examined it closely. After a while, he said, “No wonder. This is written in tomb raiding terminology. It’s normal that you can’t understand it.”
Fan Debiao said, “These gold-touching captains are really sneaky, using their own secret language!”
Liu Dashao gave Fan Debiao a look and said, “Stop talking nonsense. They’re just cultured!” Then he turned to the big cricket and asked, “Big cricket, what’s written on the scroll?”
The big cricket took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and said, “This scroll records the number of tombs these gold-touching captains raided and some strange things they encountered along the way.”
Hearing this, Liu Dashao’s curiosity was piqued. This was more interesting than a novel!
The big cricket explained the contents of the scroll: “These five gold-touching captains were official tomb raiders under Cao Cao. Along with over a hundred subordinates, they were directly managed by Xu Chu, the Tiger Guard General. After Cao Cao fell ill with a headache, he became bedridden. Upon hearing rumors of an elixir of immortality, he sent his gold-touching captains to raid large tombs across the land. These five gold-touching captains traveled over mountains and rivers, raiding a Shang Dynasty royal tomb and two Warring States noble tombs, but they never found any clues about the elixir of immortality. Just as the five were feeling dejected, Zhang Yan, a former Yellow Turban rebel who had surrendered, presented a map claiming it contained clues to the elixir. Cao Cao examined the map and saw it was a tomb-seeking chart. He then ordered these gold-touching captains to take their subordinates and the artifacts they had stolen to the location marked on the map.”
The big cricket continued, “The five gold-touching captains immediately recognized that the map contained hidden characters. They dug through the soil and entered an unfinished tomb of unknown age. Later, beneath that tomb, they discovered the tomb of Zhang Jiao in a cave.”
Hearing this, Liu Dashao said, “Wow, if it weren’t for Yinglong accidentally breaking through the tomb wall, we might still be wandering around like headless flies in that unfinished tomb of unknown age!”
Fan Debiao cursed, “Who the hell built that tomb to trick us? That person is really wicked.”
The big cricket paused and continued, “When they reached the coffin, they realized this Eastern Han tomb was the resting place of the Great Virtuous Teacher Zhang Jiao. It’s said that this Great Virtuous Teacher could summon strange insects to fight armies. These insects must be the ‘chu’ bugs. Just as they were about to open the coffin to retrieve the elixir of immortality, something suddenly appeared…” At this point, the big cricket stopped.
The big cricket’s sudden pause made Liu Dashao’s stomach itch with curiosity. He quickly asked, “What did they encounter?”
The big cricket shook his head and said, “That’s it. The scroll ends here.”
Liu Dashao thought there might be a second volume and quickly told Fan Debiao to look for it. Fan Debiao said, “There’s no second volume. This is the only one here.”
After hearing Fan Debiao’s words, Liu Dashao was very disappointed. He turned to the big cricket and asked, “Big cricket, what do you think they encountered in the end?”
The big cricket shook his head and said, “I don’t know!”
Hearing this, Liu Dashao couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. The story always seemed to hit a snag just as the mystery was about to be solved. After a moment, Liu Dashao asked, “Big cricket, you just said this is Zhang Jiao’s tomb. Was Zhang Jiao really that powerful?”
The big cricket rolled up the scroll and said, “Zhang Jiao was from Pingxiang, Hebei. He was the leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, a peasant uprising in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and the founder of the Taiping Dao. After receiving the ‘Taiping Qingling Book’ (also known as the ‘Taiping Jing’) from Taoist priests like Yu Ji, he took it upon himself to save the world through religion, using certain religious concepts and socio-political ideas to organize the masses. Around the early years of Emperor Ling’s reign, he began spreading his teachings. In the first year of Zhongping, Zhang Jiao, with the slogan ‘The Blue Sky has perished, the Yellow Sky shall rise; in the year of Jiazi, the world shall be at peace!’ declared himself the ‘General of Heaven’ and led the masses in an uprising known as the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Unfortunately, Zhang Jiao suddenly died not long after, and the rebellion was quickly suppressed by the Han Dynasty.”
After hearing the big cricket’s explanation, Liu Dashao nodded in understanding. Then, a thought occurred to him. The scroll mentioned a mage who could summon insects, and a flash of inspiration struck him. He said, “Fan Debiao, didn’t you learn about an ancient mage who could summon ‘chu’ bugs in a toilet? It seems the person in the coffin must be him.”
Fan Debiao nodded and said, “That’s probably him. I mean, what was Cao Cao thinking? How could he believe that the short-lived Zhang Jiao had the elixir of immortality? If he did, why didn’t he use it to become immortal himself?”
Hearing this, Liu Dashao retorted, “The Taoist arts are vast and profound. There are many secrets we don’t know. Maybe Zhang Jiao didn’t die suddenly; maybe he ascended to immortality!”
Fan Debiao, somewhat unconvinced, said, “Ascend to immortality? You believe such absurd things?”
With so many mysteries unsolved, Liu Dashao didn’t have the energy to argue with Fan Debiao. So, he went over to the pile of artifacts to look for clues.
After searching for a while, he found nothing but artifacts and was feeling frustrated. Suddenly, he heard the big cricket’s voice from the other side of the cave: “Damn it, why is this thing here?”
With so many mysteries still unsolved, Liu Dashao had no mood to argue with Fan Debiao and went off to search for clues among the burial artifacts.
After searching for a while and finding nothing but artifacts, he was feeling frustrated when suddenly he heard Big Katydid’s voice from the other side of the cave, “Damn it, how could there be such a thing here.”
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