Seeing the situation before him, Liu Dashao finally understood what Ni Ren Zhang had meant. Entering this place alone was impossible unless one could fly.
But things are different now; everyone is well-equipped and fully prepared, leaving absolutely no worries about logistics. There’s no problem at all with getting things done. Uncle Diao currently has no interest in giving many instructions, so Old Wu steps up to take charge. After he calls everyone together, those responsible for handling the complicated equipment immediately start organizing and getting things set.
At this moment, Liu Dashao felt a bit sentimental. If it hadn’t been for that twist of fate which brought them together with Old Diao and the others, with the equipment they originally had, merely arriving at this point would have been quite an achievement. They might have already become food for whatever creatures lurked inside the tomb. Uncovering the Golden Queen’s burial chamber would have been an impossible mission.
Before long, those guys had everything ready. They pulled out three ropes that looked pretty secure. The opposite wall provided favorable conditions for them, but I couldn’t figure out what kind of stuff they used to fix the ropes in place.
In the blink of an eye, those people had already secured their ropes, slid across, and flipped themselves up to the opposite wall. Everything went incredibly smoothly, and within minutes, only the rest of us remained to make the crossing.
Liu Dashao, along with Jackson and Vander Biao, slid forward first, followed by Lin Miaoke, Wang Zhicai, and Ni Ren Zhang. Just as Lin Miaoke reached the edge of the cliff, she nearly lost her grip and fell. Fortunately, Ni Ren Zhang was there—he grabbed her hand, swung his arm, and flung her up like tossing a swallow. Wang Feifei reacted quickly and caught her right away. Lin Miaoke was already drenched in cold sweat, trembling all over from fright.
Then Ni Ren Zhang also climbed up, but Wang Zhicai couldn’t make it. Panicking, he desperately grabbed onto the slippery edge with both hands. Liu Dashao and Fan Debiao each grabbed one of his hands and pulled him up.
Everyone had arrived and was about to enter casually when Uncle Diao suddenly stopped them, saying, “Wait, these three mysterious gates are not right!”
Liu Dashao had originally leaned half his body into the middle mysterious gate when, upon hearing Old Diao mention that the three gates were not right, his entire body shuddered. He immediately felt uneasy all over. Although he knew it was just psychological, he still broke into a cold sweat. Without hesitation, he suddenly pulled his body back forcefully. At that moment, Fan Debiao had fully stepped inside. No sooner had Liu Dashao pulled out, than within less than two seconds, he saw Fan Debiao quickly take a few steps back to stand beside him. Clearly, Fan Debiao was less frightened than Liu Dashao; after all, he had followed Da Guozao in exploring tombs for several years and had witnessed many strange occurrences. Even so, however, a few beads of cold sweat still unavoidably appeared on his forehead.
Fan Debiao composed himself, walked up to Uncle Diao, and asked, “Uncle Diao, have you noticed something unusual, or is today simply not an auspicious day to proceed?”
Uncle Diao waved his hand slightly, signaling Fan Debiao to stop talking. He didn’t answer Fan Debiao’s question but instead walked toward the wall to stroke it. Fan Debiao had often been met with such cold responses before and was already used to it. He put on an expression of nonchalance, smiling as he shrugged slightly, “People in today’s society live at a fast pace!”
Fan Debiao’s words left Liu Dashao puzzled. They were probably meant to describe Uncle Diao’s previous actions, but the choice of words seemed somewhat inappropriate. Under normal circumstances, Liu Dashao would surely have teased him a bit, but right now he wasn’t in the mood. Seeing Uncle Diao so engrossed in examining the wall, Liu Dashao, who worked in feng shui, naturally felt a surge of curiosity. His interest piqued, he moved closer to Uncle Diao and began studying the wall alongside him.
As the old saying goes, the stuff from the Western Regions is truly in no way related to that from the Central Plains. Liu Dashao had been feeling the wall for a long time, yet he still couldn’t figure out what exactly was on it or what its purpose was.
However, Liu Dashao could still describe the things on the wall. The very presence of the wall here was already quite peculiar, but what was even more bizarre were the carvings on it. The carvings were highly abstract, yet Liu Dashao could discern depictions of demons, ghosts, and other entities—things one would typically only encounter in the depths of the eighteen levels of hell.
Certainly, these carvings might not seem strange to ordinary people, and perhaps the ancient inhabitants of the golden city simply favored such designs. However, for those of us involved in archaeology or grave robbing, seeing this kind of carving feels unsettling. This is because, no matter where you go, only auspicious motifs are supposed to appear on the mysterious gates of ancient tombs. For example, in ancient Central China, imperial mausoleums would have carvings of dragons and phoenixes on their gates. As for commoners, those without the means wouldn’t carve anything, while those with resources would carve images of domestic animals. Even the less wealthy would typically carve a pair of auspicious couplets onto the gates.
Liu Dashao believed that even in the Western Regions, things wouldn’t change—they might not carve dragons and phoenixes, but they should at least put an image of the Great God Hu up there. Yet here, the walls were covered with impure things. Leaving aside the negative impact on the tomb’s owner, even the owner’s relatives and descendants coming to burn incense would feel uncomfortable seeing such things. Therefore, there must be something suspicious going on here. No wonder Old Diao had said the entrance wasn’t right. It was their own fault for rushing in so hastily back then, without paying attention to the surrounding environment. If Old Diao hadn’t stopped them, who knew what trouble they might have encountered inside. This time, they would learn from this lesson.
Fan Debiao was the tough guy in the ancient tomb, where the hard hooves of the black donkey were the only truth. All these mysterious arts or other knowledge? He didn’t understand any of it. Seeing everyone staring intently at the wall, he felt somewhat out of place and pretended to gaze at it too. He looked at the dust-covered surface, shaking his head blankly, then asked Liu Dashao, “Master Liu, what exactly are you all acting out here? Is there a treasure up there?”
“Having a penis doesn’t make it a treasure!” Liu Dashao explained the historical and theoretical knowledge of the mysterious sect to him.
Fan Debiao felt a bit dizzy while listening, but he still managed to grasp that something was off with the mysterious setup: “Big Master, after all your rambling, why don’t you just come out and say what kind of trap this is?”
“Don’t mention any tricks or anything. I don’t even know if there are any tricks inside. My mind’s all foggy,” Liu Dashao said to Fande Biao.
“So, you’re the disciple of Zhang Tian-shi, and you’ve worked in a feng shui shop for several years, yet you still can’t figure out this thing?” Fan Debiao teased Liu Dashao.
“What the hell do you think this is, some common porcelain from Jingdezhen that you can find everywhere? Let me tell you, the Xuan Gate isn’t something you come across in just any tomb. Since our country began developing archaeology, there have been very few people who’ve actually seen a Xuan Gate—it’s mostly theoretical knowledge. I bet you, here in this group, aside from Old Diao before he lost his memory, nobody else has ever seen one. This is common knowledge for those in archaeology. Didn’t you also spend time with the Nan Pazi team? How can you not even know this, you big guy!” Liu Dashao teased Fan Debiao in return.
“I don’t know much about these things,” said Fan Debiao after Liu Dashao finished speaking. His expression immediately changed, looking somewhat sneaky, with a shifty-eyed appearance. Fan Debiao then said to Liu Dashao, “Master Liu, if that’s the case, this item must be quite rare, maybe one of a kind in the world. Can you estimate how much it might be worth?”
After hearing what Fan Debiao said and seeing the expression on his face, Liu Dashao immediately figured out what scheme this rascal was plotting. He then solemnly turned to Fan Debiao and said, “Fan Debiao! You fat scoundrel! So you’re planning to move this thing to your pest tomb-robbing gang, huh?”
Fan Debiao, seeing Liu Dashao’s serious expression, put on an air of nonchalance. Imitating Master Ni Ren Zhang’s look and tone, he said, “Why not? Anything is possible!”
When Liu Dashao heard this, he couldn’t help but laugh: “As if everything is possible! Let’s not even talk about whether you can move this door or not. Even if you managed to take it down, with just our twenty-something people, we couldn’t even carry the entire Golden Ancient City out. You’re really dreaming broad daylight!”
After Liu Dashao finished speaking, Fan Debiao scratched his head, as if he had only just realized what was going on, and stood there laughing like he’d just heard something ridiculous. This person often messed with the nerves inside his head for no reason, a habit Liu Dashao usually ignored. Thus, Liu Dashao turned around and asked Old Man Diao how his research was coming along.
More than a decade ago, Uncle Diao was so thoroughly familiar with these three mysterious gates that he couldn’t possibly have been more so. Now, seeing the places he once entered effortlessly, he felt genuinely frustrated at his inability to make progress. He shook his head, indicating he had no idea what was going on.
Fan Debiao saw that Old Diao was also confused, so he said to him, “Old Diao, you’ve been inside before. Don’t tell me you can’t even figure out this secret entrance?”
“No, I’m not sure if I’ve ever entered,” said Uncle Diao. “If I had indeed gone inside, I must have used my knowledge to unlock the secrets of these three doors. Yet now my mind is completely blank. Even if I lost my memory, I shouldn’t have forgotten my own expertise!”
Uncle Diao’s words weren’t without merit. Liu Dashao recalled seeing a program once that mentioned how, if someone’s amnesia is severe enough, they might even forget their own identity. In comparison, losing some academic knowledge wouldn’t be particularly strange. However, the current reality was that everyone was truly stuck by these three mysterious gates. More accurately, they were held back by psychological factors. It was possible that these gates were merely decorative, bearing no real significance. Yet human psychology works in certain ways—especially deep inside a dangerous ancient tomb, where people wouldn’t dare to take action without absolute certainty. After all, one wrong step here could lead to irreversible, tragic consequences.
“A Rashomon, this is triple Rashomon!” said Ni Ren Zhang, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly uttering these words just when everyone was utterly perplexed.
“The Three-Act Luoshengmen!” Everyone present turned to look at Master Ni Ren Zhang, but Wang Feifei and Jackson wore the most astonished expressions.
“What three-line Rashomon? How do you know that?” Old Uncle Qi asked Ni Ren Zhang.
Clay Figure Zhang walked to the middle door and said coldly, “I recognized it the moment I saw it.”
After hearing his words, everyone was even more astonished. Fan Debiao said, “Brother, since you figured it out earlier, why didn’t you say so sooner? You made us think so hard for such a long time.”
“I don’t want to talk. Use your own brains,” said Ni Ren Zhang, still speaking coldly without turning around, his back facing everyone as he continued to face the wall.
Hearing this, not to mention Fan Debiao, even Liu Dashao felt a surge of impulse. It was clear that this guy was toying with everyone. If it weren’t for the inopportune moment, Liu Dashao would have really wanted to rush up and give him a couple of hits. Liu Dashao asked Clayman Zhang, “So, what exactly do these three rows of Rashomon mean?”
Suddenly, Ni Ren Zhang whirled around, startling everyone. He was simply too good at building suspense, completely attuned to the psychological shifts of the crowd. He then explained, “Rashomon is a legendary gate in Japanese folklore, leading to life and death, extremely solid and strong, with many images symbolizing death engraved upon it. Ancient texts state that the term ‘Rashomon’ originated in Japan and spread as a Buddhist term throughout Asian countries. However, Liu Dashao disagrees. After verification, he claims that Rashomon actually first appeared in present-day France, and Japan merely copied it.” After saying this, he turned his gaze toward Wang Feifei and Jackson.
Wang Feifei nodded in agreement. Fan Debiao immediately continued, “No wonder there are so many ferocious-looking monsters on this Xuan gate—it turns out to be this kind of gate. Those Japanese are something else too, claiming something isn’t from their own country as their own.”
Liu Dashao wasn’t particularly interested in all this Rashomon business: “What really matters isn’t which country first spread this tale, but rather whether there’s danger inside and if we can actually get in.” After speaking, Liu Dashao glanced at Ni Ren Zhang. Fan Debiao chimed in from the side: “That’s right! That’s right!”
Clay Figure Zhang patted his bag, swung it onto his back, and said, “Don’t worry, it’s just a decoration. There’s no danger.”
“Surely there won’t be any danger?” Liu Dashao felt doubtful. However, since Zhang the Clay Figure spoke so confidently and was the only one who truly understood this matter, everyone had no choice but to believe him, no matter how skeptical they might have been.
After confirming there were no traps, everyone felt relieved. Old Wu selected a door and signaled everyone to enter.
“This won’t do,” said Master Ni Ren Zhang. “Although these three gates of Rashomon don’t have any mechanisms, it doesn’t mean that all of them lead to the main burial chamber. We must divide into three groups. Those who choose correctly will wait at the next location, while those who choose wrongly should return and wait. The next pair who choose incorrectly will then enter through the correct door together.”
Hearing what Ni Ren Zhang said made sense, Liu Dashao divided everyone into three teams, each entering through a different door. One team consisted of the archaeologists, Uncle Diao, Lao Wu, Shu Lao, and the cook, Da Han. Ni Ren Zhang led another team, and the remaining group formed the third team. After Uncle Diao outlined the details, Ni Ren Zhang took his team and entered through the rightmost door, the main group entered through the middle door, and the remaining team went through the leftmost door.
Everyone entered and began shining their flashlights around. It was a square-shaped corridor, similar to a tomb passage. The walls of the tomb passage were decorated with colorful murals. The overall feeling was really creepy, as if they had entered the belly of an animal, just lacking the stomach acid.
These murals made Liu Dashao’s nerves tingle with discomfort; he didn’t dare to continue looking at them and instead fixed his gaze straight ahead. Suddenly recalling the matter of assignments, he asked Old Diu, “Uncle Diu, why didn’t you assign Master Clay Figure Zhang to work together with the others?”
Uncle Diao did not respond to Liu Dashao’s question, not even with a simple “hmm.” Instead, he simply took out a cigarette, put it between his lips, lit it with a lighter, and began smoking quietly. Seeing the awkward situation, Old Wu hurriedly took out a pack of cigarettes from his bag and handed one to each person.
Liu Dashao lit a cigarette and didn’t continue questioning Old Diao further, yet countless doubts swirled in his mind. Why wouldn’t Old Diao allow Ni Ren Zhang to go along with the others? Ni Ren Zhang was not only familiar with this kind of door, but also highly skilled in tomb raiding. With him along, their chances of success would be significantly greater. Could it be that Old Diao was thinking about the others’ safety? That seemed unlikely, because it was obvious that Old Diao didn’t really care much about the safety of the people he had brought along. Then, could it be that Old Diao knew that Ni Ren Zhang’s purpose for coming here with him wasn’t merely tomb raiding? Perhaps Ni Ren Zhang had other intentions—maybe even a hidden plot—which made Old Diao raise such doubts.
Of course, all of the above were merely Liu Dashao’s personal speculations. As for whether things were truly that way, he thought probably no one knew for sure. Perhaps Old Diao genuinely had others’ best interests at heart? Thinking of this, Liu Dashao collected himself, calmly took a couple of puffs from his cigarette, and decided not to dwell on it any further.
As Master Ni Ren Zhang said, this tomb passage indeed had very few traps or mechanisms. Other than the nauseating murals on the walls that made people feel like vomiting, everything else was fine. We could say that the journey was smooth all the way. Everyone’s steps were steady, neither rushed nor slow, and naturally, their moods became much more relaxed.
However, this feeling was soon replaced by another one—a feeling brought about by tension, fear, and confusion. Yes, everyone returned to their initial state because they had all noticed something wrong with the tomb passage!
This passageway is just too long. Liu Dashao wasn’t even sure whether the word “long” adequately described it. The group had been walking for nearly ten minutes, maintaining a steady pace that wasn’t actually very slow. Now, both ends of the passage were shrouded in darkness. The reason Liu Dashao doubted whether “long” was the right word stemmed from a previous experience—one that had been truly heart-stopping. Indeed, it was during their time in Zhang Jiao’s tomb. He encountered a similar situation back then, and now it seemed to be happening again. This time, it was unclear whether the passage was genuinely long or if something else was playing tricks.
Liu Dashao stopped in his tracks, afraid to take another step forward. He didn’t want to relive the nightmare he had experienced in Zhang Jiao’s tomb. That terrifying ordeal was the source of all the mysteries that now plagued him. This time, Liu Dashao was determined not to end up like last time. He wanted clear answers and refused to leave empty-handed again.
“I don’t want to! I don’t want to!”
Liu Dashao’s voice echoed through the entire tomb passage, carrying forward like a whisper drifting toward a distant, ethereal dimension. This sensation felt so familiar—it had appeared in Liu Dashao’s dreams before. Now, it seemed so real that his head felt as if it were about to explode, overwhelmed by unbearable pain and on the verge of collapse. Was this the beginning of his breakdown? Would he really collapse?
Suddenly, a cool sensation on his head brought silence all around, an eerie quietness, yet he could hear the sound of breathing. Liu Dashao hadn’t lost consciousness; he had regained awareness. His head no longer ached, his heart was no longer in turmoil. Everything had calmed down, everything had returned to normal.
“Dashao, what the hell were you doing just now? Putting on a show for the mentally ill?” A voice came from the side, it was Fan Debiao.
Liu Dashao shook his head and wiped the water off his face with his hand. He saw Fan Debiao holding an empty water bottle and looking at him, with water still dripping from the corner of Fan Debiao’s mouth. It seemed that Liu Dashao had been sprayed by Fan Debiao just now. Not only Fan Debiao, but others were also staring at him with strange expressions. Liu Dashao suddenly felt very uncomfortable all over.
“What just happened?” Liu Dashao asked Fan Debiao, choosing to ask the nearby person rather than someone farther away.
Fan Debiao raised the bottle and drank the last few drops of water remaining inside (who would have thought this person actually understood the value of saving resources). He then said, “What’s going on? You were just possessed by some evil force. If it weren’t for this method I thought of, you’d have collapsed there by now.” Naturally, he was referring to the method of spraying water onto Liu Dashao, which left him feeling rather depressed…
“Haunted? No way?” Liu Dashao looked at the others with a puzzled expression.
“Who said it’s possession? Don’t listen to his nonsense,” Wang Feifei said, walking up to Liu Dashao. “Just now, you seemed to lose it, standing in one spot shouting ‘no’ to yourself. Are you under too much stress? Do you need to take a break?”
“Neurotic? What Wang Feifei said sounds worse than being possessed by a ghost. Liu Dashao would rather be possessed. But why am I reacting so strongly all of a sudden? Could it really be due to recent stress? To avoid making Wang Feifei think he’s going crazy, Liu Dashao insisted he was fine and could keep moving forward. To prove he was okay, he deliberately stretched his muscles and joints and took the lead ahead.”
“Wait a minute!” Old Diao suddenly said, “Don’t rush forward recklessly.”
“Why?” Liu Dashao looked first at Old Diao, then at the others.
“Just now, your behavior wasn’t caused by possession or insanity. There’s something a bit off here,” Old Diao said, giving Liu Dashao a peculiar look. Under his gaze, Liu Dashao actually felt a bit embarrassed.
“What do you mean?” Although feeling a bit embarrassed, I still met his gaze with my eyes.
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