freenovelworld Chapter 137 'Cave, Words Carved in Stone, Bones'
Chapter 137 'Cave, Words Carved in Stone, Bones'
The light from the tinderbox was too weak, so Xie Jin took it and lit it line by line so that Meng Fuqing could see it clearly.
The cave is protected by many thorns that block the wind from blowing into it. Without being exposed to wind, sun, or rain, the words on the stone wall are still very clear.
After reading it once, Meng Fuqing roughly understood what had happened.
The inscription was indeed carved by the person in the cave before his death, and her guess was correct. He and the people buried in the mound outside were all craftsmen who built the imperial mausoleum.
The imperial mausoleum they built was for Emperor Jingyuan of the previous dynasty.
Emperor Jingyuan was very concerned about what would happen after his death. He not only chose a barren place deep in the mountains to build his mausoleum, but also never thought of giving these craftsmen a way to make a living.
In order to gain a reputation for benevolence, he did not explicitly order them to be buried alive with the dead, but instead had the soldiers guarding them secretly execute them in a small tomb chamber.
The man in the cave was pierced through the chest by a halberd, but he was lucky to escape death because his heart was naturally off-center. He pretended to be dead and lay under other craftsmen to avoid death.
After killing the people, the soldiers sealed the tomb and left.
Knowing that he would soon suffocate in the tomb, the cave's owner held on to his last breath and made his way through the secret passage set up by the craftsmen for their escape, eventually arriving at the edge of this swamp.
After barely surviving, he knew he probably wouldn't be able to get out of the vast forest, so he found a cave to take temporary shelter.
To prevent wild animals from entering, he found a lot of thorns in the forest and reluctantly moved them outside the cave.
In addition, he scattered thorn seeds on the other side of the swamp, just to lure people to the imperial tomb, so that the people buried there would not rest in peace.
Despite surviving, the cave's owner was plagued by nightmares day and night, filled with the scenes of the massacre and the words he and his companions had spoken before their deaths: "Even in death, we want to be buried in peace."
After they were selected as craftsmen to build the imperial mausoleum, they no longer thought about returning to their hometown.
Haunted by nightmares and utterly exhausted, he believed that his deceased companions in the imperial tomb were visiting him in his dreams, wanting him to be laid to rest.
During the day, he dragged his former companions out of the tomb one by one for burial, and at night he carved lines of words on the stone wall. He did this for several months, but the recurring and persistent wounds eventually took his life.
Finally, he wrote: "Under the imperial power, life is like that of an ant. I have survived for a few months without regret. I only ask that someone passing by build a grave and erect a monument for me under the locust tree in front of the cave, so that I may be buried in peace and have my life complete."
The confusion in everyone's hearts was dispelled by the words on the stone wall.
Yan He couldn't help but sigh, "This senior was stubborn. He should have been able to find the exit of the forest after surviving for several months. He actually managed to bury the body here for several months."
“It’s just a deep-seated obsession. Even if he gets out, he can never see his family again,” Meng Fuqing said.
Upon closer examination, she noticed something amiss again, and frowned, saying, "The gravedigger..."
"Why..."
Two voices rang out simultaneously. Meng Fuqing looked at Xie Jin and asked, "You noticed it too?"
Xie Jin nodded. "Logically speaking, the tomb keeper should be guarding the tomb nearby. Why is it that he hid here and caused such a commotion without being discovered?"
“Perhaps the entrance to the imperial tomb here is fake, used to mislead people, otherwise these craftsmen wouldn’t have dared to choose this as the escape route,” Meng Fuqing said.
Yan He thought about it carefully, "Since he was able to go back and forth to the tomb multiple times, we should be able to enter as well."
Meng Fuqing: "What I'm afraid of is that it will be even more difficult to find the place."
She looked down at the skeleton and said, "Bury this senior."
Caves, words carved in stone, bones.
Meng Fuqing felt that she must have seen this kind of situation in martial arts dramas when she was a child.
The idea of being laid to rest seems to be a common obsession among these people. Once this obsession is resolved, will their souls be able to return to their hometowns?
Perhaps only the deceased know the truth.
When they emerged from the cave with the remains, they suddenly noticed that the thicket of thorns seemed to have thinned out.
As Qi Liang straightened up with his broadsword, ten pairs of eyes met.
"Qi Liang, right? What are you doing? Have nothing better to do?" Yan He was secretly delighted.
Qi Liang, with a sour face, slung his broadsword over his shoulder. "I'm just bored, how about it?"
"Not so good." Meng Fuqing's voice was tinged with laughter as he pointed to the locust tree not far from the cave entrance. "I'll trouble you to go and cut down the thorns next to the locust tree."
Qi Liang glanced at her, then carried his broadsword over.
Yan He called out, "Brother Qi, be careful not to get hurt. We're counting on you!"
Qi Liang felt refreshed and invigorated by their words, and he worked even harder at cutting through the thorns.
Yan He, who kept laughing, asked Meng Fuqing, "Where did you find these men? Brother Niu Er is quite honest, but I didn't expect Qi Liang to be so sincere as well."
'Honest' and 'honest'.
"Thank you for your kind words." Meng Fuqing gave Yan He a meaningful look. "You'd better be careful not to catch their bad taste and become naive and honest too."
Yan He, who had almost forgotten that he was supposed to be Meng Fuqing's servant, put away his smile and said "Oh" expressionlessly.
After the two of them finished speaking, Xie Jin put his arm around Meng Fuqing's waist again and went to an open space near the locust tree.
Mu Feng followed closely behind, carrying a skeleton.
The five of them worked together to clear away the thorns.
If they were a little more heartless, they could burn thorns with fire.
The only concern is that the fire might get out of control and spread throughout the forest. We've seen the dangers of wildfires before, and there's a real possibility that we could be playing with fire and get burned.
The five people quickly cleared away the thorns around the locust tree.
Qi Liang knew that the group was going to build a grave and erect a monument for an unidentified skeleton in the cave. He was very puzzled. Even if they didn't bury him properly, what difference would it make?
His confusion quickly vanished, for they had only been digging for a short while when they heard the sound of metal clashing beneath his knife.
Upon hearing the sound, Meng Fuqing was stunned for a moment, then quickly went to check.
They soon dug a black box out of the ground. Because it had been buried underground for a long time, the black box was made of an unknown material and was quite heavy.
"Could this be some kind of treasure?" Yan He asked curiously, examining it.
Meng Fuqing looked at the box, which had no gaps whatsoever. "This box is very strange. Could it be some kind of mechanism or lock?"
Xie Jin took the box from Meng Fuqing and examined it carefully. "It's a mechanical lock. If it doesn't work the first time, the contents inside will probably be damaged."
Meng Fuqing had never encountered anything like this before and dared not try it, so she asked Xie Jin, "Do you know how?"
Xie Jin: "It's worth a try."
As he spoke, he pressed something, and a clicking sound came from inside the box, but it wasn't the sound of unlocking.
While watching Xie Jin operate the box, Meng Fuqing calculated the time in his mind. It had been about five minutes since the lock was opened. The moment the box was opened, everyone held their breath and looked into it. Inside, there was only a piece of parchment.
Xie Jin took it and opened it; the first thing that caught his eye was the bottom line of small print—
"Thank you, young friend. I'm grateful for your help in avenging me once again."
Above the smaller text is a drawn map of the imperial tomb.
Everyone: ...
Meng Fuqing was especially surprised, and for a moment she thought she had traveled to a martial arts world.
Xie Jin slowly put away the parchment and handed it to Meng Fuqing, saying, "There's no need to trouble yourself now."
"What's the difference between this and a pie falling from the sky?" Yan He asked in a daze.
Qi Liang touched the back of his neck. "Someone like me who doesn't want to bury him won't get this pie."
Yan He nodded in agreement: "That's true."
Meng Fuqing looked through the map once. "The map is very complete, and all the mechanisms are clearly marked. This senior must have suffered a lot during the months he survived. Did he really want to have the imperial tomb emptied out?"
Xie Jin lowered his eyes, his gaze indifferent. "Faced with a desolate graveyard and the ever-decreasing number of lives every day, even the kindest person would be forced to harbor hatred."
After a moment of silence, everyone continued their work, properly burying the remains of the person in the cave. They then split the wood and carved the character 'Ze' from his name onto it with a dagger, placing it in front of the grave.
Then Meng Fuqing spoke again, "The problem right now is that we alone cannot move the imperial tomb."