Daomu Biji: Restart

Since it was so simple, I immediately understood the logic after listening to what Fatty had to say.

When we came in, we could see a huge, hollowed-out landscape full of embossed pavilions on the walls of the underground crevice. In the midst of this landscape, skilled craftsmen had used the natural contours of the cliff walls to carve equally proportioned dragon towers and halls, among which the tomb door was hidden. Although many kings’ tombs were large in scale, used exquisite materials, and conformed to rigorous feng shui patterns, these strange buildings in the South Sea King’s tomb were the most elaborate ones I had ever seen.

From this, we could tell that after the South Sea King was defeated, the remnants of the country still remained relatively strong. This was probably due to the large underground area located beneath the South Sea country.

Underground rivers were different from our understanding of cave systems. These water systems extended out in all directions, but few of them were exposed aboveground. Many underground rivers were connected to aboveground rivers by sand and small cave structures. Water could pass through these areas, but people couldn’t.

The underground river’s channels weren't the smooth, normal ones that allowed for the water to flow gently and stably. The current also tended to be static in some areas and very swift in others, and there were more than a dozen continuous waterfalls. Some areas were completely submerged, while the water in other areas flowed under the sand.

The top part of the crevice where we had fallen down from had been sealed, but it was definitely a part of the underground canyon that was located in this rocky mountain by the sea. It probably used to be the entrance to the underground river. The South Sea country had been entrenched in this water system for many years, so the underground river leading to this area should have been dredged long ago. They must have used this river to transport the stones used to build this underground tomb.

To find this South Sea King’s tomb, you would have to follow the underground river—I’ll call it "Huangling River" (1) for the time being—so Uncle Three and the others must have first entered the depths of the South Sea country’s underground water system. Then, out of a thousand underground rivers, they must have found the right one.

But unless they had other information or tips, it was absolutely impossible for them to find it so easily.

So, did Uncle Three and the others have this information? There was no way to know for the time being, but based on their behavior, we could do a reverse analysis and make an inference.

There were many points about Uncle Three's behavior that were difficult to explain:

1. He didn't enter the main tomb chamber through the tomb gate. Instead, he entered by blowing a hole in the floor separating the drainage system from the bottom of the tomb chamber. It was right below the coffin, which enabled him to take the coffin directly. In any case, it was very uneconomical to do this. It took more physical energy and was more likely to fail. Although it avoided some of the mechanisms in the tomb passage, the space in the main tomb chamber was smaller and it was also full of murals. They still had to face a lot of danger and didn’t save themselves a lot of trouble.

2. Uncle Three didn't leave any traces in the ancient tomb, but a “guilaiyi” was left in the immortal boat above the coffin.

Guilaiyi were also called fulaiyi, which were known as feiyi (2) in the burial system. After the Han Dynasty, this custom was simplified into soul banners. You could often see many people in TV dramas walking in front of the coffins with soul banners. According to the ancient methods, these soul banners were made from the deceased’s clothes. Since the soul had left right after the person had died, they couldn’t see their own body after it was buried and could only recognize their clothes. That was why there was a saying that hanging clothes inside the house would attract ghosts. The clothes were then placed over the body and put back into the coffin. It was considered a trick to get the soul to attach itself back to its body.

If this shuikao really was a fulaiyi, then there must have been a special reason for it to have been put in the immortal boat. Fatty said that someone must have held incense and worshiped this shuikao. The owner must have put it here before he died to ensure that he could return here after death.

Fatty pointed to some smoky, scar-like marks on the shuikao and said that they had been written in incense ash, but they were too illegible now. "If the expert died at that time, then his soul is now in this garment. Put it on and let the expert enter your body so you can take us out."

"What do I do if this expert doesn’t leave?" I asked Fatty. "And why do you believe in this feudal superstition? The expert isn’t Lei Feng (3). Why would he want his soul to return to this tomb? Would he really come here just to show us the way out?"

"Put it on and I'll ask him for you," Fatty said. "If you don’t want to wear it, I’ll just continue talking. Let me tell you, we have no other way right now. We can only rely on this expert to get us out of this unique tomb."

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TN Notes:

(1) Emperor’s Tomb River.

(2) Guilaiyi and fulaiyi translates as something like “return garment”, just with different characters. Feiyi is something like “flying garment”. It’s the banner carried in the funeral procession and then buried in the tomb for the purpose of calling back the spirit of the deceased. Example can be found here. I think “The Untamed” also had spirit banners if that helps.  

(3) Lei Feng (1940-1962), made into a model of selflessness, modesty, and dedication to the Party by propaganda from 1963 onwards.

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This is reminding me of that weasel spirit thing in Lieutenant and Ba Ye's love adventure in the Mystic Nine lol.