Daomu Biji

Chapter 27 The largest tomb robbery in history (3)

Jin Wantang was a man of culture. He had neither the courage nor the physical strength to work in the fields. He only had half a life left when he entered the mountains. It was impossible to force him to do anything further, so he could only stay in the camp on the ground. People began to search everywhere, and brought things back every now and then. Most of them were silk books and bamboo slips, and asked him to identify and classify them. So he didn't know the background of that ancient tomb, and he didn't dare to ask. He could only deduce some things from the things he was asked to identify.

What he can be sure of is that, first, there does not seem to be only one ancient tomb here, because the preservation conditions of the batches of silk books and bamboo slips he identified are very different, and the contents inside are all-encompassing, including letters and ancient books. , and silk inscriptions. Many of the recipients of the letters had different names. He felt that there must be a huge group of ancient tombs here. What these people were digging was a large area of ​​ancient tombs.

Secondly, he was the only one in the entire team who was engaged in classification and identification, and all the stolen items that he showed to him were basically documents and ancient books. It seemed that their ultimate goal might be the ancient books in this group of ancient tombs.

Third, the number of people in the team often decreases, and there are often fights in the campsite. Judging from the content of the quarrels, accidents often happen while working, and they blame each other and shirk responsibility.

The restoration and identification of ancient books was very time-consuming, but what he didn't expect was that the transaction he thought could be completed in one or two months took three years. For three years, he has been constantly distinguishing those difficult ancient texts, inferring dynasties and uses, and trying to translate the meaning. The entire team seemed to be under tremendous pressure, with almost no communication between them. During the exchange, everyone was silent and working hard. He was extremely anxious, his teeth began to fall out, and his weight increased from 150 pounds to 70 pounds. If that day did not come, he might die in that place.

It wasn't until the Dragon Boat Festival of the third year that this hugely depressed and secluded life was suddenly broken. Suddenly, no ancient books were delivered to him. He finally no longer had to squat in a tent every day to perform extremely boring work.

This sudden liberation made him uncomfortable at first, but after two days, his anxiety began to slowly subside. He had time to get out of the tent and wander around the camp. Only then did he realize that he was doing this. A beautiful place.

They were in a rare flat land in the mountainous area. If it was near a village, this flat area might be reclaimed into farmland, but now it was full of towering trees, which meant that he was far away from human habitation, or maybe it was here. The transportation is very inconvenient. Looking at the distant mountains, you can see four huge connected towering snow-capped mountains at the end of the sky. The mountains are surrounded by clouds and mist, and they are holy and flawless. In front of the snow-capped mountains lie the lush green mountains. The kind of green is not that of Longjing and Asakusa in the south of the Yangtze River. The green is not the gorgeous glazed green of Beijing, but a deep green that is as deep as green ink. All the colors in the entire area show the extremely vigorous vitality of plants.

The air in the mountains was extremely fresh, and he suddenly felt like he was completely transformed. It seemed like an epiphany, and the darkness he had been feeling for the past three years was swept away.

After that, his body gradually recovered and he began to dare to take an interest in the things around him. He began to regain many normal sensory thoughts. He found that there were no traces of excavation in any place around him. The ancient tombs he speculated did not seem to be the same. It doesn't exist. Even if it exists, it's not on this flat land. However, the surrounding mountains are very steep, and the probability of a large group of ancient tombs appearing on such a mountain is very small.

Because he had nothing to do and because he was curious, one day he secretly followed a group of people into the mountains. After climbing up a mountainside, the mountain suddenly turned into a large stretch of bare rock cliffs. Part of the mountain seemed to have been chopped vertically with a knife, all the curvatures were chopped off, leaving only an almost completely vertical and uneven rock surface, with strange trees standing in the stone crevices above, and a small The waterfall slopes down from the top of the cliff,

It hit the crown of the giant tree below and splashed everywhere.

This kind of cliff often appears along the river. The famous cliff carvings along the Yangtze River are carved on this kind of cliff. The cliff here is probably because it used to be the channel of a large river, but now the river has changed its course and dried up. Looking forward, it is indeed true. The cliffs here stretch for at least ten kilometers, with no end in sight.

On these cliffs, he saw countless ropes and cable devices, just like the cliffs that are said to be rich in bird's nests, and they were full of people. At the same time, he also found that many ropes were being dismantled, obviously having completed their historical mission. He immediately understood where the so-called ancient tombs and those ancient books came from.

Many people in Shu practice Taoism, especially in the Sichuan area where various religions are flourishing. It is said that there are many people here who seek immortality. In response to the call of heaven, at a certain time, they will climb up the cliff without any food and only water to find a cave. Or a crack, climb in and cut off the rope, cut off your own escape route, and do the final practice in it. If you don't succeed, you will starve to death inside.

Many people use such decisive means to express their determination to become immortals, especially some fairy mountains with local legends, which are even more popular. Most of these people will bring some ancient books of alchemists with them. From generation to generation, these caves are often filled with The skeletons of many dynasties have been accumulated, and those ancient books were probably found by these people climbing up these cliffs and finding them one by one.

Now that some of the ropes have been removed, it's clear they've found what they were looking for. However, it seems that they are not planning to leave yet, what else are they going to do?

He looked at the part of the rope that had not been dismantled but was reinforced. He felt that besides ancient books, there was something more to this matter.

It's a pity that Jin Wantang couldn't continue to be curious when he got here. With his skills, it was impossible for him to climb up the cliff to have a look, and he didn't have the courage to ask for specific details. After that, he lived very comfortably. During these days, like some people who suddenly reacted during the reform and opening up period, he began to think about his little ninety-nine. He suddenly regretted why he didn't keep a few of those dilapidated ancient books privately, even if they were in poor condition. It is also priceless. He is the only one here who has the vision to appreciate ancient books, so it is easy to hide one or two of the best.

He knew that the consequences of offending Lao Jiumen would be serious, but the comfortable life made his greed like a maggot in his bones, and he regretted it completely.

People are often like this. Afterwards, they think that it should have been like this or that at that time. In fact, if they really go back to that time, they may still not have the courage.

But God gave him a second chance this time. In June of the third year, something big happened first, and suddenly there was a noise. A large group of people came out of the mountains at noon, hurriedly carrying more than a dozen pairs of The people on the stretcher were covered in blood, and the camp was in chaos for a while.

Later in the evening, a large volume of silk books almost soaked in blood was delivered to Jin Wantang. Three days later, he met Mrs. Huo and the other nine sects for the first time. They all looked solemn, and a group of people almost watched him start the final identification work.

He could tell at just one glance that the large scroll was a Luhuang silk book from the Warring States Period.