Chapter 34: Mercury Swallows Gold
“Mmmmm!!!” The veins on Chu Ziyi’s temples suddenly exploded, his eyeballs seemed to bulge out, and they were covered in bloodshot. The nails that were grabbing his camouflage pants seemed to be sinking into them.
When Hong Si Niang took out the soft sword, Jiang Xian took out a towel and stuffed it into Chu Ziyi's mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue. At the same time, Ling Xiaozi and the Eight-armed Arhat held down his limbs. But even so, the fierce struggle made several people try their best. For several minutes, when everyone was sweating profusely, Chu Ziyi finally weakened his struggle.
Taking advantage of this time, Jiang Xian quickly looked around the city wall.
The tower was no different from any other tower on the Great Wall. The only difference was that in one corner there was a pile of bones scattered around.
They had almost completely decayed, leaving only a pile of bones. These bones were scattered on the ground in a mess, emitting a faint silver light. In its hand, it held a sealed vessel in the shape of a square bottle.
"Let go." At this moment, Chu Ziyi spoke hoarsely. Jiang Xian immediately retracted his gaze and helped him lean against the wall. Chu Ziyi's body seemed to be exhausted, soft and without any strength.
"Do you want more?" Hong Si Niang raised her chin towards the broken leg. Chu Ziyi seemed to want to laugh, but finally shook his head dejectedly: "Leave it here."
"At least tell those who come after me that I've been here..." He gritted his teeth as he spoke, "I'm the one who can walk this far in the Mausoleum of the Qin Emperor! It's not the turn of others to laugh at me!"
After saying this, he raised his head and stared at the top of the tower in a trance. After a long while, he said, "I'm getting old..."
No one spoke. The sound of arrows tearing through the sky was endless in the air, and the tower was as heavy as a shelter. After a long time, Jiang Xian gently patted the other person's shoulder. He said softly, "What should we do next?"
Chu Ziyi seemed not to hear it, staring straight at the top of the tower. Ten seconds later, he lowered his head and said, "Let me stay here."
"Alright." The Eight-Armed Arhat sighed, "We will find the exit as soon as possible. You... have to hold on."
Chu Ziyi suddenly sneered and said hoarsely: "From... from the day he was born, everyone knew... maybe... maybe this day would come. There is no need to mourn over the death of the rabbit..."
He raised his head and looked at Jiang Xian dimly: "Mr. Jiang, please."
Jiang Xian nodded deeply. He knew that Chu Ziyi was talking about the agreement between them.
After getting confirmation once again, Chu Ziyi finally smiled with relief: "I can't follow you anymore, but... maybe I can still help you with a small favor at the end. Please... pull... the body over here."
Following his gaze, everyone was shocked to see that after the mercury had retreated, there was actually a dead body lying underneath the place where Jiang Xian had seen the backpack before!
A modern human corpse!
He was wearing camouflage uniform and carrying a backpack. His mountaineering pickaxe fell apart and got stuck at the entrance of the tower, which prevented Mercury from rushing him down. His identity was not important. What was important was that this showed that... someone had been here before them!
Taking advantage of the pause in the rain of arrows, the Eight-Armed Arhat grabbed the climbing rope, and several people worked together to pull the other party into the doorway.
This is the body of a Chinese.
He was very thin and not very tall, only about 1.65 meters at most. He had obviously died of mercury, his muscles were stiff and solidified, his face was almost rotten, with large patches of black bones exposed, and his eyeballs had shrunk to the size of a dry rag.
"No." Jiang Xian frowned after just one look. "The bones are black, which clearly means he died from inhaling a large amount of mercury. But if that's the case, the body is too decayed."
Ling Xiaozi said thoughtfully: "Those mercury corpses on the Great Wall, although not all of them are lifelike, at least they are skin and bones after a thousand years... This corpse is too rotten."
"Because it died in a different way." Chu Ziyi closed his eyes. The heavy bleeding was too much for an old man of his age. Hong Si Niang was bandaging him. He said hoarsely, "There is a mercury corpse on the Great Wall, which means that the mechanism was activated once when this tomb was built. Maybe it was a test... The testers were those civilians. This is the first time the mechanism was activated."
"They were poured with mercury to death." He opened his dim eyes and said in a calm voice, "The large amount of mercury prevented the bodies from decaying for a thousand years. But this person..."
He pointed at the man with the backpack: "He was trapped to death."
Jiang Xian rubbed his chin and spoke thoughtfully: "There wasn't too much mercury in his body. Did he die of mercury poisoning?"
Chu Ziyi nodded tiredly: "Yes. But... why is he here?"
Ling Xiaozi raised his eyebrows and said, "He wants to go out? Seeing the door on the opposite side, he will naturally go that way..."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly stopped talking. Not only him, but everyone's eyes lit up and looked at the corpse.
"No!" The Eight-Armed Arhat narrowed his eyes and spoke. Before he could finish, she said in a deep voice, "He can't see the door of the Mercury Galaxy!"
"He died under the Mercury River. However, the Mercury River was blocked at both ends. When a large amount of mercury poured into the bottom, he couldn't see where the door was!
Then...why would he risk such a huge risk to come in?
Jiang Xian didn't say anything, but pulled open the other person's chest. There, a strange-shaped necklace was draped crookedly around the other person's neck.
The necklace was already black, and its material could not be seen. In the center of it was a metal book the size of a little fingernail. When the book was opened, it was densely engraved with many characters. The workmanship was so fine that it could be called a work of art.
"Chongxu!" The moment they saw the hand, Chu Ziyi and Ling Xiaozi exclaimed at the same time: "The successor of Chongxu, one of the top three schools of feng shui!"
Jiang Xian looked at the necklace deeply. Chongxu, like Lanshanhai, was ranked among the top three sects. His overall strength was stronger than Lanshanhai, who was the only one to inherit the family lineage. The successor... who was basically confirmed to be the next head of the sect, actually died here?
But now is not the time to talk about this. He gently weighed the necklace and said in a deep voice: "A person like this will definitely find out that he came out of the battlement when he walks over. From such a close distance, he can see the sculptures above more clearly."
"Then, he should also know that if he walked over like this, his back would be completely exposed under the battlement. This is a taboo when going underground. Moreover, he did not bring anything to hide. But even so, he insisted on moving forward..."
He looked at everyone: "Here, there may be a temptation for him to come."
At this moment, Chu Ziyi raised his hand with great effort and pointed at the corpse's forearm: "There is something hidden in his forearm."
Jiang Xian immediately stripped off the man's clothes, and as soon as he pulled his arms apart, a piece of blackened iron immediately appeared at the head. Then it fell to the ground with a thud.
"This is..." Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then immediately looked at the skeleton in the corner. This thing... was almost exactly the same as the wine jar in the skeleton's hand!
It is about one foot long and square in shape. Its shape is very similar to the famous national treasure - the Four-sided Sheep Jar. However, there are no four sheep on it, but four symbols instead. They can be clearly identified as gold, wood, water, fire and earth.
The whole body is black, and the workmanship is extremely exquisite. However... its mouth is sealed with a piece of bronze. The stitching is very rough, and there are obvious signs of reprocessing. It seems... just to seal this vessel. No consideration is given to whether it looks good or not.
"For this?" Jiang Xian put on his gloves and prepared to grab the wine bottle. However, he couldn't lift it!
Heavy.
It was heavier than one could imagine, as if there was a piece of pure metal inside. And, after Jiang Xian picked it up with force, he could clearly feel that there was something inside the square jar.
It was something liquid, and as the shape of the square bottle kept changing, the contents inside slid very slowly, and not a single sound could be heard.
"It's very viscous..." Jiang Xian put it on the ground and raised his chin towards Ling Xiaozi. The latter smelled the fragrance and understood the meaning. He pulled and scratched the whisk, and with a flash of cold light, the iron sheet at the mouth of the wine bottle disappeared.
Hong Si Niang carefully put on her gloves, picked up the square cup and tilted it. After a few seconds, a silver thread slowly flowed out.
"Mercury?" Jiang Xian stared at the silvery liquid that was accumulating more and more in shock, his brows already locked. "The weight doesn't match. And... why did they bring mercury out?"
"Everyone here has participated in the construction of this mausoleum. Shuiyin and the others won't be surprised. Why do you want to bring it out specifically?"
Chu Ziyi said hoarsely: "It is indeed mercury. But it is not pure mercury."
"It's an amalgam."
With just one sentence, everyone nodded in understanding.
Chu Ziyi continued, "Mercury...can react chemically with most...ahem...metals. Especially...especially gold and silver. Mercury can...magically 'swallow' them directly. Phew...and the volume is almost...unchanged. It just increases the weight density."
"This is what is called... mercury swallowing gold. The mixture of gold and mercury... huhu... is called amalgam. Moreover, the gold swallowed by mercury can be... huhu... reduced again through chemical methods."
And the method is very simple - just distillation. The saying "True gold is not afraid of fire" also originated from this.
Ling Xiaozi's eyes rolled: "You mean, they are holding two jars of gold?"
Chu Ziyi nodded.
Ling Xiaozi smiled, and with a flick of his sleeves, the remaining square bottles magically disappeared. He smiled like a spring flower: "This thing is destined to be with me..."
"No one is competing with you." Jiang Xian did not stop him, but narrowed his eyes and said, "Ling Xiaozi, let me ask you a question."
"Okay."
Jiang Xian squatted down, put on gloves, and carefully searched the corpses, saying, "If you were trapped here, any object as heavy as gold would be worth countless times more than it. And at this moment, behind you is a formation of tens of thousands of Qin crossbows. In front of you is the Great Wall of Mercury Corpses. Would you risk going over to get a jar of gold?"
Ling Xiaozi blinked: "It depends on how much fate I have left..."
"speak English!"
"……Won't!"
Jiang Xianjin had already touched the corpse's hand, and then asked, "Why would you go to so much trouble to get a jar of gold?"
Chu Ziyi finally smiled: "Because this person came out from inside. Maybe... there is something inside that reminds him of this jar? This jar... is related to whether he can solve the next puzzle, or... whether he can get out?"
Jiang Xian turned the corpse's hand over and nodded: "I suddenly remembered something."
Right in the center of the corpse's palm, there was an obvious eye pattern carved with a knife!
