third chapter 2
After understanding the duties of the "witness keeper", Mu Linfeng finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that it was not as scary as he had imagined, and it did not seem to be difficult to accomplish.
However, in a moment, Mu Linfeng was suddenly stunned. He suddenly realized how naive his idea was. He came here to find the "Emperor's Burial Mountain Map", and the purpose of finding the "Emperor's Burial Mountain Map" was to assist the research team in opening the tomb of You Houxi... This was exactly contrary to the duties of the vigil keeper!
My great-grandfather's suicide note clearly stated that the duty of the coffin-keeper was to protect the peace of the imperial tombs depicted in the "Imperial Burial Mountain Map". However, I was now trying to find You Houxi's tomb and open it to dig out the burial objects inside... This was clearly against the ancestral teachings, and I had just sworn a solemn oath...
Thinking of this, cold sweat ran down Mu Linfeng's cheeks. He found himself in a dilemma, because the two responsibilities he now assumed happened to be contradictory. How should he choose?
Mu Linfeng thought about it and decided to finish reading the letter first. It was obviously impossible for him to make a choice now.
At the end of the letter, it was mentioned that the tomb-viewing skills and the "Tomb-viewing Notes" left by the ancestors were all stored in the urn coffin. After swearing a poisonous oath, these things can be taken out...
After reading the letter left by his great-grandfather, Mu Linfeng finally understood why the tomb robbers went to such great lengths to get close to his great-grandfather. It turned out that it was because of his other identity as a "spiritual keeper". The real purpose of the tomb robbers was to find the aura of the emperor's mausoleum. If any tomb-robbing organization could get these things left by the ancestors of the Mu family, the consequences would be disastrous.
At this moment, Mu Linfeng suddenly noticed a problem. He found that the letter only mentioned the tomb-viewing skills and the "Tomb-viewing Notes" at the end, and did not seem to mention the "Emperor's Burial Mountain Map". Mu Linfeng hurriedly read the letter again, and it did not mention whether the "Emperor's Burial Mountain Map" was in it...
Originally he was looking for the "Emperor's Burial Mountain Map", but now that he hadn't found the ancient map, Mu Linfeng suddenly felt a lot more relaxed. Mu Linfeng thought, never mind, let's take a look at the tomb-viewing skills left by our ancestors first.
Mu Linfeng walked to the tomb on the wall and examined the urn coffin inside. It was more than one meter high, and the thickest part in the middle was about 70 to 80 centimeters in diameter. He stretched out his arms and grabbed the thinner part of the lower part of the urn coffin, trying to lift it down, but he didn't expect the urn coffin to not move at all.
"Damn, what's in it? How can it be so heavy?" Mu Linfeng was quite puzzled. He had just used enough strength to lift something weighing two hundred kilograms, so why couldn't he move this urn coffin?
Mu Linfeng put his hands in the middle of the urn and pushed it hard, but it didn't shake. He felt even more strange. What could be so heavy? Even if there were the remains of the ancestor inside, it would never be so heavy.
Mu Linfeng turned around and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Suddenly, he saw the cute weasel standing at one end of the altar, staring at him with its round eyes. Seeing that Mu Linfeng couldn't move the urn coffin, the weasel stretched out its front paws, pointed at a candlestick and squeaked twice.
Mu Linfeng understood what the little elf meant. It wanted him to smash the urn coffin, so he reached out and grabbed a copper candlestick, walked to the tomb where the urn coffin was placed, and smashed it down with force. With a loud crash, the broken ceramic fragments fell down, followed by some white and yellow things that fell down. Some of them fell on Mu Linfeng's feet, hurting his feet.
When he saw clearly what was hidden in the urn coffin, Mu Linfeng was stunned... In the huge urn coffin, in addition to a dark and bright wooden box standing upright inside, the urn coffin was filled with fist-sized gold and silver ingots. After the urn coffin was broken, the gold and silver ingots were scattered all over the ground...
Mu Linfeng seemed to be in a dream, and could not believe what was happening before his eyes. After a moment of stunned silence, he reached out and picked up a heavy gold ingot. He weighed it with his hand and found it weighed one kilogram. Mu Linfeng doubted whether it was a real ingot, so he picked one up and bit it with his teeth. Sure enough, there was a clear tooth mark left, which was obviously real gold.
"Oh my god, so much real money!"
Mu Linfeng couldn't help but exclaimed. He slapped his head with his hand to clear his confused mind. Suddenly seeing so much gold was really hard to accept. Mu Linfeng said to himself: I am not dreaming!
Mu Linfeng first took down the wooden box standing upright in the urn coffin and placed it on the altar, then bent down to pick up the gold and silver ingots that had fallen to the ground one by one and placed them neatly on the altar. He didn't understand how such a huge fortune could be hidden here. When his great-grandfather died, the house was already empty, so why didn't he take out so much gold and silver?
After cleaning up, Mu Linfeng counted them and found that there were exactly fifty gold and silver ingots. He made a rough estimate in his mind and concluded that based on the current value, it would be at least tens of millions of yuan!
So much money! Mu Linfeng secretly exclaimed in his heart. Strangely enough, at this time, Mu Linfeng was not very happy except for being surprised. He felt that this wealth did not seem to belong to him.
Finally, Mu Linfeng's eyes fell on the dark and bright wooden box.
The wooden box hidden in the urn coffin was extremely heavy. There was no decoration on the outside of the wooden box. It was plain and simple. From its delicate wood, it looked like ebony. There was a silver lock on one side of the wooden box, and the shape was very delicate. After opening the lock, Mu Linfeng gently lifted the heavy lid of the box, and the first thing that was revealed was the yellow silk embroidered with landscape patterns. He slowly opened the yellow silk, and what came into view was a piece of yellowed rice paper with calligraphy written on it. The content was very simple, with only two lines of words: These gold and silver are used as travel expenses for the "spiritual keeper" to perform his duties, and must not be used for other purposes.
Mu Linfeng finally understood why his great-grandfather was so poor that he didn't touch the gold and silver. It turned out that the money had a special purpose. Suddenly, he admired his great-grandfather even more, as if he saw the image of a mighty and unyielding man who could not change his mind even in poverty.
Next to the letter was a bulging object bound with red cloth. Mu Linfeng felt it was a bit heavy when he picked it up. He opened the red cloth and found a compass with the Nine Palaces and Eight Diagrams engraved on it, a very delicate jade bowl, and a small deerskin bag. Mu Linfeng guessed that these things must be tools used when searching for tombs. He didn't have time to take a closer look, so he put them aside.
This wooden box contains the "Tomb-Looking Notes" left by the ancestors of the Mu family. These notes written by the ancestors record their experience in making "lumps". Reading these things will be of great help in mastering and understanding the unique skills of tomb-looking.
Then Mu Linfeng took out the manual under the letter and flipped through it. There were about twenty books, and the cover was written with four vigorous and powerful characters "Grave Notes". There were so many books, and there was no time to read them now.
After Mu Linfeng took out all the "Tomb-Looking Notes", he found a separate exquisite small wooden box at the bottom. He hurriedly opened the lid of the box, and inside were three pieces of straw paper covered with calligraphy, and nothing else.
Mu Linfeng took out three pieces of paper and read them quickly from beginning to end. The content was exactly the art of tomb divination. What surprised Mu Linfeng was that the art of tomb divination was only less than 300 words, and the content seemed to be very similar to the Taoist Yin Fu Jing. Almost every sentence had four words, which was very obscure and difficult to understand. Mu Linfeng was confused. It seemed that it would take more than a day to understand these things.
Afterwards, Mu Linfeng carefully checked the items stored in the urn coffin again, and indeed there was no "Emperor Burial Mountain Map". He was very confused, why was the "Emperor Burial Mountain Map" not placed here? Could it be that there was a more secret place?
Thinking of this, Mu Linfeng picked up the flashlight and searched the small secret room carefully, but found no place to hide anything. Perhaps the "Emperor's Burial Mountain Map" was not placed here at all.
Afterwards, Mu Linfeng carefully put all the things back into the sandalwood box. He pondered for a moment and decided to put all these things here first. He believed that this was the safest place. If what Li Jianping said last night was true, then these things were also very much wanted by the tomb robbers who sneaked into the country, so they must be kept properly.
The next question is how to leave here, and other things will be planned later. Thinking of this, Mu Linfeng looked at the weasel squatting on the altar and said with a smile: "Brother Huang, I want to go out now. Since you brought me here, please take me out again."
This cute little thing seemed to understand Mu Linfeng’s words. It jumped down from the altar and walked straight towards another cave entrance.
Seeing the weasel's docile posture, Mu Linfeng suddenly had an idea in his mind. It would be great if he could keep this weasel that understood what he said as a pet. This smart and clever little thing might be able to help him a lot in the future.
Mu Linfeng quickly picked up the flashlight and followed the weasel into the tunnel. Not far ahead, a fork appeared. The weasel in front stopped and looked around like a human, as if trying to figure out which way to go, and then turned to the right into the tunnel.
The tunnel here seemed to be rising. After walking for more than ten meters, the weasel suddenly stopped. It turned out that the tunnel had reached the end, and a vertical shaft that went straight up and down appeared in front of it.
Mu Linfeng raised the flashlight in his hand and looked upward. The upward passage was less than one meter in diameter. There were small holes on both sides of the cave wall for stepping on, but it was dark and difficult to see clearly.
Such a cave was a piece of cake for a man who was a special forces soldier. Mu Linfeng climbed to the top effortlessly. However, the stone slab covering the entrance of the cave gave him trouble. He pushed his feet on both sides of the cave wall and then pushed the stone slab hard. After pushing several times, there was no movement, so he finally gave up and went down again.
After seeing Mu Linfeng coming down, the clever little creature seemed to realize that this road was blocked, and immediately turned back. After returning to the fork in the road, it turned into another tunnel.
There was no reference point when walking through the tunnel, so it was impossible to tell the direction, and I didn't know where this tunnel led to. This tunnel also went up diagonally, but the angle of inclination was larger than the previous one.
After walking a short distance, the weasel in front stopped again. The little thing looked back at Mu Linfeng, as if waiting for him to come closer.
It turned out that this tunnel had also reached its end, but this time there was no entrance upwards, but an entrance downwards. Mu Linfeng approached and took a look, only to see that there was actually water in the cave below.
The round cave looks like a well, and the water surface is only about one meter above the tunnel above. It is obviously a dead end.
Mu Linfeng looked at the weasel puzzledly and said: "Brother Huang, this is also a dead end. How can I get out after you brought me here?"
The weasel squeaked a few times at Mu Linfeng, then jumped into the downward cave entrance. With a splash, the weasel jumped into the water, floated on the water surface for a circle, then dived into the water and disappeared.
Seeing this, Mu Linfeng guessed that the well below must be connected to somewhere, otherwise the little elf would not dive into the water. It seemed that he could only go into the water to give it a try, so he put the candlestick on the ground and then tentatively went down into the vertical shaft.
The cold well water made Mu Linfeng shiver uncontrollably. He took a deep breath and then dived into the water.
Mu Linfeng opened his eyes in the water and looked around. It was pitch black and he couldn't see anything. He could only dive down while feeling the wall of the well with his hands. After diving about two or three meters, he suddenly felt a side passage and swam forward along this horizontal underwater passage...
After swimming forward for only a few strokes, Mu Linfeng vaguely saw the light shining from above. He felt delighted and paddled forward with all his might. Then he began to float up and emerged from the water with a splash.
After emerging from the water, Mu Linfeng shook the water off his head, then wiped his face with his hands. The first thing that caught his eye was a uniquely shaped rockery. The scene in front of him was so familiar that Mu Linfeng quickly realized that this was his old house.
This pond is located in the middle of the old house's back garden. The pavilion next to it has collapsed, leaving only the rockery still standing by the pond.
Look at the cute weasel again. It is standing on the rockery at this time, shaking its body from time to time to shake off the water droplets on its hair, and wiping its face with its two front paws from time to time, as if combing itself.
It is said that weasels have a strong smell, but Mu Linfeng didn't smell anything when he was with it in the tunnel just now. It seems that it only releases the smell from its butt when it encounters an enemy, but not to its friends.
In fact, weasels are very clean animals. They use the dew on the grass leaves to clean their bodies every morning. Now Mu Linfeng has decided to make friends with this little elf who helped him.
Mu Linfeng climbed out of the water, took off his wet clothes, and while wringing out the water from his clothes, he looked around. The entire courtyard was full of ruins and weeds. All the buildings had collapsed, leaving only half of the walls.
This is the backyard of the old house of the Mu family. No one has lived here since Mu Linfeng could remember. After his great-grandfather passed away, the family was too poor to afford to repair the houses that had been built for hundreds of years. Soon the walls collapsed and the houses fell into ruin. It has been abandoned for seventy or eighty years, and in many places only the base of the walls remain above the ground.
This old house is in the shape of a "目" character with three courtyards, facing south and was considered a luxury house in the area. The bright gatehouse has a gabled roof with tiles and a screen wall in the shape of an "八" character, and a screen wall in the shape of a "一" character opposite the gate. There are four carved door pins on the lintel, a pair of exquisitely carved drum stones beside the door, and a pair of stone lions under the steps outside the gate.
There are nine rooms in the first courtyard, and the north room has five halls. There are three main rooms in the second courtyard, with front and back corridors, two side rooms on each side, three rooms in the east and west wing rooms, a corridor in the front, and a corner corridor between the main rooms.
Mu Linfeng is now in the third courtyard, which is the inner house. There are five main rooms with front and back corridors. On the east side there is a group of rockery with a dome pavilion built on top, and there is also a pool, which is the one he just climbed out of.
When Mu Linfeng was a child, he could still find some brick carvings here, including a lion rolling a ball, fortune, longevity, immediate promotion to nobility, plum blossoms, peonies and other themes. From them, one can imagine the original refinement and luxury of this old house.
Seeing the five collapsed main rooms, Mu Linfeng suddenly realized that the exit that he had not been able to get out of just now was probably under these five main rooms, and the collapsed roof pressed the exit underneath. If this assumption is correct, then the tunnel may have existed before his great-grandfather built his tomb, and it is very likely that it was dug by an ancestor to prevent bandits and powerful enemies. It seems that this old house must still hide many unknown secrets.
Thinking of this, Mu Linfeng suddenly made a decision to rebuild the Mu family's old house and restore it to its original appearance. He not only wanted to inherit the Mu family's ancestral skills, but also to revitalize the ancestral business.
