Tomb Raiding: The Bloodline of Dragons and Snakes, Starting from the Kunlun Divine Palace

The tall young man, Jiang Jiaxu, spoke up somewhat displeasedly, making sarcastic remarks about Wang Yueban.

This cannot be blamed on him, because the "Epitaph for the Deceased" in front of him was created and recorded by a special department during the Qin Dynasty.

The seal characters that can be engraved on the "inscription" are all very close to the truth. In fact, it can be said that no one would forge or desecrate anything about the deceased's life on this "inscription".

After all, the goal of this line of work is to have a clear conscience!

If you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear from suspicious knocks!

This is the code of conduct for epitaph carvers.

...........

"Cough cough!"

Just then, Wu Xie, who was standing in front of the "Epitaph for the Deceased," coughed lightly. He felt a slight discomfort in his chest again, but it wasn't serious. He just lowered his voice a little:

"The contents of this inscription are quite clear. Although I have not seen any related records in the relevant documents of the Qin Empire, it is not difficult to judge that this was a scandal within the empire after careful reading!"

"Wang Pangzi, Wu Tianjiao, and I learned by chance that General Chang Shiwan was framed by a villain in the army and was punished with tattooing, which can also be called 'ink punishment,' where the words 'crime and punishment' were tattooed on his cheeks!"

"Now it seems there must be more untold stories behind this!"

“At that time, there were ‘petty people’ who slandered the emperor to the upper echelons of the empire, and then they interfered with the operation.”

"General, you are invincible. According to the rules, the king should hold a banquet to reward you when you return victorious. At that time, General Chang entered the hall to meet the king. He was pointed out in public that he did not kneel. His heart was treacherous and his crime deserves to be punished!"

"I estimate that General Chang will have to kneel and bow when he crosses the first threshold of the main hall! At that time, he won't even have seen the face of the Emperor yet!"

"Later, General Chang Shiwan also explained that his leg was injured and amputated by the enemy on the battlefield. When he was to meet the king, he was tall and his legs were of different lengths, so he could not kneel and bow properly. Because he was afraid of disrespecting the king and committing a capital offense, he had a carpenter make him a prosthetic leg!"

Wu Xie paused for a moment, his tone sounding somewhat desolate.

"Unfortunately, the 'petty person' blocking the entrance to the hall deliberately made things difficult, ignored us, and even made sarcastic remarks. It was clearly aimed at General Chang Shiwan!"

"He actually said that he only obeyed the king's orders, and that if the king ordered the general to die, he would not forgive him, nor would he dare to speak for Chang Shi 707 million people!"

........

Wang Yueban's eyes widened upon hearing this, and he couldn't help but complain:

"Oh my god... This is acceptable? This is clearly bullying. General Chang Shiwan clearly injured his leg on the battlefield, which is a meritorious service. And they found such a ridiculous reason to punish him with death for not being able to properly perform the 'kneeling ceremony'?"

"In my opinion, General Ba Zheng's achievements overshadow the emperor's, and the king of the Wang Qin Empire is feeling insecure. He's looking for a reason to get rid of him in order to stabilize his own power!"

Fatty Wang looked regretful. Such a brave and skilled general did not die on the battlefield, but at the hands of the king he served. No wonder the tombs of the Qin Empire were full of strangeness. He died unjustly!

He died such a miserable death!

...........

"Wang Yueban didn't see that coming. You're quite quick-witted, but even if you're only half right, there's some truth to it. In my opinion, there's probably another layer of meaning."

As Wu Tianjiao spoke, he pushed his way out of the crowd, swirling the high beam in his hand to illuminate the last few lines of text, while recalling the scene from before:

"Wu Xie, you should still remember that the line of blood-red seal script we saw back then recorded that this general had a strange quirk that was criticized by many: he liked to kill prisoners of war and surrendered soldiers!"

Chapter 228: The shape of the earthen mound closely resembles a pyramid.

"Because of this, those around him have had some reservations, but regardless of what others say or how we see it, Chang Shiwan's loyalty to the Emperor is obvious!"

"When he learned that he had been sentenced to death, he did not resist. He even said, 'A subject must not commit suicide in the palace,' because his blood would stain the floor of the main hall. Then he walked out of the gate, drew his sword, and stood outside the court to stab himself!"

"As blood flowed from the wound, he casually asked for an inkstone and brush, and, stained with his own blood, wrote a bold and heroic statement on the silk!"

Who, then, controls the rise and fall of dynasties?

[Looking upon the landscape, one should not monopolize the beauty of nature.]

[A world of laughter and strife, a place of countless flashing swords and shadowy figures.]

Alas, people of this world are so obsessed, never realizing their mistakes!

Dressed in sky blue, as handsome as jade, he's been busy all along the way.

Entering Chang'an, crossing the Heng River, one encounters countless beautiful women from across the land.

Don't keep this to yourself!

When we look back someday, where in this world will our hometown be?

[What a beautiful scene, with fairies of a hundred flowers accompanying the gentle breeze.]

Fatty Wang turned the silk over in his hand, comparing the two sides, and his expression was quite interesting:

"Holy crap... Fatty... what I'm holding in my hand... is actually... a suicide note..."

Wu Tianjiao ignored Wang Yueban and continued explaining to himself:

"This General Chang never harbored any resentment towards the Emperor until his death, and was even praised by the epitaph sculptor as 'loyal and righteous'!"

A person who is loyal, trustworthy, benevolent, righteous, thoughtful, and constantly strives for self-improvement is a virtuous person!

"It even quoted a couplet: 'A beautiful arm like Xi Shi's; a heart with seven orifices like Bi Gan's.'"

"I remember those seven orifices are the holes left after a lotus root is broken. They are analogous to the seven orifices of a person. Prostrating oneself on the ground signifies loyalty!"

"If the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die!"

The instant Wu Tianjiao's voice fell, the blood-red seal characters on the "Epitaph for the Deceased" slowly slid downwards.

A strange mark was drawn by the crimson blood!

.....

The "Epitaph of the Deceased" standing in the main tomb chamber gives people an inexplicable and eerie feeling at this moment. It seems to record the rise and fall of a historical figure. Although General Chang Shiwan did not leave any statement in any documents, this "magnificent tomb from the Qin Dynasty" is also a disguised acknowledgment of his past merits!

The expressions on everyone's faces varied, but it wasn't hard to see the confusion on some of them, especially the tall young man Jiang Jiaxu and the rest of the students, who couldn't understand:

"This 'loyal' sense of mission to dedicate everything to the King and the Empire!"

...........

"Amitabha Buddha, this humble monk has learned much. What a profound statement! I ask Heaven and Earth, who controls the rise and fall of the world? Alas, people of this world, so foolishly devoted their entire lives, never awakening..."

"When I first saw these blood-red seal characters, I said that although the writing style seemed bold and vigorous, there was still a deep sense of loneliness hidden between the lines. After a lifetime of military service, is it really possible to give up with just a few words?"

"However, the general is a brave 'warrior' who, with his passionate heart, has imprinted the words 'loyalty and righteousness' into his very being! This... is truly not easy!"

Master Yuanxin, with his hands clasped together and his head slightly bowed, held a string of ancient Buddhist beads in his hands. He mumbled something rapidly, making it difficult to understand what he was saying.

.........

"Hehe! Look at your dejected and depressed expressions. Have you also put yourselves in General Chang Shiwan's shoes? Sigh... It's not that I'm cold-blooded or ruthless, nor that I'm being pretentious."

"According to my logic, Chang Shiwan has been guarding the battlefield for many years and has a large army under his command. He should have thought of this fate when his knee was cut off. Why would he go back to the empire at that time? He could have just carved out his own territory on the battlefield!"

"I've been thinking about it too, Fatty. Since we're all going to die anyway, dying in the Empire or dying on the battlefield makes no difference..."

However, Fatty Wang's voice stopped abruptly halfway through. He involuntarily took a step back, subconsciously shook his head uncomfortably, and rubbed his eyes.

"Um...did I just see things? There seems to be something wrong with the blood-red seal script on this 'Epitaph for the Deceased'..."

...

At that moment, the tall young man Jiang Jiaxu disregarded everything else. With a camera slung over his shoulder and a terrifyingly grim expression on his face, he covered Wang Yueban's mouth with one hand:

"You fatso, this is the main tomb chamber of the Qin Empire. Watch your mouth! Have you forgotten that the 'Deer-Owl' with its sheep's body and human face was brought here because of your jinx? Now you're maliciously slandering it in someone else's tomb. You really don't learn your lesson. You have some nerve..."

However, Jiang Jiaxu's words were only half-finished when his mouth trembled slightly.

The blood-red seal script characters on the Shoushan stone carvings in front of everyone began to dissolve and drip down, leaving behind streaks of deep red blood.

Wu Tianjiao had noticed this strange scene long ago, and his heart was pounding.

At first, it was just a trickle flowing downwards, but in just a few breaths, the blood-red seal characters on the front of the stele all slid down!

......

"Wu Tianjiao, get out of the way!"

Just then, a sharp rebuke came from behind, and a hand suddenly reached out from behind, grabbing Wu Tianjiao's shoulder and pulling him back a few steps. A Ning's face was solemn, and her graceful body was wrapped in her black tight-fitting clothes.

With a pull and a sidestep, Wu Tianjiao was dragged back into the crowd.

At the same time, Aning quickly reached into her backpack, rummaged around inside for a while, and pulled out a spherical object!

When thrown forward with force, the spherical object, which is black, begins to gradually brighten and turn white the instant it is thrown!

Three seconds later, a blinding light burst forth from the main burial chamber.

"Hey! Miss Aning, is that a flashbang? If you have something this good, you should have taken it out sooner!"

Wang Yueban looked pleasantly surprised.

Ah Ning shook her head and smoothed her short, black hair:

"This isn't a flashbang, but a high-intensity focused light illumination device. I only have two of these on me, and I wouldn't have taken them out if the situation hadn't been so strange. The Shoushan stone in the main tomb chamber has an extremely strong light-absorbing effect. The high-energy device, which could originally illuminate a distance of 300 meters, can now only be used to see a distance of about 100 to 200 meters!"

The environment of the main burial chamber was clearly presented to everyone for the first time.

Wu Tianjiao narrowed his eyes slightly, and the moment the powerful lighting equipment turned on, he noticed the general details of the main tomb chamber.

Five zhang in front of him was a two-meter-tall bronze banner with a triangular canvas on which some colorful paintings were faintly drawn.

Roughly estimated, there are eight bronze flags in total, standing at equal distances, arranged in a similar octagonal matrix!

After a moment's thought, Wu Tianjiao recalled what Kong Zhengye had said before: there was a strange formation called "Corpse Fiend Eight Formation Diagram" in the main tomb chamber!