A comprehensive overview of tombs: starting with the Yellow Weasel's Tomb

"The profession of tomb raiding has a long history. The ancients believed that if people buried their belongings with them in the tomb, they could continue to use these items after death and continue to enjoy wealth and honor."

Therefore, the custom of elaborate burials became prevalent from the Zhou Dynasty onwards, especially during the Qin and Han Dynasties, when it reached its extreme. This custom persisted in subsequent dynasties until the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, when the practice gradually declined due to the introduction of foreign cultures.

The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, in particular, can be considered the largest tomb in history, both in China and abroad.

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi asked with some doubt, "Old Bai, the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor? Hasn't the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor been discovered yet? How do you know it's the largest tomb in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad?"

Bai Jing was silent for a moment after hearing this. He remembered that the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum was only discovered in 1974, and the location of Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum has not yet been found.

However, Bai Jing could categorize it as something like an ancient biography.

Immediately, Bai Jing said, "I saw this in an ancient book at home. According to the book, the construction of Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum took 39 years from the time Qin Shi Huang ascended the throne as King of Qin. At its peak, more than 700,000 people were mobilized to carry out the construction."

Think about it, even if there aren't that many people most of the time, on average, the number of people carrying out construction work every day must exceed tens of thousands.

One can only imagine the scale of the mausoleum built by tens of thousands of people working continuously for thirty-nine years.

Even if you said that Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum was an underground city, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Hearing Bai Jing's words, Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang nodded, somewhat bewildered.

Fatty Wang further criticized, "Qin Shi Huang truly deserves to be called a tyrant. For his own selfish desires, he did such wasteful things that burdened the people and wasted so much of their hard work."

Bai Jing didn't say anything about this. He didn't think highly of any of the emperors and nobles in feudal society; they were just feudal landlords who leeched off the people.

Then, Bai Jing continued, "We've gone off-topic. Let's get back to tomb raiding. It's hard to say exactly when the first tomb raider in human history was, but it probably existed as early as the Stone Age."

Chapter 24 A Brief Discussion on Tomb Raiding (Part 2)

Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang both agreed with Bai Jing's words.

The emergence of tomb raiders is due to the discovery of tombs.

It can be said that as long as tombs exist, tomb raiders will never completely disappear.

The exact time when tombs appeared is unknown, but it is certain that the existence of tombs gave rise to tomb raiders.

The elaborate burial system that began in the Zhou Dynasty led to an even greater number of tomb raiders.

Bai Jing continued, "The exact time when tomb raiding began is unknown. In the earliest times, writing was not very advanced, so we cannot trace who raided the first tomb."

The first clearly recorded instance of tomb raiding occurred in the early Spring and Autumn Period, and the motive was not for wealth, but for revenge.

Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang were stunned for a moment upon hearing this, and then they understood what Bai Jing meant.

The so-called revenge is easy to understand; it's like dancing on a grave.

Fatty Wang asked with great interest, "Then tell me, who exactly was the first tomb raider, the patriarch of tomb raiders?"

Bai Jing smiled upon hearing this and then said, "This person is Gongzi Shangren, the son of Duke Huan of Qi, the first of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. Due to some personal grudges, he endured for decades until he ascended the throne as Duke Yi of Qi, at which point he dug up his enemy's grave. This is also the earliest recorded grave robbing activity in history."

Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang both sighed with emotion.

This incident has left a significant mark on history.

Following that, Bai Jing continued, "After that, many tomb raiding incidents emerged, such as Wu Zixu excavating the tomb of King Zhao of Chu. Many tomb raiding activities afterward were similar, but these were not for the treasures in the tombs, but simply for revenge."

Until the end of the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu became the first person in history to rob a tomb for its treasures in order to raise funds for his army.

Along with Liu Qu, King of Guangchuan in the Western Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei in the Three Kingdoms period, and Chen Shuling, King of Shixing in the Southern Chen Dynasty, these four are known as the Four Heavenly Kings of Tomb Raiding in Ancient my country.

At this point, Hu Bayi seemed to have realized something.

Following that, Bai Jing continued, "Actually, to be honest, the schools of tomb raiding can only be divided into three branches and four sub-branches. The so-called three branches refer to Yin-Yang Feng Shui, skills and techniques, and large numbers or violent tomb raiding."

These three lineages are further divided into four branches, which are the so-called four major schools of tomb raiding: Mojin, Faqiu, Banshan, and Xieling.

We'll talk about tomb raiding and grave robbing later. Let's start with the Mountain Moving lineage, also known as the Mountain Moving Taoists. The earliest origins of the Mountain Moving Taoists are unknown, but it is known that this lineage migrated from the Western Regions. They relied on their exquisite skills and abilities to rob tombs.

Their lineage doesn't go into tombs for the various treasures inside, but to find the 'Muchen Pearl'!

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang were both stunned. Fatty Wang had never heard of the Muchen Pearl before, and naturally did not know what it was used for.

But Hu Bayi had heard of it.

Immediately, Hu Bayi said, "Legend has it that the Muchen Pearl was created when the Yellow Emperor ascended to immortality."

What remains is also recorded as being formed from the spiritual energy of a phoenix; through cultivation using this divine artifact, one can undergo a complete transformation and ascend to immortality.

Bai Jing nodded upon hearing Hu Bayi's words and then said, "That's right, that's exactly what the ancient books record. The Muchen Pearl first appeared during the Shang and Zhou dynasties."

Legend has it that Wu Ding, the 22nd ruler of the Shang Dynasty, found a giant jade eye stained with gold and a red robe on a collapsed mountain peak.

Wu Ding believed that this ancient jade eye was left behind by the Yellow Emperor after his ascension to immortality, and was extremely precious. He named it "Muchen Pearl" and ordered people to cast a tripod to commemorate it. He also believed that it was the most rare treasure in the world.

Later, it was said that this object was buried with Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Che, in his Maoling Mausoleum. However, after the Red Eyebrow Army extensively excavated the site, the Muchen Pearl, which was buried with him in Maoling, was scattered among the people and disappeared.

Hearing this, both Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang sighed.

Bai Jing continued, "Having talked about the Mountain Moving lineage, let's talk about the Ridge Unloading lineage. The Ridge Unloading lineage relies on numbers and strength to raid tombs, and usually it's a job that doesn't require much skill."

However, because of their superior numbers, no one dared to provoke them. Legend has it that the Unloading Ridge faction originated from the Red Eyebrow Army.

Bai Jing ignored Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang's reactions and continued, "After discussing the Mountain Moving and Ridge Unloading lineages, the next branch is Yin-Yang Feng Shui, namely the Grave Robbery and Gold Raider lineages."

Legend has it that during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao established the positions of "General of Tomb Raiders" and "Captain of Tomb Raiders" in his army to raise funds for his troops and solve the problem of military supplies. These officers were responsible for tomb raiding.

The two schools of tomb raiding, Faqiu and Mojin, originated from this; these two schools are actually one, both being proficient in the art of locating burial sites.

Having confirmed something, Hu Bayi felt that the two had almost digested it, and Bai Jing continued, "Speaking of which, in the early Ming Dynasty, due to the actions of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the tomb raiding industry was impacted, and the lineage of tomb raiders and tomb raiders almost became extinct."

Legend has it that the seal of the tomb raider was destroyed, and six of the talismans of the tomb raider were also destroyed. Even the traditional techniques of tomb raiding and tomb raiding were almost lost.

And so it went until the end of the Qing Dynasty, when a strange man appeared in the martial arts world. He was known as Zhang Sanlianzi because he wore three tomb raiding talismans. He was highly skilled and exceptionally talented. He was an extraordinary person.

This person found the Later Heaven Bagua (Eight Trigrams) in an ancient Western Zhou tomb. Based on this, and combined with the incomplete "Dragon Seeking Secrets" passed down from the tomb raiding masters, he wrote a remarkable book.

Hearing this, Hu Bayi seemed to have confirmed something, then sat up and looked at Bai Jing lying on the kang, asking, "Could it be?"

Bai Jing said with a smile, "That's right, it's your book, 'The Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Technique'."

Hu Bayi was completely dumbfounded. He never expected that the half-book his grandfather left him would have such an origin.

The fat man laughed and said, "Haha, Lao Hu, you actually have books like this at home? Are you perhaps descendants of some kind of tomb raiders?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi remained silent for a moment, as he dared not make any guarantees regarding this matter.

But then Bai Jing said, "It shouldn't be. Old Hu, didn't you say that your book was passed down from your grandfather? Your grandfather must have told you that if you were to take this path, the next three generations of your family could not take this path either."

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi lay down, still somewhat doubtful.

Afterwards, Bai Jing talked for a while, and as the night deepened, they all fell asleep.

Chapter 25 White Weasel Gives Gold

On the morning of the second day, Bai Jing, Hu Bayi, Wang Pangzi, Yanzi, and Sun Qiaoshan, who were going up the mountain, ate and drank their fill, and then set off with all kinds of equipment and dry food.

It is the end of the year, and the whole earth is covered in white.

Bai Jing and his group of five did not walk for long before they arrived at a place where the human-bear might appear.

After carefully observing the surrounding environment, Sun Qiaoshan confirmed that this was the place where the bear and human-bear lived.

Seeing Sun knocking on the mountain, Fatty Wang couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi immediately explained: "The art is divided into four methods: observation, listening, questioning, and palpation. Each of these four methods is further divided into eight approaches, each with two levels. For example, the upper level of observation is to observe the celestial stars above and examine the earth's veins below, while the lower level is to observe mud marks and distinguish the color of grass."

Upon hearing this, Fatty Wang asked, somewhat puzzled, "What are you all muttering about? Is it something from that half-finished book of yours again?"

Bai Jing smiled and said, "The so-called four methods of observation, listening, questioning and palpation, 'observation' refers to looking. Both the superior and inferior methods use observation to locate the target. 'Listening' refers to smelling the odor and judging whether the target is there by the smell left at the scene."

The next question is actually asking for information. Throughout history, countless people have saved a lot of time by simply asking for a piece of information when searching for various items. Therefore, the role of a guide is often very important.

The final "cut" is a clue used to determine what is being sought, derived from summarizing various pieces of knowledge.

After hearing this, Sun Qiaoshan glanced at Bai Jing but didn't say anything. Then, Sun Qiaoshan stood up and said, "There's a smell of bear urine in this soil, so it must be coming soon."

Immediately, following Sun Qiaoshan's suggestion, everyone was divided into two teams.

Sun Qiaoshan and Hu Bayi formed one team, while Bai Jing led Wang Pangzi and Yanzi in another.

This dispersed search significantly increases the probability of finding the bear.

This team division is quite reasonable, after all, Bai Jing and Sun Qiaoshan are the strongest fighters present.

Sun Qiaoshan was experienced and led a calm and young Hu Bayi. The remaining three people were not very experienced, but Bai Jing was very strong in combat. In addition, Wang Pangzi and Yanzi were also young.

With such a dispersed search, we should be able to find traces of the bear.

However, before parting ways, Sun Qiaoshan still instructed, "No matter which side discovers traces of the bear, do not act rashly. Gather everyone together before taking action."

Bai Jing and the others naturally agreed with Sun Qiaoshan's suggestion and immediately split up, each searching in a different direction.

As he walked down the street, the fat man kept complaining.

"Old Bai, Yanzi, let me tell you something. The great revolutionary teacher Comrade Lenin once taught us: 'Some bastards are unaware of their own shortcomings, waving a big flag as a blanket, deceiving themselves and others.' Do you know who he was talking about?"

Bai Jing was speechless for a moment after hearing what Fatty Wang said.

Although Comrade Lenin certainly did not say this, it must be said that it makes sense.

Before Bai Jing could speak, Yan...

The son spoke first.