Ancient tomb excavation traces

Although the silk manuscript was stolen by Cao Qiuji from the tomb of Sima Yan's son, its contents were written by Sima Yan himself, making it relatively authentic.

We all sighed, filled with sympathy for the mummified corpses surrounding us. To die innocently and be mutilated like this even in death—no wonder the green light above the stagnant waters was so terrifying. Perhaps the accumulated resentment was too great, causing it to linger around the place of death for so long?

Sometimes, the beginning of sorrow is a vicious cycle that seems to never end. I thought that this was the end of the story of the owner of this Chu tomb, but things did not come to a close.

After Mi Ling's death, besides the King of Chu's fanatical praise of his daughter's abilities, there were actually several other people who, from the moment they began following her, developed a distorted belief. They were pathological, living forever in unrealistic fantasies, yearning to one day ascend to the divine realm like Mi Ling.

These fantasies led their descendants to live in dark places, becoming ugly and strange, losing the original beauty of humanity. The idea of ​​guarding the tomb generation after generation became a foolish belief and a sad habit.

These people were the eight great witches who served Mi Ling and her two maids from back then.

The subsequent events were partly recorded by Sima Yan's son. In other words, part of the silk manuscript retrieved by Cao Qiuji originated from Sima Yan, and another part was continued by his son, Sima Xun. What happened after their deaths was known to Lan Quexi. Therefore, summarizing the accounts from all three parties, I find it somewhat disgusting. I have an extreme aversion to such ignorance and irresponsibility towards future generations. I cannot bear their self-righteous, outdated ideology, which has harmed far too many people who should have been happy, such as Lan Youyu and Lan Quexi.

What does it feel like to be deprived of one's entire life? I've never experienced it, but the thought of being forever trapped in darkness, watching the dim light of an eternal lamp, and missing one's family must be incredibly despairing.

Looking at Lan Quexi, I combined the mission she carried with the strange feeling I had when I first saw her. She seemed to have become a victim of outdated thinking, someone who didn't know what happiness was. At that moment, I suddenly felt that Lan Youyu, who had venomous snakes crawling in his stomach, wasn't so tragic; at least he had broken his own clan rules. As for those who devoted their entire lives, they were trapped in a narrow perspective and ideals, and they were truly pitiful.

After Mi Ling passed away, they were originally pitiful people among those who were buried alive with her, but they had their own ideas. For a greater faith, they fled to the place where we are today.

One of the two maids was also a barbarian girl. She was skilled in Gu magic, knowledgeable about various herbs, and a remarkable person. She established a secluded Miao village deep in the mountains, gathering the people who originally lived there. This person was the ancestor of Lan Quexi, meaning that the ancestors of the Miao people in the deep mountains were not Princess Mi Ling of Chu. Liu Hua and Tie Niu's misunderstanding was probably due to the long time that had passed, so they always believed that their ancestors were the people who existed in the ancient tomb.

The Miao people guarded the ancient tomb from the outside and created many human-shaped stone sculptures. We had seen these stone sculptures before; they were quite frightening. Just as the young Taoist priest speculated, one type of sculpture was a sacrificial deity used for worship, and another purpose was to scare away tomb raiders.

The eight witches inside the tomb, incredibly, were four men and four women who had mated and produced offspring. These offspring then multiplied, creating generations of tomb guardians. Because of their inbreeding, certain ailments gradually took hold, turning them into pale, distorted figures. Furthermore, due to their long-term residence in the dark world, the functions of their bodies, like the blind fish captured by Chu Ba, underwent changes.

These people guarded the interior of the ancient tomb and initially cooperated with the Miao people outside. The Miao people in the deep mountains would select suitable tomb guardians at certain times to go to the ancient tomb, so that the two sides could restrain each other and prevent the loss of funerary objects from the tomb.

As things unfolded, it suddenly dawned on me that the so-called balance between the two sides wasn't as simple as it sounded. Although their initial intention was to protect the ancient tomb, I couldn't believe that their descendants, who had been guarding such a cold place for so long, wouldn't have other thoughts. Sure enough, Lan Quexi's next words confirmed this. She said that in earlier years, the tomb keepers' initial intention was for Princess Chu, but as time went on, estrangement, conflict, and mutual suspicion arose among their descendants. Everything remained peaceful only because neither side had crossed any lines, but this peace was merely an illusion. In reality, both groups harbored ulterior motives and were waiting for the right moment to erupt.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yi asked Lan Quexi, "How many descendants of the Eight Witches are there here?"

Lan Quexi shook her head and said, "I doubt even my grandmother could be sure..."

Speaking of the descendants of the Eight Witches, I suddenly remembered the shadowy figures I had seen earlier. These shadowy figures were even more sinister than the cave monsters I had seen. I saw that they were wearing purplish-black witch robes, with drooping shoulders, and they did not look like benevolent people. I couldn't help but wonder if these people were also descendants of the Eight Witches? Why were their clothes so different from the monsters? Could there be different ranks among them?

Lan Quexi said that although they couldn't be sure how many strange beings were inside the tomb, their thoughts only resided within this ancient tomb. If we stayed here too long, we would be killed. That's why she had spoken very softly when warning us of the danger in the ancient tomb, because she knew that these people were watching us from somewhere in the cave. As she finished speaking, my heart skipped a beat, and I couldn't help but look up at the cave above me. The entrance was very dark, so dark it was suffocating. I thought to myself, at this very moment, there might be someone inside watching us excitedly, preparing to hunt us down and turn us into monsters like Liang Jiu.

I dared not think of that scene again. I snapped out of my reverie, then suddenly remembered something and asked Lan Quexi, "You said earlier that the six Gu tamers turned their swords against you because they hated your grandmother and you. What makes you say that?"

Lan Quexi sighed, explaining that her grandmother had inherited her will and become an elder of the Miao people deep in the mountains. She was a very conservative person and firmly believed in the ancestral tales of Princess Chu ascending to heaven and becoming a deity. She always believed that one day she could lead her people to that level. This belief, once formed and fermented, meant that only one thought remained in her mind; she showed no care or warmth towards her family. On the contrary, she was willing to kill her own flesh and blood and destroy her entire tribe to achieve what she craved.

She chose her nephew Lan Youyu and his sworn brother Tao Lian to guard the tomb, accompanied by six members of her clan. These six clansmen had spent some time in the outside world, but suddenly returned midway through their stay. These were the Gu-feeders we encountered. After returning from the outside world, they stayed in the village for two whole years. Some were chosen to guard the tomb, but others went voluntarily.

Hearing this, I thought they were doing it for an ancient belief, but what Lan Quexi said made us realize that people's hearts are not so simple.

It turned out that after spending some time outside, this group of people had become enamored with life outside the mountains. They wanted to rise above others, so they began to covet the burial artifacts in Princess Chu's tomb. They stayed in the Miao village for two whole years, trying to reintegrate and gain trust, but things spiraled out of their control…

After entering the ancient tomb with Lan Youyu and Tao Lian, they disappeared. Lan Youyu knew the route to the ancient tomb and began his escape plan. At that time, he, Tao Lian, and Lan Quexi agreed to meet in the Magpie Forest and then leave the hometown that buried their lives together.

The six people who fed the Gu poison had a clear goal: to steal the funerary artifacts from the tomb. However, despite their plan, they did not anticipate the complexity and danger of Princess Chu's tomb. As a result, they were captured by the strange man just as they were stealing the artifacts.

At that time, Lan Quexi's grandmother was holding a sacrificial ceremony on the stone steps at the waterfall. Seeing that the six clansmen had lost face and given the descendants of the Eight Witches a reason to blame them, she was furious and immediately carried out an inhumane punishment on them. This punishment was to let the Blood Tail Gu burrow into their flesh, making them the breeders of Gu worms, and forcing them to guard the ancient tomb for the rest of their lives.

Lan Quexi's explanation finally made Chen Tan and me understand why the six Gu tamers didn't hesitate at all when they saw me pointing my knife at her, but instead kept approaching. To put it bluntly, the Miao girl was just an innocent bystander. These people vented their hatred for her grandmother on her, and we almost became scapegoats for their own murder.

At that time, Lan Youyu and Tao Lian, who had entered the ancient tomb with the six Gu feeders, were also captured by the strange man. At that time, the Miao tribe in the deep mountains had strict clan rules. Lan Quexi's grandmother was a ruthless character. When she saw that everything had deviated from her original intention, in order to warn and continue to balance the descendants of the Eight Witches, she offered Lan Youyu and Tao Lian to the spirit-gathering snake that guarded the tomb.

This kind of thing, if done to an enemy, wouldn't evoke such strong resentment, but when it happens between a grandmother and her own nephew, it's utterly disgusting. I wondered if this grandmother was a psychopath, capable of such cruelty to her own family; was her heart truly made of iron? But then I thought, living in such a closed world, with all her thoughts and perceptions imprisoned, would drive her to such madness, sacrificing everything for a foolish belief. It's like how we can't imagine the tyrannical King Zhou inventing the torture of branding people with hot irons, or chopping people into mincemeat… Sometimes, a certain environment creates someone unimaginable to ordinary people.

After Lan You's death, Lan Quexi naturally failed to escape and was chosen as the next tomb guardian. When we met her, she was being escorted to the ancient tomb by six Gu feeders, but someone discovered us along the way, which led to the series of events that followed.

Now that most of the truth is clear, the next step, as we had planned, is to head to the center of the ancient tomb—the main coffin chamber of Princess Chu.