The Mystic Nine

Chapter 30: Two-Faced Queen of the West

The raised torches revealed that a sun, moon, and stars had been painted at the top of the tomb passage.

The stars were painted in a very clever manner to look like all kinds of lotus flowers of varying sizes. During the Southern Dynasty, Buddhism had spread throughout China, so it was common to see a lot of lotus patterns in tombs. Although the images here were badly mottled, everyone could see what they were at a glance. There was even a fiery red lotus pattern that was different from the other stars.

Anyone with a discerning eye would know that this one-faced official's insignificant position on the wall was very important.

If they went to check the mural in other parts of the long tunnel, they wouldn't find anything strange except for those ancient two-faced people. But as they approached the official's insignificant position, they would find that the details on the mural were very different.

Qi Tiezui said, "Fo Ye, the scene recorded here is exceedingly strange, but if I've guessed it right, it's an ancient mural to worship the heavens. But I've never seen these two-faced ancients before. This is really a first for me. There are few records of two-faced people in China, and the only well-known one is the Queen of the West from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas". Legend has it that she was born with two faces. Those who saw one of her faces would live, and those who saw her other face would die. Look at these faces. The ones not facing the red star in the sky are all smiling with joy, while the ones facing the red star all look sad and miserable. It means the ones facing this red star are the dead faces."

"But this one-faced person was mixed in with them. What's that mean?" Lieutenant asked.

"Look at this man's face." Qi Tiezui said. "His expression isn't either happy or sad. He's just kind of smiling, which shows that he's very calm about what's coming. Instead of looking at the red star in the sky, he's looking at the words on the opposite wall. Based on how he's depicted so calmly and his positioning on the mural, I'd say this man is the tomb owner. And he knows about the red star, so he's not afraid. The red star—in other words, the meteorite—is depicting an astronomical sacrificial activity. And the object is a vision of a rock falling from the sky."

Zhang Qishan thought there was some truth to it, but this place should be an empty grave. The mural was huge and it seemed somewhat illogical to paint it here. But instead of raising the question, he looked at Qi Tiezui quietly.

Qi Tiezui hastened forward along the railway tracks and gradually saw various traces of habitation. There were wooden, bamboo, and iron frames reinforcing the tomb, which started to look similar to the illusion he had seen before. Zhang Qishan looked at the various decaying shelves, mining baskets, and iron carts along the tunnel and knew that this ancient tomb had been discovered long ago. The miners had used it as a place for correcting and stacking ore. These reinforced shelves had been around for generations, with the new ones being stacked on top of the old ones.

Sure enough, they ventured further ahead and found that the tomb passage's wall was full of large, gaping holes. They looked inside and found that a lot of tunnels had been dug downward, and some of them were connected to the surface. A cool wind blew out from these tunnels, indicating that they hadn't collapsed.

Qi Tiezui pointed to one of the tunnels, "The shape of this shaft shows it was made during the Ming Dynasty. You can see that these knotted leather ropes have all rotted into lumps. This mine shaft should be older than the other ones here. It's very likely that they encountered the tomb while digging this mine shaft, so even if there was something in the tomb, it was emptied out hundreds of years ago. But the vein continued down, so all the workers transported their tools down here and cut through the tomb wall to continue chasing it. Look at all the garbage." Sure enough, there were a lot of bowls and chopsticks that didn't seem to be too old. "This tunnel has been used recently."

They went further inside and found that they had reached the end of the tomb passage. The tomb and side chambers had completely collapsed, the diamond gate [1] was completely destroyed, and nothing was left. This was also where the railway ended. There were a lot of wooden boxes laying around, as well as a lot of coal and mining equipment piled up on one side.

"How far have we come?" Zhang Qishan asked.

"About three miles." Lieutenant replied.

"Are the mines here all connected to each other?"

"The relationship between the new and old mines here is complicated. The whole mine has been dug like a maze. Those aboveground are divided into regions under the control of the government-appointed chief. It's all very clear cut. But once you go underground, the one who determines where to dig is the mine boss, so after hundreds of years, these shafts become like secret passages. Those who don't know their way around end up going down the previous dynasties' shafts and can't find their way back." Old Man Zhang said.

Zhang Qishan squatted down, knocked on the railway, and then looked to both sides. "Go and find out if the Japanese bought this mine, and see if it's connected to the surface anywhere. If it is, where does it come out at?"

The old man immediately led people into the mine, and Zhang Qishan turned to Lieutenant, "It takes numbers to operate a mine here, but we haven't encountered any resistance since we've come down. Where is everyone?"

"Do you think it's like the train and they're all dead?"

"If they're dead, where are the bodies?" Zhang Qishan glanced at the scattered mine shafts before turning to look at Qi Tiezui: "Did the expert leave any other messages here?"

Qi Tiezui took a sip of water and spit it on the torch. When the spray connected with the flames, sparks immediately floated up and rolled wildly in the turbulent air. Old Man Zhang appeared nearby, having returned from his exploration of the mine shaft, "Fo Ye, this tunnel really does reach the surface. You'll have to come and take a look at it. There's something a bit...eye-catching up there."

Zhang Qishan gave Lieutenant a look, silently asking him to stay here and protect Qi Tiezui. He then bent down and followed the old man into the mine shaft.

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Note:

[1] Pinyin is "jingang" (金刚). It's not actually made of diamonds. It's just a common name of ancient underground gates/doors/walls.