The Lost Tomb Vol. 1

Chapter 18: Big Tree

I carefully climbed out of the hole and saw that there was only a small ledge to stand on. It was protruding out from a cliff that was at least fifteen meters tall. A strong wind was blowing all around so I had to cling to the cliff as I observed this place.

I really don't know how to describe what I saw. In front of my eyes was a huge natural cave that was roughly the size of a soccer field, with a huge crack in the ceiling. The moonlight was shining down through this crack, just bright enough to outline the whole cave. I was currently clinging to the cliff wall on the western side of the cave. I couldn't see any way to climb up or down, but as I glanced at our surroundings, I found that the cave walls all around us were densely packed with holes. There seemed to be thousands of them, as if many high-caliber machine guns had swept across the cave walls more than a dozen times.

But the most shocking thing was the big tree in the middle of this cave. It was almost ten stories high and so wide that even ten people holding hands wouldn't be able to encircle it. And on that big tree were countless vines as thick as telephone poles. These vines crisscrossed each other and became entangled with almost everything they touched. Their tendrils hung down from the tree like willow branches. Some were hanging in midair, some were touching the ground, and some even stretched into the holes in the cave walls. These vines spread across the cave as far as the eye could see, and I even saw one or two of them creeping along the edge of our hole.

I looked more carefully at the tree and found that there appeared to be many things hanging on its innermost branches. I thought it was fruit at first, but based on the outlines of these things, that didn't seem to be the case. These strange objects were hidden behind the dense vines, but they could occasionally be seen swaying in the wind that blew.

At the bottom of this natural cave was a round stone veranda, which started from a small structure that looked like a sacrificial altar and went all the way to the area below the tree canopy. I could vaguely see a stone platform at the other end of the veranda, along with more than a dozen steps leading up to a jade bed that had been placed on top of this platform. There seemed to be a person lying on the jade bed, but I didn't dare jump to conclusions because it was so far away that I couldn't see anything besides a vague outline.

The fat guy was very excited and shouted, "Shit, I really found it! This must be the main tomb chamber of that Western Zhou Dynasty tomb. I bet King Shang of Lu's body is lying on that jade platform. But that old man is really evil for robbing somebody's tomb and taking it for himself. He's like a sparrow stealing a dove's nest. Today, I, Fat Master, will take action on behalf of the heavens and punish this unprofessional. He'll know what fate awaits those dishonest grave robbers!" He was so excited that he didn't even think about what he was saying or the fact that he was also a grave robber.

At this time, Pan Zi suddenly said, "You guys better not act rashly. This whole King Shang of Lu thing is very strange. I think there must be another mystery here. We should first try to find a way to get aboveground from that crack in the ceiling."

I looked up at the top of the cave and couldn't help but feel stunned. Not only wasn't it going to be easy to climb to the top, but we'd have to hang upside down over a long distance in order to get to the crack. We weren't Spiderman. How could we possibly do that?

I turned my head to ask the fat guy for his opinion, only to see that half his body was already leaning away from the cliff. He obviously didn't take Pan Zi's words to heart at all. I didn't bother stopping him, though, because I could see that he was very agile. In just a few quick moves, he had already climbed down more than two meters and reached another hole. But just as he was about to continue climbing down, a hand suddenly stretched out from the hole and grabbed his leg.