The Lost Tomb Vol. 1

Chapter 62: Gate of Life

Qimen Dunjia originated more than 4,600 years ago, which was almost as long as China's recorded history. The first person to use Qimen Dunjia was our ancestor the Yellow Emperor(1), who then passed it down from generation to generation. Almost every military strategist or anyone involved in military affairs knew a little bit about it, but in fact, after the Han Dynasty, the Qimen Dunjia was no longer a complete text. This was because after old man Huangshi passed it on to Zhang Liang(2), the fucker simplified it so much that later generations basically couldn't understand it.

My knowledge of Qimen Dunjia mainly came from Uncle Two (not Uncle Three). Although I didn't know much about it, when Zhang Qiling mentioned it, I at least didn't look like Fatty, who was staring at him as if he was speaking a foreign language. Qimen Dunjia had 4,320 parts at first, but when it fell into the hands of the Yellow Emperor, he only understood 1,080 parts of it. By the time it reached Zhang Liang, there were 72 parts. Now, only 42 parts had been collected and sorted by my Uncle Two, which was very rare. There were only 18 known parts in the world but my Uncle Three had stumbled across the other parts in a Han tomb.

Although Qimen Dunjia was a mysterious divination method, it was used in the art of war and to also determine one's fate. Using it, you could arrange troops on the battlefield and boost their fighting spirit. Qimen Dunjia was also called the "Eight Battle Formations" and could be divided into eight gates: Prosperity Gate, Rest Gate, Life Gate, Death Gate, Fear Gate, Injury Gate, Failure Gate, and Pleasure Gate. The Life Gate would lead you to life while the Death Gate would lead you to death. If you entered any of the other gates, you would see all eight gates again and the cycle would repeat over and over again.

When Zhang Qiling found these eight hidden doors, he naturally thought of Qimen Dunjia. But these hidden doors were actually very narrow and could only accommodate one person passing through sideways. Moreover, the area was shrouded in fog and the brick wall with the doors would sometimes rotate. You had to push on the bricks to open the doors, but after entering, the door would automatically close. If he hadn't started probing along the wall, he wouldn't have noticed that there was something strange here at all.

Zhang Qiling was a little upset with his own carelessness. He wasn't a reckless person, but he had been too eager for quick success just now and ended up failing. In this world, strange and ingenious traps were usually small and performed one specific action, but this place was the complete opposite. In other words, this mechanism was large and complex, which made it difficult for him to defend against.

When he walked back to the stele and told the group what he had found, everyone immediately went into an uproar. Not only was Qimen Dunjia generally very difficult to understand and knowledge was limited, but they had just been baptized by the Cultural Revolution. How could they possibly understand it? Chen Wen-Jin pondered over it for a while before suddenly saying, "Wu Sanxing's behavior just now was very strange. It was almost like he was possessed by a female ghost. Could this ghost be the owner of this tomb, and the hidden door he just entered be the 'Life Gate'?"

Zhang Qiling looked into her eyes and saw that she seemed to have thought of something. "Did you think of something?" He asked her.

Chen Wen-Jin told him to follow her and then turned and walked in front of the stele. Imitating Uncle Three, she knelt down and began combing her hair. She had a good figure so she looked especially attractive kneeling in such a position. In fact, several of the men in the group stared at her in a daze. After combing her hair a few times and slowly turning her head from left to right, she suddenly trembled and shouted, "I found it!"

After hearing this, everyone immediately gathered around and examined the stele for a long time but they still couldn't see anything. "No, not like that," Chen Wen-Jin said. "You can only see it if you do what I did and kneel right here!" Zhang Qiling seemed to understand what she was talking about and immediately knelt down. Chen Wen-Jin pressed down on his shoulder and said, "You're too tall. You need to bend down a little. And don't look straight ahead. You have to look to the side, as if you're looking at your temples."