There were no inscriptions on the bronze coffin, but there were many patterns around the bronze face in the center. Since the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, patterns were the most important source of information other than the inscriptions on the bronze wares. Not only were they very artistic, but they were also very important for the worship, politics, and culture of that time.
Chen Yulou and Partridge Whistle were professionals, so they more or less knew about these things. Although Laura and the others were not familiar with Chinese culture, they were still better than ordinary people.
Partridge Whistle carefully examined the patterns around the bronze coffin and said solemnly, "These interconnected patterns should be the thunder pattern, which was mostly seen in the late Shang and early Zhou Dynasties, and became popular again after the Warring States Period. In addition, there are also the Kui pattern and the beast face pattern (Taotie pattern), in which the beast face has a fierce expression. On the four corners of the human face, there is a very rare pattern of a divine tiger devouring a man."
Chen Yulou also came over to take a closer look. Under the bright miner's lamp, the divine tiger on the upper right corner of the bronze coffin was fierce and dignified, but not scary. In the arms of the divine tiger with wings on its back, there was a woman with broken wings and a ferocious face. In the simple and vivid pattern, Chen Yulou and the others could actually see the charm of her struggle.
"No, this should not be the divine tiger devouring a man. The pattern of the divine tiger is dignified and solemn, but the woman it devoured has a ferocious, evil, and strange face. This should be the pattern of the divine tiger devouring drought demon. The craftsman who cast this bronze coffin hoped to use the majesty and power of the divine tiger to suppress the thing inside the coffin." Chen Yulou said seriously, "Brother Partridge Whistle, I remember that many of you Tomb Raider Captains are afraid of bronze coffins, right?"
Partridge Whistle sang in a low voice, "Dark Sunken Coffin, Bronze Coffin, Don't go near it if the eight characters are not strong! Vertical Burial Pit, Box Grave, Moving Mountain, Removing Ridge, Walking Around! "
"Although bronze is precious, the ancients thought that it was too heavy, so it was the lowest of the materials for coffins. The nobles used the best wood to make their coffins. Very few of them used bronze coffins for burial, unless the owner of the tomb showed signs of reanimation. Only then would they use bronze coffins to prevent the owner from breaking the coffin and harming others. Therefore, if one's Eight Characters were not strong, one would not be reliable. A vertical burial is a grave taboo! "
"Death is like sleeping. Of course, one has to be buried horizontally. Being buried vertically either means that there's a deep grudge between the deceased and the deceased so that they won't be able to rest in peace, or they're suppressing the thing in the coffin!"
Chen Yulou took a deep breath, "The bronze coffin hidden behind the lamp is made of bronze and is buried vertically. On the coffin, there are even divine beast inscriptions that symbolize majesty and ferocity, as well as suppressing evil …"
"It's a taboo for a corpse to hold its breath. If the corpse has a breath of resentment and life energy that doesn't dissipate, it will most likely turn into a dumpling. Not only does this coffin have human faces on all four sides, it also has seven holes on the human face and is buried vertically. The bronze is inserted into the bronze coffin like wood, as if it's afraid that the thing in the coffin won't reanimate."
"We've already tried it before. The burning of the Mermaid Ointment will promote the circulation of life energy. This bronze coffin has a Mermaid Ointment lamp on top of it. It's basically using the corpse inside to prolong its life energy. It's easy to imagine what's being suppressed inside!"
Laura was horrified, "What's inside?"
"Drought Demon!" Chen Yulou answered with a solemn expression, "It's also called a mutated corpse. It's one of the most ferocious types of dumplings. It's either covered in feathers, or has horns on its head, or has scales all over its body. This thing belongs to the category of evil. When it appears, there will be great calamity in the world. The red-haired dumplings and green-haired dumplings that we've seen when we were fighting were the weakest of the mutated corpses."
Partridge Whistle's expression suddenly became a little strange. He looked at the bronze coffin behind him and said in a low voice, "The nobles of the six states should be buried in this bronze coffin. After the Qin First Emperor unified the world, he wantonly slaughtered the nobles of the six states who plotted to overthrow his rule. At that time, the royal family of the six states and a large number of nobles under them had been ruling for dozens of generations. Many of these families can be traced back to the period when the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty was enfeoffed.
"The royal families and nobles of the six states had many amazing skills. After they were captured, these nobles who boasted of their noble bloodline were most likely buried here by the First Emperor. Their corpses were nourished with Fengshui spells and mermaid ointment. The mutated Drought Demon Corpse was then drained of its immortal Qi by the bronze wood and fed to the ever-burning lamps."
Chen Yulou looked up from the bronze coffin and said, "This bronze coffin is indeed strange. It doesn't have a wedge structure to hold the coffin lid in place. Instead, it's locked from the inside by the Mohist Clan's Art of Mechanism. If I'm not wrong, this lock should be the Yin-Yang Lock. If the lock core is not rusted, as long as we know the time of entry, we can open the bronze coffin according to the four seasons and eight pillars."
The few of them didn't know how long they had stayed in this underground palace. Previously, their attention had been attracted by the mermaid lantern and the bronze coffin. Now that their attention was slightly distracted, they could feel their stomachs burning with hunger. O'Connor and the others only had a few pieces of compressed biscuits with them. When Chen Yulou and the others landed, their supplies were carried by others. Now that they were separated, they had nothing but a water bottle with them.
Chen Yulou was already regretting wasting half a bottle of water so easily. Now that their supplies were far from enough for them to continue exploring, he said to the others, "Right now, the dry rations we brought are only enough to sustain us for three days. After three days, we won't be able to continue exploring. Based on the current situation, the First Emperor's Mausoleum is huge and its structure is complex. It's not something we can explore in three days. Fortunately, the First Emperor's Mausoleum was built in the middle of Mount Li. With such a large area, there must be insects, snakes, and beasts living in it."
"We also have fire seeds with us, so we can obtain fuel. Before, we met many insects living underground, most of them are not poisonous. If we burn them with fire, we can still fill our stomachs. "
As Chen Yulou spoke, Laura's face became incomparably ugly. The others weren't any better. Partridge Whistle quietly added, "The underground river from before should have an exit nearby, I'll go see if I can find a water source." Laura was speechless. She thought of the Qin Warriors and Yin Corpses that flowed down from the bottom of the underground river. Her words were stuck in her throat, but she couldn't say a single word.
Chen Yulou just took off his water bottle and gave it to him along with Molle and Miss Hong. He said in a low voice, "First try to see if there are any poisonous insects."
Chen Yulou had everyone calm down first. His hearing was excellent, if there really was water nearby, even the slightest sound of water would not be able to escape his ears. At least he could point Partridge Whistle in a direction. Everyone held their breaths, the entire tomb was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard. Chen Yulou concentrated, he could clearly hear the heartbeats and breathing of the people nearby.
Partridge Whistle's breathing was long and his heartbeat was slow. Molle's heartbeat was strong and his breathing was a bit rough. Miss Hong's breathing was calm and her heartbeat was relatively calm. Commander Bai's stamina had declined with age, Chen Yulou could hear that his heartbeat was a bit irregular. He secretly decided to let this old man rest a bit more. The foreigners had not learned how to regulate their breathing, so they were rough and rapid, their heartbeats were also irregular.
Chen Yulou secretly listened to their breathing, but he suddenly heard a heartbeat. This heartbeat was very sudden, Chen Yulou could clearly tell that it was not one of them. He suddenly became a bit nervous, suspecting that it was an illusion, he concentrated even more on listening.
After a few dozen breaths, another heartbeat was heard.
Chen Yulou listened for nearly a quarter of an hour before he finally confirmed that besides the eight of them, there was another heartbeat nearby. Although it was relatively weak, it was quite clear. This heartbeat was more than ten times slower than an ordinary person. Chen Yulou had noticed the time on the watch on Laura's left wrist. It would only beat once every minute and a half, following the faint breathing sound.
This sound was very weak. Chen Yulou listened for a long time before he locked on to the source of the heartbeat.
This made him break out in a cold sweat. He was sure that the heartbeat was coming from the bronze outer-coffin behind him, and as time passed, the heartbeat was speeding up, as if something was awakening.
Although the others did not know why Chen Yulou was gesturing for everyone to be quiet after so long, the expression on his face gradually turned ugly. Now, Chen Yulou's face was ashen. He gestured for everyone to leave and led the way forward.
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