Chapter 191: Intent

He Yu and I both burst out laughing at Lu Ayao’s words. Only Tian Xiaoqi had better self-control, managing to keep a straight face despite the strain. Qiao Sangui, having been thoroughly insulted, looked like he was on the verge of snapping, but logic told him that the one scolding him was Yin Pozi. He didn’t have the standing to talk back, so he was forced to swallow his pride.

Lu Ayao, however, was relentless. “You only speak of Feng Shui without looking at anything else. The Yin-Yang Thirteen Palaces outside could never be constructed with just a few simple stones. If this weren’t a sea burial where we didn’t have to worry about the decay of the mortise and tenon joints, you and your men would surely have been buried here.”

“As for the dry moat outside, a river without water doesn’t necessarily mean bad Feng Shui. There is a saying, ‘A hidden dragon enters the sea.’ Since the tomb owner had a sea burial, there is already water. If they had added flowing water to the moat, I’m afraid this tomb chamber would have collapsed within a few years. Therefore, the most important element in this burial is the wind. The fact that there is wind outside the chamber but no moisture proves the builder considered this and used the moat as a guide for the air.”

The rest of us listened from the side for a long while, but I felt the only one who truly understood was Qiao Sangui, who was currently stroking his thin mustache. “What about the murals then? This tomb chamber is so sparse, lacking even a mural or an epitaph. Isn’t it just like a pauper’s grave?”

Lu Ayao ignored him and walked toward me. I blinked at him, unsure of what he wanted, but he simply reached out and asked, “Do you have any water?”

I thought to myself that perhaps Professor Lu had talked too much and was thirsty, so I pulled my half-finished bottle of mineral water from my bag and handed it to him. He took the water but didn’t drink it. Instead, he walked back to the crumbling wall, unscrewed the cap, and began splashing the water onto the surface.

I seemed to realize what he was doing, so I narrowed my eyes to watch the wall.

As the water soaked in, lines drawn with pigment gradually began to appear. These lines were incredibly delicate. I had been leaning against a pillar, but I immediately straightened up in shock. There was hidden information on this broken wall!

“Hey, Old Lu, if you’re not going to drink it, don’t waste it like that,” He Yu said, stepping forward to stop him.

I grabbed He Yu and pointed toward the wet patches on the wall. Once he looked closely, he instantly saw the patterns as well. He shook off my hand, pulled a notebook from the side of his bag, and rushed over. He pressed himself against the wall, sketching the exposed drawings into his notebook as he examined them.

The wall wasn’t particularly large, and parts of it were ruined, but by the time the half-bottle of water was gone, the entire image had mostly revealed itself.

I stepped back to observe from a distance and found it was a mural of “Celestial Palace Musicians,” depicting a banquet scene in a divine court. The original painting must have been much larger, as the musicians alone took up half the space. I did a rough count and found over three hundred dancers alone.

He Yu frowned as he sketched, seemingly struck by a thought. He paused, then walked quickly to the end of the section. He touched the edge of the wall and said, “What’s going on? The most important half of the rest has been cut away.”

I had expected as much, so I walked over and crossed my arms as I looked at the severed mural. “Maybe it was done by that same person.”

“What person?” He Yu looked up.

“Someone contacted me through a classmate before, hinting that I should go to the Xinchang Bank vault. I found a list of depositors there, but as soon as I read it once, it was snatched away and burned. Whoever cut this mural away was either an archaeological team or the person who ordered the list to be burned. But with a mural of this scale, an archaeological team wouldn’t destroy it. Even if they had to cut it, they wouldn’t take only half.”

Just then, Tian Xiaoqi suddenly called out to me from behind. “Gan Ji, come look! Are there words carved here?”

I turned around and nearly had the wind knocked out of me. Tian Xiaoqi was leaning over the Phoebe zhennan coffin, her hands gripping the top lid, occasionally crouching down to inspect the outer casing.

Since we entered the Main Hall, no one had been willing to deal with the central coffin first, nor had anyone stepped forward to inspect it. I had planned to wait until we finished checking the rest of the hall before touching the central sarcophagus. I hadn’t expected Tian Xiaoqi to be so reckless, not only touching it but practically lying on top of it.

Seeing this, I hurried down the steps to get her. “You, you, you! What are you doing leaning on that? Get down right now!”

Still leaning over the lid, Tian Xiaoqi blew away some dust and brushed it twice with a small brush she carried. She pointed at the lid. “Come look, there’s writing on here.”

The top of the massive coffin lid reached my chest, and the sarcophagus was quite long, so I couldn’t see the top where she was pointing. I told her, “It’s common to have writing on a coffin lid. Usually, it’s just words of comfort for ancestors or prayers for protection. Don’t mess around. This sarcophagus gives me a bad feeling. Get down.”

Tian Xiaoqi brushed my hand away. “No, no, it doesn’t sound like what you’re saying. Wait, I’ll read it to you once I understand it.”

Standing by the sarcophagus, I was anxious, having no idea what she was seeing. Even if there was an epitaph or something similar carved on the lid, it shouldn’t be that important. She could just come down and let one of the men go up to look.

Tian Xiaoqi clung to the sarcophagus, her face almost pressed against the lid. After finishing, she looked up and smiled at me. “This should be the owner’s epitaph! I’ll read it to you!”

She cleared her throat. “‘After many years of travel, betrayed by both friends and kin, all new grudges and old hatreds are extinguished. A friend has laid my body to rest and buried me here.'”

He Yu and Lu Ayao both stopped what they were doing to listen. Once she finished reading, Tian Xiaoqi slowly shifted her weight and slid down from the lid.

I caught her and said, “It’s likely an epitaph written for the deceased by a descendant. We haven’t even checked the sides of this sarcophagus yet. If there’s a trap inside, none of us would be able to react in time. It was far too dangerous for you to climb up there so recklessly.”

“If there were a trap, I’d be the one dying on top of it. Why are you so worried?” Tian Xiaoqi suddenly asked, uncharacteristically sharp.

I didn’t expect her to ask that. My brain stalled for a moment, and before I could respond, Tian Xiaoqi brushed past me to resume her inspection of the Ship-Burial Coffins pieced together on all sides. I was left standing there, feeling as though I understood exactly what she meant, yet at the same time, as if I didn’t understand at all.

He Yu clicked his ballpoint pen and sidled up to me, bumping me with his hip so hard I nearly toppled onto a coffin. I turned around, ready to snap at him, but he just looked at me with a mock-bashful expression, even extending a finger in a dainty gesture to poke my shoulder. The sheer absurdity of it made my skin crawl with disgust.

“Oh, you rogue, do tell,” He Yu said in a soft, sing-song voice, continuing to grate on my nerves. “What’s the big rush?”

I didn’t find it funny in the slightest. I shoved him aside and walked over to the edge of a coffin to examine the material, lowering my voice. “What the hell is wrong with you? Now you’re making me the butt of your jokes?”

He Yu stopped joking and leaned in, crouching down beside me. He tapped me, gesturing for me to look at Tian Xiaoqi in the distance. I turned my head away and treated him like thin air, prompting him to let out a sigh. “What are you getting worked up for? You brought this on yourself. Back when the two of you were poisoned in that cave-“

I didn’t want to hear it and tried to turn away, but He Yu grabbed me and pulled me back.

“Don’t play dumb with me. We’ve been traveling together all this way; don’t tell me you haven’t noticed anything. If you won’t tell her what’s on your mind, at least tell your brother here. Your families have been close for generations, and she clearly has feelings for you. You have to deal with this eventually.”

I slammed my empty water bottle into his chest and stood up, glaring at him. “Deal with my ass. Stop talking nonsense. The only thing that matters right now is finding a way out of here.”