The three of us hurried back to the ancient tomb in Wild Man Valley. We had done most of the work already. With a few cuts from the engineer shovel, we broke a large hole in the tomb wall. I shone my flashlight inside and saw that the space was quite big. The hole was over a meter above the floor of the burial chamber. Fatty was thrilled and rolled up his sleeves, ready to jump in. I quickly grabbed him and said, “Are you crazy? Go catch a few sparrows first. Put them in a birdcage and take them into the tomb to check the air quality.”
Sparrows were easy to catch in the woods, unlike in crowded areas where they were more cautious. We set a simple trap by scattering some millet and propping a pot upside down over it. We hid nearby, and when a sparrow came to eat, we pulled a string to knock the pot down and catch it.
We caught three sparrows in one go. I put one in the birdcage, tied a string to it, and lowered it into the depths of the tomb. After smoking a couple of cigarettes, I figured enough time had passed and pulled the cage back up. To my dismay, the little sparrow was lying on its back, eyes rolled back—it was dead.
This tomb had been sealed underground for hundreds of years, and the air inside was stagnant. Before a body decays, it first swells up, filling the space with the smell of decay. Although the tomb didn’t have a true vacuum, the stench from the rotting corpses would linger if there was no ventilation. Even after hundreds of years, the air would still be toxic. Breathing in such gases could cause dizziness or even death, unless you had a gas mask. We had to be very careful at this stage.
It seemed the tomb would need more time for the mountain winds to clear out the toxic air. So, we went back up the slope to eat some dried food and jerky. We hadn’t slept all night and had worked hard today, so we were quite tired. But the thought of the treasures in the tomb wiped away our fatigue. This was our first real attempt, and we hoped to find something valuable. My previous understanding of tomb raiding had only been theoretical, but today’s practice wasn’t too difficult, partly because of the target we chose. The Jurchens of the Jin Dynasty were considered uncivilized at the time, and their tomb closely followed the style of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was quite small, likely built by Song craftsmen who had been captured. After all, the craftsmanship of the glazed dragon fire roof was very complex, and without skilled hands, it would be hard to construct. A slight mistake could lead to disaster for those working on the tomb.
After finishing our dried food, we noticed it was getting late. We figured the air in the tomb must have improved by now. Worried about being attacked by creatures in the underground cave at night, we were eager to grab what we could and leave. So, we gathered our equipment and headed back down into the Wild Man Valley.
This time, we placed the sparrows inside again. When we took them out, they were still lively, which meant the air was likely safe. Fatty and I took a few swigs of liquor to boost our courage. We put on masks and gloves, hung a talisman around our necks, and tucked a black donkey hoof and some sticky rice into our pockets. With a flashlight in hand and an engineer shovel at my waist, we were ready to enter the ancient tomb.
Seeing this, Yingzi quickly grabbed my arm and said, “Let me go in and take a look! I’ve never seen what an ancient tomb looks like.”
I replied, “There’s nothing much in an ancient tomb—just old corpses and burial goods. What’s there to see? To be honest, this is my first time too; I’ve never been inside before. Besides, aren’t you afraid of dead people? Why aren’t you scared now?”
Yingzi was very curious and, seeing how mysterious Fatty and I were acting, she was even more eager to go in. I thought about it and realized that in this remote area, we didn’t need to worry about someone keeping watch (tomb raiders usually work in groups of three: one digs, another scatters the dirt, and the third keeps watch from a distance). Letting her come in for a look wouldn’t be a big deal. So, I found her a mask and reminded her a few things: once inside, she must not take off the mask because the air quality was poor; living people’s breath shouldn’t linger in the tomb, as it was considered bad luck; and she shouldn’t exhale toward the ancient corpses, as that could cause trouble if they were to “come back to life.” Although these were superstitions, the rules had been passed down for thousands of years, and there was some sense to them. It was better to be cautious and stick to tradition.
Fatty was already getting impatient. “Hu Ba Yi, when did you become so fussy? If you’re too scared to go down, let me go alone, and you two can just wait to count the money.”
I shot back, “Shut up! You wouldn’t even find the coffin down there. Let’s stop arguing; it’s getting dark. We need to get to work.”
The hole we had dug in the tomb wall was only about a meter from the floor of the burial chamber, so we didn’t need any ropes to get down. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.
The burial chamber wasn’t very large, maybe around thirty square meters. It seemed to be designed like a living space, with a main room, a back room, and two side rooms. We entered through one of the side rooms, and the coffin of the tomb owner was right in the center of the main room.
There was no burial bed; instead, a shallow pit had been dug in the middle of the main room, and a dark coffin was placed inside, half of it exposed. This was a tomb within a tomb.
In one corner of the main room, several skeletons were piled up. The skulls were cracked and dented, showing clear signs of blunt force trauma. They were likely prisoners or servants sacrificed to accompany the tomb owner. Since we weren’t archaeologists, we chose to ignore them.
Suddenly, Yingzi grabbed my arm and said, “Hu, look! There are paintings on the wall!”
I shone my flashlight on the wall where Yingzi was pointing, and sure enough, there were colorful relief paintings depicting various scenes. The figures in the paintings looked ancient yet vivid. Despite the passage of time, the colors were still bright, but with the air flowing into the tomb, they would soon fade.
Fatty exclaimed, “It seems the dead person in this tomb might have been an artist in ancient times.”
I replied, “Don’t pretend to know what you don’t. During the Tang and Song dynasties, many noble tombs had wall paintings to depict the significant events in the life of the tomb owner. Let’s see who this person was.”
There were a total of eight wall paintings, and we examined them in order. Some depicted scenes of hunting in the forest, others showed friends drinking in a hall, some illustrated military expeditions, and others portrayed the escorting of prisoners. The last painting depicted a scene of conferring a title. In each painting, there was a man wearing a fox fur hat, who was likely the tomb owner. It seemed this was a general’s tomb, or at least someone of high rank.
When the Jin soldiers invaded the South and destroyed the Song Dynasty, they plundered a vast amount of gold and silver treasures. This Jin general might have brought some of his spoils underground with him. Since they were treasures belonging to our Han people, we wouldn’t hold back!
The three of us first explored the burial chamber. In the two side rooms, we found only some ceramic jars and clay pots. The back room contained four horse bones and some armor and weapons, but there wasn’t much else. It seemed the Jin people didn’t bury their dead with much wealth, which left me feeling a bit disappointed. We lit a candle in the southeast corner and gathered in front of the coffin in the main room, ready to see what we could find.
The coffin of the tomb owner was quite large, made of redwood and painted black, adorned with golden patterns. The colors and design were very unusual, likely related to the totems of the Jurchen people. I touched the coffin board; it was thick and sturdy. Generally, poor people couldn’t afford such a thick coffin; even a thin one was a luxury, while the less fortunate would just wrap their bodies in straw mats and bury them in the ground.
The most valuable part of the coffin was the wood from a type of tree called “yinchenmu,” or “dark wood,” which is the heartwood of the tree. It takes thousands of years for a yinchenmu tree to grow, mature, and then be buried underground to take shape. This kind of wood is rare and can only be enjoyed by royalty. A body buried in yinchenmu would never decay, making it more valuable than crystal coffins and even more effective than modern refrigeration. Other valuable woods included linden and ancient cypress, with thicker heartwood being more valuable. This wood not only prevented decay but also kept insects away, effectively stopping maggots and ants from feasting on the body. No tomb owner would want their corpse to be eaten by insects after death; just thinking about it is disgusting. That’s why noble families had strict requirements for the materials used in their coffins.
The wood of the coffin in front of us, while not royal, was still quite luxurious. I inserted my engineer shovel into the gap between the coffin boards and tried to pry it open, but it was firmly nailed shut. Even after applying force twice, I couldn’t get it open.
Fatty pulled out his tool to help, and together we pried at the coffin. It creaked loudly, and finally, we managed to open a large gap. We changed positions and took turns prying up the nails from the coffin.
The tomb was very dry, with well-sealed walls and a roof made of glazed tiles that didn’t leak. Most of the rainwater in Wild Man Valley was absorbed by the layer of fallen leaves, so there was quite a bit of dust inside the coffin. As we moved, the dust swirled around, and even with our masks on, we couldn’t help but cough. We definitely needed to prepare some gas masks for our next visit; otherwise, we’d end up with problems sooner or later.
Fatty wanted to push the coffin lid open, and I suddenly thought of scaring him a bit as a prank. I grabbed his arm and said, “Fatty, guess what’s inside this coffin?”
He replied, “How would I know? Whatever’s in there can be exchanged for money… or even food stamps!”
I lowered my voice and said, “I once heard my grandfather tell a story from ‘Taiping Guangji’ about two tomb raiders, one fat and one thin. They found a big coffin in an ancient tomb, but no matter what they did—cutting or chopping—they couldn’t get it open. One of the fat raiders could recite the ‘Great Compassion Mantra,’ so he chanted it at the coffin, and suddenly, the lid opened a crack… and out came an arm covered in green fur…”
Fatty wasn’t scared, but Yingzi was quite frightened and quickly hid behind him. “Brother Hu, don’t mess around! Look at where we are; you’re trying to scare us to death!”
Aside from his fear of heights, Fatty was generally unafraid. Back in school, he was known for being tough in fights. At that moment, he showed no fear and wore a righteous expression. “Yingzi, don’t listen to him. This guy just wants to scare me. Does he know who I am? I’ve never been afraid of anything! Let him keep talking.”
I continued, “That green-furred arm had nails over three inches long. It grabbed the fat raider who was chanting the mantra and pulled him into the coffin. The lid closed immediately, and you could hear his screams from inside, which scared the other raider so much that he turned and ran…”
Fatty forced a laugh, but it was a bit strained. I could tell he was starting to have doubts, but he insisted on playing the brave man. He stepped forward to help me push the coffin lid, and we pushed too hard, causing the entire lid to crash to the ground. The contents of the coffin were now fully exposed.
Inside the coffin lay a tall male corpse. The moisture had evaporated from his body, leaving only a dark purple, dry skin stretched over his skeletal frame. After nearly a thousand years, this was considered relatively well-preserved (finding a wet corpse like those from the Mawangdui tomb in Hunan is extremely rare). Although his features were sunken and his eyes and nose had become black holes, his face was still somewhat recognizable. He appeared to be around fifty years old, wearing a crown and a red robe with blue trim, embroidered with gold thread, and cloud-patterned boots. His hands were placed on his chest.
Yingzi peeked over Fatty’s shoulder to take a look inside and let out a startled scream, “Oh my gosh, that’s so scary!” She quickly turned her gaze away, too frightened to look again.
Her scream sent a shiver down my spine, but with the coffin already open, there was no way I could just turn and run. I steeled myself and clasped my hands together, bowing three times to the ancient corpse. “We are in need, and we have no choice but to borrow a few items to exchange for some money. Please don’t take offense. You’ve long since departed this world, and wherever you need to go, you should go. Wealth and jewels are just material possessions. You can’t take them with you when you die. We, too, have our principles. After taking these items, we will use most of them to improve the lives of the people.”
Before I could finish my speech, Fatty could no longer contain himself. He reached into the coffin and started rummaging around. I quickly warned him, “Hey, be careful! Don’t damage the body!”
But Fatty wasn’t listening. Since entering the tomb, he hadn’t found anything valuable, aside from a few old jars and the remains of the burial items. After all the trouble we’d gone through, he was eager to see what treasures the tomb owner might have left behind.
Seeing that my attempts to dissuade Fatty were futile, I decided to stop talking and joined him in rummaging through the items in the coffin. Next to the ancient corpse were some pieces of porcelain. At that time, I didn’t know much about antiques, especially porcelain. I had only seen a few pieces of Northern Song blue-and-white porcelain and had no understanding of their value, craftsmanship, or history. I only knew that gold had a price while jade was priceless, and I was focused on finding some ancient jade. I carelessly tossed the porcelain aside.
Fortunately, I managed to find two jade discs in the hands of the ancient corpse. They were a vibrant green, carved into shapes resembling butterflies, though they were not quite butterflies.
We examined the pair of jade discs for a long time but couldn’t determine exactly what they were. I suspected they might be jadeite and dated back to before the Northern Song Dynasty, which meant they were likely valuable. After all, why would the tomb owner hold onto them until death? They should be worth several tens of thousands, which was quite a sum back then, as there weren’t many households with that much wealth in the country. We would need to have the expert, Big Gold Tooth, appraise them when we got back and possibly contact some Hong Kong merchants to sell them.
Fatty, however, was not satisfied. He wanted to pry open the ancient corpse’s mouth to see if there were any gold teeth. I told him that was enough; we shouldn’t go too far and should leave something behind. We then picked out a few nice-looking pieces of porcelain from the coffin, putting back those that were plain and unadorned.
After we finished collecting our items, we lifted the coffin lid and placed it back on. Although we didn’t leave with as much as we had hoped, at least we weren’t empty-handed. I said to them, “That’s enough. Let’s hurry out, patch up the tomb wall, and head back home.” Just as I turned to leave, I suddenly noticed that the candle in the corner had quietly extinguished without us realizing it.