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Above us, there was an opening resembling a cave, where the light from our mining lamps met the darkness. A massive face protruded from it, larger than that of an ordinary person by more than double, covered in white fur as if it had just emerged from a pile of flour. It had a sharp nose and a pair of blood-red round eyes that stared intently at the three of us. Its mouth was wide open, revealing two large incisors, and drool was dripping down like a river.
The creature had a short neck, with its upper body leaning out. Its fur was black and short, glistening under the lamp's light. The creature peered left and right, unable to resist any longer. Suddenly, it leaped down, and with the help of our mining lamps, we could see clearly that it was a white-headed rat the size of a pig. Li had never seen such a large rat before and gasped in shock, nearly stumbling backward! This was the underground; it was the king here!
"Damn it! We actually encountered a Gaochang Rat; I can't believe these things really exist!" The old man was clearly startled as well. According to the Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang, there were rat kings in the Gaochang Kingdom, some as big as pigs and others like rabbits, with heads as white as snow. Merchants who did not pay their respects would suffer light consequences like having their clothes gnawed or severe ones leading to immediate death. Since Gaochang fell to the Karakhanid Khanate, these rats had also gone extinct. Who would have thought we would encounter one underground?
Li didn't have time to think; the creature jumped up to three meters high and pounced directly at him. It turned out that Li's blood scent was quite enticing to the rat! "Shoot! Li Gedan!" "Oh! This little bastard? I killed a whole bunch back in my day!" Li Gedan, known for his stealth, crouched low like a cat and swiftly pushed forward with his left hand like a gust of wind, firing one shot at the giant rat. In an instant, he switched to his right hand and fired again, hitting the rat squarely in the head. The massive rat fell with a thud onto Li, black blood gushing out and emitting a nauseating stench!
Li Gedan was no ordinary person; his real name was Li Xuanzhong, a master tomb raider from the southern school. He could read faces and assess feng shui to determine dragon veins. During the Taklamakan Desert meteorite incident, he nominally led the team under Zhang Huzi, but in reality, the true leaders were Old Man Xia and Li Gedan themselves. Out of over a hundred people in their team who ventured into the desert, only three remained by the end; without some skills, that would be unimaginable.
Before we knew it, several more Gaochang Rats crawled out in succession, swarming over their dead comrade and devouring it ravenously until nothing but bones remained.
"Quick! Run towards that hole in the wall," Old Man Xia said. At around fifty-three or fifty-four years old, he sprang forward like a flying monkey up the slope and leaped into the cave. Using both hands and feet to push off hard, he soared up eight or nine meters high and tossed down a rope. Even someone like Li, who was trained as an elite soldier, was left stunned by this display. Old Man Xia shouted, "Kid! Don't just stand there; grab your gear and run up here!" With all his strength, Li grabbed hold of the rope and climbed up with agility.
Li Gedan stayed behind to fend off the Gaochang Rats with rapid gunfire. He took a few steps back for momentum before charging toward the wall. Grabbing onto the rope with both hands, he performed a flip and landed on top effortlessly. Even someone as experienced as Li was taken aback by these two old men’s prowess! The three of them scrambled into the cave.
The tunnel was only half their height; they had to crouch low to pass through. The earthen walls were marked with claw marks!
"Li Gedan! There are no outsiders now; it's time to show your skills!"
"With just these three little brats? I can take them out with one shot each!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Li Gedan sat down on his feet while twisting his upper body one hundred eighty degrees. He quickly extended his right arm; his gun moved like Dragonfly Touch water. After three shots rang out, all three white-headed rats lay twitching on the ground as if they were done for!
Li broke into a cold sweat; even the best marksman on a farm couldn't compare to Li Gedan's skill. Indeed, Real Person kept his true abilities hidden; Old Man Xia's background must be even more extraordinary!
After about ten minutes of walking, Old Man Xia shone his mining lamp ahead: "Li Gedan, it looks like there's a passageway up ahead. Right now we're in a rat hole—ha! Ha! Ha!" "Ha! Ha! Ha! I know!" The two laughed together; those three Chinook Salmon were also taken care of by this old man!
Sure enough, after just over a hundred steps, they reached the end of this earthen tunnel. The passageway was tall enough for one person to walk through and constructed entirely from large blue stones with an arched ceiling. "Kid! When we go ahead in three steps straight ahead then four steps diagonally left followed by three steps straight again then four steps diagonally right—don't get it wrong," Old Man Xia instructed confidently without even looking at his feet as they repeated this sequence for about ten minutes. Li felt cold sweat pouring down him as he stumbled slightly.
"Get down!" Hearing metal scrape against stone, Li Gedan suddenly pushed Li down forcefully. Sure enough—whoosh! Whoosh!—several hidden arrows whizzed past their heads.
"Kid! This is a Han-style tomb; there are crossbows and flying arrows in this passageway. Back when I entered tombs you weren't even born yet!" Old Man Xia pulled Li up again and continued left three steps then right two steps for another ten minutes until they faced a massive stone wall blocking their path. The wall was carved from one solid piece of stone with three lines of writing inscribed in its center—one line resembling Sanskrit, another in Han script, and another similar to Semitic script. Li looked at it in confusion: "What does this say?"
Old Man Xia muttered in a strange voice, finally speaking in human language: "It says here, 'Anyone who dares to disturb my grave shall face dire consequences!'" He added, "In modern terms, it means anyone who dares to dig up my grave will curse their entire family to death!"
Li Gedan chuckled, "It really is Qilu Script and Khotanese. It seems we are in the Tomb of Khotan!"
Qilu Script, fully known as Qilu Script, is also called Galu Script. It is said that a celestial being with the body of a donkey from the region of Zhu created this phonetic writing system that runs from left to right. Later, it spread from Zhu to the Western Region of Niya and Loulan, becoming the common script of the area.
"Old Man Xia, could this stone wall be the Diamond Wall?"
"Blow it up with explosives?" Seeing no one respond, Li continued.
"Kid, if you set off explosives, we would all be done for!"
"This broken door can't possibly stop me." Old Man Xia pulled out a thin iron claw from his pocket and swiftly scraped it against the stone door, which opened a crack, revealing a faint glow! He then took out a piece of hard steel wire from his Military Pack and deftly hooked it into the gap. With both hands bracing against either side of the door, he gently pushed, and with a creak, the heavy door swung open. Old Man Xia walked in as if returning home!
Li followed him inside. Perhaps due to being in darkness for too long, a sudden burst of bright light blinded him momentarily. After a while, he managed to open his eyes slightly but found himself unable to close them again, stunned by the sight before him.
The tomb chamber was as large as a basketball court, standing four to five meters high, supported on either side by six stone pillars made from whole jade blocks from the Karakoram Mountain. The pillars were adorned with Gandhara-style reliefs of dancing women, depicted in vivid detail. Beneath them lay heaps of pearls, agate, emeralds, and jade! Luminous pearls sparkled brightly. The chamber emitted waves of fluorescence, cold and dim. In the center of the tomb stood a Fluorescent Stone Coffin radiating blue light.
The Fluorescent Stone Coffin measured three meters long, two meters wide, and one and a half meters high. The coffin was crystal clear and smoothly shaped; one could vaguely see inside it. It seemed that even with the naked eye, one could perceive its chilling aura. Each side of the coffin was intricately carved with four Gandhara-style relief murals featuring flowing lines and lifelike shapes.
Surrounding the Fluorescent Stone Coffin lay dozens of naked corpses of young women aged around seventeen or eighteen. Their faces were three-dimensional and bore features characteristic of the Aryan Race. Their bodies were crystal white as if they had just died. They were likely sacrificial maidens. Seeing so many jade-like bodies made Li blush deeply.
The ceiling of the tomb arched upwards toward the center like a dome. At its apex was a three-dimensional mural depicting a royal figure dressed similarly to ancient Indians holding a curved dagger to his neck as if about to commit suicide. Kneeling beside him was a rat-headed man staring blankly at a pile of soldiers' corpses scattered around. The battle flag behind the man was also torn; at the mural's edge appeared figures resembling Han people soldiers. One flag bore an inscription in Qilu Script reading "Son of the Eastern Emperor," beneath which stood a young man with handsome features looking jubilant as if victory in battle was imminent.
"Kid! Can you understand this mural?"
"I don't know!"
"If you manage to survive this, you should read more books instead of acting recklessly! It is said that the Prince of Wuyou's advisors and their kin were angrily relocated by the Worry-Free King to the western borders of Khotan. The Eastern Emperor occupied the eastern borders; later on, Master encountered Western Lord on narrow paths and defeated him to unify Khotan. This story is about Western Lord's defeat!"
"That's right! This tomb is most likely Western Lord's tomb!"
"This Western Lord might be an imposter; just look at the reliefs on this coffin."
On closer inspection, the front of the coffin depicted a beggar being dragged away by two soldiers while an aristocratic woman at the city gate looked pleased. The back showed a snake-bodied woman with a human face sealed in a furnace by someone dressed as a Taoist priest. Both ends of the coffin bore inscriptions in Khotanese, Qilu Script, Tocharian, Gaochang Script, Uyghur Script, Hanwen, and Tocharian—each inscribed with spells! The Chinese characters read: "Dust returns to dust; earth returns to earth; live peacefully; die peacefully."
“Li Gedan, do you know the story of that beggar?”
“I really don’t know. I’m quite familiar with the lore of Han Territory, but I only know a little about this border region!”
“That beggar is the true Western Lord; the one in the coffin is a fake. There was a woodcutter living in Chuan Shou who became infatuated with his wife’s beauty and refused to work. Later, his wife painted a portrait of herself and asked him to take it to work. One day, the wind blew that portrait into the hands of the Western Lord, who, upon seeing such a beautiful woman, seized her by force. Naturally, the woman was disheartened! She secretly sent a letter to her husband, asking him to disguise himself as a beggar and beg at the palace steps. When she saw her husband arrive, she revealed a long-lost smile. The king also disguised himself as a beggar to win her favor. However, she ordered her soldiers to capture and kill the king disguised as a beggar. That woodcutter then became the king of this country!”
Li Ting was stunned; he had never heard such a story before. He pointed at the sculpture of a creature with a human head and serpent body, staring at Old Man Xia, his eyes blinking in confusion.
“This is the story of the Beautiful Serpent. After becoming king, this woodcutter went hunting one day and encountered a beautiful woman who claimed to be a princess. Because her country had fallen and her family was gone, she hoped the king would marry her. Without hesitation, the king agreed. Once she entered the palace, not only did she kill the Queen, but every year she demanded to eat a pair of young boys and girls. By the third year, the serpent demon specifically requested to eat the princess disguised as a beggar. The new king was more than happy to oblige. That year, a Taoist from the east claiming to be a master came to warn the king that his queen was actually a serpent demon. The Taoist performed a spell in front of the king, revealing the queen as a monster with a human head and serpent body. The Taoist summoned his powers and sealed the serpent demon in an oven, stating that it might escape after one thousand seven hundred years, at which time he would return to this kingdom. Because of his favoritism towards the serpent demon, the Western Lord’s rule became corrupt and was soon destroyed by the Master. The princess secretly noted down the Taoist’s name; later on, both she and the Taoist disappeared without a trace.”
Old Man Xia finished his tale in one breath while Li Ting remained dumbfounded. His curiosity about the so-called Western Lord in the stone coffin grew even stronger. Inside lay a male corpse that looked exactly like the figure in the mural.
Suddenly, the entire coffin moved, and black smoke began to rise.
A strange fragrance wafted up from beneath the coffin as a ten-foot-long creature with a human head and serpent body reared up aggressively, hissing with its crimson tongue; its snake-like eyes radiated chilling killing intent. A foul-smelling black liquid sprayed out from its fangs towards Li. He rolled away just in time as the creature transformed into a black python that bit down on Li's foot and began to swallow him whole. Li Gedan and Old Man Xia urgently pulled on Li's arms. Two dark lines flashed past—crack! Crack!—and both Li Gedan and Old Man Xia were struck by its tail and rolled aside. Li found himself in grave danger.
“Abomination, stop!” A soft female voice rang out, causing the Beautiful Serpent to retch violently and spit Li out before quickly retreating into a dark hole beneath the coffin.
The three of them gasped for breath for some time before regaining their composure. They all turned their gaze toward the coffin where suddenly, the male corpse’s eyes opened wide—two hollow blood-red eyes with an eerie smile creeping across its lips.
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