The tomb chamber was dim, and beside the massive white coffin stood two bronze men, a scene so bizarre and eerie that it unsettled anyone who laid eyes upon it.

At that moment, the boss voiced his suspicions, "This tomb owner really plays by his own rules. Instead of resting in the main tomb chamber, he chose to seclude himself in this remote corner. What could he possibly be up to? And there's a notable lack of burial artifacts, just these two bronze men. At first glance, I mistook them for terracotta warriors." He shone his flashlight on one of the bronze men.

"It's possible that this remote corner is some kind of feng shui treasure land," Third Brother said gravely, "A giant clam for a coffin, tsk tsk. This tomb owner was certainly wealthy. Watch me; I'll get it open."

With that, he pulled a small, foldable steel shovel from his bag. The shovel, compact in size and similar to a sapper shovel, was not only useful for digging but also for prying open coffin lids.

Big Brother assisted with the flashlight while Third Brother, shovel in hand, circled the coffin and outer coffin. I knew he was looking for the ventilation shaft.

In ancient times, whether for commoners or nobles, tombs were intentionally constructed with a small opening, the same with coffins and outer coffins. This tiny aperture, left to allow the soul of the deceased to ascend to heaven, was known as the ventilation shaft.

By the time of the Tang and Song dynasties, the ventilation shaft was renamed the "wooden well," and by the Ming and Qing periods, it became known as the "living mouth." In essence, it was the same feature under different names.

For some reason, the temperature in the secret chamber housing the tomb owner's coffin and outer coffin was exceptionally low, bitterly cold, nearly sub-zero.

"I've found it!" Third Brother's eyes lit up as he stopped at the northwest corner of the coffin and outer coffin. There was a small rectangular hole at this spot, which he declared to be the so-called ventilation shaft.

The principle of the outer coffin was simple to grasp, akin to the nesting dolls popular today, with the larger enclosing the smaller, layer within layer. To open it, one had to proceed layer by layer.

There were rules for the number of layers as well.

Emperors had four layers of outer coffins, princely kings had three, and scholars had one. Those of lower social strata, upon death, were only permitted a coffin, not an outer coffin. Between each layer of the outer coffin was a mortise and tenon structure, devoid of a single nail.

After a thousand years, the mortise and tenon structure had become very fragile. A vigorous prying with the shovel caused the outermost layer to loosen.

Once a gap was opened, the rest was straightforward—like peeling back layers.

The boss joined in to help, and the two, with years of practiced teamwork, managed to open the first layer in less than half an hour.

But what they saw upon looking further took everyone by surprise.

Beneath the layer of the White Giant Clam, to our astonishment, lay a layer of black metal casket.

Red Sister exclaimed in shock upon seeing it, "It's oxidized, this is silver!"

A silver casket!

Did the Western Zhou Period have silver artifacts?

Yes, but they were exceedingly rare!

In the 1970s, the Shanxi Archaeological Team unearthed a silver cinerary casket with an inscription style denoting it as the "Lady of Yue Tomb." This silver casket is a national treasure, permanently prohibited from being exhibited abroad.

Yet before us was a silver casket plank several meters in length!

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed that the oxidized black surface of the silver plank was engraved with some patterns.

Third Brother, with an exhilarated expression, declared, "This is an eye-opener! An absolute revelation! Just these two layers of casket alone are this extraordinary; what grand treasures might the innermost coffin hold?"

Despite the skylight being a weak point, prying open this layer of the silver casket still required considerable effort.

"Careful, it's about to fall! Watch your feet, this thing is heavy!"

"Wait, Third Brother!"

"Look, there's water flowing up ahead!"

We saw a thick, black, viscous liquid seeping through the crevices of the silver plank, growing more abundant by the moment and bringing with it a pungent stench.

"Step back!" the Sun Family Brothers leaped back in response.

The black liquid from within the silver casket continued to flow in an unending stream, pooling on the ground.

Red Sister, covering her nose, suggested, "Could this black water... be the preservative fluid flowing out from the coffin?"

Big Brother nodded, "It seems likely. Let's wait until it's drained before we take a closer look. Based on what we've seen before, there should be at least one more layer of casket inside."

"Hmm? Something's not quite right, Big Brother," I remarked, noticing something peculiar.

"What is it, Cloud Peak?"

I pointed at the two bronze statues resembling Terracotta Warriors, "Don't you think there's a pit beneath those two statues? Look, all the coffin liquid seems to be seeping down there, right by the bronze statue's foot."

Big Brother's brows furrowed upon seeing this.

Upon closer examination with a flashlight, we discovered the trickery at play.

It turned out that around the foot of the bronze statue, there were numerous small holes, through which the preservative coffin liquid from within the silver casket was leaking.

Boss glanced up at the Main Tomb Chamber's surroundings and then speculated, "Perhaps this was an intentional design by the tomb's owner, meant as a water barrier to prevent rain from damaging this place."

"Enough about that for now. It looks like the coffin liquid has almost finished draining. Third, let's get up there and pry open the last layer of the casket!"

"Be careful," Red Sister cautioned, her brow furrowed as she surveyed the surroundings, "I have a bad feeling, my heart is racing."

"Ah, it's nothing Little Red, you're just feeling that way because it's too cold in here, you're chilled to the bone."

The Sun family brothers worked their shovels around the edges, and in no time, they pried off the layer of wooden boards.

As the silver boards fell away, in an instant, a flash of gold dazzled before my eyes.

The innermost layer... was made of pure gold...

It was a Golden Coffin encased in a Silver Outer Coffin!

The beam from the flashlight hit the front, and the brilliant reflection from the gold was blinding.

Gold does not tarnish like silver; even after a thousand years, it remains as lustrous as new. The golden boards were intricately engraved with numerous patterns, each one lifelike.

Among the designs on the gold, there were images of Feathered Men and Flying Apsaras, but one scene was particularly strange.

It depicted a row of soldiers clad in armor, and bizarrely, each had an animal resembling a serpent coiled atop their heads.

No, upon closer inspection with the flashlight, these could not be called snakes; they were only snake-like, for the engravings clearly showed that these serpents had legs.

Observing this pattern, Red Sister’s expression grew solemn, her head bowed in thought.

Suddenly, she looked up, her face stricken with shock, "Boss, the third! An army with Four-legged Snakes coiled on their heads! Isn't that the legend of the Ancient Yue Kingdom?"

A glint of golden light passed over our eyes as Boss, caressing the golden boards, said in a deep voice, "That's just a legend, not to be taken as truth. I didn't expect that the Tomb Owner was a follower of the Ancient Yue Black Witch."

Not understanding, I asked for clarification.

Red Sister then explained, "There was once a small nation in the Southern Barbarian Region called Ancient Yue, not to be confused with the later Yue Kingdom of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. This Ancient Yue predates it by far and is considered the progenitor of Chu Witchcraft Culture, as well as the origin of the Miao Border Gu Poison. Legend has it that Ancient Yue had a Four-legged Snake Witch Army that was invincible in battle. Moreover, some say that as long as the Four-legged Snakes coiled around the soldiers' heads remained alive, the soldiers themselves would not die. Even if struck by arrows or swords, they would continue to fight vigorously."

"You can't be serious... Red Sister, that sounds far-fetched," I said, skeptical.

Red Sister nodded, "You're not the only one who's skeptical, I am too. However..." she pointed at the patterns of the Four-legged Snakes, "these Four-legged Snakes did exist, and there were many of them. They are now scientifically known as the Chinese Stone Gecko. The Hakka people and others in some regions also call it 'dragon crawler.' I remember killing one when I was a child and feeding it to my cat."

Third Brother also nodded in agreement, "Little Red is right, there's nothing to fear from these creatures. In our area, they're called 'dog mothers.'"

"Village kids would catch them to play around with." (To be continued)

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I have also posted the following more chapters [All free]: https://www.readgates.com/article/7b136c