That’s right, among the archaeological team members, there was one common place that many of them had gone to and that was the city’s library.
This was because, at that time, the use of the internet was not widespread. Hence, in order to search for information, they had to visit the library. This was the most important way how people of the past gained access to information.
No matter whether Xiao Bei’s guess was correct or not, it would be better to check that place out rather than not doing so. Who knew, maybe they would be able to find some undetected clues.
Even now, the library still has many people as there are some who aren’t used to the internet; they could not feel the weight of a physical book and the sense of its presence.
The inside of the library was very quiet and there were only sounds of books being flipped by people whose heads were lowered down.
“Brother Liu, say, where should we begin our search?” Looking at the huge number of categorized books in the shelves, Xiao Bei felt somewhat dizzy.
“Let’s first start searching through the archaeology and history categories. I’ll go to archaeology, Xiao Chen will go and research on region customs. This is our only chance!” Liu Xin softly whispered.
After assigning the task, Xiao Bei went to the history category. The bookshelves of the history category were all filled with densely packed records of history and looking at them would cause people to be dazzled.
“Let’s see, I should first find the book that is related to Tu Si since it seems to be inseparable with Li Jiang’s tomb.” Xiao Bei murmured to himself. Very soon, Xiao Bei found records that were somewhat related to Dayan’s ancient tomb.
He had flipped through many books and all of them did not contain any contents he was searching for, but very quickly, he was attracted to a book. This book looked quite old and the most important thing was that one of its pages was torn off.
Xiao Bei recalled fatty had said before that the clue of the ancient tomb was found in the remnant page of a book.
Xiao Bei began to feel sleepy as he flipped the pages. He himself was someone who could not sit still so he really could not continue reading the book as he had difficulty in settling down. What was worst was that these uninteresting history contents sunk him into a drowsy state.
Just when Xiao Bei was shaking away the drowsiness and was about to close the book to return it to its original place, his eyes suddenly shined and he flipped the pages of the book again.
This was because a part of the content got his interest.
It was about a story that happened in Dayan Town but the time was not known. That time was still the period when Tu Si still reigned. There was a man who committed a serious wrong and was portrayed as a devil. He received disdain from the people of that time. Feeling unresigned, he gathered many slaves to rebel but it ended in failure. After he was captured, the Tu Si at that time had him tied on the altar and put a vicious curse on him: to curse his soul to never reincarnate and to forever suffer under torture by the heaven. After the ritual for the curse was finished, the man was nailed into the coffin alive. For the sake of suppressing the evil spirits in his body, a tomb was built above the coffin, pressing it down. There were even people who said that weird sounds came out from there during the night. The cries of resentment also contained the growls of anger.
Of course, there was no credibility in this story yet Xiao Bei was particularly interested in it. It was quite similar to the empty tomb he previously fell into ah. Though there were some differences, both were very alike.
Both had curse, the main burial chamber was empty and both were suppressed underground.
As Xiao Bei became spirited, he continued to turn the pages till he suddenly saw a picture of something that seemed like a mirror.
“Dead Subduing Treasure Mirror. According to legend, it was a Taoist’s prided religious tool which could suppress all sorts of evil beings. However, this was only in the legend. The later generations used it as a model and imitated on the bronze mirror, giving it a similar appearance. It would then be hung outside the bedroom door in order to ward off evil spirits.”
Below it, there was a line of annotation and this was what’s written: ‘It contained thick feudal colors known in the legends, had strange appearance, oval-shaped, had curved handles on both sides of the mirror, the part of the mirror that was protruding out was halved the curve of a sphere. It was also carved with the face of evil spirits. The place of its origin was very much unclear. Afterward, 20 years ago, it was stolen from the museum. As it has representativeness value, it was hereby written in.’
Now what followed had really shocked Xiao Bei.
Because Xiao Bei had seen the murals in Li Jiang ancient tomb beforehand. All the features without exception were confirmed to be the bronze mirror used in the ritual!
The bronze mirror had already fallen off from the coffin, separating it and the jade. So, would there be some reason for it to land here? A bold thought suddenly formed in Xiao Bei’s mind.
He remembered the depression which was linked to the mysterious underground river channel. It seemed to be connected to the outside world but because at that time he lacked oxygen, it resulted in him fainting and thus did not noticed this point. Associating it to the place, Luo Yang, where the jade made its appearance, then there would be a huge possibility that the underground river channel is connected to someplace within Luo Yang City. When the bronze mirror and the coffin were separated, due to some reason, it ended up being carried by the current to someplace.
“Ah!” Xiao Bei suddenly exclaimed but he quickly covered his mouth.
The coffin that was submerged underground, missing bronze mirror and jade, empty main burial chamber, evil curse, the mysterious altar in the tomb, Dayan Town, the way of immortality. Everything was like in a movie and Xiao Bei had managed to put all the scenes together and seemed to have caught onto something!
“In the end, what are their relations?!” Xiao Bei was still puzzled after much thought as he could not quite put his finger on it. It was like the answer was there yet not there, giving him an uncomfortable feeling like he was scratched by a cat.
Wait a minute, cat’s scratch? Cat, black cat.
Xiao Bei, as if he was struck by lightning, he quickly ran to the region customs area to find Yang Chen.
“Quick, look for any folklores related to cats, it would be best if it’s from Yunnan.” Xiao Bei’s breathing was a mess but he must constantly recall the scene in his mind in order to ensure the continuation of that train of thoughts.
“Oh? It just so happens that I’m looking through books related to legends and myths. Perhaps you should look at this.” Yan Chen’s mind was preoccupied as he flipped his book while lightly flinging a book titled 《风忌异闻录》, 《Feng Ji Yi Wen Lu》 to Xiao Bei.
Xiao Bei anxiously said, “I got important things, can you please be a bit more serious?”
Yang Chen finally put down the book that was in his hand and turned his head as his mouth twitched. In an instant, he took back the book that was now in Xiao Bei’s hand and flipped its pages for awhile before passing it back to Xiao Bei, “Here! It’s this, look at it yourself. This folklore is unheard of but its custom is really weird.”
Xiao Bei half-doubtingly received the book and read it.
The custom was really strange. It said that a long time ago, some of the places had an evil cult organization that worshipped black cat. This was because black cats were reputed to be the messenger of the Death God. They would bring disaster, curse and death, so many avoided them. Locals even spread it to tourists that if they met any black cats, they had to drive them away or kill them, it was that sort of custom. Though this was rarely seen, it was advised to absolutely not stop those people as it would just incite the locals’ wrath. Attention: The custom is mostly lived out by Na Xi ethnic group.
Na Xi ethnic group? Is this what he had to find?! Black cat, disaster and death! What greatly attracted Xiao Bei was the word “curse”, this one word! Connecting this with the words that were written with a lot of effort on the last page of the diary, “The ancient jade has surfaced, be careful of the black cat!” and a series of other things, Xiao Bei’s entire body could not help but begin to tremble.
