Outside the western suburbs of Xi’an, about 45 kilometers away, there was a small village called Nighua Village, which was remote and unremarkable.
In the early spring of 1999, the roads had not yet been built and only minibusses could be used to pass through.
Wang Ji and Zhang Mingzhi were two famous geologist scholars of that time who came to this small village to explore it.
There were several hills in Nighua Village, in these hills the villagers usually planted fruit trees; this could be regarded as their source of income.
Wang Ji and Zhang Mingzhi spoke to the village Secretary about this exploration. After communicating their intentions, they took their equipment towards the smaller hill on the east side of the stream.
This small hill was called the Dejin <sup>1</sup> slope. Dejin, as its name implies, brings money. The village Secretary explained to them before that because the soil was good, the villagers planted tons of peach trees in this area to grow and produce a lot of peaches, making this the origin of the small hill’s name.
Climbing halfway up the slope, Wang Ji took out a simple instrument and slowly began to take measurements.
Because this remote and poor village was rarely visited by people, this was the first time that they saw such a machine being used, these people came in with very strange machines and equipment. The villagers felt these things were a rarity, so adults and childrens rushed over to join in the fun.
“The filling <sup>2</sup> is Q4ml brown and brownish-yellow, mainly clay and silt soil, with a low degree of compaction. The accumulation time should be less than 5 years, and the thickness should be between 1,2-1,5m….”
“The flood fill <sup>3</sup> is Q4al grayish-white, yellowish-brown, same as…”
While Wang Ji analyzed, Zhang Mingzhi took notes, this division of labor was very clear and they didn’t take much time.
However, just as they were about to survey deeper to see if there was any water underground, a woman’s scream came not that far away from where they were at.
They subconsciously looked over from where the sound came from, only to see a hundred meters away, a woman sitting on the ground, paralyzed by fear, and at her side stood a man with his face showing a terrified expression as well.
But these things weren’t what attracted Wang Ji and Zhang Mingzhi. Their eyes were caught by the blue fire on the ground.
Natural gas!
Wang Ji and Zhang Mingzhi’s eyes brightened up!
Could there still be natural gas hidden underneath this small hill’s village?
Stepping forward, Wang Ji hurriedly asked: “What happened?”
The paralyzed woman laying on the ground heard from the old folk, that a blue fire was a ghost that came from the netherworld. A ghost that was dissatisfied with the actions of the people living over the ground deliberately lit its blue fire to warn the living beings. And she had never seen before that from the ground, suddenly and out of nowhere, a blue flame could ignite itself. Remembering the sayings of the old folk, the woman’s legs were too weak to stand up for herself, she was trembling, unable to utter a single word.
When Zhang Mingzhi saw that the woman was unable to speak, he turned to the man standing next to her: “How did this fire appear all of a sudden?”
The man swallowed saliva, and when he heard Zhang Mingzhi’s question, he returned to reality: “Oh, like this, just now my sister and I came to the hillside to loosen the soil for the peach trees and prepare to add the fertilizer. After I tossed a cigarette butt, how could I know that it would suddenly ignite like this……” The man hesitated, thinking that they might be some experts and will probably know something, after some more hesitation he finally added: “Will you look at my land, would you tell me if it is not auspicious?”
Wang Ji smiled and waved his hand: “This could be natural gas.”
He looked at the Village Secretary that stood on the side and then said: “Secretary Tian, please keep the villagers away from Dejin hill. If there’s natural gas underneath the ground, it will be dangerous.” Whether it was inhaled or provoked a fire that could lead to an explosion…
As soon as the surrounding villagers heard that it might be dangerous to stay around, they hurriedly took their children away. When the villagers were almost gone, Wang Ji and Zhang Mingzhi took out a gas detector to make a test.
Both of them were extremely excited at the idea of finding natural gas in this small Village, however, they were soon disappointed. Before they could finish the exploration, the fire disappeared. At the same time, the results of the detention of gas showed that there was no natural gas here.
“There’s only one logical explanation for this.” Wang Ji shook his head with some disappointment: “There must be a large number of corpses buried underground.”
“There used to be a cemetery here?” Zhang Mingzhi put away the detector and looked around: “But, there’s not a single monument in sight? If it was a cemetery, how come the people living here don’t know? Could it be an ancient tomb?”
“Then can you take a look at the bottom soil layer?”
The shovel went down to 20 meters and brought out the underground soil.
Half a month later, when Wang Ji checked the research report he couldn’t help but happily say: “I guess that old archeologist Li Guoxian will go crazy after he sees this.”
“Yeah, after all, underground there’s an ancient tomb of a thousand years…”
Ninhua Village suddenly became lively and crowded, and after two years of excavation, the hill was almost flattened. After them, a thousand-year-old ancient tomb that was buried deep underground appeared in front of everyone’s eyes…
The bones and coffins of nearly a thousand people emitted a pungent stench of decomposition that wouldn’t go away for a long time… This shocked everyone’s eyes, and astonished their hearts <sup>4</sup> , making their hair stand, and their spine felt cold <sup>5</sup> ….
Li Guoxian, the most highly experienced in archeology at X University, looked at this amazing tomb and exclaimed: “Burial pits <sup>6</sup> , this is just one of the burial pits!”
This scale of martyrdom is much larger than that of the Qin Gong tomb <sup>7</sup> . This must be the tomb of an Emperor!
He just doesn’t know which Emperor’s tomb is this!
Archeological work doesn’t happen overnight, nor is it built up as quickly as the construction of a high-rise building.
Twelve years later, the development of the city has been shaking the earth, high-rise buildings have been erected, and the former Ninghua Village has officially turned into a major archeological site. The local villagers, too, moved to another location five years ago.
Qin Cheng has been living in this village for the past two years, following his mentor Li Guoxian. Now, he’s a third-year graduate student.
When he first came to Ninghua Village, the excavations of the main tomb were just beginning. After two years, only one-fifth of the main tomb had been excavated.
There were so many utensils buried in the tomb, each one of them was rare and extremely valuable. They can’t be careless.
However, for these archeologists that had already seen too many of these artifacts, the only thing that occupied their minds at the present was no longer the interest for these gold and bronze tripods, but the identity of the tomb owner himself….
Yes, so many years have passed and they still haven’t found any information about the owner of the tomb. In these nearly 14 years of excavation, they could only speculate and deny over and over again.
Who is the owner of the tomb? This mystery has not only remained unsolved but has also become more and more confusing due to these recent years of excavations…..
However, this archeological work that aroused the archeologists’ hearts, suddenly stopped because of an incident that occurred last Friday.
Qin Cheng’s fellow disciple, Jiang Bo, who graduated just the year before, died.
The way he died was unknown….
Hello, and welcome to a new adventure Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ !!
The update schedule for this novel will be 2 chapters a week, those days being: Saturday & Sunday.
So wait tomorrow for the second chapter! Yay! ヽ( ･∀･)ﾉ *:・ﾟ✧
.(๑ˊ͈ ॢꇴ ˋ͈)〜♡॰ॱ
Footnotes
<ol><b>得</b> <b>dé</b> = To obtain / To get / To gain something. <b>金</b> <b>jīn</b> = Gold / Money. <b>填土</b> <b>tián tǔ</b> ; Filling is the accumulation of soil by human activities. The filling is usually referred to as a random and disorderly accumulation of soil that is randomly deposited in the course of human engineering and domestic activities, and is located at the top of the ground in construction projects, or as a foundation bearing layer for new buildings, or as a slope structure and load for the slope of a pit. The fill soil has a special engineering significance due to its special genesis, such as common unevenness, under consolidation, and wetting, all of which are characteristics that are not conducive to project safety. <b>冲填土</b> <b>chōng tián tǔ</b> ; Flood fill is a fill formed by hydraulic flushing of mud and sand. It’s one of the common artificial fills along the coast of China. It’s mainly used for the improvement or dredging of rivers and waterways, or the need for filling in industrial or agricultural production. When filling certain sections near the high river, it’s used a high-pressure mud pump to discharge the mud and sand excavated by the dredger through the mud pipe to the section that needs to be filled and the mud and sand accumulation area. The former is planned and purposeful filling, While the latter is unintended accumulation, after sedimentation and drainage, a large flood fill layer is formed. <b>触目惊心</b> <b>chù mù jīng xīn</b> ; It’s a Chinese idiom, it means to be shocked at the sight of a horrible situation / When describing something serious, it causes a sensation / Horrifying. From <b>《昌黎集·贞曜先生墓志铭》</b> by ( <b>韩愈</b> <b>hán yù</b> ) Han Yu [768-824] from the Tang Dynasty [618-907]. <b>毛骨悚然</b> <b>máo gǔ sǒng rán</b> ; It’s a Chinese idiom, it describes the appearance of someone that is extremely frightened / Absolutely horrified / Being frightened from the tips of one’s hair to the marrow of his very bones. From <b>《送穷文》</b> by ( <b>韩愈</b> <b>hán yù</b> ) Han Yu [768-824] from the Tang Dynasty [618-907]. <b>陪葬</b> <b>péi zàng</b> ; Refers to the burial of the deceased in a grave with objects, livestock, or people and servants to ensure the well-being of the departed soul / In ancient times, the coffin of a wife or concubine was buried next to the tomb of an emperor or husband, usually, the wife or concubine would be buried alive. <b>秦公墓</b> <b>qín gōng mù</b> ; Located in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province, it was discovered after 1976. There are 13 mausoleums of different sizes in the inner part of the mausoleum area, surrounded by ditches. The largest mausoleum is the one in the north of the central mausoleum area, with two double tombs and one single tomb arranged from south to north, and the most southern one is the famous Qin Gong Tomb Nº1. 43 large tombs have been found in the whole mausoleum area, all without mounds, and some tombs still have vestiges of Xiangtang (sanctuary where ancestors/deities are worshiped).</ol>