The air in the secret passage was much better than that of the Ten Thousand People's Pit. I had thought it would be a long, winding tunnel like in the movie "Tunnel War", but to my and Cha Wenbin's surprise, the length of this passage was only over ten meters. When he pushed open the stone slab on top of our heads, we came out. The result of where this secret passage led to was truly unexpected.

  Cha Wenbin opened the stone slab, and when he pulled me out of the secret passage, I found that this was a room. The door at the exit of the room looked familiar to me, and it turned out that this was actually the main tomb chamber we had wanted to go to but hadn't made it to earlier!

  The exit of the secret passage is located right in front of the main coffin, and on top of it is a large jar. I shone my light into the jar and saw that it was filled with something like oil or fat, and there was a wick floating on top that had already been burned to a crisp. Cha Wenbin said: "This should be the legendary 'Eternal Lamp'. It looks like it didn't stay lit for long after all. The dream of eternal light after death is ultimately just an illusion."

  That big jar doesn't look like an ordinary plaything, its whole body is crystal clear, and the light from the lighter can feel that the oil inside is flowing, the shape is very similar to the famous Liangzhu jade in Zhejiang.

  Behind the large jar is the main coffin, which is quietly placed on flat ground. The coffin is made of a single piece of wood, about two meters high and four meters long, without any paint, using the original wood color. Although it has been thousands of years, the wood is still well preserved, looking just like it was freshly cut down, I suppose this material must be top-notch.

  The air in this tomb is different from the musty smell of ordinary tombs, and it still has a faint scent if you sniff carefully. However, neither I nor Cha Wenbin are in the mood to appreciate these things now, because the coffin has obvious signs of being opened by someone, and the gap has not been closed yet, which is clearly not its original appearance when it was first buried.

  Cha Wenbin gave me a look, and I picked up the five or six remaining candles to observe the surroundings. The walls here all had candle holders, a total of eight. The dark environment was particularly oppressive, so I made a hand gesture to ask Cha Wenbin if he could light them up. After getting his response, I relit these candles that had not yet burned out one by one. The flickering flames lit up the entire tomb chamber slowly.

  With the light, I can re-examine this place. There is no burial object, and in the main tomb chamber, there is only this coffin, but on the walls around it are filled with murals, also using the same red paint as the entrance tunnel. These murals were carefully decorated by craftsmen. I counted them, a total of six paintings, all depicting landscapes and figures. For someone like me who has no artistic cells, looking at these things gives me a headache.

  Cha Wenbin was indeed interested in looking at these pictures, I really didn't want to face that big coffin alone, so I followed him and asked: "Don't open the coffin?"

  Cha Wenbin nodded and said: "There is still half an hour before dawn. In order to be safe, I think we should wait until dawn before making a move."

  I don't understand: "It's daylight but it's still dark here."

  "As soon as the sky brightens, the yang energy will be heavy. This place below is the Ten Thousand People's Pit, and I don't know how many years of accumulated yin energy have passed through this secret passage to arrive here. If the master of this coffin is a fool, I won't have much confidence in it, so being able to weaken him by one part is one part."

  "What if he's really a dumpling and will jump out directly?"

  Cha Wenbin thought for a moment and said: "Got it!" At that time, I secretly cursed in my heart: damn you!

  "But this painting is quite interesting, it should be the story of Fuxi and Nüwa's marriage. Look at this scaly one, that's Fuxi, and the one with a snake body is Nüwa. The sun on top of Fuxi's head and the round ball in Nüwa's hand are the moon. Their private parts are covered by a cloud, it should be the story of them multiplying and having offspring. Look at those small people in the back, they should be their descendants, paying homage to their ancestors."

  I followed him to the second picture, and I could understand the story depicted on it because I had read about it. On the picture, a man was holding a stick in his hand, with surging floodwaters in front of him, and many people were following behind him, struggling against the waters. I asked him: "This should be about Da Yu controlling the floods, right?"

  Zha Wenbin nodded and said, "Yes, do you see that thing half-submerged in the river? I think it might be the tripod that Da Yu is said to have cast. The drawing is quite good."

  The next painting is even more interesting, with many things that look like humans and beasts fighting together. The leader has a pair of cow horns on his head, eight legs connected to his body, and six arms holding various weapons. On the other hand, there is an army of human figures, who seem much weaker than the other side, but behind them appears a giant dragon with its wings spread wide. I also looked at this painting with great interest, as if I could really go back to that ancient war through this mural.

  "The war of the zhu lu! Chi You battles the Emperor, Ying Long's high waters, and Nu Wa descends to the mortal world." Zha Wenbin furrowed his brow and said to me: "I think something is off. These are all stories from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period. Logically, the tomb murals of later generations should reflect the era they lived in, so why are they depicting legends?"

  I said: "Maybe it's just that person from that era."

  "It's impossible, take a look over there, I was thinking of checking out the mural to see some information about the tomb owner, but all these are useless."

  The fourth picture is also quite interesting, where the person riding a cow-like creature is flying through the clouds, and in front of him are three more people riding cows. However, from their clothing and demeanor, these four people are identical except for their postures, including their mounts and the shapes of the clouds. Seeing this, I didn't have much of a reaction, but Wenbin was different, his heart skipped a beat, and after a while, he came back to himself and said to me: "Xiaoyi, if I can figure out the origins of these paintings, it would really be earth-shattering."

  "What's wrong?" I asked.

  "Look at this painting, it's actually our Taoist ancestor, the Old Master! After saying that, Cha Wenbin quickly paid his respects to the mural and then said to me: "For so many years, I have been puzzled by what is meant by 'one breath transforms into three purities'. I've followed my master since childhood in worshiping the Three Purities, but my master told me that this Three Purities is not the same as that Three Purities. Every time I wanted to ask him about it, he would avoid answering and say 'you'll understand when the time comes'. It wasn't until today, when I saw this painting, that I finally felt a sense of clarity in my heart. The so-called 'one breath transforms into three purities' is not referring to the transformation of the Three Pure Ones - Yuanshi, Lingbao, and Taishang - by the natural and void Old Master. It's actually talking about the three stages of Upper Clarity, Jade Clarity, and Great Clarity. Look at these portraits, everything is the same except for their beards, which change from short to long."

  I said: "Is this a portrait of three time periods?"

  "That's right, this refers to the past, present and future. The so-called Lao Jun's one breath transforms into three purities is just a metaphor. The purpose is to say that all things return to one, different paths with the same destination. Whether it's Lao Jun or San Qing, they don't represent anything actual, but only explain the word 'Dao'. Dao is everywhere, manifesting everywhere, whether it's heaven and earth, all things have three purities. This is a process, from nothing to something, from something to nothing. You see that the fourth person's beard is as long as the first person's, I think it means Lao Jun's Dao method has reached the point where he can freely travel through past and future, just like what the Dao method says, yin and yang alternate. When we got excited, Cha Wenbin suddenly grabbed my shoulder and said: 'This is an extremely important discovery, I feel that I suddenly understood many reasons from the past that I couldn't understand before!'"

  "Don't worry, there's another one over there." I looked at his excited expression and my mood suddenly relaxed a lot. I quickly went to take a look at the fifth picture. This picture made me feel uncomfortable at first glance, why? Because this picture depicts two people opening a coffin!

  When Cha Wenbin first saw it, he was also stunned. The meaning of this painting couldn't be simpler: wasn't it saying that the next thing I and he would do? Moreover, in this painting, a person emerges from the coffin, and that person is embracing the two people who opened the coffin!

  "Look, grandfather, this..."

  Zha Wenbin comforted me, saying: "Don't be afraid, this picture is probably done on purpose to scare away those tomb robbers who might come in."

  "Really?" "Really! And don't you think it's strange, this place is so small, but the two 'corpses' haven't appeared yet, could they not be here?"

  He and I simultaneously turned our gaze to the coffin, if we say that there are hidden people, then there are only two burial chambers left on both sides of the main tomb chamber. Here, according to the tomb rules, generally, the most valuable burial objects are placed. Because neither of us is a grave robber, we have no interest in these things, and looking at the murals, I got excited and forgot that there were still two places that hadn't been explored.

  Just then, I suddenly saw a black shadow flashing on the wall. Chawen Bin and I turned around at the same time, only to hear a "whoosh" sound, and it was gone. When I looked again, I found that the lantern that had been lit inside the large jar had inexplicably gone out...