Chapter 16 Sunken Ship

If the bow and pagoda hadn’t been damaged to such an extent, the structure would have looked as majestic as the Crystal Palace.⁽¹⁾ But now, the wreckage was covered in a thick layer of sea salt and grime, which gave it a desolate atmosphere. The pagoda, which was tilted at a forty-degree-angle, looked especially bleak in the water, as if it would collapse with one good kick.

But even so, Uncle Three and Xie Lianhuan were so shocked by the sight of it that they almost choked. Not to mention at the bottom of the sea, even on land there wouldn’t be many chances to find such a thing. Who could have possibly been interred in this shipwreck tomb?

Uncle Three took a closer look and found that the marble door embedded in the reef was really huge—it was as tall as two people and wide enough for two people to stand side-by-side with their arms stretched out. Under the sea salt and grime on either side of the door, he could vaguely make out two carved door gods, each standing next to a tiger that looked fierce and terrifying. Uncle Three recognized the two door gods, but couldn’t remember their names. The part of the pagoda that wasn’t embedded in the reef had a cornice tile roof, but almost all of the tiles were gone, leaving only the eaves.

The white marble door was half-open, revealing a gap that was about two people wide. The darkness inside was impenetrable, making it impossible to tell what lay beyond.

Off to the side, the row of floating corpses continued into the dark abyss, soon disappearing from sight.

Xie Lianhuan didn’t stop, but instead swam through the open door. Uncle Three clenched his teeth and kicked his feet hard, speeding up so that he could follow his cousin in.

After entering, they found themselves in a long corridor that was wide enough for six or seven people to walk side-by-side. The space soon narrowed and became cramped, but that worked in their favor because their flashlights could illuminate more.

The mixture of coldness, despair, and fear that Uncle Three had been feeling outside just now had eased slightly now that they were inside. He even found himself relaxing a little bit now that he was seeing something he was familiar with.

As they continued making their way down the corridor, Uncle Three, out of professional habit, casually examined the decorations all around them and found that every inch of the place, including the floor, had been engraved with images of immortals.

At the end of the corridor was a staircase leading upward. Uncle Three turned on his back and swam up it, only to find that his head was no longer underwater.

Naturally, he felt shocked—after swimming in the water for almost forty minutes, it was surprising to find that there was actually air in this ancient tomb. He quickly rolled over and placed his feet on the steps, climbing the rest of the way on all fours.

A person who has been diving in the water for too long will find that once they go ashore, their body suddenly feels as heavy as an iron weight. And that’s not even mentioning the added equipment such as the oxygen tank and heavy lead weights to help you sink. After Uncle Three climbed out of the water, all of his limbs suddenly went limp and he almost fell, but he gritted his teeth and kept himself from falling back into the water.

Stumbling up the stairs, he saw that Xie Lianhuan, who was breathing heavily, had already taken off his diving equipment and was shining his flashlight around the tomb chamber.

You got lucky, Uncle Three said to himself. If this room didn’t have any oxygen, you would have died. But seeing how Xie Lianhuan was still breathing, it meant that the air should be fine, so he sat down on the steps and took off his own diving equipment. After stretching his muscles, he grabbed his flashlight and also looked around the room.

It was a brick chamber right at the top of the steps, designed in the typical style of the Ming Dynasty. The ceiling wasn’t very high, so he could only walk with his head bowed. It was also shaped like a dome and had seven load-bearing ribs, making it look like a wheel with seven spokes. The seams around the bricks at the top of the chamber were a silver color, which meant that they had been filled with molten iron. The bricks that made up the dome had been skillfully laid to the point that not a single corner or edge was sticking out, making it seem as if the dome had been polished smooth.

In the middle of the tomb chamber, two rows of lanterns made of blue-and-white porcelain led straight to the dark depths of the chamber. When Uncle Three shined his flashlight over there, he found a huge black iron vat in the middle of the chamber. He didn’t know what it was used for, but it was large enough to block his view.

As Uncle Three continued looking around, he couldn’t help but feel confused. He had robbed many tombs in his lifetime, so he knew that although this tomb chamber was huge, it had been built according to the standards of an ordinary citizen. If he had to guess, the tomb owner was most likely a rich man, but it was very strange—looking at the sheer size of the ancient tomb from outside, it must have taken tens of thousands of workers ten years to build. If this wasn’t the tomb of someone with imperial blood, then who could have possibly gathered that much money and resources to have it built?

Uncle Three, like us at that time, immediately thought of the rich Shen Wansan⁽²⁾ and decided that Xie Lianhuan had led him to a valuable tomb. This was the kind of blessing that only happened once every few generations.

Becoming more excited, he turned and swept his flashlight over the surrounding walls—there were a large number of murals, all looking quite spectacular. As Uncle Three shined his flashlight on them, he found that they seemed to be part of a single, continuous narrative. There were almost no signs of damage on the murals and they looked like they had barely faded despite the passage of time.

It was very rare for murals to be so well-preserved like this, especially considering how damp it was here. Granted, there was an advanced technique developed in the Northern Song Dynasty that involved covering murals with oil, wax, or egg whites in order to protect them, so that was probably what was used here. This was further supported when Uncle Three saw how the colors on the murals looked a little muted instead of vibrant.

Uncle Three never really looked closely at what was painted on tomb murals, so he couldn’t figure out what the narrative was even after looking at a few of them. Deciding that they were no different from any other tomb mural he’d come across, he turned his flashlight towards Xie Lianhuan, wanting to ask him why he was acting so crazy.

Even though Xie Lianhuan was eying everything curiously, he looked exhausted and was panting like an overworked ox—obviously, he had used up all of his strength just now. Uncle Three called out to him, but he didn’t seem to hear at all, too absorbed in examining the tomb chamber.

Uncle Three had originally been pissed since Xie Lianhuan had tried to ditch him, but now that they were actually here, it didn’t seem worth it to start a fight, so he told himself to endure it.

As the two of them stood there in silence, Uncle Three took the chance to rest and calm himself down. Now that his heart no longer felt like it was about to beat out of his chest, he decided to start preparing the equipment they’d need to work in the tomb, while at the same time keeping an eye on Xie Lianhuan.

He also secretly checked their oxygen tanks, quickly finding that the situation wasn’t good—his was fine, but Xie Lianhuan had consumed too much oxygen along the way, leaving him with less than half a tank. It was at this moment that he realized that Xie Lianhuan wouldn’t make it out of here.

The more experienced a diver was, the longer they could move underwater. But those who had just started out diving often couldn’t control their breathing and ended up consuming a lot of oxygen as soon as they entered the water. Compared to experienced divers, the difference in consumption may be more than double. Although Uncle Three wasn’t a skilled diver, he was able to save more oxygen than Xie Lianhuan because he constantly kept an eye on the amount of oxygen left in his tank.

But after thinking about it, Uncle Three immediately calmed down—Xie Lianhuan might not be able to leave right now, but Uncle Three could always come back and get him. There was no need to start panicking.

At this time, Xie Lianhuan started walking deeper into the tomb chamber, so Uncle Three got up and followed him.

As the two men reached the huge iron vat, Uncle Three stopped to look at it. Xie Lianhuan didn’t seem to be interested and simply walked around it.

The iron vat weighed more than five tons and was covered in carved inscriptions—Uncle Three figured it was most likely a sacrificial vessel. Its legs were embedded in the blue bricks on the floor and the inside was completely empty, but there was a fish-shaped protrusion at the bottom of the vat.

Not knowing what it was for, Uncle Three turned his attention to the inscriptions to see if there were any characters he was familiar with. But just as he was about to take a closer look, he suddenly heard Xie Lianhuan cry out in shock.

He turned around and saw that Xie Lianhuan had already reached the end of the tomb chamber, where his flashlight was illuminating a three-tiered coffin bed with a huge black coffin on it.

The coffin was almost as tall as Xie Lianhuan’s chest, and was a very glossy black color. The surface of the coffin looked like it had been polished and covered in varnish, making it unnaturally shiny. It was also covered in shallow but distinct carvings that looked like bird seal script.⁽³⁾ Xie Lianhuan was backing away fearfully, seemingly caught off guard after stumbling across the coffin.

Based on how imposing and domineering this coffin was, it probably belonged to the tomb owner, but they didn’t know who that was.

Uncle Three had seen countless coffins in his lifetime, from ordinary ones made of mahogany or cypress to even a rare one made from a single piece of agarwood. But when it came to this black coffin, he couldn’t tell what kind of material it was made from at all. Suddenly feeling intrigued, he walked around the iron vat and moved in closer.

Coming up behind Xie Lianhuan, he could finally see everything more clearly—the coffin bed was made of yellow bricks, which lay in the shape of a lotus flower, and a spirit screen⁽⁴⁾ covered in inscriptions was located right behind it (presumably an epitaph describing the life of the tomb owner). But as soon as Uncle Three directed his gaze towards that black coffin, he immediately felt a chill run up and down his spine. Now he knew why Xie Lianhuan was backing away so fearfully.

There was a “person” lying on top of the huge black coffin.

<Chapter 15><Table of Contents><Chapter 17>

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TN Notes:

(1) The Crystal Palace is the palace inhabited by the Dragon King of the seas.

(2) Shen Wansan (1330-1379) was a wealthy businessman during the beginning of Ming Dynasty.

(3) Bird seal script is a type of ancient seal script originating in China, created c. 771–476 BC (around the Spring and Autumn period, Zhou dynasty, and Warring States period). In this style, some parts of characters have a bird-like head and tail added. Info here.

(4) Also called a spirit wall or screen wall. It’s used to prevent spirits from entering the entrance gate in traditional Chinese architecture. Spirit screens can either be positioned on the outside or inside of the gate they are protecting. More info here.

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Oh sweet baby Jesus they’re FINALLY in the dang tomb. And we still have a long way to go before we finish Uncle Three’s story. Wu Xie was right, the man doesn’t know how to be brief. I vote we change the name of this book from “Snake Marsh Ghost City” to “Uncle Three’s Long Ass Story” lol