Chapter 30: Two-Faced Queen of the West

Chapter 30: Two-Faced Queen of the West

The raised torches revealed that a sun, moon, and stars had been painted at the top of the tomb passage.

The stars were painted in a very clever manner to look like all kinds of lotus flowers of varying sizes. During the Southern Dynasty, Buddhism had spread throughout China, so it was common to see a lot of lotus patterns in tombs. Although the images here were badly mottled, everyone could see what they were at a glance. There was even a fiery red lotus pattern that was different from the other stars.

Anyone with a discerning eye would know that this one-faced officials insignificant position on the wall was very important.

If they went to check the mural in other parts of the long tunnel, they wouldnt find anything strange except for those ancient two-faced people. But as they approached the officials insignificant position, they would find that the details on the mural were very different.

Qi Tiezui said, "Fo Ye, the scene recorded here is exceedingly strange, but if Ive guessed it right, its an ancient mural to worship the heavens. But Ive never seen these two-faced ancients before. This is really a first for me. There are few records of two-faced people in China, and the only well-known one is the Queen of the West from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Legend has it that she was born with two faces. Those who saw one of her faces would live, and those who saw her other face would die. Look at these faces. The ones not facing the red star in the sky are all smiling with joy, while the ones facing the red star all look sad and miserable. It means the ones facing this red star are the dead faces."

"But this one-faced person was mixed in with them. Whats that mean?" Lieutenant asked.

"Look at this man's face. Qi Tiezui said. His expression isnt either happy or sad. Hes just kind of smiling, which shows that hes very calm about whats coming. Instead of looking at the red star in the sky, hes looking at the words on the opposite wall. Based on how hes depicted so calmly and his positioning on the mural, Id say this man is the tomb owner. And he knows about the red star, so hes not afraid. The red starin other words, the meteoriteis depicting an astronomical sacrificial activity. And the object is a vision of a rock falling from the sky.

Zhang Qishan thought there was some truth to it, but this place should be an empty grave. The mural was huge and it seemed somewhat illogical to paint it here. But instead of raising the question, he looked at Qi Tiezui quietly.

Qi Tiezui hastened forward along the railway tracks and gradually saw various traces of habitation. There were wooden, bamboo, and iron frames reinforcing the tomb, which started to look similar to the illusion he had seen before. Zhang Qishan looked at the various decaying shelves, mining baskets, and iron carts along the tunnel and knew that this ancient tomb had been discovered long ago. The miners had used it as a place for correcting and stacking ore. These reinforced shelves had been around for generations, with the new ones being stacked on top of the old ones.

"Do you think its like the train and theyre all dead?"

"If theyre dead, where are the bodies?" Zhang Qishan glanced at the scattered mine shafts before turning to look at Qi Tiezui: "Did the expert leave any other messages here?"

Qi Tiezui took a sip of water and spit it on the torch. When the spray connected with the flames, sparks immediately floated up and rolled wildly in the turbulent air. Old Man Zhang appeared nearby, having returned from his exploration of the mine shaft, "Fo Ye, this tunnel really does reach the surface. Youll have to come and take a look at it. Theres something a biteye-catching up there."

Zhang Qishan gave Lieutenant a look, silently asking him to stay here and protect Qi Tiezui. He then bent down and followed the old man into the mine shaft.

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TN Notes:

(1) Pinyin is jingang (). Its not actually made of diamonds. Its just a common name of ancient underground gates/doors/walls.

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Good news and bad news darlings. Bad news, only 1 Mystic Nine chapter tonight (If you couldn't tell, I haven't been in the mood. I love Lieutenant and Ba Ye, but I miss Fatty and Wu Xie more lol). Good news, Tiffany has started working on Little Brother Zhang's book, which I decided to put here if you all haven't noticed already lol. Little Brother Zhang's book is ALL Tiffany's work, so kudos to her in advance (we all know she does a fabulous job). Since it's a legit novel, I'm not going to bother linking the chapters every time they get uploaded like I've been doing with the extras. You can just scope out the "DMBJ Extra Stories" tab whenever you feel like it.