He looked down into the cave again. The square opening still looked harmless, but inside lay a mountain of corpses belonging to his relatives and friends.
The boy simply couldn't accept this reality. So many people had come in; even if it was just a matter of numbers, they should have been able to fill the burial pit, right? How could they all have died in a mere tomb passage?
Yue Qi remained crouched by the courtyard, carefully observing the dead corpses below.
It wasn't that she was being paranoid; it was just that the deaths of these people were too bizarre. The entire tomb passage was spotless, without a trace of blood.
But all of these people had wounds of varying sizes all over their bodies. What's worse, they were all skewered haphazardly onto a long bronze pillar, like meat skewers.
I roughly estimated with my hand that this unremarkable bronze pillar was about the size of a person's palm.
What's even stranger is that the pillars are perfectly rectangular, which doesn't conform to architectural design principles from a frictional mechanics perspective. These days, who hasn't eaten lamb skewers? But have you ever seen a skewer shaped like chopsticks?
This just doesn't make any sense!
However unscientific it may seem, it has now happened. The Sun brothers also observed from the courtyard for a long time; being a family of tomb raiders, their eyesight seemed much better.
Sun Qiang pointed to the patterns on the bronze pillar and gestured, "Make the light stronger, and focus it all on that bronze pillar."
From a distance, the bronze pillar appears entirely bluish-black, but upon closer inspection, one discovers that it is actually decorated with patterns. Under intense sunlight, the patterns subtly shimmer with a captivating sky-blue light.
"What is that?!" Wen Jiajia suddenly pointed at a spot and exclaimed, "Why do I feel like this pillar is alive?"
Her words caused everyone to fall silent for a moment, because the thought that popped into everyone's head was actually the same as what she said.
The bronze pillar looks quite old, with bluish-green rust covering it, almost proclaiming to the world that it is a product of the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
It's quite interesting that it's now hidden in a Han Dynasty tomb.
Under everyone's gaze, the square bronze pillar began to emit a faint blue light, and the patterns on it gradually became clearer as the blue light appeared.
"This is... a dragon pillar?"
It was Sun Gui who spoke, but he seemed even more incredulous at his eyes. "How is this possible? The Panlong Pillar disappeared after the Shang Dynasty was destroyed. How did it appear here?! This is not scientific!"
Yan Qing truly didn't understand what a dragon-carved pillar was. She thought it was just an ordinary pillar found everywhere in ancient times, only with dragon patterns carved on it. Judging from Sun Gui's attitude, it definitely wasn't what she thought.
Perhaps because everyone had similar doubts, Sun Qiang took the initiative to explain on behalf of his brother.
"This dragon pillar has been lost for many years. It was a very famous punishment tool in the ancient Shang and Zhou dynasties. Because it was too bloody and cruel, it was completely abolished after the Western Zhou Dynasty unified the country, so it is understandable that people do not know about it."
According to his explanation, Yan Qing also understood the purpose of this thing. It was actually designed to torture nobles and high-ranking officials; ordinary people were not worthy of using it.
It is said that this dragon-shaped pillar is filled with various poisons that can numb a person's five senses. However, this bronze pillar is only part of this torture instrument; the real main course is yet to come.
"During the reign of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty, in order to intimidate the enemy, Wu Ding commissioned the making of a funnel-shaped bronze blood vessel. The funnel was inverted, with a square long bronze pillar in the middle, which was filled with various herbs that could psychic the five senses."
"When the punishment begins, the merchant will put a lot of fuel into an inverted funnel and then drive the person barefoot onto the funnel. At first, the fire is not strong, and the person being punished will feel less pain in their feet by running around the bronze pillar."
"But as the temperature rises and your strength gradually fails, you will run slower and slower, and become less and less useful. Eventually, even hallucinogenic drugs cannot mask your pain, and you will eventually be roasted to death on a plate of blood."
Yan Qing couldn't help but gasp. Such a cruel way to die—was this the real-life version of boiling a frog in lukewarm water?
She had seen many acrobatic performances in real life, and had even seen people run barefoot across a row of fire pits. Experts had explained that while crossing fire pits looked frightening, as long as the speed was fast enough, it wouldn't cause burns to the soles of the feet.
Compared to crossing a fire basin, this fire-roasted blood vessel is much more stimulating. It's said that there were many cruel torture spells during the Shang Dynasty, but this should be considered a minor case compared to that.
But what's the point of this thing? Is it just for a demonstration?
Yue Qi had been secretly observing her since early morning. The girl's expressions were truly fascinating; he could almost sense her inner turmoil. Seeing her curious expression, he couldn't help but quietly explain things to her.
"As far as I know, most of the instruments of torture used by nobles in the Shang Dynasty were for sacrificial purposes. This blood vessel is no exception, and judging from its material, it must have been of extremely high quality. I'm afraid only kings and nobles could 'use' it."
The final word "enjoy" successfully elicited a soft gasp from Yan Qing; if the occasion hadn't been inappropriate, she would have jumped up.
Why is Yue Qi getting so close? And why is he deliberately making such scary noises? He's clearly just teasing her!
Miss Yan still had a bit of a temper, so she decided to fight fire with fire and deliberately spoke in a low voice, just like the other person.
"Brother Yue, I've read some archaeological documents from the Shang Dynasty that say roasted human flesh is actually very tender!"
Yue Qi's face instantly turned as if he had swallowed a fly.
Wait a minute? She was just joking, why is Yue Qi reacting so strongly? Could it be that he has actually eaten human flesh before?
Just as she grabbed Yue Qi's arm, wanting to continue asking questions, the people in front finally made a move.
Sun Qiang spoke again, "This should be a type of torture instrument from the Shang Dynasty. Its sudden appearance in a Western Han Dynasty tomb is not a good omen. Everyone should be prepared for what's to come."
Well, they still haven't said a word about how so many people died.
Passing through the courtyard and walking further in, according to regulations, this should have been a burial pit for human sacrifices. However, what they saw was completely different.
"Oh my god! Am I seeing things?!" Wen Jiajia exclaimed in surprise. "Quick, someone go and take a look. What is that thing on the ground over there?"
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