The name Lingxiao Palace is outrageous.
"What was the posthumous title of the Tang Emperor?" Zhang Fan asked curiously.
"Jade Emperor," Qiu Wanlan looked at Zhang Fan, "What? Is there a problem?"
“No problem, no problem! That makes perfect sense!” Zhang Fan stepped forward. “Let’s go see the Jade Emperor.”
Zhang Fan had seen many imperial palaces, from the Qing Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, but the underground palace of the Tang Emperor still commanded respect.
Squeak—
Zhang Fan pushed open the door to the underground palace.
The palace gate was carved from a single piece of agarwood, a type of wood that is said to not only repel insects but also remain intact for thousands of years.
The main hall is lined with these thick agarwood pillars on both sides. Standing at the entrance and looking inside, it's as if you're looking into a forest of agarwood trees.
A row of golden figures stood in front of each pillar. Judging from their appearance and clothing, they should be two rows of civil and military officials.
The civil officials stood with their arms crossed, their expressions solemn. The military officers, on the other hand, were fully armored and wore masks, making it impossible to tell whether they were male or female.
Each armored soldier had their hand on the hilt of their sword at their waist, and their masks were all blue-faced and fanged, with a ferocious look as if they were about to pounce and kill anyone who broke into the hall.
"Qiu Wanlan, the 48th generation descendant of the Western Liang Women's Kingdom, requests an audience with His Majesty the Jade Emperor."
Qiu Wanlan knelt respectfully at the palace gate and kowtowed to the huge coffin on the throne in the main hall.
Zhang Fan did not find Qiu Wanlan's behavior strange.
Having experienced the battle against the four golden statues at the South Heavenly Gate, Zhang Fan now dared not doubt whether the generals in the main hall would still be lethal.
Better safe than sorry.
Before he knew if there was any deeper meaning behind it, Zhang Fan also knelt down and kowtowed to the huge coffin opposite him.
“Zhang Fan, a descendant of Mars, has come to pay homage to the Tang Emperor.”
The hall was silent, with only the echoes of their voices reverberating throughout.
"...Here I come to pay my respects to the Tang Emperor..."
"...to pay homage to the Tang Emperor..."
"...to see the Tang Emperor..."
"……See."
Qiu Wanlan stood up from the ground and walked to the center of the hall. Under the watchful eyes of the civil and military officials on both sides, she knelt down to pay her respects every three steps and kowtowed every nine steps.
Zhang Fan followed closely behind her, and in the places she passed, he performed the ritual of three kneelings and nine kowtows.
He didn't know if these three kneelings and nine kowtows were some kind of fixed action to disarm a mechanism, so he did them all. He couldn't guarantee that if he didn't, the generals on both sides of the hall wouldn't suddenly rush up and chop him into mincemeat, or that a volley of arrows would suddenly shoot out from somewhere in the hall and turn him into a hedgehog.
Tables were set up in front of the civil and military officials, making it seem as if a banquet was being held in the main hall. However, the tables were not filled with food; instead, they were filled with plates and dishes of gold, agate, rubies, sapphires, pearls, and jade. There were at least a hundred such plates in the hall.
No wonder tomb raiders flock to the Tang Dynasty Emperor's Tomb. Just taking a plate of food from this main hall would be enough to ensure a family of five could live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
Zhang Fan had no interest in these precious artifacts. The two of them kept their eyes straight ahead and walked for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea to reach the bottom of the steps leading to the enormous coffin.
"Qiu Wanlan, the forty-eighth generation descendant of the Western Liang Women's Kingdom, pays respects to the Jade Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"
Qiu Wanlan knelt down on both knees and kowtowed three times before the throne, and Zhang Fan did the same.
The Tang emperor's coffin was silent. No withered mummy lifted the coffin and sat up, nor did any voice say "Rise, my dear subject."
The main hall remained silent.
"What should we do next?" Zhang Fan knelt on the ground, turning his head to look at Qiu Wanlan. "And then what?"
"I don't know." Qiu Wanlan looked blank. "When I was a child, I only learned the etiquette of meeting the king. I don't know what to do next."
"You don't know?" Zhang Fan was speechless.
The two knelt before the emperor for a long time, but in the end, they did not hear the words, "Rise, my beloved minister."
Kneeling like this isn't a solution, so Zhang Fan carefully stood up, and Qiu Wanlan followed suit.
"What should we do?" Qiu Wanlan looked at the huge coffin above.
At this moment, the coffin of the Tang emperor was only nine steps away from the two men, less than ten steps.
"What else can we do?" Zhang Fan gritted his teeth. "We've come this far, we can't just turn back, can we? Let's all go!"
Zhang Fan took Qiu Wanlan's hand, and the two climbed the steps.
Thump, thump, thump.
The two ascended the throne, where the enormous coffin was already close at hand, within reach.
Zhang Fan could feel Qiu Wanlan's hands trembling, and his own heart was racing, his chest pounding.
A thousand years have passed, and now we may very well meet one of the ancestors of humankind on Earth, and the closest one to us, only a thousand years ago.
Only by getting up close can one witness the sheer size of this coffin.
Zhang Fan roughly measured that the coffin was two meters long, two meters wide, and one meter high, and was generally cubic in shape. One side of the coffin lid was carved with a dragon, and the other side with a phoenix. It looked like a double bed.
“These are the coffins of the Tang King and Queen.” Qiu Wanlan gently stroked the patterns on the coffin. She was no longer afraid. “The Tang King and Queen were together all their lives, and they will be together in death.”
"A joint burial tomb?" Zhang Fan found it a bit strange. "The Tang Emperor and the Queen must have died at different times, right? How come the other person is buried here?"
According to the rules of the Western Liang Women's Kingdom, after the emperor is buried in the royal mausoleum, the Dragon-Slaying Stone must be put down. That thing is disposable; once it's put down, it can't be picked up again.
Even if it were possible to lift it, it would be impossible to open the emperor's coffin and then bury another person inside, as this would be extremely inauspicious for the emperor.
“You’re wrong.” Qiu Wanlan shook her head. “The Tang King and the Queen died on the same day.”
"Really died on the same day, in the same month, in the same year?" Zhang Fan was a little stunned. Although he had heard of couples who died on the same day, in the same month, in the same year, he had never actually seen one in real life.
"The Queen passed away in the morning. Before that, the Tang King stayed by her bedside all day without closing his eyes. In the evening, he followed her." Qiu Wanlan sniffed as she spoke, and there seemed to be tears in her eyes.
"I see..." From this, Zhang Fan felt that the Tang King might not have died of natural causes, but that was no longer important.
Zhang Fan walked around the coffin twice and found a handle on each side of the coffin lid, so he reached out and grabbed one of them.
"Are we really going to open it?" Qiu Wanlan reached out and grabbed the other handle as Zhang Fan instructed, but hesitated.
“I can’t open it by myself; I have to apply force from both sides at the same time to activate the mechanism and open the coffin lid.” Zhang Fan looked at Qiu Wanlan with a sincere expression. “Believe me, it was the Tang King who guided me here to see him, and I believe he wants us to do the same now.”
"Alright." Qiu Wanlan gritted her teeth and made up her mind.
"One, two, three, open!"
The two of them pulled at the same time, forcefully pulling the handle outwards.
Click, click, click—
Amidst a commotion, the stone coffin lid slowly opened to both sides like a sliding door.
Click!
With a snapping sound, the coffin lid was secured to the edge of the stone coffin and had been fully opened from the middle to both sides.
Zhang Fan and Qiu Wanlan stood on either side of the coffin, their hearts pounding.
Zhang Fan even hoped that the Tang King inside the coffin would sit up and greet him with a smile. Qiu Wanlan also hoped, but was also afraid.
The two remained locked in a stalemate.
Time passed second by second...
But nothing happened.
Qiu Wanlan looked at Zhang Fan, her eyes asking him what she should do.
Zhang Fan calmed himself down, slowly walked to the coffin, placed his hands on the lid, and peered into the coffin...
Two mummified corpses.
A figure wearing a phoenix crown, dressed in a colorful robe, with long hair reaching her waist.
Even after a thousand years, the colors of the robe remain vibrant, a testament to the superb craftsmanship.
The other mummy was bald, wearing a nine-dragon gold robe, and was holding hands with the female mummy next to him.
Zhang Fan had imagined countless times what it would be like to see the Tang Emperor in the tomb. In his imagination, he wouldn't be surprised if he saw the Tang Emperor roasting chicken wings in the tomb.
But now.
Looking at the Tang Emperor before him.
He was genuinely surprised.
What exactly are you trying to tell me?
Zhang Fan squatted on the coffin lid with his legs crossed, and sighed helplessly.
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