Enough of this rambling. I was taken down the mountain by a shark and took the next available flight back to Shenyang that very night. As soon as I landed, I was picked up by people from the Changwei Group.
At 10:30 p.m., I met Mr. Wei again in the reception room of Changwei Group.
This time, Old Master Wei no longer had the slightly stern demeanor he had before. After exchanging a few pleasantries with me, he nodded with a smile in his eyes: "Not bad! As expected of Duan Laogui's grandson, you found Li Fan's tomb on your first tomb raiding trip and came back alive. You really didn't disappoint me!"
"Grandpa Wei, you flatter me. I was just a little lucky. Apart from the piles of stones and sand, there were no other traps in Li Fan's tomb. I originally thought that tomb raiding was nothing more than digging up the soil and taking things, but after this incident, I found that real tomb raiding is completely different from what I thought."
I paused for a moment: "Compared to superstition and delusion, the greed in people's hearts has truly taught me a lesson."
"If you can realize this, then you've grasped the essence of the tomb raiding business. Remember, those who make a living off the dead are the least trustworthy! They will abandon everything, even their own humanity, for profit!"
Grandpa Wei looked at me approvingly: "You can't be complacent just because you've tried your hand at tomb raiding. Li Fan wasn't a famous historical figure, so his tomb is relatively simple. Don't take tomb raiding so lightly just because of this lucky break."
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Old Master Wei, I changed the subject and asked, "Old Master, I wonder if you achieved your goal during our trip to Yangzhou?"
Old Master Wei smiled but said nothing.
Seeing the smile in his eyes, I continued, "Now that I have done what I promised you, shouldn't you also keep your promise and tell me about my father?"
“It’s not the right time yet. Actually, I already knew the location of Li Fan’s tomb on Shuangfeng Mountain on the day I sent you to Yangzhou. I sent you there just to see if you had the ability and if you were worth entrusting the next task to. As for me finding Li Fan’s tomb, it’s just to confirm a conjecture, or rather, he is just the trigger for me to open another tomb.”
Old Master Wei picked up his pipe: "The tomb I'm really going to open is designed by Li Chunfeng, a great feng shui master from the Tang Dynasty and the Grand Astrologer. It must be absolutely foolproof. This matter is of utmost importance, and I can only entrust it to the successors of the Four Gates."
"A Tang Dynasty tomb, designed by Li Chunfeng?" I frowned slightly. "Grandpa, you asked me to rob some imperial tomb of the Tang Dynasty, perhaps?"
"No, it's the tomb of the demonic monk from India!"
"Monk?"
"Yes! From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, to the Qin Dynasty's conquest of the six states, from the Qin Dynasty's demise after only two generations to the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the land of China was constantly ravaged by war, resulting in widespread suffering and misery. In order to allow the people to recuperate and to consolidate their rule, from the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the rulers used religious means to numb the people."
Old Master Wei spoke slowly and deliberately, like an old scholar: "By the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced from India. Then, during the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism flourished. However, Buddhism corrupted the government and the Buddhist community corrupted customs. The winds of change rose and the fogs of corruption spread endlessly. Shenxing, let me ask you, do you know how Emperor Taizong of Tang died?"
I do have some historical knowledge: "According to historical records, Li Shimin died of illness in Hanfeng Palace. He reigned for 23 years and lived to the age of 52. His temple name was Taizong, and he was buried in Zhaoling."
"The way you described his death is what is recorded in official history. History is just a little girl who can be dressed up however you like! In fact, the real cause of his death was so stupid that the historians were too embarrassed to record it. Out of respect for the royal family, they wrote that he died of illness."
Grandpa Wei gently shook his head: "Li Shimin's real cause of death was poisoning."
I sat up straight: "Poisoning?"
"Yes, Li Shimin certainly had many commendable military and political achievements in his life, but he also had a cruel side, such as taking his brother's wife as a concubine, practicing alchemy and taking drugs, whipping Wei Zheng's corpse, and killing his brother and father. After he ascended the throne, he held great power and, as the most powerful person at the time, he was naturally unwilling to leave this world. So, like the First Emperor, he was obsessed with immortality, but he did not seek immortality; instead, he sought it from others."
I thought for a moment: "Historical records do show that from the founding of the Tang Dynasty, alchemy was highly sought after. The Tang Dynasty's obsession with alchemy was probably unprecedented in the entire history of China. Even the poet Li Bai, after writing a poem called 'Ancient Style: How Vast is Li Bai,' decided to stay away from the world and devote himself to refining elixirs."
"Not bad, it seems your grandfather hasn't neglected your upbringing." Old Master Wei looked at me with satisfaction: "Do you know this person, Naluo Sapo Mei?"
I am fairly familiar with this name: "Both the Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang record this person. Narai Sapomei was a Brahmin monk from Magadha who claimed to have lived for two hundred years and possessed the art of immortality. He said that there was a miraculous medicine in the Brahmin country called Panchafa water, which could dissolve herbs, metals and iron and could be used to refine elixirs. In the twenty-second year of the Zhenguan era of the Tang Dynasty, this monk came to Chang'an with Wang Xuance, the Tang envoy to India. He was treated with courtesy by Emperor Taizong and made longevity medicine inside the Jinbiao Gate."
Grandpa Wei tapped the table lightly with his finger: "Li Shimin was poisoned to death by this Brahmin sorcerer."
“That’s impossible!” I immediately rejected Mr. Wei’s statement: “According to the Zizhi Tongjian, Li Shimin did not take the elixir made by this foreign monk. Before he died, there was no cure for him.”
"Do you remember what I just said? Official history records the will of the rulers. According to Li Fan, a member of the Tang Dynasty imperial family, he advised Li Shimin to stay away from elixirs, but Li Shimin did not listen and continued to take the elixirs made by that evil monk. Then his condition worsened and he passed away. The reason I sent you to Li Fan's tomb was to verify whether he had a hobby of recording royal secrets. Through the photos sent back by the shark, I have confirmed that this matter is true."
Grandpa Wei added: "Historical records state that the Pancha water mentioned by Naluoer Suopo Mei could melt plants, metals, and iron. If a person put their hand into the water, their flesh would rot, and only a skeleton could scoop it up. After my research, the so-called miraculous medicine likely refers to ferrous sulfate oil."
"sulfuric acid?"
I blurted out the name. In his book "The Yellow Emperor's Nine Cauldrons Divine Elixir Classic", the Tang Dynasty alchemist Gu Gangzi recorded the "method of refining gallstone to extract essence", which is actually to obtain green vitriol oil, which is sulfuric acid, by calcining gallstone.
"That's right. The main ingredients of the pills concocted by the evil monk were mercury, sulfur, arsenic, sulfuric acid, and other substances. Li Shimin died from these highly poisonous pills."
Grandpa Wei nodded: "I consulted many sources and accidentally obtained a bamboo slip unearthed from the tomb of a Tang Dynasty historian, which revealed a shocking secret."
During Li Shimin's reign, he sent Wang Xuance as an envoy to India three times, but Wang was ambushed. At that time, he vowed to destroy India. He won a series of victories and captured the capital of Central India in three days, leading to the destruction of Central India. He accomplished the feat of "one man destroying a country" and captured Arjuna, his queen, princes and more than 10,000 others, and presented them to Chang'an as prisoners.
The Brahmin monk Naraṇī Svabhāṣṭra was a sorcerer from Magadha in India, but also the royal preceptor of the kingdom of Magadha. His purpose in traveling to the Tang Dynasty was to assassinate Li Shimin to avenge the destruction of his kingdom.
I tried to understand: "Spy?"
"It can be understood this way: at that time, he gained Li Shimin's trust, took away all the alchemical formulas in the palace, and began to refine medicines for Li Shimin. In order to seek immortality, Li Shimin sent people to various places to collect rare medicines and stones for his use. This evil monk took the opportunity to plunder a large amount of wealth and transport it to India. According to official history, this evil monk returned to India after Li Shimin's death, but he was actually detained in the Tang Dynasty."
Mr. Wei added: "After Li Shimin died, Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi, who succeeded him, wanted to release the evil monk back to the country, but Wang Xuance believed that there were many suspicious things about Li Shimin's death, so he dissuaded him and detained him in the Tang Dynasty until the evil monk died in Chang'an and was hastily buried in a small temple in Chang'an."
I rubbed my hands together, sorting through the information provided by Old Master Wei: "If the demonic monk you mentioned refers to Naropa, then his tomb should be in Xi'an?"
"If only it were that simple." Old Master Wei shook his head: "This demonic monk's tomb is not in China, but abroad."
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