I knew nothing about demolition, so after adopting Wei Shengnan's plan, I handed over the specific operations to Xu Hu and Cao Shang, and started doing the work myself.
Under Xu Hu's command, we knocked several stones off the statue to seal the four pipes in the river, and then used precious drinking water and some mud to seal the gaps.
"boom!"
As the exposed fuse was ignited, a muffled thud reverberated through the underground space, and the shockwave blew out all the stones blocking the pipe.
Even though I managed to dodge more than ten meters away, my heart was still pounding from the shock.
As the echo faded, Cao Shang stood at the edge of the river, looking at the smoking pipes and the unmoving stone gate behind them, and became dejected: "It seems our plan has failed. Air cannot replace the role of water."
I sighed as well: "I'll go down and take another look!"
Just as I was about to take a step, I suddenly felt the ground beneath my feet shaking, so I immediately lay down and pressed my ears to the ground.
We heard a rolling sound beneath our feet, much like the sound of marbles rolling upstairs, but much deeper.
"Thump!"
Five or six seconds later, the rolling sound was replaced by a thumping sound.
Immediately afterwards, the rolling sound came out again.
In addition to the rolling sound, a rattling sound, like iron chains being stirred, could also be heard coming from several pipes in the river.
"I misunderstood before. This mechanism isn't controlled by buoyancy and pressure! The stone slab below should be '卜'-shaped, and there must be something behind it, holding some stone balls. The secret of this mechanism isn't the right wall, but the narrow pipe on the left! Once the mechanism is triggered, the chain will pull the right stone wall back, causing the stone balls behind it to roll out! It uses leverage to move the chain!"
I suddenly realized: "The water flow is the key to this mechanism. The reason why it is not connected to the underground river is to let the water source dry up and seal the tomb door, rather than open it."
Qu Ruilin crouched down and pressed his hand against the ground, feeling the vibrations below: "Is there any record of a similar mechanism in history?"
"Remember when I said that Gong Jianjia disagreed with Lu Ban using a machine seal to bury Ji Kangzi's mother? His reason at the time was 'The royal family regards the monument as a symbol of grandeur, while the three families regard the pillar as a symbol of humility'! The pillar refers to the large pillars that were erected when the coffins of ancient emperors and feudal lords were buried. The pillars had holes through which ropes were threaded to suspend the coffins into the tomb. In ancient times, many coffins of high-ranking officials and nobles were transported down using a 'deer-drawn coffin,' which works on the same principle as the windlass on some wells in rural areas."
I got up and walked towards the stone gate: "In some remote areas of our country, the custom of burial still exists. When burying someone, two thick ropes are passed through the bottom of the coffin, and four people each hold one end of the rope. After lifting the coffin, the ropes are released, and the coffin slowly enters the grave. Ordinary people's coffins are not very heavy, and four people with two ropes are enough to lift and lower the coffin without the need for lifting equipment. Therefore, the ancients said, 'A scholar with two ropes has no tombstone.'"
The coffins of high-ranking officials, wealthy merchants, and members of the royal family were large and heavy, too heavy to be lifted by ropes alone. Therefore, a large stele was erected at each of the four corners of the tomb, with a horizontal beam threaded through a hole at the top to secure it. Three pulleys were then attached to the horizontal beam, allowing the coffin to be easily lowered into the outer coffin. The earliest steles were reusable and were removed and taken away after burial. Later, people began to inscribe words of praise and commendation on these steles. The tombstones in front of graves today evolved from these steles with fixed pulleys.
The aforementioned techniques appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. The well pulley utilizes the principle of saving effort through the wheel and axle. The *Mo Jing*, a work of the Mohist school from the late Warring States period, also records a rudimentary form of the lever principle, nearly two hundred years earlier than Archimedes' work. The application of mechanical devices is well-documented in historical records, so its presence in an ancient tomb is not surprising. And don't forget, this tomb was designed by the feng shui master Li Chunfeng!
Looking at the entrance to the Demon Monk's Tomb, Wei Shengnan breathed a sigh of relief: "As you said, the mechanism has been activated, does that mean we can open this door?"
"Theoretically, it is possible, but this mechanism is not a one-time use device. Those stone balls must be on something like a seesaw. When there is water, the tomb door will open, and when there is no water, it will close."
Based on the clues I had, I speculated: "We have two things to gamble on now. The first is whether the mechanisms in this tomb can still function properly! The second is whether the blast wave can activate the mechanisms. Even if the impact could open the mechanisms, the tomb door would probably close again after a brief opening."
Another impact sound came from beneath our feet, and then silence fell. Wei Shengnan held her breath and looked at the stone door in front of her: "There's no way back, so it's always good to be able to move forward. Now we just hope that the mechanisms here haven't been destroyed!"
"Splash!"
Ten seconds later, the sound of chains rattling came from inside the wall on one side of the stone gate.
Immediately afterwards, a cloud of dust fell onto the lintel in front of them.
With a scraping sound, the stone door slowly opened inward.
"Enter!"
I didn't know how long the mechanism could last, so I didn't wait for the bad luck inside to dissipate before I led the way and ran over.
As soon as I entered the tomb, I felt a chilling cold rushing towards me.
Shining a flashlight forward, you see a deep, sloping tomb passage. Because it was carved out of the mountain, there are no gaps in the walls, and they are covered with murals.
The murals are quite chaotic, mostly depicting human-faced, animal-bodied figures, clearly taken from mythological stories.
Every few meters along this tomb passage, there is a golden lampstand placed on a stone base.
The lampstand support in front of me is shaped like a human with a rat's face, about one meter tall, holding a tray in both hands.
The eternal lamps had gone out, and some condensed lamp oil remained in the trays.
Qu Ruilin shone his flashlight forward: "This tomb is really extravagant. The lampstands are all made of pure gold. But why would a monk from Magadha use lamps with the twelve zodiac animals?"
As I examined the surrounding ground and walls, I casually explained, “These lampstands must be one of the treasures he plundered from the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty had a special fondness for the zodiac culture, and many zodiac figurines and related artifacts have been unearthed. Among the unearthed artifacts from the Tang Dynasty, there have never been such large gold ornaments, so these lampstands are likely gilded and came from the Li Tang imperial family.”
"Strange, the oxygen concentration here has reached 21%, so it's not an oxygen-deficient state at all, and those toxic gases have also disappeared!"
Cao Shang glanced at the air quality monitor in his hand and reached for the lampstand beside him: "With such a high oxygen level, why haven't these gold items oxidized?"
"Don't move!"
I caught a glimpse of Cao Shang's actions out of the corner of my eye and immediately rebuked him, but it was too late.
"Clang!"
As soon as Cao Shang reached out, the lampstand tilted to one side, and I clearly saw the stone base beneath it sway.
"Get down!"
Before I could figure out what was going on, Wei Shengnan suddenly yelled and tackled me to the ground.
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