Volume One - The Hundred Coffin Tomb Chapter Thirty-Six - Astonishment

Hearing the woman call out "boss," Li Kun and I turned around to look behind us. As expected, it was Xu Tian approaching, and I smiled gently.

Xu Tian strode over to me, raised his hand, and clasped mine, saying, "Brother Liu, you've arrived! I didn't expect you to get here before me."

I replied, "It's nothing, I just got here myself. I was about to go inside when you showed up."

Xu Tian laughed heartily and addressed the shop assistant beside him, "These two are my friends. In the future, let them upstairs directly when they come, no need to inform me."

The woman nodded, and Xu Tian said to me, "Brother Liu, let's go upstairs." I nodded in agreement and followed Xu Tian upstairs.

Once there, Xu Tian poured two glasses of water and set them before Li Kun and me. He asked, "Brother Liu, how did things go in the tomb this time?"

Before I could answer, Li Kun, looking rather gloomy, said, "Ah... If we told anyone about what we went through, they wouldn't believe us."

Xu Tian paused, his brows furrowing, and leaned forward, lowering his voice, "Did you two encounter something unusual in the tomb?"

Hearing his question, I wondered silently if Xu Tian believed there might be some strange creature or unclean thing in the tomb. Monster tales could be plausible, but if it were about ghosts or spirits, Xu Tian was unlikely to accept that.

Li Kun, now quite serious, replied, "Old Xu, you know about the big corpses in tombs, don't you?"

Xu Tian's eyes lit up at once. He hurriedly moved to sit next to Li Kun, asking eagerly, "Brother, what's going on? Tell me."

Li Kun was about to speak, but seeing me shake my head, he closed his mouth.

After all, Xu Tian wasn't truly one of us; we'd only met a few times and couldn't even be considered friends. Our only connection was transactional, so there was no need to share everything about what happened in the tomb.

Xu Tian looked a bit embarrassed, but I offered no explanation, saying, "Old Xu, let's not rush into this. We'll discuss it later. We did bring something out from the tomb, and we want your opinion on it."

Xu Tian caught my meaning and said, "Oh? Truth be told, I'm not deeply versed in grave robbing, but when it comes to antiques from tombs, I can generally identify most of them. That's not an exaggeration—my family has been dealing in antiques and porcelain for generations, and everything I know came from my father."

He paused briefly, then continued, "To be honest, my grandfather wasn't an ordinary man. He specialized in the study of the Book of Changes, Feng Shui, and geomancy. He could find dragon veins and burial sites with ease. However, he stopped researching those things long ago—otherwise, he wouldn't have given you that dragon-seeking plate."

I was taken aback, realizing Xu Tian's grandfather was a Feng Shui master, and that the family's wealth was surely connected to their expertise in Feng Shui and antiques.

Li Kun said to Xu Tian, "Brother, since your family has been involved with antiques for so long, you must have explored tombs yourselves."

Xu Tian nodded slightly. "Yes, to be honest, my grandfather did go into tombs. Every trip lasted about half a month, as if he were searching for something. But whenever he returned, his face looked grim. I guess he never found what he was looking for."

From this, I thought to myself that Xu Tian's grandfather must have been searching for a particular item, something clearly very important to him, but it was never found.

Xu Tian slapped his thigh, exclaiming, "Ah, look at me, getting sidetracked! Brother Liu, what did you two bring out from the tomb? Show me."

I nodded to Li Kun, who took a palm-sized jade plaque from his chest and handed it to Xu Tian.

Seeing it was a jade plaque, Xu Tian didn't take it lightly. He pulled a magnifying glass and a sheet of white paper from the coffee table's drawer.

He placed the white paper on the table, set the jade plaque atop it, and began a careful examination with the magnifying glass.

After a while, Xu Tian turned the plaque over and continued his inspection. Li Kun and I, seeing how focused Xu Tian was, dared not disturb him. Li Kun barely breathed, afraid Xu Tian might declare it a fake.

Xu Tian scrutinized the jade for a while, his brow creasing. Li Kun and I grew uneasy—was there something wrong with this piece?

Xu Tian set the magnifying glass down, held the jade up to observe its luster, and said, "The quality of this jade plaque is excellent. If I'm not mistaken, it dates back to the Song dynasty."

Hearing it was a relic from the Song, Li Kun and I felt our worries melt away. Jade artifacts are valuable to begin with, and this one was well preserved. Its age and quality assured us it was genuine.

Xu Tian continued, "If I haven't misjudged, this is a Song dynasty waist plaque. Back then, such plaques marked one's status. Society was stratified; aristocrats in the royal family had plaques with gold edges and lotus patterns. I've only ever heard of those, never seen one."

He set the jade plaque back on the white paper and looked up at us. "Although this plaque has no gold inlay, its owner must have been an important figure."

He pushed the plaque and paper toward me. "Look at the engraving on this jade."

Li Kun and I leaned forward to examine the piece. Xu Tian pointed to the sides of the design. "This waist plaque is made entirely of blue-white jade. In that era, only the most renowned figures used blue-white jade for their plaques. The pattern carved here is actually a medicinal herb, but it's only mentioned in legends."

"The Song dynasty had many customs around waist plaques—some bore flowers, others fierce beasts, but these were toys for the wealthy and powerful."

Li Kun asked, puzzled, "What is this herb depicted here?"

Xu Tian sat upright and spoke slowly, "This herb is called Life-Giving Grass. Legend has it that consuming it grants immortality and preserves one's youthful appearance forever. In other words, if you took it at twenty, you'd stay twenty forever."

"In the Song dynasty, only three people had waist plaques engraved with this herb, and each was formidable. Among the people, they're spoken of in awe, said to possess extraordinary Taoist powers—though these were considered dark arts. Even the emperor respected them."

At this, Li Kun and I gasped. I thought to myself, Taoist arts? Dark arts? If this was true, then everything the white fox told us was real.

Li Kun sighed, "Good heavens, who would have thought a jade plaque could have such a background? That means the tomb we robbed belonged to one of those three!"

Xu Tian seemed uncertain, but went on to ask about our experiences in the tomb. Since his questions related to the plaque, Li Kun and I answered honestly.

After hearing our account, Xu Tian looked convinced. "This jade plaque must belong to one of those three men."

Seeing his certainty, Li Kun and I exchanged a glance. Then Li Kun asked the question he most wanted answered, "Old Xu, how much is this waist plaque worth?"

Xu Tian looked down at the plaque and fell into deep thought, his actions puzzling us.

He stared at the plaque—sometimes shaking his head, sometimes nodding, sometimes frowning, finally breaking into a smile.

He picked up the waist plaque along with the white paper and said, "This blue-white jade waist plaque from the Song dynasty is truly priceless. No amount of gold could ever buy it."