Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

Chapter 338 The smell of grave soil is poisonous

I am very curious about what treasure is in the box.

Since Blind Ah Hui said he would pass it to me.

It is probably most likely a magical tool used by the Southern School to find tombs and explore the earth.

"Open the box, cough cough." Blind Ah Hui said and started coughing while covering his mouth.

I found the two snaps on the top of the case and pressed them down simultaneously.

Click.

The box lid is open.

Revealing a pile of neatly stacked glass bottles in the box.

I stared blankly at the pile of glass bottles, wondering if I was seeing things.

Blinked hard.

Looking again, it's still a pile of glass bottles.

Each glass bottle is about the thickness of two thumbs and has a rubber stopper at the mouth.

The bottles seemed to be filled with... dirt?

This baby is completely different from what I thought!

Could it be that these glass bottles filled with soil are a trick to deceive people?

Is the real treasure hidden in the cracks of the box?

Blind Ah Hui tilted his ear slightly.

Listening to the sound of the box being opened, he said, "Are these treasures of mine different from what you thought?"

"It's different." I told the truth.

"Hey, it's different."

"My nose is so good at sniffing dirt, but it's 70% because I was born with a good nose."

"The remaining three points depend on frequent learning and practice."

"The soil samples in the box were collected by me over nearly twenty years."

"It covers burial soil samples from south to north."

"When I have nothing to do, I compare and smell the soil from tombs in different places, analyzing the similarities, differences and characteristics."

"It's like your Northwest tombs."

"Because the environment is relatively dry, even tombs buried deep underground will not be too humid."

“So the earthy smell is dry and mixed with the smell of rotting plants.”

When I saw him talking about the key points, I immediately pricked up my ears and listened carefully.

And recall the earthy smell that I smelled in the tomb.

Because I thought the smell of soil in the tomb was unpleasant, I didn't pay much attention to it.

Now that I think about it, isn’t this exactly what Blind Hui summed up?

This is truly amazing!

"The Yellow River makes a bend in northern Shaanxi and flows into Shanxi Province. Then, as it reaches the Central Plains, the climate becomes wetter and the groundwater becomes increasingly abundant."

"So the earthy smell of tombs in the Central Plains is slightly moist."

"It smells stronger than the fishy odor of tombs in the northwest, more like the stench of rotting meat."

"The tombs in Qi, Lu, and the Northeast are close to the sea, and the climate is more humid, so the smell is stronger, forming a complex aroma dominated by the stench of corpses, mixed with the smell of the sea."

"South of the Yangtze River, the climate is more humid and the groundwater is more abundant. Many tombs are just puddles when opened."

"So the soil in the grave smells like mud mixed with rotten fish and shrimp."

"And the further south you go, the more pronounced the stench of rotten fish and shrimp from the graveyard soil becomes..."

Blind Ah Hui spoke every word very slowly.

He also pointed at the glass bottle.

He gestured for me to open the glass bottle and smell it.

I picked up a glass bottle at random.

The paper on the bottle reads: Changsha, soil sample from a Chu tomb.

Then I picked up the glass bottle next to it, and it said: Changsha, soil sample from the Shukeng Han Tomb.

In addition, there are soil samples from tombs in the three northeastern provinces, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Guangdong.

I picked up each bottle, uncorked the rubber stopper, and held it to my nose to smell it.

Don't even say it.

The smell of grave soil in each place is indeed different.

This is like tea from different places.

Although Longjing, Tieguanyin, Pu'er, white tea, rock tea, etc. are all called tea, the taste is very different.

The smell of grave soil is the same.

Due to regional environmental factors, the smells formed vary greatly.

Moreover, the smell of the soil around the tombs is different from the smell of the soil in the same area where there are no tombs.

"You can take this box with you."

"When you get back and have nothing to do, just smell it. If you smell it enough, you'll be able to distinguish the smell of a tomb."

"If possible, collect more grave soil..."

What Blind Ah Hui did was equivalent to establishing a tomb soil specimen library.

Once the tomb soil from various places and periods is collected completely, it will be studied and summarized.

You can really tell whether there is a tomb by smelling the soil brought out by the Luoyang shovel.

You can even smell the approximate age of a tomb!

No wonder they say that the masters are among the people!

Blind Ah Hui continued, "Inside the box is the experience I gathered in my early years."

"Most of the experience is used in the south, but it may not be applicable in the northwest."

"Just treat it as a lesson from another mountain and see if it can inspire you."

"Also, my four apprentices should still be in Changsha."

"They are Ren Quansheng, Qi Xiaozhong, Li Guangyuan, and Hu Dexing."

"If you have a chance, please find them for me."

"See if they are doing well."

"If they're not doing well... please take care of them for me."

That’s all I have to say.

Blind Ah Hui has already entrusted his funeral arrangements.

I shook his hand and nodded vigorously, "I will definitely go find them."

"Cough cough!"

Blind Ah Hui coughed up two more mouthfuls of blood, and his face turned light golden.

This look is not a good sign.

Often, a dying person will have such an expression when he or she has a moment of clarity.

"The Chu Silk Book was hidden by me..."

His voice suddenly paused.

He pointed to the wicker box.

Then he said in a very low voice: "Search for the Five Mountains on the rattan weaving, and their true form will be revealed on the Chu Silk."

I looked down at the wicker box.

Ponder the meaning of that sentence.

The hiding place of the Chu Silk Book should be in the Five Mountains pattern on the wicker box.

But the surface of the wicker box was pitch black.

Grease and dust have long obscured the patterns on the surface.

If you want to see the pattern, you have to clean the surface oil, dirt and dust thoroughly.

Blind Ah Hui then warned, "Take the box back and look at it slowly."

This seems to be a hint.

This suggests that the Chu Silk Manuscript is not hidden in Hong Kong Island, but in the country.

And he didn't tell me directly where the Chu Silk Manuscript was hidden.

Instead, he told riddles, as if to guard against eavesdropping.

Think of this.

I looked at the walls around the room.

The walls are made of wooden boards and there is no sound insulation at all.

Then he turned his head and looked towards the door.

I actually saw Boss Dong's figure through the gap in the door.

He was lying on the door, listening to the movement in the room!

This made me feel a little suspicious...

Blind Ah Hui continued: "The last thing I want to talk about is Torii Ryuzo."

"During the Republic of China period, Torii Ryuzo gathered a group of special high-tech personnel and island ronin."

"They formed an organization for the purpose of plundering antiques."

"The lowest rank in the organization is the bird rank, which usually has a bird tattoo behind the ear or on the back of the neck."

When I heard about the bird-shaped pattern tattooed behind the ear, I couldn't help but think of the person who stole photos that I saw in Saito Akihiro's office.

He has a bird tattoo behind his ear!

"There should be two or three more levels above."

"But I don't know the specific level and decoration."

After saying this, Blind Ah Hui took out an envelope from under his pillow.

That envelope looks new.

"Before you came, someone from that organization came to see me."

"And leave this envelope for me to pass on to you."

I guess this letter is related to the Zhang family.

So he reached out to take the envelope.

But Blind Ah Hui suddenly retracted his hand holding the envelope.

He said in a deep voice: "Don't touch this letter!"

“It’s poisonous!!!”