Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

Professor Zhang bravely picked up the ancient jade.

He looked up at Yang Goudan and asked, "Are you talking to me?"

"But what do these three words, tomb, life, and sacrifice, mean?"

The three words tomb, life, and sacrifice do not sound like they can form a word.

I have no idea what it means.

When Yang Goudan opened his mouth to speak, his only remaining eye rolled up.

The black pupils rolled up completely.

Only the white pupil remains of the eyeball.

A hoarse sound came from his throat again.

Seeing this, Old Yu quickly grabbed Professor Zhang's arm and dragged him out of the courtyard: "Don't ask anymore!"

"Run quickly!"

As soon as the two ran out of the yard, they heard a clanging sound coming from the yard.

Look back.

But Yang Goudan fell to the ground and twitched violently as if he had epilepsy.

Professor Zhang slowed down his pace and asked doubtfully, "Is this, a seizure or something?"

Old Yu shook his head and said, "It doesn't look like epilepsy."

"Rooster blood is the best way to ward off evil spirits, not to mention that the one he just bit to death was a multicolored golden rooster!"

"I guess the chicken blood temporarily suppressed the evil spirit in his body, which gave him a moment of clarity of mind."

"Now, the evil should be making a comeback."

"I'm going to completely possess Yang Goudan!"

Old Yu grabbed Professor Zhang and was about to run.

Footsteps and shouts could be heard from both ends of the road.

Under the bright moonlight, hundreds of people could be seen pouring in from both ends of the road.

"The unmarried, strong young man with strong virility is in front."

"The older ones should move back a little."

"I want to see what Yang Goudan can come up with by playing tricks on me."

With the shouting, hundreds of people rushed over carrying hoes, sickles and other farm tools.

The roads at both ends were blocked, and Professor Zhang and Lao Yu couldn't run away even if they wanted to.

"Oh no! The village chief has come with all the young men in the village."

"Stand against the wall quickly. Hopefully they won't notice us."

"Maybe there's still a chance to escape during the chaos."

The two of them stood in the shadow of the courtyard wall, hoping that no one would notice them.

However, it backfired.

The village chief walked over and pointed at Professor Zhang.

His face was gloomy as he asked, "Did Yang Goudan's evil deeds have anything to do with you?"

"It has nothing to do with me..."

Without waiting for Professor Zhang to explain, the village chief waved his hand and said, "Arrest him and Old Yu and send them to the village brigade for custody."

"After dealing with Yang Goudan, I'll try you again!"

Immediately, four strong young men rushed forward.

They each grabbed one of Professor Zhang and Lao Yu's arms and twisted them backwards, then pulled their hair and took them to the village brigade.

Old Yu took a breath as he spoke. "Not long after we were taken to the village brigade, Yang Goudan was also brought over."

"He was unconscious when he was brought here, and his body was tied up tightly with big red ropes."

Han Bin looked up and said, "Did you hear that? They were taken to the village brigade for processing."

"That means this is the village brigade office!"

"You're wrong to doubt me... Ugh."

Uncle Zheng covered his mouth in anger: "It's all in the past. It will hurt our feelings if you bring it up again."

"Do you understand unity?"

Seeing Han Bin nod, Uncle Zheng finally let go of his hand.

Old Yu said, "This isn't really the village brigade office..."

"What?!"

Han Bin's eyes almost popped out of his head in shock: "How could this not be run by the village brigade?!"

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where it is."

Old Yu shook his head slightly and changed the subject, "I'm sure you've guessed what that weird thing next door is."

"It's Yang Goudan."

"Yang Goudan has been completely possessed by the evil spirit."

"Later, the village chief invited sorcerers and shamans from all over the area to perform a ritual to exorcise the evil spirit from Yang Goudan."

“But none of them succeeded.”

"Those sorcerers and fortune-tellers ended up dying or getting hurt."

"Yang Goudan even ate several of the red candles used for the ritual."

"But the strange thing is that Yang Goudan doesn't dare to leave this yard."

"It seems that there is something arranged in the yard that can trap him."

"But these are not important anymore..."

It's not important again.

I really don’t know what Lao Yu thinks is important.

Old Yu seemed to see through my thoughts, staring straight into my eyes and said, "The important thing is how to get out."

"If we want to leave here, we must first deal with Yang Goudan next door who is possessed by an evil spirit."

"Professor Zhang and I have studied this."

"The key to solving Yang Goudan's problem lies in that ancient jade and the three words he said."

This sentence really woke us up.

The three of us nodded in unison.

Uncle Zheng touched his chin and said, "The evil spirit that possessed Yang Goudan must be related to that ancient jade."

"The meaning of these three words, tomb, life, and sacrifice, should be the key among the keys."

Han Bin rubbed his forehead and smiled bitterly: "Everyone doesn't know this is the key."

"But these three crucial words are completely unrelated!"

"Even a god would find it difficult to guess the meaning of these three words!"

Old Yu nudged Professor Zhang with his elbow.

Professor Zhang hesitated for a moment and said in a hoarse voice, "The tomb is a cemetery. It should be where Yang Goudan found the ancient jade."

"Sacrifice means sacrifice."

"Tomb and sacrifice refer to offering sacrifices at the cemetery."

"Then the new characters should refer to the specific form of sacrifice."

"Live sacrifice and animal sacrifice are the two possibilities I can think of."

"Sheng" and "Sheng" have the same pronunciation, but their meanings are very different.

When Yang Goudan said these three words, he only pronounced them, so people had to guess which words they were.

"What do you mean by living sacrifice?" Han Bin wondered.

He didn't understand what the two words "sheng" and "sheng" meant, so he didn't understand what Professor Zhang meant.

I explained on behalf of Professor Zhang: "These are homophones with different pronunciations."

"One is the life of life, the other is the sacrifice of livestock."

"The life of life, this life sacrifice has two meanings."

"One is a sacrificial ceremony held in the past for people who are about to die or those who are dying."

"The other refers to sacrificial rituals involving human sacrifice."

"And the word 'sacrifice' in 'livestock' refers to a sacrificial ritual using livestock as sacrifices."

For sacrifices, the choice of offerings is of paramount importance.

Both the Xia and Shang dynasties were very fond of using living people for sacrifices, especially the Shang dynasty.

A large number of unearthed oracle bones record various sacrifices using living people.

After the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, the custom of sacrificing living people gradually shifted to sacrificing livestock.

The three large animals, "pig, cow, and sheep", are often used in important livestock sacrifices, while the three small animals, "pig, fish, and chicken", are used in ordinary sacrifices. Musk deer, deer, and muntjac are used as the three animal sacrifices in special sacrifices.

However, in some remote places, the custom of living sacrifices still remains.

After I finished explaining, I frowned and thought, "What if the evil spirit possessing Yang Goudan is related to the ancient jade?"

"The meaning of the living sacrifice is probably related to the age of the ancient jade."

"That makes sense!" Professor Zhang's eyes lit up.

Rubbing his hands together, he said, "Why didn't I consider this?"

"That piece of ancient jade is carved with bow and fishbone patterns, which somewhat resemble oracle bone script, but it cannot be ruled out that it is a tribal totem."

"Judging from the pattern and the carving technique, it dates back to at least the early Western Zhou Dynasty."

"It's even very likely to be from the late Shang Dynasty!"

"If it's from the late Shang Dynasty, then the meaning of living sacrifice is probably to sacrifice living people!"