Chapter 62: Fish Bone Temple, Tomb Raider, Contemplating Dragon Ridge At The Taiyin Observatory
Hearing that this old man also knew about the Iron Head Dragon King, Hu Ba Yi and the others immediately invited him to sit down and talk in detail.
This old man surnamed Liu was also a wine-loving chatterbox. He sat down and drank Lao Bai Gan Liquor with Su Mo and the others, then began talking about the legend of this Iron Head Dragon King.
“This thing is actually an enormously huge fish. People who travel by boat call it the Iron Head Dragon King. It only comes out during major floods; you can’t see it at ordinary times!”
Fatty couldn’t help but say:
“Old sir, what you’re saying is quite mysterious, as if you’ve seen it with your own eyes!”
Old Liu Head chuckled:
“I’ve actually seen the Iron Head Dragon King in this river. When I was young, one got stranded by the water’s edge. It was only half-grown, but its body was as big as a truck!”
“At that time, many locals said it was the Dragon King Lord descending to earth. They all gathered around to burn incense and pray. Many people wanted to send it back to the river, but before anyone could act, the thing died!”
“The nearby villagers were afraid that the Iron Head Dragon King rotting by the riverbank would cause a plague, so they burned the fish meat and entrails as a sacrifice to the river god. Only a huge bone frame remained. Everyone didn’t know what to do with this bone frame. Then an out-of-towner came. He paid the villagers to build a Fish Bone Temple with this fish bone frame!”
Hu Ba Yi and the others listened with great interest and couldn’t help saying:
“There are Fish Bone Temples over in Tianjin too, all built with enormous fish bone frames. I didn’t expect there to be one in the great northwest too!”
“Logically, a temple built with the Iron Head Dragon King’s bone frame should be very efficacious, with prosperous incense offerings, right?”
Old Liu Head couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh:
“Don’t mention it! This Fish Bone Temple is actually quite funny. If villagers encountered a drought and went to pray for rain, it was fine not praying, but once they did, the drought got even worse. So not long after, the temple was abandoned!”
“No villagers went to offer incense anymore. Plus, this Fish Bone Temple was built in a mountain crevice in Dragon Ridge, with very difficult roads. I’m afraid the temple has already collapsed!”
Hearing this, Su Mo knew that the Fish Bone Temple Old Liu Head mentioned was just a front.
The person who paid to help build the Fish Bone Temple wasn’t some businessman, but a tomb raider.
He paid the villagers to build the Fish Bone Temple precisely because he had discovered the tomb in Dragon Ridge, using the Fish Bone Temple as cover.
You know, ordinary Dragon King temples are built by riversides. Who builds one in the barren mountains!
Su Mo came to Shaanxi precisely to find this ancient tomb hidden in Dragon Ridge. Now that he knew about the Fish Bone Temple, as long as he found its location, he could naturally find the ancient tomb hidden beneath the Fish Bone Temple!
Thinking of this, Su Mo smiled faintly:
“Uncle Liu, we’re here for tourism and on-site sketching. Your description of this Fish Bone Temple sounds quite unique, so we want to go take a look. Do you know the temple’s exact location?”
Old Liu Head then told Su Mo the exact location of the Fish Bone Temple and the detailed route to get there, then added:
“You can just go to the Fish Bone Temple to have a look. Absolutely don’t go deeper into the mountain ridge. The terrain there is extremely treacherous. Many places below have been hollowed out by groundwater, with only a layer of hard soil crust on top. If you step through and fall in, you won’t get out!”
“We locals call that place the Dragon Ridge Maze. The caves below are like a labyrinth, and it’s haunted inside too. You must be extremely careful!”
Old Liu Head’s face was flushed from drinking. After advising the group a few words, he went back to his room to rest.
After he left, Hu Ba Yi couldn’t help asking:
“Master, you asked Old Liu Head about the Fish Bone Temple. Could it be there’s good stuff over there?”
Su Mo nodded:
“This Dragon King temple built in barren mountains is clearly a means for tomb raiders to cover their tracks. In my view, there’s definitely a large tomb below!”
Da Jin Ya also nodded:
“Earlier Old Liu Head said there’s a Tang Dynasty large tomb beneath Dragon Ridge. Could the businessman who paid to build the Fish Bone Temple have been aiming for this Tang Dynasty large tomb?”
Su Mo said:
“Probably so. We’ll go take a look tomorrow and know!”
Hearing there was a Tang Dynasty large tomb beneath Dragon Ridge, Wang Pang Zi and Da Jin Ya were both very excited.
Especially Da Jin Ya. His ancestors were tomb raiders, but in his generation, he hadn’t been to a single ancient tomb. Every spring, his asthma would flare up. Though he yearned for these ancient tomb legends in his heart, he had never seen one.
Today, Su Mo’s skills left him in awe. Thinking that with a divine figure like Su Mo leading the team, plus Hu Ba Yi and Wang Pang Zi, these two Mojin School Lieutenants, they were sure to return fully loaded.
After the group roughly discussed, they turned off the lights and rested. Early the next morning, the four left the guesthouse. They bought some dry rations, drinking water, white wine, and such food from the street, then headed toward Dragon Ridge.
But at that time, the roads in Shaanxi weren’t open. The four first hitched rides in cars, then simply walked. When they finally asked their way to Dragon Ridge, it was already dark.
The four then went to a small village below Dragon Ridge to find a place to stay. The hosts were an elderly couple who, seeing all four carrying luggage, couldn’t help being a bit puzzled.
Fatty immediately put on a smiling face and said:
“Sir, ma’am! We’re all veterans, here to visit a comrade. Please find us any room to make do for one night. We’ll pay for the room and food!”
With that, he took out money and stuffed it into the old lady’s hand.
The elderly couple saw they didn’t seem like bad people. Though Da Jin Ya looked a bit ugly, Su Mo was tall and handsome with starry eyes, raising the average looks of the four. Plus Hu Ba Yi was quite robust and heroic, so they readily agreed and cleared out a room for them.
The old lady even went to the kitchen to fry eggs and bake a few pot helmets for Su Mo and the others as dinner.
While eating and chatting, they learned the elderly couple had only one son, who had fallen into a soil crust pit while herding sheep in Dragon Ridge. Even now, his body hadn’t been found, leaving the old couple to depend on each other, with no one to care for them in old age.
Hu Ba Yi and the others felt heartbroken and gave the elderly couple a lot of money. The old couple declined at first but eventually accepted, saying they had met good people.
After dinner, Su Mo came to the courtyard and immediately saw a stone tablet placed in the courtyard.
This stone tablet looked very ancient, with only half a remnant left. The top had half a damaged and tattered beast head, and the text on the tablet was long unreadable.
Though only half a beast head remained, Su Mo still recognized it as a Le Xie beast head, a protective tomb auspicious beast. Legend says it is a celestial spirit beast from the Western Paradise, with a cry like immortal music. The ancients often carved it on stone tablets before mausoleums, with a pair every mile for the eighteen miles before the tomb.
From this, it seemed this place was not far from that Tang Dynasty large tomb!
Su Mo then activated the Great Yin Meditation Technique and looked toward Dragon Ridge behind the stone tablet.
Under the night curtain, with sparse starlight, the vast Dragon Ridge under the stars was like a huge dark old dragon coiled among the mountains, its dragon head hidden in the valley, as if it had been dormant for a millennium!
