Historical Ruins

Downstream of the lake, the construction vehicles and workers were evacuated one by one. 

The area near Tongjiang Bridge was still bright with lights.

Several incandescent spotlights were focused on the bottom of the lake under the Tongjiang Bridge.

After the lake was cut off and the flow had been stopped, the black muddy layer that looked like an old black tree bark at the bottom of the lake was gradually exposed.

As the lake water completely receded, an unbelievable cluster of stone buildings gradually appeared. However, most of them had been seriously damaged and had collapsed after being soaked and eroded by the lake. The thick moss on their walls indicated that they had existed for many years.

Amid these buildings, a few lonely short stone houses stood well preserved. It seemed that the stone buildings around it had taken most of the hits from the turbulent river current, hence the slightly lower stone houses in the middle could be preserved.

The discovery at the bottom of the lake triggered a wave of commotion among a group of people by the shore.

On the shore, various engineering vehicles such as ten-ton cranes, 25-ton cranes, earth transportation trucks, and et cetera, were lined up neatly and orderly by the road, waiting to be deployed to the front-line at any time.

In front of these engineering vehicles, there was a group of people with a distinct temperament from ordinary people. These people had an aura of death around them. They gathered beside the shore of the lake and looked at the weird stone houses that mysteriously appeared at the bottom of the lake with a serious look on their faces.

Needless to say, the glaring spotlights began lighting up the cluster of stone houses at the bottom of the lake.

"Begin digging," a voice commanded.

Rumbling sounds were heard. The engine of the engineering vehicles started to roar as diesel was converted to kinetic energy, and with a burst of black smoke, had started moving. Tens of tons of excavators and earth transportation trucks began to wake up from their deep slumber.

"One of the two segments of the body should be buried here, under the bottom of the lake."

"Be sure to dig up the first segment of the body before 10 pm."

Following the sound of the machine roaring, one by one the excavators started spinning their arms and started digging the mud at the bottom of the lake. One by one, the earth transportation trucks lined up like a snake and transported carts of sludge methodically.

All of a sudden, it became a scene bustling with activity.

There was a middle-aged man with dark, thick, and straight eyebrows that were like sword-like ridges extending toward his temples looking straight ahead. He was looking at the engineering vehicles that were busy digging the mud at the bottom of the lake. His face looked grave and faintly worried.

At that moment, someone with a walkie-talkie spoke to the middle-aged man with straight brows, "Leader Shen, news from Leader Yan just arrived. They've found a cluster of stone buildings at the bottom of the river on the other side, just like us."

The middle-aged man with straight brows muttered to himself for one moment before saying, "Li Heng, remind the others to be extra vigilant and careful."

"I'm a bit worried. The origin of these two segments of bodies might not be as simple as we thought. There may be two more tombs built by the ancients under this lake. One at the head of the river and another at the end, each burying a body. These stone buildings might be left behind by the people who built the tombs."

"Leader Shen, you mean that these two segments of bodies might not be normal?" The facial expression on Li Heng changed.

The middle-aged man with straight brows frowned his brows slightly and said, "Ancient superstitions believed that people who were split into two by the torturous way of cutting them at the waist1 could not swallow their last breath in time after being cut. Hence, they tend to be very resentful and are easiest to turn into an evil spirit. 

"In order to prevent them from turning into an evil spirit, the ancients usually did not bury the two segments of the body together. They would choose a place where there was a flowing river or stream to bury the body at the two ends of the water. This was to borrow the power of the unyielding, flowing water that represented endless growth to break the resentment and suppress the body, thus preventing it from turning into an evil spirit.

"However, if the person who died had a deep resentment when he or she was alive, took a long time to swallow their last breath, held a high position when they were alive, or had good fortune when they were alive, the evil spirit in those bodies would be even more vicious. For example, generals and aristocrats who died during the change in dynasties…"

Humans had been slashing and burning2 for thousands of years, moving from South to North. The mountains and plains of the divine land3 were filled with bodies of the dead. Most of the places with rivers and lakes were precious land with good feng shui4 and had already been filled with bodies and tombs early on.

Mass graves of hundreds and thousands, massacres, live burial; countless of these incidents happen throughout thousands of years.

That was the reason why the ancients had the taboo of not building bridges on top of rivers and lakes.

The reason being both ends of the river in front of the house entrance may contain two segments of a body buried by the ancients. Once the bridge had been built, it represented the connection of the two segments, and the resentment that was once suppressed now had a route to reconnect. At that moment, it was often easy for evil and weird events to occur.

For example, a person drowning in the water did not always mean that it was the doing of a water ghost…

After encountering so many strange things over time, the ancients believed in ghosts and spirits grew stronger. Later, the skill of having live piles—also known as live piling—was handed down from Lu Ban5. It meant to bury people alive to fight for living people. The resentment of the live pile would offset the resentment of the two segments of the body—basically, using an evil spirit to stop the other.

With that, it could be understood that there were more taboos in building a bridge compared to building high-rise towers on flat ground.

However, the above were all rumors by the ancients who were feudal and superstitious. The country had broken feudalism, destroyed the Four Olds, and gone through the Chinese Economic Reform for almost a century. It was currently a rich country where the people were at peace under the iron fist of socialism.

From the looks of the river, the water flows fast and furiously, making it a dangerous place to stop the resentment of those who died from the waist cut punishment. The area was a fierce land according to Feng shui.

Especially since remains of stone houses left by the ancients who built tombs were found at the bottom of the lake.

In ancient times, when there was no modern heavy industrial machinery, to cut off the river and stop the flow in order to build tombs at the bottom of the lake required a huge amount of manpower and resources. This type of sizable project was not affordable by any normal magnate and gentry. Hence, only those with a high position must have involved themselves in such projects.

A place with treacherous waters to stop the evil spirits, and an enormous project to build tombs all pointed out that two segments of an extremely important body were buried under the lake.

Tongjiang Bridge provided a connection to them.

At that moment, the engineering team encountered a small disruption, and the person-in-charge hurried over. A blue-stone corridor at the bottom of the lake had been dug out by the engineering team, and it led to the cluster of stone buildings.

After an hour, the mud on the blue-stone corridor had been cleaned and the road toward the stone houses was cleared. Subsequently, the middle-aged man with straight brows led a group of people and started descending into the bottom of the lake one after another to search the cluster of stone houses.

At the same time, all the construction teams at the bottom of the lake continued digging the mud and searched for the corpse.

"Leader Shen, Leader Yan, and his team also found a stone road on his side. They have entered the bottom of the lake ten minutes earlier than us," a man named Li Heng said to the middle-aged man with straight brows through the walkie-talkie.

The middle-aged man with straight brows nodded thoughtfully.

"Please assist me in asking Leader Yan if they have any progress at their site. Have they found the other segment of the body?"