The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 13: Cooperation

Wu Xie tidied up the things on the table and placed a coin in the center: "This is the ruins of Heishui City of Xixia." Then he put a pack of cigarettes on the side, "This is the approximate location of where Lan Ting went. Do you see anything?"

Li Cu gesticulated, "It's very close."

"Heishui City was a famous ancient city on the Silk Road. Later, in the Sui Dynasty, it was buried by sandstorms overnight and disappeared from sight. After that, it was discovered, excavated, and looted by Russian grave robbers in 1909." Wu Xie said. "But it's generally believed that the real wealth of Heishui City hasn't yet been discovered. Before the Sui Dynasty, Heishui City was a frontier fortress, and countless people died around it. It also had several heydays throughout history. During the Tangut period, the Mongols guarding the city had accumulated huge wealth, and so the city's rulers were besieged by the Central Plains army. Once their water supplies were cut off, they broke through the besieging army and fled into the desert. But when the Central Plains army entered the city, the soldiers didn't find any treasure. Some people suspected that these Mongolians had brought it all into the Badan Jilin Desert. As a result, the Central Plains troops led people into the desert and followed the trail all the way to a place called Gutong Jing."

Li Cu was stunned. He had already put together all the details and come to the final conclusion in his heart. Regardless of whether he believed it or not, Wu Xie's narrative was really wonderful.

"They found the armor and weapons of the remaining Mongolian soldiers all scattered on the sand, but all of them had disappeared. There weren't any signs of blood and no traces of a struggle, only these clothes and weapons." Wu Xie said.

Li Cu gave an "Oh" and paused: "What's your conclusion?"

Wu Xie sighed, lit another cigarette, and took a drag: "According to this legend, the Mongols must have been somewhere in the desert at that time. After they took away the treasure, they certainly couldn't carry it all the time. They must have hidden it somewhere in the desert, and that place must be near Gutong Jing." He smiled. "If Gutong Jing has the hidden ruins of ancient imperial tombs, it would be the best place to hide these things. As someone who deals in antiques, this is exactly the kind of information I'm looking for. So I sent my team to the desert to check it out. After four months, they finally found the place in the photo, but they didn't found anything. The only clue," Wu Xie pointed to Li Cu's back, "is this picture. They found a Buddha statue in the ruins of a rock cave temple along the outer edge of Gutong Jing, but its clothing had many characteristics of ancient Mongolia. They found this picture painted on the Buddha statue's back in the form of tattoo."

Li Cu had heard Liang Wan say that they saw this picture on the back of a corpse, but he didn't expect that to be a lie, and that the story behind it was so huge. "Wasn't it on the back of an ancient corpse from the Sui Dynasty?"

"Wang Meng made that up." Wu Xie said. "As you know, the person I put in charge at that time was Huang Yan. I had given up hope of getting something from that place since the people who came back seemed to have some mental problems, especially Huang Yan. He felt very strongly that this map had something to do with Gutong Jing and began frantically trying to solve the mystery. Later, I could hardly follow his trail and figure out what he was doing. But I made another mistake. I ignored this matter, and then that happened to your back."

"Then what happened to him?" Li Cu asked. "How did he die?"

"He was killed." Wu Xie flicked the cigarette ash. "I don't know how he died, but he carved all the clues he found on your back before he did. This matter is very complicated, and I'm guessing that that picture may be able to tell us where the Mongol's treasure is. So it might be dangerous to leave you here. If you follow us to the desert, no matter whether we find those things or not, I'll say that we did. In this way, you won't be exploited and will be safe."