Chapter 2420: Chapter 2323: Jade Imbued

After a week-long excavation of the ancient tomb and clearing the burial pit, most of the work has been completed.

This is normal, as after all, it’s just an ordinary person’s tomb, not one of those grand tombs of the royal family or princely nobles.

However, because of Ge Hong’s special status, the number of artifacts unearthed was no less than those found in the tombs of princely nobles, and their value even exceeded that of a typical royal burial pit.

At least, Zhou Shitao and the other professors were quite satisfied, justifying their effort to travel so far to preside over the excavation. The ruins of the Jiaoren alone are a major discovery.

The only regret is that even after exploring every part of the ancient tomb, including carefully examining every brick and crevice of the secret chamber, no hidden place for an ancient corpse was found.

Ge Hong’s corpse has never been found, leaving Zhou Shitao and the others feeling somewhat incomplete, like a job left unfinished.

After all, in an archaeological excavation, what does it mean not to find the tomb owner’s remains?

Some archaeologists boldly speculated if there was never a body in the stone sarcophagus, but rather an empty coffin meant to deceive others?

This situation is quite common in the archaeological field; for example, Cao Cao and Qin Shi Huang created fake tombs with empty coffins as decoys to prevent their real tombs from being found by tomb robbers.

However, this speculation was directly overturned by Zhou Shitao and the other professors.

On one hand, if this truly was a fake tomb, Ge Hong would have had no need to arrange so many arrays for protection. As Bai Buzhi said, laying out those arrays isn’t an easy task; it requires considerable cultivation. If it was a fake tomb, there was no need for such efforts.

On the other hand, the number of burial items that were unearthed shows that the riches in this tomb are indeed Ge Hong’s lifetime wealth, which could be said to rival a nation.

Just the treasures in those bronze dings exceeded Zhou Shitao and the team’s expectations. If this were a fake tomb, how much would the real tomb contain? It doesn’t align with logic, and Ge Hong wasn’t known for such extravagant gathering of wealth.

Zhou Shitao’s analysis was proven right when, after clearing the burial pit and organizing the sarcophagus in the main chamber, the archaeological team discovered Fujiwara Seiho’s skeleton, and under it, a jade cicada.

Upon seeing the jade cicada, Zhou Shitao immediately smiled, and Xie Daoyuan nodded repeatedly, saying:

"Mr. Zhou, it seems your speculation was correct. This sarcophagus certainly contained a corpse originally, but it was likely relocated!"

Outside, Su Qingqing heard Xie Daoyuan’s words and couldn’t help but curiously ask, "Professor Xie, what’s so special about the jade cicada? Why does finding it indicate a corpse was once in the sarcophagus?"

Xie Daoyuan retorted through the walkie-talkie:

"I told you to read more books, and you didn’t. Now you’re embarrassing me, aren’t you? Do you know what the jade cicada is used for?"

Su Qingqing felt embarrassed being reprimanded in front of so many people, but she managed to remember something, nodded, and said:

"The jade cicada is burial jade, known for its purity and the fact that it drinks dew rather than eats, so cicadas were highly esteemed in ancient times as symbols of purity, nobility, and spirituality."

"Since the Han Dynasty, cicada metamorphosis was used metaphorically to represent human rebirth; thus, the jade cicada was a living person’s accessory, and also placed in the mouth of the deceased, representing an undying spirit, rebirth."

Listening to Su Qingqing’s explanation, Xie Daoyuan’s previously darkened expression improved significantly; he nodded, approving Su Qingqing’s statement:

"Since you know this, you should understand that this jade cicada was likely Ge Hong’s personal accessory during his life and definitely would have been placed in the mouth of the deceased after death."

"If Ge Hong’s remains weren’t buried in this sarcophagus, this jade cicada wouldn’t have appeared here. These items accompany the corpse and don’t just appear out of nowhere."

Upon hearing this, Su Qingqing suddenly realized, as did other archaeologists who were a bit confused but didn’t express it. After hearing Xie Daoyuan’s explanation, they all showed expressions of realization.

But Su Qingqing, being someone who likes to delve into details, although she acknowledged Xie Daoyuan’s words in her heart, she still hesitantly said:

"That makes sense, but Ge Hong, having created such arrays, shows he’s cunning. Could he have deliberately left behind the jade cicada to mislead people?"

Xie Daoyuan nodded, not upset, but rather smiled, saying:

"This touches upon another point of knowledge. Can you see anything different about this jade cicada?"

As he spoke, Xie Daoyuan brought the jade cicada in front of the cameraman, aligning it with the camera.

The inch-sized jade cicada was magnified by the lens infinitely, allowing Su Qingqing, Huang Zhenlong, and others outside to clearly see the minute details on the jade cicada.

Not only Su Qingqing and Huang Zhenlong, but also many staff inside the tomb closely observed this jade cicada. As Xie Daoyuan gradually turned the jade cicada, everyone could see all sides of it clearly.

Su Qingqing naturally didn’t miss the peculiarities on the jade cicada; she instinctively exclaimed, somewhat surprised:

"Wait... Professor, was that... blood-soaked?"

Xie Daoyuan’s lips curled into a smile without speaking, but it was clear he approved.

Su Qingqing was speechless then; she had understood Xie Daoyuan’s previous statement. With such irrefutable evidence, there was no room for dispute.

So-called blood-soaked refers to colored substances within the jade, of which there are many types. Generally, yellow is called earth-soaked, white is water-soaked, green is bronze-soaked, purple-red is blood-soaked, and black is mercury-soaked.

However, the jade cicada that Xie Daoyuan held had a purple-red hue.

This enrichment is called blood-soaked, formed when jade artifacts are buried with the deceased, soaked in their blood over time, thus also known as corpse-soaked.

To form blood-soaked, it indicates the jade cicada was placed inside a corpse, becoming soaked over a long period.

The only possibility for this is that the tomb owner had the jade cicada in their mouth upon burial, leading to such a formation.

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