Episode 4 (The Lost Tomb)

**Episode 4 (The Lost Tomb)** is the fourth episode of the television series The Lost Tomb. It is based on chapters ten through sixteen of the Daomu Biji novel *Cavern of the Blood Zombies*.

## Synopsis

Wu Xie learns more about the Seven Star Palace's tomb owner and runs into old acquaintances.

## Story

The inscription on the wall Wu Xie was reading described the life of a vassal lord from the State of Lu. He was born with a Ghost Seal which could be used to borrow undead troops from the underworld. If he showed the ghost seal on the battlefield, troops would come out of the ground to take away people’s souls. He won many battles and was named King Lu Shang by the Duke of Lu. But one day, King Lu Shang had to return to the underworld and asked the Duke of Lu for permission to go. The other granted it and King Lu Shang kneeled before him and died.

The Duke of Lu expected King Lu Shang would one day return and build the Seven Star Palace, so he had his body preserved. Pan Zi made the comment that thankfully he died earlier, otherwise the State of Lu would have united the six states. Wu Xie didn't believe the legend was real since the ancients always boasted about special abilities in inscriptions.

They looked at the coffins and noticed that one of them had been opened. There were fresh marks by the opening as if someone had recently pried it open. They opened the coffin enough to look inside and saw a recently deceased foreigner. Pan Zi tried investigating further, but Zhang Qiling grabbed his shoulder to stop him because the coffin owner was still in the coffin.

Pan Zi suddenly gestured for Wu Xie to look over at the shadows on the wall. When he did, they noticed a strange figure. It turned out to be Pangzi who had a pot on his head. Pan Zi shot at him so he ran towards the direction of the coffin chamber they were in before. Zhang Qiling went after him so he wouldn't disturb the powerful coffin owner from before.

Wu Sanxing, Wu Xie, and Pan Zi explored one of the room's wing chambers. Wu Xie went over to explore a backpack he saw that contained a crude map of the tomb. He tried to inform the others of his discovery but they were no longer around. He went back to the main chamber and the lights started to dim. The coffins lowered into the floor and the lid of the opened coffin started moving. It opened all the way and both bodies sat upright. Wu Xie immediately ran away to the wing chamber he was in.

Wu Xie remembered the Seven Deceptive Coffins from his grandfather's journal. The coffins were a trap called *Seven Deceptive Coffins*. Out of the seven coffins, only one was real while the other six were traps that were triggered when the coffin was opened. The foreigner triggered one of the traps and subsequently died from it after being dragged in. Wu Xie found a grave robber's tunnel and walked through. There was a fork in the tunnel and he picked one at random and ended up back in a passageway he was already in with the grave robber's tunnel.

Wu Xie sat down feeling frustrated with his circumstances. He took out the map he found in the backpack earlier and examined it. There was a chamber nearby that couldn't be accessed by a regular passageway. Wu Xie looked for a mechanism that would open a door there. He found a protrusion and pushed it but fell down a trap door. He looked around the room and found another dead body of a foreigner. Wu Xie noticed there was a belt buckle with the number "02200059" on it. Suddenly, he heard some noises nearby and someone called out "Master Three?"

It was Pan Zi who had started shooting at the Corpse-Eaters that were gathering nearby. Wu Xie went over to him and climbed up the wall to reach a tunnel. The tunnel should have been a way for workers to escape the tomb, but it connected to a maze of passageways and it was difficult to find a way out. As they were talking, Pangzi came down the same trap Wu Xie had. The corpse-eaters started to come in droves by this point and soon all three of them had to fight them off with fire. Pan Zi sacrificed himself so that the other two could escape. Zhang Qiling swiftly came down the same trap and gracefully landed in the middle of the room. All of the corpse-eaters immediately scurried away and he helped Pan Zi up to the exit. Before they left, Zhang Qiling ominously said that someone was coming. A man who was seriously injured but making odd movements came down the trap door.

They managed to get away and Zhang Qiling treated Pan Zi's wounds. There were small poisonless corpse-eaters in his wounds, but they got them out. The man eventually caught up and Zhang Qiling had to fight him off. The other three ran but became separated from Zhang Qiling. Wu Xie started asking Pangzi questions about why he was there. He said he followed Ning from Inner Mongolia because he thought she was plotting something. The man that was following them was a "Blood Man." The man was from Ning's team and suddenly started trying to bite people. When the man's hand touched Pangzi, his skin felt like it was burning and it had made a burn mark.

They turned to the topic of the legend of King Lu Shang which Pangzi suspiciously knew a lot about despite only following Ning to the tomb. The legend Wu Xie knew was a myth, King Lu Shang was a grave robber and a general. His troops slept during the day and were active at night. The legend spread because of superstition since the men came out from robbing tombs. The Seven Deceptive Coffins had been created by grave robbers, but none in the tomb were real. There was also something odd about the tomb. It was from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1045-771 BC). The maze like tunnels they were in were part of the tomb and were not escape tunnels. Meaning that King Lu Shang built his tomb on top of someone else's. His coffin was probably in the Western Zhou tomb.

Wu Xie wondered how everyone came to fall into the trap from before. Pan Zi got separated from Wu San Xing and didn't know where he was. Pangzi was running from Zhang Qiling but attracted the attention of the Blood Man. Zhang Qiling then activated the trap so that Pangzi would fall through. Pan Zi thought Zhang Qiling was suspicious since he knew the tomb so well. Wu Xie felt safe with him around but didn't know if he could trust the other. Suddenly they heard someone call out Wu Xie's name and Zhang Qiling joined them. They were also joined by Ning who was injured and had bit Wu Xie. Pangzi wanted to tie her up but Wu Xie tried to convince him otherwise. She wanted to leave and tried to walk away but Zhang Qiling knocked her unconscious saying there was a corpse-eater in her.

## Characters

* Wu Xie
* Zhang Qiling
* Wu Sanxing
* Pan Zi
* High Shao
* Chen Chengcheng
* Wang Pangzi
* Ning
* King Lu Shang (mentioned)

## Creatures

* Corpse-Eaters
* Blood Man

## Divergence from the Novel

* Instead of a Blood Man chasing them, it was a Blood Corpse. It was not a living person.

## References

1. ↑ The **State of Lu** (c. 1042–249 BCE) was a vassal state of the Zhou dynasty. It is located in modern Shandong (where the Seven Star Palace is located). It came to prominence in the Warring States Period (475–221 BCE).
2. ↑ This is in reference to the Warring States Period where the six states fought with each other. The Qin state reunited China and became known as the Qin dynasty.