Episode 5 (The Lost Tomb)

**Episode 5 (The Lost Tomb)** is the fifth episode of the television series The Lost Tomb. It is based on chapters seventeen through twenty-three of the Daomu Biji novel *Cavern of the Blood Zombies*.

## Synopsis

The team finally explores the main tomb chamber and discovers its hidden secrets.

## Story

Zhang Qiling removed the Corpse-Eater from Ning's wound on her leg. Wu Xie then bandaged it when she awoke. She started explaining what happened to her when Wu Xie lost consciousness. Zhang Qiling fed Wu Xie his blood to counteract the corpse-eater poison that Ning had passed to him when she bit him. But Zhang Qiling's blood would work temporarily and Ning was vaccinated against it before she came down. Normally, the corpse-eater's poisonous gas would enter the blood vessels.

They tried to get into contact with High Shao and Chen Chengcheng but were unable because they had been taken hostage by another group. The group was part of the company Ning worked for but she lost contact with them. They all continued through passageways but came at an impasse. A brick wall was in their way but Zhang Qiling used his two fingers to take out a brick. He looked through and gave the go-ahead for the brick wall to be torn down. They didn't have the equipment with them, so Pangzi ran into the wall and created a hole for them to get through. They then had to crawl through a small passageway and when they reached the end, they discovered the main coffin chamber.

They were in a cave that was inlaid in the surrounding walls of the tomb. The area was large and had a tree in the middle. There were also vines everywhere. At the bottom of the tree was a jade platform with two bodies that lay on top. There was a light from above that was illuminating the cavern. They thought that one of the bodies below was King Lu Shang and that they were in the Western Zhou tomb. Pangzi decided to climb down the cliff to explore the tomb. On his way down, he saw Wu Sanxing in another cave. It scared him and he lost balance but was able to catch a hanging vine nearby. Wu Xie started to feel unwell and fell off the cliff. Before he hit the bottom, Zhang Qiling jumped down, grabbed a vine, and caught Wu Xie. Wu Sanxing left to look for a way to reach Wu Xie at the bottom. Meanwhile, the vine that Pangzi was clinging to broke sending him on top of the two bodies that were on the platform in the tomb. But when he went to sit up, both bodies sat up with him.

The two bodies were hooked to his clothes and once they were taken off, they laid back down. The woman's corpse had no signs of decay while the other was a man with a mask on his face. Pangzi then noticed something in the mouth of the corpse of the woman. He went to remove it but Wu Sanxing yelled at him saying the blood on his hands would wake them. Wu Sanxing went over to check up on Wu Xie who was still unconscious. He was able to wake up and thanked Zhang Qiling for saving him. They went over to look at the bodies to see that there was a key inside the corpse's mouth. But there was also a crossbow in her body that was connected to the key. If anyone were to remove the key, they would set off the crossbow getting killed instantly. Wu Sanxing disabled the trap and removed the key but as soon as it was removed, her body started to rot. This method was one of the ways to preserve a body in the Miao region.

They wondered what the key was for and looked over to notice the corpse wearing a mask was holding a box. Wu Xie removed the box from the hands of the corpse but as he did Pangzi picked up the sword that was lying by its side. Wu Sanxing started speaking to Wu Xie in the Hangzhou dialect so that Pangzi wouldn't understand them. Wu Sanxing thought Pangzi wasn't human and the other started acting strangely. He started talking to the woman's corpse-like he knew her, then he turned to Wu Sanxing. Wu Sanxing attacked Pangzi and Wu Xie picked up the sword he dropped and was about to hit him until Zhang Qiling decapitated the corpse with the mask. The corpse with the mask was a Green-Eyed Fox Corpse. The legend of the green-eyed fox corpse was that a person cracked an ancient tomb of an unknown year or dynasty. When he opened the coffin, there was a green-eyed fox corpse. Foxes are demonic. So it’s an extremely bad omen to come across a green-eyed fox. The person stole a jade turtle from the tomb anyway but when he had a child of his own, the child had green eyes, lost its hair, and its face started becoming more and more fox-like. When the man realized his mistake, he returned the jade turtle to the tomb. The transformation of the child stopped but the fox-like face remained forever.

They next examined the box he was holding. It was the last box of eight layers of boxes that stored the Buddhist relics. But the box was smaller than it should be and Buddhism was not introduced by the Warring States Period. They wondered if the Ghost Seal of King Lu Shang was inside. Wu Xie hurriedly went to open it but Wu Sanxing discretely warned him against it. Wu Xie realized that those around him couldn't be trusted and he made up an excuse. They looked for an exit but did not know where it could be. Suddenly, the Blood Man had reached them.

Liu Tai tried to negotiate with Chen Chengcheng and High Shao. He wanted to save Ning and wanted their help in exchange he promised he would not steal cultural relics.

The Blood Man attacked Pangzi and Ning from the cave on the surrounding wall recognized the Blood Man as Xiao Qi. She tried to climb down one of the vines to reach him. Meanwhile, Zhang Qiling stopped the Blood Man from attacking Pangzi. Ning tried to talk some sense in her friend and Wu Xie tried to stop her. Xiao Qi did not recognize her and attacked both her and Wu Xie. Zhang Qiling continued his fight but the Blood Man got away from him and went after everyone who had by this point gathered in a group. Wu Xie pushed everyone out of the way of it and the Blood Man grabbed Wu Xie's throat. To save Wu Xie, Ning shot her friend. After multiple shots, he collapsed. He spat out the poisonous blood and Ning went over to him. He recognized her and started explaining what had happened to him. He and another from their team, Dong Zi, went into a tomb chamber drank the water there and started experiencing hallucinations. Dong Zi was still on the west side of the tomb and he warned her not to go there. That was the last thing he said before he succumbed to his wounds.

Wu Xie was struggling to breathe and had burns marks from the Blood Man's hand on his neck. Zhang Qiling went over to the green-eyed fox corpse's body and took out a black inscribed object from its belt. It was a Qilin Blood Clot and Zhang Qiling was about to feed it to Wu Xie but Ning threatened to shoot Pan Zi if he did. She wanted it to save her friend. Zhang Qiling told her that he would help her find the rest of her companions and gave the Qilin Blood to Wu Xie. Ning put down her gun when it was no longer of use to threaten Pan Zi. After that, Zhang Qiling left to go find the other companions.

The group started to discuss the qilin blood clot. Qilin blood clot is a rare traditional Chinese medicine. The older it is the more efficient and stronger it becomes. The qilin blood clot was used to apply fragrance to the corpse. Based on its color, it should be several thousand years old. Since Zhang Qiling's blood was also able to repel the bugs they've encountered, Wu Sanxing thought that he also had some type of qilin blood ability. They then debated again on how they would get out and decided on climbing the tree.

## Characters

* Wu Xie
* Ning
* Zhang Qiling
* Wang Pangzi
* Pan Zi
* Xiao Qi (小七) (Blood Man)
* High Shao
* Chen Chengcheng
* Liu Tai
* Wu Sanxing
* Dong Zi (东子) (mentioned)

## Items

* Qilin Blood Clot
* Ghost Seal (mentioned)

## Divergence from the Novel

* Wu Xie was never bit by Ning because she was never mentioned as being in this tomb.
* Zhang Qiling never fed his blood to Wu Xie.
* Zhang Qiling did not appear in any of these scenes in the novel.
* The tree was a Nine-Headed Snake Tree and started attacking Wu Xie and Wang Pangzi.
* Wu Xie was not saved by Zhang Qiling. He was attacked by the tree and was the one that fell on top of the two corpses.
* Both Wu Xie and Pangzi suffered from the green-eyed fox corpse's hallucinations.
* Wu Xie accidentally ingested the Qilin Blood Clot. It was not given to him by Zhang Qiling.
* Pan Zi shot the head of the green-eyed fox corpse. Zhang Qiling did not cut its head off.