Black Gold Ancient Sword

### Nicknames

Black and Gold Ancient Sword, Black-Gold Ancient Sword, Zhang Qiling's Sword, Dragon's Back, Ancient Black-Steel Saber

### Appearances

The Lost Tomb
 The Lost Tomb 2
 The Lost Tomb 2.5
 Ultimate Note
 Tomb of the Sea

**The Black Gold Ancient Sword** is the sword used by Zhang Qiling throughout most of the Grave Robbers' Chronicles television series.

The sword is first seen in The Lost Tomb where Zhang Qiling carries it out of Wu Sanxing's shop. Zhang Qiling continues to use the sword up until Ultimate Note where he loses it in Tamutuo. It's not clear whether the sword he uses in Reunion is the original black and gold sword.

## Description

The sword is ancient but its exact age is unknown. The sword's depiction varies greatly throughout the different series. Based on its name, the sword is supposed to be black and gold in color. Additionally, the sword is a Dao (刀), so only one side of the blade is sharp (single-edged).

In The Lost Tomb, the sword is first seen in the corpse cave. The sword appears completely black in the dark lighting. However, in the rest of the series, the blade is silver, single-edged, slender and long. The hilt's color contains black, gold, and various other colors.

In The Lost Tomb 2 and The Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note, the handle of the sword is much longer than other depictions and is also dark black. It does not have any hint of gold. The blade's color looks black or silver.

In Ultimate Note and Tomb of the Sea, the handle of the sword is black. The guard and the pommel have intricate designs and are gold. The blade is slender and long. The blade's color contains both black and silver.

## History

### The Lost Tomb

Wu Sanxing texted Wu Xie "9 o’clock, Huangsha Chicken-Eye. Dragon's back. Come quickly." Dragon's back meant that he had a valuable item and the black and gold ancient sword was it. Wu Xie hurriedly went to his Uncle's to look at the item, but Zhang Qiling already had it in his possession.

Later, Zhang Qiling is seen carrying the sword when he joined Wu Xie and Wu Sanxing on their journey to the Seven Star Palace. They enter a corpse cavern and come across a woman in white. Corpse-Eaters start to emerge from her and Zhang Qiling uses the sword to cut open his hand to spread his blood in the water.

Zhang Qiling passed out after this incident. The group manages to escape the corpse cavern and arrived at a village. Wu Xie helps Zhang Qiling rest on a bed. When Wu Xie saw the sword, he wanted to look at the valuable item and went to grab it. As he did this, Zhang Qiling woke up and grabbed his arm to stop him. He let go of Wu Xie's arm without saying anything, took the sword, and then held it in his arms.

   Zhang Qiling later uses the sword to cut open a wound so he could give his blood to Wu Xie. He also uses it in fighting off the Blood Man and cutting off the head of the green-eyed fox corpse.

After Zhang Qiling left the group in the main room, the group discover a Jade Burial Armor. Wang Pangzi went to pull at the thread that would remove the Jade Burial Armor from the body, but Zhang Qiling threw the sword at him. Wu Sanxing saw the sword coming and moved Pangzi out of its way just in time. The sword missed and embedded itself in the wall. Zhang Qiling removes it and carries it with him out of the tomb.

### The Lost Tomb 2

Zhang Qiling does not take the sword with him to explore Wang Zanghai's underwater tomb. The sword is first seen with Zhang Qiling when he rescues Wu Xie from Hendry Cox. When he fights Hendry Cox's men, he doesn't unsheathe the sword. He only unsheathes it when he cuts the chain off of the prison holding Wu Xie.

Zhang Qiling takes the sword with him when he explores the bronze tree tomb and again when he heads to the heavenly palace tomb.

### The Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note

Zhang Qiling carries the sword with him when he first appears and uses it to fight off the man in the Mirror Palace. He then continues to use the sword when he goes to the Heavenly Palace. He takes the sword with him when he enters the Bronze Door.

### Ultimate Note

Zhang Qiling has the sword from the beginning and carries it around with him on his back. On the journey to Tamutuo, a sandstorm breaks out. He sticks the sword in the sand to measure how much sand is accumulating. Once the storm stops, he picks it back up and takes it with him.

Once Zhang Qiling reaches the jungle, he encounters a large snake. He uses the sword to fight against it and plunges it into the snake's head. It only slows the snake down for a moment. The snake is able to dislodge the sword and it is thrown somewhere into the jungle. This is the last time the original black gold sword appears in Ultimate Note.

#### Temporary Replacement

After Zhang Qiling loses the sword, Wu Xie wants to get him a replacement. Wu Xie asked Xie Yuchen to purchase one as equipment for their exploration to the Zhang Family tomb. Wu Xie carves "小黑金" (little black gold) into the sword in reference to the previous black gold ancient sword (黑金古刀).

When Zhang Qiling receives it as a gift he immediately tries it out and likes it. He uses this sword for the rest of Ultimate Note.

### Tomb of the Sea

     The black gold ancient sword is seen in flashbacks with Zhang Qiling. The blade is black and silver, and it is slender and long. The hilt of the sword is black and gold.

    Another sword with the exact same characteristics is displayed at the Xin Yue Restaurant. The style, size, and colors match the original sword. However, it's not clear if it is meant to be the same sword since Yang Hao believed it was a fake. Furthermore, the same style of sword is seen with Hei Yanjing.

    Hei Yanjing carries around a black and gold ancient sword. The sword's handle and cover exactly match the sword that Zhang Qiling used. Hei Yanjing regularly uses it while at the underground facility near the city of Gutong Jing. He also uses the sword to help teach Su Wan.

Hei Yanjing also had the sword when he was with Wu Sanxing in Tamutuo. Wu Sanxing left a message for Wu Xie embedded in the snake pheromones. Li Cu later watched the memory when members of the Wang Clan forced him to read the snake pheromones. Xu Lei, the screenwriter and author of the novels, confirmed that Hei Yanjing retrieved the black gold ancient sword when he was in Tamutuo with Wu Sanxing.

### Reunion

The sword is mentioned in the first episode when Wu Xie and Pangzi were investigating an occurrence. Pangzi started messing around and pretended that his flashlight was the black gold ancient sword. The sword is also mentioned in Zhang Qiling's profile created by the show's production company. It is one of his skills.

It's not clear whether the sword Zhang Qiling carries around is the original Black Gold Ancient Sword. The sword's blade is silver and the hilt is black and gold. It is not as long or as slender as the other versions. The sword is never given a name and there is nothing to indicate that the original sword was returned to Zhang Qiling. The sword is likely not the replacement given to Zhang Qiling after he lost the original in Tamutuo.

## Trivia

* The blade appears in the movie Time Raiders, however there, the sword's origins are changed from the book. In Time Raiders, the sword was retrieved by Hei Bei The Sixth.
* The sword in Time Raiders is made out of meteorite.
* In the novels and Time Raiders, the sword is heavy and difficult to use.
* When Hei Yanjing uses the sword in Tomb of the Sea, it does not cut through the branches of the Nine-Headed Snake Tree.
* The sword is supposedly based off a real sword, the Tucheng Heijin (屠城黑金).

## Divergence from the Novel

* In the novels, Huo Xiangu and Xie Yuchen give Zhang Qiling a replacement sword after he loses the original black gold sword. Wu Xie did not prompt them to replace it and he never carves anything on it.
* In the novels, Zhang Qiling's replacement sword does not have a name. The replacement was not black and gold but was a similar size and shape as the original. In Ultimate Note, the replacement sword is shorter and thicker than the original sword and the hilt is black and gold.

## References

1. ↑ The Lost Tomb, Episode 1
2. ↑ The Lost Tomb, Episode 2
3. ↑ The Lost Tomb, Episode 3
4. ↑ The Lost Tomb, Episode 5
5. ↑ The Lost Tomb, Episode 6
6. ↑ The Lost Tomb 2, Episode 12
7. ↑ The Lost Tomb 2.5, Episode 2
8. ↑ The Lost Tomb 2.5, Episode 24
9. ↑ Ultimate Note, Episode 2
10. ↑ Ultimate Note, Episode 8
11. ↑ Ultimate Note, Episode 31
12. ↑ Tomb of the Sea, Episodes 34-35
13. ↑ Tomb of the Sea, Episode 3
14. ↑ Tomb of the Sea, Episodes 17-19
15. ↑ Tomb of the Sea, Episode 45
16. ↑ Tomb of the Sea, Episode 37
17. ↑ Original Comment (Chinese, need a Baidu account to view comments); Screenshot 1; Screenshot 2. The question is in relation to a chapter depicting the same scene in the novel. In the Sand Sea novel, Hei Yanjing stated: "“I’ll take this sword with me.”

Wu Sanxing replied: “You and this sword are still bound by fate. You brought it out of the earth and put it into the hands of such a powerful person, but still managed to get it in the end.”

Hei Yanjing:“I’ll give it back to him. Customer service is very important.” See Sand Sea, Chapter 110.
18. ↑ See Profile Picture
19. ↑ In the novels, the replacement sword is only mentioned in volumes 7 and 8. Zhang Qi Ling lost the replacement sword when he went into the Zhang Family tomb. Qiu Dekao's team found the sword but the novels never mention that Zhang Qiling gets it back. The replacement sword held no value to Zhang Qiling in the novel since Wu Xie did not carve anything into it and it was given to him by Xie Yuchen.

The Reunion show finished filming in April 2019 and Ultimate Note began filming in May 2019. The productions teams did not collaborate and so the Reunion team would not have known the changes Ultimate Note made nor what the replacement sword looked like.
20. ↑ IMAX Weibo; 中华冷兵器课堂, 世界最诡异的兵器之一：《盗墓笔记》中黑金古刀究竟长什么样?; Baidu.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Volume 7, Chapter 34