Episode 8 (The Lost Tomb)

**Episode 8 (The Lost Tomb)** is the eighth episode of the television series The Lost Tomb.

## Synopsis

Wu Xie escapes from the Seven Star Palace tomb. The group managed to bring out an artifact, the Snake Brow Copper Fish, which has connections to Ning's team and the Old Nine Clans.

## Story

Wu Xie was still climbing the tree trying to escape. He was bit by a corpse-eater and lost his balance but was caught by Ning. She eventually couldn't hold on and he fell on a branch below. Wu Sanxing and Pan Zi were able to escape, but Zhang Qiling was still nearby and went to his aid. He sliced open his hand so that the corpse-eaters would retreat. He went over to help Wu Xie up and Wang Pangzi was also still in the tomb to help. Wu Xie, Pangzi, and Ning were pulled out by Wu Sanxing and Pan Zi. The corpse-eaters were starting to climb to the surface so they poured gasoline and lit the tree on fire. Wu Xie started to realize that he didn't see Zhang Qiling nearby, but Wu Sanxing assured him that the other was fine.

Liu Tai and the group were planning to retreat while Zhang Qiling watched from afar. Wu Xie and Ning returned to their camp. Wu Xie rejoined Chen Chengcheng and High Shao while Ning left with her team. But Wu Xie was still feeling unwell and fainted.

He woke up after a full day of rest in a village guesthouse. He was joined by Wu Sanxing and Chen Chengcheng but was interrupted when news reached them that a fire had broken out on the mountain. Pangzi and High Shao were helping the villagers with the fire, while Pan Zi was still resting because his wound was infected. Before separating, Pangzi gave High Shao the record of King Lu Shang from the Seven Star Palace tomb. He also gave him his phone number. The rest of the group planned to return to Hangzhou.

Wu Xie returned home and Chen Chengcheng and High Shao were there to accompany him. They talked about their time in the tomb and wondered what Ning was looking for. Wu Xie thought Zhang Qiling was so mysterious. They didn't understand why he joined their group when he seemed so familiar with the tomb. Chen Chengcheng thought he couldn't be trusted, but Wu Xie didn't think he could be their enemy since he saved his life. Wu Xie received an urgent call from his uncle to go meet him.

Wu Xie left and went to see his uncle alone. The record of King Lu Shang that they brought out was fake because the gold it contains was too pure and wasn't available during that era. They suspected that Zhang Qiling put the fake in the tomb. Wu Sanxing thought he dug a robbers' tunnel behind the tree and replaced the real gold-inlaid silk manuscript with a fake one. The story on it would have been fake too. But hope was not all lost because Wu Xie went to retrieve the box the Green-Eyed Fox was holding. But the key they had was used to lock the box. They examined it further and realized it required an eight-digit number to open the box. Wu Sanxing went to retrieve a cutting tool to get it open since the cipher would be too complex for them to solve. Wu Xie thought to try the numbers he saw on the belt of the foreigner in the seven star palace tomb and the box opened.

Inside was a Snake Brow Copper Fish which was not known to have much value. Wu Xie decided to keep it, but Wu Sanxing acted oddly upon seeing it. Wu Xie went home to look at his grandfather's journal in search of something about it but could find nothing. Wu Xie did discover that three years' worth of information was missing from his grandfather's journal. He also suspected Wu Sanxing was not telling him something. Chen Chengcheng came into the room and recognized the copper fish. It was detailed in her aunt's materials. Her aunt researched quite a bit about the copper fish and it was an incredibly valuable item. It was probably the thing Ning and her team were looking for in the tomb. Chen Chengcheng thought it was strange that Wu Sanxing wouldn't know about the copper fish. They decided to go over to have dinner with him to get him to talk about it.

Wu Sanxing was suspicious but he eventually started talking about it. He started with the Old Nine Clans. It was a combined organization of nine old tomb robbery families. Wu Xie's Wu Family is one of the nine families of the Old Nine Clans and Chen Chengcheng's Chen family is another. The families are separated into upper, middle, and lower families. The Wu Family is part of the middle and so was Chen Chengcheng's Chen family. Her grandfather was Chen Pi Ah Si. The nine families were originally not close but came together for the biggest tomb robbery in history. During Wu Sanxing's childhood, his father left to go somewhere in the winter for what was only supposed to be four to three months but it ended up being three years. He wouldn't speak to anyone about that time, but Wu Sanxing was curious and read his notebook. That is where he found out about the snake brow copper fish. But he could not finish reading what it said because he was caught by Wu Laogou and then the pages were burned. Nobody in the Chen family would also speak of this incident. After the incident, the nine families were greatly weakened and Wu Laogou told everyone in the family that they cannot rob graves anymore.

The snake brow copper fish was an important clue of that action. Wu Sanxing told them that the only one that would know about that mystery was someone from the later generation of the Old Nine Clans, Huo Xiangu. She was the third miss Huo in those days. After leaving the grave robbing business, they mostly deal in antiques in Beijing. Wu Xie wanted to go to Beijing to talk to Huo Xiangu, but she was not an easy person to get to. She also probably wouldn't tell them what they wanted to know. Wu Sanxing told Wu Xie that if he wanted to see Huo Xiangu then he would make a clean break with him and left the dinner table. But Wu Xie was determined to find the truth.

## Characters

* Wu Xie
* Ning
* Wang Pangzi
* Zhang Qiling
* Wu Sanxing
* Pan Zi
* Chen Chengcheng
* High Shao
* Liu Tai
* Huo Xiangu (mentioned)
* Wu Laogou (mentioned)
* Chen Pi Ah Si (mentioned)

## Artifacts

* Snake Brow Copper Fish