Zhou Tong leaned to the door and pushed it gently. "You think people really lived here?" He asked no one in particular.
Directing our lights past the door Zhou Tong had pushed open, we could now see a small room. Inside was a set of simple furniture that hadn't faired well in disuse. A broken bed sat in the far corner. Atop it was a rotten handmade quilt.
Master Liu asked Zhou Tong, "Have you ever heard of such a tomb?"
Zhou Tong shook his head steadily. "No. I doubt even my master has heard of such a thing. A tomb made for the living… wow."
Master Liu nodded. "Maybe we were wrong. We assumed it was a tomb because it's underground. Maybe it's not a grave, but a hidden Taoist temple."
Master Ge scoffed as if offended. "Taoist temple, fine. That explains the alchemy rooms, but why was it built underground?"
Master Liu placed a finger on his chin and disappeared into thought for a moment. "Hou-faced candlesticks." He said simply and looked to Master Ge. "We can assume that they were researching zombies, something that has been outlawed for a very long time. So they couldn't do it in the open. Not to mention the aversion to sunlight that most zombies exhibit. The Yang air would have destroyed their research!" He held up a palm and then clapped it with his other hand. "Hence, underground."
Master Ge frowned at him, "Why would any Taoist research zombies?"
"Eternal life!" Master Liu said.
Thinking on this I asked, "Were those skeletons the Taoists who wanted to be zombies?"
Zhou Tong tacked on, "What he said, and why did they die in the alchemy room? Plus, what about all of those amulets?"
Master Liu only shook his head, "I don't want to speculate." He grinned briefly and went on, "I think we should search carefully. We might find something out."
Once again we split off into pairs to search the rooms lining the hall. Master Liu went with me, and Zhou Tong with Master Ge. Each room was similar to the first. We found rotten furniture, old remains of dried food and supplies, and creature comforts that practically shouted of past inhabitants.
"Are those carpets?" I asked, pointing to a collection of what looked like long leaves that had been weaved into a mat at the base of a bed. Master Liu looked briefly, but only gave a small lift of his eyebrow and a shrug.
After going through ten or so of the rooms, Master Liu and I were stunned when we found one locked. There was a long yellow paper amulet adhering the door to the frame on either side. Although it was old and ragged, the red wave of color in the center gave a clear message.
The bottom half of the door however, was gone as if something the size of a large dog had burst from within.
"Godfather, what does that paper amulet mean?" I asked.
"It's a Yang amulet, the strongest one for suppressing the undead. Something powerful was living here. Maybe it was the one we met earlier." His face was calm, but his words made my throat go dry.
Very slowly I knelt down to the hole at the base of the door. I took a deep breath and shined my light inside the room. Biting my tongue as not to scream if anything jumped out, I felt my heart pounding in my chest when the light landed on something hunkered in the corner. I gasped in air and forgot to let it out. My eyes adjusted to the light and made sense of the decrepit bedside table illuminated before me. "It's empty…" I sighed, feeling relief flood my body.
"Of course it is." Master Liu said simply. "You think I'd have let you look if I felt anything in here?" He smiled down at me.
"There's no trace of anything. How could it have gotten out if the amulet is still here?" I asked.
Master Liu looked intently at the amulet before him. "This Yang amulet is very modern by its calligraphy. At least I think so. It appears to originate from China. I've seen amulets like this associated with the Qing dynasty. More complicated ones of course..."
"This is no time for history!" I almost said and moved behind Master Liu. If the amulet didn't stop it, maybe there really was something in the room.
At that time, Zhou Tong and Master Ge joined us at the half door. "We didn't find anything." Master Ge said, sounding put off.
Zhou Tong looked at the half door and asked, "Should we open it? I can take the rest of the door off if that'll help." He looked at the amulet sealing the door to the frame curiously.
"Unlock it yes! Don't remove the frame, that's not necessary." Master Liu said.
"Uh huh," Zhou Tong said, he looked at Master Liu hesitantly and then hunkered down by the hole. He shed his light inside for a brief scope. Reassured by the lack of flesh eating dead men, he moved closer. Taking out a thin wire hook from his leg pocket, Zhou Tong unlocked the door.
Standing up with a grunt and dusting himself off, Zhou Tong reached for the long amulet and peeled it off the door slowly. Now, no longer restrained, the half door opened lazily with a dusty crunch.
Our four flashlights brought the room to life. It was different from the other ones. In the corner was the table that had frightened me so. Opposite it was a wooden desk wearing an oil lamp like a hat.
"The other caves had lamps set into the walls…" Zhou Tong observed.
Piles of books surrounded the oil lamp. The dusty tomes held sultry titles that you'd see old women reading at the Laundromat.
The quilt on the bed was tumbled as if it'd just been tossed off. On the floor next to the bed lay a pile of manila rope. Moving my flashlight next to it I saw a small black shape.
"What is it?" I asked Master Liu.
Master Liu glanced at it and then said in a quiet voice, "Ink pot!"
"What's an inkpot for?" I asked.
"For writing," he said impatiently. "Look! There's a seal next to it! Whoever it is must have used this to seal the coffins!"
"Seal the coffins?" I asked again, not understanding at all. I looked around the room expecting to see the walls lined with coffins of dead Taoists. I released a sigh of relief at the absence of dead men, or their beds.
Master Liu walked briskly to the desk and began to overturn books and loose papers. He held up a collection of crisp looking papers that were covered top to bottom in small red characters. The characters were written in a fine hand that made my father's neat teacher script look like a child's scrawl. The characters were lined and posted vertically down the paper.
"What does it say?" I asked Master Liu who was studying the paper intently.
He cleared his throat and began to read, "In 1919, my master and I came to the living grave. He gave me a choice to turn back, but I am nothing without him."
"The living grave?" Master Ge cut in, "Who wrote this? Is there a name?"
Master Liu looked at him impatiently. Master Ge continued. "If he came with his master, then he must know something about this place! Who is his master, does it say?"
Master Liu flipped through the pages. "It doesn't mention a name, his or his master's."
"Master Liu, please keep going, what else does it say?" Zhou Tong urged.
Master Liu continued, "He told me it was his destiny to suppress the grave's occupant every fifty years. A duty that has been passed from master to disciple for generations."
Master Liu fell silent, his mouth moving as he read. "The next few pages tell of his adjustment to living under ground. His master taught him Taoism. They performed religious rites and created paper amulets. Wait!" Master Liu scanned for another moment and then began to read.
"Inside the alchemy room, my master brought us to the small stove. He told me that it holds our ancestors."
Master Ge gasped, a sound that stabbed into the silence and drew six eyes to him. "The small stove! It's not for alchemy! It's for suppression! They were burning prayers to keep something here. What on earth happened?"
No one said anything. Master Liu took a deal breath, and then continued to read.
"The occupant of this living grave cannot be reincarnated, or so my master tells me. He calls it the pioneer, apparently one of the first to practice necromancy in attempts to live forever. The pioneer is evil, my master assures me of this, and has to be sealed away. He wouldn't tell me what happened to the others…"
Master Liu cleared his throat again and then went on, "I have to get answers, so tonight when my master is sleeping I am going to inspect the stove. Maybe it has a clue as to why every is dead."
His voice dropped off in the room and the four of us stood in the thickening silence. "Why did you stop? What did he find? Keep reading!" I insisted, forgetting myself in the tale.
"He didn't write anymore." Master Liu said, "Perhaps, he didn't come back."
"What could have happened between him and his master?"
Zhou Tong was staring at the paper in Master Liu's hand. He spoke in a quiet, thoughtful tone, "That was in 1919. What about 1969? Who would have been here to subdue the pioneer?" A look of unbridled fear rippled across his face. "If nobody was here… is the pioneer free?" His voice raised an octave, "Master Liu, what happened in 1969?"
Master Liu shook his head and said, "In my memory, nothing. That year was calm and peaceful. Perhaps someone was here. Think of the amulets. Some were very old, potentially from 1919, but others were newer and less decayed. Maybe someone tried to subdue this…pioneer." Master Liu said the title like it tasted foul in his mouth. "Though I don't think they were successful. I think it is out…" His words faded between the four of us.
"What of the amulet?" Master Ge said abruptly and giving me a fright. "If the sealing in 1919 was a success, why would they need such an amulet on this door?" He gestured to the long paper amulet still in Zhou Tong's hand. "That is for suppressing the undead, did one of them become a zombie?"
Master Liu's forehead wrinkled in thought. "Nothing special happened in 1969. Did a separate master intervene?"
The living grave around us seemed to grow darker with each question.
Master Liu looked at me and asked, "What happened here?"