Chapter 6: The Ancient Music of the Nine Heavens

  The Municipal Public Security Bureau, conference room. At the entrance, four armed police officers were guarding tightly, and without the command of Ren Changming, not even a fly could fly in. Inside, there were seven people: Ouyang Xuan, Zheng Secretary, Ren Changming, and four middle-aged archaeological experts. Zheng Secretary stood up and solemnly introduced Ouyang Xuan: "This is Comrade Ouyang Xuan from BJ, whose specific identity is not convenient to reveal to everyone. However, this time the archaeological excavation is extremely important, so everyone must report seriously!" The four archaeological experts looked at each other, although they didn't understand what kind of background the young Ouyang Xuan had, but since Zheng Secretary and Ren Changming were both being polite to him, they didn't dare to neglect him. One of them stood up: "I am Li Rui, the curator of the Municipal Museum, let me introduce the specific situation of the excavation!" Ouyang Xuan nodded and smiled: "Thank you!" Li Rui walked to the wall, took a remote control and pressed it, and the projector installed on the ceiling immediately started working, projecting the results of the excavation work onto the large screen on the back wall.

  "After three consecutive days of high-intensity, large-scale excavation work, the cleaning of the ancient tomb was basically completed, and hundreds of bronze vessels, lacquerware, jade articles, gold ornaments and other items were unearthed, which is a rare rich tomb in recent years."

  As soon as he mentioned archaeological excavation, Li Rui, wearing glasses and being elegant, became spirited and talked fluently. "Wait a minute," Ouyang Xuan interrupted, "I just want to know the surname and name of the owner of this ancient tomb, what era he lived in, what kind of past he had, whether there is anything special among the unearthed artifacts, and ignore the unimportant things for now!"

  "Yes!" Li Rui smiled awkwardly and continued, "After many colleagues searched through materials overnight, it was found that the owner of the ancient tomb was named Meng Cai, a famous great witch doctor in the Chu Zhuangwang period in the western Hunan region."

  The Chu region has a long tradition of respecting and revering witchcraft. As we know, it is generally divided into three types: evil-expelling witchcraft, fortune-seeking witchcraft, and divination witchcraft. Meng Jia seems to be extremely skilled in all of these, and legend has it that he also possessed great magical powers, almost omnipotent. Even when King Zhuang of Chu fell ill, he had Meng Jia perform witchcraft to drive out the evil spirits. In his lifetime, he was a prominent figure in the state of Chu. This can be seen from the large number of precious artifacts buried with him. We have carefully counted them, and there are two things that stand out as particularly valuable. One is the Ke Huang Sheng Ding, a ritual vessel used for sacrifices, placed beside the main coffin, with Meng Jia's own inscriptions on it. The craftsmanship is exquisite, and the shape is uniquely peculiar, making it a national treasure of great value, which is also very helpful for our research on ancient Chu witchcraft customs.

  Another piece is called 'Moth Pattern Golden Dragon' jade, engraved with Meng Cai's name, and on it is the emblem of the Chu State royal family. It is estimated that this was given by King Zhuang of Chu to Meng Cai, symbolizing his noble status and powerful magical honor, which can be considered a rare treasure of its time. The first in China. Compared to these two pieces, others are somewhat inferior." Upon hearing this, Ouyang Xuan felt somewhat disappointed, as there were not many valuable clues, even if they dug up one hundred tons of gold, what's the use!? It still wouldn't help him subdue Meng Cai. "Is there anywhere else that is particularly unusual? Maybe it doesn't seem too precious to you?" Ouyang Xuan asked with his last bit of hope. Li Rui hesitated for a moment before saying:

  Here is the translation:

  Inside this ancient tomb, there were a large number of remnants of mugwort grass. At first, we were very puzzled, but after consulting historical records, we learned that this mugwort grass was used to filter wine, known as "mugwort contraction wine", which was an important ritual for the ancient Chu people to worship heaven and earth. In addition, we also found a large number of murals on the walls of the tomb chamber, all of which were very strange and told stories about Meng Chai and snakes." Ouyang Xuan's eyes lit up: "Wait a minute, elaborate on this! Are there detailed murals? Let me take a look!" Li Rui nodded: "Yes!" He pressed the camera button and jumped to a strange painting, saying in a low voice: "We call this 'Witch Master Ascending to Heaven', which is the most representative among ancient tomb murals.

  The story tells of Meng Cai wearing a black robe, with a snake crown on his head, ascending to heaven with the help of three green snakes. Look, next to her are two women dancing for her, and nearby are people seeing him off. This shows that in ancient times, near Xiangxi, they may have been very respectful of snakes, while Meng Cai was likely to have a strong control over snakes." Ouyang Xuan thought of the giant python subdued by 'Yu Xiao', nodded and said: "Is there anything else?" "No!" Li Rui thought for a moment and said: "Perhaps further investigation can yield more information!" "Mm, you continue then. If you find something, notify Secretary Zheng and Director Ren immediately!" Ouyang Xuan nodded and gestured to Secretary Zheng.

  Secretary Zheng stood up and smiled, "Old Li, thank you for your trouble today. We really appreciate it!" "Secretary Zheng, don't be polite, this is what we should do! If there's nothing else, we'll take our leave." Li Rui was a bit overwhelmed by the praise. "Great, great, you've all done an excellent job. Once things are settled, I'll make sure the municipal party committee gives you a good commendation!" Secretary Zheng said with great enthusiasm. "Thank you, Secretary Zheng, we're off!" Li Rui and his team stood up, nodded to Yang Hua, Ouyang Xuan, and Ren Changming, and left. The room fell silent, and Ren Changming looked at Ouyang Xuan with a curious expression, saying, "Comrade Ouyang, what do you think?" Ouyang Xuan smiled, "Although we didn't gain much useful information from the ancient tomb, at least we're familiar with Meng Cai's background now, and know that he has a deep connection with snakes. That's not a bad harvest."

  Just as they were talking, Ren Changming's phone suddenly rang. Ren Changming apologized to Ouyang Xuan and answered it. As soon as he picked up the phone, his face changed, and he put down the phone with a pale complexion, staring at Ouyang Xuan in a daze: "In Qinglong Town, a family of four was murdered, their necks bitten open, and all their blood sucked out!" Ouyang Xuan stood up abruptly, his face stern: "It's finally appeared. This time you won't be able to escape!" Zheng Shuji secretly cursed, two cases of massacre had occurred in the local area, and as the secretary, he couldn't shirk responsibility. He smiled bitterly: "Comrade Ouyang, everything is up to you now. If this ghost continues to wreak havoc, our municipal committee will have to resign collectively!" "Prepare the car immediately, I need to rush to Qinglong Town!" Ouyang Xuan said hastily, then suddenly remembered something and added: "Also, arrange for the residents near Qinglong Town to evacuate immediately. I'm afraid that if a big battle breaks out, innocent people might get hurt." "Okay, I'll arrange it right away!" Ren Changming was also getting anxious. If he couldn't solve the problem, he would be the first to be held accountable when the higher-ups came to investigate.

  However, Director Ren, can you help me with something before we go?" Ouyang Xuan thought for a moment and suddenly had an idea. "Okay, no problem!" No matter what the request was, as long as Ouyang Xuan could solve Meng Cai's problem, Ren Changming would agree to anything. "Go buy me a sheng flute, it has to be a genuine brand, don't get a fake one, I need it for something!" Ouyang Xuan said seriously. Secretary Zheng and Ren Changming were stunned, looking at each other with strange expressions. "Okay, okay!" Ren Changming didn't dare ask why, he just kept nodding repeatedly.

  ***** Qinglong Town, on the highway in the western mountainous area. Over a dozen police cars sped by like the wind, Ouyang Xuan sat in the car, carefully examining the sheng flute in his hand: The body of the sheng was made of high-quality Hetian jade, smooth and cool to the touch; the craftsmanship was extremely fine, with intricate patterns that seemed to come alive, clearly the work of a master craftsman.

  Ouyang Xuan tried the music again, which was very full, round and smooth, showing that the tuning was perfect. "It's really good!" Ouyang Xuan couldn't help but praise, suddenly thinking of a somewhat embarrassing question: this flute is probably worth tens of thousands, Ren Changming bought such a good thing to give to himself, it's likely not without ulterior motives! Is this considered corruption or bribery? Ouyang Xuan smiled wryly, took out the "Nine Heavens" score and looked at it carefully, just two times, Ouyang Xuan had already memorized the score, then opened the car window, braving the biting cold wind, and played softly. In an instant, a relaxed and elegant music flowed from the flute sound, quietly echoing in the quiet mountains.

  The speeding convoy seemed to feel that the sky had suddenly brightened, the air had suddenly freshened, and even the withered and barren mountain valley seemed to have come alive. A heart seemed to have grown younger, floating and fluttering out of the chest, throwing itself into the vast free sky. The beautiful music sound was in the dormant Rongyin Neidan, and suddenly felt that familiar breath again, stirring up in the spiritual sea. Ouyang Xuan was surprised to find that his power had suddenly surged, with a feeling of wanting to explode. Ouyang Xuan stopped the Xiao Sheng, waited for the Rongyin Neidan to calm down, and then played it again. Once, twice, thrice, soon Ouyang Xuan became familiar with the "Jiutian" score, although slightly awkward, but already had a lot of charm.

  Especially what made Ouyang Xuan happy was that he had completely confirmed that the "Nine Heavens" score had a special effect of rapidly increasing his strength in a short period of time. Perhaps, when dealing with Meng Cai, he could use it! Ouyang Xuan put down his flute and smiled slightly. The two police officers in front were listening with relish, seeing that Ouyang Xuan was no longer playing, they looked at each other regretfully, their faces full of disappointment.

  Finally, Qinglong Town arrived. In the majestic mountains, a small town of several thousand people lay quietly in the embrace of the forest, a provincial highway passing through the town, connecting this ancient village to the modern world. The sunset was setting, the evening glow was golden, and the town bathed in the golden light had an extra natural beauty.

  However, it was eerily quiet! Ouyang Xuan jumped off the car and looked around at the majestic mountains in the chilly wind, nodding secretly: This is indeed a great place to hide, Meng Cai really knows how to choose a location. "Comrade Ouyang, the townspeople have been evacuated, and there were no accidents in between, what do you think?" Ren Changming followed up, with an inquiring expression. "You all retreat to outside the town, leave the rest to me!" Ouyang Xuan clenched his fists, full of confidence. "Be careful yourself!" Ren Changming said with concern, before leading the police away. "Meng Cai, I'm here! Sharp eyes shot out a fierce and sinister killing intent.