Volume One, Chapter 18: The Dunhuang Burial Manuscript

A startling remark.

“Has this man lost his mind? According to his own theory, shouldn’t we be heading toward Yumen Pass instead?”

Whispers spread among the group, murmurs filled with doubt. They were so close to the final step, on the verge of escaping to safety, yet the urgency to leave stirred unrest. Distrust in Master Qi quietly seeped into their conversations.

But I knew better. Master Qi was vigorous and clear-headed, far from senility. I crossed my arms and waited quietly for his explanation.

“Do you remember the Six Jia and Eight Trigrams Tombs in the Dunhuang region? Heaven is assigned to emperors, earth to nobles, and the Six Jia and Eight Trigrams Tombs belong to commoners,” Master Qi addressed the archaeological team.

The three archaeologists shook their heads.

“Never heard of them? Then you must be new to the field. Let me explain casually—the Dunhuang burial texts mention this concept of ‘Six Jia and Eight Trigrams Tombs,’ referring to a large cemetery with four types of tombs oriented differently,” Master Qi explained. “The Six Jia Tombs correspond to burial grounds measured by the numbers one, three, seven, and nine, while the rest measured similarly belong to the Eight Trigrams Tombs. From what I see, this underwater tomb should be classified as an Eight Trigrams Tomb.”

He then looked at me.

I nodded slightly. “Both the Six Jia and Eight Trigrams Tombs have four key burial spots: Jia, Bing, Geng, and Ren. Did you deduce this from the concept of ‘humans divided into four spots’? Previously, our cultural relic investigation office had a book called The Secret Burial Classic of the Han Dynasty Royal Tombs. It explained that the emperor’s tomb included eight celestial spots, nobles and officials had sixteen earthly spots, and commoners were buried in twenty-four human spots.”

We all understood that although this gambling king was wealthy, without any official rank in ancient times, he was merely a commoner.

Commoners’ tombs have twenty-four spots:

Zi and Wu are heavenly gates and doors; Mao and You are earth axes and chariots; Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai are heavenly funerals; Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei are calamities; Gen, Xun, Kun, and Qian are clean paths; Yi is heavenly prison; Ding is disaster; Xin is earthly disaster; Gui is death and mourning. Among these twenty, only Jia, Bing, Geng, and Ren are usable.

If you understand this much, fine; if not, it’s hard to grasp. As long as you know basic arithmetic, you’ll realize that 24 spots minus 20 unusable spots equals 4 usable spots—Jia, Bing, Geng, and Ren.

Master Qi continued, “Look, disciple, this underwater tomb was clearly constructed following Dunhuang’s Eight Trigrams Tomb style. When we first dove down, didn’t we see a large yin-yang fish diagram of the Eight Trigrams on the tomb’s top? We wondered why such a conspicuous symbol was there. That’s precisely a typical feature of the Eight Trigrams Tomb’s exterior.”

I raised my chin, ready to listen carefully.

Master Qi went on, “According to the Eight Trigrams Tomb method, the Qian tombs have the Ren spot and Jia spot; the Zhen tomb has the Geng spot; the Gen tomb has the Bing spot. All are placed with gates and paths of the heavenly Jia spirit, with the mourning courtyard positioned beneath the Tai Chong star. Tai Chong lies at Mao, above it is the Ming Tang; from Kui below lies the tomb spot, with accumulated corpses above at You, called Tai Ling. The Qian tomb Jia spot’s gate leads out Bing; the Zhen tomb Geng spot’s gate leads out Ren; the Qian tomb Ren spot’s gate leads out Jia; the Gen tomb Bing spot’s gate leads out Geng. If the heavenly Jia spirit with gates and paths is present, and the Jia, Geng, and Ren spots align beneath Kui, with the mourning courtyard beneath Tai Chong, then only the Gen family fits. The gate and spot don’t align with the mourning courtyard or the tomb’s interior, which is auspicious. But since the earth Jia lies at Wu, the Sheng Guang gate is used, and the mourning courtyard and tomb spot must be arranged accordingly.”

I nodded, understanding this. There are ten heavenly stems, five of which are Yang—Jia, Bing, Wu, Geng, Ren; there are eight trigrams—Qian, Gen, Kan, Zhen, Kun, Dui, Li, Xun. They pair in various ways. The Eight Trigrams Tombs are actually the four spots: Qian tomb Ren spot, Qian tomb Jia spot, Zhen tomb Geng spot, and Gen tomb Bing spot. Wu is excluded because it belongs to earth, and burial underground must avoid earth calamity.

Master Qi pressed on, “The Six Jia and Eight Trigrams open at three and close at nine. They nurture and bring fortune, or oppose and bring misfortune. Burial spots are assigned to five surnames: Gong and Jiao surnames use the Gen tomb Bing spot, corresponding to three steps combined with Bing; Jiao and Shang surnames use the Qian tomb Ren spot, corresponding to nine steps combined with Ren; the Zhi surname uses the Qian tomb Jia spot…”

Everyone gasped sharply—not in surprise, but because no one understood.

Seeing their confused eyes, I reluctantly interrupted Master Qi, “Please slow down and speak plainly.”

“Am I speaking too fast?” Master Qi asked, beginning to slow his pace.

I shook my head. “You’re not fast, but your words sound like an ancient scripture to me.”

“Time passes, others may not understand, but we work in this field—haven’t you ever studied ancient geomancy or feng shui?” Master Qi gave a half-smile, as if discovering my weakness.

I knew feng shui and divination were not mere superstition. Many architecture schools even offered related courses.

But my parents had always forbidden me from touching such things. When I was young, a blind fortune teller near our home once read my fortune but clumsily predicted I would definitely end up in jail. My father was furious and, with anti-cult patrol officers, cleared all fortune-telling stalls from the street. Since then, I kept my distance from such esoteric studies.

Yet, ironically, I really did end up in the bureau.

“Fortunately, the state recognized your talents; otherwise, you might have ended up in jail in a different way,” Master Qi joked, squeezing my shoulder. “With your skills, you’d be the perfect tomb robber. Whether southern or northern style, you’d surely make a name for yourself.”

“Enough joking,” I pushed his hand away. “Please continue with your ancient scripture.”

“Since no one understands, what’s the point of showing off here? In short, this underwater tomb emulates the Dunhuang Eight Trigrams Tomb style and fills the vacancy of the ‘Yumen Pass’ star in Dunhuang. According to the Eight Trigrams Tomb’s rules, the stone cover we moved earlier corresponds to the Xun trigram, meaning the tomb entrance is from the Xun direction. Now, as we prepare to leave, we shouldn’t follow the Big Dipper’s handle orientation but rather the Big Dipper’s bowl, extending backward toward the North Star.”

“The North Star?”

The North Star, or Polaris, also known as the Ziwei Star, is well-known as the imperial star.

It does not refer to a single star but to a point along the extended line between the two stars of the Big Dipper’s handle: Tian Shu and Tian Xuan. Over ten thousand years ago, this point was occupied by Vega; in the Sui and Tang dynasties, it shifted to Polaris, but the point itself remained constant.

Master Qi nodded. “Yes, the North Star. Its corresponding geographic location is Hangu Pass.”