A set of kasaya, a Buddha bead string with one hundred and eight rosewood beads, one hundred and eight golden Buddhas, silver Buddhas, and jade Buddhas, a gold-threaded nanmu fish, and a yellow rosewood bowl, along with some jade slips carved with Buddhist inscriptions, and a stack of yellowing thread-bound Buddhist scriptures.

These are all the items displayed at the bottom of the stone coffin, all related to Buddhism.

Seeing these things, the experts could not help but fall silent. Professor Xie, standing nearby, was also speechless. Finally, he let out a heavy sigh and said, "It seems the unofficial history is correct!"

The items in this stone coffin undoubtedly indicate the identity of the tomb owner before death, a monk who renounced worldly life.

However, if it truly was a monk, how could they have been accompanied by a second-rank official during burial? And to have so many burial items, with a tomb of such a high specification, evidently surpassing that of princely nobles, and the boldness of the tomb owner to openly use dragon patterns, shows that their true identity was the Son of the Dragon.

This suggests that before renouncing worldly life, the tomb owner held a high status, reaching the ears of the emperor, and was noble enough to be a national emperor, once standing above ten thousand people.

Huo Sining always thought that unofficial histories were mostly unreliable, but seeing this stone coffin, she realized those histories might not be entirely without basis.

This coffin, lying silently at the bottom of the water, is indeed the resting place of Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen! 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

This emperor, full of legend and tragedy, deeply influenced by the Confucian school, was gentle and scholarly with a benevolent governance, but he was deposed by his uncle Zhu Di after ruling for only four years.

In the fourth year of Jianwen, Zhu Di led the Yan army crossing the river and advancing straight to the gates of Nanjing, with King of Gu Zhu Hui and Duke Cao Li Jinglong opening Jinchuan Gate to surrender, leading to the breach of the capital.

The Yan army entered the capital, and during a mêlée after the arrival of the Yan army, the palace courtyards in Nanjing city caught fire. After the fire was put out, several burnt remains were found in the ashes, identified by the palace eunuchs as the bodies of Emperor Hui (Zhu Yunwen), the Empress, and their eldest son.

However, no one could be certain that Emperor Hui really died this way. The whereabouts of Zhu Yunwen ultimately remained an unsolved case, leading to unofficial histories suggesting that, perhaps out of sympathy for Zhu Yunwen’s reign, some historians theorized he disguised himself as a monk and fled Nanjing.

No one expected that unofficial history could accidentally hit the truth. The benevolent ruler who once commanded national governance truly renounced worldly life and became a monk!

The stone coffin had been opened, and the burial items naturally needed to be cleared out one by one. Professor Xie and several experts began to take out the Buddhist figures and books from the coffin, and this clearing process took more than an hour, extracting over two hundred Buddhist relics in total.

Just after the experts worked together to clear all the burial items, an unexpected discovery was made when the kasaya was lifted.

Beside the remains of the stone coffin’s owner was another skeleton!

Huo Sining and Su Qingqing were both experiencing firsthand participation in an archaeological excavation site for the first time. While Professor Xie and the other experts were long accustomed to seeing skeletons, and upon uncovering another, they exhibited their usual expressions, visibly tinged with a hint of excitement. Professor Xie directly donned gloves, picked up a flashlight and magnifying glass, and began to inspect the teeth of this skeleton.

Huo Sining and Su Qingqing exchanged a glance, instinctively leaning closer together, a spine-chilling sensation evident in their eyes.

Even with so many people on site, Huo Sining, who considered herself fairly brave, couldn’t help but feel the eerie oddness in this spooky tomb chamber. This stone coffin contained two ancient corpses, and the feeling was unsettling no matter how she thought about it.

Especially when seeing Professor Xie use a magnifying glass to lean close to the skull, using tweezers to pick at something unknown, Huo Sining felt as though her scalp was about to explode.

Archaeology involves a vast array of fields. Besides history, geography, and chemistry, proficiency in medicine is also pivotal, especially when examining ancient burial remains, to determine whether a body died of natural or unnatural causes and what the possible cause of death might be.

However, for someone like Professor Xie, interacting so closely with skeletal remains, Huo Sining sincerely doubted she could be as dedicated as him.

"This is the skeleton of a female, judging by the wear on the teeth, she should be between twenty and thirty years old."

Professor Xie analyzed while examining the skeleton, and the surrounding experts all wore somber expressions. One expert directly asked, "Was it a case of live burial?"

Upon hearing this, Su Qingqing and Huo Sining both turned pale.

Live burial, a commonly seen custom in ancient burial practices, usually involved the wives, concubines, or attendants of the deceased being buried with them, also referred to as human sacrifice.

Live burial was a cruel and barbaric custom from ancient Huaxia, lacking humanity. After the Qin Dynasty, the practice was gradually abolished, replaced by wooden or pottery figurines.

However, beginning with the Ming Dynasty, the custom of live burial began to make a comeback. Emperor Taizu of Ming set a precedent by having forty-six consorts and palace maids buried with him. In the ensuing seventy years, this barbaric system of human sacrifice became widespread among the emperors and kings, until Emperor Yingzong of Ming ordered its cessation before his death, ultimately abolishing it.

"Could it have been reburied post-mortem?" Huo Sining inquired.

During the Ming and Qing periods, human sacrifices were made to let consorts commit suicide, and then buried in coffins on either side of the imperial tomb.

Thus, Huo Sining’s suggestion of reburial is the most common method during the Ming and Qing periods, where if an Empress died first, she was temporarily placed in the tomb, only to rebury when the Emperor died.

Because of this method, many imperial tombs became widely known, which is why the tombs of Qianlong and Empress Dowager Cixi were looted by tomb robbers.

Nonetheless, Professor Xie directly refuted Huo Sining’s view.

"This is not likely possible; if it were post-mortem reburying, they wouldn’t be buried in one stone coffin. Besides, this is an underwater tomb, and posthumous reburial would be very difficult, requiring draining water—a huge project. If such grand methods were employed, there would be records. The lack of tomb robber interference indicates it was formed in one go, likely a consecutive burial."

As Professor Xie spoke, he nudged the skull, and unexpectedly, two green beads rolled out from inside it.

"What is this?"

Professor Xie’s hand paused, and he reached out to pick up the two beads, looking astonished.