King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 185

The workers voluntarily handed over a wooden ladder and placed it against the well wall.

“Mr. Feng, don’t go down yet. I’ll find the best diving company in Hokkaido to come right away.” Xiao Ke calmed down, took out his phone to make a call, and followed me to stop me from stepping onto the wooden ladder.

I stopped beside the wooden stairs, staring down at the compass. I wondered if it was some kind of coincidence, but I felt I had seen it before, in that hallucinatory dream when I met my older brother Yang Tian and the infant "me". It had been hanging on the intersection of the beams in the study, and my brother had been using it to find something.

Xiao Keleng ended her conversation with the diving company personnel in just thirty seconds. The company promised to send someone to arrive within half an hour, bringing the latest diving equipment.

I felt that everything in the deep well was like another bizarre nightmare, presenting me with things I had never imagined before. If these two lotus flowers were exactly the same as the one engraved on the plague's arm, would their petals also be composed of countless Arabic numerals? Fortunately, Xiao Yan was here, and could easily decipher them.

"Mr. Feng, don't scare me. Would you like a cigarette to perk yourself up?" Xiao Ke's helpless voice rang out, her expression pleading. She took out a silver metal box from her pocket, and when she opened the lid, there were five unfiltered cigarettes inside. The cigarette box itself had a strange fragrance, which was immediately recognizable as the scent of high-quality heroin.

Drug use can indeed provide a temporary energy boost, but it's not as effective as my "disintegration technique."

I shook my head. Xiao Ke looked apologetic. "Sister Su Lun said that the strange events involving the great hero Yang Tian would cause you great emotional turmoil, so she asked me to prepare these calming items in advance. I'm sorry." She snapped the box shut and put it back in her pocket.

Only Su Lun truly understands me.

A small wave of emotion washed over me, and I gently shook my head: "Thank you, Xiao Xiao, I'm fine. It's just that the compass seemed familiar. Please have the workers set up the light netting; we must find out what's going on tonight."

As dusk fell, two slender divers rushed to the scene.

The searchlights on the four corner watchtowers came in handy, their heads turned to converge on the well surface, while the workers strung at least forty high-powered light bulbs around the pit, creating an atmosphere in the yard that resembled a disaster horror movie set.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten the chill of winter, silently busying themselves, occasionally glancing at the eerie and strange deep well.

Xiao Keleng has already ordered the foreman to pass on the message that everyone will receive five times the night shift wage, and that they must find out what's underwater tonight.

I was the first to reach the edge of the well, filled with a strange admiration for my elder brother. What was his purpose in building this extraordinary formation before the divine oracle was issued? Was it to counter the "One Arrow Through the Heart" formation of Fengge Temple? In any case, the existence of the formation had nothing to do with the tycoon's illness, and when the formation and the villa were built, the tycoon had not yet become famous in the martial arts world, let alone been cursed by "black magic".

The beam of the searchlight couldn't be refracted into the water, and the powerful flashlight in my hand could only barely see four meters deep. The rock face was covered with dark green moss, densely packed, as if the stone was wearing a strange protective suit.

The two divers skillfully donned their rubber wetsuits, performed a final check of the compressed oxygen, gave a shout, and then plunged into the water with a splash. For them, diving was as routine as eating and sleeping—nothing new, just a job to earn a living.

Xiao Ke stood on the edge of the pit, holding a powerful flashlight in his left hand and a gun in his right, as if facing a formidable enemy.

Behind the beams of searchlights, snipers were likely on high alert, or perhaps everyone was worried that some kind of prehistoric monster might suddenly leap out of the water.

I strolled toward Sparrow's Tail, but Xiao Keleng immediately stopped me: "Mr. Feng, don't act rashly. It's not too late to take action after the divers have investigated the situation."

Her voice was full of concern for me, and her straightforward tone was quite similar to that of Suren.

I looked up at her, forcing a relaxed smile: "It's okay, don't worry." Even from a distance of four meters, the worry on her face was unmistakable. The sky was gloomy, like a strange lid that seemed poised to collapse at any moment, trapping us in this abyss.

Bubbles kept rising to the surface of the water, but that was caused by the divers taking their breaths, and had nothing to do with the strange bubbling sound I heard. The powerful spotlights above their heads would occasionally flicker, at a depth of about seven or eight meters.

When the divers first surfaced, they reported casually, "It's just a vertical pool, nine meters deep. The bottom is made of the same material as the surrounding rocks, and we didn't find any hidden caves or anything like that. Judging from the growth of moss on the rocks, no one has been here for more than ten years."

They immediately probed the remaining three bodies of water, and the results were largely the same: a huge pool, ten meters long, wide, and high, with a sparrow pattern firmly constructed of stones in the middle. Surface analysis of the water quality was also unsurprising; it was just ordinary groundwater.

Xiao Keleng also climbed down to the edge of the well, put away her gun, and finally calmed down. The white beam of the searchlight formed a strange halo on her hair, and the two of us felt like figure skaters about to begin our performance, with an inexplicable feeling of "loneliness at the top under the watchful eyes of the crowd."

"Mr. Feng, are you satisfied with the results of this investigation? At least it meets Miss Guan's requirements. The villa has been completely demolished, and the 'Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sparrow Killing Formation' has appeared. The tycoon's illness will definitely be cured, right?" After the crisis was resolved, her concern for me deepened, which brought with it a little jealousy towards Guan Baoling.

Whether the Sparrow Killing Formation left by the eldest brother can break the tycoon's curse remains to be seen.

I walked towards the sparrow's tail and stopped in front of the compass. The compass was perfectly embedded in the stone, so tightly that even the tip of a knife couldn't be inserted. All the Chinese characters on it were in Qin Dynasty small seal script, making it appear to be an antique. However, it was puzzling that if it was made in the Qin Dynasty, the metalworking techniques of that era didn't seem to be that refined; and if it was made in a later period and deliberately marked with small seal script, that didn't make sense either.

As all Chinese people know, the evolution of Chinese characters from ancient times to the present, from complex to simple, follows the natural law of survival of the fittest. When we can fluently write simplified Chinese characters with a pen, who would still miss the cumbersome process of grinding ink and wielding a brush? Just as most accountants would choose to abandon the ancient abacus after the advent of the most advanced electronic calculator.

After the invention of Han clerical script, most nobles and officials abandoned the use of Qin seal script without hesitation. In mainland China, if someone still writes traditional characters in a serious manner today, they will definitely be mistaken by those around them as an ancient person from another era.

"How do we get it out? It's embedded so firmly, do we need to use a hammer and chisel to remove it?" Xiao Keleng followed behind me, standing on the Sparrow's Tail, which is flanked by two streams.

On the nine-square grid distribution diagram, our position is "lower middle," which is the control point for activating the power of the nine squares. The direction of all "Sparrow Killing Formation" attacks is determined by the Sparrow's tail. Therefore, it is very meaningful and the only choice for the eldest brother to embed the compass in this position during the construction of the formation.

Xiao Keleng suddenly looked up at the sky with a strange expression and muttered to himself, "Could it be...could it be related to the compass?"

I understood what she meant, and while waiting for the diver to surface, I had already thought of that question: the compass was positioned directly upwards towards the bronze warrior statue. Perhaps the warrior statue's free rotation was controlled by the compass, and the transmission mechanism between them must be unknowable by our detection methods, just as we cannot detect the existence of an iron plate.

This line of thinking involves a lot of theories and terms in physics. Simply put, the way the compass controls the samurai statue is something beyond electricity, magnetism, and mechanical transmission, which has probably not yet been discovered by physicists. Like the "splitting palm" and "crane-controlling skill" of Chinese martial arts masters, it can generate "impact force and suction force" in mid-air.

Scientists can say that the moment a master makes a move, it causes the air to move, thus creating the "going" and "coming" motions. This process of doing work can be approximated as "wind".

As it turns out, many scientists' theories are quite vague and absurd, which is why Elder Sahan made such a shocking claim as "the movement of the illusion demons forms the wind." Scientists are also human beings, and their way of thinking, like ordinary people, is highly limited. They often lose sight of the other 99% of scientific validity because they are blinded by a single leaf.

I crouched down, not attempting to pry the compass with my knife; that would be too foolish, as the compass seemed to have grown out of the stone.

"Mr. Feng, is there a force that can firmly hold the samurai statue to the ground, while also making the suction force equal to the ground's bearing capacity, in a state of half-pushing and half-resisting?" Xiao Ke asked in confusion, turning his neck, which looked sore and painful from looking up for so long.

I placed my palms on the center of the compass, trying to draw it out by stimulating my internal energy.

"The compass controls the power of the warrior statue, just like an electromagnet in an old car yard. It can absorb and release at will, controlling its rotation remotely, right?" The more Xiao Keleng spoke, the more confused and disoriented she became. In fact, the focus wasn't on how the compass and the warrior statue worked together, but on why the warrior statue could change its orientation when the Greenland ice sheet collapsed.

Zhang Heng invented an instrument that could sense ground vibrations, so it was called the "seismograph". Could the combination of the compass and the warrior statue in front of us be called the "ice crack sensor"?

Xiao Keleng squatted to my right, reaching out to touch the sharp, clear seal script strokes on the compass. Suddenly, she let out a long sigh: "Mr. Feng, I used to be arrogant and thought I was clever enough to understand nothing and learn any theory. But even this mere 'Sparrow Killing Formation' contains so many unsolvable mysteries. Alas, I am truly too dull. Compared to Sister Yan Xun and Sister Su Lun, they truly deserve to be called the unparalleled 'Three Heroes of Flying Flowers.' I am merely a member who has been mediocre and unworthy—"

She seemed to have misspoke, inadvertently mentioning the name "The Three Heroes of Flying Flowers," and quickly shut her mouth.

The compass remained motionless. Even though I had gathered my inner strength to the limit and generated the maximum suction force I could muster, there was still no movement.

"Mr. Feng?" Xiao Ke tilted his head and looked at me with an expression like a child who had accidentally let a lie slip.

I smiled calmly. "Xiao Xiao, your question is actually quite easy to answer. Take the gravitational phenomena of planets in the solar system, for example. When the centrifugal force of the nine planets orbiting the sun reaches a critical point of equilibrium with the sun's gravity, they will neither escape into the depths of space nor infinitely approach until they crash onto the sun's surface. This balance of forces creates the stable working relationship between the compass and the samurai statue. As for how this force is generated and how it is named, we don't yet have the ability to solve those problems. Now, I want to go to the Water Mist Villa and talk to the tycoon and Xiao Yan—"

Only the tycoon knows whether he has recovered or not. I have indirectly fulfilled the promise I made to Guan Baoling, so I have a clear conscience.

"I wonder if the tycoon's 1.5 billion US dollars can bring Miss Guan back to safety?" Xiao Ke sighed and prepared to leave the Sparrow Killing Formation.

I pointed towards the sparrow's beak: "Xiao Xiao, you go back first. I'll go over there and check the lotus patterns. If they represent the real 'Book of Purgatory,' it'll be a great unexpected bonus after dismantling the villa." The fastest way to reach the sparrow's beak is, of course, to step over the sparrow's back. It's only about eight meters, and you can cross it in a few steps.

Xiao Ke looked at the deep wells on both sides, and suddenly shivered involuntarily, his face turning pale instantly. "Mr. Feng, I feel that this formation is a bit strange. We'd better retreat first, lest we inadvertently trigger the chain reaction of this strange formation, okay?"

A mist rose from the water's surface without our noticing, drifting aimlessly in a hazy, indistinct way. The Sparrow Killing Formation was located in a three-meter-deep pit, where the north wind couldn't get in, so the mist quickly filled our feet, reaching above our knees.

"Are you scared?" I laughed. The Qimen formation is static; it can't function without human intervention. I have a thorough understanding of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formations, so there won't be any problems. Even if someone outside the formation tries to manipulate it with all their might, I can neutralize them all.

"Don't worry, it's just a strange feeling. We've been working on dismantling and excavation all day, and we're exhausted. Perhaps we should rest for the night before continuing?" Xiao Keleng looked at his feet with a hint of nervousness, forcing a smile. "Mr. Feng, I feel like this stone sparrow under my feet is trembling slightly. Surely it can't take flight like a real bird?"

The humidity was getting heavier, and the powerful beam of the searchlight seemed to be diluted by the moisture, becoming weak and powerless.

"I'm just going to the other side, observing the lotus, and I'll come back immediately. Everything will be fine." I knew that things could change if I let the "Book of Purgatory" be lost again, and I was afraid I would regret it to death. Besides, the divers had already checked and found that there was nothing in the surrounding waters, just a pool of clear water.

My stubborn decision to move forward stemmed from my understanding of Qimen formations, and was by no means a reckless adventure.

“Then, let’s go together—come together and go together!” Xiao Keleng took my hand. This was the first time our hands had been clasped together, so I simply pulled her firmly and strode forward.

The workers who had been watching from the edge of the pit had already retreated, bored. There were neither monsters nor treasures under the iron plates; to them, these mysterious and extraordinary formations were nothing more than cold, lifeless stones and stagnant water, utterly worthless.

After taking six steps forward, we were now precisely at the center of the Sparrow Killing Formation. At that moment, I also felt that strange tremor, equivalent to a magnitude 4 earthquake on the Richter scale. I looked up to my left and forward; clearly, the epicenter was coming from that direction.

"The gate is moving; there are uninvited guests," I whispered to Xiao Keleng.

The essence of the Bagua Formation lies in the fact that when people enter through different portals, the person in the center of the formation will have different sensations. This principle is exactly the same as a spider's ability to keenly detect the location where its prey has fallen into its web. The Nine Palaces, the Eight Trigrams, and the Five Elements are arranged in a wondrous and intricate invisible net within the "Sparrow Killing Formation," constantly capturing the natural changes of wind, clouds, thunder, and lightning.

Xiao Keleng immediately drew his pistol, but concealed it beside his right leg with the safety off, ready to fire at any moment.

The fog suddenly dissipated, and Xiao Keleng and I simultaneously felt a sharp killing intent coming from our left front, and we both took a slow half-step back in unison. In fact, it was the killing intent emanating from the other party that dispelled the fog. As he slowly floated down from the air, his feet landing on the sparrow's beak, he slowly crossed his arms in front of his chest and bowed to me at an angle of more than ninety degrees.

He wore a cherry blossom kimono, large, blood-red petals scattered against the snow-white background, giving him an air of otherworldly arrogance. His murderous aura emanated from a long sword tucked into his red belt, its brown hilt and scabbard almost dragging on the ground.

“Mr. Tanino—” I stared at his bald head. His attire, along with the black wooden clogs and white socks he wore, gave him the very imposing appearance of a first-class “Jonin” under the command of the Shogun of the Japanese Shogunate.

Gu Ye raised his head, his face extremely cold. Before speaking, he took out a piece of wood painted blood red from his pocket. It was a foot long and four inches wide. He held it in his hands and bowed to me again.

Xiao Ke coldly hissed and gasped: "A challenge for generalship and death? He wants to challenge me?"

The "Chairman's Challenge" was a "battle declaration" issued between "Jonin" (high-ranking ninja) in ancient times to settle personal grudges. The wooden board was coated with the blood of cattle and sheep, not with ordinary dye. The writing on it was all carved with a knife and then coated with charcoal to express the challenger's determination to fight to the death and be burned to ashes with the enemy.

“Feng, this is a challenge from Fenglin Huoshan to me, please look—” Without any movement of his arm, the wooden board flew out with a “whoosh.” I had seen this martial art used by Tanino Shinji when I first met him in Cairo, so I raised my right hand and used the strength of one hand to “snap” it, dissolving his internal energy invisibly.

Three lines of Japanese text were haphazardly carved on the wooden board: "When the tide rises tonight, on the lotus seedpod of the demon eye, a deadly battle will rage."

"Actually, I really want to be your friend. If I can return here with the heads of Fuukin Kazan after sunrise tomorrow, I can not only lift the curse on Miss Guan, but also wash away the shame of three years of imprisonment. In the history of our Yamato people, every famous ninja has gone through the test of the 'General's Order to Kill' several times in his life. If he cannot make a name for himself in history this time, then he can only shed his blood and add another glorious light to the name of others."

Gu Ye's tone remained calm, but as his hand lightly touched the brown hilt of the sword at his waist, an astonishing surge of killing intent burst forth, instantly tearing apart the thin mist that had gathered from all sides.

"Good knife." I flicked my wrist, and the wooden plaque flew back.

"You flatter me." He took back the wooden plaque with even more ease, and casually put it back in his pocket.

"So, this is the precious sword you took from the 'Devil's Mountain Wind Cave' at the border of Inner and Outer Mongolia?" I know its name—"The Soul of Genghis Khan," a military sword that could command millions of Mongol warriors to fight one after another on the battlefield. It was also a symbol of the highest power of the Mongol tribes. Back then, it was personally worn by the Mongol Great Khan Temujin, who used it to ride his horse and sweep across the Jin Dynasty, making the descendants of Wanyan Aguda willingly submit.

The Truth of the Sixth Tomb of the Gods

— Chapter 7 — Breaking the World —

The magical legends surrounding the "Soul of Genghis Khan" are worthy of being the subject of a novel of over 100,000 words, and it only came into the possession of Gu Ye in recent years.

The two small moles on Gu Ye's brow bone kept trembling; in his extreme excitement, he seemed unable to force a smile.

"If I'm still alive tomorrow morning, I hope we can become true friends. I might have some information about the wind, forest, fire, and mountains, about the world beneath the meditation hall that might interest you. Of course, if I die, I don't know who will take over the task of upholding justice and peace in Hokkaido. Wind, will it be you?"

I laughed: "Mr. Tanino, you think too highly of me. I'm afraid I'll disappoint you. Kaze, Rin, Kazan were once renowned top masters in the Japanese army. Since you consider me a friend, would you mind coming with me to observe the battle for you?"

Actually, I really wanted to go with him to kill Fenglin Huoshan—if the latter was the mastermind behind the extortion case, then the tycoon's worries and Guan Baoling's tooth pupa would be resolved at the same time.

Tanino shook his head proudly: "This is a decisive battle between Japanese 'Jonin,' not a martial arts performance for show. Wait for my news! Farewell—"

The crimson cherry blossoms on his kimono suddenly fluttered up, and his body leaped into the air. Tracked by the searchlight of the southeast watchtower, he disappeared quickly into the darkness to the northwest like a wild crane that had strayed into the human world.

Xiao Keleng, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up: "Mr. Feng, in your opinion, which martial art is stronger, Gu Ye's or Feng Lin Huo Shan's?"

I held her hand and continued forward, not answering her question directly, but leisurely recounting the history of "Genghis Khan's Soul": "That precious sword has almost surpassed all the swords in human history. The only one that can be compared to it is Guan Yu's Green Dragon Crescent Blade from the Three Kingdoms period, which could 'slay a shadow and kill a person.' It is said that when the Mongols besieged Yanjing, the Jin general Yelanha led his troops in a desperate resistance for two months, killing and wounding more than 10,000 Mongol soldiers. Then one morning, Temujin lured Yelanha to talk in front of the west gate. When the sunlight cast Yelanha's shadow in front of his warhorse, he suddenly drew his sword and slashed in mid-air. Although the blade struck Yelanha's shadow, the real person on the city wall was instantly cut in two."

This classic battle of "slaying shadows to kill" was turned into a ballad by Mongolian bards, accompanied by the melodious sound of the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle), and has spread to every corner of the grasslands. Temujin was once known as "Genghis Khan," and all the tribes regarded him as the Mongolian god of war, forever invincible.

Xiao Ke sighed, "The sword is indeed excellent, but the history of Fenglinshan Mountain's service in the army is legendary, comparable to Kenji Doihara's reputation. Furthermore, considering his age, how could he so easily subdue Tanino? Could it be that some change has occurred in his physiological functions?"

Everything will be clear by tomorrow morning. I hope Tanino returns safely. If he fought for honor, his spirit transcends the highest level of "Jonin" and approaches the "Samurai" class, which is most respected by the Japanese common people. A one-on-one duel, using blood and a swift blade to wash away his tarnished reputation, is in line with the Japanese spirit of "Bushido."

We walked to the bird's beak and stopped, when suddenly all the lights went out and the world was plunged into darkness.

Xiao Keleng cried out in alarm, grabbed my arm tightly, and rushed into my arms.

"Is it—a power outage?" I immediately turned on the flashlight, put one hand around Xiao Keleng's shoulder, and felt her body trembling violently.

It must be a power outage; there's not a single light in sight. A dozen seconds later, beams of light from submachine gun sights appeared on the watchtower, crisscrossing haphazardly in this direction. The area is currently being relocated; the original emergency power generation equipment has been moved to the Water Mist Villa, so for now, all we can do is wait patiently.

Xiao Keleng, nestled in my arms, gradually calmed down, letting out soft sighs like a wounded kitten.

"Xiao Xiao, have we ever had an emergency power outage like this before?" I sensed that what seemed like a simple power outage actually concealed a deeper crisis. I've been in Hokkaido for a month and have never encountered anything like this. Why, of all times, did the power go out when the excavation work was halfway through?

Xiao Ke shook his head, craning his neck to gaze eastward, but "we're in this huge pit; even if we build a human ladder, we might not see what we're looking for." "The power hasn't gone out in three years, Mr. Feng. Let's go up first. I'm worried about something—"

I blurted out, "Is he worried about Xiao Yan's tracking? His laptop has a backup battery with an extra long standby time, so it won't be affected by a power outage."

Xiao Keleng hummed in response, lowered her head and stopped speaking, then moved a little closer to me, seemingly unintentionally.