Ba ethnic group's bewitching charm - the executioner

Chapter 55

"Are you all ready?" Baqi felt a sense of familiarity when he heard the Ba language.

The three wizards nodded in unison.

“Okay, you go first, I’ll be there soon,” Baqi said.

After closing the door again, Baqi slowly turned his wheelchair to the mirror. He stared at the bronze mask in the mirror and then slowly stood up from the wheelchair.

This was his secret, and also his last weapon to protect himself.

The moment he first met Han Shan, he felt an overwhelming sense of wariness towards him. He couldn't place the hopes of himself and his entire clan on him. The stolen sacred artifact was an immense treasure for those in the outside world; anyone who obtained it would have their life and destiny completely altered.

Would Han Shan really hand over such a huge fortune so easily?

Baqi shook his head, letting these worries leave him. Now, what he had to do was preside over a ceremony. Only through this ceremony could the deceased Batu and his people return to their ancestral land with them and bless their descendants.

The souls of those who die far from home will wander the mortal world, searching for a way to return home.

Bhaqi is now the guide to the underworld; he has come to lead his loved ones home.

He opened a box containing some clothes and some rather strange-looking items. Baqi slowly took out one of the bronze objects. Its lower end was a round rod, covered with patterns and designs, and its upper end had two curved horns like ram horns.

This bronze artifact is called the Fuxi Ram Horn Pillar. Legend has it that in ancient times, Fuxi used this ram horn pillar to measure shadows and draw the Eight Trigrams. The Ba people originally had a pair of Fuxi Ram Horn Pillars, which were indispensable ritual implements in their sacrificial ceremonies. However, more than 20 years ago, Ba Rong and the great shaman Longyang betrayed their tribe and stole the treasure, even taking one of the ram horn pillars with them.

Now, this Fuxi Ram Horn Pillar is the last ritual artifact in the clan. Its existence symbolizes that the ancestors have not left their descendants, and that those great divine ancestors are still protecting their descendants.

Ba Qi inserted the Fuxi ram's horn pillar into his waistband, slowly sat back in his wheelchair, and then went out.

Qin Ge was surprised to hear Ma Nan's voice on the phone, but after hearing about Ma Nan's ordeal at Xingxiutai, his mood grew even heavier. He also told Ma Nan about his own discoveries, and when he mentioned that Chu Yan was safe and sound and was now with Hongmian, Ma Nan finally felt relieved. When he mentioned finding the executioner's disc in Zhang Shanren's seaside building, and the executioner's claim that his hands were not stained with a single drop of blood, Ma Nan fell silent.

Based on his personal experience with several deaths, the executioner was not lying. The dead were inextricably linked, each experiencing a role reversal between killing and being killed. Even Ma Nan became the executioner's accomplice, murdering Liu Hongzhong, who had already been mutilated.

The executioner's meticulousness and thorough planning earned the admiration of both Ma Nan and Qin Ge.

Having such an opponent is an extremely difficult challenge for them.

"Do you know what Zhang Shanren looks like?" Ma Nan asked.

Although Qin Ge had never met Zhang Shanren in person, she had seen his photo in the files and immediately described him to Ma Nan. He was balding, had a chubby face, was pale and beardless, and looked like an old woman.

Ma Nan sighed: "Zhang Shanren is right here with me, but he suddenly disappeared a few hours ago."

Qin Ge recalled the executioner's words, "I didn't give you the chance to punish Zhang Shanren," and knew that Ma Nan was telling the truth. Thus, another conclusion could be drawn: the real executioner must be with Zhang Shanren at this moment. He had said he wouldn't let Zhang Shanren go, but it was unclear what harsher punishments he would inflict upon him.

Finally, both Ma Nan and Qin Ge faced a very real problem: where exactly was Ma Nan now?

“Gao Wei found some patterns on the Star Platform, and he said they were related to the Bagua diagram. Later, the girl we found in Zhang Shanren’s seaside building remembered that she had been to a bar, and the building where the bar was located looked like two squares put together,” Qin Ge said.

"So you're in that bar now?" Manan sighed. "We must be in that building right now."

When Qin Ge mentioned two squares placed together, Ma Nan knew he had come to the right place. The octagon formed by the intersection of the two squares contained the octagonal star pattern on the Star Platform.

He's now wondering who built this building, since it has an eight-pointed star shape.

Qin Ge said, "If you're really in this building, then there's no problem. I'll call back to the team immediately to request reinforcements and thoroughly search the building."

Ma Nan knew that this was the only way to solve the problem.

After hanging up the phone, Ma Nan relayed Qin Ge's words to the police officer in charge of household registration and Yang Mei. The police were arriving soon, which was clearly good news, but neither of them showed any joy. Perhaps Yang Mei was still worried about Yang Zheng's safety, while the police officer in charge of household registration probably thought that once he left, he would never have the chance to see Yang Mei again.

The wait was unusually long, so Ma Nan used this time to slowly sort out his thoughts. He discovered the chrysanthemum pattern with flames, found the Star Platform, and discovered the Fire God Zhurong and the eight-pointed star pattern. Since the Ba people had brought him here, they had obviously deciphered these clues, so why make him go through the process again? If these clues were truly related to the Ba people's sacred object, then could the sacred object be hidden inside this Bagua building? If the Ba people had found the sacred object, would they still have the mind to play some kind of murder game with these people?

Manan thought that the fact that the Ba people were still here could only mean that they had not yet found the sacred object.

The clues point here, so why haven't they found the sacred object yet? There can only be two reasons: either the clues are fake, or the clues suddenly stopped here, and the Ba people had no way to continue their search.

Qin Ge said it was a nine-story building, and the octagonal corridors and rooms must be inside. It would be surprising if Ba Rong hid the sacred object in a building in the city.

Is it because there are other clues hidden in the octagonal corridor and rooms? That is what the Ba people failed to discover, and it is also the reason why the Ba people have not found the sacred object to this day.

If there is a clue, where could it be?

The image of the Star Platform reappeared in Ma Nan's mind: the fire god Zhu Rong holding aloft an eight-pointed star pattern. If the eight-pointed star pattern signified that the treasure was here, then the presence of the fire god Zhu Rong on the Star Platform's murals must mean he was more than just a simple decoration.

The God of Fire, Zhurong! Ma Nan silently repeated the name to himself, and soon something came to mind.

The corridors and rooms here are all built according to the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) diagram. The Bagua diagram consists of eight trigrams: Qian, Kun, Kan, Li, Xun, Zhen, Dui, and Gen, corresponding to Heaven, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Wood, Metal, and Mountain. Therefore, the fire god Zhurong appears here, and according to the trigrams, he should correspond to the Li trigram. There are eight rooms here, and each room should correspond to a trigram; perhaps the secret lies in the room corresponding to the Li trigram.

All eight rooms here are exactly the same. How can I find out which room corresponds to the Li trigram?

If you know the directions, this problem is easy to solve. The Fuxi Bagua, also known as the Pre-Heaven Bagua, uses Qian (☰) for south, Kun (☷) for north, Li (☲) for east, Kan (☵) for west, Dui (☱) for southeast, Gen (☶) for northwest, Zhen (☳) for northeast, and Xun (☴) for southwest.

The Li trigram must be located in the due east direction.

However, there are no landmarks here, and everyone was brought here in a coma, so finding their way is extremely difficult.

When Ma Nan asked the household registration police officer and Yang Mei for their opinions, the two looked at each other and shook their heads without saying a word.

Although everyone is born with a sense of direction, in this special environment, that sense of direction naturally becomes useless.

Ma Nan was still not giving up. Although he knew it was inappropriate to leave Yang Mei and the household registration police in the same room, he hesitated for a moment and then decided to go out and check.

"Is there any problem with the two of you being together?" he asked tentatively.

The police officer's gaze fell on Yang Mei, his eyes filled with expectation. Yang Mei's expression showed her inner conflict, but in the end, she slowly walked out the door without even glancing at the officer.

The police officer sat up abruptly, seemingly touching a wound, and let out a low groan before looking dejected.

Ma Nan sighed, shook his head, and went out.

The eight rooms here were completely identical. The walls and floors were made of blue bricks, and each room had a small bathroom. The walls inside were made of marble, with simple patterns carved into them. Ma Nan thought that if there was any difference, it would be these patterns carved into the marble, so he focused on them during this inspection.