That evening, A-Long and Shi-Yun prepared dinner. Shi-Yun also went to a family he knew in the village to ask for some local specialties.
After dinner, the four chatted for a while before going back to their rooms to rest.
Song Hao read Luo Beiming's diary again before lying down on his bed, his mind now calm. He closed his eyes and pondered how to begin the search the next day. He knew that Shi Tingchuan had hidden the scriptures very well; even after the change of owners, no one had discovered the enormous secret hidden within this old house.
Song Hao knew he was close to obtaining the "Spirit Orchid Secret Manual," because this batch of WwW was hidden in a corner of this old house. It might even be buried underground.
A strange feeling rippled through Song Hao's thoughts; he vaguely saw the figures of ancient sages...
The Yellow Emperor sat in the Mingtang Hall, and during the dialogues with his ministers Qi Bo and others, the Inner Canon was completed!
Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, encountering seventy poisons in a single day...
This is a great era, an era of sages! The ancient sages, with their unique wisdom, revealed the principles between heaven and humanity: the way of Yin and Yang, the principles of the Five Elements, are the laws governing the operation of this world…
Yin and Yang are the way of Heaven and Earth, the guiding principles of all things, the parents of change, and the origin of life and death...
The Five Elements are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Everything in the universe exists within these elements…
Humanity still stands on the desolate earth, gazing up at the vast universe, constantly asking the heavens why the world is the way it is. They are unaware that the wise among humankind have already provided a seemingly ancient, yet fundamental, answer to all of this.
The next morning, Song Hao was awakened by a series of clattering sounds coming from outside. When he got up, dressed, and went out to see what was going on, he found that Ah Long and Shi Yun had already impatiently taken the tools they had prepared and were knocking on suspicious places all over the courtyard, searching for something.
Upon seeing this, Song Hao shook his head and smiled, saying, "You can search, but don't damage the structure of the house. We plan to arrange for people to vacation here in the future! When they see the dilapidated state and hear that it was caused by the two of you, they will blame us."
Ah Long replied, "Don't worry, Mr. Song, we will restore things to their original state."
Shi Yun said, "President Song, this house is exactly as it was when our family moved away, without any changes. If my father really hid those scriptures here, they should still be here."
Song Hao nodded and said, "That would be perfect! Your father is a very cautious man, so he never let a single copy of those scriptures circulate. I'm sure they're hidden in this courtyard. The information says there are several hundred copies of those scriptures, which would take up a lot of space, so they're not the kind of thing that's hard to find."
Ah Long said, "If one person hides something, it will be difficult for ten thousand people to find it. If we really can't find it, we'll just bulldoze the house and dig three feet into the ground. Once we find the scriptures, we can rebuild the house."
Song Hao shook his head and said, "Once old things are destroyed, no matter how they are rebuilt, they can only retain their form. The rustic atmosphere and ambiance can never be found again. So, it's better not to go that far."
Shi Yun said, "Now even if we wanted to, we couldn't. I heard from the original owner that this old house has been designated as a protected ancient cultural relic by the cultural relics department of Dali Prefecture. Although it is privately owned, we have the right to reside in it and transfer it, but we don't have the right to demolish or rebuild it."
"Oh! It's alright, this place isn't very big. If you look carefully, you should be able to find some clues," Song Hao said.
"Breakfast is ready. Now rest, and we'll search together after breakfast," Tang Yu said with a smile as she walked over.
The four then went to the hall for breakfast.
Song Hao said, "Last night I looked at the information about this old house and the discovery of the scriptures again. Shi Yun's father, Mr. Shi Tingchuan, found the scriptures in a hidden cabinet on the south wall of this house. It is very likely that Mr. Shi hid the scriptures back there. So, let's follow this clue to search, which will narrow down the search area accordingly."
"The south wall!" Ah Long asked, "Didn't you say it's the south wall of the courtyard, or the south wall of which room?"
Song Hao said, "There are only the two words 'south wall', nothing else."
Ah Long said, "Then we should carefully check all the south-facing walls. Having this clue will save us a lot of trouble."
Tang Yu said, "We can't just drill holes in all the south-facing walls to search for them, that would damage the building's structure significantly. I think we should measure them first. Think about it, ordinary walls can't hold that many scriptures. Only walls of unusual width could be built like that."
"Brilliant!" Song Hao praised. He recalled the secret chamber in the old Song family mansion in Penglai, Shandong, where the Tiansheng Acupuncture Bronze Figure was once kept. This ancient mansion should also have one.
The four of them ate breakfast with great interest. Shi Yun then found a measuring tape and, under Tang Yu's direction, began measuring the wall with A Long. Song Hao stood aside and observed.
After clearing the walls of the front house, the four of them went to the back house. Song Hao went into two adjacent rooms, then came out and stood in the courtyard to examine them.
Immediately, Song Hao sensed something was wrong and quickly called over Tang Yu, A Long, and Shi Yun, who were busy over there, saying, "Come over here and measure this place first. I feel that the room shouldn't be so narrow; there's something wrong here."
After Ah Long and Shi Yun measured the inside and outside of the house, Ah Long excitedly said, "It's right here! How can the wall between these two rooms be a meter thick? There must be a space inside."
Shi Yun exclaimed in surprise, "I've lived here for ten years, how come I never noticed!" He then found a hammer and tapped on the wall, which produced a hollow sound.
"It's empty!" Shi Yun exclaimed in surprise.
"Then let's smash it open!" Ah Long said excitedly. He reached out and took the iron hammer from Shi Yun's hand, and began to smash the wall.
Song Hao and Tang Yu exchanged a smile, both pleased with themselves. They hadn't expected to find the collection of books so easily.
Ah Long was strong; with a few swings of his hammer, he smashed a hole in the wall, revealing broken blue bricks.
"It really is hollow!" Shi Yun exclaimed in surprise. "I'll go get a flashlight." He then ran out.
Ah Long smashed a hole the size of a washbasin into the wall with a hammer. It was dark inside, and he couldn't see anything. He couldn't wait to reach his arm in and start groping around.
"There's nothing inside!" Ah Long said with considerable disappointment after rummaging around for a while.
"No way, you must have broken it open in the wrong place. There's a lot of room in such a big wall; even those scriptures might not be enough to fill it," Song Hao quickly reassured himself. He was also worried that he had broken it in the wrong place.
"The flashlight is here!" Shi Yun ran in holding a flashlight.
"Let me take a look." Song Hao took the flashlight and shone it inside after Ah Long withdrew his arm.
"It's empty!" Song Hao's heart tightened, and he quickly peered inside. By the light of his flashlight, he discovered that the hidden wall was completely empty, with nothing inside.
"How could this be? It should have been hidden here." Disappointed, Song Hao withdrew and shook his head.
Shi Yun said, "I'm thin, so I'll crawl in and check if there are any other mechanisms or secret passages inside." With that, Shi Yun crawled into the hidden wall with A Long's help. A Long casually handed him a flashlight.
Tang Yu comforted him, "Judging from that room, this wall belongs to the south wall. Shi Tingchuan should have found the scriptures in this hidden wall back then. He probably thought that if he could find it here, others might also be able to find it, so he changed the location when he hid the books again. Although they haven't been found yet, it confirms the authenticity of this matter once again. Luo Beiming's diary is true."
"Not bad!" Song Hao's hope was rekindled, and he said, "Finding this wall of the Dark Void on the first search today is already a very good result."
At this moment, Shi Yun emerged from inside the wall, covered in dust, and shook his head, saying, "It's empty, there's nothing there."
Ah Long said disappointedly, "What a disappointment!"