Empreinte de main en sang

Chapitre 59

"Then why don't you use it to make some demands on me, such as asking me to release those of you who are still alive?"

“Because I am now facing the son of Batu,” Manan said loudly.

Ba Qi remained silent for a long time, then finally sighed, took the letter from his clansman, and quickly skimmed through it. When he looked up again, his back seemed much straighter.

“You should have already seen what’s on this page,” he asked Ma Nan.

Ma Nan nodded.

Do you believe what Baron said about hiding secrets deep within a person's heart?

Ma Nan nodded again. This time, he said heavily, "Because something like that happened to me before. Your Ba tribe's great shaman, Long Yang, also sealed my memories."

"But that time was just a trap set by Barong. Batu believed it and made a fatal mistake, losing his life on Peach Blossom Mountain along with so many of his people."

Manan remained silent for a long time before saying, "You must believe in it, because it is your only clue in the search for the sacred object."

This time it was Ba Qi's turn to be silent. After a long while, he said, "Fortunately, we will soon know whether the contents of this suicide note are true or false."

Ma Nan was startled, realizing the hidden meaning in Ba Qi's words: "When is 'soon'?"

“Now,” Baqi replied.

"Have you found Barong's biological son?"

“Actually, you’ve already met him.” Ba Rong pointed to Yang Zheng, who was lying unconscious on the ground. “His name is Yang Zheng. In a way, he’s your brother too.”

Ma Nan was stunned, but after a moment's thought, he guessed that Ba Qi's words were true. Yang Zheng deeply loved Yang Mei, yet he was unwilling to share a room with her. Ma Nan hadn't understood then, but now he did. It turned out that Yang Zheng possessed a dual personality; according to Ba Rong's letter, a demon lurked deep within him. Although the Ba tribe's high shaman had kept the demon asleep, nothing was absolute. Perhaps the demon would occasionally awaken and do things Yang Zheng didn't want to face. Just like before, when Long Yang sealed Ma Nan's memories, through some extreme methods, he could still vaguely recall some past events.

It turned out that Yang Zheng was Ba Rong's biological son. Ma Nan approached him, looked him over carefully, and was filled with emotion.

"I want to know, if you didn't even see Ba Rong's suicide note, why did you think of going to Yang Zheng?"

Ba Qi seemed to hesitate, but he finally sighed: "At this point, there's no need for me to hide anything anymore. You probably only found out today that Ba Rong has a biological son. If I told you that Ba Rong has many more secrets, you certainly wouldn't doubt it."

Ma Nan frowned, clearly pondering the meaning behind Ba Qi's words.

“Ba Rong is a man of great wisdom and foresight. If he hadn’t betrayed his tribe and stolen the treasure, he would have been an invaluable talent to our Ba people. He often gains the upper hand before things even happen,” Ba Qi said. “Now, I will tell you another secret of Ba Rong.”

Manan stared at Baqi, his expression unusually tense. He knew that Baqi's next words would be crucial.

“Barong and his six siblings lived in a remote border town for many years. Apart from Chu Yan, who was his biological daughter, the other six of you were orphans adopted by Barong. But you probably wouldn’t believe that in addition to the six of you, Barong also adopted another child.”

“Impossible.” Ma Nan immediately shook his head. “In those years, Barong lived with us in that remote town and had no chance to adopt other children.”

“Do you think that adopting a child means you have to keep the child with you?” Baqi said. “Think back to those years, didn’t Ba Rong leave the small town for a period of time every year, but not for too long?”

Ma Nan was speechless.

“Barong left the small town because his biological son Yang Zheng and another orphan he adopted were still outside. He didn’t tell you, perhaps just to protect them.”

Baqi continued, "Later, when you left that remote town, Ba Rong separated from you and we lost contact with him. During that time, he actually lived with the child he had adopted."

"Who is he? Is he also in this city?" Ma Nan asked, his feelings complicated.

“You are the smartest of all the children that Ba Rong adopted. After I’ve said all this, you must have already guessed a lot of things. Now I’ll just tell you that Ba Rong’s other adopted son is named Han Shan.”

—Han Shan, it turns out that the mysterious man who cooperated with Ba Qi was Ba Rong's adopted son.

Ma Nan sighed deeply. By now, how could he not guess that the rooms arranged according to the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) in this building, and the octagonal platform, were actually built by Ba Rong? Each of those sacred artifacts of the Ba tribe, if brought out, would cause a sensation in the archaeological world; each one was priceless. Moreover, when Ba Rong betrayed the Ba tribe, he also took some of his own belongings with him. While those items weren't as valuable as the sacred artifacts, they were still enough to make him a wealthy man.

The maze on Peach Blossom Mountain six months ago was actually built by a Xinjiang man through Barong Investment. So, he could have easily built such a building without his own involvement, using someone else to do it, and then planned and laid it out according to his own intentions.

Perhaps the person Ba Rong relied on was his other adopted son, Han Shan.

Baqi's next words confirmed Ma Nan's conjecture. Baqi said, "Ba Rong is very ambitious; otherwise, he wouldn't have stolen the clan's sacred artifact. He has lived in a remote border town for many years, simply because he fears our people will find him. Besides, you are not yet grown up, so his plan cannot be implemented. Once he leaves that town, he will eagerly buy land and build buildings, starting a company and doing business just like people in the outside world. Because of his special status, it is inconvenient for him to appear in public, so he stays behind the scenes and lets Han Shan manage everything for him. Although Han Shan is not old, even younger than you, he is shrewd and capable, especially in business, where he has a great talent. Therefore, he is deeply loved by Ba Rong."

"How did you find him?" Ma Nan asked.

“In fact, we didn’t find him at all; he came to us on his own initiative.” Ba Qi was wearing a mask, so his expression couldn’t be seen, but his voice revealed some doubt. “Han Shan has been with Ba Rong for many years, so it’s not surprising that he knows about our tribe’s territory from Ba Rong. But I still doubt his true motives for coming to us on his own initiative.”

Baqi moved his head, looked around, and then said, "At that time, I had just become the tribal leader. All the elites of the tribe were taken away by Batu and died on Peach Blossom Mountain, so the tribe was in dire need of rebuilding. I knew that finding the sacred artifact of the tribe might be the only hope for the revival of the Ba tribe. Han Shan came to our tribe at this time and said that he was willing to help us find the sacred artifact."

Ma Nan was also deeply puzzled by this, saying, "He must have told you why he did it."

"He said that before the battle at Peach Blossom Mountain, Ba Rong had told him that if he were to meet with misfortune one day, his only wish would be to return the sacred object to our Ba tribe."

Ma Nan nodded secretly. So Ba Rong had already had this idea, which was consistent with the thoughts mentioned in his will. But if that was the case, why did he insist on launching the attack on Peach Blossom Mountain? And why did he only agree to return the sacred artifact to the clan after his death?

"Later, a sentence from Han Shan made me believe him," Ba Qi said. "Our people believe in the souls of the dead returning to their ancestral lands. Although Ba Rong betrayed the tribe, he was still one of us. He fled the ancestral lands while alive because of greed, and after death, he certainly wouldn't want his soul to continue wandering. So, when Han Shan told me that Ba Rong had expressed his willingness to exchange sacred objects for his soul to return to the ancestral lands after death, and that he was now simply fulfilling Ba Rong's last wish, I believed him and came to this city with the tribe's shaman."

Ba Qi paused for a moment, then continued, "When we arrived here and saw the eight-pointed star altar built by Ba Rong, we believed Han Shan's words even more. If Ba Rong didn't want his soul to return to his ancestral land, why would he build such an altar in his own mansion, a ritual specifically for summoning souls for our Ba people?"

Only then did Ma Nan realize that the platform beneath his feet was an altar.

He looked around at the eight right-angled triangles, the six corpses tied to the chairs, and the two living people, and frowned, saying, "Is killing also part of your soul-summoning ritual?"

Manan's original intention was only to question Baqi, but to his surprise, Baqi immediately nodded: "That's right. Batu and our people died at the hands of the enemy, so we must use the enemy's blood to worship them, so that their souls can return to their homeland with us in peace."

“But they are not your enemies at all. In fact, they don’t even know that the Ba tribe exists in this world,” Manan said.

Ba Qi remained silent for a long time before slowly saying, "It was Ba Rong who killed our people. If Ba Rong hadn't come to the outside world and been tempted by material things, how could he have committed such a traitorous act as stealing the sacred artifact? I also lived in your world for a time, and my deepest impression is that you are a person of great virtue and wisdom. You are a person of great virtue and wisdom, and you are a person of great virtue and wisdom. You are a person of great virtue and wisdom, and you are a person of great virtue and wisdom."

Upon hearing these words, Ma Nan's eyes widened immediately. He stared at the ugly bronze mask and said sternly, "So that's why you became executioners, taking lives in our world. Do you really think you can bring the souls of your people back to your homeland this way? Don't you know that in our world, there is a rule called law!"

Ba Qi was stunned and speechless for a moment.

Chapter 36