After eating and drinking his fill, Tianji suddenly felt uneasy all over, though he couldn't pinpoint the source of the discomfort. In short, he was restless and uneasy.
"Those two girls haven't finished washing yet, and it's so late. I'll go find them." He found a good excuse for his strange behavior. He got up to leave. Suddenly, he saw Tianquan and Zexiu sitting opposite him, and he couldn't help but smile: "Why don't you come along too?"
Zexiu ignored him. Continuing to drink, Tianquan said casually, "I remember Yaoguang was very skilled with her legs. Last time, someone tried to offend her, and she kicked him so hard that his jawbone was broken, and he has been unable to eat or speak since."
Tianji broke out in a cold sweat and forced a smile, "I... how could I have offended them? We're all companions, I only went to see them because I was worried about them..."
No one paid him any attention. He looked down and saw that Gengu was eating with great enjoyment, so he looked for his companion again: "Little brother Gengu, are you worried about your sisters too? How about we go and pick them up together?"
With a mouthful of meat, Gengu mumbled, "With so many women there, nothing will happen. I want to eat, go get it yourself."
Tianji was about to speak when they suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind them. Everyone looked up and saw Yaoguang running over in alarm, her hair still wet, shouting, "Quick! The young master is missing!"
Zexiu dropped her wine bowl, stood up, and ran off, with the others hurrying after her. Tianquan asked, "Where did she go? Didn't you see her?"
Yao Guang was almost in tears, and said in a trembling voice, "I... I don't know. At that time, my mistress said she wanted to go to the back of the hot spring to take a look, but the women of the Jurchen people said that there were immortals living there and that we couldn't go there. So I turned around and called my mistress back, and then she suddenly disappeared!"
A deity? Could it be that she was kidnapped by a deity?
The group ran all the way to the hot spring in the woods to the north. Suddenly, a group of big men barged into the women's hot spring, startling the Jurchen women who screamed and cowered in the water, too afraid to move. Tianji tried to peek, but the water was murky, and apart from the terrified faces, he couldn't see a trace of spring.
Tianquan turned his back and said loudly, "I'm sorry, a friend of ours has gone missing here and we need to look for him. Please forgive us if we offend him."
The women recognized him and knew he was the hero who killed the bear. Seeing that Gengu was also there, they felt relieved and suppressed their anger. One by one, they shyly went ashore and dressed.
"Where did she go missing?" Zexiu asked.
"That hot spring, that gloomy one."
As soon as Yao Guang pointed his finger, a colorful light suddenly shimmered on the gloomy surface of the hot spring, like a divine dragon, ever-changing and swirling with the rising steam. The scene was indescribably beautiful. Everyone was stunned.
The Jurchens knelt down one by one, chanting incantations as if they had seen a god.
Zexiu strode over, about to jump into the water, when he suddenly saw a small white figure crouching on the bank, her long, wet hair draped over her back, looking down at something. He was instantly enraged. He walked over, grabbed her arm, and snapped, "What are you doing?!"
It was indeed Xiaoman. She was soaking wet, but her face was flushed. When she looked up and saw Zexiu, she looked a little dazed. She held up something in her hand and murmured, "I... I saw the treasure."
Lying in her palm was an exquisitely crafted, pure gold grasshopper, its color bright and lifelike.
Zexiu took off his coat and draped it over her, asking, "Where did you get this from? Where is the treasure?"
Xiao Man pointed to the hot spring: "It's underwater, there's a hole down there. I was pulled there by the suction, and in my panic I grabbed a handful of soil and swam back as fast as I could. When I got ashore, I found this thing wrapped in the soil. There were also a lot of shiny things down there, like jewels. It might be the treasure."
She hadn't found the Five Corners, but she'd found the treasure first—she could hardly believe her good fortune. All those glittering jewels below were hers? Really?
Tianquan pondered for a moment and said, "Since there is a treasure, it means that the Five Corners are indeed hidden in this area of Mount Taibai. Why don't we go down and take a look?"
Seeing the vibrant light that had just surged across the water vanish in an instant, Yao Guang felt a chill run down her spine and murmured, "Perhaps there really are immortals. That light... perhaps we shouldn't go down and disturb the gods?"
Zexiu laughed and said, "There are no gods here. That light is clearly the glow of jewels. These jewels will develop a spiritual glow over time. If there are more of them, and they are of the highest quality, the glow will be like this. It seems we have some clues about the Five Corners. We need to go down."
Xiao Man nodded quickly. Yes, she would never miss out on a treasure.
Zexiu flicked her forehead: "Don't go. Let me check the underwater situation first."
Xiao Man was eager to speak, but he gently pushed her away. He then unsheathed his sword, removed his long robe, revealing his bare upper body. His muscles were clearly defined, with many faint scars. On his right shoulder, connecting to his chest and back, was tattooed a ferocious and lifelike qilin.
Before Xiaoman could even get a good look, he jumped into the hot spring.
After an unknown amount of time, the surface of the water gradually began to stir. He suddenly surfaced, swam to the shore, panting, and held a pearl the size of a thumb in his hand. He laughed and said, "There really is a treasure trove. There are treasures all down there. However, there seems to be another space behind the cave. We can go and explore it later."
Everyone was overjoyed upon hearing this and eagerly took off their clothes to go into the water.
Zexiu beckoned to Xiaoman, who went over without understanding why.
“Give me your hand,” he said.
Xiao Man obediently stretched out her hand. A small grasshopper wrapped in agate was placed in her hand. He wiped the water off his face and smiled, "I'm just offering this as payment for your embroidery."
Xiao Man held the cricket, unsure of what to say.
Zexiu added, "Let's go into the water and see the treasure and the Five Corners."
She nodded, took off Zexiu's coat, and jumped into the water with a splash. However, she slipped and swallowed several mouthfuls of water.
Zexiu caught her and sighed, "Utterly useless."
The others were already waiting in the water. As soon as Gengu heard about the treasure, he was the first to dive into the underwater cave. The others followed behind, feeling that the force in the cave was very strange, sometimes pushing out and sometimes absorbing. There were indeed countless gems and gold scattered around, but they were all extremely small and mostly made into the shape of insects such as grasshoppers and crickets, which was very peculiar.
Xiao Man was so tired after swimming for a while that she was about to roll her eyes back. She relied entirely on Yao Guang and Ze Xiu, each holding one of her hands, to swim forward with all their might.
He swam for an unknown amount of time, only to find the water growing colder and colder, a far cry from its previous warmth. Suddenly, he reached a spacious spot, and with a splash, he leaped out of the water, looked around, and froze in shock.
Xiaoman was dragged out of the water; she was practically convulsing and foaming at the mouth. As soon as she was pulled up, she slumped against Zexiu's arm, limp as a noodle. He gently stroked her back while looking around. They were in a place resembling a large hall. Several ancient stone pillars stood on all sides, and a lotus pond in the center marked their location.
Generally, a lotus pond in a hall is placed there to raise fish and grow lotus flowers as decoration, but here the lotus pond leads to the hot spring outside. Moreover, this hall has no main entrance; it is a large, square room with only two huge black iron gates at the back, which look exactly the same and are engraved with the unique emblem of Cangya City—Azure Flames.
Tianquan jumped out of the pool, soaking wet and still dripping. His usual noble and unapproachable demeanor had diminished considerably. He walked a few steps in the hall, touching everything around him, and suddenly muttered, "Strange, there isn't a single piece of gold or gemstone here."
His words made everyone realize something. Indeed, the numerous jewels in the underwater cave had caused the water to shimmer with iridescent light, but this hall was completely devoid of gold, filled only with massive stone pillars, utterly simple. Everyone had assumed the cave held a treasure, and that the tiny golden insects had leaked from it; now it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
After looking at it for a long time, Gengu said in surprise, "This place looks like a tomb. Those golden insects and gems might be part of a special ritual. Some people believe that insects can take away a person's soul, so it's not unreasonable to make some golden insects."
Tianquan pondered for a while and said, "I seem to have heard that when the young master of Cangya City is buried, golden insects are used to clear the way so that the young master's soul can return to the place of the divine dragon."
After she finished speaking, everyone looked at Xiaoman, probably hoping she would give a positive answer.
She leaned on Zexiu's arm and let out a weak sigh: "That's right, let's go up first and see what's behind the door."
The Twelve Treasures of the Chaotic Scroll (Part 3)
Updated: 2008-10-04 15:09:31 Word Count: 3722
It's now available for purchase, and this is the fourth update. This is the third update.
The problem was right in front of them: there were two doors, one on the left and one on the right, and they looked exactly the same. When they were tapped, they were made of the same black iron.
Which door should I go through?
All eyes were once again focused on Xiaoman.
She looked around and pointed to the door on the left: "This one."
Tianquan hesitated for a moment. It was obvious that he was the only one here who knew that Xiaoman was not the real young master. In this kind of place, one wrong step could be fatal. The traps in Cangya City were extremely powerful.
He asked softly, "My lady... are you sure?"
Xiao Man nodded: "I'm sure, it must be this one."
Actually, she didn't understand anything. Anyway, both doors looked the same, so it didn't matter which one she went into. If she went into the wrong one, she could just come out and go into the other door.
Tianquan was speechless. After a long while, he said, "This may be the tomb of a young master of a certain generation. It may not be the hiding place of the Five Corners. We should be careful and not offend the owner of the tomb."
Gengu tried pushing the iron gate on the left, but it wouldn't budge. He tried to pry it open with a knife, but couldn't get it to move either. He asked in surprise, "If this door can't be opened, how do we get in?"
Xiao Man, with her sharp eyes, had already noticed a small dent on the door, about the same size as the horn of the young dragon on her neck. She took off the horn and looked at Gen Gu with disdain: "Get out of the way, what are you doing, you amateur? Let me do it."
She inserted the small corner into the groove, and a slight click was heard from the door. Immediately afterward, a series of clattering sounds came from behind the door, and everyone's expression changed slightly—it sounded like a mechanism being activated!
The massive iron gate slowly opened a crack, and Zexiu scooped Xiaoman up and darted aside. Gengu swiftly flung the gate open with his knife, clutching his chest to protect his vitals, fearing some hidden weapon might fly out. But inside was a brightly lit passageway. The bronze candlesticks on the cave walls were lit, gleaming brightly. There wasn't a single mechanism, not even a needle.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Xiaoman laughed, "See, I was right."
She took the small corner off the door and hung it back around her neck. She was about to be the first to go in when Zexiu stopped her: "You have no skills but like to be the first to go in. Come back here and walk in the middle."
Tianquan led the way, followed by the other six. They looked around and saw that the passageway was made entirely of huge stone bricks, carved with countless strange patterns, sometimes figures, sometimes animals, and various flowers, plants, fish, and insects.
He walked to the end, only to find himself in another large hall, different from the previous one. This hall had no stone pillars, but instead, a jade platform stood in each of the four corners and in the center. Each platform was inscribed with two characters. Gengu walked to the central jade platform and looked at it. The platform was empty. He read aloud, "Shouzhong. What does this mean?"
Xiao Man looked around. She saw that all the other jade platforms were empty, except for the one on the north side, which had a wooden box sealed with tape. Suddenly, a thought struck her, and she exclaimed, "What words are written on the other jade platforms?"
Zexiu circled around and recited: "Zhenbei, Funan, Anxi, Ningdong, Shouzhong."
Xiao Man chuckled, pointed at the wooden box, and said, "That's the Five Corners of Zhenbei. Trust me, it's absolutely right."
Can we really trust her? Gengu looked at her with great suspicion, and Tianji and Yaoguang also seemed to think she was unreliable. Tianji said, "Why is there something only on the north platform, while the other four platforms are empty? If this is the five corners of Zhenbei, then there should only be one platform."
Xiao Man shook her finger: "Silly, before the Five Corners were buried in five different places, they must have been gathered together and enshrined on similar platforms as sacred objects. Although they are now separated and placed in different places, the old rules cannot be broken. Wouldn't it be disrespectful to the other four sacred objects if only one platform was erected?"
She spoke with great conviction, and Yao Guang nodded, saying, "That's right, I believe in you, young mistress. She is the young mistress of Cangya City, and she certainly knows more than we do. It's right to trust her."
Xiao Man laughed heartily and pointed at Tianji: "You, go and get the box, and you'll have one of the Five Corners."
Tianji muttered to himself, reluctantly walking over and picking up the box. He found it to be quite heavy. Looking down at the seal, he saw that it indeed read: "The Horn of the North." He became more convinced and turned to smile, "It really is the horn of the five directions. I wonder if it is truly the horn of the divine dragon."
He walked over and gently placed the box on the ground. The crowd gathered around and watched as he carefully tore open the seal and opened the box. Inside the box was a layer of rotten velvet cloth, on which sat a bronze jue (a type of ancient Chinese wine vessel), its surface covered in verdigris. One could vaguely make out the exquisite carvings of a ferocious dragon on it.
"This is the corner of the five directions? It's not a corner..." Tianji was immediately disappointed.
Tianquan took a handkerchief and covered the bronze jue with it, then gently examined it in his hand, saying, "The Five Corners are not real corners, but five sacred artifacts of Cangya City. It is said that they were left behind by the previous lord when he sacrificed to the dragon god. If I am not mistaken, the five Five Corners are all located in the tombs of the previous lords, and the artifacts left behind by each lord in their sacrifices to the dragon god were sealed as Five Corners and buried with them in the tombs. The one this lord used in his sacrifice should be this bronze jue."
He put the bronze jue back into the box, carefully closed it, and handed it to Xiaoman: "Please keep it safe, my lady, and do not lose it."
Now that the five corners of Zhenbei had been found, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Tianji noticed two more doors behind the main hall, identical to the previous one, and couldn't help but laugh, "Then that should be the tomb chamber, right? The so-called treasure should just be the burial goods inside. Shall we go in and take a look?"
Tianquan shook his head and said, "That is where the previous young master rests. We should not disturb the peace of the deceased..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xiaoman interrupted, her eyes lighting up: "Alright, let's go in and take a look!" Seeing Tianquan glaring at her, she coughed and laughed, "Well... the treasure can't fall into the hands of Tiansha Shifang. We should try to take as much as possible from outside. Anyway, either we use it or someone else will. Why let outsiders benefit..."
Gengu couldn't wait any longer and walked to the door on the left, saying, "Stop talking nonsense. Hurry up and open the door to go in and take a look."
Xiao Man waved her hand and said, "Wait, we went through the left door before, so this time we'll go through the right door. In short, just listen to me."
She walked happily to the door on the right. She was practically humming a little tune when, sure enough, there was a notch in this door too. She put the little corner in, and there was another clattering sound. The door opened softly, and a gust of cold wind rushed in. Xiaoman took a step back, and for some reason, she suddenly felt a little scared.
Zexiu held her shoulders and whispered, "There might not be a treasure behind you. Have you forgotten the location of Yangshui and Yinshui on the map? They're not in the same place."
Xiao Man then remembered the map. The Five Corners and the Northern Treasure Site were far apart, indeed not in the same place. So, behind this door was just an ordinary tomb?
She forced a smile: "Forget it. Let's not go in. Something seems... weird in there."
As they spoke, Gengu had already opened the door. He and Tianji walked in one after the other. They exclaimed in surprise, "It really is a tomb chamber! Come and see!"
Xiao Man hesitated for a moment, then Ze Xiu said, "Since the door is open, let's go in and take a look. After all, they are your ancestors; they won't harm you."