Рай — это берег праха смертных

Глава 112

“Mother…” Nizi gazed gently at “Ancestor,” murmuring, “Master said this is a bottle of ‘Resurrection Water’ from the Bon religion. I hope that after you drink it, you will be able to speak with Nizi again.” With that, Nizi forcefully bit open the wax seal, gently placed the bottle opening into “Ancestor’s” mouth, and then slowly poured the medicine inside…

The "Ancestor's" eyelids gradually closed, and his body slowly fell down...

"Mother!" Nizi exclaimed, pushing "Grandpa" hard, but there was no response. So she ran into the bamboo forest, frantically calling out, "Master, my mother drank that bottle of 'Resurrection Water' and collapsed..."

Beneath the Great Blood Bamboo, Jia Shiming had already quietly closed his eyes...

"Master! What's wrong with you?" Nizi exclaimed in alarm.

Upon hearing this, the Hakka nanny rushed over and reached out to check. She found that Jia Shiming was barely breathing and was about to die. So she urgently shouted, "Caihua, quickly call the spirit fetus over, Master Jia is about to die."

Upon hearing this, Shen Caihua and the spirit fetus immediately came to Master Jia's side.

"Master Jia was injured by the poison of the little Yin infant, so the vomit from the spirit fetus just now might be the cause..." the Hakka nanny said thoughtfully, looking at the spirit fetus.

"Spiritual Embryo, can you save Master Jia?" Shen Caihua asked the Spiritual Embryo, bowing his head.

The spirit fetus gently jumped onto Jia Shiming's face, stretched out its hands to pull open his two big lips, and with a "vomit" sound, spat out some "Feng Hou Shi Chen" into his mouth. Then it stuck out its little bottom, raised its feet and forcefully kicked the vomit deep into Jia Shiming's throat.

After a short while, Jia Shiming's nostrils began to flare slowly.

"She's caught her breath," the Hakka woman nodded.

Jia Shiming slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the naked little spirit fetus. A maternal smile appeared on her face. After all, she had given birth to this little guy herself.

“Master Jia, it was the spirit fetus that saved you,” the Hakka woman told him.

"The spirit fetus..." Jia Shiming called out softly, full of affection.

"Hehehe..." The spirit fetus let out a silvery laugh again, then "whoosh" it leaped up and darted back into Shen Caihua's pocket.

"Master Jia is still... still bleeding." Dudu landed next to Jia Shiming's thigh, examined him, and said.

The Hakka woman then examined his injuries. Although the poison had been neutralized, several pieces of flesh had been torn away from his body by the little Yin infants, and the toes of both feet were now incomplete.

“Master, he is Nizi’s master…” Shen Caihua tugged at the Hakka nanny’s clothes, looking at her with pleading eyes, and whispered.

The Hakka nanny understood Xiao Caihua's meaning. This child "loves the house and its crows" and wanted to use his "history" to treat Master Jia for Nizi's sake.

"Alright, but Master doesn't have many 'history records' left." The Hakka nanny doted on Xiao Caihua and would never refuse him whatever he wanted to do.

The Hakka woman reached into her bosom, pulled out a small bottle with a celadon flower on it, shook it, and said regretfully, "Alas, it's a pity there aren't many left." After saying that, she pulled out the stopper, applied a layer of "sweat blue" to Jia Shiming's wounds and severed finger, and then carefully put the porcelain bottle back into her bosom.

At this moment, Amin came over carrying Xiaomei and said, "These little Yin infants are children who were lost in the Shui Dai and Shan Miao villages. They are all safe now. I want to take them back to Ganbaidi first, and then notify the villages to take them back."

The Hakka woman nodded and said, "That's very good."

"Grandma Hakka, thank you..." Jia Shiming was, after all, a top-notch martial arts master. Once the "Yin Infant Curse" was broken, he struggled to his feet, bowed to the Grandma Hakka in thanks, and then said to Nizi, "Come, take me to see your mother..."

Nizi led Jia Shiming to the front of the thatched hut and saw that the "Ancestor" was still lying on the ground unconscious. So she squatted down to take a look and hesitated before saying, "Nizi, your mother drank the 'Resurrection Water' and it may take some time for her to wake up."

"When will we have to wait?" Nizi asked anxiously.

"Ah, if only Han Sheng were here..." Jia Shiming let out a long sigh.

“Someone is there…” The Hakka woman saw the branches and leaves swaying in the bushes on the hillside, so she whispered a warning and leaped over. It turned out that the wild people were hiding behind the bushes and secretly watching.

The Hakka grandmothers led them out of the bushes. The wild men all lowered their heads, wore large white masks, trembled, and showed signs of fear.

Amin cut some bamboo, found some sheets in the thatched hut, made several stretchers, held Xiaomei in his arms, and then signaled to the savages to put all the babies on the stretchers and carry them away.

"Ancestor" was a Yin-type person. Although he looked burly, he was almost weightless. Jia Shiming, feeling guilty, endured the pain of his severed finger and insisted on carrying her on his back, following behind the stretcher team.

Inside the bamboo forest, Mengla Chaweng Kunba had already devoured his left and right palms and was now enthusiastically tearing at the flesh of his arms, his body covered in blood...

"He's already beyond saving, let him fend for himself," the Hakka woman said with a sigh, shaking her head.

Nizi silently watched Kunba, murmuring, "Master Bing, Nizi did it..." and then turned and left.

The group hurriedly set off with the twenty-four baby girls, retracing their steps back to Ganbaidi. They finally arrived back in Ganbaidi in the middle of the night.

The village immediately erupted in excitement, brightly lit, as people poured out of their bamboo houses.

"Xiao Mei..." Overjoyed, Xiao Qin hugged Xiao Mei tightly, tears streaming down her face.

Old Man Amin recognized the ancestor on Jia Shiming's back at a glance, pointed at her and shouted sternly, "'Old Demon of Savage Mountain'! It's the one who kidnapped Xiao Mei!"

In an instant, the crowd was filled with righteous indignation, shouting angrily, "Burn her! Burn her..." The masked savages were terrified.

“Father, this ‘Old Ancestor of Savage Mountain’ was just a stand-in. The real mastermind was Mengla Chaweng Kunba, who has now been eliminated by us. From now on, we will never have to worry about losing children again.” Amin recounted the entire process of going to Savage Mountain in detail.

“These savages were captured by Khunpa, they are innocent, let’s release them back into the rainforest,” Amin said, waving his hand in final farewell.

The savages looked at each other, then screamed and ran away, disappearing in an instant.

Several bonfires were lit in the village, chickens were slaughtered and wine was served, along with delicacies such as smoked bacon and pickled bamboo shoots. People sang and laughed to thank the guests from their hometown in the Central Plains. The women took on the responsibility of caring for the rescued babies, coaxing them to sleep. They also sent people out overnight to notify the various villages of the Shui Dai and Shan Miao.

On the bamboo house of Amin's family, the old ancestor lay unconscious, with Nizi, Shen Caihua, and Jia Shiming by her side, hoping she would wake up soon.

“Strange, the Bon religion’s ‘Returning Soul Water’ is said to be extremely effective at reviving souls. It’s been more than a day, so why hasn’t the ancestor woken up yet?” Jia Shiming said with a frown. He didn’t know that the ancestor’s soul had been taken away by Han Sheng with the Zhuyou Relic six years ago, and Shen Caihua was still young at the time and had long forgotten about it.

"Master, will my mother never wake up again?" Nizi said sadly as she sat to the side holding "Little Cui'er".

The Hakka woman asked doubtfully, "Master Jia, is there a mistake in how the Bon religion uses 'Resurrection Water'?"

Jia Shiming pondered for a moment before speaking, "I don't know, but this place isn't far from Yangon. Why don't we go to the Shwedagon Pagoda and ask Elder Anxi for clarification? Perhaps he has a way to revive our ancestor."

The Hakka woman nodded and said, "Alright, let's set off for Yangon after dawn."

Chapter 171

The little dwarf Song Diweng and the Taoist priest Xufeng emerged from the rainforest, weary from their journey, and arrived at the banks of the Nmai River, where the trail they were following ended.

“They may have left by boat; we are two or three days late.” Master Xufeng gazed at the vast, misty river, lost in thought.

“There isn’t a single boat on this river,” Song Diweng said wearily, plopping down on a large blue stone.

“There’s no passenger terminal here, so they must be on a fishing boat. Let’s walk downstream and ask the local fishermen for directions.” Master Xufeng said as he continued on his way, and Song Diweng followed helplessly.

Several hours later, a small dock and several rows of wooden houses appeared on the riverbank ahead. A group of people were working busily on the riverbank; they were panning for gold.

Upon seeing the strangers, the local gold miners stopped what they were doing and eyed Master Xufeng and the little dwarf beside him warily.

"Fellow villagers, do any of you speak Chinese?" Master Xufeng asked.

Those people looked at each other, seemingly not understanding. At this moment, an elderly man in his fifties stepped forward and replied in Yunnan-accented Mandarin, "Where are you from?"

Master Xufeng smiled at the man and said, "We crossed the border from Yunnan to Myanmar to search for someone."

"Whom are you looking for?" the old man asked.

"Two or three days ago, did you see a few people pass by here..." Master Xufeng roughly described the appearances of the Hakka nanny, Master Jia, and others, especially mentioning the peculiar blue-feathered parrot.

The old man shook his head and replied, "We've been here for months, and apart from the locals, we've never seen a stranger come here."

Master Xufeng was quite disappointed. Just then, he heard the sound of an engine, and a dilapidated truck belching black smoke drove up. After stopping and turning off the engine, a middle-aged man jumped out. He was wearing a collarless, long-sleeved shirt, a black "kilong" (traditional Burmese jacket), and a yellow silk turban. When this man saw Master Xufeng in his suit and the little dwarf, he looked surprised and then spoke with the workers in Burmese for a while.

The old man then spoke up to explain to Master Xufeng, "Our boss said that there are some Han Chinese people in Ganbaidi, including two children, who also have a very large parrot. Two days ago, they helped rescue some baby girls from the Shui Dai and Shan Miao villages. They seem to be the people you are looking for."

Upon hearing this, Xu Feng was secretly delighted. These Han Chinese must be Daoist Jia Shiming and his group. "Excuse me, where is Gan Baidi?" he asked immediately.

"The boss said he can take you to Ganbaidi, which is on the way back to Myitkyina," the old man told Xu Feng.

"Thank you so much," Xu Feng quickly said.

The truck owner and workers unloaded the rice, flour, half a piece of pork, and a basket of vegetables from the truck, then started the car, called Master Xufeng and Song Diweng to get in, and bumped along the way towards Myitkyina.

The driver didn't understand Chinese, so they couldn't communicate. About an hour later, the truck stopped in front of a mountain village nestled against the mountains and facing the river.

"Gambaidi...Gambaidi," the shopkeeper said, gesturing as he spoke, indicating that they had arrived at their destination.

After thanking Master Xufeng and Song Diweng, they got off the truck, which then drove away billowing black smoke. The two of them headed straight into the village.

"What are you doing here?" Two young men carrying carbines emerged from the edge of the bamboo grove, sized up the newcomer, lingered on the little dwarf for a moment, and then asked warily in Chinese.

“We’re here to find someone,” Xu Feng replied.

"Whom are you looking for?" the young man asked.

“There’s a little boy with a big blue-feathered parrot…” Xu Feng smiled, knowing that Shen Caihua and Dudu would definitely be the most eye-catching.

The two men exchanged a glance, then cautiously asked, "What do you want with that little boy?"

Master Xufeng chuckled and said, "We are relatives of Shen Caihua. We came all the way from Wuyuan, Jiangxi. We had something to do at home and came all this way to find him."

"Oh, is that so..." the young man said politely, "They left the village this morning and went to Yangon."

"Yangon?" Master Xufeng was taken aback.

“Yes, the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon,” the young man replied.

Night fell, and Master Xufeng and Song Diweng arrived in Myitkyina.

In a simple post office, Song Diweng made an international long-distance call.

"Is this Diweng?" After a long while, the leader's voice finally came through the telephone receiver, but there was a lot of static, probably due to a problem with the line.

"Commander, this is Diweng. The target arrived at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon this morning. Master Xufeng and I are preparing to take the train to Yangon tonight," Song Diweng reported.

"I understand." The other end of the phone hung up immediately.

Song Diweng slowly hung up the phone and turned to Master Xufeng, saying, "The chief said he knows."

"No further instructions?" Xu Feng asked.

"No, let's head over there tonight," Song Diweng replied with a shake of his head and a sigh.

The next morning, the train from Myitkyina to Yangon slowly pulled into the capital's railway station. Xu Feng and Song Diweng walked out of the station, ate some breakfast at a food stall in front of the station, and then took a taxi to the Shwedagon Pagoda located on the Shwedagon Hill.

The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is Myanmar's most famous pagoda, also known as the Shwedagon Pagoda. Construction began before the Common Era. According to Buddhist legend, after attaining enlightenment, Buddha Shakyamuni returned eight strands of his hair to the Burmese people in gratitude for their gifts of honey cakes. These hairs were brought back to Myanmar, where they miraculously rained down golden bricks from the sky. The people then used these bricks to build the pagoda. While actually a brick pagoda, the main tower is 112 meters high, surrounded by walls with four entrances on the north, south, east, and west sides. Climbing over 70 marble steps leads to the main base. The base is surrounded by 64 smaller pagodas of varying shapes and sizes. Inside the base is a shrine housing jade Buddha statues, and four gates, each guarded by a pair of stone lions. The entire pagoda is covered in gold leaf, using over 7 tons of gold. The golden umbrella at the top is adorned with 1065 gold bells and 420 silver bells, and the top is covered in pure gold leaf and inlaid with 5448 diamonds and 2000 gemstones. The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, along with Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Borobudur in Indonesia, is known as one of the "Three Great Ancient Sites of Southeast Asia".

"It's truly remarkable that an ancient building from over two thousand years ago has survived so well through war. In contrast, can we still find any trace of the Qin Dynasty's Epang Palace, the Han Dynasty's Changle Palace, or the Tang Dynasty's Taiji Ming Palace? Of the four hundred and eighty temples in the south, how many pavilions have been lost to the wind and rain..." Song Diweng gazed at the magnificent Golden Pagoda, filled with many emotions.

Xu Feng smiled faintly and said, "Most dynastic changes in the Central Plains were achieved due to peasant uprisings or foreign invasions. Feudal monarchs were crude, and the people's beliefs were fickle. The Cultural Revolution a few years ago almost wiped out all of China's traditional culture. Ultimately, most of the rise and fall of dynasties were caused by the whims of the monarch..."

Song Diweng nodded: "What Daoist Xufeng said is absolutely right. We archaeologists understand it even more deeply."

At this time, more and more tourists were coming to the Golden Pagoda. Master Xufeng and Song Diweng followed the flow of people up the long marble steps and arrived at the base of the pagoda.

"President Song, what is Jia Shiming doing here at this Great Golden Pagoda?" Master Xufeng asked, quite puzzled.

Song Diweng pondered for a moment and said, "I know they must have come here to see someone."

"Who?" Master Xufeng asked.

“Elder Anxi,” Song Diweng replied.

A ray of morning sunlight shone on the Shwedagon Pagoda, reflecting a dazzling light. Xu Feng squinted at the magnificent pagoda and asked softly, "Who is Elder Anxi?"