Chapter 179: The Seal of the Hair-Raising Tomb

The blind man earnestly instructed the harbor guest: after this wolfberry pork is sold out, leaving only the bones, it will be the time to resolve this old grudge; the harbor guest, convinced, hastily took out harbor paper to present to the blind man.

Seeing it was already past noon and unwilling to wait longer, I and Da Jin Ya each took one of the blind man's arms and walked him out; the blind man was startled and exclaimed: "Which strongmen of which mountain stronghold are you two? Speak plainly—this old man truly has little money... these old bones can't withstand your grip." But after walking a few steps, the blind man sniffed and said: "Could it be Colonel Hu of the Grave-Robbing School?"

I laughed heartily, released my grip on his arm, and the blind man, realizing it wasn't a kidnapping, relaxed—only to become overconfident, take two steps forward, and crash headfirst into a utility pole; the blind man winced, clutching his head and sighing: "Today I've leaked heavenly secrets, seized the secret of creation, thus this retribution." I brought the blind man to a bun shop by the street and said: "Master Chen, please don't take offense—I sought you for urgent matters, delayed your earnings; later I'll compensate you fully."

I had the blind man bring a bowl of wontons, sipping as I said: "Where, where—this old man's today is entirely thanks to Colonel Hu's past patronage; otherwise, I'd still be rotting in some poor backwater, how could I ever sit atop a milked nipple?"

Da Jin Ya, having heard me say the blind man tells fortunes, wanted to ask him to divine our financial prospects.

Da Jin Ya laughed, saying that in Colonel Hu's presence, he naturally couldn't spout nonsense—whatever divine calculations, all rubbish—and as he spoke, he turned a bowl of wontons upside down and drank it dry. He casually told us some of its mysteries.

Since ancient times, those who tell fortunes and read faces merely observe words and expressions, speak human words to people, ghost words to ghosts—it's all about adaptability; moreover, there's great skill here, like dealing with that harbor guest. Ask if he keeps dogs—this is a two-headed active matter; if he says no, then his household lacks a dog to ward evil; if he says yes, then it's the dog's problem—the harbor guest abandoned his dog and fled with his family, certainly not daring to return home soon. Could that foreign dog fail to starve? Even if the dog doesn't starve, the harbor guest will think the prediction accurate, merely due to involving old grudges, unwilling to speak plainly; he'll seek other ways to starve the dog—ultimately, say things as mysteriously as possible, this hinges on tongue skill. These are just casual remarks; whether verified later doesn't matter—only need to utter a sentence or two face-to-face to make the listener convinced; thus, to those ordinary folk, I am a divine calculator.

Finally, the blind man said to me and Da Jin Ya: "Two illustrious lords, how many in the world can truly divine? Nothing but those who follow the wind; all fortune-telling and divination never depart from this path—master this, and you are divine; without it, there is no divinity at all."

Da Jin Ya said to the blind man: "Master Chen, you are truly a sage; if you weren't fortune-telling but dealt in antiques and paintings, you'd surely make a fortune—with your talent of making the dead speak of life, I am utterly inferior."

Hearing the blind man's discourse, I recalled hearing him cast lots at Ming Shu's home and thought he might know some secrets of the sixteen-character heavenly lot; now it seems his theory for casting lots is nearly baseless, pure bluff and bluster—but since we found him, we might as well ask.

Thus I inquired: does the blind man understand the Book of Changes? Has he heard of the long-lost "sixteen characters"? The blind man stroked his goat beard, pondered long, then said: "The Book of Changes indeed contains all things, but my former livelihood was dismantling ridges and shifting coffins; later I lost a pair of eyes and had to tell fortunes to survive; for tomb-robbing, I know the gates inside out, but for yin-yang and the eight trigrams, I lack the path; however, I've heard that not far from the capital, on Baiyun Mountain, there's recently a famous yin-yang feng shui master who received true transmission, possesses full hexagram ability, masters feng shui and divinatory arts—you might visit him; since he claims full hexagram mastery, he must have something beyond ordinary reach."

I had the blind man repeat the name and residence of this "full hexagram true person," wrote it down—Baiyun Mountain is merely a spur of the Yan Mountains, not far from Beijing, a few hours by car—I planned to go later; for a one percent chance, I must exert a hundred percent effort. Then I had the blind man recount the legend of the "Seal of the Hair-Raising Tomb," calculating that since we lack an ancient mirror, I'd best craft a similar warding "Seal of the Hair-Raising Tomb" to deceive Ming Shu—the key is he must reveal clues to the demon kingdom's tombs; whether he can use it to ward his home upon return, I have no leisure to concern myself.

When the blind man spoke of tomb-robbing affairs, he was well-versed—these decades, traditional tomb-robbing skills and rules have seen a rupture, yet the blind man can, from his years wandering the jianghu, fill this gap for us.

Since ancient times, digging ancient graves has involved the sayings of "hair-raising and gold-touching"; later came the foreign "Mountain-Moving Daoists," and a self-formed sect, gathering to act as "Ridge-Relieving Strongmen." Hair-raisers have seals, gold-touchers have tallies, mountain-movers have methods, ridge-relievers have armor; among them, the most mysterious are the "Mountain-Moving Daoists"—they all dress as Daoists, and due to this attire, they gain much mystique; many believe their "Ridge-Relieving Dividing Armor Technique" for excavating ancient tombs is a sort of Maoshan Daoist art.

The "Ridge-Relieving Strongmen" lie between greenwood bandits and tomb-robbers: when there are tombs, they dig graves; when no tombs are found, the leader passes down armor plates, whistles to gather in mountain forests to seize wealth; always numerous and mighty, as long as they find a place, even massive tombs can be excavated.

During dynastic transitions, tomb-robbing fervor peaks—only said to be imperial mausoleums, sage hills, tall steles, high graves, near and far, bandits rise together; the vulgar saying goes: "In Luoyang's Mang Hills, no ground for a lying ox—hair-raising, gold-touching, mountain-moving, ridge-relieving, seals, tallies, methods, armor—hoe into the wild graves."

The embryonic form of gold-touching began in the Warring States period, masters of "Dragon-Seeking Formula" and "Gold-Distributing Hole-Fixing"; the Hair-Raising General appeared only in the Later Han, also called Hair-Raising Celestial Official or Hair-Raising Numinous Official; in fact, the Hair-Raising Celestial Official and the Grave-Robbing Colonel have nearly identical methods, merely adding a copper seal inscribed with "Heavenly Official Bestows Blessings, Eighty Thousand No Taboos"—in tomb-robbers' hands, it is an irreplaceable divine object; this seal was destroyed in the Yongle era of the Ming dynasty and no longer exists in the world.

According to the blind man's description, I recorded the features, size, etc., of the "Seal of the Hair-Raising Tomb" in detail, then had Da Jin Ya find a way to have someone make a replica—best to find an old master at the Antique Studio, using old methods to make old, not worrying about that bit of cost; the replica made would clearly be a "Singapore" from Panjiayuan stalls—Ming Shu, being an expert, would surely be fooled by the fake seal, especially since he's never seen the real one; thus I entrusted this task to Da Jin Ya.

I had Da Jin Ya send the blind man home; I hastily returned home, preparing to go to Baiyun Mountain; upon arriving home, I nearly bumped into Shirley Yang entering just after me, and I hurriedly asked: "How is that head?"

Shirley Yang helplessly shook her head; indeed, inside the mouth of the Xiang Wang's head, there was an extra object, about the size of a real eyeball, but fused entirely with the oral cavity within the skull, impossible to peel off; the jadeification of the entire head centers on mouth and tongue, while the skull cap and neck retain their original state—these parts have been cut off, leaving only the face and mouth area; she said, taking it out for me to view.

All detachable parts of the Xiang Wang's head have been cut off; the remainder is nearly a jade ball with a vaguely human face, surface patterns in vortex shapes; Shirley Yang said this head can attract the "corpse hole" between energy and matter—not because of the jadeified skull, but due to that inner object; the results of internal probing show the substance inside the head gradually darkens, approaching the layers of the eyeball; aside from the "Hollow Dust Pearl," where else could it be?

Only the information hidden in the "Phoenix Singing at Qi Mountain" of the Dragon Bone Heavenly Book is unknown to us, thus we cannot understand the ancients' description of this object's nature—is it an eyeball, a vortex, a phoenix? Or something else? And what connection does it have with immortality, feathered ascension? Judging by the Xiang Wang, did he err in a step, or misunderstand the heavenly book's content?... The ancestors of the Zhegela Ma tribe, in divination long ago, sought to dispel a curse—only by finding the "Hollow Dust Pearl" could they do so; but after finding it, what to do was left unrecorded.

I told Shirley Yang these days I haven't been idle—I just heard about the Baiyun Mountain "Full Hexagram True Person," which reminded me of my grandfather's master, who studied his art on Baiyun Mountain. Perhaps that fragment of yin-yang feng shui also originated from Baiyun Mountain. So I've decided to go immediately to test my luck.

Upon hearing of the chance to find the full sixteen-character hexagram, Shirley Yang wished to accompany me; I said you should stay in Beijing, for there are still many matters; once the heavenly book is deciphered, our next step may be to Tibet, to seek the altar venerating the giant eyeball totem; the equipment lost in Yunnan these past days was too much, so you must have the American allies airlift a batch over—what cannot be bought, have Da Jin Ya custom-make. Shirley Yang, upon hearing of the chance to find the full sixteen-character hexagram, wished to accompany me; I said you should stay in Beijing, for there are still many matters; once the heavenly book is deciphered, our next step may be to Tibet, to seek the altar venerating the giant eyeball totem; the equipment lost in Yunnan these past days was too much, so you must have the American allies airlift a batch over—what cannot be bought, have Da Jin Ya custom-make.

I also recounted Ming Shu's affair to Shirley Yang, asking whether we could use the clues he holds; Shirley Yang asked how I conceived this plan; I said just follow the phrase often used by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Cooperation while maintaining distance."

The next morning, I went to the southern station, boarded the train, inquiring along the way and found where Baiyun Mountain's full hexagram true person Ma Yunling resides; but the Ma family said he went up the mountain to give feng shui and geomancy consultations; I couldn't wait, thinking it's perfect to go up the mountain myself, to see how Master Ma's terrain-assessing ability is, hoping he isn't a blind man guessing blindly.

Though Baiyun Mountain cannot compare to the world's famous mountains and rivers, it still has some scenic beauty; following the path inquired at Ma's residence, I climbed the mountain road to a summit, saw dozens gathered, among them a skin-and-bones old man, eyes gleaming, shaking a folding fan, currently pointing out mountain and river formations to the crowd.