Chapter 29

Sand Sea Demon Nest 19

Besides me, everyone else who heard Pangzi's words felt strange—what's wrong with this guy? How did this jade eyeball become yours? What are you thinking?

I muttered in my heart: "If these archaeologists knew we were grave robbers, that would be bad." I quickly reached out and gave Pangzi a neck flick: "Damn it, so much nonsense—say a few less words, no one will take you for a mute."

Pangzi knew he misspoke and shut up; luckily everyone wore double-filter box-type gas masks, and the temple was dark, so no one could see anyone's expression, avoiding some unnecessary embarrassment.

Professor Chen and his three students are all bookworms; I was most worried about Shirley Yang seeing through us—her mind is far sharper than mine, her reactions faster; if I showed even a slight flaw, she'd see through it. Maybe she already figured out Pangzi and I are tomb raiders, just didn't say it. Since it's come to this, I don't need to burden myself further, so I stopped thinking and helped Pangzi set the jade pendant onto the jade eyeball.

The jade eyeball's pupil faced upward, toward the ceiling; the groove above seemed to match Pangzi's jade piece. After turning the jade several ways, it finally aligned—"click"—a sound effect as it slid in. The jade eyeball trembled, rolled off its former fixed position on the floor, leaving the ground bare; I don't know what mechanism's force had held it there just before.

I picked up the jade eyeball and handed it to Professor Chen, asking him to examine it.

Shirley Yang snapped a glow stick to light Professor Chen's way so he could see better. He took out a magnifying glass, turned it over and over, pondering for two or three minutes, shaking his head constantly: "This…… I can't tell what it's for, but this jade eyeball is as big as a human head, naturally formed, completely without artificial traces—indeed, even two thousand years ago, human craftsmanship couldn't have made it."

The ghost-hole civilization of Jingjue Kingdom is too mysterious; Professor Chen and others have exhausted decades of effort, yet grasped little data, only having a preliminary understanding of some ghost-hole text symbols and history, inferring this was a people who worshipped the eye as a totem spiritually—though that judgment came only after seeing the Black Tower. Right now, naturally, we cannot explain what this mysterious jade eyeball is.

What can be confirmed: this hall with sixteen massive stone pillars is a temple. Since Jingjue Kingdom regarded the eye as the supreme energy source, enshrining an eyeball in the temple is only natural.

But why does this jade eyeball have a groove that fits Pangzi's jade pendant perfectly, and upon insertion, the originally floor-fixed jade eyeball naturally detaches? These things are incomprehensible.

Professor Chen had Pangzi recount the full origin of his jade pendant, without concealment or exaggeration, demanding strict factual accuracy.

Pangzi had been a self-employed trader for years, usually boasting and talking big, hardly using his brain. Before coming to Xinjiang, he'd told Professor Chen and others this jade was obtained when he once went to Xinjiang to fight bandits. Everyone laughed it off, no one took it seriously—only noticing the mysterious Jingjue ghost-hole script on the jade did they agree to let him join the archaeological team to Xinjiang together.

Now being questioned, Pangzi saw everyone was serious and dared not boast wildly; his knowledge of this jade's origin is also quite limited, so he laid it all out:

Originally, Pangzi's father joined the revolution at fifteen during the Yellow Hemp Uprising, with a comrade-in-arms. After the Liberation War, two friends who originally served in the same squad had gone their separate ways—one in the First Field Army, one in the Third—both achieving the rank of army group commander-level senior officers. Pangzi's father's this comrade, when the First Army Corps of the PLA entered Xinjiang, once led troops through the southwest edge of the Taklamakan Desert near Niya, where they encountered a band of over a hundred bandits.

At the time, Xinjiang's situation was complex, with various armed stragglers and large numbers of bandits, horse thieves, etc., as numerous as cow hair, so clashes between the PLA and bandits were common—a short, fierce battle where the commander's guard regiment killed or scattered these bandits. Finally, on the corpse of a black-bearded bandit leader, they found this jade pendant.

As for the origin and use of this jade pendant, there was no way to know—aside from feeling its color and texture were unusual, and seeing some weird symbols carved on it, there was nothing particularly special, so it was dismissed.

Later, when this commander heard his old comrade had a fat son, he entrusted someone to send this jade, obtained unintentionally, as a gift.

After the February Reverse Current, Pangzi's parents were affected and died one after another; the Xinjiang commander also died of illness; at that time Pangzi was fifteen or sixteen, exactly the age of not understanding four or six; finally, the only family relic left was this ancient jade, which he treasured as a precious keepsake—this is all he knows about the jade stone's origin.

Professor Chen sighed after hearing: "What a pity these people are all gone; this Jingjue jade has changed hands several times, its source now untraceable……" He sighed repeatedly, deeply regretting he could not uncover the secret of this jade eyeball.

Shirley Yang took the jade eyeball from Professor Chen's hand to examine it closely; she stared with intense focus. I noticed that since entering Jingjue Ancient City, she hadn't spoken much; I thought she might be worried because she saw this ancient city but still hadn't found her father's trace, so she was anxious. Her father and several explorer companions have been missing for over a year—whether they reached here is hard to say, and this place is a mountain pass with strong winds and frequent sandstorms; the whole city gets buried by wind and sand year after year, then uncovered again by the next storm. Our finding it this time can be called extremely lucky—this vast desert, seeking a tiny explorer team, is like looking for a needle in the ocean, how easy is that? She always holds a sliver of hope, needing to see a body to rest easy; the deeper she explores in Jingjue Ancient City, the stronger her sense of loss may become.

In the valley, I was once saved by her; I hope to have a chance to do something for her. Now seeing her interest in this jade eyeball, I thought: too bad that ancient jade is Pangzi's; if it were mine, I'd gladly give it to her.

Before Shirley Yang finished looking, Pangzi grew reluctant, reached out to take it; Shirley Yang, holding the jade eyeball, pulled her hand back and said to Pangzi: "What's your rush? I'll return it naturally after I'm done looking."

Pangzi said: "Cut the nonsense—this jade is ours; letting a foreigner look at it endlessly—what's that supposed to mean? I'm afraid you'll get your eyes stuck and won't be able to pull them out." Saying that, he grabbed the jade eyeball and tried to pull it back.

Seeing this, I hurriedly urged: "You two don't fight, don't fight—give me, the team leader, some face, okay? I'll decide—first let Miss Yang……look for five minutes."

I feared Pangzi and Shirley Yang would argue and drop the jade eyeball, so I spoke while reaching to press their hands holding the jade eyeball—unexpectedly, seeing me intervene, they both stopped tugging and let go simultaneously.

I only extended one hand, still pressing from above; that jade eyeball was round and large, slippery, I couldn't grip it firmly—the jade eyeball fell heavily to the ground with a "pop-crack," shattering into eight pieces.

Everyone stared wide-eyed; Professor Chen trembled all over, pointing at me: "You……you you you……" He stammered for a long time, so angry he couldn't utter a word.

I had a hundred mouths but couldn't defend myself, shaking my hands repeatedly: "I'm not……I am……I wasn't also acting with good intentions, huh? Didn't expect……damn, how come it's so fragile?" As I spoke, I reached to pick up the jade fragments on the ground, silently praying they could be glued back together; otherwise they'd make me compensate—this is priceless, even if I sold myself scrap, I couldn't afford it.

At that moment I was indeed a bit flustered and muddle-headed, my brain dazed, forgot whether I was praying to Old Hu, God, Chairman Mao, or Buddha—maybe due to lacking fixed faith, the prayer's effect wasn't significant. The jade eyeball was heavy, plus the stone floor tiles were hard; some spots shattered into powder; I scraped on the ground for a long time but couldn't find all the fragments.

Pangzi said: "Enough, Old Hu—dropped it, so it's dropped, damn it, stop picking up." Saying that, he went to grab my arm, trying to pull me up.

I had been squatting a bit longer, plus I was anxious, the gear in my back pouch was heavy; Pangzi pulled me, I lost balance and sat flat on my butt. I struggled to get up, unintentionally lifted my head, and in the dim light saw a washbasin-sized eye on the temple ceiling, flashing with strange light, staring straight at us.

When we came in, we'd glanced roughly around; above was dark and we didn't look closely—no one noticed when such a large moving eyeball appeared.

I hurriedly shone my flashlight upward—though the temple is high, the ceiling area should be within my flashlight's range—but who knew the beam hitting above was swallowed by darkness like a black hole, except for that huge eyeball veined with red, the rest of the ceiling was pitch black, nothing visible.

Sand Sea Demon Nest 20

The other six people also saw the huge strange eye above; everyone thought: Uh-oh, afraid that monster eye would fall and hurt us, so they all stepped back.

We saw that huge eye turn halfway in midair, then naturally fall to the ground—now we saw clearly: though it looked like an eyeball, it was actually a semi-transparent flesh ball, outside entirely bluish-white substance, inside wrapped a large mass of blackish matter; at first glance, not taking it for an eyeball would be strange.

Pangzi saw this weird abnormal flesh ball, panicked, grabbed his assault rifle from his back, ready to fire; I quickly pressed his arm: "Don't act rashly……"

Before we could figure out what this thing was, the eyeball-like flesh ball suddenly "puff" split open, inside flowed out hundreds of black mutant snakes tangled together—these mutant snakes are the same as those we saw in Zaghlama Mountain: entirely black-scaled, length only a few dozen centimeters, with a black tumor on the head.

Heaps of mutant snakes writhed together, their bodies covered in sticky, transparent fluid, like just hatched from eggs—indescribably nauseating; seeing them made our scalps tingle, and we involuntarily stepped back a few more steps.

We had seen in the Black Tower a statue of a snake-bodied, human-headed guardian deity, its head also bearing such a black round ball; back then Professor Chen guessed this black ball was an eye—no wonder Shirley Yang, in a critical moment in the valley, used a flashlight to save my life; it seems this tumor on the snake heads, even if not an eye, is extremely sensitive to light.

The scene in the valley left a deep impression on us—this kind of light-unknown mutant snake, relying on strong bodies, can bounce in midair and fly several meters; moreover, its toxicity is extremely fierce—once bitten, there's no time for rescue, death comes immediately.

At this moment, I and Pangzi blocked the front of the group, taking advantage of the moment when these black snakes were still tangled together and not scattered to shoot them; their vitality is extreme—only a head remains capable of harming; I fired while calling out to Chu Jian, pouring solid fuel on them, igniting to burn them completely.

The firelight illuminated the temple full of huge stone pillars; hundreds of black snakes hadn't even had time to show their fangs before being burned to charcoal; I exhaled in relief—good thing I struck first; could the appearance of these black mutant snakes be related to my smashing the jade eyeball? Or was that jade eyeball a ritual vessel, and placing that ancient jade on it completed some ceremony, guiding these mutant snakes out of that so-called imaginary-number space? Whatever it is, from now on, seeing such jade eyeballs, we must never be careless.

I had everyone check the surroundings, fearing any slipped through, and carefully examined the ceiling—everywhere were flat stone tiles; really couldn't imagine where that eyeball-sized snake egg came from.

This careful inspection didn't hurt—indeed we found some unusual spots: the sixteen giant stone pillars in the temple each have six-eye patterns on their shafts; the pillar bases are regular hexagons, with five sides carved, each side bearing a small symbol, all different: Hungry Ghost, Sheep Head, Barbarian, Giant-Eye Person, Guardian Beast, and one side left blank.

These stone pillars attracted our attention; Professor Chen recorded the types and positions of these symbols one by one in his notebook, then had us try rotating the hexagonal stone seats under the pillars—on trial, we found underneath was a stone trough, separated from the pillar shaft; with force, it can be rotated.

Professor Chen said: Looking at this, the building with all these huge stone pillars is definitely a ritual temple; moreover, it's a multi-functional sacrificial site—the hexagonal symbols on the pillar bases indicate its function.

These stone pillars are in groups of four; currently arranged with the guardian god's symbols crossing opposite; just now that jade eyeball was indeed a ritual divine artifact, and Pangzi's ancient jade is the ritual implement to activate the ceremony—not ruling out other possible ritual implements. As for how this implement ended up outside, perhaps forever unanswerable—maybe tomb-raiding explorers once entered this Jingjue Ancient Kingdom's temple, or maybe two thousand ago, slaves rebelling against the Jingjue Queen's rule stole it out—we'll never know.

It can be inferred: once the ritual implement connects, it can summon the mutant snakes regarded as guardian gods to enjoy the offerings. And saying this is a multi-functional temple is because the pillars don't only have high-status guardian gods, but also low-status slaves, livestock, evil ghosts—the temple might also be used for rituals to suppress evil spirits or punish slaves; by changing the arrangement of symbols under the pillars, different ritual targets are determined.

Shirley Yang asked: "Professor, this temple should be as important as the palace—will there be a secret passage connecting to the underground palace? Let's search around, okay? Now Xiao Ye's health is bad, we must quickly find the water vein in the underground palace."

Professor Chen said: "I can guarantee there is such a secret passage, but since it's secret and this temple is so huge, where could we find it in a moment?"

Pangzi interjected: "You two bosses, as the saying goes, take people's money and help them with their troubles—you probably don't know how capable I and Old Hu are; we're not lacking in Soviet yellow explosives—you guys go rest a while, I'll blast a passage out so you can see our skills."

Professor Chen hurriedly waved his hands: "No reckless action—these are ancient civilization relics; breaking a single brick is a crime."

I thought: just now I smashed that jade eyeball—now is my chance to atone through merit; all the mountains, rivers, geography, five elements, feng shui are in my chest—finding a secret passage is no difficulty; so I told them: "I see the arrangement of this temple's sixteen stone pillars matches the layout of the Penetrating Earth Sixteen Dragons; this layout secretly corresponds to the Giant Gate number—Han dynasty ancient tombs once used such mechanism layouts; earlier, observing the terrain around this ancient city from the Black Tower, I saw it truly took advantage of the land—shows the Jingjue Queen was also a master of esoteric learning—let me try using the Fenghua Point-Selection Technique to search for a passage in this temple; maybe we can find a secret passage, though I'm just a beginner—if I fail, we'll think of something else."

Everyone hearing this agreed, stood by to watch; I stepped forward to the temple center, observed the surrounding stone pillars—actually this Penetrating Earth Sixteen Dragons pillar layout isn't too hard, nor is it anything other than a variation of arranging the five elements and twenty-four directions; just different place and occasion, slight variation; I walked back and forth between the pillars several times, silently calculating.

Actually this Penetrating Earth Sixteen Dragons is just a snake—The "Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Art" says: winding and drifting, suddenly north-south. Among these sixteen, only one that penetrates the earth's veins is the true dragon. Saying it is simple, but actually using it really racked my brain; finally I locked the target onto four floor tiles deep in the temple.

I tapped them with a small geological hammer—three were solid, only one gave a hollow echo; this two-meter-square stone tile, its edges showed no wear from regular use—looks like this passage is rarely used; unless with explosives, trying to pry it open definitely won't work; the nearest pillar is the mechanism—I don't know if this mechanism is still effective now.

I called Pangzi over to help; I placed my hand on the hexagonal stone trough under the pillar—if I turned it wrong and triggered some mechanism, it would be disastrous, so I also had Professor Chen and others retreat outside the temple, wiped sweat from my forehead, and told Pangzi: first align the empty side with the stone tile that might be the secret passage, then prepare to turn clockwise five notches, counterclockwise one notch, then clockwise eleven notches, then counterclockwise two notches—cannot be more, cannot be less, otherwise who knows what might happen.

Pangzi said: "Lao Hu, you think I can't count? Back in school my grades were way better than yours. Cut the chatter, let's turn it."

I silently recited the mantra from the secret art: "Seek the dragon across a thousand miles, find it left and right, follow the yang five steps, yin takes one, open the turn."

The two of them exerted their strength, turning the six-sided stone channel; each turn they counted in unison, and when the last section was turned, only a series of 'geng beng' sounds was heard, the stone tiles on the ground sank down, revealing a bottomless passage.