Chapter 30

Seeing that the secret passage had already been opened, I breathed a sigh of relief, shone my flashlight into it, and saw a stone staircase built of black stone sloping downward into the depths; the flashlight's beam had limited range, and beyond a certain point I could see nothing.

Pangzi waved to summon the five people waiting at the temple gate inside; seeing the secret passage opened, everyone praised my Gold-Division and Point-Sealing method without end.

By now it was past noon; after a few modest words, I had everyone pack up lightly, first go outside the temple to have some dry rations with water, since we did not know how far this secret passage extended, and only after thorough preparation would we enter.

While eating the dry rations, Sa Di Peng curiously asked me how I had found the secret passage, so accurately.

I told him: "Just by looking at the arrangement of those sixteen great stone pillars, one knows this secret passage's layout is an ancient Giant Gate formation passed down from antiquity; why is it called Giant Gate? Because such mechanisms are mostly used on passage doors and gates; these numerical arts all evolved from Luo numbers and the arrangement of heavenly stars. The mysteries within are profound indeed—even if I explained them to you, you would not understand."

After a brief rest, I led everyone down into the temple's secret passage; at the entrance below, we discovered a stone pull-tab that could be used to lift this slab of brick from beneath; these mechanisms were exquisitely designed, and despite nearly two thousand years having passed, the devices still functioned, their structure and principles utterly unlike ordinary ones—though they incorporated many ideas from the Book of Changes, they formed a self-contained system; if all these were invented by that Queen of Jingjue, then she must truly be a genius unparalleled in history.

At first we worried the secret passage might contain traps, so we proceeded downward with extreme caution, each keeping our distance and moving slowly; upon reaching the end of the stone steps, our view suddenly opened up to reveal a passage about five meters wide and three meters high.

The passage walls were no longer black stone but built of Western Region heavenly bricks (rectangular pale-yellow earth bricks used in ancient Western Region city walls, made by mixing rammed earth, cow dung, and cool sand, then dried and hardened, durable and crack-resistant over time); the ceiling was arched in a semicircle, and the walls were covered with strange, vivid murals.

The most frequent image on those murals was eyes—large and small, open and closed; some showed only the eyeball, others included eyelids and eyelashes; the Jingjue people regarded the eye as a totem; this passage leads to the temple and is adorned with so many eyes that presumably only priests and rulers like the queen were permitted to enter, and perhaps it had seen little use since its completion.

The environment of this passage was extremely enclosed, with stagnant air; the mural colors remained as fresh as new, without the slightest flaking, which left Professor Chen and the others greatly excited.

Professor Chen said that in the early nineteenth century, foreign explorers discovered many ancient city ruins in Xinjiang with abundant murals, almost all religious in theme; unfortunately, the government then offered no protection, and they were thoroughly looted and lost abroad; it is unexpected that here we can still see murals preserved so intact, and moreover, they are the oldest and most mysterious Jingjue murals among the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Region—enough to shock the entire world.

Hearing the professor say this, I thought of the legend that the queen was a demon; this ancient city is eerily strange, and if true demons existed, perhaps we could find clues in these murals; should we truly encounter them, knowing oneself and the enemy ensures victory in a hundred battles; thus I shone my flashlight and examined the murals one by one.

Yet in all the murals of this passage, there was absolutely no image of the Jingjue queen; the content depicted various rituals—some showed a jade eyeball emitting light, above which a black hole appeared, from which fell a fleshy orb resembling a giant eye.

Others showed countless black monstrous snakes crawling from the fleshy orb, biting at several bound slaves, who struggled in pain.

Still others depicted black mountains teeming with black snakes, while surrounding beasts knelt on the ground, bowing their heads to the mountain's monstrous snakes.

Some of these scenes we had seen before; comparing them to the murals only confirmed Professor Chen's judgment: this serpent with a black eyeball on its head had long been regarded by the Jingjue people as a guardian spirit beast; they understood how to summon and command these serpents, and often used living humans as sacrifices to them; it is astonishing that the ancient Jingjue kingdom, buried beneath the desert for a thousand years, still harbors these monstrous snakes in the world today.

As we walked and observed, we stopped before the final mural, which depicted a vast cavern, a narrow, winding staircase spiraling down along the cavern wall.

Shirley Yang said to Professor Chen: "Look at this cavern and the origin of the name 'Ghost Cave Clan'—could there be some connection?"

Professor Chen replied: "Very likely; observe the spiral staircase on the cavern wall, slender as a thread, utterly disproportionate to this vast cavern—such a straight, vertical earthen pit could never be dug by human hands; could this be the Ghost Cave?"

I recall having heard them mention before that legend says the Ghost Cave Clan comes from underground; at the time I listened without much thought, dismissing it as mere tall tale by ancient barbarians; now, seeing the murals, I feel doubt—some of the things depicted we have actually witnessed with our own eyes, so they are not mere mystification to frighten people; perhaps in the depths of the Jingjue Ancient City, such a great cavern truly exists.

Pangzi laughed: "If such a great cavern truly existed in the world, wouldn't it lead to the other side of the Earth? Then traveling abroad would be effortless—no need for planes, just jump into this great earth-hole, and in a moment you'd be in America."

Shirley Yang ignored Pangzi's nonsense and asked Professor Chen: "Could the giant-eyed stone statues of the Ghost Cave Clan actually be their true form? If they truly came from the dark underground world, that would explain their reverence for eyes."

Professor Chen said: "Your reasoning has merit; another possibility is that this vast cavern is the recurring otherworld in Ghost Cave civilization—that is, the imaginary space you mentioned; it is very likely a tangible entity; in ancient times, the Ghost Cave people discovered this great cavern, unable to explain why such a huge underground hole exists in the world, they exhausted all efforts yet could not descend to its bottom to see what lay within; ancient people revered natural forces, and perhaps they regarded this great cavern as a divine sign, worshipping and offering sacrifices to it; they wished their eyes to be more developed, able to see the bottom's condition; a few claimed their eyes could see the world below the cavern, and thus they were honored, becoming tribal rulers or priests; since their power came from the eyes, they regarded the eyes as the source of power."

Pangzi, hearing the professor's words, was greatly impressed, raised his thumb and praised: "Excellent, old man—just from one painting you deduce all this, and expound it so fluently, as if it were truly so; if you went to set up a stall, you could surely dazzle a crowd, selling whatever fire you like."

Professor Chen had no mood to joke with him, casually replying: "I am merely making a subjective guess, not to be taken as fact; let us leave the secret passage and see whether such a great cavern truly exists—seeing is believing."

For some reason, whenever I hear them speak of underground caverns, I recall the incident in the Kunlun Mountains' underground, when I saw the Nine-Story Demon Tower and lost several comrades; since then I have felt greater dread toward deep underground caverns; I truly worry that members of the archaeological team might meet with mishap; were it not necessary to enter the underground palace to find water, I would really just take them back now; since this desert archaeological expedition has already achieved major results, we do not need that earth-hole.

I said to the professor: "A thousand gold's worth of body should not sit in a dangerous hall. You are all people of standing in society—no need to court danger; once we find the water source in the underground palace and replenish, we should return. Since we have already found the Jingjue Ancient City, our task is essentially complete; you write an evaluation report and submit it to the relevant superiors; the rest can be left to the government to resolve later."

Professor Chen shook his head but said nothing; he has spent his life wishing to uncover the secrets of the Ghost Cave civilization, has come this far, and his heart burns with curiosity—how could he agree? Moreover, Shirley Yang has always believed her father's expedition once reached Jingjue Ancient City, and without finding the end, she will not rest; they say they will not return, no matter what.

Feeling helpless, I could only follow them onward, thinking that I have already done my utmost, said what needed to be said; should anything happen, I will have a clear conscience.

The passage is not long; at its end there is no step, only a single stone pillar, no doorway at all—could it be that the passage beneath the temple is a dead end, merely for painting those sacrificial ritual murals?

Pangzi looked around, turned to me and said: "Old Hu, do you have any other tricks this time? If not, just use explosives."

I said: "Besides brute force, do you have nothing else? Use your brain—look first, then speak; I suspect this hidden door mostly depends on that solitary stone pillar."

This lone stone pillar standing in the heavenly brick passage is several times smaller than the sixteen great pillars in the temple, but its shape is identical; its base also bears six-sided carvings, with one side empty, facing the narrow wall at the end.

This is easily managed: originally, the dragon tail of the Penetrating Earth Sixteen Dragons is here; I still had Pangzi assist me, following the 'Shaking Dragon Decree' opposite to the 'Dragon-Seeking Order' in the *Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Technique*, turning the hexagonal stone disk beneath the pillar.

(This week I have something on, no update, thanks for the votes, next update time, Monday.)