Chapter 89

Chapter Ninety: Clearing to Zero

Father Thomas was so frightened by these black particles floating in midair that his soul nearly left his body; under the eerie blue glow of the phosphorus tube, these black particles flickered in and out, seeming to slowly gather into a mass. Father Thomas knew this was probably what the Bible spoke of… the "Devil's Breath."

How to deal with the "Devil's Breath"? The Bible seemed to mention it—holy water? Communion wafers? Or a cross? Damn, I can't recall at the moment. Father Thomas blamed himself for being useless, frightened witless by Satan's apostles; now, even if he died, he'd have no face to meet the Heavenly Father. He must summon some priestly courage.

Father Thomas tried every means to calm himself, thinking this damned "Devil's Breath" liked warm things, but he had no matches or candles on hand now—how could he lure away these evil black mists?

God bless, these "Devil's Breath" aren't too numerous. Father Thomas suddenly realized—they seemed to fear holy water or similar liquids, but he had no water flask, didn't know if spitting would help, and urinating might not work either since urine is warm. He ran through seven or eight ideas in quick succession, none of which were useful.

Facing the black mist now condensed into a mass, Father Thomas was anxious as fire. Just then, he heard a soft hum from behind; turning, he saw the "Partridge Whistle" had awakened. He rushed to support him, pointing at the small black mist, too nervous to speak.

The "Partridge Whistle" had just fainted from pain, lost much blood, his face deathly pale. Fortunately, he had tied off his blood vessels earlier; after the blood flow from his arm ceased, the bleeding stopped significantly. If he had waited for Father Thomas, that fool, to help, he would have been dead long ago.

When Father Thomas supported him, the "Partridge Whistle" regained seven or eight-tenths of his senses. Seeing a small mass of black ghost mist dancing before the white jade archway, seeking the warmth of human blood to approach him, he quickly drew another gun, cocked the hammer, and fired at the copper lock on the jade door.

Earlier, Elder Chendan and the "Partridge Whistle" had figured out that the copper lock on the jade door was a core-linked lock; once triggered by external force, it would activate the mechanism inside, causing hidden weapons to shoot out from the doorways on both sides. This doorway-shaped mechanism was wide open on all sides, not for small hidden weapons. Based on the "Partridge Whistle's" experience, it should be a large mechanism like rolling stones or quicksand. For now, they had only to gamble with external force. If the doorway released poisonous gas, they'd all perish together; if it was something like wooden stakes or quicksand, they could use it to block the ghost mist at the entrance. Having escaped this far with difficulty, they could not end up staring helplessly as this untouchable ghost mist killed them in this tomb passage.

The bullet struck the copper lock, triggering the mechanism in the core-linked lock. Only a tremendous roar like thunder shook the ears from both doorways, as countless quicksand poured out like a tide; the sand clearly contained many red granules—it was poisonous sand.

In the blink of an eye, from the moment the "Partridge Whistle" fired and hit the copper lock to the sudden gush of deadly poisonous sand from both doorways—sand that killed on contact or upon touch—less than a few seconds passed, and the ghost mist was completely buried by the poisonous sand.

The "Partridge Whistle" and Father Thomas dragged Elder Chendan, desperately running out of the tomb passage, with no time to look behind; they only heard the violent torrential flow of quicksand, the space between the two doorways piled full, and the rumbling sound unceasing in their ears.

Having run out of the tomb gate and stood firm in the shaft, they finally had a chance to catch their breath. The "Partridge Whistle" applied Yunnan Baiyao to his severed arm—most of it was gone, and he would never again engage in inverted combat. Thinking of this made his chest feel tight, and he wanted to vomit blood; he hastily swallowed two "Red Pendant Marvel Heart Pills" to slow the bleeding.

The "Partridge Whistle's" greatest concern was Elder Chendan's injury—he had come all the way to the foot of Helan Mountain for his sake; if this burdened the old monk's life, the sin would be great. So together with Father Thomas, he helped Elder Chendan up to examine his wounds.

Father Thomas supported Elder Chendan's back—who would have thought that upon touching it, his hand came away covered in blood? He cried out in alarm: "Ah… it's blood… the old monk is injured."

From the tomb chamber to the shaft, the three fled all the way, neither the "Partridge Whistle" nor Father Thomas having noticed where exactly Elder Chendan was hurt; only now did they see clearly: when the coral treasure tree snapped, Elder Chendan fell to the ground, and the human skeleton hanging from his foot also scattered; one of its broken bones pierced his back from behind; this had pierced his liver, the wound extremely deep—ninety-nine percent, he could not be saved.

The "Partridge Whistle" poured all the Yunnan Baiyao he carried onto Elder Chendan's back wound, but it was instantly washed away by fresh blood. Helpless, heartbroken, tears streamed down his face. He took out the Northern Dark Pearl from his treasure pouch, placed it before Elder Chendan's nose, rubbed it with his finger to produce a pinch of saltpeter powder, hoping to wake him to hear his final words.

Elder Chendan's nostrils were irritated by the saltpeter; he coughed twice, slowly regained consciousness, saw the "Partridge Whistle" and Father Thomas beside him with tear-filled eyes gazing at him, and knew his time was short. He firmly grasped the "Partridge Whistle's" right hand and said: "I am about to cast off this foul skin sack; you need not grieve, but… but there are some things you must remember."

The "Partridge Whistle" nodded through tears, listening as Elder Chendan continued: "I long ago washed my hands in a golden basin and retired; I am no longer a Grave-Seeking Colonel. This grave-seeking talisman I also entrust to you. Alas, our affinity is insufficient—I cannot pass on the Secret of Dividing Gold and Locating the Cavity to you. If you have the chance, seek my former companion, known by the nickname Golden Abacus, who usually dresses as a merchant and practices inverted tomb-seeking along the Yellow River's banks; he excels in celestial signs, feng shui, numerology, heavenly stems and earthly branches—such arts. In modern times, only the Qing Dynasty's yin-yang feng shui dragon-trembling master Zhang Sanshizi can compare, but that Old Master Zhang has long passed. Now, aside from me, no one in the world can rival the Golden Abacus in the art of Dividing Gold and Locating the Cavity. Take my grave-seeking talisman to find him—he will surely help you. Moreover, this dragon bone bears the mark of the Phoenix's Gallbladder and is hidden deep in the Western Xia Treasure Cave; inside may lie extremely important clues, perhaps offering reference for the search for the Dust Pearl…"

The "Partridge Whistle" thought: my left hand is gone—I'll likely never practice inverted tomb-seeking again in this life; even if I knew where the Dust Pearl was, I probably couldn't retrieve it. Seeing Elder Chendan's breath grow weaker and weaker, he wanted to say a few words, but his throat choked, he couldn't open his mouth—only bit his lips, his whole body trembling.

Elder Chendan summoned his last strength: "You must remember—never again recklessly open the killing taboo, inverted tomb-seeking harms yin virtue… your subordinates must show mercy… I… I am going now." Having spoken, he could not draw another breath, and thus passed away westward.

The "Partridge Whistle" knelt on the ground, ceaselessly kowtowing before Elder Chendan's corpse; Father Thomas, after much persuasion dead or alive, finally pulled him up. This shaft was no place to linger; the two carried Elder Chendan's corpse back to the Treasure Hall of the Tongtian Great Buddha Temple, and before the Buddha's sacred image, they cremated his body—only then did they wipe away tears and depart.

From then on, for several years, the "Partridge Whistle" followed Elder Chendan's last wishes, searching everywhere for that Grave-Seeking Colonel who roamed the Yellow River banks and Shaanxi region, known as Golden Abacus; yet after scouring all places, he found no trace of him. The strange-script dragon bone brought out from the Western Xia Treasure Cave was shown to many learned scholars, but none could decipher what was written therein.

At that time, the world happened to be in turmoil, the air brewing a great war that would sweep the world; the "Partridge Whistle" received help from the American priest Thomas, relocated his kin to the distant United States of America; disheartened and listless, he secluded himself in Tennessee, USA, paying no heed to worldly affairs.

Originally, the Zhegela Ma people's bodies would gradually weaken after forty, iron elements in the blood slowly decreasing; after over ten years, the blood would slowly turn yellow and congeal into a solid state before they suffered torment to death. Many could not bear this pain and chose suicide in the end. But the farther this condition is from the ghost cave, the slower its onset; on the other side of the earth, in the United States, the average onset is delayed by twenty years.

Later, China's wars connected end to end, making it even harder to seek the "Phoenix's Gallbladder" Dust Pearl; moreover, the "Partridge Whistle" clan's population dwindled, truly lacking anyone capable of bearing great responsibility. The "Partridge Whistle" grew cold-hearted, thinking that in another hundred years or so, these last few bloodlines would all be severed, and this ancient tribe would thus perish.

These events later came to the attention of Shirley Yang's father, Yang Xuanwei. Yang Xuanwei not only loved archaeology but was even more passionate about adventure; to find a way to save his wife and daughter, he decided to take action. Since the inscriptions on the dragon bone could not be deciphered, seeking the Dust Pearl was extremely slim. Yang Xuanwei had studied Western Regions culture in his youth, though his research focused on the Han-Tang period—that is, when Western Regions prosperity reached its peak. The Western Regions had already seen several civilizations emerge as early as four thousand five hundred years ago; the Xiaohe Tomb Group later discovered also possesses four thousand years of history as an ancient civilization. Thus Yang Xuanwei's knowledge of events before the Jinsha Kingdom's Precise Absolute State is limited; he believed the ghost cave in the Precise Absolute State must certainly contain some important clues, and Yang Xuanwei was the type who believed science controls everything.

At that time, China's reform and opening-up was underway, a second wave of desert scientific expedition enthusiasm arose; riding this east wind, Yang Xuanwei successfully formed a professional exploration team. Little did he expect that after entering the desert, he would from then on never return. Subsequently, Shirley Yang joined the archaeological team led by Professor Chen and his assistants and students to search for her missing father; in the Black Desert, she crossed the black Zhegela Ma Valley, reached the underground palace depths of Jingjue Ancient City, and finally saw the bottomless ghost cave.