Chapter 98

I took the photo from Professor Sun's hand and glanced at it with Shirley Yang. The photo showed six blood-red jade beasts the size of fists, with strange shapes—like lions yet like tigers, with feathers on their bodies, each having only one eye and a ferocious face. The jade beasts bore many mercury spots; though exquisitely crafted, they gave off an intensely evil and chilling feeling.

For some reason, as soon as I thought this was an item from the coffin shop owner, I felt an inexplicable disgust and didn't want to look longer; one glance made me think of raising fish with corpses, making my stomach churn with nausea. I asked Professor Sun: "Professor, was this photo taken yesterday at the stele shop? Could the jade beasts in the photo be the ones found in the stone coffin at the coffin shop?"

Professor Sun nodded: "Yes, I thought you might find this photo useful, so I had my assistant rush back to the county seat last night to develop the negative. Take another close look at the photo—see if there's anything special about it."

Shirley Yang originally didn't want to stare at these evil beasts either, but hearing Professor Sun's words, she seemed to think there might be some clues related to the Chen Dust Pearl in the photo. She picked it up again and examined it carefully, finally finding the feature: "Professor, all six red jade evil beasts have only one single eye, and it's unusually large—out of normal proportion. Moreover… and most notably, the single eye of each jade beast is completely identical to the Chen Dust Pearl."

Professor Sun said to us: "Exactly. That's why I just advised you not to lose heart—when willows grow dark, flowers brighten, another village appears."

Shirley Yang and I felt both surprised and puzzled, yet we couldn't figure it out—Ancient Dian Kingdom lay in a remote corner of the southern frontier; how could it be connected to the Chen Dust Pearl? Could it be that the missing Chen Dust Pearl, unaccounted for over these many years, has been hidden all along in the tomb of some Dian king?

Although Professor Sun didn't know much about the Phoenix Gallbladder Chen Dust Pearl, he had mastered many ancient encrypted messages and had deep expertise in historical archives. He believed the Chen Dust Pearl definitely existed; this divine artifact held extraordinary significance for ancient monarchs, symbolizing power and prosperity. Moreover, due to differing cultural backgrounds and geographical relations, interpretations of the Chen Dust Pearl varied.

The stone-box jade beasts found in the coffin shop can definitely be said to originate from the Ancient Dian Kingdom of Yunnan. Dian was once one of the three commanderies established by the Qin dynasty; at the end of Qin, when the world fell into turmoil, this region implemented a policy of isolation, declared itself independent, broke away from the central authority, and remained so until the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, when it was finally subdued.

According to records, part of the Ancient Dian Kingdom's population worshipped witchcraft and evil sorcery; due to differences in cosmology and values, significant conflicts arose within the state. Those who worshipped evil gods left Dian to avoid chaos, migrating to the deep mountains beside the Lancang River. Their leader called himself the Xian King—such grassroots emperors were countless in Chinese history, and historical records mention this Xian King only in passing. These jade beasts were the ritual vessels the Xian King used to perform witchcraft.

The six red jade beasts respectively represent the six directions: east, south, west, north, heaven, and earth; each has its own name and function. When the Xian King conducted sacrificial rites, he needed to consume hallucinogenic drugs to reach a certain unconscious state, while the six jade beasts were fixed on six altars to generate a certain magnetic field, enabling spiritual communication with the evil god totem.

The jade beasts used by the Xian King in his rituals were far larger than the set found beneath the coffin shop; the set we discovered below the coffin shop should have been used by a high-ranking wizard in the kingdom—as for how it ended up in the hands of the old coffin shop owner, and how he came to master these evil arts, that's hard to say. There are many possibilities—perhaps he was a tomb robber, or perhaps he was a descendant of the Xian King's wizard retinue.

As for these six red jade beasts, they might have been materialized by the Xian King based on his own understanding of the Chen Dust Pearl, or perhaps they were a certain degree of extension of it. Moreover, this Xian King very likely saw the genuine Chen Dust Pearl in person, and possibly even was its last owner—but without more data, we can only make this tentative inference for now.

After hearing Professor Sun's analysis, I found it quite reasonable; as long as there's even a one percent chance, we must give a hundred percent effort. But when I asked Professor Sun again roughly where the Xian King's tomb might be located, he knew nothing at all. The Xian King's tomb is already in a remote location, and since the Xian King himself was versed in esoteric arts, his chosen burial site must be extremely concealed; after so many years, the chance of finding it is exceedingly slim.

Furthermore, Professor Sun also urged us not to resort to tomb robbery, to try other methods instead—there are many ways to solve the problem, and with modern medicine so advanced, solving it through technological means is best. Don't be overly obsessed with the Chen Dust Pearl, after all, ancient people's values were imperfect, their understanding of nature shallow; they regarded wind, rain, thunder, and lightning as divine manifestations, many of which were pure imagination. Professor Sun also promised that if he discovered any new clues, he would inform us immediately. I readily agreed and told him: "Please don't worry—we wouldn't go tomb robbing anyway; besides, even if we wanted to, we probably couldn't find it."

Professor Sun nodded: "That's good. I hate tomb robbers the most in my life. Although archaeology and tomb robbery share some similarities, the damage tomb robbery inflicts on cultural relics is too severe, and the state and nation..."

I most dread Professor Sun lecturing—he reminded me of the primary school director of political education, who would constantly make a fuss, turn simple matters into complex ones, and elevate them to some lofty height only to be looked up at. Whenever I heard such solemn platitudes delivered with a stern face, I felt ill at ease all over. Seeing that Professor Sun had basically told us all the information we could get, and anything more would just be nonsense, I thanked him repeatedly, then Shirley Yang and I rose to say goodbye. As we were leaving, I asked for the photo of the jade beast back. Professor Sun, needing to rush back to the stele shop to continue work, did not return to the county guesthouse; after bidding us farewell, he went on his own way.

Shirley Yang and I returned to the county guesthouse, where we saw the blind man telling fortunes at the door for a local woman. The blind man said to her: "Good heavens, this grandmother was originally the Queen Mother of Heaven, but because she grew tired of living in heaven, she reincarnated down to the mortal world to play for a while. Now it's time to return to the heavenly court, so she's come down with this incurable illness. Within three months, when you hear the celestial music from heaven ringing, that will be the moment you mount your chariot and return to your palace..."

The woman cried out with a sorrowful face: "Old immortal, you say my illness has no cure? But I can't bear to leave my husband, I don't want to live with the Jade Emperor, I have no feelings for him, and besides, I still have two children at home."

The blind man looked quite embarrassed and said to the woman: "Your Majesty, if you truly don't wish to return to the palace, it's not that there's no way—just that I..."

The woman kept urging the blind man, slipping a ten-yuan bill into his hand, begging him to think of a solution so she could live another fifty or sixty years.

The blind man pinched the bill between his fingers, knew it was ten yuan, and immediately straightened his face: "Very well, I'll risk it all—I'll mediate between you and the Jade Emperor. Anyway, one day in heaven equals one year on earth; let the Jade Emperor wait a few extra months for you, and you can stay in the mortal world for several more decades. But this will be hard on the Jade Emperor—you don't know this, but he misses you so much he's lost his appetite; the last time I saw him, I noticed he'd wasted away by three full circles, with no mind for state affairs, day after day longing for the stars and moon, waiting for you to return."

I feared the blind man was spouting nonsense, and that the woman's husband might come back later to cause trouble—accusing him of sowing discord between spouses would be a minor offense—so I called out to the blind man from the side to come eat in the cafeteria. Seeing us return, the blind man hastily pocketed the money, sent the woman on her way, and I took his bamboo cane to lead him into the dining hall.

We planned to finish lunch and then return to Xi'an, and afterward to Beijing. The three of us sat at one table; Shirley Yang was preoccupied, unable to eat much, while I ate and kept looking at the photo of the jade beast.

All current leads have broken off, leaving only these red jade beasts whose eyes resemble the Chen Dust Pearl. It seems our next step must be to go to Yunnan to search for the Xian King's Tomb; if lucky, we might extract the Phoenix Gallbladder, and even if not, we could still find one or two related clues.

But the hardest part is how to find this Xian King's Tomb—we only know it's roughly somewhere in Yunnan, beside the Lancang River—but the Lancang River is long; we can't possibly dig up the land kilometer by kilometer.

Shirley Yang asked me: "Aren't you always boasting that you're skilled in dividing gold and locating graves? This little situation shouldn't be difficult for you—just go to the riverbank, look up at the stars, and you'll find it, right? That's what you often say."

I gave a wry smile: "My aunt, it's not that simple. The technique of dividing gold and locating graves only works on flat, featureless terrain without geological undulations. When I was fighting on the front lines in Yunnan, I went there—mountains and plateaus cover over ninety percent of Yunnan's area. Yunnan has three major river systems; besides the Jinsha and Nujiang, there's the Lancang River, running from north to south, traversing the entire province. Moreover, the terrain is complex and varied, originating from the Horizontally Broken Mountains in the north, with countless mountain ridges and spurs. Without a specific target, even with feng shui secrets, we might search a hundred years and still not find it."

Shirley Yang said to me: "How rare—seeing you also start saying such discouraging words; it seems this time we're truly in trouble."

I told her: "I'm not discouraged. I think we can summarize our current situation like this—confident but lacking assurance—confidence is always sufficient, but right now we have zero assurance; searching for a needle in the ocean can't be done. We can first return to Beijing, gather everyone to discuss, and try to collect as much information as possible; even if we only get thirty percent assurance, it's better than having none at all."

The blind man suddenly interjected: "You two, husband and wife, hearing this, are you planning to go to Yunnan to rob tombs? I advise you to just give up this idea early. Back in the day, I and a gang of Mountain-Removing Strongmen wanted to seize this huge fortune, so we thought of going to Yunnan to rob the Xian King's Tomb—but we didn't expect that place to be extremely dangerous, and we lost six lives for nothing; only I, relying on my genuine skills, managed to escape by luck, and this eye of mine was left behind in Yunnan. Now, thinking back, I still feel a lingering fear."

The blind man's few ordinary words struck my ears like a thunderclap in June—I spat out the food in my mouth onto his face: "What did you just say? You went to Yunnan to look for the Xian King's Tomb? If you're talking nonsense, uttering even half a lie, we'll throw you out and not take you to Beijing."

The blind man wiped his face and said: "What kind of person am I, to utter falsehoods? I once robbed the Dian King's Tomb at Li Mountain in Yunnan, though I arrived late—the burial goods in the tomb had already been taken by predecessors. Inside the tomb, besides a section of human thigh bone, there was only half a piece of human skin made into an Ancient Dian Kingdom map, but the writing was already blurred. I never take empty-handed risks—such ill-gotten gains, why wouldn't I take them? So I just happened to take it along. Later in Suzhou, I hired a local expert in restoring ancient paintings and calligraphy, who used ice vinegar to wipe it sixteen times, and finally this human skin map (stone mud) was restored to its original state. Who would have thought—if not looked at, then nothing—but it turns out this map actually marks the location of the Xian King's Tomb."

Shirley Yang said to the blind man: "The Xian King led a group of nationals out of the Dian Kingdom, migrated far into the deep mountains to live in seclusion—how could the Dian King's Tomb possibly contain a map of the Xian King's Tomb? You'd better not be deceiving us."

The blind man said: "I naturally speak with substance. These two kingdoms were originally one family; it's said the Xian King chose a feng shui treasure land, was buried there after death, and that place has a very special environment, making it impossible for anyone to rob his tomb. Think of the Tang emperors and Emperor Wu of Han—what heroes they were, feared in all directions during life, yet after death they still couldn't escape being robbed, their corpses cruelly trampled—since ancient times, royal families have placed utmost importance on posthumous affairs, most fearing tomb robbery. After the Xian King died, his followers split apart—some wanted to return to their homeland, so they drew a map of the Xian King's Tomb and presented it to the Dian King, claiming it could also help the Dian King find such a superb burial site. These events are recorded on the back of this human skin map, but presumably they never found such a treasure tomb, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to rob this human skin map."

The blind man took out a packet from his bosom, opened it—and there lay a piece of ancient skin-made map. Although restored, it remained quite blurry, with mountains, rivers, and streams barely discernible.

The blind man said: "I'm not trying to fool you two—I've carried this map with me for years, never shown it to anyone under normal circumstances; today, seeing your disbelief, I took it out for you to examine. However, I have one piece of advice: look at the insect valley on this map—there's a blank patch there, where many strange things occur, just like a dragon's pool and tiger's den—no matter if you have three heads and six arms, or are a golden arhat reborn, once you enter the insect valley, you'll go in but never come out."