Chapter 181: Four-Eyed Nine-Heaven Goddess

The divine spirit with a human head and a bird's body on the stone wall that Third Uncle mentioned appears in myths and legends of various regions and peoples. I believe it must be the same creature as the strange birds we saw in the Cloud Summit Palace.

I later looked it up and learned that this kind of deity is called "ba" in ancient Egypt, representing the immortal soul of a person. In other words, if you were in ancient Egypt, all ghosts would look like that. In India, it's more standardized—this god is called "Kalavinka," said to be a divine bird of the snowy mountains, singing for the Western Paradise of the Buddha.

In China, this bird is even more famous than the previous two. With a human head and a bird's body, it is the Chinese "Ninth Heaven Mysterious Lady." It seems that in the Book of Songs, the Dragon-Fish River Map, or some other ancient text (I really can't recall), it was this figure who bestowed the Dragon Armor Divine Charter containing the esoteric arts of Qimen Dunjia upon the Yellow Emperor.

There are many other legends. One says that the Ninth Heaven Mysterious Lady is actually the Queen Mother of the West, but most legends are chaotic and cannot be traced. During the Six Dynasties period, there were even numerous Taoist records of the "Mysterious Lady" teaching the Yellow Emperor the arts of the bedchamber. Who knows if this Mysterious Lady is the same one? Otherwise, being taught such arts by a creature like this would not be a pleasant experience. If it were me, I'd rather die.

So what was Third Uncle thinking when he looked at the four eyes of the relief?

His speculation at the time was this: the relief had four indentations on the forehead, which clearly should have been inlaid with four oval stones. Now there were only two left, meaning two had obviously been taken. People couldn't often visit an ancient tomb, so the ones who took them were most likely the uncles from back then.

These are all simple, things anyone could think of, so I won't explain them here.

The key point is: why were the remaining two still in their original positions?

Grave robbers don't follow the principle of "If you don't take everything, there will be more for posterity." Since the uncles were interested in the oval stones, why didn't they take all of them at the time, leaving two behind?

Third Uncle then recalled his earlier conclusion: the incident that turned Second Uncle into that state must have happened inside this secret chamber.

But there was nothing suspicious about this place—it was just a completely sealed space.

The only strange things were these four oval stones. Two had been removed. It didn't make sense that Second Uncle deliberately left two behind. If it wasn't deliberate, then could it be that the accident happened while he was removing the stones? After taking two, something sudden occurred, leaving him no time to get the rest? When Third Uncle thought of this, his mind suddenly cleared. The hypothesis about the stones and the whole affair fit together seamlessly. He quickly leaned in to carefully examine the eerie black stones.

The oval stones were deeply embedded in the relief, which appeared to be a single whole. If you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't notice they were separate from the stone wall. The reason Third Uncle noticed them so quickly was that two had already been removed. When all four were present, it would have taken considerable attention to spot them. It seemed the uncle from back then was no ordinary person.

So, what would happen if you pried these oval stones out? It was certain there were no mechanisms behind the stone wall. Could the stones be poisonous? No, he had already touched them.

Third Uncle hesitated, but an uncontrollable impulse surged within him. He decided to pry one off and see.

Third Uncle pulled out his machete, rubbed it a couple of times against the side wall, then tremblingly approached. He touched one of the stones with the tip. Then, he inserted the blade into the gap on one side and pried. With a "crack," one of the stones fell into his palm.

As soon as the stone dropped, Third Uncle immediately stepped back, alertly watching his surroundings, fearing some hidden mechanism might suddenly activate.

But nothing happened at all. The stone lay cold and motionless in his palm. There was no unusual movement around him; the relief remained a relief, the wall remained a wall.

Third Uncle waited a bit longer, made sure there was no danger, and finally breathed a sigh of relief. But he felt puzzled: could his hypothesis be wrong? Or had the accident been triggered only once, and no matter how many times he pried now, it could never be triggered again? He put away this stone and moved to pry off another. He followed the same steps, inserting the blade into the gap. By now he was calmer and used more force. With a "pop," the stone moved and popped out.

Third Uncle hurried to catch it, but the stone bounced too fast. He couldn't react in time, and it fell to the ground with a "smack." Like a ball of sand hitting concrete, it shattered into powder. The black stone puffed up a layer of bronze-colored dust, dispersing into the air.

With a start, Third Uncle thought, "Oh no." He coughed from the irritation, fanned the air, and found his mouth filled with a pungent taste. Remembering the color of the blood corpse outside, he instinctively felt the dust might be poisonous. He covered his mouth and nose with his clothes and backed away.

After retreating a few steps, he immediately looked at the spot where the stone had fallen. To his surprise, amidst the bronze dust where the stone had shattered, a small red insect crawled out, curling up and making a "squeaking" sound.

The moment Third Uncle saw the bug, his mind buzzed, and he involuntarily stepped back.

He recognized it at once. It was a corpse beetle, and not an ordinary variety. A red corpse beetle, as the elders at home had said, was extremely venomous—the bug of evil spirits. Its poison could kill on contact; even a slight touch would lead to poisoning.

But red corpse beetles were said to only exist inside ancient corpses, almost impossible to capture. How could one be wrapped inside an oval stone and embedded here? And the most bizarre thing was, how could a bug encased in stone still be alive?

Third Uncle found it extremely strange, but he immediately realized he had no time to think about that. On the ground, the red bug spun around a few times, gradually stretched out, began to flutter its wings, and started crawling, as if about to fly.

Third Uncle had never seen a beetle king before and didn't know if it was really that poisonous. But if it was, in such a confined space, once the bug took flight, it would be as good as a death sentence for him.

Carefully, he stepped back, held his machete horizontally, and tried to smash it before it could take off. But before he could press down, he suddenly heard a "cluck cluck" sound from under the blade, and then a red shadow darted out and landed on his shoulder. The red light moved so fast that Third Uncle had no time to dodge. With a shudder, he broke out in a cold sweat. Instinctively, he swung the knife backward and struck his own shoulder. Startled, the beetle king flew up again and landed on the nearby wall.

By now, the beetle king had fully awakened. It puffed up its wings and kept making a "cluck cluck" sound like a frog. A pungent, foul smell continuously emanated from its body.

Third Uncle thought, "This won't do. This thing is even harder to deal with than a blood corpse. If I stay here, I'm dead for sure." He considered his options, then shrank himself and cautiously began to retreat toward the entrance of the secret passage.

The passage was too narrow to turn around. He had to crawl backward, stumbling and scrambling, until he reached the entrance. Fortunately, looking back, the red bug hadn't followed closely. Third Uncle steadied himself and felt for the mechanism to open the hidden door, but he was flustered and his hands trembled uncontrollably.

After much difficulty, he found the mechanism and pushed open the hidden door. Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, a red light shot out from the darkness of the passage with lightning speed. It moved so fast it seemed almost like teleportation, heading straight for his face. In an instant, it was right in front of him.

Third Uncle cursed under his breath, "Not good," and knew it was too late to dodge. At the critical moment, his wit saved him—he tucked in his neck and blew fiercely at the bug.

Third Uncle's lung capacity, trained from blowing on the kitchen stove, was considerable. His breath was strong, and it blew the corpse beetle off course, sending it tumbling into the wall.

Seizing the chance, Third Uncle raised his hand, rolled out of the passage, and slammed the hidden door shut with the back of his hand.

The beetle king almost followed him out at the same time, but this time it was a step too late; the door was already closed. It hit the stone slab with a "bang" and fell back inside, letting out a series of "cluck cluck" sounds.

Third Uncle's scalp tingled and his whole body went limp. He collapsed beside the coffin, only then realizing he was drenched in sweat. It took him a long time to recover.

(I knew full well how deadly the beetle king was; hearing this, I broke out in a cold sweat and quickly urged him to keep it brief—no need to be so vivid.) After that, Third Uncle realized this was no place to stay. With no other thoughts, he packed up, reversed the tunnel, and crawled out of the ancient tomb carrying the remains of his ancestors.

He chose a secluded spot to cremate the bodies, then traveled the mountain path through the night back to the county town. In his own words, it was when he reached the mountain peak just as the sun peeked over the horizon. Looking at the sun, he felt for the first time how wonderful it was to be above ground.

After returning to Changsha, Third Uncle never told anyone about this incident, including Grandpa. But he developed a strong interest in the Warring States silk manuscript and began to study it in secret. However, his friends at the time were either thugs or riffraff, none of them of any real caliber. After nearly a year, he made no progress. He also showed the black oval stone he brought out from the passage to many seniors, but none could explain what it was.

Third Uncle grew disheartened and gradually lost interest, until just before he went to Xisha, when a sudden twist of fate brought a turning point.

At the time, a friend of his fell ill and died, so they hired an old Taoist priest to perform the funeral rites. Back then, Taoist priests were part-timers—put on a robe and they were a priest, take it off and they could be anyone. There was no strict protocol. After the ceremony, a group of them went drinking. Third Uncle couldn't recall exactly how it happened—probably drunk and bragging—but he took out the pebble to show off.

Unexpectedly, the Taoist priest's expression changed the moment he saw the thing. He sniffed it and suddenly declared it wasn't a stone.

Third Uncle didn't take the man seriously and asked with a hint of mockery, "If it's not a stone, then what is it?"

The Taoist priest told him seriously, "This should be a pill of immortality."

The Taoist spoke with such certainty that Third Uncle didn't think he was bluffing. Thinking he'd met a master, Third Uncle pulled him aside to a secluded spot to hear more. However, this Taoist priest was only half-knowledgeable; he recognized the thing as an elixir pill but didn't know its origin or details. He knew it was an elixir only because their temple was very old, reportedly built during the Five Barbarians' chaos. The temple had many antiques, which he had pawned over generations, including many alchemical tools. Among them, he had seen stone-like elixirs and had smelled them, so he dared to be so sure.

Third Uncle was inevitably disappointed, but at least the path had some light again. Later, he had several experts in epigraphy and stone research examine it, and they confirmed the claim: this thing was indeed a "pill."

Ancient alchemy was also known as "golden elixir arts," "alchemy," "the art of transmutation," and "the art of yellow and white." Its content was extremely complex. The central goal was to use artificial methods to produce something that could grant "immortality" and also use the divine elixir to transmute common metals like copper and iron into gold and silver.

However, the study of elixirs belonged to metaphysics and was highly personal. Almost every fangshi (alchemist) had their own method of making pills. Without ancient texts to consult, one could hardly tell anything from a single pill. But the Taoist priest told him that since it was found in an ancient tomb, it must be what the ancients believed to be the elixir of immortality, because only such pills were used as burial goods.

Upon hearing this, Third Uncle felt confused. He knew that inside the pill was the Insect King. Pills were usually taken orally, and swallowing that thing would definitely kill you—and kill you horribly. What kind of immortality would that be?

Even if it were not the Insect King, even if it were just a cockroach, swallowing that wouldn't be pleasant either.

After much racking of his brains and another half a year of effort, trying almost every possible channel, he still made no progress. Just when Third Uncle was about to give up entirely and flush the pill down the toilet, an unexpected event occurred.