Chapter 58: Raging Sea: Gate of Life

The art of Qimen Dunjia originated more than four thousand six hundred years ago, almost as long as China's written history. The first person in the world to use Qimen Dunjia was the ancestor Huangdi, and it was passed down from there. You can see that practically every military strategist or leader knows a bit of it, but in fact, after the Han dynasty, the complete version of Qimen Dunjia was lost, because after the Yellow Stone Elder passed it to Zhang Liang, that bastard simplified and condensed it, so later generations basically couldn't understand what he was saying.

My understanding of Qimen Dunjia mainly came from my Second Uncle in the family—not Third Uncle. Although I didn't know much, when Zhang Qiling mentioned it, I wasn't like Fatty, who looked as if he were listening to a heavenly book. Qimen Dunjia originally had 4,320 configurations; by the time it reached Huangdi, he could only understand 1,080. By Zhang Liang's time, there were 72, and now, in my Second Uncle's compiled version, only 42 remain—already extremely rare, while only 18 are circulating in the world. The other configurations were found by Third Uncle by chance in a Han tomb.

As profound as Qimen Dunjia is, it is actually a theory of military strategy and fate. Using it to set up formations is like making the most of its leftover power. The Qimen Dunjia formation, also called the Eight Gates, consists of eight gates: Open Gate, Rest Gate, Life Gate, Death Gate, Surprise Gate, Injury Gate, Obstruction Gate, and View Gate. The Life Gate is life, the Death Gate is death. Entering any other gate brings you back to the eight gates, in a cycle.

When Zhang Qiling found these eight hidden doors, he naturally thought of the Qimen Dunjia theory. These hidden doors were actually very narrow, only allowing one person to pass sideways. The fog was thick, and on the outside there was a brick door that could rotate. With a push, it would open, and once inside, the active door closed automatically. If you didn't touch it, you would never notice such a trick here.

Zhang Qiling was a bit resentful of his own carelessness. He was not a reckless person, but just now he had been too eager for results. The world's ingenious mechanisms take pride in being small and refined, but this one went the opposite way—large and comprehensive—making it impossible for him to guard against.

He walked back to the stone tablet and told the others about his discovery. The crowd buzzed with excitement. This field of study was extremely profound, and they had just been through the Cultural Revolution—how could they understand it? Wenjin thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Just now, Sansheng's behavior was so weird, as if he was possessed by a female ghost. Could it be that the ghost is the master of this tomb, and that hidden door he went into is the Life Gate?"

Zhang Qiling saw a spark in her eyes, as if she had thought of something, and asked her, "Have you figured something out?"

Wenjin told them to follow her. She turned and walked to the stone tablet, then, imitating Third Uncle, knelt on one knee and began combing her hair. Her figure was very graceful, and this pose was extremely charming, stunning the men for a moment. She combed a few times, then turned her head demurely. As she turned, she suddenly shuddered and called out, "Found it!"

The others immediately crowded around, looking at the stone tablet from every angle, but after a long time, they couldn't see anything. Wenjin said, "No, you have to kneel here like me to see it!"

Zhang Qiling seemed to understand, so he quickly knelt down. Wenjin pressed down on his shoulder and said, "You're too tall; lower a bit more. Don't look straight ahead—look sideways, staring at your temple."

Zhang Qiling found it amusing, and imitated her, combing his hair and then giving a very feminine glance. Suddenly, he saw in his reflection on the stone tablet three shallow, connected fish at his temple, very blurry. He moved his head and found that if he shifted the angle even slightly, they disappeared.

He let out an "Oh" and finally understood what "fate" meant. He cursed inwardly—apparently, only a woman who cared about her appearance, happening to kneel before this stone tablet to fix her hair, might see this mark. And being too tall or too short wouldn't work. Fortunately, Wenjin had observed carefully; otherwise, as a man, no matter how hard he tried, he would never find this secret. (When I heard this, it suddenly dawned on me. But then again, was the tomb owner a lecher?)

He stared closely at the fish and found that the mark was slowly moving. It seemed that inside the stone tablet there was a mechanism rotating at the same speed as the pool walls, and the position the mark pointed to always faced the so-called Heavenly Gate. Thinking this, he quickly had Wenjin watch while he picked up a flashlight and ran to the pool edge to locate each hidden door one by one. When he reached the third hidden door, Wenjin saw the mark align with the flashlight's beam and shouted, "This is it!"

Everyone cheered, and even Zhang Qiling couldn't help but clench his fist. He pushed the hidden door open with force, was the first to sidle in, and found a very narrow passage leading inward. This time, Zhang Qiling was very careful. He first felt the walls all around to make sure there were no other mechanisms before calling the others in.

This passage was also built from bluestone slabs, only wide enough for one person—two slightly chubby people couldn't pass side by side. Zhang Qiling led the way with a flashlight. Looking ahead, he saw that the darkness mixed with the gray of the bluestone gave off a bluish, eerie glow, like the color of the underworld. He focused all his attention and walked very cautiously, stopping for a long time at any strange sound. By now he had completely become the group's spiritual leader; everyone followed his every word, and no one dared say anything unnecessary. They walked for about the time it takes to smoke half a cigarette, with total darkness ahead and behind. Zhang Qiling felt as if the whole universe had narrowed to just them, and he began to feel uneasy. Then the passage started to slope upward. Following the incline, he looked up and saw a light far ahead—dim, yellowish, like sunset light, not very bright but warm. Zhang Qiling knew they had reached the end. He called out and rushed forward in a few strides, watching the light grow closer. Suddenly, the ground leveled, and the whole world seemed wrapped in golden light. He squinted and saw—he cried out in shock, nearly falling to his knees.

Before them appeared a huge square chamber. This was not just a matter of size; it exuded an extreme arrogance. The atmosphere of the entire structure could only be described as majestic, giving one an almost irresistible urge to kneel.

On each side of the chamber stood ten whole Phoebe nanmu columns, so thick that three people couldn't wrap their arms around them, like sky-supporting pillars at the ends of the earth. The entire chamber was built of yellow mortar bricks, about ten zhang on each side. Above, carved beams and painted eaves included ten five-clawed golden dragons, extremely magnificent. On the nearly ten-meter-high ceiling was inlaid a fifty-star chart, each star a dazzling night pearl, about the size of a goose egg, emitting a soft yellow light. In each of the four corners of the chamber hung a large mirror, reflecting light to illuminate the entire space, though not very brightly.

But what shocked them most was the center of the chamber: a huge stone disk. Zhang Qiling recognized it at once. On the stone disk was a large-scale model of a palace. Even though it was only a model, it included dragon towers, precious halls, artificial rocks, and flowing water—everything complete and spectacular.

Zhang Qiling ran over, excitedly circled it several times, and immediately understood: this was a model of the Cloud Summit Palace. He had never really believed that there would be a palace in this tomb, so he wasn't disappointed, but the mystery deepened. It seemed Wang Zanghai had actually built a heavenly palace. So where was this palace? Was it really in the sky?

This discovery was astonishing. Everyone shouted and cheered with excitement. Several of the men, in a playful mood, lifted Huo Ling onto the stone disk. Huo Ling smiled foolishly, barely steadying herself, then suddenly screamed and jumped down, shouting, "There's a dead person up there!"

Startled, Zhang Qiling leaped up and looked. In the center of the model was a round jade garden. Inside the garden, on a stone pedestal, sat a completely shriveled mummy, its clothes already rotted away, revealing blackened limbs. This was a rare example of a natural mummy formed during meditation, perfectly air-dried; if dipped in gold powder, it could be enshrined in a temple. The corpse pointed one hand to the sky and one to the ground. Its hair and nails had continued to grow after death, like other mummies, especially the nails, almost as long as its fingers—a rather unsettling sight.

He leaped in front of the mummy, without any hesitation, and first checked its mouth for anything inside, finding nothing. Then he pressed his hands under its armpits and down along its body. Wenjin also jumped up, watching closely. She quickly leaped behind him and demanded in a low voice, "Zhang Qiling, what exactly is your background? How do you know all this tomb-raiding stuff?"

Zhang Qiling glanced at her but didn't answer. Wenjin got angry, grabbed his arm, and said, "You're obviously a tomb raider; otherwise, you wouldn't be so calm in an ancient tomb. What is your real purpose in following us?"

Zhang Qiling made a gesture for her to be quiet, pointed at the mummy, and said, "These things aren't important. Look!" He pulled off the mummy's clothes, revealing a very long scar on its belly, extending from the last rib on the left down to the dantian. First he pressed the mummy's belly himself, then took Wenjin's hand and pressed it on as well. Wenjin shuddered; sure enough, something was clearly hidden inside the corpse's abdomen.

Zhang Qiling raised his head, uncertain whether to take the thing out. If this person had hidden something inside his own belly before dying, it meant the object was extremely important to him, or perhaps it was a test for them. His principle was never to damage a corpse for the sake of tomb goods. He struggled internally for a long time, then looked at Wenjin. Wenjin, from the Northern School, naturally valued ethical conduct. She shook her head and said, "Taking it would be unjust; Heaven's punishment will surely follow."

Zhang Qiling sighed and decided to give up. He stepped back, kowtowed once to the corpse. When he raised his head, he suddenly noticed something wrong with the corpse. He looked it over left and right, then suddenly gasped—the mummy had broken into a sinister smile.