Chapter 10: When Shall We Trim the Candle by the West Window Together?

The ninth day of the lunar month, morning.

A crude platform had been erected in front of the Square Body Ximen embedded in the upper section of Beauty Mountain, and a pale red barrier covered the archway.

A young man in uniform said to Chen Jiaoshou and Chen Shu—primarily to Chen Shu: "Chen Jiaoshou, Teacher Chen, when you go in later, there will be an instrument scan. You cannot carry items with space-storage properties. If you have any, you can hand them to me now for temporary safekeeping."

"None." Chen Jiaoshou could not afford any.

"Are mobile phones, watches, and necklaces allowed?" Chen Shu asked.

"They are, but you can also hand your mobile phone to me for temporary safekeeping; you basically won't have any use for it inside. Just wearing a watch to check the time is enough."

"Alright."

So Chen Shu turned off his mobile phone and handed it to him.

"I will return it to you when you come out." The young man then took out two sci-fi-looking Metal Masks. "At the same time, when entering, both teachers need to wear the masks properly. The masks are valid for a single use of over twelve hours. If you haven't come out by the time the duration is up, we will come in to remind you."

"We cannot live up to the title of 'teacher'."

"I will put it on for you."

"Thank you."

The mask fit almost entirely over the face, with a faint light glowing where the eyes were; it looked like Iron Man's mask and had a sci-fi feel, providing the wearer with the two abilities of breathing and night vision.

Through the pale red barrier, Chen Shu saw that the Square Body Ximen had already opened, but because of the barrier's isolation, no sound came out.

They passed through the detection gate one by one to check for space items; Crystal was immune to this.

Then they entered the Square Body.

Their skin felt cold when passing through the barrier.

The light inside the Square Body was relatively dim; after entering the door, there was a passage several meters long, and the further in one walked, the dimmer the light became.

Chen Shu adjusted slightly and scanned his surroundings.

Unlike the exterior of the Square Body, the curves inside the Square Body were smoother and no longer a perfect cube; the inner walls were carved with dense Runes, all of which were first or second-level Runes.

In the center of the floor was a rectangular stone platform; it was flat on top, with an irregular black stone floating above it, about the size of a palm.

Behind the stone platform was also a Stone Tablet emitting a faint white light, facing the direction of the east gate.

At the same time, many boxes were scattered on the floor; the boxes looked brand new, not at all like they had been left there for five thousand years.

In fact, even without safety measures, if outside air were allowed to rush in, the things inside would not deteriorate rapidly.

"It's the same as the other Square Bodies."

Chen Shu muttered to himself and continued to look around.

If there were no surprises, these boxes contained artifacts from that time, precious materials needed by Cultivators, and specially made books of various kinds. Some things that were very precious back then were now worthless, while some things that were unremarkable back then were now worth a fortune; history had re-endowed them with meaning.

But the more valuable things were on that central stone platform.

That stone.

This stone was called Jiezi Stone in ancient times, also known as Storage Stone, World Stone, etc.; modern people collectively call it Space Stone.

It contains a space within itself that can store items, and those with stable environments can even hold living organisms. If it is shattered with great force, the space inside will be divided proportionally.

People used to think it might be the product of other universes shattering; later, following the Plane Theory proposed by the old gentleman Ouyuan Gong, people speculated that it was the product of other Planes shattering.

Some people process finely crushed Space Stone and set up opening methods and anti-theft Forbidden Seals, turning them into Space Items.

Therefore, Space Items have nothing to do with people's attainments in space; this is a type of ore, and this ore is not self-generated by this planet. Cultivators throughout history have long since used up most of it, so much so that in this day and age, Space Items are incredibly expensive.

Some countries directly regulate it.

A Space Stone as large as this one, which can even accommodate living organisms, is often referred to by people as a Mijing.

Strategic material.

Now a group of military and Daoist people were surrounding the Space Stone, wanting to take it down, then unlock it, take out the things inside, and put them where they belong, while this Space Stone would be delivered to the military as a strategic heavy weapon for Yiguo.

Currently, the task for Chen Shu and his group was to clean up the items in these boxes on the floor, perform protective treatments on them, pack them up, take them out, and store them properly.

Later, they would also need to organize some books.

Perhaps in the future, some things would appear in a museum, and some historical understandings would be corrected as a result.

Chen Shu walked around inside first and saw that the front of the Stone Tablet was engraved with the six large characters "Xizhou" and "Yeshen Pingcang" in a very standard Song typeface, with the date recorded below.

After more than five thousand years, both Chinese characters and people's writing habits had undergone slight deformations, and even accents had changed subtly; the Song typeface was already very rare. Seeing this handwriting, Chen Shu immediately felt very close to it, along with an indescribable sense of being moved.

But what caught his attention more was the content and the Stone Tablet itself.

Xizhou is Xizhou, and it is still called Xizhou now; Yiguo is located in Zhongzhou, but why write a Xizhou and Yeshen Pingcang here?

Let's make a bold guess—

Night God is a person! He is speculating in futures!

Just joking.

Chen Shu had never seen this Stone Tablet before.

Either other Square Bodies did not have similar Stone Tablets, or the authorities had hidden them, and now that Chen Shu had entered in this way, he was naturally considered qualified to come into contact with this item.

Looking at everyone's reactions, it was mostly the latter.

History should be objective and realistic.

Archaeological workers cannot change history, and perhaps they cannot create history either, but they should ensure they do not obscure history, leaving a history that is closer to the truth for future generations.

Yet sometimes, one truly cannot publish everything dug out of the ground, because some things are too shocking, or self-contradictory, or sufficient to overturn the history we are familiar with and the glory we are proud of, impacting our civilization. For example, we all regard a certain person as a great man, as a common ancestor; we talk with relish about the legends he left behind; we draw national pride from such predecessors. But one day, some things are unearthed that completely subvert his image, then such things might not be suitable for display to the public.

For such things, we still have to preserve them, and we must preserve them, just not for everyone.

What could be the reason?

Ask Chen Jiaoshou when I go back.

Chen Shu followed Chen Jiaoshou and started working.

Evening.

A group of people came out of the Square Body; tents had already been set up outside. They would rest here tonight and continue working when they woke up tomorrow morning, seamless transition, miserable as hell.

After dinner, Chen Shu and Chen Jiaoshou shared a tent.

Chen Jiaoshou sat on the edge of the bed soaking his feet, turning his head to answer Chen Shu's question: "Pingcang is a deity from ancient Xizhou legends, roughly from the same period as the Shengzu. As for why the names of various deities from that time are carved on these Stone Tablets, we don't know either."

Chen Jiaoshou paused: "There is a theory, though."

Chen Shu understood.

Every Square Body had a tablet, and each tablet was inscribed with the name of a different deity.

"What theory?"

"The Square Bodies were built for these deities."

"Is it possible that although these Square Bodies are called Shengzu Cube, they weren't built by the Shengzu? I just feel like the things inside the boxes are a bit low-end."

"Unknown, everything is possible."

"Aren't there people in the Daoist sect who can backtrack through history?"

"Backtrack the Shengzu?"

"Oh..."

"Go to sleep, wake up early."

Chen Jiaoshou went out to pour out the foot-soaking water, wiped his feet dry, and lay down on the bed to rest; he looked just like an ordinary person.

Chen Shu, however, still had to cultivate and chat with Qingqing.

A busy and unremarkable day.

Until after he fell asleep—

Chen Shu seemed to have arrived in a strange place.

The sky was like a semi-circular azure dome, covering the ground tightly. The ground in the distance was blurred by dust and mist, and the outline of a city could be vaguely seen.

Behind the city was a continuous range of towering snow-capped mountains; the moon had come out before dark, and the setting sun had dyed the peaks of the snow mountains red.

This scene made Chen Shu feel somewhat familiar, yet he could not recall it no matter what.

Suddenly, a voice entered his ears:

"When shall we trim the candle by the western window together?"

After hearing this, Chen Shu froze in place, stunned for a long while, his lips pressed tightly together without saying a word.

"When shall we trim the candle by the western window together?"

"..."

"When shall we trim the candle by the western window together?"

"..."

Chen Shu remained silent.

The voice never appeared again after that.

Time seemed to have become very long.

When he woke up, Chen Shu felt very strange; he remembered having a strange dream, yet he could not remember what he had dreamt.

He turned his head to look beside him; Chen Jiaoshou's bed was empty.

After getting up and getting dressed, he walked outside, and Chen Shu immediately learned that he was not the only one who had had this dream.

He saw Professor Shi and Professor Liu looking grave; Professor Shi said to Professor Liu: "I also seem to have had a dream, but I can't remember anything. This situation didn't seem to happen when we excavated the Yujing Square Body a few years ago, right?"

"It didn't happen."

"Ask those three."

"I asked those three, and they are the same," Professor Liu said. "They also take it very seriously; they will likely invite Ninth Stage experts and a specialized research team from Yujing."

"Oh... oh, Little Chen is up?"

Professor Shi was much more enthusiastic toward Chen Shu, because during the sorting process yesterday, although no detailed inventory had been taken yet, the professional knowledge Chen Shu had inadvertently revealed had already made him feel favorably toward this young man, and he hurriedly asked:

"Little Chen, did you have any dreams last night?"

"It seems so... it feels very strange," Chen Shu said honestly. "It's that feeling of having had a dream, but not remembering anything at all."

"That's it!"

"What's wrong?"

"Every one of us had a dream last night, and it was the same situation; this has never happened before."

"Really?"

"It's just very strange!"

"Then are we still going in today?"

"I'm not afraid, but Little Chen, you should rest for two days."

"I'm not afraid either."

"That's good, it would be best to have another dream tonight so we can know what the Shengzu wants to convey to us."

"You are right."

"Have you washed up? Go eat breakfast."

"Not yet."

Chen Shu picked up his things to wash up, his heart full of doubts; this feeling of being on the verge of forgetting but truly unable to remember was very tormenting.

Could it have been caused by me?

Chen Shu touched the Crystal he had made into a necklace.

At this moment, Chen Jiaoshou walked over carrying a bowl of tomato and egg noodles; seeing Chen Shu, he stopped: "You already know? Why don't you go back and rest for two days, and wait until people from Yujing come to clear things up here before you come back."

"What era is this, still afraid of these things?"

"Mm, go make some noodles."