At this moment, the entire underground palace was engulfed in extreme darkness. Looking up, the beam of the flashlight illuminated a sea of statues of Arhats, with countless eyes staring down at Chen Pi Ah Si. The pupils of the Arhats twisted into grotesque expressions due to the sudden change in light, and the atmosphere instantly turned eerie.
Chen Pi Ah Si cursed the bald monks a few more times in his heart, thinking that they must have done this on purpose. He didn’t have time to dwell on it any longer and searched around a few more times, but still couldn’t find any statue that was missing.
Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he slowly realized where the problem lay. He directed the flashlight towards the position of the white-faced Arhat that had caused his eyes to hurt. This particular Arhat statue was distinctly different from the others, and the problem must lie here.
It was possible that someone had pushed down a statue above and replaced it with the white-faced Arhat facing upward, which would explain why this statue was so different from the rest.
Who the hell would be so bored as to do this? Moreover, how could they have accurately known where he was coming from and positioned the statue’s face right at the spot where he descended? It couldn’t be anyone outside the field of expertise!
Could it be that he was entering a second palace? Had someone already been here and set up this bizarre thing to scare him?
The beam of Chen Pi Ah Si’s flashlight shone on the plump white-faced Arhat as he weighed the heavy treasure box in his hand. If this was indeed a second palace, why wouldn’t they take this thing away? It was impossible; he must have been overthinking it. This was a trap set by those bald monks to lead him astray.
Chen Pi Ah Si calmed himself down. At his age, after all this turmoil, he had reached his limit. He coughed a few times and thought about moving the flashlight away from the Arhat to check his surroundings for an easier way to escape.
At that moment, a horrifying scene unfolded.
The instant the flashlight moved away from the Arhat, Chen Pi Ah Si suddenly saw that pale face twist around. The flashlight moved too quickly, and the moment was gone, but Chen Pi Ah Si saw it clearly. He was not the kind of person to doubt his own vision; his mind exploded with fear, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. In a flash, he shouted to bolster his courage and, in a panic, flipped his hand to unleash his iron bullets like a machine gun.
Relying on his earlier memory, he fired off a dozen shots. The bullets ricocheted around him, and he thought that the eerie white-faced Arhat had jumped down. In his confusion, he fumbled for an old pistol he had hidden away for years.
He was genuinely scared. This gun hadn’t been used since its liberation years ago, and he had never dared to take it out. Now, knowing it was useless, he used it to bolster his courage, which showed just how lost he felt.
You could say that pulling out a decades-old gun was a rare opportunity, and facing such a bizarre situation would be difficult even for his grandfather. Although Chen Pi Ah Si was seasoned in dealing with life-and-death situations, he still panicked when confronted with something so incomprehensible.
In his frenzy, he noticed an inconspicuous low stone door nearby. Climbing back through the theft hole was impossible; he had to find a way to escape!
He crouched down and squeezed through a low door, entering a stone chamber. The yellow peak, resembling a hill, extended from the wall, and the scale was indeed considerable. What had originally been placed in the stone chamber was now unrecognizable. After running a few steps, his foot got stuck in a beehive, and he fell hard, landing awkwardly. His flashlight flew far away, but he didn’t bother to retrieve it; he just grabbed a box and dashed forward.
Beyond the stone chamber was a long passage, which served as the formal entrance to the underground palace. It was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything. Gritting his teeth, he stumbled forward, not knowing what he was stepping on, until the ground began to incline upwards. After running another dozen steps, he collided with something in the darkness, and all he heard was a sound of crashing and falling as he burst out, rolling onto the ground.
Outside, flames were roaring. He got up and looked around, realizing he had crashed through a broken wall. It seemed the concealed entrance to the pagoda-like underground palace was actually hidden within a wall. Just as he was surprised, several Miao knives were pressed against his neck, and the items in his hands were snatched away.
Chen Pi A Si was exhausted to his limits and unable to resist. He received a kick to his knee and fell to the ground. Looking up, he saw the Miao youths he had deceived surrounding him with torches. The leader looked at him with some anger, clearly having searched around and realized he had been tricked.
Chen Pi A Si was panting heavily, and though it wasn’t an act, he exaggerated his condition to mislead them, coughing continuously. When the Miao people asked him questions, he kept waving his hands, pretending to be too anxious to speak.
Seeing him so fatigued, the Miao people exchanged glances, unsure of what to do. The other Miao were curious about where he had emerged from, so they raised their torches and peered inside.
After a few minutes of recovery, Chen Pi A Si noticed that the monstrous white-faced Luohan hadn’t chased after him, which made him suspicious. At this moment, he had regained some strength, and without realizing it, he suddenly pulled out an iron ball and jumped up, firing rapidly and knocking all the torches to the ground.
The Miao people were thrown into a panic. Chen Pi A Si sneered coldly, his killing intent rising as he pulled out a box, intending to kill. Just then, he felt a chill from the side, and his hand went cold. When he touched it, he realized his finger that was on the trigger was gone.
Chen Pi A Si had never suffered such a loss before, and he was filled with terror. Before he could react, another cold wind swept by. The last thing he saw was the calm gaze of the Miao leader and the swirling qilin tattoo on his body. That was the last scene he witnessed, as the next moment, his two eyes were slashed blind; the Miao leader’s earth knife sliced horizontally through the middle of his left eye, severing the nasal bone and exiting through the right eye, rendering both eyes useless in an instant.
It was over; he had encountered a master. Chen Pi A Si sighed inwardly, collapsed to the ground, and fainted from the pain.
Old Hai said, “Those Miao people handed over Chen Pi A Si to the local militia. One of his comrades from the uprising happened to be in charge of the militia there at the time, which saved him from being executed. Later, that treasure box was sent to the museum. When the people there heard about it, they sent someone to check it out, but I don’t know what the outcome was. However, when they opened that treasure box, it turned out that the last layer wasn’t a relic, but this copper fish.” He tapped the newspaper, “Isn’t that strange? At that time, it was a shocking event. When Chen Si Ye found out, he cursed loudly, claiming he had been played. That treasure box might have been opened by someone generations ago, and the things inside were lost.”
As I listened to Old Hai’s story, I had unknowingly downed a glass of liquor and felt a bit lightheaded. I asked, “What evidence does he have?”
Old Hai, while sucking on a snail, replied, “I don’t know. Later, Chen Pi A Si became a monk in Guangxi. I only found out about these things through some old connections, little brother. This news isn’t cheap, so don’t expect to take advantage of me in the future.”
I cursed inwardly and then asked him about the auction he came to Hangzhou for.
After finishing the last snail, Old Hai smacked his lips and said, “Back then, it was all a mess, and this fish ended up who knows where. Well, today, someone actually brought it out for auction. I often attend auctions, and I have a bit of a reputation in the industry, so they sent me a brochure and an invitation. You see, this fish is on the auction list. I noticed you seemed interested in it, so I got you an invitation as well. Regardless of whether it’s useful or not, it’s a good thing to see who wants to buy this fish.”
When I saw the starting bid, I laughed. Ten million? Only a lunatic would buy that. I still have two of them; if someone buys them, I would have twenty million. The self-promotion in today’s auction houses is just too outrageous; they need others to believe it, too.
Although Old Hai’s information was good, it wasn’t what I wanted to know, and for a moment, we fell silent. We each lit a cigarette, lost in our own thoughts. The waiter, seeing that we weren’t leaving, came over to clear the plates. I had no choice but to casually ask how his business was going. Old Hai talked about wanting to see what I was up to, but it was hard to tell if he was sincere. I said it was better to pass; I wasn’t planning to go back to the fields myself, so he, being an old man, shouldn’t get involved, lest he drag me down with him.
Having drunk enough, I asked him to rest after taking the invitation. That evening, Qin Haiting insisted on going out to have fun. As the host, I couldn’t refuse, so I drove them around for a bit and we had some snacks. But it was really too cold, and they all went back to sleep early.
When I got home, I didn’t go upstairs. Suddenly, I felt a sense of desolation in my empty house. I had never felt this way before, which struck me as strange. Could it be that these recent experiences had aged me? I found it amusing, so I drove straight to the teahouse run by my second uncle to have some late-night tea.
In the teahouse, while sipping tea and reading my grandfather’s notes, I couldn’t help but think about the events that had transpired, feeling utterly confused. The main issue was that these three fish were not from the same dynasty, and their geographical locations were so far apart. Setting aside the purpose of these three fish, there was absolutely no clue at the places they were discovered that would lead anyone to make a guess.
The ancients must have had a purpose for doing this; otherwise, the scale of it was too grand for an ordinary person to undertake. I pondered back and forth, realizing that the key was still not knowing what his purpose was. If I could just understand the purpose, I would have a direction for my investigation.
I sighed, wishing my grandfather were still alive, or that my third uncle were here; at least I would have someone to discuss this with. Now, alone, I was starting to feel a bit frustrated with all these questions.
Suddenly, I caught a whiff of something burnt. Looking down, I saw a travel map of China in the magazine I had borrowed. As I thought, I absentmindedly drew on it with my cigarette, inadvertently burning holes in the three locations. By the time I realized what I had done, it was too late. I quickly stubbed out the cigarette and glanced around, relieved to see that the waiter hadn’t noticed my vandalism.
Although my second uncle is a relative, he has a very eccentric personality. If I damaged his things, he would definitely get angry, especially with the magazines here, each of which is quite precious and part of his collection. Damaging one would mean I would have to hear about it for years.
I pretended as if nothing had happened and returned the magazine. Just as I set it down, an old man took it and started flipping through it. Worried that he might discover my damage, I didn’t dare to walk far and settled on a nearby sofa. I watched as the old man flipped to the page I had burned, and upon seeing it, he let out a sound of acknowledgment.
Realizing I had been discovered, I was about to make a quick exit when I heard him chuckle softly and say, “Who burnt a feng shui layout here? That’s really bad karma.”
