The胖子 (Fatty) told me that not long after, people began selling a type of fine sand similar to salt on the market, and it was extremely expensive. This sand had no practical use, but it was said to serve as a reference sample. The胖子 asked the resellers who was selling this stuff and who was buying it, but he couldn’t get any detailed answers. It was very strange; both ends of the business were particularly mysterious.

However, the胖子 had a strong feeling that this white fine sand came from the very thing he had sold earlier. He was captivated by the mysterious background of this substance, just as I had been years ago, pondering over the enigma to the point of losing my appetite. He felt that he would rather die than not figure it out.

In the end, the only concrete clue he obtained was that someone told him this sand was used for comparison. Someone was searching for the desert where this white sand originally came from. The comparison of the white sand sample with the composition of the sand in the desert was the only lead.

“Does this sand have any special use?” I asked. “Could it be that this white sand has some kind of supernatural power that can be used to handle those corpses?”

“No, this white sand is just a filler. Very ordinary. The term ‘corpse handling’ sounds mysterious, but at most, it’s just a method of mummification. However, the people who originally possessed this technique came from that desert. Later, people misinterpreted a lot of information through ancient texts and believed that the white sand from that desert was a key factor. So they have been harvesting sand from that desert all along. In fact, the sand itself is not important,” the胖子 said. “You would never guess which era the ancient texts recording these things come from.”

I looked at the胖子 and nodded for him to continue. He said, “The pre-Qin period.”

That was an era when alchemists were rampant, so I wasn’t surprised by such scientific achievements. The胖子 continued, “The ancient texts came from that desert and are related to a special civilization.”