adminI nodded, and my second uncle lit another cigarette, saying, “You’ve read as many books as I have. You’ve read the annals of Qin Shi Huang, right?”
I nodded; “Records of the Grand Historian” is a must-read for anyone interested in antiques, so of course, I had read it. He continued, “What about the ‘Book of Han’?”
I nodded again, and he said, “Have you noticed? The emperors of ancient China all had a common practice. Whether they were great emperors, lesser emperors, self-proclaimed rulers, or legitimate royalty, after achieving success and ensuring peace throughout the realm, they all inevitably sought immortality.”
“The pursuit of eternal life is the ultimate dream of emperors, which is not surprising. If I didn’t have to worry about money my whole life, could kill anyone I wanted, and marry any woman I desired, my only pursuit would probably be to continue that kind of life,” I agreed.
My second uncle didn’t respond, just continued, “If you open the history books, you’ll find that this practice is incredibly difficult to break. The more a ruler is a founding emperor, the more intense this desire becomes—Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang…” He paused, “Generation after generation, the names of the states changed, titles changed, and even the way emperors were addressed changed, yet the practice remained unbroken.”
I nodded; it was indeed the case. Human nature is unchanging. No matter what position you hold, when the time comes, you will still see death approaching you.
“However, the so-called secrets and legends of immortality become increasingly vague as we get closer to modern times. Many emperors believed that the clues to immortality were buried in the tombs of ancient alchemists, which naturally led to the formation of teams to help emperors conduct on-site explorations. These teams often operated under false pretenses, using existing organizations as a cover.” He looked at me and smiled, “And the people in these teams were often the most skilled experts in the folklore. Throughout history, many local scholars, earth immortals from north and south, and tomb raiders have been recruited and started receiving official grain rations. At certain times, under the pressure of power, you had no choice but to be loyal; for the sake of your family, you could only bow your head.”
“However, such matters are always kept in the dark, so those involved throughout the ages often met unfortunate ends. Moreover, within these teams, there are always those who wish to escape that pervasive control. The allure of immortality is not only attractive to emperors and high officials but also a tremendous temptation for these seekers. When they genuinely discover some clues, they can’t help but have their own thoughts.”
“They often share these thoughts with their brothers or family members, who are seasoned individuals who have faced storms and walked on the edge of the blade, so they tend to be quite bold. Thus, some plans are formed to implement these ideas. Some of these plans fail, some succeed, and some are uncertain whether they are failures or successes. But one thing is certain: once discovered, the end of these individuals is imminent.”
He paused, hooking his arm around my shoulder, saying, “However, some plans can be hidden for a long time, even surviving regime changes. By that time, both sides have reached some sort of consensus, and no one wants it to be exposed.” He glanced at me again, “Especially ‘it’.”
I didn’t dare to say that I fully understood my second uncle’s story, but I grasped what he was trying to convey.
To be honest, I never expected that the situation behind this would involve such a category of things. No wonder Brother Chu told me that we couldn’t investigate any further. In the silence, I connected what my second uncle said with some of my previous speculations and surprisingly found that many things suddenly made sense.
I asked, “So, is what’s happening here also part of the activities conducted by ‘it’?”
My second uncle nodded, “I’m afraid so. That’s why I knew about this village’s existence long ago. As soon as I heard from Panzi that you were here, I sensed something was wrong and immediately told him to bring people over. Wherever that group of people goes, it’s bound to be extremely dangerous.”
“Do you know what the situation is here? What exactly are those things?” I asked my second uncle.
He thought for a moment and said, “Those might be Miluotu.”
“Miluotu? What is that?”
“Miluotu is the ancestor of the Yao people. In their mythology, their first goddess was born from the mountains. I suspect that the monsters are actually the prototype of Miluotu.” He pulled out a piece of iron from his pocket. “This goddess created humans for the first time, and what she created was the Iron Man. However, due to the conflicting powers of the Iron Box goddess, it didn’t succeed. At that time, those miners who sealed the stone people with iron were clearly Yao people who had heard this legend, so your guess should be pretty close.”
I nodded. My second uncle continued, “As for how this thing came about, I’m afraid no one knows. From your description, this matter resembles a religious ritual; you were treated as sacrifices, waiting there. Those things exist deep within the mountain, and it takes a long time to get down there. I feel that what you encountered might have been arranged by someone else.”
He shared the same feeling, confirming that my intuition was correct, but I said, “But I told you, that mine has no exits at all.”
He thought for a moment and patted me on the shoulder, “I’ve told you before, what has already happened, no matter how you perceive it, has indeed happened. Since you’ve gone in, there must be an entrance. Just because you can’t find it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist; the entrance must be there.”
I smiled wryly. When Fatty mentioned it before, I had the same thought, but not being able to find it means it simply isn’t found.
Suddenly, my second uncle’s walkie-talkie rang. He answered and just hummed a few times before hanging up. I continued asking why he brought so many people with him; it was too exaggerated! What were they doing by the lake now?
My second uncle’s face turned pale, and he said, “There are some matters. This time, we owe it to you; otherwise, we really wouldn’t have found this place. As for the purpose of coming here, I can’t tell you yet. Once things are confirmed, you’ll naturally know.” He looked at his watch, “What’s happening here has just begun, and we don’t have much time.”
“Is it related to Third Uncle? Or ‘it’?” I asked.
My second uncle smiled, “Don’t rush; in due time, you’ll know how trivial the things you’ve experienced are. For now, don’t ask or inquire. If you want to look into that young man’s past, go ahead, but here, don’t bring your usual ways. I’m different from Third Uncle; I won’t let you act recklessly.”
Uncle Er didn’t say anything more to me. Unlike Uncle San, I wouldn’t engage in any pointless banter with him; it would be completely useless. He would say what he meant and follow through on it. He assured me that he would let me know when things were confirmed and would never go back on his word. He mentioned that he would stay here for a while longer, and I could wait here or go explore other places. However, I had to report my whereabouts at all times and not run around aimlessly anymore.
Thinking about Fatty and the Silent Oil Bottle, I left the village a week later and went to the hospital in Fangchenggang. Yun Cai and A Gui took me to their ward, and both of them were fine.
They said that, in fact, neither of them had life-threatening injuries; they had just lost too much blood and developed an infection. Fortunately, both of them had very good constitutions. I used incense ash to stop the bleeding, which also helped isolate the bacteria, so they only needed a blood transfusion to be saved. That incense ash was really crucial; if they had lost even a bit more blood, even a deity wouldn’t have been able to help them.
I learned about using incense ash to stop bleeding from listening to Shan Tianfang’s storytelling. I didn’t expect it to actually work; it seems I should listen to more storytelling.
When I saw Fatty, I was almost in tears. Just a few days apart, and his body had already plumped up again, looking nothing like someone who had just returned from the underworld.
When Fatty saw that Yun Cai had arrived, he became flustered and wanted to get out of bed to show off his indestructible body.
They probably asked me about what happened afterward, and I recounted how I had stuffed Fatty’s intestines back in and how I dragged them out from there.
After listening, Fatty was taken aback and said that was no wonder he had been feeling that his intestines were going the wrong way lately; whenever he thought about going to the bathroom, he would burp. He joked, “Don’t tell me you stuffed them in the wrong way.”
As we talked about the whole situation, I took out a piece of paper to show them. Earlier at A Gui’s house, I had drawn a map of the ancient village from memory.
However, discussing it didn’t yield any results, and Fatty insisted on taking us to eat hospital food.
After waiting for a moment, I noticed Yun Cai wasn’t making any noise. When I turned around, I found her staring at the map of the lake bottom in a daze, clearly captivated by something.
I was a bit surprised; the map was drawn quite simply and wasn’t particularly impressive. I exchanged glances with Fatty, who then asked her, “What’s wrong, little sister?”
Yun Cai pouted and looked up, saying, “Bosses, the village at the bottom of this lake looks a lot like Ba Nai.”
