adminLiang Shiye pointed at me with his chin, a look of disdain on his face. I cursed him inwardly, thinking, “You traitor! I took care of you all the way here, and you treat me like this? If I had known, I would have taken you out back then to avoid future trouble.”
The fat boss took a solid fuel wind lamp out of his backpack, lit it, and placed it on the ground. This thing is used for high-altitude snow mountain expeditions; it provides both light and warmth, and suddenly the whole cave was illuminated. Then he tossed a few pieces of compressed biscuits to me, all the while keeping the muzzle of his short rifle pointed at me.
I caught the biscuits he threw and felt puzzled, thinking, “What’s going on here?” I immediately threw the biscuits back at him and said, “If you two are going to kill us, just do it. Why all this nonsense?”
Liang Shiye smirked and turned to the fat boss, saying, “I told you, Qingtou is still Qingtou, completely clueless about the situation.”
Boss Wang shook his head and tossed the biscuits back to me, saying, “Young man, if you’re out here in the world, you need to be sharp. If I’m giving you something to eat, it means I don’t plan to harm you. With your attitude, if you run into someone with a bad temper, you’re asking for trouble.”
This guy had a completely different demeanor compared to that old Tai. At first glance, old Tai looked like the kind of ruthless outlaw who wouldn’t blink at killing someone, but the fat boss seemed amicable, making people feel more at ease. However, the kick he had just delivered was quite powerful—not something an antique dealer could deliver. I couldn’t figure out his true identity at all.
Boss Wang glanced at me, seemingly reading the confusion on my face, took a deep drag on his cigarette, and continued, “I’m different from Lao Tai and the others. I’m a businessman. In the business world, there are no eternal friends or eternal enemies.”
Liang Shiye said, “Boss Wang, you might as well be straightforward with them. These two kids can’t think around corners. The one surnamed Wu is somewhat reasonable, but when the one who’s sleeping wakes up, he might still cause some trouble.”
Boss Wang chuckled and then said to me, “Alright, I won’t lie in front of you. I’ll be straightforward. I’m a businessman, and I don’t like to resort to knives and guns. Given the current situation, you can see for yourselves that even if you don’t fall into my hands, it will be hard for you to get out. Lao Tai is dead, and there’s no point in dealing with you. Think about it—do you want to cooperate with me? I guarantee you won’t lose anything and might even profit.”
Upon hearing this, I realized it was exactly what I had said to Liang Shiye earlier. Damn it, just a few hours later, and the tables have turned on me. How the tides have changed!
Seeing I had no response, he offered me a cigarette and said, “Even if you don’t agree, it’s fine. I’ll give you some gear so you can go down on your own. But carrying a sick person alone, how do you plan to navigate this path? Have you thought it through?”
He was speaking the truth, and I found myself a bit swayed. But then I thought, he has equipment and weapons, so why would he want to cooperate with me? Isn’t that just setting up a stall for someone else to come and make money? There must be a conspiracy; those who roam the rivers and lakes are too cunning. Just look at how Liang Shiye has been following us the whole way with a flattering demeanor. As soon as he found an opportunity, he immediately tried to take the lead. We were completely unprepared. Compared to them, we are really too naive. Their intention to collaborate with me must have some targeted purpose.
In an instant, a plan formed in my mind. I had to agree to their terms first, just like when Liang Shiye followed us back then, and later I could figure out a way to escape. Moreover, as he said, to safely bring Lao Yang down, at least one more person’s help is needed. Alone, I would be pushing it too far. These two clearly underestimated me, which was similar to the mistake I made back then. I was sure I could find an opportunity to turn the tables, at least to get my hands on a gun.
Thinking of this, my expression softened, and I feigned hesitation, asking him, “Alright, even if what you say makes sense, I can cooperate with you, but you must first let me know what exactly you need me to do.”
Boss Wang let out a sigh of relief and exchanged a glance with Liang Shiye, who then patted me on the back and said, “Those who know how to adapt to the times are the true elites. Little Wu, since you’ve agreed, we are all on the same side now. I won’t hide anything from you and will naturally tell you what I know, but this is a long story. How about we eat while we talk?”
As he leaned in, I really wanted to strangle him, but a glance at the gun in Boss Wang’s hand, still pointed in my direction, made me suppress my inner anger. I forced a smile and said, “Please go ahead.”
Liang Shiye looked at the copper tree outside and said, “Speaking of this thing, it’s quite remarkable. According to the records in ‘He Mu Ji’, the initial discovery of this copper tree was reported in the thirteenth year of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty—”
After Li Pipa’s death, Liang Shiye had carefully studied the chapters in ‘He Mu Ji’ regarding this tomb in a very short time. ‘He Mu Ji’ is a type of note written very casually, sometimes in a cipher, sometimes in Han characters, and a small portion is written in an unknown script. Most of the relevant section here is written in cipher, and currently, there are no more than twenty people on the mainland who can read it. Liang Shiye is one of them.
The cipher records three main events:
The first event is from the thirteenth year of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, when a report came from a government mine supervisor in the Taibai Mountain area, indicating that some prospectors had discovered an ancient bronze pillar, whose base seemed to have been dug deep into the mountain, with no sign of reaching the bottom, leaving its depth unknown.
This matter has caused quite a stir locally. It is said that this pillar possesses spiritual qualities; the more you dig, the deeper it grows, and you will never reach the end. Some say it is the handle of the axe used by Pangu when he opened the heavens, and if you dig further, you might uncover the axe itself. There are even feng shui masters who claim that it is a nail driven down by the Jade Emperor to secure the dragon vein of the Qinling Mountains; otherwise, this earth dragon would fly up to the sky. This copper pillar extends eight hundred miles underground, and it cannot be dug any further; if it is, all of China will face misfortune.
Not long after, a mute army received a secret order to head to Mount Taibai to verify the truth of the legend, but this team of mute soldiers mysteriously disappeared (it is suspected they were killed by the guardians of the tomb). Four months later, another battalion of mute soldiers received orders again; this time, they found the bronze tree and led three thousand death row inmates to take over Mount Taibai, seal off the mountain, set up camp, and continue digging.
The second event occurred in the eighteenth spring of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei dynasty, where it is said that digging lasted for four years and three months. The three thousand death row inmates dug upwards through the cave we are currently in and downwards to the base of the mountain. They did not find the roots of the copper tree but unearthed a dragon-patterned stone box, which was hollow inside. It contained something, but there were no seams, and no matter how hard they tried, they could not open it. They dared not act recklessly and sent the box to the palace.
The third event is brief; at the end of the eighteenth year of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei dynasty, the “He Mu Ji” recorded that the emperor granted rewards, promoting everyone to a second-class nobility and giving each person a hundred taels of gold as a reward for the entire camp. The crowd got drunk, and the owner of the “He Mu Ji” and a few familiar soldiers, in their drunken stupor, made a bet to climb that ancient bronze tree.
(At this point in the article, the remainder is filled with unknown characters, and it is unclear whether they have any special significance. Master Liang cannot decipher them, which is truly regrettable.)
Master Liang told us that another boss, Li Pipa, can understand these things, but when asked what was written below, he resolutely refused to say, maintaining an air of mystery, though the reason remains unknown.
At the end of “He Mu Ji,” there is a section in Han characters documenting the climbing process. Above our current position, there is a walkway winding around the rock wall, which was prepared for the emperor to see in the end. Unfortunately, when they were close to the top, they could not continue, and while building the walkway, there were often people who fell off the cliff for no apparent reason, and it eventually came to nothing.
After we crawled out of the low cave, Boss Wang handed me a telescope while he shone a powerful flashlight for me. After adjusting the focus, I indeed saw a few sections of wooden walkways stuck to the cliff above, spiraling upwards. Our flashlight’s power was weak and could not reach that far, so we did not notice it at the time.
Boss Wang suggested that if we could reach that walkway, climbing along it would save us a lot of effort. However, there would surely be some oddities on the walkway. Master Liang is a scholar; he is fine with research but not with fighting, so this path must be taken by the two of us.
I am not as optimistic as he is. I looked through the telescope for a long time but still couldn’t clearly see what these walkways were like. The lighting here is too dim, and the edges of the walkways seem to be wrapped in something resembling plant roots, which is very different from the steel-structured walkways I have climbed in tourist areas. “The Collection of River Wood” was written during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and it has been a thousand years since it reached today. It is still unclear whether these walkways are intact, let alone whether they are sturdy.
Boss Wang said that this walkway was built for the emperor’s sightseeing, not as a temporary walkway for mining, so the materials and craftsmanship must have been very meticulous. Many ancient buildings from the Han Dynasty are still very sturdy, so he believes there is not much of a problem. If it really comes to it, we still have plenty of ropes, and with these walkways, climbing will naturally be much easier.
He spoke very decisively, without giving anyone a chance to negotiate. I cursed inwardly and had no choice but to refrain from voicing my opinion again. He and the lawyer Liang discussed briefly and decided to let me rest for another fifteen minutes, after which the fat boss would take me up, while lawyer Liang and Lao Yang stayed behind.
After taking a nap, I felt much more energized and ate a little something. Boss Wang also sat down and chatted with lawyer Liang in Cantonese. I couldn’t understand much, but I could roughly tell that their conversation was related to the “Qilin Blood.” I had a knot in my heart about this matter and thought that since our relationship with them had seemingly eased, it was a good opportunity to ask for clarification. So I asked lawyer Liang, what exactly is this “Qilin Blood”? Could it be harmful?
Lawyer Liang replied, “You don’t need to worry about this at all. I didn’t tell you everything earlier as a precaution, in case you wanted to run away and needed something to bargain with. Now that we have officially formed an alliance, I will explain it to you so that you won’t feel uneasy.”
Qilin Blood is a coagulated blood clump formed from Qilin blood; it is a very precious traditional Chinese medicine. However, it is not the blood of a real Qilin, but rather the sap of a plant called Qilin Blood Vine, also known as Blood Snake Vine, which generally grows in more southern regions.
The longer Qilin Blood is stored, the better its efficacy. Initially, it has only some ordinary medicinal uses, but in traditional Chinese medicine, there is a rare application for it: it can be used to fumigate corpses. In ancient times, some ethnic minorities and customs in mountain villages would place a piece of Qilin Blood on top of a corpse’s navel during burial, which could eliminate the corpse’s negative energy. Although the body would still decay, it would not attract maggots.
As Qilin Blood ages, it gradually changes from dark red to black, becoming darker with time. After a certain period, its properties change, becoming almost melt-in-your-mouth. If consumed, it prevents evil insects from coming near, and in summer, even mosquitoes wouldn’t dare to approach you.
Of course, this is just a legend. The old master only heard about it from others. Today, seeing such a situation for the first time, he began to believe it might be true. As for whether there would be any side effects, there are no related records. However, traditional Chinese medicine generally has very low toxicity, and he told me not to worry: “Rather than thinking about these things, I believe the most troublesome are those poisonous insects. The ‘He Mu Ji’ records that when the path was excavated, no such masks were found. Whether this is a trap set by ancient people or the handiwork of those who took the lives of thousands outside, I cannot be sure yet. When you go up, you should still be very careful and not be careless.”
We rested for a moment, but Old Yang still hadn’t regained consciousness. The chubby boss took off his gear and handed it to me. I put on my tactical headlamp, slung the rope over my shoulder, and continued towards the edge of the path above.
According to common logic, it shouldn’t be far to reach that path, but in reality, there is always a sense of helplessness. The distance I estimated always seemed much shorter than the actual distance. We expected to reach the top in an hour, but after half an hour, we barely managed to climb to the bottom of the path.
I then realized that the chubby boss was right; the path was very well preserved. It wasn’t because it was a path the emperor would walk on that it was built sturdily, but rather because it had been continuously maintained. There was still a layer of oil bamboo poles built as a scaffolding, which is very moisture-resistant. Even after hundreds of years of erosion, it remained very sturdy. Walking on it, I could hear the resilient creaking sound.
We were very close to the surface here, with many tree roots hanging down from the cliffs beside us, entwined with the railing like creeping plants. Some roots were very thick, almost like octopus tentacles blocking the path. The higher we went, the more of these there were, making it very difficult to walk. In some sections, the roots completely enveloped the path, and it was nearly impossible to find a foothold, so we had to use a machete to clear a way or simply crawl over.
Due to the invasion of tree roots, the rocks here had cracked, and stones occasionally fell. We had to hold our heads while also being cautious of our footing, making the walk feel even more exhausting than climbing.
We were so focused on walking that we lost track of how many loops we had made. Ahead, there was a very large gap in the path, almost ten meters wide, caused by the adjacent rocks breaking and collapsing. I gestured to indicate the distance and said to Boss Wang, “There’s no way to jump over this; we’ll have to use the rope.”
At this point, it had been almost an hour since we set off, but looking down from above, it seemed we hadn’t come up very far at all. It seemed impossible to reach the treetops within an hour. We had climbed too hastily, consuming a lot of energy, and had no choice but to take a break for now. This vertical cave was very cold and damp. After walking this stretch, my clothes were soaked with sweat, sticking to my body uncomfortably. It was hard to dry off quickly, making it easy to fall ill, so I had to find a way to warm up.
We found a tree root cave wrapped around a tree root and a boardwalk. Boss Wang took out a solid wind lamp and hung it on a tree root with a dagger. I took off my clothes to dry my underwear first, then hastily ate a little something. Boss Wang had a very serious expression; while talking to me, he used a powerful tactical flashlight to shine on the copper tree across from us. After a while, he said to me, “Come look, you can already see the top here. What do you see up there?”
I picked up the binoculars to observe. The top of the copper tree was only about ten meters above, and many tree roots were hanging down from the top of the cave, completely blocking that area. I could barely see that it was wrapped in a large mass of root systems, and a lot of root hairs were winding down along the copper tree. It was impossible to see clearly what was inside.
The boardwalk that spiraled up along the cave wall was much higher than the top of the copper tree. This was different from what was recorded in “The Collection of River Wood.” It was possible that after years of excavation, the heavy copper tree had a tendency to sink back into the rock layers, and after hundreds of years, its height had already dropped below the boardwalk.
The roots hanging down from the top of the cave might be the same large banyan trees we saw from the top of Jinyu Mountain, which were so large that it would take more than ten people to embrace them. Now it seemed that their root systems were even more spectacular than their branches and leaves. These things, resembling pale ghostly claws, twisted together like a giant hand gripping a copper pillar, as if trying to pull it out of hell. They also looked like a huge totem wrapped in a fossilized giant python, giving one goosebumps all over.
As I was engrossed in my observation, I heard Boss Wang say to me, “Look how dense the roots are; this indicates that the rock layer above must be the topsoil. This is a natural cave. The ancients couldn’t have come here by tunneling through the mountain; there must be a cave system above that leads outside. If we’re lucky, we might not have to go back the way we came.”
I felt a surge of joy at his implication. If we didn’t have to return the same way, it would indeed be a wonderful thing. However, this natural cave was bound to be no peaceful place, and whether we could get out remained to be seen. Boss Wang nudged me and said, “This is the situation at the top of the copper tree, but look over there in those piles of roots. It seems there’s a bronze statue. It’s too far away to see clearly; let’s find another place to take a closer look.”
Following the direction he pointed, I saw below the top of the pillar, amidst the tangled roots, two bronze arms that seemed to resemble the somewhat enchanting statue we had seen in the Clipper Valley. Back then, its face had been blown apart by tomb raiders, and I had a peculiar sixth sense at the time, feeling that there was something wrong with that face. Now, it was just right to take a look and see what this figure truly looked like.
