Seeing this line of text, I took a deep breath, and the shock in my heart was beyond description. The content of this passage wasn’t what surprised me the most. To be honest, the moment I laid eyes on that notebook, I had thought that I might see such content. What left me breathless was that signature.

“Chen Wenjin!”

Oh my God, I never expected that this thing would actually be left by her. So, the one who sent me the videotape and led me here was her?

This was truly a twist in the plot and left me utterly confused. Although my uncle had never mentioned any information about her, in my mind, she must have already died somewhere. How could she suddenly appear at this moment and lead me here?

Moreover, this short paragraph contained too much information—what three people? Which three? What is it? Who are we referring to? Is it the group from the Xisha Islands? What research? What secret?

Countless thoughts flashed through my mind, but I didn’t have time to ponder any of them. I steadied my mind and immediately opened the notebook to look further.

This was a thick notebook, filled with writing on at least twenty-six or twenty-seven pages, all densely packed with words, written extremely neatly, along with many drawings, as if it were a work notebook. I placed the lighter on the edge of the drawer I pulled out, then sat down on the floor and focused intently.

As soon as I opened the first page, I was jolted by what I saw on the page after the title page. There was a strange drawing on it, intricately detailed.

This drawing consisted of only seven lines: six curved lines and an irregular circle. I recalled it for a moment and immediately recognized that this was the shape described by my uncle, the one translated from the Warring States silk manuscripts.

I was astonished; it seemed that Wenjin and her team were quite impressive, as obtaining this shape was extremely difficult. So, she must have been interested in this shape too.

However, unlike the rough sketch my uncle had drawn for me, this time, the drawing had annotations. I broke out in a cold sweat as soon as I saw it. Each of the six curved lines had a black dot, which seemed to correspond to the six stars chosen by aligning the star chart with a straight line, as my uncle had mentioned. However, on four of those black dots, I saw several small characters.

From top to bottom, they were:

Changbai Mountain – Cloud Top Heavenly Palace
Guazi Temple – Seven Star Lu Wang Palace
Sleeping Buddha Ridge – Tian Guan Temple Pagoda
Shatou Reef – Underwater Sunken Ship Tomb

I gasped as I looked at it, and after a few chaotic seconds in my mind, it suddenly hit me like a bolt from the blue—I immediately understood what I was seeing.

Wow, this is too dizzying. Could it be that the curves of this shape actually represent the course of each mountain range in the great dragon vein defined by Wang Canghai?

Upon closer inspection of the curves, I indeed found that to be the case. Because I wasn’t looking at a map, these six lines didn’t evoke that realization in me; they seemed like the veins of leaves or a distribution map of rivers. However, now that I looked again, I immediately saw that this was actually a “dragon.” The six lines represented the dragon’s head, tail, and four limbs! Each line was a mountain range, and the dots on the lines were the treasure eyes on those mountains.

So, this was not at all the star chart that Qiu Dekao had mentioned!

Suddenly, I felt a chill all over and realized what was happening. Damn it, either Jude Kao misled someone, or that old witch tricked my uncle! Looking again at the two lines without any writing, I immediately noticed that there were also black dots on them, but the words beside them were all question marks. Clearly, these should also belong to the dragon veins of the great Feng Shui, but the situation with the dragon eyes above was unclear.

This sudden shock left me somewhat at a loss; I really didn’t expect to encounter such a revelation just by opening the notebook. I immediately closed the notebook and took a deep breath, but my hands were still trembling. I recalled the words on the front page: “The content inside involves some huge secrets.” I thought to myself, there was no need to stimulate me like this right on the first page!

However, this shock was soon replaced by overwhelming joy. I gritted my teeth, patted my chest to dispel the suffocating feeling, and opened the notebook again.

As I carefully examined the diagram, this time I saw more crucial details. Outside the six lines, in the blank area surrounded by six curved lines, there was also a black dot inside the circle. This black dot was not on any of the lines, standing alone in the approximate center of the entire diagram.

Next to this black dot, there was also a line of small text: “Qaidam – Tamutu.” I couldn’t understand this, but beneath this line of small text, several deep lines were drawn, along with two or three question marks. Clearly, this point on the diagram was the most important. Moreover, when drawing, Wen Jin seemed to have some questions, which is why she drew these question marks while thinking.

Based on the experience from the surrounding context, this point should also represent a place: Qaidam? Tamutu? Could it also be an ancient tomb? I wondered why this point was outside the lines.

Suddenly, I realized that Wen Jin knew much more than we did. It seemed that this notebook could reveal quite a few of my questions. With that thought in mind, I immediately flipped the notebook over and began to look at the content at the back.

The content at the back was a mixture of text and drawings. The handwriting was very neat and well-organized, but the font was quite small, making it very difficult to read under the dim light of the lighter.

I steadied my mind, gathered my thoughts, and focused on reading. As I read, I felt increasingly puzzled and also began to feel disappointed. By the time I finished, my confusion and disappointment reached their peak. I stood there, and the feelings in my heart were hard to describe.

The entire content of the notebook could roughly be divided into three parts, totaling over one hundred thousand words, resembling a work diary. The recorded content was very tedious, but based on the distinctions in the records, it could roughly be divided into three sections.

The first part was recorded from April 2, 1990, to March 6, 1991. I couldn’t transcribe the entire notebook here, so I could only summarize and select the most critical chapters to make it understandable. The content of the first part is as follows:

April 2, 1990

We have numbered and organized most of the porcelain found in the underwater tomb, and we have copied almost all of the porcelain while comparing it with the murals, hoping to uncover the life trajectory of Wang Canghai. Through this comparison, we have indeed discovered some patterns: the content recorded in the murals reflects his life experiences, while the content in the porcelain paintings reflects the process of his architectural projects. This can be evidenced by several series we have organized. For example, entering the Eastern Xia Kingdom—building the Cloud-Top Heavenly Palace, and receiving rewards from Zhu Yuanzhang—designing the Ming Imperial Palace, all of which have been found and can be easily distinguished in chronological order according to the sequence of the tomb chambers, with a one-to-one correspondence.

Based on this reasoning, these murals record the achievements of Wang Canghai, a prominent figure in geomancy, and the recorded content is all related to his works. Important events for others, such as marriages and hunting, are not recorded at all. I refer to this as the “Wang Family Relativity Theory.”

September 6, 1990

Today, the “Wang Family Relativity Theory” encountered a problem. In the last mural of Wang Canghai, we discovered the following content:
(Below is a sketch, roughly a copy of the mural. When I saw this, I was reminded of those childlike sketches I saw when I flipped the table earlier; they were all copies of the murals.
The content of the sketch is difficult to describe because it is poorly drawn. I can only roughly discern that it seems to depict a scene where a high official is bidding farewell to another person, with a large palace gate in the background and animals like “camels and horses” neatly lined up around it, although they are drawn to resemble dogs and mice. I am familiar with ancient landscape and animal paintings, and I have received strict training in this area, so from the brushwork and shapes, I can guess that these oddly shaped animals should actually be horses or camels. Behind the palace gate, there are groups of attendants lined up in formation, indicating that the painting depicts a rather grand scene.
There are two or three more pages of drawings that I found uninteresting, so I skipped them and went straight to the content at the back.)

These murals should depict events that occurred after Wang Canghai was sixty-eight years old. By then, he had completed his last project, and the content of this mural seems to suggest that he received an imperial order to depart for a place, similar to a diplomatic mission to another country. The composition of this mural clearly imitates the Tang Dynasty murals depicting Xuanzang’s journey to the West, which is quite peculiar. However, after searching through all the porcelain, we have yet to find any porcelain painting that corresponds to this mural.

Some say that perhaps in this last experience, he had no corresponding architectural work. However, others insist that a person like Wang Canghai would not have such an exception. The absence of a corresponding porcelain painting may have special significance or reason; perhaps his works were inscribed somewhere else.

Indeed, further research revealed that the last few years of Wang Canghai’s life are shrouded in mystery, with no historical records left behind. One could say that the final segment of his life is a blank slate.

What exactly did he do during those years? This is a significant question.

December 6, 1990

In the past few months, we have been investigating Wang Zanghai’s whereabouts in the last few years, and finally, we have found some clues. We discovered that after the last project, Wang Zanghai accompanied the emperor to a mountain worship event at Changbai Mountain, after which there were no further written records. Changbai Mountain—could it be that he went into the mountains? We are very suspicious.

On December 7, 1990, we had no leads to follow, so we changed our approach and started from the emperor’s side. The Mingzhi contains detailed records of diplomatic missions and grand ceremonies, and we hoped to find the grand ceremony depicted in Wang Zanghai’s murals or records of his missions to other countries.

The results were quite surprising. We found that in the two years before the emperor’s death, there were a total of seven grand ceremonies, six of which were quite normal. However, one was very strange, with a very simple record and no annotations: “In the twenty-ninth year of Hongwu, there were forty-six guards, twelve scholars, one hundred twenty-six horses, ten dou of pearls, thirty jin of gold, etc., sent to Tamuta.”

The grand ceremony and the mission are the only two records that meet both conditions, yet this record does not mention the officials who were sent. What is most puzzling is, what is Tamuta? Is it a country? There is no record of it in official history, but it is very likely that in the Ming Dynasty’s vicinity, there were countless small countries in Southeast Asia and the Western Regions; perhaps this was one of those small nations. However, it seems a bit strange for Wang Zanghai to send a mission to a small country. His age is not quite suitable for such long-distance travel.

On February 11, 1991, the investigation continued, during which we held two discussions. (The middle section contains ten pages of irrelevant chatter, all of which were discussions and speculations that were later proven wrong, so they have been deleted.)

Because the Ming history experienced a catastrophe during the Qing Dynasty, this investigation has been quite difficult, and there were no results for a long time. Eventually, we managed to solve one problem by changing our investigative angle. We compared the items brought to the mission to “Tamuta” and found that the types of gifts indicated it should be a country from the Western Regions, and the quantity of gifts seemed quite small. However, there were a lot of horses, which looked more like a merchant caravan rather than a diplomatic envoy.

On March 6, 1991, there were completely no clues, and we couldn’t find a breakthrough; the research stagnated, and everyone was in a bad mood.

This is the first section. It is evident that there should be content preceding this section, but there are no signs of torn pages in the front. It seems that this should not be a standalone notebook; it is one of a series of notebooks.

The content described in the first paragraph discusses their research on Wang Canghai, where they discovered “Tamutu,” then studied “Tamutu,” and finally reached a standstill in their research. From this paragraph, we can glean a lot of information. They are studying the murals and ceramics in the underwater tomb, and it appears that their research is very orthodox and systematic, following a classic archaeological process (the kind of data collection that seems very tedious but is the main method of daily research for archaeologists; archaeology is about digging, repairing, and examining). However, when Uncle San and the others went there, it was impossible for them to have such conditions. The Wang Canghai tomb is so large, with only a few people working; how long would it take to record everything in the tomb? So when did they do this work?

This is a significant clue, but I didn’t have time to think it through, so I continued reading. At that time, I thought the following sections would continue in this manner. However, after the section dated March 6, 1991, a puzzling phenomenon appeared.

From that section onward, there are about six pages of material collection statements, which I skimmed over. After flipping through, the next work diary jumps to January 19, 1993.

Then, looking at the recorded content, you will find that it differs significantly from the previous entries. This section covers the period from January 19, 1993, to February 8, 1995, which has a longer time span than the previous one, yet the recorded information is not extensive. The content is as follows:

On January 19, 1993, after the previous discussion, the matter of Wang Canghai became clearer. It seems that his journey to Tamutu is indeed related to the emperor’s sacrifice to Changbai Mountain; he should have returned to the Heavenly Palace and then set off for Tamutu. This Tamutu must be related to the situation in Changbai Mountain.

On April 18, 1993, we organized three routes to the Heavenly Palace from the murals, and we decided to head to Changbai Mountain to investigate.

On May 30, 1993, we entered the area of Changbai Mountain, but the weather was terrible.

(After this, there are about a dozen pages of adventure-novel-like progress records, similar to our entry into the Heavenly Palace, until we actually entered.)

On June 15, 1993, we lost contact with the others, and the two of us continued forward.

On June 17, 1993, we reached the base of the Heavenly Palace, and the situation was very dire. The others might be in grave danger, and we didn’t have time to hesitate; we decided to enter the bronze door to see what was inside.

On June 18, 1993, it seems I have seen the ultimate!

(From here, the entries are interrupted, with no further content recorded. The next diary entry is the last one. Clearly, there was nearly a year and a half without any recordings.)

The final entry reads: On February 8, 1995, we began planning to search for Tamutu. I must find out what is going on.

This is the second part. By this point, there are about thirty pages of content, and it is very obvious that there is a gap of several years between the first and second parts. In this second part, they directly begin their journey to the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace. At this point, a question in my mind became clear: it seems that the people who died in the pile of gold in the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace must be from their group, and judging by what they are carrying, the “we” mentioned by Wen Jin should refer to that group from Xisha.

That being said, they don’t seem to be in any particular distress, and they appear to be living quite comfortably? However, that is secondary; what shocked me the most was that Wen Jin had clearly discovered the bronze door, and she had also gone inside.

“I saw the ultimate!” When I read this, I broke out in a cold sweat, thinking to myself, what does this mean? What does this ultimate represent?

Looking at the timestamps in the records, after she went in, there were almost a year and a half without any diary entries, which is inconsistent with her character. I feel that she likely saw something inside the bronze door that was so shocking that she had no time to think about taking any notes.

Overall, the biggest impression I got from the second part is that the Tamutu must have a significant connection to the bronze door. After Wen Jin entered the bronze door, the idea of searching for this “Tamutu” was born.

Next is the third part, which is very long but covers a short time span, from February 8, 1995, to June 8, 1995. Among this, there is only one segment worth mentioning.

February 8, 1995
According to the dragon vein map, we have already determined the location of Tamutu. We are going to conduct an exploration, hoping to discover the answers to a series of puzzles during this exploration. To be honest, I never expected that there would be so many things behind this. If what I saw inside the bronze door is true, then this whole matter is terrifying.

After this, the content is entirely about their journey to a place called “Tamutu.” From the descriptions, this “Tamutu” seems to be an oasis in the Gobi Desert. Wen Jin followed a caravan, departing from Dunhuang at the beginning of 1995, and ventured deep into the Qaidam Basin for this journey.

They were led by a female guide named Dingzhuzhuoma into the Gobi, and then at a rocky mountain, they parted ways with her and entered this place called “Tamutu.” The oasis seemed to be very dangerous, with many people dying along the way, and the route map in the notes marked with many danger signs. In the end, they reached Tamutu, but she had a disagreement with another person and ultimately did not continue forward, returning instead.

I quickly skimmed through this part without examining it in detail. After this content, there is a blank space with no further content. This section is about thirty pages long, very detailed, with numerous route maps and descriptions regarding equipment shortages, weather, and so on.

In the entire notebook, there is no mention of how they obtained the information or how they conducted their investigation. There is also no reference to anything about the missing persons in the Xisha Islands, nor is there anything about the sanatorium. All the information contained within is related to “Tamuda,” with almost half of the content dedicated to analyzing the items left behind by Wang Zanghai, the Iron Masked Man, and discovering connections to “Tamuda.” Moreover, what strikes me as particularly concerning is that there are obvious breaks between these three sections, giving the impression that the notes might have been bound or copied by someone else.

I pulled hard at the gaps between the pages and found no signs of rebinding or torn pages; this is a complete notebook. This suggests that this notebook may have been copied by Wen Jin. It seems she selected excerpts from several notebooks regarding Tamuda, transcribed them, and compiled them into one notebook.

Why would she do this? It’s quite perplexing. Why are these people always so secretive about their actions? Could it be that there is something in the other contents of the notebook that she doesn’t want others to know?

Moreover, looking at this notebook, it is quite apparent that it seems to want me to understand that “Tamuda” is a crucial place, as if it is urging me to go there.

I have countless questions swirling in my mind, and I can’t seem to make sense of them all at once. I rubbed my temples and flipped back to the beginning of the notebook, preparing to read it carefully from the start, hoping to glean some clues. However, at that moment, the lighter in front of me had already dimmed. The flame had shrunk down, and the light was quite dim.

I remembered that I had been using the lighter for quite a long time, and it might soon run out of fuel. So, I thought of igniting the newspapers along with the drawer to create a bonfire, so I wouldn’t be left in the dark when the lighter failed to ignite. I stood up with the lighter and stretched my limbs.

Just then, I sensed that something was off; it felt like something was different about this place. I held the lighter up high to see if it was just my imagination. But once I looked, I was nearly scared to death. I saw that across the table, at some point, a “person” had appeared, sitting in the chair where I had just been, looking into the mirror and combing their hair.