“Brother Mo, there’s writing here.” Zan Jin called her over.
Mo Zi went around to look. Two pieces of jade had already been carved out, each as large as a tabletop. At the touch of hand warmth, the jade color faded. Each jade stone was inscribed with an article. One described Wu Zetian’s secret edict and an overview of the treasure-hiding process, such as when the project began and when it ended. The last paragraph was quite interesting—it was Wu Zetian’s heartfelt words as a mother to the descendants of the Li-Tang dynasty.
She read it aloud to Zan Jin, then said, “When people are about to die, their words are kind. Unfortunately, the time has passed. Even though Jinyin still has Li clan blood in him, he doesn’t even want to restore Yuling, much less restore the Great Tang from over a hundred years ago.”
To tell the truth, when Yuan Cheng and Jinyin established themselves with the name Song, her heart skipped a beat. Would history ultimately still follow the path of Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing? But thinking again, in life, people live no more than a hundred years. Whether following history or by coincidence, it was beyond her control.
The other article was inscribed by Min Zhen for the Min clan descendants. He said his father was upright in character—though loyal to the Empress, he also pitied the common people. When Empress Wu extended the Zhou dynasty, the realm had just achieved peace, and people had finally been able to live tranquil lives. If the treasure emerged, war would inevitably erupt again, so his father decided to seal this secret away. However, on his deathbed, the old man told him about the treasure, passing to him three items: the water-purifying pearls, the maze diagram, and the woodblock print, letting him figure it out himself. Min Zhen left home under the pretext of traveling, but was actually searching for the treasure. After solving the secret, he became the first person to set foot in the treasure cave. According to his understanding, this was a rare underground mountain range echoing the mountain groups of Song County, hiding maze-like caverns beneath the earth—a natural treasure repository. Min Zhen also said the treasure was enormous and aroused people’s greed, so he didn’t want later descendants to enjoy it without effort, whether they became corrupt or ambitious. Thus he destroyed the original maze diagram and hid it within the water-purifying pearls. He left real and false clues among the common people, waiting for a fated descendant to unlock the secret. He also said that besides taking jade stones to make the water-purifying pearls, he took six items from the treasure, and nothing else beyond that.
“According to what Wang Yang said, the Min family wealth grew at an abnormal rate, but old Master Min Zhen said he only took six items. When people feel psychologically unbalanced, they see others’ success as abnormal. Min Zhen’s nine arts were unparalleled in the world—how could that have been given by this treasure?” Hard work and diligence were most important.
“Do we still need to go further in?” Zan Jin thought that since Mo Zi had already found the treasure location and solved the maze route, they could turn back.
“Don’t you want to see with your own eyes just how many treasures Wu Zetian collected here?” Actually, there was another very big question in her heart that needed verification. She touched the wood piled to one side and looked at the large jars storing oil. “There’s enough for lighting, and I brought three days’ worth of dry provisions. We won’t stay long—we’ll return immediately after seeing the treasure repository.”
Zan Jin thought for a moment. “We can’t stay three days. Ming Nian will be worried sick. If he notifies the eldest young master, this battle won’t be able to continue.” It truly was a case of pulling one hair and moving the whole body.
“We don’t need three days—of course we should bring more dry provisions. When we came down it was nighttime. When we go out, it’s best to be nighttime too—just one day.” Mo Zi made several torches. With a wave of her hand, without a trace of fear, she said, “Let’s go.”
Behind the Sand and Stone Cave was a narrow passage leading upward. Passing through the narrow passage, there was another large cave. Various shapes and forms of stalactites hung down from the cave ceiling, dripping water with a pitter-patter, forming pools of varying sizes. There were quite a few cave openings on the walls, among which only one was an artificially excavated passage to survival. Two stone tablets said that this underground maze had a thousand caves and a thousand forks, along with various traps. Without the diagram’s guidance, death was certain.
Seeing Mo Zi looking all around without taking out the map, Zan Jin asked, “What are you looking at?”
“The more I look, the less this seems like an entrance—it seems more like a back door.” Mo Zi said, “This place drips water, so it’s not far from a water source. And it’s an underground mountain range, very likely connected to the mountains on the surface. Moreover, how was the treasure transported in? It’s impossible that every time they jumped into the pond and moved things in one by one.”
Thinking about it, Zan Jin agreed. “There’s another entrance?”
“That’s the only explanation.” Mo Zi selected a cave and walked inside while joking, “Maybe when we get inside and look, there’ll be nothing but dead people’s bones. There are so many tomb robbers and treasure hunters in the world—maybe someone stumbled in by mistake through some cave and is sitting right on top of the treasure.”
“Creepy.” Zan Jin found it eerie.
Mo Zi laughed. “What’s creepy about this? What’s even creepier is the first time I saw Yuan Cheng, I thought I’d seen an evil ghost.” Thinking about it now, the water-purifying pearls had circled around him and herself from beginning to end, like drawing a red thread of fate.
With the diagram of the maze, the journey had no surprises. It was just that as they walked further, both Mo Zi and Zan Jin had to admit that without the diagram, even knowing at the start which cave to enter and which to exit would be useless, because there were truly too many forking caves.
They ate a meal of dry provisions along the way and rested for half an hour, never stopping their footsteps otherwise. Zan Jin wanted to carry Mo Zi, but she was too embarrassed to accept. When entering the final cave, she only felt her feet both painful and burning, her legs too heavy to lift.
“The map didn’t mark the scale—if I’d known it was this far, I would have listened to you and gone back.” She’d clearly underestimated the distance from the treasure location to the pond.
Zan Jin suddenly crouched down, extinguished the torch, made a gesture for silence, then said in an extremely low voice, “There’s light ahead. Firelight.”
Mo Zi was shocked. Looking, it was indeed true. “I was just joking earlier.” About those words that someone might accidentally fall on top of the treasure.
“Wait here, I’ll go look.” Soundlessly underfoot, Zan Jin had already walked over lightly.
Just as Mo Zi was thinking wild thoughts, he returned and still spoke in a low voice, “There are people.”
Mo Zi held her breath.
“People we know. Prince Su and Wang Yang. It seems it’s just the two of them.” Zan Jin’s tone was calm.
Mo Zi couldn’t believe her ears. “What? They’re still alive?” Calamities last a thousand years, lingering spirits that won’t disperse—she’d truly seen it now.
Mo Zi took out the map and compared it with the maze diagram, then smiled bitterly. “Is this the unique ingenuity of the Min family ancestors, or has heaven added a stroke of irony to this meticulous treasure-hiding plan? Minshan is very likely right above our heads, and the false cave and true cave are probably in an upper and lower layer relationship.” After such a long process, the soil and rock quality might have changed, plus cave collapses triggered by mechanisms might have accidentally connected them.
Zan Jin had obviously thought of this point too. “Could it be the original true entrance?”
Mo Zi nodded. “Very possible. Moreover, from the fact that they’re still here to this day, they can’t find a way out, and most likely the entrance sealed up again. Wait, it’s been so many days—did they carry so much food with them?” She shivered inexplicably.
Zan Jin hesitated, but still told the truth. “There are dead people’s bones on the ground, and several of them are relatively fresh.”
They’re eating people! Mo Zi gasped. “Zan Jin, let’s go back.”
Zan Jin looked at her. “What if Prince Su escapes?”
Mo Zi’s form paused. If Prince Su escaped, among the fifty thousand newly recruited troops, if not everyone would waver, at least some portion would. And who the treasure would belong to would be hard to say.
The maze was said to make finding a way out impossible, but from the very beginning someone had figured out the passage—who could guarantee no one else could get out? It was said Wang Yang had exceptional natural gifts. When heaven and earth shook, it might have been him who opened the entrance, so perhaps he also had a way to exit the maze. Although her father’s water-purifying pearls didn’t have the maze diagram, they used the same materials. Especially the one serving as the key—it might have been replicated identically, and might also be able to open the door beneath the pond.
Zan Jin seemed to hear her thoughts and said, “Prince Su cannot leave alive. Brother Mo, you start walking back first. I’ll go deal with them.” This “them” of course included Wang Yang.
“I’m not leaving.” She couldn’t possibly leave Zan Jin alone. “But rest assured, I won’t rashly stick my head out either. I’ll wait here. Once I’m certain you’ve succeeded, we’ll leave together.” Any accident could happen, even for an expert like Zan Jin.
“Then you absolutely must not make a sound.” Zan Jin instructed.
“Don’t rush to make your move first—let me take a look.” She needed to independently judge exactly how to advance or retreat.
Mo Zi crawled forward to the cave entrance. Although there was firelight, there was even more golden light, silver light, pearl light, and treasure light. With just one torch, the cave was illuminated in resplendent brilliance. Not to mention the treasure mountain casually piled in the center and the antiques and precious collections placed at random—along the cave wall in a circle, from top to bottom, several layers of wooden shelves had been built, stacked with countless large chests. Many chest lids were open, the contents inside dazzling and brilliant. This was a genuine treasure trove. However, at this moment she had no heart to exclaim in admiration. Her gaze penetrated through these eye-dazzling lights to see the dark shadows hidden within.
No matter how much treasure there was, it wasn’t as large as the cave. When the two men spoke, there were echoes, allowing her to hear clearly.
“Wang Yang, how many days has it been? Why still can’t we find the way?” Prince Su’s voice was weak and listless.
“What use is being anxious?” Wang Yang’s voice was cold. “Haven’t you seen those white bones? If we force our way through, there’s only a dead end.”
“Speaking of forcing through, if you hadn’t said at the time that jumping down the crevice offered a thread of survival, maybe we’d already be rescued by now.” Prince Su feared death.
“The people who didn’t jump down with us are all dead now. Of those who jumped down, you and I are still alive. Who would have thought the seal had two layers—when one layer cracked, the other activated.” It was even a double death trap! But if he said this out loud, Prince Su would go mad. “Of seven caves, four have already been confirmed as dead ends. There’s still a chance to escape.”
Mo Zi understood—the entrance could only be entered but not exited, while the back door was the living gate.
For Wang Yang to have such decisiveness, his wisdom was truly extraordinary.
“We’re almost out of food.” Prince Su’s voice was somewhat sinister. “At this rate, before we find the way out, we’ll starve to death.”
Knowing he was referring to human flesh, Mo Zi felt nauseous again.
“Just eat a bit less. It’s not anything good anyway, yet you eat so much at every meal.” Wang Yang’s tone was somewhat cold and rigid.
He sat on the gold, with endless treasures before his eyes, but what appeared most often in his mind these days was Wanlian’s smile. He’d come here with the resolve to die in the treasure ground, yet truly arriving here, he suddenly felt lost. What he’d pursued all his life, what he’d pursued while abandoning his daughter—was it these things? Or was it as Mo Zi had said, merely the Wang clan’s resentment, twisted and distorted?