When leaving Five Hundred Alley Village, Meng Qianzi had someone bring Yanluo’s corpse along, wanting to see if there would be another instance of “Yanluo begetting Yanluo.” However, nothing unusual happened; they only observed the gradual appearance of lividity and decay, with no signs of regeneration.
Xin Ci and the others were waiting in a nearby village. When they saw the group emerge, they were quite surprised, saying things like “How did you return so quickly?” Meng Qianzi found it amusing: so many events had transpired in Five Hundred Alley Village that it felt like another lifetime to her, yet to Xin Ci, it was merely “so quick.”
She wasn’t in a hurry to leave this land, embraced by the dragon and phoenix. Instead, she temporarily settled in the village. After getting situated, she first contacted Meng Jinsong, asking him to send over the water ghost’s video.
Shen Gun and Jiang Lian spent nearly half a day watching the video from beginning to end.
Overall, Meng Qianzi’s account had encompassed most of the video’s content, but given its vast volume, there were inevitably some details she had overlooked.
Among the content she hadn’t mentioned, three points were particularly important—crucial joints that connected the fragmented map together.
The first was “They are coming.”
It turned out that during the water ghosts’ expedition to the drifting cavern at the Three Rivers Source, those who didn’t perish on the spot but fell ill and died gradually would, in their final stages as their condition worsened, enter a delirious state of mental confusion. In this state, they would repeatedly mutter, and even cut their flesh to write in blood, the phrase “They are coming.”
Since no one knew whether these “they” were male or female, the neutral term “it” was used instead.
The water ghost himself had made various conjectures about these “they,” wondering if they might be aliens, or if multiple civilizations might have existed on Earth, and these “they” were humans from a previous civilization who, faced with insurmountable forces, ultimately reached their end and then attempted to be reborn to save themselves.
This speculation couldn’t be dismissed outright, but Shen Gun felt there was something…
Jiang Lian sensed his doubt and paused the video: “Don’t you find it strange that the water ghost’s speculations are so orderly and scientific, not at all like a traditional, old-style mysterious family?”
That was exactly the feeling. In his decades of travels, Shen Gun had encountered many people with mysterious backgrounds, and such people had their distinct qualities that set them apart from ordinary folk.
But the water ghosts, how to put it… Though they possessed extraordinary abilities, their actions and thought patterns were quite similar to those of ordinary people.
The second point was the corpse nest.
In the Golden Soup Cave beneath Poyang Lake along the Yangtze River, the water ghosts had stored a large number of corpses. Judging by their attire, they came from various dynasties—supposedly drowning victims from different periods, all gathered here after death.
Regardless of when these people had died, their bodies were perfectly preserved, as if in slumber, because these corpses were preserved with breathing soil.
Anyone familiar with ancient Chinese mythology would recognize breathing soil. The “Haineijing” section of the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” states, “Breathing soil refers to earth that grows and breathes without limit, thus it can be used to block floods.” In simple terms, it’s a soil with miraculous vitality that can grow on its own.
That’s why during the ancient flood, there was the legend of Gun stealing breathing soil to control the waters: since breathing soil grows limitlessly, the fiercer the flood, the more it could block. Unfortunately, blocking proved less effective than channeling, and ultimately, the flood control failed, resulting in Gun’s execution at Yuejiao.
Moreover, not only the Golden Soup Cave beneath Poyang Lake, but also the one beneath the Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River was suspected to be used for storing corpses, albeit with different preservation methods. The water ghosts couldn’t confirm whether there was one beneath the “Lancang-Mekong River” because they dared not descend using their ancestral tablets anymore. But given that the water ghost’s three surnames corresponded to three rivers, and the other two rivers had such caves, the third most likely had one too.
Shen Gun watched this segment several times before confirming it indeed referred to breathing soil: breathing soil, something that existed only in mythology, appeared so abruptly and was mentioned casually by the water ghosts, as if they were talking about household rice and grain.
The video also mentioned a property of breathing soil: it would eventually die and turn to dust, but because of its continuous regeneration, it was perpetually renewing—this seemed to echo the mechanism of self-reproduction, where “shedding the old embryo, a new one arises.”
Shen Gun couldn’t help but murmur: “The water ghost family… so remarkable, and I’ve been in this line for decades, how have I never heard of them?”
One must understand that an “industry,” for all its vastness, can be quite small: he had spent most of his life in this field, going around in circles, and eventually, there were few things he hadn’t heard of, and people all became acquaintances; even if not personally familiar, connections could always be traced.
Take the mountain ghosts, for instance. Although he had only recently infiltrated their inner circle and risen quickly, he had known of their existence a dozen years ago.
Jiang Lian answered: “The water ghosts probably kept themselves too deeply hidden, too well-concealed.”
The sequence of events is quite important. Previously, Jiang Lian would have found the idea of hiding corpses underwater merely eerie and horrifying, but now, everything pointed in a clear direction.
Gun had stolen breathing soil, his corpse didn’t decay after death, and he begot (from his belly) Yu. The Golden Soup Cave contained both breathing soil and stored numerous corpses—no wonder Meng Qianzi thought of “They are coming.”
The third point was that in the drifting cavern at the Three Rivers Source, there was a massive piece of meat taisui several stories high.
This taisui was encased in breathing soil on the outside, shaped like a human brain, with a pool at the crown resembling a large funnel hammered into the top of the skull. The pool contained water essence in liquid form; the interior had many chambers where strings of grape-like clusters, some shallow and some deep, were suspended.
The pool of water essence flowed through vessels resembling blood vessels into the chambers inside the taisui, feeding the hanging clusters.
At that time, the water ghosts believed this thing was the root of all calamities and tried every method to destroy everything in the drifting cavern, even using flamethrowers, but all in vain: water essence feared neither fire nor water, and was impervious to any sharp weapon; as for the taisui, it was a mindless, senseless mass of flesh that could grow on its own.
While watching the video, Jiang Lian casually sketched diagrams on paper. Beside him, Shen Gun kept taking sharp breaths and exclaiming: “Impossible! I’ve seen plenty of underground taisui over the years, but taisui never grows this big! And taisui is just a mass of flesh, which is why it’s also called ‘concentrated meat’—how could it possibly have chambers inside?”
Jiang Lian casually asked: “Isn’t taisui a kind of magical medicine? I’ve heard it’s also called meat lingzhi, and eating it should be quite nourishing.”
Why didn’t the water ghosts bring a couple of pounds back at the time? After such major energy depletion, some nutritional supplements would have been good.
Shen Gun nodded, then added after a pause: “But there’s another theory that considers taisui a kind of divine beast.”
Divine beast?
Jiang Lian’s pen paused: they had “encountered” too many divine beasts on this journey—dragon, phoenix, qilin, and now taisui…
He was puzzled: “Taisui can be a divine beast?”
Shen Gun explained: “It’s just one theory, because taisui was first mentioned in the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’…”
Again, the unavoidable “Classic of Mountains and Seas.”
Shen Gun continued: “The ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’ mentions Di Mountain, saying there are bears, large bears, patterned tigers, leopards, and ‘visual meat.’ ‘Visual meat’ is another name for taisui—see the pattern? They’re all listing animals, and ‘visual meat’ is listed alongside them.”
“Additionally, the Jin Dynasty scholar Guo Pu once annotated the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas,’ saying ‘concentrated meat is shaped like a cow’s liver, has two eyes, eating it is inexhaustible, as it soon regrows as before.’ It even has eyes—isn’t that a divine beast? However, this divine beast might have been relatively sluggish, being just a mass of flesh, too fat, so it gradually fell out of favor and was forgotten, never achieving the same status as the dragon, phoenix, and qilin.”
Jiang Lian couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry: the world’s malice toward the overweight truly had a long history—even a divine beast resembling meat and being too fat would be removed from the altar and forgotten.
Shen Gun sighed: “No wonder the water ghosts busied themselves for so long without finding any definite clues. Many of the clues weren’t underwater at all, yet they kept struggling in the water. No matter how much time and effort they spent, it was of no use.”
Ding Panling was truly a great contributor to the water ghosts; a single suggestion to “find the mountain ghosts” helped them open the right door.
As they were lamenting, someone pushed open the door.
Without looking, they knew it was Meng Qianzi—only she entered the motorhome without knocking, with a quite reasonable justification: It’s my vehicle, why should I knock? If you don’t want people coming in, you can lock the door.
She had been waiting impatiently: “Such a short video, and you’ve spent so long watching it—I could have watched it twice by now.”
Shen Gun said, “We need to discuss it, don’t we?”
He then proceeded to complain to Meng Qianzi about the secretive nature of the water ghosts.
Unexpectedly, this resonated with Meng Qianzi: “That’s just how the water ghosts are. Of course, their actions and thought patterns are closer to ordinary people, because they don’t interact with colleagues at all! They guard their little secret of unlocking Golden Soup as if it’s something extraordinary…”
Jiang Lian suddenly interjected: “That’s not right. The secret the water ghosts guard is the core secret, which is why they must be the most isolated, the most blind. Their isolation isn’t stupidity; it’s by design. They always thought the Golden Soup Cave was a safe place, did business for over a thousand years, and were proud of this livelihood; strictly adhering to family rules, they kept themselves tightly concealed, so when trouble arose, they couldn’t find anyone to help and could only fumble around blindly. If they weren’t so isolated, if they had built wide connections within the industry like the mountain ghosts, could that secret have been kept so thoroughly? If Ding Panling hadn’t passed the message, forcing them to take the first step in seeking help, they might still be busy looking for the drifting cavern in the Three Rivers Source. And where would we be now?”
Where would they be now?
He might still be in Wuling Mountain, busy fishing for mirage pearls, never finding the way, because the mirage pearl in Wuling Mountain was a defective, second-rate item.
Meng Qianzi would probably be at Shanguizhai, living her wealthy life in boredom.
As for Shen Gun, he would likely be conducting “research” in his mansion in Foggy Town, or immersed in another mysterious and strange affair.
Imperceptibly, everything has its beginning and end, and all matters are arranged.
Jiang Lian looked at Meng Qianzi: “The setup in the drifting cavern, which the water ghosts couldn’t break despite their efforts, even with flamethrowers, was because they hadn’t found the right tool—that thing’s mortal enemy is mountain gallbladder.”
A flash of insight hit Meng Qianzi: “But mountains and waters never meet?”
“Exactly. The mountain and water families were required to have no contact from the beginning. The mountain ghost family was also somewhat engineered by their ancestors: first, even those who sat on the throne didn’t know what the mountain gallbladder’s function was, only that it should be enshrined and not disturbed if possible; second, you always thought the mountain gallbladder was in the third mountain level—if Shen Gun hadn’t been there, who would have known that mountain gallbladder was fake?”
Meng Qianzi was stunned for quite a while. Given the emotional connection she had developed toward her mountain ghost grandmother since childhood, she couldn’t immediately accept that she had been engineered: “What matter is so secretive that one can’t even tell one’s xdescendants? Wouldn’t it be better to explain things clearly and let descendants carry out the task?”
Jiang Lian smiled: “It must have been extreme suspicion. They call them descendants, but after thousands of years, how many generations have passed? Some unworthy descendants would even dig up their ancestral graves. If it were you, would you dare entrust important matters to others?”
That made sense.
Jiang Lian continued: “This gives me an idea. The mountain and water families were initially on the same side and never had any grievances or conflicts. After arranging everything together, they agreed to part ways: as long as the mountain gallbladder didn’t emerge, the drifting cavern would always be safe—but they still weren’t reassured, so they set up a sentry post on the cliff.”
Meng Qianzi had a flash of insight: “You mean the cave spirit?”
Jiang Lian nodded: “The cave spirit was their vanguard, and Bai Shuixiao was merely a minion of this vanguard. Now, coming back to the mountain gallbladder—knowing that with its presence, the drifting cavern wasn’t safe, why didn’t they destroy it?”
Meng Qianzi hesitated: “Perhaps it couldn’t be destroyed? Water essence is already unique enough that flamethrowers can’t eliminate it. A substance like mountain gallbladder would be even more difficult to deal with.”
Jiang Lian shared this view: “If it couldn’t be destroyed, and they weren’t comfortable letting others have it, they could only find a way to keep it themselves—explaining it to later generations was also a problem. Not mentioning it at all risked a descendant who didn’t understand its importance taking it out of curiosity while carving the mountain; explaining truthfully wouldn’t work either, so they had to be ambiguous, telling you this thing was important and not to touch it.”
Unfortunately, despite such careful arrangements, they couldn’t foresee that when Meng Qianzi carved the mountain, she would bring Shen Gun inside.
The phrase “couldn’t be destroyed” triggered something in Shen Gun’s mind: “And those seven ominous bamboo slips also couldn’t be destroyed; even the great sage Laozi could only temporarily seal them…”
He muttered: “The things in this box all seem very difficult to destroy…”
A spark flashed in Jiang Lian’s mind, and he blurted out: “Remember when we discussed earlier that the mountain gallbladder was in the mountain ghosts’ hands, the box was taken by the Kuang family, and the seven beast bones had vanished without a trace? These three threads never intersected—it seems as if someone had arranged things so these items wouldn’t come together?”
Shen Gun nodded: Ordinarily, the contents of a box would be more important, but in this case, even the box itself was guarded by generations of the Kuang family.
Jiang Lian asked: “What would happen if all these items were returned to the box?”
Shen Gun frowned: “If they all returned to the box, probably nothing would happen, because they were originally all in the box. It was only after the box was stolen that the items were divided.”
Meng Qianzi said: “That’s not necessarily true.”
She reminded Shen Gun: “Don’t forget, when you held the mountain gallbladder, you experienced visions. In your vision, there was far more than just this one box—dragons were flying in the sky. But now, where have the dragons gone? Where are those other boxes? And what did those boxes contain?”
She had a sudden idea: “Could it be that the dragons carried those boxes away to another dimensional world?”