The darkness was like a sea, and the light in the depths was like a lighthouse guiding Li Si. In the suffocating silence, Li Si could only hear his own footsteps. Silently counting to four hundred eighty-four steps, Li Si finally discovered that glimmer of light, but it was merely an oil lamp.
The surroundings were a gloomy, cold hall. The oil lamp sat on a stone table. In the center of the hall stood a fierce and menacing black stone statue—a human head with an eagle face, possessing sturdy wings and three pairs of arms wielding knives, axes, and hammers. Li Si recalled the flying eagle pattern embroidered on Wu Ying’s chest. Perhaps the flying eagle was the primitive totem worshipped by the ancient tribe with its long heritage.
To the left of the human-eagle statue was a stone box shaped like an open bloody maw. Inside the dark box lay something. Li Si was somewhat curious and walked forward, reaching in to pull out four or five finger bones, each about an inch long—they were all pinky finger bones, sharp and short. The stone box was densely packed with no less than twenty pinky finger bones. Li Si couldn’t help but be horrified. Who did these pinky finger bones belong to? Why were they placed in a stone box in this gloomy hall?
After gazing at the human-eagle statue for a moment, Li Si began observing other areas. On the left stone wall of the hall was a mural painted in pale yellow, over two zhang long. The mural mostly depicted scenes of ancient clan life, hunting, and ritual ceremonies, but toward the end was a different scene. A clan leader had died, and people carried his corpse into the ancestral temple surrounded by clan members. In the center of the ancestral temple was unmistakably the human-eagle statue, with the strange-looking stone box behind the door. The clan members cut off the leader’s pinky finger and threw it into the stone box, then drained the leader’s fresh blood and repeatedly smeared the human-eagle statue with it until it solidified on the surface. Finally, a faint shadow drifted out from the leader’s facial features and flew into the human-eagle statue’s mouth. The stone statue radiated dazzling light, signifying the soul’s return to the deity.
Li Si viewed it from beginning to end and suddenly understood that this gloomy hall was the ancient tribe’s ancient ancestral temple.
Why did the mysterious ancient tribe person lure him to the ancestral temple? Where had he run off to? From entering the wooden door until now, he hadn’t discovered a second path. Could the ancient tribe person also be in this ancestral temple… Li Si wandered within the ancestral temple but didn’t discover even a trace of anyone. However, in the shadows on the right side of the hall, he did find a large rack of spirit tablets. From top to bottom were twenty-three spirit tablets. Each tablet was wordless and seemed to have been soaked in blood—despite the passage of much time, they still displayed a dark blood color. Li Si had counted twenty-three pinky finger bones in the stone box, and there were also twenty-three blood-dark spirit tablets. These should represent the twenty-three clan chiefs who had died throughout the ancient tribe’s history.
Although Li Si held no favorable feelings toward the ancient tribe, he still clasped his hands and bowed in respect for the ancestors.
In addition, behind the door where the corridor entered the ancestral temple stood a round black cauldron with beast feet and double ears. Six emerald fish-eye turquoise stones were embedded in the cauldron’s belly. Strangely, the six turquoise stones were not symmetrical. The embedded shape resembled a skeletal frame somewhat. Li Si felt as if he had seen a similar shape somewhere before, but it was buried in his mind and he couldn’t recall it.
A gloomy cold wind blew into the ancestral temple from somewhere unknown, causing Li Si, who already felt bone-chillingly cold, to break out in goosebumps. At the same time, he shivered violently, his vision sweeping around the ancestral temple again. Suddenly, an uncomfortable feeling assailed his heart. What was wrong?
The human-eagle statue, stone box, blood-dark spirit tablets, double-eared black cauldron—wait, it’s right here. Li Si’s gaze shuttled back and forth like lightning among the four ancient temple artifacts, finally stopping at a certain moment. Li Si’s sight stopped on the stone box. That’s it! In the ancestral temple mural, the stone box was placed behind the temple door—that is, at the position of the double-eared black cauldron—but the stone box before his eyes was placed beside the human-eagle statue.
Li Si carefully observed the brick marks beneath the stone box. There was an extremely faint circular outline, indicating that previously a round vessel had been placed there—for instance, the double-eared black cauldron. Li Si patted the stone box. Without a doubt, someone had switched the positions of the stone box and the double-eared black cauldron. But who switched them? What was their intention? Li Si didn’t yet know. Perhaps the answer was related to that double-eared black cauldron.
The key was the round black cauldron with double ears and beast feet. Thinking of this, Li Si’s heart tightened. Round?! All seven cities of Xingtian City were circular. The fat Taoist had mentioned that the ancient tribe divided spheres of power according to circles—the further inward, the more prestigious. Li Si had originally thought that Wu Yan’s giant stone hall was the core position of power. But now it seemed this circular ancestral temple was the most important of all, the true core position, holding special significance for the ancient tribe that had been passed down for a thousand years.
Li Si gazed intently at the circular hall. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration in his mind seemed to dispel the darkness before his eyes. Li Si muttered to himself, “Could it be, could it be…” Li Si walked from the far left of the hall toward the human-eagle statue in the center—a total of forty-six steps. Then he switched to the far right and walked toward the human-eagle statue. The two step counts were similar—this time he walked fifty-four steps. Li Si walked again, this time targeting the stone box. The result was that both the left and right sides were fifty steps from the stone box. This meant that the center of this circular ancestral temple was at the stone box, not at the human-eagle statue that seemed to be placed in the very middle. Wasn’t the center of the ancestral temple circle the center of all Xingtian City, the most core location!
Except that what had been placed at the stone box’s location before was the double-eared black cauldron.
Li Si didn’t think too much. Using all his brute strength, he gradually pushed aside the stone box, which weighed four to five hundred jin. Beneath the stone box was a solid piece of gray-green stone brick. But upon careful observation, one could discover that this stone brick was slightly higher than elsewhere, as if there was an extra layer. Li Si again expended tremendous effort using his sword tip to pry up the green stone brick. The result was that beneath the green brick he discovered another layer of red brick, but Li Si couldn’t pry it up anymore. However, Li Si discovered six recessed small holes on the red brick, with an iron rod sunken into the brick in the center of the six holes. Six small holes—Li Si suddenly raised his head to look at the double-eared black cauldron.
Li Si pried out the six turquoise stones from the double-eared black cauldron and placed them one by one into the six small holes in the red brick. He had thought this would activate some mechanism, but after waiting quietly for a moment, nothing happened. Li Si stared blankly at the turquoise stones. At this moment, the shape formed by the six turquoise stones was clearer than when they were on the black cauldron. Looking at these turquoise stones, Li Si’s heart itched, as if he saw a glimmer of dawn but couldn’t grasp it. Suddenly, with a glance, his sight fell on the iron rod that existed strangely among the six turquoise stones. Wait, the iron rod was undoubtedly a straight line! The six turquoise stones were six points!
My God, this is, this is… could it really be the Six Points, One Line, Half Reincarnation!
The golden pattern of Six Points, One Line, Half Reincarnation was the unique mark of the mechanical humanoid masters created by the great mechanism master Shi Cong of the Muyi clan over a thousand years ago. The six points formed the six points constructing the skeleton of the mechanical humanoid master, the one line was the spine, and half reincarnation meant that the mechanical humanoid master made from six points and one line only had half a life—the other half of life came from the mysterious gem that served as the heart, the Five-Colored Asura Stone. Within the Muyi clan was another mechanism master renowned for a thousand years, Mozi. Mozi and Shi Cong struggled their entire lives, but in the end, Shi Cong opened his heart and entrusted the art of mechanical humanoid masters to Mozi. Li Si had once encountered Shi Cong’s descendant Shi Biran on North Sea Golden Island and witnessed mechanical humanoid masters who, relying on the Five-Colored Asura Stone, were no different from normal people. Unfortunately, the mechanical humanoid master later self-destructed in the deep sea, and Shi Biran also sank forever to the ocean floor with Golden Island.
Li Si couldn’t believe what he was seeing and thinking. He muttered in shock, “Mechanical humanoid master, this is indeed the Six Points, One Line, Half Reincarnation of a mechanical humanoid master!”
Amazing light suddenly burst forth from Li Si’s eyes. He dug out the iron rod sunken into the red brick, then forcefully rotated it from left to right, stopping at the halfway point. Rotating the iron rod half a circle was the secret of half reincarnation! Li Si thought this way, staring fixedly at the red brick beneath him. After about ten breaths, the red brick sank inward.
Immediately following came a series of “crack crack crack crack” muffled sounds. The place beneath Li Si’s feet slowly revealed a bottomless black hole.
A breath even more chilling than the hall itself rushed toward his face, as if a layer of white frost had formed on his eyelids. Li Si retrieved the oil lamp from the stone table, took a deep breath, lowered his body into the black hole, and walked in. Inside the black hole was a wide, orderly green stone staircase. Li Si discovered protruding lamp stand platforms on the stone walls. The platforms still held thick oil residue. Li Si lit the lamps. In an instant, a soft yellow halo enveloped Li Si, dispelling much of the darkness and icy cold. Li Si continued downward. Every four or five zhang there was a new lamp stand platform. Li Si lit them one by one. Lamp by lamp, the yellow light gradually illuminated the depths of the black hole. After descending about forty zhang, Li Si finally reached the end of the stone stairs. At the end was a spacious, cold stone hall.
In the depths of the stone hall was a shallow, jade-green circular water pool. The water depth only reached ankle level. In the pool was a row of sharply defined bones. Li Si determined that the bones belonged to eagle skulls. There were twenty-three eagle bones, the same number as the finger bones in the stone box and blood-dark spirit tablets. They should also represent the twenty-three deceased ancient tribe clan chiefs. The eagle bones all faced toward the center of the pool, where stood a stone table over a zhang in length and width. On the table lay four brown-red lacquer boxes arranged neatly.
Li Si crossed the pool and paused briefly before the stone table. Then he slowly opened the first lacquer box. The box was completely empty, but inside he found four seal-script lacquer characters—Shifang Poison Seed.
Li Si opened the second lacquer box. Inside was still completely empty, but there were also two lacquer characters—Bone-Bewitching. Li Si froze, then moved to the third lacquer box.
Li Si had thought the third lacquer box would also be empty, but the result was otherwise. Inside the third lacquer box lay a thin ancient scroll of a silk-like but not quite silk material. The scroll’s title was written in bold, powerful strokes—Seven Person Curse. Opening the ancient scroll, the contents were all written in some lost ancient script. He could barely recognize some characters. The one appearing most frequently was the character for “kill.” A flash of unusual brilliance passed through Li Si’s eyes. After a long while, he placed the ancient scroll back in the lacquer box.
Li Si then opened the fourth lacquer box. This time there was also an ancient scroll in the box. The title was written in archaic seal script—Ancient Yao Sect Records. Li Si’s hands trembled slightly as he opened the ancient scroll. Fortunately, the contents within weren’t written in a lost script. Li Si carefully examined the entire “Ancient Yao Sect Records.” It turned out this book was written by Shi Ze, the first Grand Elder of the Ancient Yao Sect, recording all the trivial matters of the Ancient Yao Sect during its initial establishment, from major events like annexing the four tribes and eight villages of Shifang Mountain to minor matters like naming children born to ancient tribe people within the sect. Everything, big and small, was recorded within. What most interested Li Si was the divine miracles from heaven that the Ancient Yao Sect claimed during its annexation and expansion, but the scroll only briefly mentioned “divine miracles descended from heaven to protect all beings of the Ancient Yao, the Water and Fire Palace shattered the heaven and earth of Shifang.”
What exactly did “the Water and Fire Palace shattered the heaven and earth of Shifang” mean? Li Si pondered for a long time without any ideas. After searching repeatedly, he could only give up. However, Li Si noticed that the end of the ancient scroll was uneven, as if it had been torn and was incomplete.
Could this “Ancient Yao Sect Records” be only half, with the other half missing?
Li Si reluctantly placed the ancient scroll back in the lacquer box and looked around at other parts of the stone hall. In the northeast corner of the pool was actually another green stone staircase leading upward to an unknown destination. Li Si crossed the pool and walked up along the stone stairs. Along the way, he continued lighting the lamps on the stone walls. After walking over two hundred stone steps, he reached a stone platform about ten zhang wide.
In the middle of the stone platform stood solemnly a statue of a mountain eagle with wings spread ready to fly—sharp eagle eyes, feathers as rigid as iron, curved claws like hooks. The entire mountain eagle statue was remarkably true to life and lifelike. Before the mountain eagle statue was an offering table, and behind it was a mural. The mural depicted an infant who had lost his family being carried back to a nest by an old eagle. The mother eagle fed the infant with bird meat and cared for the infant meticulously as if it were her own child. Later, enemies from the infant’s clan discovered the infant, and the mother eagle was killed by the enemies to protect the infant. By this time, the infant was already three or four years old. He didn’t shed a single tear and escaped into the deep mountains holding the mother eagle’s corpse. Many years later, the infant grew into an adult and used a sharp blade ground from eagle bone to kill the entire enemy clan. Li Si thought to himself that the nest infant was perhaps the ancestor of the ancient tribe, which is why the ancient tribe worshipped the eagle as their clan totem. But this was just Li Si’s own speculation, without any actual basis.
After viewing the mural, Li Si was about to return the way he came when suddenly a familiar, faint fragrance rushed into his nose. Only then did Li Si notice the three black incense sticks inserted in the offering table before the mountain eagle statue. The black incense had been extinguished, but the fragrance remained. Li Si took a deep breath. The familiar scent rushed into his brain, and Li Si suddenly felt a wave of fatigue. Li Si stared at the black incense for a while longer, then suddenly remembered the insect-repelling incense that Bian Kui had burned in the outer mountains. The insect-repelling incense and the black incense before his eyes had identical color and scent. They shouldn’t be wrong—both were the same type of incense.
But the black incense in the hidden cave of the ancient tribe ancestral temple was undoubtedly the finest quality incense and wouldn’t be circulated outside. How did Bian Kui obtain it? Moreover, Bian Kui had actually used it as insect-repelling incense and given it to Li Si and the others. Recalling Bian Kui’s various suspicious behaviors in Shifang Mountain, Li Si couldn’t help but conceive a shocking and bold conjecture—before Li Si and the others had even entered Shifang Mountain, they might have already fallen into an evil and terrifying conspiracy!
Thinking to this point, Li Si suddenly felt waves of cold down his back. After a moment of silence, Li Si placed a small half stick of black incense in his bosom and turned to walk down from the stone platform.
Going down the green stone stairs felt even steeper. Li Si’s pace slowed slightly. Suddenly raising his head, Li Si noticed a vague, raised eagle head mark on the cross-section of a lamp stand platform that he hadn’t noticed before. Li Si hesitated, then ran to the previous lamp stand platform position. This lamp stand platform had no eagle head mark. There was a lamp stand every four or five zhang. Li Si returned to the stone platform and checked the lamp stand platforms from top to bottom. The result was that only the one just discovered and the lamp stand platform at the very beginning of the stairs had eagle head marks.
Li Si felt something was amiss. So he also reexamined the stone hall and the green stone stairs coming down from the ancestral temple. The result was that he found two lamp stand platforms with eagle head marks in the stone hall and two on the stairs coming down from the ancestral temple. Adding the previous two made a total of six. A flash of unusual brilliance shot through Li Si’s eyes: “Six eagle heads—could it be Six Points, One Line, Half Reincarnation again! Could there be an even greater secret hidden within this ancestral temple’s hidden cave…”
After confirming the positions of the six eagle heads again, Li Si drew the points represented by the six eagle heads on the stone bricks. Sure enough, they formed the outline of a mechanical humanoid master’s skeleton. Then the subsequent “one line” would be the most crucial clue to finding the secret of the ancestral temple’s hidden cave.
But where was the one line? Li Si searched repeatedly along the two stone staircases, in the stone hall and on the stone platform, all without success.
The cold wind in the cave was bone-piercing. Li Si was almost frozen stiff. But more troublesome was the time. From entering the ancestral temple until now, at least four or five hours must have passed. If he didn’t hurry back, Wu Ying and the others would likely become suspicious. At that time, the crime of trespassing on the ancient tribe’s forbidden ground would surely be severe. Perhaps his life would even be in danger.
Li Si, his mind unsettled, stared at the six points on the stone brick. Suddenly, his shadow inexplicably flickered. It was the wind moving the flames on the lamp stand platforms. However, this wasn’t important. What was important was the shadow! Li Si silently looked at his own shadow, but his mind was already filled with countless thoughts. Could the shadow be the one line he had been searching for so hard?!
Li Si rushed urgently to the middle of the six points. The flames from lamps all around cast his human shadow long onto the stone wall, forming a straight line. Li Si slowly rotated clockwise for half a circle. The shadow line ultimately pointed in two directions—one was the stone platform, the other was the stone wall behind the water pool. It wouldn’t be the stone platform. Li Si had already examined it many times. Then it must be the other one.
Li Si came before the stone wall behind the pool. The stone wall was exceptionally hard. Li Si tried to pierce through the stone wall with his long sword, but to no avail. However, Li Si soon discovered a clue on the stone wall. On the right side of the stone wall were five cavities two fingers wide, seemingly able to activate some kind of mechanism. The five cavities formed a straight line. The outline looked like a sharp bone. The scene from the stone platform mural of the nest infant holding an eagle bone blade to take revenge appeared in Li Si’s mind. Li Si rushed up to the stone platform in one breath. The eagle bone blade held by the infant in the mural indeed had five sections.
Eagle bones should be placed in the stone wall cavities. But where were the eagle bones? Li Si felt that bizarre puzzles came wave after wave like a hurricane and tsunami. He was already dizzy and overwhelmed.
Eagle bones—there was only one place in the entire ancestral temple hidden cave that had eagle bones. Li Si suddenly looked toward the eagle remains in the water pool.
Twenty-three eagle skull bones lay inverted in the water pool. Li Si lifted the skull bones one by one. When he lifted the fifth skull bone, he discovered a section of broken bone hidden inside. Li Si’s spirits immediately lifted. In one breath, he finished lifting all twenty-three skull bones and discovered a total of five sections of broken bone. Li Si inserted the broken bones into the stone wall cavities. The sound of iron chains retracting could be heard from within the wall with a “clattering” noise. The stone wall began to move. First, the stone wall gradually retreated backward, then began sinking into the ground, revealing another stone wall behind the first. On the second stone wall was a wooden door, and it wasn’t locked.
Li Si uneasily pushed open the door. Beneath his feet was pitch blackness—actually a bottomless crevice. From the depths of the crevice seemed to drift the sound of “sobbing” ghostly weeping. On the opposite side was equally indestructible gray-green stone wall.
Suddenly, a huge black shadow swayed above Li Si’s head, accompanied by a faint rumbling sound.
Li Si slowly raised his head… My God, what am I seeing! Hidden in the depths of this thousand-year ancestral temple is actually this!
Half an hour later, Li Si, his face still showing shock, fled from the ancestral temple without looking back.
The sky was growing light. The fat Taoist was walking leisurely on the road back to the stone house when suddenly a cold wind blew from behind him. The cold wind seemed to carry fierce hostility. The fat Taoist’s heart jumped. He clenched his fists and whirled around: “Who?”
Before the fat Taoist could see clearly who it was, he was already stuffed from head to toe into a large black sack. Immediately following was an intense beating of fists and kicks that made the fat Taoist completely compliant, not daring to even grunt.
Two black shadows looked left and right, then hoisted the black sack and headed toward the fifth city.
Li Si returned to the dark stone house and discovered that the fat Taoist hadn’t returned all night—he didn’t know where he had run off to. Li Si sat at the table, his heart already extremely shocked. The scenes encountered at the ancestral temple were vivid in his mind. Before Li Si’s eyes seemed to float that colossal thing hanging above the endless crevice that appeared after the stone wall mechanism opened. It was… Li Si was just thinking when suddenly urgent knocking sounded outside the door.
Li Si thought it was the fat Taoist returning. Who would have known that upon opening the door, he would see Mita dressed in black.
“How is it you?” Li Si was startled.
“I have something to tell you.” Mita looked at Li Si. Li Si stepped aside from the doorway to let Mita enter. Mita’s temples were covered with sweat, her eyes bloodshot as if she had been crying. She sat silently at the table.
Li Si said with concern, “Your complexion is very poor. Is something the matter?”
Mita bit her lip tightly: “Please help me rescue Amu together. If we don’t save Amu, she… she’s doomed to die.”
Li Si also sat down: “Amu is the Holy Maiden chosen by the Ancient Yao Sect. With the Ancient Yao Sect present, how could she die?”
Mita said miserably, “The so-called Holy Maiden is just a pleasant term. In reality, they’re sending Amu to her death. Because the Ancient Yao Sect also has the undying soul of the Holy Woman that devours people.”