Zong Hang was bound tightly, hands and feet restrained. The thin rope wrapped around him layer after layer. After struggling many times and confirming he couldn’t break free, he stopped resisting. He didn’t cry out either, just resignedly curled up in the corner of the room.
Over these two months, he had been tied up, beaten, and encountered more misfortunes than most people would in two or three lifetimes. As the saying goes, “suffering doesn’t thin you for nothing” and “experience makes one grow” – at least his mentality had stabilized. He wasn’t nervous anymore and didn’t bother to rack his brains thinking about it.
Whatever was meant to come would come anyway.
Sure enough, when the door opened, a mummy entered first.
Zong Hang didn’t even recognize her until she spoke: “Zong Hang?”
It was Yi Xiao.
So she was involved – the nighttime meeting at 10 o’clock at Duck Head Mountain had been nothing but a trap to catch him!
Zong Hang gritted his teeth in anger.
Seeing his furrowed brows and glaring eyes, Yi Xiao instead smiled: “Angry?”
Zong Hang said: “What’s the meaning of this? Didn’t you hire Jing Xiu for a year? Didn’t you say you wanted to investigate the truth behind everything together with me?”
Yi Xiao nodded: “And you believed that?”
Zong Hang was momentarily speechless.
After a pause, still feeling indignant: “You saved me just to use me?”
Yi Xiao countered: “What else did you expect? Have you read too many martial arts novels and think the world is full of righteous heroes? Even spending two yuan on a pancake is for satisfying hunger. I saved you, spent money on you, talked myself hoarse telling you so many things – did you think it was just out of kindness?”
Zong Hang wanted to say something but swallowed it back – he had never been good at arguing, and those accusations would probably mean nothing to Yi Xiao anyway.
Yi Xiao crouched down in front of him: “Actually, at first, I did plan to keep you around. Finding Jing Xiu was indeed meant to have her look after you. My body isn’t convenient for being out in public, but you’ve sat in the water, can break through crocodile formations, and you’re young and strong – you would have been very efficient at running errands.”
“But plans must yield to changes. Things changed, and everything – absolutely everything – should change accordingly.”
Zong Hang couldn’t help asking: “What changed?”
Yi Xiao looked at him with a smile, and after a while, reached up to pull down her face mask.
A wave of putrid, rotting stench hit him.
Zong Hang’s heart skipped a beat.
The smell on Yi Xiao’s body had been like a subtle thread throughout, seemingly trying to connect something.
When they first met, she had a slight smell of decay.
After her resurrection, the unpleasant smell on her body had disappeared, or rather, had greatly diminished.
Now, the smell had become even more intense.
Yi Xiao had said before, “When it smells like the stench of a corpse, I’ll be close to death.”
Zong Hang shuddered: “Are you…”
Yi Xiao cut him off: “I’m dying.”
She slowly pulled her mask back up: “No one gets two chances. We were shot dead together, sunk in the lake – when I opened my eyes, I thought my life had returned, but it hadn’t.”
“In this life, heaven has failed me, so I’ll fail the whole world. When a wolf wants meat and there’s meat nearby, it bites – there’s no right or wrong in this.”
“I’m not wrong, and you shouldn’t die, but I’m dying, and you’re the meat that can save me. I will tear and bite, and you can hate me all you want, but I have nothing to apologize for, understand?”
Zong Hang said: “How am I the meat that can save you?”
Yi Xiao remained silent.
She looked at Zong Hang’s face.
His face had scrapes with some dirt mixed in the wounds, but he still gave off a clean impression, perhaps because of his pure eyes.
Since they had shared life and death once, she might as well let him die knowing the truth.
Yi Xiao said: “Let me tell you a story. Do you remember I mentioned the ancestral hall of the Three Surnames?”
Everything has its origin.
Events from too long ago lack detailed written records. Passed down by word of mouth, they now sound more like legendary tales.
The Three Surnames each had their founding ancestor, whose names can no longer be verified. People habitually added “Zu” (ancestor) after their surnames when referring to them – Ding Zu, Jiang Zu, and Yi Zu.
These three people seemingly appeared at the same time, each making their living along a great river, marrying, and having children. This miraculous gift of being able to survive underwater began with them.
In those times, there was no control over childbirth. Children married early in their teens and had their children, so in just a few decades, the initial three people became three prosperous clans, with four or five generations living under one roof. Each knew the other two families were “relatives,” though no one could explain exactly how they were related.
The three families gradually began to interact and occasionally intermarried.
The various rules of the Three Surnames also took shape during this period. The three ancestors were all long-lived, reportedly living to 150 or 160 years old. When they passed away, besides leaving behind the first crude version of the Golden Soup Manual, they also left behind final instructions.
Which instructions came from which ancestor couldn’t be distinguished anymore – perhaps they were a collection from all three families – but they specified several important matters.
First, the affairs of the Three Surnames were to remain secret. Each surname should keep to themselves and not reveal anything to outsiders except clients and colleagues.
The initial Council of Elders was more like an execution institution, established to punish or even execute those who leaked secrets.
Second, heaven’s gifts shouldn’t be taken as permanent blessings. This “ancestral return” ability might gradually weaken with each generation’s transmission, the introduction of outside bloodlines, and the continuous expansion of family numbers. When this weakening began to cause consecutive failures, it would indicate something very serious – the Three Surnames would face the imminent loss of this ability.
But there was a remedy. When this crisis truly came, they could go to the source of the great rivers to seek the Drifting Cave.
The Drifting Cave, simply put, was a “hole.” With “drifting” prefixed to it, it meant its location wasn’t fixed at all.
The ancestors provided location clues in twelve characters:
“Where the river flows like a broom, the earth opens its door, wind rushes toward the stars.”
They also composed four lines, prophesying the time to open the Drifting Cave:
“Flying without wings, facing without face,
Knowing world affairs while sitting still,
Before weapons clash, disaster strikes in the chain.”
After much discussion, later generations of the Three Surnames decoded those twelve characters.
“Where the river flows like a broom” – where river flows are as numerous as broom bristles, should refer to the source of the Three Rivers, because there are countless small streams there. During the Qing Dynasty, when Emperor Kangxi sent people to explore the river sources in the Qinghai-Tibet region, the envoys, faced with so many rivers, were somewhat at a loss. In their memorial to the throne explaining why they couldn’t determine the main source, they used a similar metaphor: “The river sources are like a broom, spread very wide.”
“The earth opens its door, wind rushes toward the stars” – The cave entrance should open level with the ground, and there’s wind inside because only wind blowing straight up from deep inside a cave could possibly “rush toward the stars.”
Yi Xiao said: “Throughout history, each generation of the Three Surnames could only produce one Water Ghost, and after one family produced one, which family would produce one in the next generation was completely unpredictable – more capricious than an emperor picking from his concubines. Someone once made an analogy: every child of the Three Surnames was born with a Water Ghost’s shell, anyone could potentially become one. The difference lay in the ‘點睛’ (adding the final touch) – whoever the ancestors chose to feed, that person was essentially given the final touch. This ability couldn’t be coveted, stolen, or seized.”
Zong Hang murmured: “So, in your hearts, the Drifting Cave is a magical place. You all think that if you get there, you might obtain this ability, right?”
Yi Xiao laughed wryly, with infinite emotion: “Yes, that’s what everyone thinks.”
Those who couldn’t become Water Ghosts in their lifetime would, in their resentment, all make similar threats: “Want to bet I’ll make a trip to the Three Rivers source? If I’m lucky enough to fall into the Drifting Cave, I’ll come out able to be the ancestor of all Water Ghosts!”
However, for thousands of years, everyone only talked about this so-called “Drifting Cave” in passing, since “opening the Golden Soup” had always gone smoothly, and the resulting profits allowed everyone to live comfortably.
As a side note, to avoid arousing suspicion, many members of the Three Surnames would maintain cover occupations – joining other trades like circus performers, barrel makers, potters, dough figurine makers, or clothes appraisers. Since these weren’t for making a living but rather hobbies, they became quite skilled, producing many experts.
It wasn’t until the recent hundred years or so, when failures suddenly began occurring, that the Three Surnames started focusing on the river source region. They even stationed dedicated personnel there at one point, trying every means to gather information about the “cave.”
During this period, failures occurred one after another. More worryingly, the Water Ghosts selected through the seven trials and eight tests were declining in quality with each generation.
Yi Xiao said: “You’ve ‘broken through the crocodile,’ but do you know what the original requirements for ‘breaking the crocodile’ were?”
“One person alone, wearing corrosion-resistant fitted leather clothing, armed only with a crocodile shield and a Black Ghost dagger, had to face a giant crocodile tens of meters long, allow themselves to be swallowed, then break out through its belly – that was true ‘breaking the crocodile.'”
“Unfortunately, several generations ago, Water Ghosts could no longer accomplish this.”
Zong Hang’s heart pounded wildly.
He recalled something Yi Xiao had once told him:
“The reason we became like this, the reason you’ll become like this, is all related to their failures.”
Now it seemed this statement wasn’t quite accurate. The true cause and effect should be: because of continuous failures, the ancestral ability was gradually being lost, so they wanted to find the Drifting Cave, and then things went wrong.
His throat went dry: “So, you went to the Drifting Cave?”
Yi Xiao didn’t speak, but her expression confirmed it.
The four lines the ancestors had composed miraculously matched certain conditions of that time.
“Flying without wings”: People without wings yet able to fly in the sky – seemed to refer to the emergence of modern aircraft.
“Facing without face”: Not meeting in person yet still meeting? Like the emergence of video calls, where parties could converse freely despite being thousands of miles apart.
“Knowing world affairs while sitting still”: Like watching television news, or perhaps more appropriately, internet news – TV news was passive reception, but with a networked computer, one could search for whatever they wanted – by the 1990s, computers, and the internet had already begun to popularize.
“Before weapons clash, disaster strikes in the chain”: This phrase was also found in the ancient Chinese book “Tui Bei Tu,” and many researchers believed it referred to modern warfare – without close combat, just pressing a button sends missiles flying; indeed, before weapons clash, “disaster strikes.”
Each line pointed directly to the current era, making everyone believe that with the continuous failures and prophecies being fulfilled, the journey to the Drifting Cave was inevitable.
That year, the first reliable news about the “cave” came from the Three Rivers source region.
A Tibetan, who had traveled far to carve mani stones at a temple, discovered a hole along the way. It was only as big as a basin, bottomless, and when he put his head in to listen, he could hear the whooshing of wind.
The Tibetan wanted to know how deep the hole was, so he lowered a spindle wrapped with yak wool thread, but even after using all the thread, it still hadn’t reached the bottom.
The Three Surnames were elated. In the ensuing mobilization, almost all their skilled members set out, some even bringing their families – no one wanted to miss such a rare “grand event” that might only occur once in a thousand years.
There were no exact landmarks on the plateau, and the Tibetans couldn’t remember the precise location anymore. Plus, no one knew exactly how this “drifting” worked, so they marked out a large area on the map and divided it into three sections, with each family responsible for searching one section.
To avoid disputes, they set rules: whichever family’s territory the Drifting Cave was found in would have priority rights and could explore it first. If any “divine light” or “ability bestowal” occurred, that would be their luck, and the other two families would have to contain their envy.
Yi Xiao laughed loudly, becoming slightly breathless toward the end, and said to Zong Hang: “Did you hear that? ‘Have to contain their envy’ – when Jiang Jun was talking to his father, Jiang Xiaoguang still reminded him to follow the rules, but I found the envy in his tone laughable.”
She murmured softly: “Everyone thought it was a good thing, back then, everyone thought it was a good thing. Actually, I was the one who pulled Jiang Jun along – he was my lover after all, and I wanted to share any benefits with him, and Jiang Jun was willing…”
She seemed lost in thought.
Who wouldn’t be willing? Even those who stayed behind with her father Yi Jiuge to accompany her sister Yi Sa, though they agreed verbally, later snuck over too, constantly pleading: “Uncle Yi, the little girl is so well-behaved, listening to stories and eating peanuts, hasn’t even looked outside once, she won’t be scared, we’ll just take one look, just one look and we’ll go right back…”
Zong Hang felt a chill in his heart: “Something went wrong after entering the cave, right? I remember you mentioned that among those who died with you, some had bones breaking through their skin, some were covered in frost when they died, and some looked like they’d been burned…”
Yi Xiao stared at him, her voice becoming slower and lower: “Many people died instantly, died quickly.”
“The suffering ones were those who didn’t die immediately – all of them confused, agitated, terrified, running and crawling wildly, their bodies undergoing terrifying changes in a short time. I saw with my own eyes people whose bones grew to pierce through their flesh, faces that shriveled like dehydrated orange peel in an instant, and bodies that rotted entirely…”
“Someone called for help over the radio. Ding Changsheng’s car was closest, and Jiang Xiaoguang was the first to know about the discovery here. Their two cars arrived one after another, and of course, others came quickly too.”
“Ding Changsheng had joined the Council of Elders by then, though still a minor figure, but he handled things efficiently and didn’t panic. He immediately arranged for people to control the scene. Jiang Xiaoguang was a Water Ghost with rich experience, and he roughly knew what arrangements would be made for these people, whether alive or dead. He reacted quickly and, before more people arrived, made a deal with Ding Changsheng. Ding Changsheng had no reason to refuse – as a minor figure, getting support from the Jiang family’s Water Ghost was exactly what he wanted.”
“I was lying on the ground unable to get up, but I still saw Jiang Xiaoguang hurriedly hiding Jiang Jun in the car. By then, Jiang Jun’s appearance had already changed, so later, that one at Poyang Lake, looking all proper – I knew it was fake without even looking.”
Zong Hang listened in a daze, feeling like a horror movie was playing out before him: “Was it an infection? Some unknown virus buried underground?”
Many strange viruses and violent chemical agents could cause human deformities, but the one Yi Xiao encountered seemed to act faster.
Yi Xiao’s gaze on him deepened.
Zong Hang felt uneasy.
She said: “Those people who were locked up with me all died quickly – some in a day or two, others in a few months. The longest survivors lasted maybe four or five years, but they all died. Initially, I also thought it was an infection, and considered myself lucky to have lasted so many years.”
“Until recently, when I opened my eyes again at the bottom of Lake Luosiluo, I finally understood.”
“It wasn’t an infection. Those of us who seemed to survive the initial incident had all died, but… we revived too quickly.”
“Our bodies were all very inferior, unable to withstand this reviving life force, so this second life we received was either wasted early on or continued in a horrifically distorted state.”
“Now do you understand… why I said you were perfect?”