Ding Panling smiled: “You probably haven’t heard of this, but in some rural areas of northern China, people believe in this…”
This prompted Ding Longsheng, who blurted out: “Taisui?”
“Does it look like it?”
Ding Longsheng nodded repeatedly: “Yes, it does look similar, very similar indeed.”
Ding Xi also had a look of sudden realization.
How come everyone seemed to know about this except her? Yi Sa could only look to Zong Hang for comfort. Sure enough, Zong Hang didn’t disappoint: “What’s Taisui? Like the zodiac conflict Taisui?”
Ding Panling shook his head: “In ancient Chinese legends, Taisui lived underground and looked like flesh, so it was also called ‘meat lingzhi.’ There’s a saying ‘Don’t disturb the earth above Taisui’s head’ because ancient people generally believed Taisui was a malevolent deity, and digging up such things was ominous and would bring disaster.”
He pointed to the computer: “The signal comes and goes, but you can search it up, there should be quite a few accounts.”
Zong Hang hurried over, opened a web page search, and typed in “Taisui.”
Yi Sa also leaned in to look.
The signal was decent, and after some loading, the web page appeared with numerous entries.
It turned out that “Taisui” had many interpretations.
The first interpretation was as a Taoist deity, the Taisui Star-Lord. In ancient times, a complete sexagenary cycle was sixty years, and legend had it that heaven would send down a different deity each year to manage the fortune and misfortune of people born that year. The common phrase “offending Taisui” meant someone was having an unlucky year and had crossed the current year’s Taisui deity.
This explanation was too mythological, and Zong Hang felt that the one in the Drift Cave… probably had nothing to do with heavenly deities.
The second interpretation was as a malevolent entity or ominous thing, which matched what Ding Panling mentioned about “don’t disturb the earth above Taisui’s head” – it typically hid underground, shaped like a flesh mass, and shouldn’t be disturbed, or disaster would follow if dug up.
There were two strange tales listed.
One from “Youyang Zazu” told of a family who insisted on “disturbing the earth above Taisui” while building their house, resulting in them finding “a flesh mass as big as an ox, writhing and moving.” Soon after, most family members died.
Another from “Guangyi Ji” featured a protagonist surnamed Chao, probably a rebellious youth who never believed in spirits and gods, and liked to dig in directions that offended Taisui. One day he actually dug up a writhing white mass of flesh.
Young master Chao was quite bold – not only was he unafraid, but he even whipped it hundreds of times before throwing it by the roadside.
That night, someone heard a voice asking that flesh mass: “How could you let yourself be beaten like that without revenge?”
The flesh mass replied: “He’s in his prime with vigorous energy, I can’t do anything to him.”
Then, the flesh mass disappeared.
The third interpretation was more scientific, considering Taisui as an ancient life form.
The earliest mention of Taisui in ancient texts was in “Classic of Mountains and Seas,” which called it “gathered flesh” or “visible flesh” – always including the word “flesh,” showing its texture was indeed quite meat-like. The “Compendium of Materia Medica” also mentioned it, calling it “meat lingzhi,” stating that “long-term consumption leads to lightness of body and immortality, extending life to divine immortality.” It could grow by itself, “eating it is endless, as it regrows as before.”
But it was extremely rare. When Qin Shi Huang sent Xu Fu to search for immortality elixirs, one of the listed ingredients was “meat lingzhi.”
After liberation, there were several records of suspected “Taisui” discoveries in China, mostly in the north.
Modern science considers Taisui to be a rare slime mold complex, almost as old as Earth itself, leading some to claim it’s the ancestor of all plants, animals, and humans. They say when it was evolving, its future was quite promising – if willing, it could have chosen to evolve into plants, animals, or fungi, but it stopped evolving on its own.
Of course, there were many theories but no authoritative conclusion, firstly because it was too rare with very few samples for systematic research, and secondly, because slime mold compositions were complex with many varieties, with each discovery being different – in other words, no two identical Taisui had ever been found.
…
Further page-turning revealed no new explanations, just repetitions of the same few points.
Ding Panling knew they had read enough: “It’s somewhat similar, isn’t it?”
This was more than just “somewhat” simple – Zong Hang felt they could almost conclude: No wonder when Yi Sa had hacked and slashed at it with the Wu Gui dagger earlier, that thing hadn’t become agitated or counterattacked – for it, since it could regrow continuously with such strong regenerative abilities, it didn’t consider being cut and slashed as harm at all.
Yi Sa couldn’t help asking: “But the one in the Drift Cave is several stories high, can it grow that big?”
Ding Longsheng continued: “It must be the different geographical environment. In our northern legends, they’re all dug up from the soil, at depths of a few meters, at most ten-plus meters, and size-wise, either ‘as big as an ox’ or ‘as big as a basin.’ But this is the Three Rivers Source region – when we extended our crane rope, we connected seven lengths, nearly a thousand meters, and there’s water below. From what you’ve described, it’s also wrapped in breathing soil and has lived for who knows how many years. Growing to such an enormous size seems possible.”
“Then does it…” Yi Sa’s words caught in her throat, and she shrank back, looking around before lowering her voice as if afraid of being overheard, “does it have a brain and consciousness like us, can it think?”
Zong Hang said quietly: “Probably. If it arranged the breathing nest and guided you to create that story about a previous civilization, how could it not think?”
Yi Sa muttered: “So it’s become a spirit.”
Ding Panling said: “It probably didn’t stop evolving. Evolution is quite similar to becoming a spirit – from ape to human, from a certain perspective, isn’t that also becoming a spirit? Originally only able to crawl on all fours, unable to speak, eating and drinking raw things, after tens or hundreds of thousands of years of ‘cultivation,’ countless ‘tribulations,’ finally ascending to become human.”
As he spoke, he walked to the table, turned the computer screen toward himself, and looked back at the web pages Zong Hang had browsed: “Those folk tales and strange chronicles all say Taisui is ominous, bringing disaster if provoked. Could it be because those Taisui had evolved to have consciousness and knew how to exact revenge?”
Think about it – Taisui is nestled underground, that’s its “home.” Disturbing the earth above Taisui is equivalent to overturning its den – disturbing any animal’s nest could provoke retaliation.
What makes Taisui particularly frightening is that you don’t understand it at all.
You think it’s just a piece of writhing flesh, not even a living being, but actually, it is, and it understands everything, and can even do many things. It just remains quiet, leading everyone to believe it’s just an ignorant, unfeeling thing that can barely wiggle.
It’s not afraid of being eaten either, because it regrows as it’s cut, and…
Zong Hang suddenly shuddered: “What do you think – when people eat it, is it eating them, or are they eating it?”
Though awkwardly phrased, everyone present understood.
When people eat Taisui, it could also be understood as Taisui entering their bodies.
What makes you think it died and was digested by you, rather than turning the tables, grafting onto you, and transforming you?
In myths and legends, people who ate Taisui became “immortal,” “light as swallows,” “agile as apes,” “instantly cured of serious illnesses,” and even “resurrected from death,” making observers envious, desperately wanting to try a piece themselves – but what if these “lucky ones” were no longer their former selves?
If ordinary Taisui could do this, let alone this ancient spirit in the Drift Cave.
Ding Longsheng murmured: “It’s possible. Maybe our three families’ ancestors were transformed by eating a few bites… or for other reasons. Think about our water ghosts’ special abilities – bodies much stronger than normal people, able to survive underwater – that’s because the one in the Drift Cave lives on the water, it’s its characteristic, we just inherited it…”
Ding Xi said softly: “Godfather means that the three families’ origins go back even further? The three founding masters weren’t the source, there was Taisui before them?”
Yi Sa suddenly found it amusing.
What had they come all this way for, with such a grand expedition? To trace their family tree? Finally, discover who their true ancestor was.
Ding Panling nodded: “That seems to be the case now. The three families are indeed special, maybe we’ve always been a different kind of people.”
Yi Sa laughed: “So after all this, we’ve discovered it’s like a flood washing away the Dragon King’s temple – we’re all family, supposed to stand united now?”
No wonder on their first night here, before their bedding was even warm, the Drift Cave “opened its doors” – Taisui knew they had arrived and consciously “invited” them down to observe and reason, helping them recognize their ancestry.
Ding Panling’s brows furrowed: “Wait, we need to think this through.”
He looked at Yi Sa: “The breathing nest in Jin Tang Cave is real, and so are the corpses, right?”
Yi Sa nodded.
Ding Panling pondered: “It has a plan. Let’s not worry about what this plan is, but it anticipated a series of unexpected situations and had backup plans.”
“If no one paid attention to this matter and no one stopped Jiang Jun and his people, this plan would have proceeded naturally, but things didn’t go as planned. Outsiders entered Jin Tang and tried to investigate the truth…”
Yi Sa continued: “So it threw out a story with a huge framework.”
Ding Panling agreed: “Threw it out very cleverly, not directly giving it but making you rack your brains to reason and guess, though the stride was too big…”
A stride too big can strain the crotch – in other words, nonsense.
Previous civilization, artificial intelligence, and such – it certainly diverted people’s attention far away, and in their shock and consideration, made them feel accepting “them” was good.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stand up to scrutiny.
But no matter, it still had another move.
The Drift Cave.
This descent into the Drift Cave was smooth and effortless because it gave the green light: it wanted you to see its true form, wanted you to know how the three families came to be.
You thought you were fighting unknown enemies, but amid conflict, you discovered that the three families originated from it, and weren’t purely human at all.
So the question arose.
Ding Panling looked at Yi Sa: “Why didn’t it reveal this answer from the beginning? Why wait until all the previous defenses were broken before telling us through the Drift Cave?”
Yes, this puzzled Zong Hang too.
Why not simply have the founding masters tell their descendants the secret: we are special, we’re different from “humans,” and when the time is right, we’ll work together to do something big?
In the silence, Ding Longsheng chuckled.
He said: “Like Xue Pinggui conquering the West, becoming one of the Western Liang people, eighteen years in the enemy camp – who knows where your heart truly lies? When it comes down to face-to-face confrontation, which side will the three families stand on?”