More than two hours later, Mu and Cai met again at Changfu’s gravestone. They had been circling the cemetery, testing the sunlight in every corner, along every wall, and even standing briefly next to each tombstone. Yet, their efforts yielded no results.
The mountain wind had turned Cai Zhao’s face pale and her lips blue. Mu Qingyan reached into the bamboo basket at his feet, retrieving a small silver flask. He offered it to her, suggesting she drink some alcohol to warm up.
“Why don’t we just dig up the graves?” Mu habitually reached out to smooth Cai Zhao’s messy hair. She leaned back to avoid his touch, but he wasn’t offended. “If we excavate this entire back mountain area, we’ll know what’s underground. Shangguan Haonan’s men are quite capable. I heard their ancestors were originally grave robbers. It shouldn’t take more than half a day.”
“Master Mu, please show some respect,” Cai Zhao frowned, tossing the silver flask back into the basket. “These graves belong to righteous heroes who fought against tyranny. How dare you suggest grave robbers dig them up!”
Mu Qingyan clasped his hands behind his back. “Then, Miss Cai, what do you suggest we do next? I’m at a loss.”
Today, he wore a form-fitting black brocade robe with narrow sleeves that reached the ground, accentuating his tall, slender frame. As he stood facing the wind in the desolate wilderness, he cut an impressive figure, as straight and dignified as a pine tree.
Cai Zhao glanced away slightly, sighed with her hands on her hips, and reorganized her thoughts. “My father said he was standing on the stone steps to the south…”
“You mean these?” Mu Qingyan pointed to a small flight of steps made of bluestone slabs.
The steps led down to the burial ground. At the top stood a large stone tripod, flanked by two bluestone tables for offerings. Behind them was a wide stone wall, about one zhang high and wider than the gap between the two sets of stone steps on either side. It could easily accommodate more than twenty people standing shoulder to shoulder. A poem praising righteousness was carved on it in an elaborate calligraphic style.
Cai Zhao stepped onto the stone steps. “My father said he stood here for most of the time.”
“There are steps on both sides for accessing the sacrificial platform. Which side did your father stand on?” Mu Qingyan continued to challenge her. “And on which step?”
Ignoring him, Cai Zhao continued her train of thought. “My aunt was originally discussing important matters with Hero Chang. She must have come to call my father back for a meal, so he must have been standing here from morning until evening…”
Mu Qingyan interjected, “We’ve already stood on both sets of steps. They can only accommodate two people side by side, and we didn’t feel any unusual heat.”
Cai Zhao glared at him. “You’re interrupting.”
Mu Qingyan smiled. “I’m just trying to help.”
“I don’t need your help,” Cai Zhao replied confidently. “I’ll go down the mountain later and ask Senior Fan to find me a hundred or so disciples. We’ll fill the entire graveyard and stay in the sun for a whole day. Then we’ll know where the anomaly is.”
Mu Qingyan considered this. “That’s not a bad idea, but what if your father remembered incorrectly? What if he was sitting instead?”
“Then we’ll come back the next day and have everyone sit in the graveyard for a whole day.”
Mu Qingyan added, “That could work. But it would be best to find people with similar heights to your father. If they’re too tall or short, even if they’re in the right position, they might not feel the heat on their face, head, or chest.”
Cai Zhao tried to maintain her composure. “Fine, I’ll ask my seniors to find people close to my father’s height.”
Mu Qingyan wasn’t finished. “We should also write to your father to ask how tall he was back then. Young men often grow until they’re twenty. Your father was only in his teens, right? He might not have reached his full height yet.”
Cai Zhao exploded, “Why is this so complicated!”
Mu Qingyan laughed brightly. “I’m just trying to be thorough. As they say, ‘A small error can lead to a great disaster’…”
“I don’t care!” Cai Zhao took a deep breath, composing herself. “Alright, we’re done for today. Why don’t we leave?”
Mu Qingyan asked, “Why should I leave?”
Cai Zhao stomped her foot. “When my senior disciples come up here and see you, won’t that be… won’t that be…”
Mu Qingyan’s eyes darkened. “Miss Cai, isn’t this a bit too much like discarding a tool after using it?”
“Are you leaving or not?”
“No.”
Cai Zhao, frustrated, spread her fingers and made a grabbing motion toward the ground using her Dragon-Capturing Technique. She then thrust her palm forward, sending a rock the size of a child’s head flying towards Mu Qingyan.
She expected him to deflect it with his palm, shattering the rock instantly. Instead, Mu Qingyan simply sidestepped, letting the rock fly past him.
With a loud ‘bang’, the rock struck the bluestone table behind Mu Qingyan. As the dust settled, a long crack was visible in the stone table.
A bead of sweat formed on Cai Zhao’s temple.
Mu Qingyan feigned surprise, exclaiming loudly, “Oh my, Zhao Zhao, you’ve broken the sacrificial table of these righteous heroes!”
“You… you… you demon!” Cai Zhao was on the verge of tears, lunging at him in anger.
Mu Qingyan laughed, spinning away and up the stone steps. He then opened his arms wide and caught the fuming young woman, holding her soft form against him. He paused for a moment, realizing that in the months since he’d last seen her, the young miss seemed to have grown a bit.
Before he could entertain any other thoughts, Cai Zhao suddenly cried out, “Look! Look!”
Mu Qingyan looked down to see the young woman in his arms staring intently past him. Following her gaze, he saw she was looking at the easternmost part of the stone wall behind him.
He frowned. “What’s wrong with this stone wall?”
Cai Zhao shook her head and quickly walked to the westernmost part of the wall, bending down to examine it closely.
Mu Qingyan followed her. “We checked this area earlier and found no mechanisms. What do you see?”
Cai Zhao pointed at seven or eight strands of green vines crawling up the stone wall. “Look at these.”
Mu Qingyan chuckled, “It’s just ivy.”
Then, with a hint of sadness, he added, “The old days are gone, and all we see now is desolation. When the Chang family was still here, how could Hero Chang have allowed such things to grow on the stone wall?”
“Fortunately, we have these,” Cai Zhao said gravely, pointing at the ivy. “Look closely. Do you notice anything unusual about these vines?”
It was early summer, and the vines on the stone wall were lush and abundant, likely to cover the entire front of the wall in a few months. However, the leaves of the ivy Cai Zhao pointed to were somewhat shriveled.
Mu Qingyan leaned in to examine them carefully. The leaves above and below this spot were thriving, but in an area about the size of a fist, centered where Cai Zhao pointed, the vines were withered and the leaves curled to varying degrees.
Cai Zhao explained, “This is the result of prolonged sun exposure.” Having learned about drying and processing herbs from her parents due to her father’s long-term medication, she was familiar with this appearance in plants.
Mu Qingyan started, and they both turned to look behind them. They were near the westernmost end of the stone wall. In front were several medium-height tombstones, with a denser cluster to the east. To the west, at the edge of the cemetery, stood a group of jagged rocks, one of which was particularly striking.
While the other rocks were low and sharp, this one stood out like a curved stone pillar, tall and slender, reaching over two zhang in height.
Mu and Cai circled the pillar, examining it closely. Without discussion, Mu Qingyan focused on the upper half while Cai Zhao inspected the lower portion.
Moments later, Cai Zhao exclaimed, “Look here!”
The pillar was rugged and oddly shaped, with bumps and hollows all over it. However, at about the height of Cai Zhao’s chest, there was a large, extremely smooth, and flat surface that curved slightly inward, resembling a concave mirror.
This mirror-like surface of the rock-faced directly toward the stone steps and stele.
“So that’s how it works,” Mu Qingyan marveled at nature’s coincidence. “The back of the mountain is shaded, with sparse sunlight. Normally, it would be impossible to heat up. But with this concave mirror surface, it can concentrate the weak sunlight many times over and reflect it to the opposite side.”
“My father must have been standing right here when the concentrated sunlight hit his face from the side,” Cai Zhao said, positioning herself on the opposite stone steps. “Since it was early spring, even sunlight concentrated dozens of times wasn’t too intense. Lost in thought, he stood here for most of the day, unaware that his face had been sunburned. It wasn’t until my aunt noticed and told him to wash his face with cold water.”
“No, the position isn’t right,” Mu Qingyan suddenly said.
He quickly retrieved a thin hemp rope from the bamboo basket, pressing one end to the mirror-like surface of the stone pillar and tossing the other end to Cai Zhao.
Cai Zhao took the rope to the sun-exposed ivy, pulling it taut to form a straight line.
Their gazes met as they observed that the midpoint of the rope, where it crossed the stone steps, was neither high nor low—lower than a man’s face when standing, but slightly higher than if one were sitting on the top step.
“The sunlight reflected from this stone pillar’s surface to reach that spot on the ivy couldn’t possibly have hit your father’s face,” Mu Qingyan concluded. Then, hesitating, he added, “Unless your father was short at the time…”
Cai Zhao looked perplexed. “That’s not the case. My aunt said my father often kept his head down as a child because he was tall for his age and felt self-conscious among his peers.”
“Then, something must have changed over these past ten years or so,” Mu Qingyan deduced calmly.
He turned his gaze to the sacrificial platform. “This platform covers a large area, with a foundation built of massive blue stones. If it had sunk, it wouldn’t have done so evenly—there would be slopes in various directions. Yet it appears level now.”
He then looked at the stone pillar beside them. “So, the change must have occurred here.”
Cai Zhao hurried over to look. They saw that the base of the stone pillar was deeply embedded in the soil.
Mountain soil is typically harder than lowland soil, but it couldn’t withstand the weight of this massive, upright stone pillar. The ground around its base had slightly sunken towards the center.
“How did this stone pillar sink?” Cai Zhao asked, astonished.
Mu Qingyan focused his gaze downward. “Mount Wu’an has endured wind and rain for centuries, forming these rugged rocks. The foundation should be solid and wouldn’t collapse without reason, unless…”
“Unless someone hollowed out the ground beneath!” Cai Zhao interjected.
Mu Qingyan gave her an amused glance before rummaging through the bamboo basket again. “Now that we’ve confirmed the location, the rest is simple. We’ll just blast it open.”
He walked over with two familiar black objects in each hand—the non-poisonous version of the thunderbolt fire bombs. “If these don’t work, we can always call for diggers.”
Cai Zhao looked somewhat dazed. “What… what do you think is under this stone pillar?”
Mu Qingyan paused, puzzled. “What do you mean? We won’t know until we blast it open, right?”
Cai Zhao tilted her head slightly and said softly, “According to what you’ve said, there should be the hidden remains of someone buried here, and Hero Chang, despite his grief, would remember to come to pay respects during Qingming Festival. So, this person probably wasn’t bad. But if they were good, why couldn’t they have an open burial with a tombstone?”
Mu Qingyan scoffed, “Don’t tell me you won’t let me dig here either. If you’re so kindhearted, why did you break that bully’s arm by the Qingluojiang River and scare off Zhou Yuqi?”
“That’s not…” Cai Zhao was too tired to argue with him. “What I mean is, we should blast in that direction. South to the north, six to the northwest, and southwest represents yin, following the cycle of life and death… Yes, over there!”
She walked straight in that direction for about fifty or sixty feet, then stopped. “Let’s blast here.”
Mu Qingyan narrowed his eyes slightly, not moving. “Would Miss Cai care to explain?”
Cai Zhao sighed, “Alright, fine. Remember those Shi brothers my aunt befriended…”
“I remember,” Mu Qingyan nodded. “Shi Er was also infected by the Netherworld Cold Qi and lost all his martial arts skills. Your aunt later cured him. That’s why Song Yuzhi kept going on about finding some Purple Jade Golden Mallow.”
Cai Zhao looked at him speechlessly before continuing, “After Nie Hengcheng died, the brothers retired from the martial world. Even my master and father don’t know where. It was my aunt’s idea. Elder Shi had too many enemies and a complicated family situation with wives and concubines. Younger Shi had been severely injured multiple times and needed long-term rest…”
“The sun is setting. Let’s be quick about this,” Mu Qingyan said with a smile. “Were the Shi brothers originally grave robbers?”
Cai Zhao vehemently objected, “How can you say that?! They were righteous heroes who happened to learn some excavation techniques due to their family background. How can you call that grave robbing?”
Mu Qingyan didn’t let her double standard slide. “Tell me, did they ever rob any graves?”
Cai Zhao deflated, “Who hasn’t robbed a couple of graves in their youth? They stopped after meeting my aunt.”
“I think many people haven’t robbed graves, but never mind…” Mu Qingyan suppressed a laugh. “What happened next?”
Cai Zhao pouted, “Before retiring, Elder Shi gave my aunt several family heirlooms. I browsed through one of them a few times when I was little…”
“Oh, was it ‘A Hands-on Guide to Grave Robbing’?” Mu Qingyan struggled to keep a straight face.
“It wasn’t grave robbing!” The young girl insisted. “It contained many techniques for constructing underground tombs! Later, when my Uncle Scar passed away, you know, the one who…”
“One Palm Decides Heaven and Earth, Purple-faced Scar Guest Sun Dingzhou,” Mu Qingyan supplied.
“Yes, him!” Cai Zhao continued, “He felt guilty about those who died tragically, so he didn’t want a tombstone and asked my father to bury him simply. Later, my aunt decided to build a small underground tomb for him following Elder Shi’s manual.”
Mu Qingyan nodded, “So you think the tomb under our feet was also built by the Shi brothers?”
“Chang didn’t have those skills,” Cai Zhao explained. “Don’t think building an underground tomb is easy. You need to prevent water seepage, keep out rodents and insects… and leave no trace on the surface after sealing the entrance. There are many tricks to it.”
“Miss Cai is right,” Mu Qingyan said, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he watched the girl’s flustered, blushing face. “We’ll do as you say.”
They dug half a chi deep at the spot Cai Zhao had indicated, buried the firebombs, and lit the fuse.
With a thunderous boom, a dark hole appeared beneath them.