Chapter 91: Breaking Free

This wasn’t the first time I’d been bitten by a snake. When I was a kid, I got too caught up playing and wrestling in the grass with some friends. Just my luck, I landed right on a snake that had been lounging in the shade. I must’ve disturbed its nap, because it twisted its neck and sank its fangs into me. Thankfully, it wasn’t venomous, but it still left me miserable for quite a while.

The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I became. In the end, it was just my bad luck. He Yu had been poking at that stool with his foot for ages and nothing happened. But the moment I reached out, the thing bit me without hesitation. What, did I interrupt their little romantic moment or something?

Chen Canghai had probably climbed out more than once already. The ground was freshly covered with dry straw. We were all sitting cross-legged around the fire, and the straw was definitely more comfortable than sitting directly on the rocks.

He Yu had just finished fighting a snake, swimming, and rock climbing, so he was clearly worn out. He plopped down with his backpack and immediately asked Lu A’yao, “Where is everyone else? Seriously, what happened? We just switched gear and stepped out, and suddenly you guys were gone. Scared poor Little Yao so bad she couldn’t even speak properly.”

I couldn’t help raising a fist at his exaggeration. He Yu grinned at me and quickly added, “Okay, maybe just a tiny bit exaggerated.”

Unexpectedly, Lu A’yao sighed and looked at me. “After you went below deck, Han Jian and the others noticed something strange at the bow. They were planning to wait for you two to return before moving on, but I realized the rock walls on both sides weren’t supposed to be there. That meant the map was useless, so I decided to find a safe spot first, then come back to get you.”

“Wait, what do you mean? What do you mean ‘weren’t supposed to be there’?” He Yu pulled out a waterproof tarp from his bag.

It was tightly wrapped with over a dozen layers. He quickly peeled off the outermost layer, revealing two or three more layers of thick plastic. And inside those layers was… an entire roast chicken!

I had been focused on what Lu A’yao was saying, but now my attention was completely hijacked by that chicken. The impact it had on me was like a caveman in the Stone Age suddenly seeing a commercial airliner.

“You son of a— you were hiding a roast chicken!” I lunged for it.

He Yu swatted my hand away. “Get lost! You’re the one hiding stuff! I bought this the night before, okay? See? This is what separates your Brother Yu from the rest—foresight. Here, Little Yao, have the drumsticks.”

He tore off two drumsticks and shoved them into my hands, then spread out the tarp and placed the whole chicken on it. I hadn’t even taken a bite when I remembered that Chen Canghai was probably younger than me, so I handed him the drumstick in my right hand.

Lu A’yao didn’t seem very hungry. He just tore off a wing and said, “According to the original map, we should still be in the middle of the river, in the main current, not a tributary. If we were following the planned route, we’d still have another thirty minutes of sailing before we reached the tributary.”

That explanation made everything click. “So you’re saying the terrain has changed.”

There was only one explanation that came to mind: the Rubbing Manuscript we were using must have been drawn a long time ago. Over the years, the landscape had shifted dramatically, like how the Shennongjia region split open to form a massive gorge.

But Lu A’yao shook his head, dismissing my theory. “No. These two mountain ridges appeared suddenly. They cut off the river and created a new tributary.”

As soon as he said that, both He Yu and I froze mid-bite, while Chen Canghai kept eating like nothing had happened.

Lu A’yao was an authority when it came to geology. The Lu family had generations of legendary stories in that field—enough to keep him talking for two or three years. His tone was firm, so he must have had solid evidence to back up his conclusion.

It sounded outrageous, but the more I thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. After a few minutes, I came up with a possible explanation.

I’d studied a wide range of mechanical arts, so breaking it down was a bit tricky. But in simple terms, if you hollowed out two existing cliffs and installed a complete traction system inside, with the mechanism’s interface hidden at the riverbed, you could theoretically make the cliffs appear and disappear at will.

But that sounded a bit too far-fetched. Never mind the technical challenges—just the trigger mechanism alone would have to be massive. And I hadn’t seen anything that looked like that.

“Look, you two are the experts when it comes to terrain. Don’t bother explaining it to me—I won’t get it. But forget the cliffs for now. What about Han Jian? Where did they go?” He Yu asked, still tearing into the chicken.

Lu A’yao pointed casually in a direction ahead of us. It was completely shrouded in mist, so we couldn’t see anything. His gesture was so offhanded that I half-suspected he was just brushing He Yu off.

He Yu clearly had more questions, so before he could ask, Lu A’yao decided to lay it all out. “They’re farther away, at a much higher elevation. This spot is closer to the boat and lower down, which makes it easier for me to come back.”

He really had thought it through. He’d taken into account both mine and He Yu’s physical limits. There was no way I could climb dozens of meters up a cliff while carrying an oxygen tank. Even without the flippers, I wouldn’t make it.

I thought for a moment and finally asked the question that had been bothering me: “What exactly did Han Jian find at the bow?”

Chen Canghai, who was munching on a chicken foot nearby, pulled up a photo on his phone and held it out to me. The picture was fairly clear, taken from the bow of our boat. It showed a mist-covered water surface. I took the phone and zoomed in. On the water, there were several dark, stone-like objects protruding above the surface.

I swiped to the next photo in the burst sequence. The “black stones” had shifted positions. And in the mist behind them, I could make out hundreds more of those same shapes.

These photos were taken only four or five seconds apart, but judging by eye, those “stones” had already moved forward by more than a meter.

I was a bit stunned. These things were alive!

“Do you remember the drainage tunnels beneath the Copper Pillar ruins? In those river channels, there were these stone figurines, half-floating on the water. They had no eyebrows, and both hands were placed over their eyes, like they were peering at something,” Lu A’yao said, making a gesture as he spoke.

He hadn’t even finished before the image came back to me. I remembered those stone figurines vividly. Out of all the ruins we’d explored, only those peering statues had truly sent a chill down my spine.

Because they were just too lifelike. It was like a real person had been trapped inside stone—words couldn’t quite capture it.

Chen Canghai took the phone and typed out a line for me to see. His one-handed typing was lightning fast.

“On the deck, we discovered that these things were watching us.”

He Yu leaned in to look. After reading it, he seemed to understand. “I get it. So you guys decided to disembark early and not go any further in, right?”

Chen Canghai nodded.

I suddenly thought of those snakes that had been frantically leaping onto the bow of the ship. I turned to He Yu and said, “If these things have been steadily approaching the ship, then maybe those snakes weren’t trying to get on board to reach land. Maybe they were fleeing.”

“Very possible,” Lu A’yao added from the side.

For a moment, we all fell silent. I was starting to feel more and more that something was seriously off about this place. We hadn’t even reached our destination yet, and already so many strange things had happened. It was giving me a headache.

The flames in front of us flickered wildly in the wind blowing off the cliff face. Suddenly, He Yu put down the chicken he was holding, wiped his hands clean, and looked at me a bit sheepishly.

“I know now might not be the best time to bring this up, but I’m afraid I’ll forget again. Since Han Jian isn’t here, it’s the perfect chance for us to clear this up.”

“What is it?” I asked.

He Yu scratched his head. “Back when we were in Gansu, remember that Trapped Dragon Tomb we went into? There was a stone there carved with my family’s Secret Script. I asked around when I got back. Turns out, no one in my family has ever been to that part of Gansu. But I did find out that one of our ancestors did teach the Secret Script to an outsider—just one person.”

I remembered then. That Secret Script had contained a very important message: “Look up and see all beings.” At the time, the three of us had thought it referred to those humanoid bat creatures. But later, when I went to Hubei, I realized that the phrase “Look up and see all beings” was a much better match for the legendary Nieyao Ghost Market Map.

But as for who had carved that crucial Secret Script, we still had no idea. Whoever wanted to send us that message remained a mystery.

So the moment I heard He Yu say he’d found something out, I perked up immediately. “Who was it?”

He Yu gave a dry laugh. “You’ve heard of him too. It was the first-generation Yu Jingzi, the only thief among the Five Masters—Liu Sanshui.”

As soon as he said that, I was shocked. “Liu Sanshui from the Liu Family? Wasn’t he known for his shady behavior and rumored ties to tomb raiders? Why would your He Family ancestors pass the Secret Script to him?”

“Actually, it wasn’t my great-grandfather’s decision, and he certainly didn’t do it willingly. The He Family’s Secret Script isn’t supposed to be passed down to collateral lines or outsiders. That’s a strict ancestral rule,” He Yu said, taking a sip from his canteen.

“But I forgot to tell you—before the founding of New China, our family went through a period of fleeing and hiding. During that time, most of the records about the Secret Script stored in the ancestral hall were lost. It wasn’t until much later that my great-grandfather found out the Liu Family had spent a fortune buying an ancient He Family book from an overseas relic dealer. That book contained the complete system of our Secret Script.”

As He Yu spoke, his tone grew increasingly bitter. “The handwriting in that book was ancient. The foreigner couldn’t read it, which is why he sold it to Liu Sanshui. So I have every reason to believe—no, I’m certain! The one who carved that stone was Liu Sanshui!”