Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa,Volume 6: Chapter 1: The Ninth Answer

The fifth survivor Qian Baoshan told Sima Hui and the others: “In this snake belly tunnel beneath the ancient city ruins… there are evil spirits.”

Sima Hui’s ears were not made of cotton. How could he believe this? The so called “One must not harbor the heart to harm others, but must not lack the heart to guard against others.” He examined the situation in the underground tunnel. He determined that no person could survive long term in this cave isolated from the world. And the other party’s body constantly emitted an irrepressible aura of death. This made him immediately think of Green Tomb. Although the two people’s speaking voices were completely different, both voice and identity could be disguised. The matter of the American Sixth Independent Engineering Combat Regiment building roads in Savage Mountain was not some absolute secret. Now it was not necessarily unknown to others. If that ghost like Green Tomb truly existed, then after detonating the earthquake bomb, it would definitely enter this ancient city regardless of consequences. Otherwise, the previous series of actions would be completely meaningless.

Sima Hui inferred there would be no more extra survivors. This self proclaimed missing soldier Qian Baoshan was probably Green Tomb that had been secretly following the expedition team all along. There was something suspicious about the matter. He feared that changes would appear at any moment. Considering these things. A sense of inauspiciousness arose spontaneously. But then he thought again: setting aside what Qian Baoshan’s true identity actually was, if not for this person using the signal lamp just now to lead them into this tunnel, their four people would have died in the fog long ago. It seemed the other party temporarily still didn’t want to kill them to silence them. But had other intentions… So he pretended to believe. He said to Qian Baoshan with pity: “The road of life is originally difficult and winding. Let alone having taken the wrong path and strayed into evil ways. Being trapped in this ghost place for decades, it has truly been hard on you. But think of Jiang Ziya, who was still fishing by the Wei River at over eighty years old. Only when he met King Wen, who carried him back in a carriage and appointed him as Shangfu, did he lead troops to attack Zhou and establish the eight hundred year foundation of the Zhou family. This shows that life’s opportunities do not distinguish between early and late.”

After hearing this, Qian Baoshan only sighed behind the stone statue. He did not respond. He was about to lead everyone deeper into the ancient city tunnel.

Sima Hui deliberately tested him, rambling on a few sentences. Just as he was about to find an excuse, seeing Qian Baoshan was about to set out, he immediately said: “Wait a moment. Before we depart, I want to see your face first. You also need not be overly suspicious. I absolutely have no other meaning in doing this. It is merely temporary curiosity. Because I have heard that people who don’t eat salt for a long time will grow white hair all over their bodies.”

Sima Hui remembered that in the past he had seen the film “The White Haired Girl.” Its prototype was adapted from the folk legend of the “White Haired Immortal Lady” in the Jin Cha Ji border region. In it, Yang Xier was forced by the landlord to hide in the deep mountains. She lived on spring water and wild fruits and stole offerings from the land temple. Day after day, her black hair all turned white. Folk legend said that people not eating salt would be like this. Sima Hui didn’t know whether this was true or false. It was merely used as an excuse. He wanted to see Qian Baoshan’s true face hidden under the steel helmet. Actually, as long as one closed one’s eyes, being illuminated by a flashlight from this distance should be no big problem.

The other three were just worried. If this Qian Baoshan was truly Green Tomb, and they trusted his words again, they would fall into an irredeemable situation. But the other party’s words were watertight. At present, there was fundamentally no way to distinguish truth from falsehood. Hearing Sima Hui’s words, which made Qian Baoshan have no room to evade, they all secretly nodded in approval.

That Qian Baoshan seemed to also not have anticipated this. He truly couldn’t find an excuse to evade. Crouching behind the stone statue, he was silent for a long time without making any response. After another half a day, he finally admitted that he had indeed deliberately concealed things previously. But it was also not with ill intent. Because some things were very terrible. Speaking the truth would instead be not good…

Sima Hui was about to ask again when he suddenly felt the surrounding stone walls violently shaking. The soles of his feet were numb. He hurriedly held onto the stone statue beside him. The ground tremor lasted about half a minute. Then it returned to normal. But in the direction they had come from, there were continuous sounds of falling stones splashing into water. Additionally, Qian Baoshan hiding on the opposite side of the tunnel also from then on made no sound.

Everyone had no choice but to raise their flashlights and shine back and forth. They only saw a row of kneeling stone statues standing in the darkness. Only that figure wearing the steel helmet was gone. And limited by the terrain, no one could cross over to see what had happened. A Cui said in surprise: “What we encountered, was it a person or…”

Sima Hui frowned. He said to the other three: “First don’t worry about whether that veteran is human or ghost. He once told us that beneath this ground is a great mud marsh. This matter is probably not false. Although the Udumbara has revived again, the earthquake bomb and chemical defoliant. Still to a certain degree destroyed the structure of the Savage Mountain rift valley. The shock just now should have been caused by this ancient city continuing to sink downward. If the tunnel suffers severe collapse, whether dense fog or marsh gas pours in, it will make us unable to eat and have to carry it away.”

Hearing this, Luo Big Tongue said in alarm: “Then aren’t we like a yellow weasel fairy falling into a hot pot, unable to struggle out whether alive or dead?”

He immediately cursed resentfully, “I think that fellow with the surname Qian is also not necessarily any good bird. How can we believe his ghost talk? It’s just as well that he disappeared himself. As the saying goes, ‘One less incense burner means one less ghost.’ It saves us from having to constantly guard against him, with no moment of peace in our hearts.”

Sima Hui looked left and right. He said to everyone: “This person deliberately concealed the truth. Who knows what evil scheme he harbors. But everything that happened in Savage Mountain is related to the secret buried in the deepest part of the ancient city by the Cham king. We must risk our lives to go in and get to the bottom of it. Only then will we see the truth.”

Everyone felt Sima Hui’s words were correct. The entire ancient city was already surrounded by dense fog. The entire Savage Mountain rift valley fundamentally didn’t contain any absolutely safe area. Continuing to stay in the tunnel was also dangerous. They could only take things as they came. So they continued along the stone platform for a stretch. Then they encountered a fault subsidence zone perpendicular to the tunnel. Forming a “T” shaped wide space.

The original appearance here was long unrecognizable. They only saw that within the surrounding broken walls, patches of dark black rock layers were exposed. The root veins of the Udumbara originated from within. Those roots and stems thicker than tree roots were like countless blood vessels protruding from the surface. The invasion of the plants caused this shell like ancient city to suffer external forces. From within, it produced many cracks and caves without any rules. But most were blocked by large rocks that had collapsed down. On the wall facing the tunnel, there were several large holes like insect holes. Their diameter was approximately over one meter. The flashlight beam couldn’t reach the bottom.

At this moment, the flashlight batteries had completely run out. Among the four people’s hands, only the camping lamp could still be used. Sima Hui often established his life in the midst of armored horses and made his home in the ranks of blades and spears. Almost every day he lived with his head tucked in his belt. He didn’t particularly take matters of life and death to heart. But thinking about the situation where they would soon fall into pitch blackness where they couldn’t see anything, his heart couldn’t help but feel uncertain. He planned to take advantage of the remaining light to move quickly. Otherwise, the situation would become even more difficult. He listened with ears propped up. The surroundings were completely quiet. He then took the lead stepping over the fallen stone figures across the water surface. Then raising the camping lamp, he helped the other three cross over one by one.

The four could only rely on one camping lamp for light. If they moved slightly farther, they would fall into darkness. Naturally, no one dared to be careless. They followed one after another, never leaving each other’s side. When they reached the opposite side, they shone the weak light forward. They saw a colored statue kneeling in the cave. Its appearance was ugly and detestable. Fat and black with much beard. Curly beard covering the face. Its attire was strange. Looking at the other several places, they were all similar. Counting, there were nine in total. All were deeply embedded in niche holes in the wall.

Sima Hui discovered something strange behind the colored statue’s cave wall. Drawing near to look carefully, the edges clearly showed gaps. He said in surprise: “These all seem to be secret doors. And they are arranged according to the Han dynasty Nine Palaces overall control pattern. Then from right to left, the seventh should be the door of life. But how did the Cham king also understand this set of numerology theory?”

Luo Big Tongue became anxious. He urged: “Don’t worry about that so much. Maybe he once went to China to study abroad.”

As he spoke, he had A Cui raise the lamp to illuminate. He called Sima Hui to lend a hand. He stepped forward to push the colored statue in the niche hole.

Yu Feiyan stopped them: “You two fugitives don’t want your lives, that’s your business. But don’t harm me and A Cui to death. I have sworn to die peacefully. I don’t want to break my word… at least not today.”

She then pulled out the duck billed shovel from behind. Pressing the spring, the hidden sleeve tube popped out. She took the camping lamp from A Cui’s hand. Like carrying a lantern, she hung it on the shovel head and raised it high.

Sima Hui, Luo Big Tongue, and A Cui followed the light and looked up. They were all secretly shocked. It turned out that above the nine secret doors, there was an even larger arched mural. In the painting was a white elephant. The elephant’s body was covered with pearls and jewels. Sitting precariously on its back was a person with long hands and feet. Wearing demon armor, hanging a long sword. The clothing was extraordinarily magnificent and beautiful. The surroundings were all decorated with mandala flowers and leaves. The expression was vivid, as if about to step out. The proportions exceeded normal people by more than double.

Yu Feiyan let the camping lamp’s light fall on the face of the person painted in the mural. She said to Sima Hui and the others: “You carefully look at this face…”

Sima Hui fixed his eyes and looked carefully. Both eyes stared equally large. He gazed for a long time. But he didn’t feel anything abnormal. Compared to those godly and ghostly faces in the Cham relief carvings, this person riding the elephant had a round and full face. Kind and dignified, like a Buddha reincarnated. Only the eyes slightly protruded. The forehead top was unusually long. The earlobes were very wide. The lips were extremely thick. Its image and posture were carved with vivid lifelikeness. The corner of the mouth still maintained a barely detectable strange smile. As if it carried infinite tolerance for worldly disputes. Appearing peaceful and benevolent, yet mysterious and unfathomable. Making it unforgettable at a glance.

Seeing this, Sima Hui’s heart suddenly sank with a thud. He secretly thought: “I don’t know what kind of figure is depicted on this stone wall. In reality, there might not necessarily be people who grow to look like this.”

He asked Yu Feiyan: “What’s so special about this face on the wall?”

Yu Feiyan said that the Cham people took appearance as supreme. So on the gold reliefs, the gods and buddhas had a thousand forms and ten thousand states, each face different. But the slaves and stone human statues in the tunnel all had only one kind of appearance. This represented the difference in identity and status. In the murals left by the Cham dynasty within the borders of Laos, the appearance of King Anu Jaya was painted. Legend said this Cham king was born with strange features. People dared not look upon him. In later generations, the common people called him the Heavenly Bodhisattva. He was the person closest to heaven. At that time, people who hated him called him ghost face or demon face. The characteristics of the person depicted on the mural were very obvious. This should be King Anu Jaya who built the Golden Spider City.

Luo Big Sea and A Cui didn’t understand old theories like physiognomy. They found it difficult to understand the deep meaning. But Sima Hui knew that in the ancient Golden Dot methods, apart from the art of reading objects, there was also the art of reading people. Generally speaking, reading people’s faces, also broadly referring to telling fortunes for people, should first look at the head. Because the head and face are the master of the five organs and the ancestor of the hundred body parts. First observe its outline. The so called “The four dimensions and eight directions must be complete and proper.” The left ear is the east. The right ear is the west. The nose is the south. The back of the head is the north. After looking at the eight directions, then look at the nine bones. That is, the various skull bones. Finally look at the eyebrows, eyes, and five facial features. As well as Netherworld measurement, Spiritual peak, Hidden depth, Heart concealment, River and peak, and so on. Using these to speculate on the rise and fall of fate. But these were mostly ghostly tricks of jianghu practitioners. Throughout history, there were more false than true. Although Sima Hui also understood some, he had never deeply studied them. At this moment, prompted by Yu Feiyan, he discovered that this King Anu Jaya’s physique and appearance were indeed strange. There was simply no such face in ancient physiognomy.

Sima Hui also remembered Yu Feiyan once said King Anu Jaya was not “human.” Looking now, he felt it was somewhat overstated. At most, it was just that the Cham king’s appearance on the mural was strange. Anyway, there were no cameras over a thousand years ago. Who knew whether his true appearance was really the same as the mural? These things deliberately mystifying naturally couldn’t be taken seriously. He said: “Perhaps the aesthetic standards of the Cham kingdom were just like this. They could take donkey dung balls and treat them as Chinese medicine pills. Although King Anu Jaya’s appearance seems strange to us, in the eyes of the Cham people it was the posture of dragons and phoenixes, the appearance of heaven and sun. This is nothing worth making a fuss about.”

Yu Feiyan said: “I don’t know whether the Cham king’s appearance in reality was truly the same as the mural reliefs. But look at the King Anu Jaya depicted on the wall. Riding a war elephant. Wearing armor. Carrying a long sword. The nine curly bearded venerable ones kneeling below in order should be nine demon monks. This scene truly existed in ancient times. Even Chinese ancient classics have detailed descriptions.”

According to what is recorded in the Song dynasty “Zhenla Fengtu Ji,” in the past, because of the matter of destroying Buddhism, the Cham fought with enemies. They beheaded countless people. And captured nine demon monks who came from Tibet. They were presented before the royal chariot. The king asked the monks: “I have heard that your cultivation is profound. You can know the past and future. Is this true?”

The monks answered: “We are naturally different from mortal bones. We can know matters of the past and future.”

The king showed no emotion. He first asked one of the monks: “Since you know matters of the past and future, do you know whether you will die today?”

That monk answered: “I will not die.”

The Cham king immediately ordered the guards to behead this monk before the elephant. He asked the second monk: “Will you die today?”

The second monk also answered “I will not die.” He was similarly beheaded. When he asked the third monk, that monk learned from experience. He thought the Cham king was deliberately making them speak inaccurately. So he answered: “I will certainly die today.”

Unexpectedly, the Cham king said: “Your words are very accurate. I will immediately send you to the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss.”

The result was that this third foreign monk was also beheaded on the spot.

King Anu Jaya used the same question to ask the monks behind in order. The fourth monk was forced by circumstances. He had no choice but to answer: “I do not know.”

The king sneered and ordered him killed. The fifth monk was rather clever. He thought for a while. He answered: “If I die, it means the Buddhist dharma is not effective. If I do not die, it means the royal law cannot be enforced.”

The Cham king scolded: “You rat. How dare you compare demon magic to royal law!”

He ordered his attendants to quickly kill him. The sixth monk secretly tried to figure out the king’s intentions. He compromised: “Today I can die. Today I can also not die. Whether dead or not dead, it is all fate.”

The Cham king glared with angry eyes: “Those who are in two minds at both ends, their sin is even greater. They should be dismembered.”

So he personally wielded the knife and killed this monk with his own hands. The seventh and eighth monks were already scared out of their wits. When asked before them, they were speechless. Naturally, they also didn’t escape the misfortune of one blade. Finally, it was the ninth monk’s turn. He only said one sentence. It actually made the Cham king throw down his knife and stop the execution.