Murals

After walking for about ten minutes, Cao Ya stepped out of the passage.

He did not actually need that long, but since the others could not match his speed, he had slowed down.

The end of the fissure was littered with rocks. Once he emerged, Cao Ya could see everything clearly despite the darkness.

This was probably one of the wider sections of the fissure running through the mountain, roughly four or five minivans across and a basketball court and a half long. Loose rocks of every size covered the ground, all torn free by geological activity when the fissure formed.

Wu Xie, Fatty, Poker-Face, and the others emerged too. They lacked Cao Ya's eyesight, so Poker-Face cracked several glow sticks and tossed them around, illuminating the entire space with warm yellow light.

Fatty widened his flashlight's beam and looked around. "Strange. There are even murals here. Looks like we weren't the first people to come through."

Cao Ya glanced around. There were indeed large colored murals on the walls of the fissure, but they were badly preserved. Their colors had faded, and the images could barely be made out as something resembling celestial maidens in flight.

Besides the murals, several small hot springs lay among the rocks. They were all shallow, but steam rose from them, making them indescribably tempting to the exhausted group.

Farther in, the fissure gradually narrowed until it became a small crack two people wide, extending deep into the mountain rock. Hot air blew out of it from time to time, and Wu Xie shone his flashlight into it.

Everyone exchanged opinions and agreed there was no need to go any farther. This was already a good place to shelter from the blizzard and spend the night.

Fatty tested the air and found no major problems. He lit a lantern for sustained illumination, and even its light seemed warm.

A little later, Monk Hua and Lang Feng arrived. They gathered in front of Chen Pi A Si to discuss the inscriptions they had traced.

The atmosphere relaxed, and both Fatty and Ye Cheng took out cigarettes, lit them, and began smoking.

Cao Ya had intended to continue deeper inside, but everyone looked exhausted, with only Poker-Face in somewhat better shape. After a moment's thought, he sat down too. There was no rush.

After all, the Cloud Palace had been here for centuries. Another little while would make no difference.

As for the Bronze Gate and whatever lay behind it, those had a history stretching back thousands of years.

A Ning's team was still out there, but they clearly could not get through the Bronze Gate.

Even if they did, it would not matter. Whether Cao Ya entered before or after them made no difference; he had decided to strip the place clean regardless.

If there was anything good in there.

If there was nothing good, he would destroy it all.

When it came to the schemes of "It" and the Wang Family, Cao Ya's attitude was simply to wreck them.

They had left such a sour taste in his mouth when he read the books before.

Ye Cheng took out tins of compressed rations, tossed them into the hot spring to warm them, then handed them out.

Everyone ate with relish. Outside, wind and snow howled; in here, warmth surrounded them, and they even had hot food to enjoy. Suddenly, this felt like one of life's great pleasures.

Cao Ya accepted a tin and finished it in a few bites.

He could actually go without food, but it tasted good. Eating a little was a pleasure in its own right.

Now that he had power, playing the ascetic occasionally was fine, but he could not keep depriving himself.

Once they had eaten and drunk their fill and rested a while, everyone went to examine the murals.

"This place was clearly formed naturally, and it's cramped. Why paint murals here? What purpose would they serve?" Wu Xie asked.

No one could answer his question.

Cao Ya asked, "Ready to move?"

"Then let's head back to that slope," Fatty said.

Cao Ya waved a hand. "No need for all that trouble. We can just smash our way in from here."

"What?" Fatty thought he had misheard. Smash their way in? From where?

Don't tell me you're planning to smash your way from here straight into the Cloud Palace?

The others also looked at Cao Ya in surprise.

They realized that Cao Ya had given them far too many shocks along the way.

Cao Ya looked perfectly relaxed. This place was very close to the Nine-Dragon Corpse-Lifting Coffin. Rather than climb back to the slope and work their way through the Cloud Palace from the outside, passing through all those damned useless places, they might as well charge straight in from here.

The depths of this fissure led directly to the heart of the Cloud Palace-the Eastern Xia King's Nine-Dragon Corpse-Lifting Coffin!

The great Bronze Gate Cao Ya was after was also located there.

At any rate, he certainly was not going back.

Although the dangers in the Cloud Palace were beneath his notice, why waste time going through them all?

"No hurry. Let's see what the murals depict first." Chen Pi A Si had Monk Hua help him up so he could examine the murals.

Cao Ya had no objection. They had already reached their destination; waiting a little was fine.

He could see that everyone was quite interested in these murals.

After all, people who dealt with antiquities, even tomb robbers, were always keenly interested in things like murals and reliefs that preserved a wealth of information.

Everyone gradually made their way over to examine the murals.

Cao Ya remained seated, taking out another tin to heat and eat while also keeping an eye on the murals.

Yet the murals contained little information. Paintings of celestial maidens in flight were mostly found in lavish palaces or on ritual vessels. They simply portrayed a beautiful scene of song, dance, and peace, without any practical significance.

Most of the surviving mural fragments here were of that sort. Everyone here had crawled out of ancient tombs and seen plenty of them, so a single look was enough to drain their interest.

"There's another layer underneath," Cao Ya reminded them. The murals of flying celestial maidens were only a cover; another layer lay beneath them, and that was what held real significance.

His lack of interest in the murals did not mean he was unwilling to offer a reminder.

Another layer? Cao Ya hasn't even come over for a closer look. How does he know? Is he guessing?

The group froze for a moment.

Fatty suddenly clicked his tongue, stuck out his thumb, and began peeling at the mural with it.

Everyone crowded around. Sure enough, in a corner where Fatty had peeled away the surface, the composition was clearly different from the surrounding painting, as was the subject. But the spot was so inconspicuous that without Cao Ya's reminder and Fatty's sharp eyes, they would never have noticed it.

"There really are two layers?" Everyone was startled and could not help turning to look at Cao Ya. He had spotted it from that far away?

They had been right beside it and noticed nothing.

Clearly, someone had painted a new layer over an existing mural, covering up the original.

"Don't just stand there looking!" Fatty called, continuing to scrape with his fingers. Bright colors began to emerge wherever he scraped away the surface.

Wu Xie, Pan Zi, Ye Cheng, Lang Feng, and Monk Hua all began scraping the mural with their fingers. Only Chen Pi A Si, Poker-Face, and Shunzi remained still.

Chen Pi A Si's brows knitted tightly. The surface layer seemed not to have undergone every stage of the painting process, which was why they could wipe away the pigment with a casual scrape. Had the full procedure been followed, murals dating from after the Tang dynasty would have been coated with a special clear substance. Like varnish, it would protect the painting and keep its colors from fading and flaking so easily.

"Since someone painted another mural over it, they must have wanted to conceal something. But this surface mural of flying celestial maidens... why wasn't it properly finished?"