The Hidden Chamber and the Stone Inscription

The next day, Qin Yuhu came early to pick up Lian Youming.

The New Year was almost upon them anyway, and apart from preparing for the winter fishing, there was little to keep the village busy. Besides, with Lian Youming's current constitution, even getting out of bed was difficult. Who dared expect anything of him?

Also, since sending the educated youths to the countryside had been a last-minute decision, most of the villages receiving them had been given some material subsidies. As for what those supplies were, they were the old hens the mountain keeper had raised, along with several fat pigs.

So when Lian Youming went to request leave, the village Party secretary readily gave him ten days, even saying that if that really wasn't enough, he could simply return before the winter fishing.

The bitter winter at year's end was long and cruel. Dawn came later and later in Tahe, and even when the sun rose, it mostly hung along the southern horizon, shedding pitifully little warmth.

Before the white frost and snow could melt, they froze over again. The howling northwesterly wind swept along cold frost, swirling and dancing between heaven and earth like spirits formed from ice and snow.

This time, Qin Yuhu hadn't ridden his sidecar motorcycle. He had gotten a mule cart instead.

Curious, Lian Youming asked about it, only to learn that Qin Yuhu had taken a spill on his way back to town yesterday because the tires had slipped on the icy road.

Lian Youming didn't care whether the vehicle was damaged. Only when he saw that his uncle was unharmed did the heart that had leaped into his throat settle back into his belly.

Bundled up tightly, he sat on the mule cart with his hands tucked into his sleeves, his neck drawn in, his head bowed, and his legs dangling, like a young wife going back to her parents' home.

"Uncle, has that woman surnamed Gong left?"

"What do you mean, 'that woman surnamed Gong'? There you go running your mouth again. Do you even know what she does? Going by those operas and stories, she's an imperial palace master... She hasn't left, though. She's still up on the mountain."

Qin Yuhu sat sideways on the shaft, likewise wrapped in thick layers: padded trousers, padded boots, a padded hat, and a thick pair of deerskin gloves. The moment he opened his mouth, a puff of white vapor slipped out from beneath his scarf, like a leaking kettle.

"Oh," Lian Youming said thoughtfully. According to his uncle, she was an imperial palace master, which made her identity all but obvious.

A Zhongnan Sea bodyguard.

It was the final month before the New Year. Frighteningly cold though it was, even that couldn't suppress the festive cheer.

People came and went along the streets, bundled up like rice dumplings, their smiling faces exposed as they browsed here and there, busy buying New Year supplies at the supply and marketing cooperative.

Qin Yuhu didn't head straight home. Instead, he took Lian Youming to the railway station.

The year's end was approaching, and those far from home were returning.

They waited for roughly forty minutes. Just as Qin Yuhu and Lian Youming were looking this way and that, a figure in a padded hat and a mink coat slipped out of the departing crowd, crept around behind them, and abruptly shouted, "Dad!"

Then, amid giggles, she pulled down her scarf, revealing a round, fleshy face. Though a little plump, she was by no means unattractive, with large eyes, a high nose, and fair cheeks. Not only did she have an indescribably radiant, open beauty, but she was also wonderfully lively.

This big, plump girl was Qin Yuhu and Shen Qinghong's daughter, Qin Hongxiu. She studied at the Forestry College in Harbin.

Cheerful and outgoing, Qin Hongxiu reached out and hooked an arm around Lian Youming's shoulders, then said in an exceedingly solemn, earnest tone, "We meet again, tovarishch."

Lian Youming cleared his throat and put on an equally serious face. "Comrades, two roads lie before you. One leads to victory, the other to death. Death does not belong to the working class... Ow!"

Then Qin Yuhu rewarded each of them with a flick to the forehead.

Grimacing, Qin Hongxiu climbed onto the mule cart and handed Lian Youming her shoulder bag. "Here, the books I brought you. I got them all from my classmates. Besides some common revision materials, I found two foreign-language books, one in Russian and one in English. I'll teach you when we have time."

Having collected his daughter, Qin Yuhu jumped down from the shaft. Holding the reins and waving his whip, he disappeared into the morning light amid repeated calls urging the mule onward.

At the logging camp on the mountain.

The soldiers who had taken it over were already gone.

The doors of the wooden cabins were buried beneath heavy snow. From a distance, they looked like mounds of snow. Apart from emptiness and desolation, there was only the wildly howling wind.

Yet in this deathly silent, deserted world of ice and snow, a young woman sat cross-legged on a thick stump that would take three or four people to encircle. Her lips parted slightly, her tongue and throat vibrating as she breathed in and out.

"Aooo!"

As her chest and abdomen rose and fell, something like a dragon's cry faintly sounded in Gong Wuer's throat. Then she raised her head, opened her eyes, and sharply exhaled. A wisp of white Qi instantly shot straight upward like a dragon soaring into the sky, reaching three or four meters before dissipating into nothing.

After that round of breathing exercises, nothing about Gong Wuer appeared unusual. Yet the snow around the stump had melted for more than half a meter, exposing the soil beneath. From a distance, it looked like a drop of ink on the white snow.

Gong Wuer rose to her full height, then walked into the earthen houses where the mountain keeper had lived.

There were six rooms in all. Apart from the three used for pigs and chickens, three remained. One was a quiet room for meditation and rest, another was for practicing martial arts, and the last was empty and windowless, its floor fitted with gray-green tiles.

At the sight of this last room, Gong Wuer stopped. Without any unnecessary inspection, her gaze settled on the green bricks covering the floor.

Though old, these floor bricks were nothing unusual. They were probably bricks taken from old tombs and graves, reused after being dismantled.

After a moment's thought, Gong Wuer began moving her feet, seemingly without aim. But after circling the room and reaching one corner, she suddenly pressed down with her toes. A section of the tightly fitted green bricks collapsed with a crash, revealing a secret passage beneath.

Her eyes flashed. Without much hesitation, Gong Wuer turned and fetched an oil lamp from outside, then felt her way down little by little.

Where the lamplight fell, a flight of green-brick steps extended downward.

After walking some distance and finding no traps or mechanisms, Gong Wuer gently drew a breath. Her steps suddenly quickened, and she seemed to become a rushing shadow.

Only after descending forty or fifty steps did the space before her suddenly open up.

"Whew!"

A cold draft drifted behind her. Holding the oil lamp, Gong Wuer gazed at everything before her with flickering eyes and slowly exhaled.

An entirely different world lay beneath this place: a hidden tomb.

But this ancient tomb had clearly been remodeled. There was little smell of decay, and no coffins or bones were visible. It looked more as though someone had deliberately converted it into a hidden chamber. Despite the darkness, the many traces left behind silently revealed that someone had once lived here.

At the deepest end of the chamber stood a stone bed.

Gong Wuer lit the torches along the walls one by one, then slowly walked over.

There was more than a bed. Chairs and stools stood inside, and several meditation cushions lay on the floor. All were covered in thick dust, as though no one had used them for a long time.

Yet Gong Wuer noticed that the dust on the stone bed was very light and thin, as though it had only just settled. Clearly, someone had lain on this bed not long ago.

She extended her slender left hand and rubbed the surface of the stone bed with her fingertips, as though searching for something.

Unfortunately, after feeling around, she found nothing at all.

As she looked around, Gong Wuer suddenly fixed her gaze on the wall beside the stone bed.

This was a stone wall rather than one built of green bricks. It appeared to have been coated with a layer of gray-green plaster. It looked ordinary, but to Gong Wuer, something about it was unusual.

While she was hesitating and examining it, a soft chuckle suddenly came from behind her.

"What's there to look at? Could the real thing be hidden underneath?"

The newcomer advanced step by step with his hands behind his back. But the instant he saw that wall, his pace abruptly quickened.

A fierce wind whistled through the dim space, and the flames swayed. In the lamplight, a fist seemed cast from bronze and forged from iron as it hurtled like an arrow loosed from a bow and smashed viciously into the wall.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

On closer inspection, three fist marks had appeared in the wall.

At the other end of the stone bed, a figure as agile as an ape somersaulted through the air, landed, and stood ramrod straight.

The newcomer was a young man in a Zhongshan suit, thin but broad-shouldered, with a sallow complexion and a somewhat wooden expression. Yet his eyes held a lively gleam. When he wasn't smiling, he looked ordinary enough. But the moment he grinned, he seemed to become another person, his vicious features laid bare, his eyes brimming with ferocity, as though he had transformed into a hideous mountain demon.

Xue Hen.

But neither Gong Wuer nor Xue Hen was paying any attention to the other. Both stared unblinkingly at the wall before them.

For the instant those three punches landed, the plaster on the stone wall had rapidly cracked, then fallen away in flakes, revealing what lay beneath.

To their great surprise, a stone inscription lay beneath the plaster.

As the characters appeared one after another, they proved to form a poem.

"I have a house of three roof spans, dwelling at the spirit's source. Unscreened, its four walls stand bare and serene; the myriad forms of all creation serve as brackets, the blue heavens as its tiled roof. Free of leakage for many years, karmic bonds are formed. Cultivation accomplished, three thousand deeds fulfilled; the fire dragon subdued, the tiger tamed—a Land-Road Immortal."

"Land-Road Immortal?"

Xue Hen's gaze followed the words. When he reached the final lines, particularly "Land-Road Immortal," an expression of obsession instantly emerged on his face. His eyes grew increasingly savage, as though he had gone mad, as though possessed.

"A poem by Lü Dongbin."

"Hmm?"

"There's more?"

Gong Wuer had noticed two more characters at the end of the inscription.

"Mount Lu?"

Those two characters looked extremely abrupt. Their strokes seemed broken yet unbroken, finished yet unfinished, as though something remained unsaid.

Xue Hen also saw those two characters, and his dark eyes quietly brightened.

"Interesting. Lü Dongbin? Mount Lu?"

But soon, with his hands behind his back, Xue Hen tilted his head and slowly looked toward Gong Wuer beside him. As the firelight twisted and shifted across his face, his wooden expression returned in an instant. "Though you're one of the outstanding young talents of the Eight Trigrams Sect, you willingly let others command you. Having entered government service, you're no longer purely a martial artist... Send that brother of yours instead."

His tone was plainly mild, yet chilling murderous intent lurked within it.

Gong Wuer's expression remained calm. "You're wrong. Times have changed. What imperial court is there now? You live here, but your heart remains in an age of chaos. Not only do you slaughter innocents indiscriminately, you also seek to contend with all the heroes under heaven. You already belong among the wicked and demonic. Turn back now, and it isn't too late."

Xue Hen replied in an equally even tone, "Your heart is already bound by rules. How can you behold heaven and earth? Go back to your little patch of land."

Their words found no common ground. There was no need to say more.

Gong Wuer lowered her phoenix eyes, her lids half closed. The fingers of both hands quietly drew together, resembling ox tongues.

Xue Hen, however, gave a lingering sigh. "Sixty years ago, how splendid this martial world was. Heroes emerged in droves, great men rose together, and peerless powerhouses roamed north and south. What a pity I came decades too late. Fortunately... heh heh... the Martial Way hasn't died, and the martial world isn't far away. Better yet, I've discovered an earth-shaking secret. Perhaps I really can measure myself against those predecessors and break through the highest realm of the Martial Way."

Gong Wuer said flatly, "It seems you've decided to follow this road all the way into darkness."

Xue Hen said softly, "It's still too early to say who's right and who's wrong."

Gong Wuer's eyelids trembled. "Then let me experience your skills!"

"Gladly," Xue Hen said mockingly.

The moment the words fell, both figures moved at once, darting sideways as fast as lightning.

A sudden wind arose, extinguishing every flame around them in an instant. In the dim space, fists and palms were already clashing, murderous intent rising on every side.

Tahe County.

On the way back, snowflakes began drifting thickly from the sky again.

Qin Yuhu drove the mule cart to the supply and marketing cooperative, gave the two of them a few instructions, then went to the state-run restaurant himself.

With the weather bitterly cold and Shen Qinghong pregnant, cooking was naturally inconvenient for her. All their food had been ordered from the restaurant; they only needed to take it home and heat it up.

Watching Qin Yuhu's retreating back, Lian Youming jumped down from the mule cart.

He had already saved twenty or thirty yuan at the logging camp. Together with the private savings he had brought along, he had roughly a hundred and forty yuan. His parents had also sent another hundred in yesterday's parcel.

Thinking of all the trouble Qin Yuhu had taken to look after him these past few days, Lian Youming asked Qin Hongxiu to watch the mule cart and ducked into the cooperative.

The moment he lifted the padded cloth curtain, a wave of warmth enveloped him.

Lian Youming walked up to the counter, his gaze first sweeping over the dazzling array of foods, then some fine-quality furs.

To his surprise, there were also plenty of mountain products here. He could even see wild ginseng and lingzhi mushrooms. Their quality was a little poor, but that was still enough to delight him.

This saved him some trouble. He could try the recipes on the Silk Brocade.

If he could replenish his five Qi and establish his foundation, he would be able to practice the Three Yin Earth-Baleful Force along with the Toad-Fishing Skill. He could even look into the Golden Bell Cover.

The saleswoman was in her forties or fifties. Leaning against the counter and cracking sunflower seeds, she watched Lian Youming keep wandering around and couldn't help saying, "Young fellow, don't just wander around. Anything catch your eye?"

Lian Youming asked, "How much is this wild ginseng?"

The saleswoman lifted her chin. "We bought it all from the mountain foragers. It doesn't look good, so naturally it's cheap. Those roots in front of you are six hundred a jin."

Lian Youming's eyes brightened at that. The price really was... unexpected.

Seeing him continue to stand there, the saleswoman grew a little impatient. "Are you buying or not? If not, don't waste time."

Lian Youming merely smiled, then turned his gaze to a corner of the counter, where two watches lay. "I'd like a watch, two bottles of Maotai, and two pairs of padded muntjac-hide boots. Two pairs of gloves too, and two boxes of that clam-shell hand balm."

The saleswoman immediately perked up. "You can buy our watches without a ration coupon. Shanghai brand, eighty yuan. Maotai is nine yuan a bottle without a coupon, seven with one. The two pairs of padded boots and two pairs of gloves come to five yuan fifty. As for the clam-shell balm..."

As she spoke, the saleswoman took two dull gray shells from beneath the counter. They were clam shells, containing the hand cream of this era.

"Seven and a half fen each. Fifteen fen for two."

Seeing that Lian Youming really was taking out his money, the saleswoman made another recommendation. "We've got malted milk powder too. Young man, would you like a tin?"

Lian Youming shook his head. He had bought it before, and its cloying sweetness had nearly done him in. Sweet and rich, it had mostly been left for his younger brother and sister to mix with water and drink.

He turned and bought some candy and peanuts as well, then paid and walked out of the cooperative.

Just as he came outside, Qin Yuhu happened to return. Seeing Lian Youming carrying a pile of purchases, his face immediately darkened. In particular, when he spotted the watch, his lone eye widened so abruptly that he looked terrifying.

"That little bit of money your parents sent you was scraped together by skimping on food and everything else. Who told you to throw it around? Get back in there and return it right now! I don't need you buying me food."

With that, he began pulling out his belt. No matter how Qin Hongxiu tugged at him, she couldn't stop him.

Seeing that gesture, identical to his own father's, Lian Youming hurriedly explained, "Don't! I bought all this with money I earned myself. The money my parents sent is still right here."

He hastily took out the hundred yuan his parents had sent.

Only after seeing the money still there did Qin Yuhu's expression improve considerably, though his tone remained displeased. "Even if you earned it yourself, you can't spend it recklessly like this. Go return it."

Lian Youming rolled his eyes. "Fine, Uncle Qin. If you insist on treating me like an outsider, I'll go back to the village. Besides, I didn't buy it for you. It's for Aunt Shen. My mother and Aunt Shen are as close as sisters, and before I came, she told me to be good to her. What's wrong with buying a few things?"

The relationship between their two families was a little unusual. At first, the fathers had been as close as brothers. Then Lian Youming's mother and Shen Qinghong had gradually grown close, eventually becoming like sisters born to different parents. So Lian Youming simply called Qin Yuhu his paternal uncle and Shen Qinghong his maternal aunt, using each form of address independently.

For a moment, Qin Yuhu was left speechless.

Lian Youming chuckled. "Come on, don't just stand there. Let's get home. I'm freezing to death."

Qin Yuhu held it in for a long while, then snorted coldly. In the end, he could only curse helplessly, "You little brat. Just this once. There'd better not be a next time, or I'll give you a beating."

Lian Youming nodded repeatedly in perfunctory agreement and climbed back onto the mule cart. "Hurry up and thread your belt back through. How come you're just like my dad? The moment there's a disagreement, out comes the belt."

Holding a pile of food, Qin Hongxiu rocked back and forth with laughter.

Overhead, the snow fell thickly, gradually swallowing the three figures.

(End of chapter)