Occasionally, early-rising farmers would walk by carrying their hoes, and upon seeing the three swift horses gallop away, they would only glance up before lowering their heads and continuing on their way. They were unaware that those three horses carried the last chance for the Hetao Plain.
Two days later, they arrived at the first spring-fed depression. Deacon Sun was there, thinner than when they last met, but his eyes were still bright. Beside him was a young man in his early twenties, carrying an old medicine box. He was Deacon Sun's nephew, who ran a small pharmacy in town and had been called to help take care of the wound.
"The third spring is also sealed off." Deacon Sun led them to the high slope on the west side of the depression. From here, the area where the three springs were located could be seen in its entirety. The water in the first depression was murky, with a layer of dark red film floating on the surface; the second collapsed pit was filled with water, but the water was grayish-brown, and small wisps of red vapor kept seeping out from the edge of the pit; the bottom of the third ditch had been completely filled with silt and gravel, and no trace of the spring could be seen, but the ditch walls were covered with red veins, pulsating like blood vessels.
"It started changing three days ago," Deacon Sun said. "First, the water in the third sinkhole changed color, then the water in the second sinkhole started turning red. The first one was the last to show signs of change; we only noticed it yesterday morning. The water in all three sinkholes has stopped flowing; it's like something is blocking it from below."
A Yao squatted down and took out her father's notes and Meng Qi's bamboo cane from her backpack. She laid the bamboo cane horizontally on the ground, its shaft parallel to the line connecting the three springs. The symbols on the bamboo cane shone slightly in the sunlight, especially the " Vein Eye " symbols in the middle section, which had been repeatedly engraved three times and now faintly glowed with a pale blue luster.
"The bamboo cane is sensing the earth's veins and water," A Yao said. She turned to the page of her notebook, " Three Eyes Return to One," and carefully examined the symbols on the bamboo cane one by one. "The array diagram Father wrote, starting from the first one, the guide channel should be tilted three-tenths of an inch southeast. The second one should be tilted seven-tenths of an inch. The third one should face the direction of the Blind Zone."
Yin Wujou had already found a suitable spot near the first depression. He used his short knife to mark the direction of the diversion channel in the soil, and then he and Deacon Sun dug with shovels. Deacon Sun's nephew was sent to cut down the canal trees. There was a small patch of wild canal trees on the west side of the depression, just like the kind recorded in A Yao's father's notes.
A Yao buried a pottery shard at the edge of the first depression. She arranged the shards according to the " Three Eyes Return to One " formation, adjusting the angle of each shard strictly according to the markings in her notes. When she buried the last shard, the surface of the water in the depression suddenly trembled slightly, and a crack appeared in the dark red film in the center, revealing the clear water underneath.
"It's done." She stood up, brushing the mud off her hands. "The first Water-Dividing Formation is complete."
Yin Wujou's diversion channel had also reached the edge of the depression. He buried the last section of canal timber at the bottom of the channel, with the grain of the wood facing the second collapsed pit. Deacon Sun used gravel to compact the sides of the diversion channel to prevent leakage.
Snow Empress stood on the high slope, gazing at the bottom of the third ravine. The crimson veins on the ravine walls pulsed more and more rapidly, as if responding to the sensations emanating from the bamboo staff. She suddenly remembered something: Meng Qi had said that the last Vein Eye was in the very center of the Blind Zone, the lair of all the small beasts. But the " Three Eyes Return to One " array on the bamboo staff showed that the positions of the three Vein Eye formed an equilateral triangle. If the first two Vein Eye had already been found at the spring, then the third Vein Eye point would be in the very center of the Blind Zone.
A Yao needs to enter the Blind Zone.
She turned and walked towards A Yao. The girl was squatting on the ground, pulling out several pages from her father's notes about Blind Zone and laying them out one by one on her lap. Sunlight shone on her profile, and also on the water-stained and blurred annotations on the paper. Her brows were furrowed, her lips moved slightly, and she silently read those words.
" A Yao."
A Yao looked up.
"In the Blind Zone where resentment is heaviest, can the ley lines still flow?"
A Yao thought for a moment. "Father's notes say that ley line water can penetrate resentment. Resentment is a product of severed veins, and ley line water is the blood of those veins. Where there is blood, resentment cannot gather. But in Blind Zone, the ley lines are broken and chaotic, so the ley line water cannot find its way, which is why resentment can linger."
"How will you find your way once you're inside?"
A Yao raised her bamboo staff. "Rely on it. It senses the leyline water; when the leyline water is searching for a path, it will point the way." She paused, then added, "There's another sentence in Father's notes: ' Resentment Beast become frenzied when they drink water, but are dissolved when bathed in blood.' This means that leyline water can enrage vengeful Resentment Beast, but it can also dissipate them. The key is quantity. If we can draw out the leyline water from the Blind Zone and let the water flood the Resentment Beast ' lair..."
They will dissolve on their own.
"Yes. But the prerequisite is that someone has to find the Vein Eye first, block the outlet, and reconnect the loop. Otherwise, the earth vein water can't be drawn out, and the Resentment Beast won't dissolve on its own."
Snow Empress was silent for a while. The wind blew up from the bottom of the ravine, carrying the smell of sulfur and a faint sweetness. She looked at the bamboo cane in A Yao's hand, at the few yellowed pages of notes on the ground, and at the girl's face with that familiar focused expression when she was searching for answers in her father's notes.
Did your father ever enter Blind Zone back then?
A Yao's finger hovered over the edge of the page. She paused for a few moments, then said softly, "It's been there. There's a passage in the notebook about his experience of emerging from the Blind Zone. But that page was torn out."
Who tore it?
"I don't know. It was already missing when I got the notebook." A Yao gathered the pages and folded them neatly. "But I found half a sentence in the lining."
What did you say?
A Yao pulled a thin piece of paper, about the size of a fingernail, from the inside of her backpack. There were only five characters on it, the ink extremely faint, as if smeared from the edge of a torn page. "... When the water recedes, the road will be visible."
Snow Empress stared at the five characters: "When the water recedes, a path will appear. Three entries and three exits." She recalled what Meng Qi had said: the earth vein energy had accumulated in the Blind Zone for hundreds of years, and resentment had been nurtured for ten. If the earth vein water could be drawn out, when the water rose, the earth vein in the Blind Zone would be washed open by the water, creating a path. When the water receded, the path would disappear. But those who entered and exited could find the Vein Eye when the water rose and exit before the water receded.
" A Yao," she said, "Are you sure you want to go?"
A Yao gripped her bamboo cane tightly and nodded. "My father went there. If he could get out, so can I."
Snow Empress looked at her. The girl's eyes were bright, just as bright as when she buried the pottery shards on the third ditch wall that day. Snow Empress recalled how A Yao had first laid out her father's notes in front of her in the Spirit Vein Bureau. At that time, A Yao didn't dare to look up at her, and her words were hesitant. Now the girl stood straight, her gaze steady, her hand gripping the bamboo cane as if it were a knife.
"Okay," Snow Empress said, "I'll go in with you. Yin Wujou will stay outside and guard the diversion channel."
Yin Wujou wanted to say something, but Snow Empress raised her hand to stop him.
"The ley lines in the Blind Zone are chaotic; horses can't get in. Two people are enough."