The old man looked down at the scroll, his gaze lingering on the array diagram for a long time. His lips moved, as if he were silently reciting something. Then he raised his head, and something indescribable appeared in his dark red eyes.
"This is indeed Meng Qi's handwriting," he said. "I recognize the hook he used to write the character 'pulse'; no one else would write it like that." He closed the scroll, handed it back to A Yao, and put away the dagger. "When you're checking the third Vein Eye, I need to be there to watch. If the water pressure is wrong, or if resentment is surging out, I'll immediately re-block the Vein Eye. Even if it means using these old bones of mine to do it."
A Yao carefully put the paper roll away and gripped the bamboo cane again. "Alright. You watch."
The old man turned and walked toward the stone pillar. The small beasts followed at his feet, their claws making a soft tapping sound on the stone. He reached the base of the pillar, squatted down, and brushed aside the scattered fragments of canal wood and pottery, revealing a groove. The old canal wood in the groove was completely rotten, just like in the first stone chamber.
"I personally blocked this Vein Eye," the old man said. "I used my own canal timber. I cut down the last canal tree near the Blind Zone, whittled three pieces of timber, and blocked the three Vein Eye respectively. The first and second pieces rotted away long ago, and I replaced them every year. I didn't replace the third one because the third Vein Eye was the most tightly blocked, and even if it rotted away, no one could open it." He pointed to the groove, "Now, to clear it, we have to completely remove the rotten wood. There's also a layer of gravel underneath, which was pressed in when we blocked it back then. We have to pry it out."
A Yao crouched down to take a look. The groove was deeper than the previous two, and the rotten wood and gravel inside were mixed together and packed very tightly. "Do you have any tools?"
The old man pulled a bone chisel from his waist and handed it to her. "Use this. Don't use iron. Iron will spark when it touches the Vein Eye, and the earth vein water will explode if it comes into contact with the spark."
A Yao took the bone chisel and began to clean the groove. She carefully removed the rotten wood and pebbles, and with each piece she removed, the Vein Eye symbols on the stone pillar lit up a little brighter. The old man stood beside her, watching intently, while the small beasts formed a circle, their dark red eyes unblinking. Snow Empress retreated to the edge of the stone platform, the tip of her knife pointing downwards, but her hand did not leave the hilt.
Halfway through the cleansing, the old man suddenly spoke up, "Did Meng Qi's notes mention what to do with the Resentment Person in the Blind Zone after the Vein Eye are opened?"
A Yao's hands didn't stop. "It's written in the notes. Resentment Person is someone corrupted by resentment. After Vein Eye, the earth's ley lines will circulate and dilute the resentment, and the symptoms of Resentment Person will gradually lessen. But they won't be able to return to a normal person, at least they won't turn into a beast."
The old man hummed in agreement. He rubbed his toes on the stone platform, the webbed membrane appearing particularly pale in the bluish light. "Someone like me is considered Resentment Person," he said. "I've guarded this place for forty years, constantly absorbing the Earth Vein Resentment. The webbing between my toes grew in the last ten years. Even if the Vein Eye are opened, will these webbing disappear?"
A Yao looked up at him. "It can reduce some of it. But you've been in the Blind Zone for too long; some things can't be undone. But at least it won't get worse."
The old man remained silent. A Yao cleaned the groove and took out a spare piece of timber. This timber was thicker than the ones used in the previous two places; it was a "main vein timber" specially marked in Meng Qi's notes, used to connect the core Vein Eye at the confluence of the three veins. She embedded the timber into the groove and then pressed the pottery shards in one by one according to the angle of the array diagram. When the first shard was in place, one-third of the Vein Eye symbols on the stone pillar lit up. When the second shard was in place, two-thirds lit up. Just as the third shard touched the edge of the timber, a stream of dark red water suddenly gushed out from the bottom of the stone pillar, much turbider than the previous two, with a strong sulfurous smell.
"Water accumulated from resentment." The old man took a step back. "When the Vein Eye, a surge will rush out first, and only after that surge is released will the earth vein water follow."
The dark red water surged for about ten breaths, slowly clearing until it became the same clear ley line water as the previous two. The water climbed upwards along the grain of the canal wood, illuminating the last third of the Vein Eye symbols on the stone pillar. When all three Vein Eye lit up simultaneously, the entire stone chamber trembled. The red light spots on the dome suddenly dimmed, replaced by countless blue light spots that gushed out from the top of the stone pillars, like rain flowing backwards, rising towards the dome.
The small beasts let out sharp cries and ran towards the edge of the stone platform. But the azure light of the earth's vein water chased after them, surrounding them in a shallow trough around the edge of the platform. The water in the trough grew deeper and deeper, and the small beasts, soaking in the shimmering azure water, gradually weakened their cries. The jet-black scales on their bodies began to fade, and the eerie blue flames at the tips of their forked tails dimmed.
The old man stood beside the stone pillar, looking down at his feet. The webbing between his toes was slowly shrinking, and a hint of blood appeared on the grayish-white surface. "Forty years," he murmured. "Forty years, I watched these beasts crawl at my feet every day. Now they've turned back to normal."
After all the Vein Eye symbols on the stone pillar were fully illuminated, the light trails of the ley lines extended from the base of the pillar, flowing in three directions towards the rock walls at the edge of the chamber. A Yao sensed it with her bamboo staff, then turned to Snow Empress and said, " The Three Eyes Return to One unified. The ley lines are starting to circulate again. The resentment in the Blind Zone will gradually be suppressed."
Snow Empress nodded, but she hadn't sheathed her sword. "What about the diversion channel outside the Blind Zone? Has the water risen?"
A Yao used her bamboo cane to probe the waterline at the edge of the stone chamber. "Once the third Vein Eye, the water level throughout the entire vein will rise. Yin Wujou is watching the diversion channel outside; they should have already started digging. We need to go out and check."
The old man suddenly looked up. "Are there still people outside?"
"Yes, there is. One is monitoring the water level, and the other is leading a team to dig diversion channels," Snow Empress said. "If we don't go out for three days, they will dig up the entire diversion channel, filling the Blind Zone with ley line water."
The old man frowned. "Flood the Blind Zone? Then this stone chamber will be submerged too."
"Yes." Snow Empress looked at him, "So we need to get out within three days."
The old man put away the bone chisel and fastened it to his belt. "I'll lead you through the shortcut. I've been here for forty years; I can walk this path with my eyes closed. Going north from this crevice, there's an old riverbed, the main waterway before the earth's veins were blocked. Now it's open, and there should be water in the riverbed, but it's not deep; you can wade across. Taking the riverbed is twice as fast as taking the narrow path."
A Yao put away her bamboo cane, picked up her backpack, and said, "Let's go."
The old man walked at the front, his bare feet making no sound on the stone platform. The small beasts were no longer following him; they were soaking in the shimmering shallow pool, their scales faded to light gray, the flames on their tails extinguished, and some had begun to crawl into ordinary cracks in the rock wall, looking no different from ordinary burrowing beasts.
The old riverbed is located to the north of the stone chamber, and the entrance is partially hidden by a stone slab.