Final Confirmation
The beam of light remained suspended above the groove, about an arm's length high, with clear edges, like a precisely cut cylinder of light. Long Tian squatted at the edge of the groove, looking up at the inside of the beam of light—near the base of the beam, a slowly rotating image began to appear, as if the density inside the beam was changing layer by layer to form a visible image layer.
The image unfolds continuously on the inner surface of the light pillar, like a long scroll that has been rolled up and then unrolled. Starting from the bottom, the image is a horizontally extending line, its direction consistent with the outline of the long wall. Above the line, a series of marks gradually emerge—the location of the shallow groove, the outline of the chamber, the embedding point of the Imperial Seal, and the direction the end face faces. The marks light up one by one in the light pillar, arranged above the line of the long wall, as if the path already traversed has been completely reproduced in its original order.
After the markers light up, the image continues upwards. At the end of the long wall line, a downward zigzag line appears, its direction corresponding to the vortex inlet, connecting to a circular marker below. Below the circular marker are two forking paths, one leading to a rectangular space, and the other to an unmarked area. Next to the marker in the rectangular space, a line of text appears, its characters originating from the ancient characters on the side of the base, with simple strokes and a clear direction. Next to the marker in the unmarked area, there are no characters, only a variant of a wavy line, the spacing and direction of the strokes perfectly matching the wavy line at the end of the silk map.
The image in the pillar of light stopped at the variation of the wavy line. It lingered there longer than any of the previous images, as if waiting for the viewer to fully memorize it before moving on. Long Tian squatted at the edge of the recess, mentally mapping each mark and path in the pillar of light to the route he had already traversed, to the markers on the silk map, and to the direction the end of the long wall faced. Through this continuous mapping, he confirmed that the direction of all paths in the pillar of light perfectly matched the actual route, and the complete structure of the entire image had been pieced together in his mind.
After remaining still for a while, the image within the beam of light began to slowly rotate, its direction mirroring the flow of the water eddies. Once the rotation ended, the image gradually disappeared from the bottom, like a long scroll being rolled up, narrowing upwards. Before it vanished completely, a new marker briefly appeared at the center of the beam—smaller than all the previous markers, as if shrunk and placed at the end of the beam. It remained lit for a moment in the remaining space of the beam, then slowly dimmed as the beam's brightness decreased, finally disappearing completely as it narrowed until it nearly went out.
After the beam of light disappeared, the groove returned to its ready-to-trigger state. Long Tian squatted at the edge of the groove, confirming the position of the last emerging mark by combining it with the direction of the other paths in the beam of light. Then he stood up and took one last look around the main hall. He turned his gaze away from the walls and stone platform, then exited the main hall along the sloping passage he had come from, returning to the upper waters of the vortex after passing through the opening in the membrane. When he surfaced, the sun was already setting, and the light gray layer on the sea surface was still evenly spread, as if the entire sea had entered the stillness of twilight.
He climbed onto the boat, water droplets dripping from his clothes and hair, forming a small puddle on the deck. Yu Jin followed suit, and the two squatted by the gunwale for a while. The man at the stern coiled up the anchor, adjusted the rudder, and turned the bow back in the direction they had come from. Bathed in the setting sun, the boat sailed back in the direction it had come from, the light gray sea gradually narrowing into a thin, bright band at the stern. As the boat passed the edge of that light-colored area, the seawater changed color from light gray to deep blue, and the current along the way continued to change direction, turning into the return channel.
Long Tian sat at the bow of the boat, holding the rolled-up silk map in his hand. His fingertips pressed against the folded edge of the seal, not unfolding it, but maintaining his own quiet and steady demeanor. The boat docked the following afternoon. Long Tian and Yu Jin went ashore and walked back to the stone house along the dirt road. When he returned to the house, Long Tieshan was squatting by the stove boiling water. Hearing footsteps, he turned around and glanced at the stove before continuing to add firewood.