Chapter 9: Ancestors

Chapter 9: The Ancestor

"I'm going to sleep. Don't bother me unless it's important." With that, Zhou Xia vanished.

Sang Xu suppressed his shock and tucked the pouch containing the Heaven-Mending Pills deep inside his cloth bag.

Without the Heaven-Mending Pills, Han Rao and the others couldn't extend their lifespans, forcing them to search every corner of this perilous Ghost Gate Pass. This, in turn, would expose Sang Xu to immense risk. He decided it would be better to wait until they opened another coffin, then secretly toss four Heaven-Mending Pills inside, allowing them to focus solely on finding a way out.

Having made his silent calculation, the group pressed on. To conserve candles, only one was lit. After exiting the Clothes-Stripping Pavilion area and wading through a narrow underground river, they once again saw the boundary marker for the "Homeward Gaze Platform." In the dim candlelight, straining their eyes, they could vaguely discern a towering stone platform ahead, with dense clusters of figures below.

At the sight of those figures, their hearts sank, and they quickly took cover behind a large rock.

Han Rao handed his backpack to Sang Xu, saying, "Wait here. I'll sneak over to scout."

Carrying his gun, he moved forward in the darkness. The others held their breath, watching him crawl. When he reached a spot very close to the figures, he craned his neck to observe for a moment before turning back and signaling for them to approach. Shen Zhitang cupped the candle flame to prevent it from being too conspicuous. The group mimicked Han Rao, crawling forward until they reached him.

Up close, they could see that the figures below were mostly skeletons, with no possibility of reanimation. They were arranged in concentric circles around the base of the platform, all seated in meditation, hands forming seals. Shen Zhitang raised the candle higher, revealing that the skeletons were arranged in many layers. The closer they were to the platform, the stranger the skeletons appeared.

The skeletons seated directly beneath the platform had necks that forked into four branches, each topped with a skull. There were more than ten such skeletons.

"Are these monsters?" Ye Xin's heart pounded at the sight. "No human looks like that!"

Sang Xu put on the Nuo mask and scanned the piles of skeletons. He saw nothing unusual, not even the shadowy figures he had often encountered before. He then looked up at the central stone platform. It was so tall it almost touched the cave ceiling, and the top was shrouded in darkness, making it impossible to discern anything.

"Brother Jianguo," Shen Zhitang remarked, noticing his mask, "where did you get that Nuo mask?"

Sang Xu glanced sideways at her.

She didn't ask what the mask was or what its purpose was, but immediately inquired about its origin. It seemed she knew this Nuo mask was extraordinary.

Shen Zhitang was very knowledgeable and seemed to be aware of many things.

"I found it next to Meng Po's coffin when I entered her shop after getting separated from you," Sang Xu explained.

Han Rao slipped into the cluster of skeletons, rummaging through their decayed clothing in search of Heaven-Mending Pills.

The others, steeling themselves, also entered the skeleton piles. Sang Xu moved to the very front, pretending to search the skeletons, while secretly taking four Heaven-Mending Pills from his pouch and placing one in the hand of each four-headed skeleton. Then, while Han Rao and the others weren't looking, he retreated back to the area with the normal skeletons.

Soon after, he heard Shen Zhitang's excited whisper, "Found it!"

The group quickly gathered around. Shen Zhitang carefully extracted the Heaven-Mending Pills from the hands of the four-headed skeletons and sniffed them. "Heaven-Mending Pills have a unique fragrance. This is definitely it."

She distributed one pill to each of them. Ye Xin was overcome with emotion, muttering, "Heaven help us, heaven help us!"

Han Rao sniffed his pill, confirmed it was a Heaven-Mending Pill, and chewed it immediately. Ye Xin and Shen Zhitang, however, didn't rush to eat theirs, instead putting them away.

Han Rao told Sang Xu, "Keep this well hidden. Remember, Heaven-Mending Pills don't just extend your life. If you accidentally see something you shouldn't and go mentally unstable or your body starts to break down, swallowing one can help a lot—at least it can curb the physical mutations. If you take enough, you might even recover completely. I accidentally glanced at An He once, and my head's been throbbing ever since. See, after taking one pill, I feel better immediately. It's more effective than my grandma's brain-boosting tonic."

Sang Xu knew he was speaking the truth and nodded.

Shen Zhitang added, "Brother Jianguo, I'll offer one Heaven-Mending Pill for your Nuo mask. Will you sell it? But I can't give it to you now—I'll have to wait until I earn another one."

Ye Xin's eyes nearly popped out. "A Heaven-Mending Pill for a broken mask? You might as well buy me."

Shen Zhitang shot him a glare, and he covered his mouth, falling silent.

Han Rao cursed him, "Idiot! If a beautiful lady is willing to offer a Heaven-Mending Pill for it, it means the mask is worth that much."

Sang Xu shook his head and said, "Not for sale."

Shen Zhitang smiled. "How much would it take for you to sell it?"

"Sorry," Sang Xu replied curtly.

The truth was, the Nuo mask wasn't even his. How could he dare sell something belonging to Zhou Xia?

"What's so special about this Nuo mask that you wouldn't trade it for a Heaven-Mending Pill?" Ye Xin asked.

Han Rao was also curious.

Shen Zhitang looked at them and said, "You guys don't know? ...Well, since you saved me earlier, I'll tell you for free. But if you ask me similar questions next time, I'll demand payment. However, Brother Jianguo, if I tell you what the Nuo mask is, can you tell me what your mask does?"

Sang Xu nodded.

She pointed to the Nuo mask in Sang Xu's hand and explained, "Some objects, after being worshipped by generations of people, develop unique auras. For example, Nuo god masks, after centuries of incense offerings, acquire supernatural properties.

"The mask Brother Jianguo is holding is clearly an antique. Look, the eyes are the most exquisitely painted, and there's an eye pattern on the forehead, representing a three-eyed deity. I suspect this Nuo mask depicts Yin Jiao, the crown prince of the Shang Dynasty. Legend says that after he was beheaded and reborn, his eyes gained great divine power, allowing him to see the truth of all things." Shen Zhitang looked at Sang Xu. "Am I right?"

Sang Xu didn't know if the mask depicted Yin Jiao, but its ability to see the truth was indeed real.

"You're right," Sang Xu confirmed. "Through this mask, you can see many things invisible to the naked eye."

"Wow, that's amazing!" Ye Xin was also tempted. "Let's look around. Maybe we can find other antiques here."

He immediately turned back to rummage through the tattered clothing of the skeletons, hoping to find another Nuo mask. Sang Xu walked to the base of the platform, which was surrounded by dense clusters of four-headed skeletons. Each skeleton had three eye sockets and eight arms, crouched low to the ground in a worshipful pose, terrifyingly spider-like.

The platform walls were covered with yellowish-brown vine tendrils and carved with many images. While Han Rao and Ye Xin were still searching the skeletons, Sang Xu looked up to study the faded murals. The murals depicted a narrative, each featuring a prominent man with long, flowing hair and beard, a square face, and thick eyebrows—likely what ancient people considered an ideal handsome man. His eyes were unusual, though—they were red.

Shen Zhitang joined him, equally intrigued by the images. "This seems to depict the deeds of the Sang family ancestor. Hmm... this mural shows him descending from the sky, hailed as a leader by the people. He called himself Sang Wannian. This one shows him awakening various divine powers and rescuing people from calamity."

Sang Xu followed her explanations, examining each mural in turn.

"This one says he converted to the Mother of the Dipper, gained her favor, and became her earthly agent. This one..."

Their gazes lingered on the final mural, which depicted the Sang family ancestor marrying and coupling with the Mother of the Dipper, fathering a host of three-eyed, four-headed, eight-armed descendants. Later, after the ancestor's death, the Sang family built the Homeward Gaze Platform and placed his coffin atop the high platform.

"No way..." Shen Zhitang looked at the eerie skeletons on the ground. "Are these all the descendants of the Sang family ancestor and the Mother of the Dipper?"

Sang Xu fell into deep thought.

From the Meng Po Shop to the Homeward Gaze Platform, Sang Xu had keenly noticed that the coffin designs and architectural styles were becoming increasingly ancient.

By the time they reached the Homeward Gaze Platform, the structures had become very rudimentary. The Clothes-Stripping Pavilion at least had a pavilion with upturned eaves, but the Homeward Gaze Platform was just a stone platform.

This indicated that these structures were built in increasingly ancient eras. So it was entirely possible that the four-headed skeletons were earlier generations of the Sang family. Moreover, upon closer inspection of the skeletons surrounding the platform, the further out they were, the less strange they looked. Perhaps, through generations of intermarriage, the Sang family had slowly returned to normal.

However, Sang Xu had a lingering doubt.

Before these structures were built, had there been no Ghost Gate Pass?

Or was the Ghost Gate Pass they were currently in not the legendary one, but a so-called "Ghost Gate Pass" built by the Sang family based on legends of the Mother of the Dipper ruling the underworld, specifically to house their ancestors' remains?

Shen Zhitang deciphered the small seal script on the murals and said, "Not only that, but the Sang family ancestor also left a secret message, saying only those destined to understand it would. The message is..."

When she saw the message, her eyes widened in disbelief.

"We didn't find anything. What are you two looking at?" Ye Xin limped closer.

His leg had improved significantly, and he no longer needed to be carried.

Han Rao leaned in and said, "Everyone has a responsibility to protect cultural relics. How could you carve foreign words on it? Even if you were going to carve something, it should be in Mandarin, girl."

"I didn't carve this!" Shen Zhitang argued. "It's a coded message left by the first ancestor of the Sang family."

Han Rao scoffed, "No way? Are you joking with me?"

Sang Xu spoke up, "She's not lying."

As soon as Sang Xu spoke, Han Rao immediately believed him. Mainly because Sang Xu was remarkably calm—even when faced with animated corpses, he remained unfazed, as if those monsters were less terrifying than a homeroom teacher peeking through the window. At first glance, he seemed a bit aloof, like a capybara, but after spending more time with him, one would realize he was actually very reliable.

A thought flashed through Han Rao's mind, and he asked, "Could it be that the Sang family's ancestor was like us—a dream-entering outsider?"

Everyone turned their gaze to the mural, which read:

"The only way for us to survive is to believe in gods and become the king of dreams."

"What does that mean? Can someone explain it to me?" Han Rao's English proficiency was still at the level of "how are you."

Sang Xu translated word for word: "The only way for us to survive is to believe in gods and become the King of Dreams."

Below that, there was another line in smaller text.

"I left treasures for you. I hope they can be helpful to you."

"Good luck, outsider."

"I left some treasures for you. I hope they'll be useful to you."

"Good luck, outsider."