SES Chapter 204 Part 1

Chapter 204

It was close to three in the morning when the sound of rushing water came from somewhere ahead in the distance.

They must be close now. Every one of them, more or less, let out a breath of relief.

Along the way, visibility had been nearly zero. They only knew the journey had been difficult—only Luo Ren had been carefully noting the terrain and elevation changes the entire time.

Climbing up and down slopes went without saying, but even the ground beneath their feet kept changing: hard-packed earth, half-dried marshland, patches of rough grass, forest floor, loose rock paths, slick stone trails. They had turned more than sixty times. There were two or three “one-line sky” passages where the cliffs narrowed so much they could only sidle through sideways. They passed through hidden cave routes inside the mountain that took about fifteen minutes, and at least five or six major detours that fundamentally altered their direction.

It was nothing less than a carefully engineered man-made maze, perfectly integrated with the natural terrain. And that Silver-Eyed Bat felt like a guide preprogrammed to recognize complex routes.

It was practically a god’s-eye view. How massive an undertaking would this have required? Zheng Mingshan had once said that many electronic instruments malfunctioned in mountainous regions, and that even modern surveying techniques had failed to map this area in detail.

Luo Ren voiced his doubts. The Taoist rolled his eyes, then suddenly said, “Riddle me this—how do you think they surveyed this maze back then?”

The sound of water grew louder, and swirling gusts of wind rushed toward them, scraping across their faces. With the wind came movement, dispersing the fog and widening their field of vision slightly.

Seeing no one respond, the Taoist answered his own question. “You forgot? Lu Ban made wooden birds that could fly for three days and nights without landing. Maybe he rode one of those to survey the terrain.”

The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener did. Luo Ren’s heart jolted—he really might be right.

The river widened until it could no longer be bypassed. They waded through, the water growing shallower with every step, until they finally stopped on a dry, broken riverbed.

The wind howled all around them, roaring past their ears, yet it felt as though none of it actually touched them. Something felt strange. Luo Ren switched on a high-powered flashlight and shone it around, exclaiming, “Look!”

There were no rocks or cliffs in sight—only milky-white clouds of fog surrounding them.

This should have been the thickest fog of all, yet the wind behaved oddly, like a tornado pushing the fog outward from the center. They stood in the eye of the storm—calm and clear—while just over ten meters away stood an impenetrable wall of fog, circling them like a massive movie screen. Even when they shone flashlights upward, the beams weakened without penetrating it.

The scene should have been eerie, yet Cao Yanhua found it amusing instead. “Brother Luo, don’t we look like frogs at the bottom of a well?”

They really did. The dense fog formed the well walls, and when they looked up, the sky was no bigger than the mouth of a bowl.

When Mu Dai spoke, she said, “The first time I came here, there was wind too. But I was too nervous back then to notice how thick the fog was.”

Just like before, the Silver-Eyed Bat flapped its wings and rose into the air, circling once before plunging straight down into a depression in the bluestone riverbed.

A faint vibration traveled up through their feet. The riverbed split apart to either side, finally revealing the structure they had all been longing to see—

The Viewing Four Archways.

Traditionally, a Four Archways structure consists of five pillars forming four faces. This one was unheard of—it forcibly twisted the five pillars from a flat plane into a three-dimensional form, creating five pillars and five faces.

Every flashlight focused on the Viewing Four Archways, illuminating it brilliantly. Even Cao Jiefang held its breath, eyes unblinking.

Cao Yanhua was the first to notice something. “Gold, wood, water, fire, earth. Little Master, there are seal-script characters carved on the plaques of each archway.”

Then he frowned. “Shouldn’t they be oracle bone script?”

After growing used to the sharp strokes of oracle bone writing on the murderous slips, the seal script suddenly felt awkward to look at.

Luo Ren explained, “Oracle bone script came first. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, bronze inscriptions appeared. After Qin Shi Huang unified the realm, small seal script became standard. Based on the eras of Laozi, Lu Ban, Mozi, and others, seal script makes sense here.”

While they spoke, Wan San had already circled the structure, tapping on what looked like glass panels. “What material is this? It looks like glass, but it’s not… don’t tell me it’s diamond?”

His heart raced at the thought. If it really was a diamond, taking it all would be impossible—Mu Dai would never allow it—but even chiseling off a piece could mean a lifetime of wealth.

The Taoist, meanwhile, had been studying the seven tiny holes on the five faces. Mu Dai handed him a round, wedge-shaped wooden piece they had found at Yin Erma’s place. He tried inserting it—perfect fit.

He swallowed nervously. “Anyone here good at geometry?”

“I’m guessing that once all seven wooden pieces are inserted, they’ll form a three-dimensional Big Dipper inside the ‘glass.’ But each piece is carved with a wooden bird, and each bird has a different character next to it.”

He shone his flashlight on the one in his hand. Mu Dai could clearly see the ancient character for “Authority.”

“There are seven pieces and seven characters: Pivot, Xuan, Ji, Authority, Balance, Yang, Light—named after the Big Dipper stars. The pieces are identical, but they can’t be placed randomly. They have to match the star chart. I’m terrible with spatial reasoning. Who wants to do it?”

He accidentally made eye contact with Wan San, who immediately panicked. “Sir Taoist, don’t look at me—I never even went to school!”

“I’ll do it,” Luo Ren said.

He didn’t rush. Instead, he asked Mu Dai to help him find seven thin branches. One by one, he tested the depth of each hole, trimming the branches accordingly. When finished, the branches were all different lengths. After long deliberation, he inserted the wooden pieces one by one.

The result was astonishing.

The seven wooden pieces seemed to float in midair as they locked into place, gradually forming an inverted Big Dipper.

Mu Dai felt a chill. “This mechanism is terrifyingly precise—it’s even inverted. If someone placed them wrong…”

“Look!” the Taoist shouted.

The Big Dipper was slowly rotating. As it moved, the slanted, suspended box also began to shift, and beneath it, the yin–yang bagua disk gradually rose from the water.