The Tale Never Ends Chapter 195 The Grotto Graves

The despaired Bian Dashou was still muttering quietly to himself when I got to him, a forlorn and beaten man who knew not what should he do. I let loose a wretched chuckle for the wretched man and hesitated quietly. Then, I steeled myself and reached for his hand. He nearly flinched when he felt me grasping on his wrist and jumped with shock. He looked and looked but still, he could not see the hand guiding his. Jia Huan and Li Cheng both witnessed this; they looked with disbelief at Bian Dashou whose arm rose suddenly and wondered if the Lord Magistrate had gone mad. "What's wrong, my lord?"

But Bian Dashou said not a word; he looked at his hand being raised and the aporetic man could move not even an inch. I pried open his fingers and opened a palm, then I took his other hand and began writing a song: Through fen and snow lies your mark ahead; Seek the hidden path to tread; Through shadow through snow or edge of night; Let your heart set your path alight.

Bian Dashou looked at his hand with a deep frown creased on his forehead, trying to read what I was writing. In the end, his face shone with dawning comprehension! With renewed fervor, he barked at Jia Huan, "Tell everyone! Keep their eyes shut and walk forward! DO NOT OPEN YOUR EYES NO MATTER WHAT! Tell them! Use your feet to feel the ground and make sure you're walking straight until we walk out of this wood!" Jia Huan's face twisted with apparent suspicion, but he knew better than to contradict his lord. He turned and relayed the orders to the men, all of whom were also doubtful when they heard his message although none dared to offer any objections. And even if anyone wanted to, Bian Dashou had already begun leading the blind trek through the snow.

Even without my guidance, Bian Dashou had long guessed that they could have been trapped in a magical bounded field or formation. He was after all a student of magic and was, by no means, a dimwit. No Ghost Barriers would be able to impediment one such as he and only a handful few people in the world knew the magic of elemental manipulation, so it was unlikely that anyone could be employing it now and he might not have thought of it either. But he was quick to capture the gist of my message after my hint and that was evident when his face radiated with inspiration.

And thus my theory was proven right: for barely a half-hour's blinded trek through snow and wood, the party finally walked out of the woods and I could see that steep rock face standing out imperiously and tall overhead. I was relieved and happy to see that my plan had worked. Satisfied that we had finally passed this stage of the gauntlet, I went forward and patted twice on Bian Dashou's shoulder. It made him jump with fright again and he opened his eyes. He immediately saw the dark craggy cliff hanging before like a tall tower and he turned to the rest of the party, exclaiming with joy, "Open your eyes, all of you! We've made it out!"

The members of the party opened their eyes and the cold air was rife with throaty breaths of relieve and warm wisps of vapors escaping everyone's mouth. Some even collapsed to the ground, thankful that their lives were spared. "Finally! We've made it out of that accursed woods!" Bian Dashou asked Li Cheng, "How far ahead?" "Not far now, milord. It lies not far after this cliff." Bian Dashou's head rose to observe the tall, precipitous rock face overshadowing the whole party and nodded. "Very well, prepare to scale the cliff!" A few reluctant moans wailed from behind as some of the men nodded grimly.

I looked up too and surveyed the treacherously steep cliff. The cliff was hardly dangerously tall or precipitously vertical in angle, but snow peeked from every crevice and tendrils of vines hung down everywhere. The top of the cliff seemed to give way to a flat ground but no one had been here in ages and no one could truly tell what might be waiting up there. Bian Dashou's forehead curdled into another heavy frown. "Rest assured, milord," Li Cheng said suddenly, "Scaling this cliff might look impossible. But there are lots of footholds along the way that enables easy climbing." Bian Dashou responded with a tacit nod and took the lead, grasping first on a jagged rock and pulled himself up.

The rock face was angled just so that no one could walk up, but had to climb with one's hands and legs. Fortunately, most of the parties were all abled-bodied men. Despite the ordeal in the woods, they were still able to scale the cliff. Before long from below, I could see that Bian Dashou was already vaulting himself up the top of the cliff.

Seeing that Bian Dashou had reached the top, there was no longer any reason for me to dawdle down here; what happened to the rest of the party hardly interested me. With a kick into the snow, I glided upwards. I reached the top to find Bian Dashou helping the rest of his companions up and I took the time to look at the surroundings.

The top of the cliff opened up into an expanse before another rough stone wall loomed before us. From a giant's point of view, this area could have been a chipped part of Mount San Feng Zi where a huge chunk of the mountain was removed to create this space. We stood at the edge of the precipice, surrounded by the arms of the surrounding mountains and their foothills. Below us, the thick emaciated forest from which we escaped spread far and wide until which our sights could not penetrate because of the still falling snow. I looked again at the rugged rock face in front. Through the convoluted and bedraggled stubbles of weed and clumps of snow that littered the rock face, we saw many a great large and small holes, crevices, and cavities. Many of these holes were already used. It was filled with the corpses of the dead as grotto graves as Chen Yixuan had mentioned in his tale. But I was somewhat surprised to find these holes crudely hewn from the stone. They looked nothing like caverns or halls of stone we usually see in fairy tales, just a simple hole hacked from the stone of the mountain. But the remains of the dead had been left in peace; no one would have known that these areas were graves if we had not come here.

I stood there, awestruck and amazed. Then I activated my Spirit Sight to see the flow of Qi around here. But my hair stuck as straight as needles on my skin immediately! The Qi of the dragon leys were swirling richly like the strong and powerful flow of a river, moving from faraway West towards East. But there was an unmistakable hint of malice and grudge in it. It was the same as when I had seen it before, only it looked noticeably stronger and thicker now that I was looking at it here and now.

A strange, surrealistic sensation swept through me like a tide. I flew into the air and looked down again from above the sky. Only then I realized that the Qi of the dragon leys was moving in a circular motion when they passed by Mount San Feng Zi, churning slowly and rising up higher into the shape of a cyclone. As the cyclone spun round and round like a top, the whiff of malicious aura from all around swirled and transfused into the Qi of the dragon leys. The river of Qi of the dragon leys that stretched from the West formed an odd cyclic tornado when it came here before continuing its rapid rush eastbound. It was here that the Qi of the dragon leys were tainted!

Long ago, I had spoken to Father about this. He told me the whiff of malice and hatred was proof that Li Zicheng would be a cruel ruler in the future. One's innate character and disposition were always reflected in the Qi of the dragon leys he or she controlled. This explained how inhumane and brutal monarchs often lose the mandate to rule through the deterioration of their dragon leys which became tainted through the evil they wrought. The rancorous aura now tainting the Qi of the dragon leys came from nowhere but Li Zicheng himself and the cyclone of the Qi had also marked this river of Qi his. With the corrupting influence from him contaminating the Qi of the dragon leys, the river, that also bore the semblance of the dragon was now a feral and bloodthirsty creature. It was the same for what happened to Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu before the Han Dynasty, although on a very much different scale; it was no secret that Xiang Yu was more hateful and bitter than Li Zicheng and that corrupted his own dragon leys which was later forcibly destroyed.

Back at the grotto graves where Li Zicheng's progenitors' remains were kept, I waited albeit with brimming impatience as the rest of the party climbed up. Bian Dashou called for Li Cheng. "Which of these graves belong to the rebel Li Zicheng's father, Li Shouzhong?" "During the time when Li Shouzhong's remains were brought here, milord, his sons chose one of three remaining graves for their use. In that hole, the remains of Li Shouzhong were interred along with a black clay bowl. A bowl used as a lamp of oil. Find that bowl, and you'll find Li Shouzhong's remains."

Bian Dashou nodded. He waved and shouted, "Let's begin!" And the wearied and squirmish peasants hoisted high their hoes and picks and began digging...

They began digging and burrowing through the first grave. But despite being in the face of the cliff, the graves were all dug angled downwards. The peons needed to dig far and deep before they could be sure of anything. When the first grave was fully dug, a voice, sounding definitely downcast, yelled from inside, "There's no black bowl in this one, my lord!" But sounding oblivious to the sullen looks of the peasants, Bian Dashou roared, "The next one!"

And thus, the men continued delving deep into six graves to look for any signs of a black bowl to no avail. The pale silvery orb of the moon hung high overhead now. It was too late for them to continue, and with the snow continued assailing them and hindering their work, Bian Dashou could only give the unwilling command for everyone to rest in the caverns that they had dug.

The men were visibly glad to hear this and some even sat down immediately as their knees gave way at the reprieve. They shuffled one by one into the caverns and the six holes were flooded with the glow from burning fire pits.

I stood alone at the verge of the cliff, looking down at the silent and ghastly forest sprawled upon a sheet of white below my feet. The view was unbelievable. I redirected my mind back to the grotto graves. Something about them was strange. But I did not know yet, whatever it was. The snow and the veil of night made it difficult for me to properly see what was wrong and I shrugged, flying up into the sky again. I hung in mid-air, standing in the midst of the rushing Qi of the dragon leys and wallowing in the indescribable but palpable sensation that churned around me. But if you asked me, it was like a fish enjoying his first swim in the waters of the ocean! Feeling the rich dragon ley Qi sweeping over me, rushing down my skin reminded me everything about our universe with a flurry blur of visions that assailed my senses: the celestial bodies, the mountains, and the rivers, the beasts and birds, and all human civilization! There really was no way to fully put all the feeling, the emotions, and vibes that filled me that very instant as if I was one with the Qi of the dragon leys.

But it was merely for a fraction of a second; the sensation did not last long for I began to feel the Qi rejecting me. Perhaps only Li Zicheng himself would be permitted to enjoy the enrichment of the dragon leys' Qi.

I glided back down to the graves and looked in the six caverns for Bian Dashou. When I finally found him, he was in a hole, sharing it only with Jia Huan and Li Cheng. They were sitting by a fire which burned exuberantly despite the glum looks on the faces of the quiet men and the entire room was shrouded in a pall of somber mood otherwise heartened only by the crackling kindling burning in the flames.

But in the midst of the jaunty crepitation of the fire, I heard a faint voice murmuring, "Ah... Ha... Ho..."

Chapter end