Professor Sun Xuewu's work log, left behind in the museum, precisely sketched the design of the Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror. Although I had never seen the back of that ancient mirror, the distinctive feature of the eyeless fish talisman embedded around the bronze rim made it unmistakable. The drawing of the ancient mirror was annotated with many lines of text, likely Professor Sun’s research and analytical notes.

I had assumed Professor Chen had already turned the Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror over to the state; could he have secretly given it to Professor Sun first? What on earth was Professor Sun intending to do sneaking into the museum in the dead of night?

My mind was filled with questions. Seeing that the logbook was voluminous and offered no immediate clues, I closed the notebook and tucked it into my overcoat pocket, intending to review it later. For now, I needed to seize this rare opportunity to examine that Han Dynasty alchemy furnace first.

The side panel of the display case had already been pried open, clearly the work of Professor Sun. Upon seeing this, Ai Xiaohong immediately declared she would call the police. I persuaded her, saying, “It’s only a replica, and nothing was lost or damaged. Let’s not trouble the leadership or the Public Security Bureau over such a small matter; their workload is heavy enough. The People's Police serve the people, and we citizens should also feel a kinship with them. We shouldn't always be looking to push trouble onto the police. You should think more about your brother and the others.”

Ai Xiaohong was a straightforward girl. She nodded and said, “Brother Hu, you truly are a product of the military's crucible; you think of others in everything. I won't cause any more trouble for my brother. Then let’s hurry and see that Five-Color Bronze Furnace inlaid with gold and silver.”

Ai Xiaohong led Irley Yang and me to the furnace. This time, without any obstruction, every detail of the furnace wall was visible. I asked Ai Xiaohong, “Sister Xiaohong, does your museum have an explanatory script for this item?”

Ai Xiaohong replied that of course they did—a long passage written by experts. She immediately recited the museum’s official commentary for us.

I started shaking my head halfway through. The commentary painstakingly crafted by these so-called "experts" was vastly different from the true origin and purpose of the Pingshan Alchemy Furnace—it was completely nonsensical. However, the Pill Palace in Xiangxi Pingshan is rarely documented in historical texts, and in modern times, aside from the grave robbers from the Ban Shan and Xie Ling schools who entered it, few people know of it. Rather than listen to the experts fabricate a few disjointed platitudes, I preferred to interpret things based on my own sight and experience.

I raised my flashlight, fixing the beam on the intricately worked bronze surface of the furnace body, allowing Irley Yang a clearer view. Irley Yang pointed to a series of raised and sunken inscriptions on the copper wall and remarked, “During the Qin and Han dynasties, there was a strong belief in esoteric arts and elixirs, referring to the process of refining an elixir of immortality as the Art of Furnace Fire. These inscriptions might be alchemical formulas.”

The Pingshan Pill Palace contained numerous coffins and decayed corpses excavated from various places. According to the understanding of master tomb robbers like Chen Xiazi and Zhuge Qing, this was a vile practice of "burning Yin elixirs" using the dead. Irley Yang, who could read ancient script, said the incomplete inscriptions on the furnace roughly recorded: “The human body uses the kidney as the guide, the root of metal generation, the source of life and fate, connected by a pore beneath the tongue. The perpetual divine water is called Jinjin (Golden Saliva) on the left and Yuye (Jade Dew) on the right; pouring it down into the Dantian (Elixir Field). When the Dantian is full, it flows into the bone marrow; when the bone marrow is full, it flows into the blood vessels; when the blood vessels are full, it is said to transmit to the Niwangong (Mud Pill Palace), returning to the kidneys, cycling like the sun and moon, whereby the Golden Water solidifies into the Black Pearl upon death.”

The eight depictions of immortals refining elixirs cast onto the furnace wall showed the method for extracting the Black Pearl through the burning of Yin elixirs in the first four panels—phrases like, “Carve open an ancient corpse to extract the kidney, boil and distill the Golden Water and Jade Dew, mix with lead and mercury to initiate the elixir head,” which were nearly sickening.

I mused over who could have conceived such a wicked method for burning Yin elixirs. If this truly could refine the Golden Elixir, it would likely not be an elixir of immortality, but a truly fatal poison—wherever it landed, doom would follow. Looking at the other four diagrams, there was a shorter inscription, contrary to the Yin Elixir formula, speaking of the True Elixir—the Inner Elixir we were searching for.

Since ancient times, refining the Inner Elixir was refining Qi. Qi nourishes the form between the five viscera, scattering and gathering due to the seven emotions; thus, it manifests above the Five Sacred Mountains and Four Great Rivers, subject to the variation of the Six Qi. It can clarify the turbid without remainder, remaining placid and still, anchoring the abyss of mountains and waters, unreachable by the Six Qi. The Qi of the Azure Dragon is like auspicious clouds supporting the moon; the Qi of the Vermilion Bird is like morning mist reflecting water; the Qi of the Hooked Formation is like black wind sweeping clouds; the Qi of the Black Tortoise is like greasy smoke blending with fog...

In the Hundred-Eye Cave at the end of the Inner Mongolian grasslands, I had personally witnessed a huge corpse of an old weasel containing a Red Pill True Elixir, akin to a biological calculus stone found within creatures like cows or donkeys. In Feng Shui, the so-called "vital energy" (Sheng Qi) is ethereal, formless, and intangible, but this Inner Elixir found in ancient corpses is precisely the essence condensed from the spirit of heaven and earth interacting with the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers. Volume 'Transformation' in The Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Art explains this in detail. In truth, the so-called "Inner Elixir" cannot extend life, much less grant immortality; it is merely the vital energy of heaven and earth solidified within a living creature. However, it is absolutely essential for the South Sea Jiangtou sorcerers to remove the corpse curse from the Duo Ling.

In the past, the Inner Court of the Imperial Palace housed many Inner Elixirs. The most famous one recorded in official histories is the "Spider Treasure" from the Northern Song Dynasty. These elixir heads, condensed from vital energy, possessed the power to expel corpse toxins and break corpse curses. But those ancient artifacts have long been destroyed by natural disasters or human calamity, or have been lost without a trace. We could only pin our hopes on finding one in some ancient tomb or underworld, just as the ancients said: seeking the Black Elixir in the underground palace of an ancient tomb is an act of "seeking the profound in the palace."

Yet, the Gold and Silver Five-Color Alchemy Furnace did not record the location of any ancient tomb elixirs. Unwilling to give up, I looked at the top and bottom ends of the furnace wall, speaking to Irley Yang as I examined them: “Professor Sun is an expert in ancient symbology and cryptology. Why would he sneak into the museum to look at this alchemy furnace? Has this old man also awakened to the idea of consuming elixirs to seek immortality? His level of enlightenment shouldn’t be so low, after the masses supported his training for so many years...”

Irley Yang suddenly held steady my slightly shaking flashlight and directed the beam toward the furnace top, telling me, “Professor Sun probably wanted to see this section... This bronze furnace originated from Guixu.”

The upper part of the furnace top featured integrated motifs. The figures and artifacts were cast in exquisite detail, shown in profile, with an ancient and vivid demeanor, resembling a sequential narrative scroll. First, the sea was shown surging, and droves of "Dragon Soldiers" carried an ancient tripod ashore. This tripod’s shape was identical to the bronze tripod cast by Hentian using dragon fire.

Next, a hundred birds sang, and an emperor-like figure lay reclined beside the tripod, seemingly having made the ancient vessel his burial offering upon death. The tripod was decorated with four ancient talismans, namely Dragon, Human, Fish, and Ghost, each embedded in a circular disc on the vessel’s body. That disc looked remarkably similar to the Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror.

Following this, a mountain tomb was pierced by celestial lightning, and many people carried the giant tripod out of the tomb. By this point, the vessel was shattered into pieces and later recast into an alchemy furnace for refining medicine.

This layer of imagery should record the origin of this furnace. It seems to be an ancient artifact offered by Hentian during the Zhou Dynasty. When a certain Zhou Emperor was entombed, it was buried in the ancient tomb. Later, due to natural disasters, the objects in the tomb were exposed, leading someone to take the bronze tripod and recast it into an alchemy furnace. In this light, those ancient divination symbols were all inherited from Guixu.

I knew the Hentian people were skilled in ancient divination and could divine all phenomena by gazing upon light, but one thing had consistently eluded me: since the Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror was paired with those mysterious eyeless divination talismans, it should be a divination mirror. And the origin of the Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror might not be what Professor Chen claimed at all. Perhaps we had been deceived from the very beginning—the talk of the ancient mirror suppressing corpses, and its back being saturated with corpse energy rendering it unable to reflect people, might have nothing to do with this South Sea divination mirror. The Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror might exist, but it certainly wasn't the ancient mirror we salvaged from the South Sea shipwreck. God knows what secret is buried within that mirror.

Irley Yang’s expression had also soured. She had clearly sensed that we had been deceived, but her eyes revealed a question: “Is Professor Sun sneaking into the museum to look at the Five-Color Furnace related to the Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror he was researching? Why is he so obsessed with this ancient mirror? What is he trying to achieve?”

I replied, “If you don’t want people to know, don’t do it. His work log is in our hands now. After we get back to the guesthouse, we’ll go through it carefully, and we’ll certainly uncover his background.”

We then examined the Five-Color Alchemy Furnace inside and out, and then had Ai Xiaohong show us the lacquer coffin painted with female immortals, as well as the replicas of the bronze ghost and bronze man. Feeling we had left no stone unturned, we left satisfied.

Ai Xiaohong saw us to the entrance of the Natural History Museum. I shook her hand and said politely, “Your brother Aidaodan and I were comrades-in-arms, so you are practically my own sister. I won’t be overly formal, but I must thank you for giving us a private tour of these relics tonight, and for letting me see the museum’s treasure—the specimen of the white bat spirit that ate people while alive.”

Ai Xiaohong chuckled, “Brother Hu, don't joke. When you have time to visit Hunan in the future, I’ll take you to see Hunan’s true treasure: a thousand-year-old preserved corpse, a world wonder, much more interesting than a white bat specimen. Have you ever seen a genuine thousand-year-old ancient corpse? Not a replica.”

I gave Ai Xiaohong a wry smile and said, “I’ve seen one or two before, but not in a museum, so I didn’t dare look closely. I’ll take a good look next time I’m in your area.” With that, I waved goodbye to Ai Xiaohong.

It was past midnight when we returned. There were no cars on the road, so Irley Yang and I had to drive the “Number Eleven.” By the time we reached the guesthouse, the cold had numbed our throats. I quickly poured a cup of tea from the thermos, didn't even take off my overcoat, lit a cigarette, and prepared to look through Professor Sun’s work log.

Just as I was about to open it, Irley Yang suddenly placed her hand on the notebook and said, “Don’t you think this might be inappropriate? Perhaps this is all Professor Sun’s hard work, and we shouldn’t look through it without his permission...”

I countered, “There are many kinds of looking secretly. One kind is accidental—he dropped it on the floor, and I glanced at it a few times; by rights, it shouldn't count as snooping. Besides, there are plenty of people with the same name in the world. If we don't understand the contents, how can we return it to Professor Sun based only on a name?”

I managed to persuade Deiyang to review the work log with me. In the guesthouse now, free from any disturbance, I, Old Hu, considered myself an amateur archaeology enthusiast and naturally settled down to carefully examine page by page. I told Irley Yang, “Professor Sun once told me his work was all top state secrets. Damn him, telling tales without batting an eye! Let’s see what state secrets this expert in studying the Dragon Bone Heavenly Script has...”

My curiosity was already uncontainable. As I spoke, I opened the work log. This type of notebook was very ordinary, with a color insert decorating every few dozen pages—the illustrations mostly featured various Beijing scenes, including Tiananmen Square, the Great Hall of the People, the Summer Palace, and so on. The paper was slightly yellowed, and many receipts were tucked inside; it looked like it had been used for many years. The first page bore the red stamp of the stationery department issued by Professor Sun’s unit. Beneath it, written in fountain pen, were the four characters: “Speak and act with caution.” At the very bottom was Sun Xuewu’s signature.

Turning to the second page, after reading only the first line, Irley Yang and I both stiffened, extremely startled. We asked each other simultaneously, “How does Professor Sun know about the Grand Master of Mingguan Mountain?”