At the culmination of the celestial staircase, built of jade timber, there was no palace hall with soaring eaves and ornate dougong brackets, but rather natural walls formed by the jade vein itself, shaped like an ancient citadel, appearing as a grand palace. Within these walls was a palace gate, leading into a vast complex of burial chambers constructed entirely of grey-brown Spangle Rock, the scale of which seemed comparable to the Yin-Yang Houses of the Immortal Village.

The clusters of Spangle Rock pillars, resembling crude dwellings, were a natural wonder buried beneath Coffin Mountain. Their formations rose and fell unevenly, like the scattered ruins of a collapsed city, walled off from the outside world by jade ramparts, connected to the Memorial Tablet by only a single archway—perhaps this was the origin of the name Lingxing Hall.

The subterranean palace of Lingxing Hall was situated deep within the jade marrow layer inside the belly of the Corpse-Shaped Mountain, a colossal jade grotto enveloped by the Pangu Vein, much like a jade casket housed within a hollowed-out body. This type of Spangle Rock topography is common in deep mountain ravines, somewhat akin to the basalt formations on certain islands; the Pillar Mountain in Luhe County, Jiangsu, China, bears a striking resemblance. It is possible that Coffin Canyon underwent immense geological transformation over eons, resulting in such bizarre and magnificent strata within the mountain’s core.

As far as I knew, the underground Spangle Rock layers could have been formed by marine erosion, but it was more likely sculpted by the stripping action of geomantic energy. Heaven and Earth are inherently composed of Yin and Yang Qi, which condensed from chaos into the Five Elements. These elemental energies manifest as celestial forms above and as terrestrial movements below—the subtle mysteries of this divine craftsmanship are beyond common comprehension.

Upon entering the jade palace gate, a cursory glance revealed avenues and rudimentary structures within. The countless gaps between the Spangle Rock pillars had been repurposed as natural burial niches. Nearly every crevice held a corpse seated cross-legged, all clad in Ming Dynasty attire, men, women, and children alike, each clutching a now-extinguished oil lamp in their hands.

We stood at the highest point of the Memorial Tablet. Our flashlights and headlamps illuminated at most a thirty-meter radius before us. Within this visible range alone, there were dozens of rock-cut crypts. In the distance flickered faint, erratic wisps of light—Luo? Ghost Fires (the photograph was too blurry to be certain). Judging by the quantity and scale of these phosphorescent lights, who knew how many more such bizarre rock tombs existed within the Pangu Corpse Vein.

Grandpa Sun viewed several chambers in succession, his face etched with concern. He told us, "Although they are scattered beneath the earth, according to burial customs, these are rock-fissure suspended tombs, and the corpses inside have no coffins, which defies all logic. Look, they all hold lamps; these must have been for the departed souls in the netherworld. They were certainly interred here alive, perhaps hoping that by burying themselves in Coffin Mountain, their souls could be recalled from the underworld, and they could borrow their unhatched physical forms to achieve immortality." (This passage was quite unclear; I could only guess as I transcribed it. My apologies to everyone.)

Shirley Yang remarked, "Master Feng Shigu, the Earth Immortal, deluded thousands into accompanying him in death. This entire expanse of Spangle Rock is like a forest of tombs, at least tens of thousands of crypts, arranged without any discernible pattern, none looking particularly different from the others. If Feng Shigu is hidden among them, how could anyone possibly find him?"

Grandpa Sun replied, "Find him we must. When the Blood Mist descends into the earth, Feng Shigu will lead his host of immortals out of the mountains. While this sounds incredible, Feng Shigu was an extraordinary recluse who peered into the principles of Yin and Yang and uncovered the secrets of the gods and ghosts. Since he calculated that he must re-enter the mortal realm after death to save people, it is bound to bring about a great catastrophe."

I asked Grandpa Sun, "Feng Shigu is an ancestor of your Feng clan, after all. Why do you call him a menace again and again, insisting that he only intends to harm people after achieving immortality? What if he is as benevolent as Jesus? Wouldn't our trip have been for nothing?"

Grandpa Sun retorted, "Don't talk nonsense, kid. Who wants to betray their ancestors? But in the ancient Chinese legends of transcendence and immortality, only the Corpse Immortal is truly terrifying. Most foolish men and women who seek immortality through ingesting elixirs are obsessed with achieving physical dissolution upon death; those people only harm themselves. But a Corpse Immortal means that after death, the soul remains restless, and the body incorruptible. After enduring several tribulations in the spiritual realm, a sliver of Yin soul returns to the corpse to become immortal, creating a Killing Tribulation. The more people he kills, the greater his cultivation. These evil arts of cultivating the corpse into immortality are certainly not the righteous path. That is why Feng Shiqi turned against Feng Shigu back then, leading to this centuries-old feud."

Except for Little Sister, who seemed particularly convinced by Grandpa Sun’s words, the rest of us were skeptical. Yet, the evidence was undeniable: what we witnessed outside the Lingxing Hall of the Earth Immortal's tomb was something none of us could explain, especially those creatures that could move through walls. Heaven knows if Feng Shigu truly mastered a secret that allowed his spirit to reanimate his corpse after death. If his earlier warning was true, releasing it into the world would surely lead to the suffering of the innocent.

Considering the terrifying power of Feng Shigu's ingenious methods, everyone felt that regardless of truth or falsehood, a way had to be found to locate the Earth Immortal and eliminate future trouble. But to find Feng Shigu's corpse among tens of thousands of nearly identical tombs in a short time—that was easier said than done.

Grandpa Sun urged me, "Hu Bayi, you possess the secret arts of the Mojin school—an unparalleled mastery in tomb raiding. You must quickly devise a plan." But then he expressed renewed apprehension. The Earth Immortal Feng Shigu was not only versed in arcane arts but was also profoundly calculating; his deep cunning still instilled fear centuries later. The Guanshan Zhimifu Fu he left behind was merely a ploy to manipulate later generations into eliminating the Corpse Immortal, luring them into Coffin Mountain so that the Yang energy of the living would trigger the descent of the Blood Mist. The descendants of Feng Shiqi have poured untold effort and lives into this over centuries, all exploited by the Earth Immortal. It was entirely possible that finding Feng Shigu’s remains would actually assist his apotheosis, leading to unimaginable disaster.

I told Grandpa Sun, "You have laid out both the internal and external reasoning; I have nothing more to say. Since we are already inside the Earth Immortal’s tomb, there's no turning back now. My suggestion is that we do our best and leave the rest to fate. First, let’s find Feng Shigu’s chamber, and then we’ll deal with it. We need to commit to this path now and stop overthinking."

The others agreed that my words held sense. Coffin Mountain was already trapped by the Nine-Deaths Shocking Tomb Armor; escape was impossible even if we had wings. For now, direct action was our only recourse. As for whether the host of immortals in the Immortal Village would truly see the daylight Feng Shigu envisioned, we could only leave that to Heaven.

Though we were resolved to risk everything to find and destroy the Earth Immortal's remains, the countless tombs arranged like constellations made locating the Earth Immortal's chamber within the uneven, towering Spangle Rock an undertaking as difficult as ascending to heaven—we had no starting point. Helpless, everyone entered the tangle of rock crevices to begin a slow, systematic search deeper inside.

Fatty, thinking himself clever, suggested to me, "Old Hu, I have a surefire trick. Let's go all in: why not set a fire and burn down all the crypts in the Spangle Rock? No matter how deeply that old landlord Feng Shigu is hiding, he can't escape our fire attack. This is what they call a sweeping attack, burning the entire encampment."

I shook my head, "Commander Wang, I think you were smart before but are confused now. The Spangle Rock strata in this jade grotto are saturated with moisture, and blood springs seep from many fissures. You can't start a major blaze. Even with fuel oil, you could only incinerate the corpses in one tomb at a time. To burn all these tens of thousands of rock chambers, you’d need to drop napalm. Napalm can burn petroleum, and burning down Coffin Mountain wouldn't be hard, but our current equipment is worse than a local militia’s. Stop dreaming, you son of a gun."

Just then, a tremor suddenly shook the ground below, as if the earth itself were breaking apart. Everyone shouted in alarm and scrambled into nearby crevices. Even the corpses in the tombs swayed with the vibration. This Spangle Rock cemetery must lie beneath the Immortal Village. Above us, the jade layer emitted sounds of fracturing. If this tremor created a fissure between the jade grotto and the Yin House of the Immortal Village, hordes of Coffin Worms would immediately swarm in.

I looked up, but saw only impenetrable blackness. However, the sounds alone confirmed a catastrophe was unfolding. That tremor wasn't an earthquake; it was the Nine-Deaths Shocking Tomb Armor tightening its grip on Coffin Mountain. Just one or two more jolts, and the Pangu Vein would likely collapse. With one crisis after another erupting before and behind us, anxiety surged. Even if we found the Earth Immortal’s body, we might not escape the grasp of death—either buried alive beneath a thousand meters of mountain or drained of essence by the Shocking Armor.

After the trembling subsided, Shirley Yang came to my side. "Searching like this is futile. First, our power sources are dwindling; we’ll have to switch to candles once the lights fail. Second, the surrounding Shocking Armor could pierce the rock layer and drill into the mountain at any moment; we don't have much time left. Look, these Spangle Rocks are marked with the constellations of Gula. Perhaps this relates to the arrangement of celestial stars. You understand the Celestial Star Feng Shui arts; why not start there and find a direct path to the vital spot?"

I replied that it wasn't for lack of urgency. I had seen the stellar runes in the tombs, but our illumination range was limited. Observing the stars from the ground is different from tracing a dragon vein; without a full view, one cannot apply the Celestial Star Feng Shui arts to divide the streams and pinpoint the nexus. I knew Feng Shigu likely hid himself at the "Si Dou" position on the star chart, but I was powerless to act on that knowledge.

I didn't tell her the true difficulty: the Celestial Star Feng Shui arts were the most profound part of the Fen Jin Ding Xue technique, and I was only vaguely acquainted with them, far from mastering their application. My previous success in the Xinjiang desert searching for the Jingjue Ancient City had been sheer luck, not mastery of the deep mysteries of Celestial Star Feng Shui. I had never found the right moment to admit this to Shirley Yang.

Grandpa Sun suggested, "Since this is like finding a needle in a haystack, we might as well split up. If everyone searches individually, perhaps we can find him faster."

I pondered for a moment. Grandpa Sun showed signs of corpse transformation; he absolutely could not leave our sight. The manner in which the deceased were buried around Feng Shigu was extremely bizarre, and unexpected things might arise at any moment. Furthermore, Little Sister lacked experience in tomb raiding and couldn't handle things alone. If we dispersed, communication in the dark would be impossible, and even if we found the Earth Immortal's chamber, we might be unable to cope. But staying together restricted our search radius. What was I to do?

At that moment, whether due to nicotine cravings or prolonged tension, my mind felt like mush. I reached for a cigarette to clear my head, and my hand brushed against the Guixu Ancient Mirror hanging over my chest. A thought struck me: How could I forget this object? I ignored the cigarette and quickly took down the bronze mirror. If I had to find the Earth Immortal's chamber among thousands, I must rely on the Guixu Ancient Mirror; this was an ancient method for observing the panorama and discerning the layout.

I didn't have time to explain to the others. I simply told them to follow closely behind me and immediately lit a candle made from mermaid oil, holding the flame beneath the mirror. The Yin energy in the ancient tomb was heavy, and the candlelight was dim and obscure. The reverse side of the Guixu Ancient Mirror was inscribed with hundreds of bronze coils, corresponding to the cycles of the heavens. When the faint candlelight struck the back of the mirror, the residual Dragon Qi within appeared to float and writhe from the bronze ritual carvings. The subtle vital energy within the bronze seemed ephemeral, like a sliver of ice dust under the setting sun, ready to dissipate at any moment.

This technique of "illuminating the candle to question the mirror" was an ancient method bordering on legend within the Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Arts. Because sea bronze was rare, very few people had ever genuinely used it. This method was not divination by trigrams or images, but rather utilized the principle of Qi reception to divide the streams and fix the location within the earth veins. A dragon vein is not auspicious everywhere; the crucial 'Gold Nexus' where wind gathers and water converges might be the size of a single coin, yet the entire contour of the earth vein emanates from it. Finding this 'Gold Well' nexus is the essence of Fen Jin Ding Xue. If the Dragon Seeking Formula found the earth vein as a line or a surface, Fen Jin Ding Xue was specifically for determining a precise point within that line or surface.

The Dragon Qi in the Guixu Compass Mirror was about to vanish; time was critical. I watched the bronze's subtle changes while quickening my pace. The Pangu Vein in Coffin Mountain was riddled with stellar markings, indicating a hidden correspondence with the stars. Given Earth Immortal Feng Shigu’s mastery, he would certainly have claimed the area governed by the presiding stars of the stellar map (Si Dou Zhang Yao) as his resting place for eternal truth.

I treated the Guixu Ancient Mirror as a bronze compass for Qi reception, following the shifts of the candle reflection. After navigating through the chaotic piles of Spangle Rock for a while, I finally pinpointed our target beneath a set of sheer, perilous crags. At that moment, the last trace of sea energy in the bronze mirror was exhausted. The mirror, tempered by the Dragon Fire of the South Sea, instantly became an ordinary antique, devoid of its soul.

My heart pounded; I breathed a silent sigh of relief. There were four tomb chambers carved into the Spangle Rock before us; one of them was the very source from which the infinite corpse Qi of the Pangu Vein originated. If Earth Immortal Feng Shigu was indeed a master who glimpsed the secrets of the gods and ghosts, he would surely hide there, awaiting the refinement of his corpse into immortality. Thus, everyone readied their tools, preparing to enter and search immediately.

Grandpa Sun saw the sea energy in the mirror extinguished, his face growing paler. He worried, "This is the end. Before, I hoped the ancient mirror could suppress ghosts and ward off evil. Now, the Guixu bronze has completely lost its bronze soul and spirit. I don't know if it can still subdue a jiangshi."

I paid this no mind, thinking that one cannot catch a wolf without daring to lose the lamb. Since entering Coffin Canyon, apart from Grandpa Sun’s 'walking corpse,' we hadn't seen any signs of reanimation. Moreover, if he had truly been dead for centuries as he claimed, why did he show no reaction near the mirror? If Grandpa Sun was telling the truth, perhaps the claim that the Guixu mirror could suppress corpses was unfounded. In that case, holding onto the mirror until the end was pointless. I still had a can of fuel oil as a backup; as long as Feng Shigu's remains were in the tomb, we wouldn't worry about burning them.

Fatty chimed in, "Old Man Sun here is simply a pathetic creature, probably driven mad by centuries of resentment and superstition. Later, I’ll show you. In ancient times, Zhang Tiesheng handed in a blank exam and still got into university; today, Fatty and Master Hu will take down the Earth Immortal with our bare hands. Don't think science and academic titles can account for everything. The courage and daring we possess weren't learned from books." He gestured to the others, "Comrades with brains and guts, stop being squeamish. Follow Fatty!" Grandpa Sun stopped Fatty and said to us, "Wait, we still have a crucial life-saving treasure we can use. Have you ever heard of the Immortal-Binding Rope?"