The lineage of the Tangya Tusi, starting from the first Tusi King, Qin Qichu, spanned eighteen generations and over 480 years in the Qin City era. The Qin City period represented the zenith of the Tangya Tusi rule. The Tusi imperial city underwent massive expansion, encompassing three main streets, eighteen alleys, and thirty-six courtyards, covering an area of about 1,500 mu, roughly four square kilometers—a claim of being "larger than Beijing's Forbidden City" is hardly an exaggeration. Within its walls were the Commander's Mansion, the Hall of Official Edicts, the Academy, the Treasury, the Left and Right Barracks, the racetrack, gardens, and the Menagerie, alongside external temples such as the Great Temple Hall, the Huanhou Temple, and the Xuanwu Temple. At its height, the city housed 4,800 households, served by forty-eight capped wells, with one well allocated for every hundred families—a strict rule enforced with severe punishment from the Tusi King for any disruption of order.

The location chosen for the Tangya Tusi City was exceptionally strategic. To the east lay the Tangya River and Zhuque Mountain, while Xuanwu Mountain anchored the west. Southern and northern flanks were secured by streams and gullies, naturally creating a gentle slope inclined eastward. Surrounded by abundant water sources, drainage was never an issue. The city walls were built along the ridge lines and the inner banks of the streams, creating formidable defenses that evoked the grandeur of high ramparts and deep moats. Looking over Xuanwu Mountain revealed vast stretches of fertile plains, assuring sufficient agricultural supply for the Tusi City, allowing for prolonged defense even under siege. The eastern bank of the Tangya River, described as "lofty and steep," likely dictated the initial consideration for defense, yet it also lent the site a majesty that inspired awe. Many ethnic groups share an ancient belief in "venerating the East," and the main orientation of the Tangya Tusi City was definitively "facing East, sitting on the West."

Because Qin Cheng was an unparalleled talent in life, his death naturally necessitated lavish burial goods. To deter grave robbers from stealing these exquisite and valuable artifacts, Qin Cheng constructed forty-eight tombs while alive. After his death, forty-eight identical coffins, matching in scale and burial style, were simultaneously interred from the forty-eight streets of the imperial city to confuse potential thieves about the true resting place.

In the late Ming Dynasty, as central authority waned, the Tusi leaders of Xidu seized the opportunity to rebel, only submitting to the Imperial Court in the third year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty. Thirteen years later, when Wu Sangui occupied Yunnan, various Tusi leaders joined his revolt, alarming the Qing Court. In the thirteenth year of Emperor Yongzheng, the policy of "Gaì Tǔ Guī Liú" (replacing local hereditary officials with appointed bureaucrats) was officially implemented in Xidu, bringing it under direct central administration. Given the remote, mountainous location of Xidu, the Qing Dynasty, anxious to prevent any resurgence of Tusi power, relocated the descendants of these Tusi leaders to other regions. This explains why few families surnamed Qin still reside in the Tangya Tusi Imperial City today.

During the Tusi system, the Tujia people were referred to by the Han people as "Tuding" or "Tumin." After the founding of New China, upon gaining the consent of the Tujia people, the State Council formally approved "Tujia" as a distinct nationality, making them one of the fifty-six ethnic groups of China...

As Elder Chen finished recounting this long-buried history, I marveled at the arduous journey the Tujia people had navigated to finally achieve equal status among other nationalities. Simultaneously, a sense of urgency gnawed at me: our purpose in visiting the Tusi Imperial City was not merely historical tourism, but to inquire with Tusi King Qin Cheng about the origins of the Blood Soul Tablet. Hearing that he had prepared forty-eight decoy tombs made me wonder which one held his true remains.

It appeared this trip to the Tusi Imperial City would not be as straightforward as we had initially hoped.

"Does your family know where the real tomb of Qin Cheng is?" I asked Elder Chen, striving to keep my voice calm and even.

"My child, haven't I already told you no one knows where he was truly buried?" Elder Chen looked at me quizzically, unable to grasp my insistence on finding Qin Cheng's actual grave. Seeing his strange expression, I worried he suspected us of being tomb robbers. With that thought, I quickly added, "Please don't misunderstand, Elder. We came here to pay our respects. This young lady also happens to be surnamed Qin, and after some recent events, we suspect she might be a descendant of Qin Cheng, which is why we brought her to the Tusi Imperial City for ancestral recognition." These words held a mixture of truth and convenient omission; it wasn't that I intended to hide the matter of the Blood Soul Tablet, but rather I hadn't yet figured out how to ask for Elder Chen's help with that.

"Oh? Where are you from?" Elder Chen asked Tan Ping'er with genuine interest.

"..." Tan Ping'er was momentarily speechless, glancing at me, unsure how to answer.

"Elder Chen, I have a question I’d like to consult you about." Ji Ye, understanding my thoughts perfectly, quickly stepped in to divert Elder Chen’s attention. "This stone archway is so tall and massive, and each pillar looks incredibly heavy. How did the craftsmen erect it back then? They certainly didn't have cranes or anything similar."

Elder Chen indeed stopped pressing Tan Ping'er, chuckling as he said, "I was just about to discuss that very matter. It is said that when this archway was first erected, three hundred men labored for three days and nights without success, frustrating the master artisan to the point he couldn't eat or sleep, hiding indoors trying to devise a solution. That day, an apprentice reported that a beggar had come asking for a bowl of rice. The master, already vexed, waved his hand, telling the apprentice, 'Just give him a bowl; why bother me with such trivial matters?' The apprentice returned after giving the beggar a large bowl of food and drink. However, the beggar took it but didn't eat; instead, he stuck his chopsticks upright in the center of the bowl and began carefully piling the food around the chopsticks, pausing afterward with a sigh before leaving. The apprentice found this odd but paid it no mind. The next day, the beggar returned. Upon hearing the apprentice's report of the beggar's actions, the master seemed to grasp something. He immediately ordered two tables of food prepared and set side-by-side, respectfully inviting the beggar to take the seat of honor. The beggar remained silent, planted his dog-beating staff in the center of the table, and again began piling all the food on the table around the staff. Once the staff was completely covered by the provisions, the beggar murmured to himself, 'That should be enough this time,' then left without eating a bite. The master stared at the setup for a long time, then slapped the table and shouted, 'I understand now! Quickly, go and bring that old man back!' When the apprentices rushed outside, the beggar had vanished. The master could only kneel and kowtow several times towards the sky, then ordered the apprentices and craftsmen to bring large amounts of soil. They stabilized the stone pillars by piling the earth around them in the same manner the beggar had piled the food, and then they affixed the rest of the plaques and decorations. This archway was thus erected using this soil-piling method."

"Who was that beggar?" Man Niao Niao asked curiously.

Elder Chen smiled faintly and replied, "Who knows? Some say it was the patron saint, Lu Ban."

"Where is that well-preserved tomb of Qin Cheng you mentioned?" I whispered, glaring at Man Niao Niao, anxious to press on, mentally cursing Man Niao Niao for his poor sense of timing in asking such an irrelevant question.

"It's not far up the slope. Come, I'll take you to see it!" Elder Chen pointed towards the middle slope.

As we left the house, Elder Chen locked the door and led our group along the flagstone path toward the slope. Walking, he gestured to the stones underfoot: "This was one of the original streets; there are many flagstone paths like this throughout the Tusi Imperial City." Grass sprouted between the ancient stones, giving us the sensation of strolling through a corridor of history.

After walking for a few minutes along the three-meter-wide flagstone path, we arrived before the Qin Cheng tomb Elder Chen claimed was the best preserved. This tomb was essentially a mound of earth encased in stone, about three meters long, two meters wide, and just over a meter high. A gate-frame-shaped stone stele stood before it, bearing no inscription whatsoever. Looking around, there were five or six other similar grave mounds nearby, all similarly unmarked.

I examined the tomb before me. The only feature distinguishing it from the common graves in the area was that gate-frame stele—it certainly wasn't the style of a memorial tablet. (Of course, given Qin Cheng's status, even an inscribed stele likely wouldn't have been a mere memorial tablet.) Since there was no writing on the stone, there was no way to prove whether it was indeed Qin Cheng's true resting place.

Ji Ye pulled incense papers and candles from his pocket, lit them at the tomb, and respectfully kowtowed three times. He then motioned for us younger ones to bow as well. We hesitated for a moment before following suit.

After completing the ritual, I once again asked Elder Chen, "Do you truly not know if this grave belongs to the elder Qin Cheng?"

"How many times must you ask, child?" Elder Chen glanced at me. "Your heart will know what it needs to know. Regardless of whether it's the real Qin Cheng's tomb, paying respects is what matters; I believe the elder wouldn't fault you for bowing at the wrong mound."

I glanced at Tan Ping'er and replied with a wry smile, "That is certainly true. — Do you know the location of any other Qin Cheng tombs?"

"Look at all these mounds scattered across the hillsides; they all have stones but no writing, and some are reduced to just small heaps of earth. How could I possibly know which one is the real Qin Cheng's tomb? Moreover, the old folks say Qin Cheng wasn't buried along the banks of the Tangya River, but much farther away. Where exactly that is, I know even less."

Qin Cheng was not buried by the Tangya River? Did that mean his tomb might not be near the Tusi Imperial City? My anxiety deepened. The first of our two major obstacles had become extremely thorny, let alone figuring out how to request assistance from someone deceased for several hundred years to unravel the mystery of the Blood Soul Tablet!

Sorrowfully, I surveyed the landscape, vaguely sensing that all these scattered mounds shared a common characteristic...