That these four characters were strange was due to their script: it wasn't the ancient seal script, but something resembling clerical script—smooth and rounded in stroke, yet rigidly structured. This style was vastly different from the characters on the plaques reading "Anle Cave," "Soul Fiend All Night," "Tomb of A Ke Bi," and "The Severely Lacking Seven Stars Aligning." The script was neither carved in intaglio nor in relief; it seemed as if the characters had been written directly onto the stone plaque with a brush. But that wasn't the strangest part; what truly baffled me was that while these four characters were clearly composed of Chinese radicals and components, I couldn't recognize a single one as a complete character. The first character, read from the left, was "Great" over "Water"; the second was "Heaven" on the left and "Wood" on the right; the third was "Woman" above "Child," with the "Child" radical inverted; and the fourth was "Become" on the upper left and "Stone" on the lower right, with both components rotated a full 180 degrees horizontally. If one were to disassemble and read them in order from top-to-bottom and left-to-right, the sequence would be: Great-Water Heaven-Wood Woman-Inverted-Child Inverted-Become Inverted-Stone. Not only was this sequence nonsensical, but these characters fundamentally shouldn't be broken down; the spacing between them clearly indicated four distinct characters, yet they were characters that could not be found in any Chinese dictionary.

Naturally, since I couldn't recognize these four characters, their pronunciation and meaning were utterly beyond me.

At first, I couldn't make them out clearly, squinting my eyes to the absolute limit, until Qin Bing'er, standing beside me, provided a detailed description, finally etching the strokes and structure of these characters into my mind. Yet, even as they lodged there, they churned my thoughts into utter chaos, nearly scrambling my brain into a thick porridge.

Through my acquaintance with the local culture over this period, I knew the Tujia people have always been described as having "language but no writing." Yet, these characters, appearing like heavenly script, were inscribed on such a prominent plaque. Furthermore, I strongly suspected this was the true Imperial City of the Tusi chieftaincy. If this assumption held true, then who had inscribed these bizarre characters onto a stone archway symbolizing the Tusi dynasty?

This suspicion was grounded in fact, because this stone archway before me shared striking similarities in size, height, and layout with the outer archway bearing the inscription, "Jingnan's Mighty Citadel, Screen and Banner of Chu and Shu." Both stood on four imposing pillars, both featured the Yidou Sansheng style eaves and dougong bracket structures topped with barrel tiles. Although I couldn't see everything clearly myself, under Qin Bing'er's careful narration, I learned this archway also bore ancient, vigorous relief carvings. Thus, based on the timeline and prior analysis, I reached the conclusion: the outer stone archway had been constructed by imitating the style of this one.

Of course, there were still significant differences between the two. First, the main gate between the four pillars of this archway was shut tight, unlike the hollow center of the outer structure; second, the writing on the plaque. The outer archway dated to the period of Qin City’s construction, and those eight large characters were bestowed by the Ming Dynasty emperor of that time. By then, Tujia and Han cultures had long been interwoven, and for the Tujia people, who lacked their own script, using Han characters for identification was not surprising. But these four characters before me utilized components of Han characters yet were not actual Han characters. What script were they? Could they be a script created by the Tujia people themselves? If so, it would completely overturn the established legends of Tujia history.

It suddenly occurred to me that the eight characters on the outer archway were split between two separate plaques, front and back. Did this archway also possess another plaque on its reverse side? If so, did it bear another four strange characters?

I shone my flashlight over the structure, discovering absolutely no handholds. The flanking walls were towering and smooth as mirrors; with my mediocre climbing skills, scaling them would be harder than lifting a mountain.

It could be said that the shock delivered by encountering this second archway paled in comparison to the profound impact of those strange characters.

I walked up to the central gate of the archway and found a tiger relief carved onto the stone door panel. The tiger was baring its teeth, its eyes like burning torches, its body massive and powerfully built, radiating savage majesty. Seeing it intensified my suspicion that this was indeed the true Tusi Imperial City.

Moving to the smaller side gate on the left, the door panel was adorned with a relief of a spirited warhorse. The horse was reared high, its forelegs sharply bent inward, capturing the dynamic moment of a sudden halt during a full gallop.

I turned and approached the side gate on the right. As I leaned in for a closer look, my heart suddenly leaped, my vision went dark, and a cold sweat immediately drenched me—the door panel was carved with a vividly lifelike python. The snake's mouth was wide open, revealing rows of fangs, its blood-red tongue flicked out from its throat, curving into an S-shape, its forked tip nearly touching my neck...

I stumbled back several steps, unexpectedly bumping hard against something solid behind me that nearly made me throw out my back. I spun around sharply—damn it, wasn't that a stone lion? Its posture and expression were identical to the solitary stone lion guarding the entrance of the outer archway. The only minor difference was the absence of the deep bridle marks around its neck. Seeing it, I quickly shone my flashlight across to the opposite side and found the corresponding spot was empty. In other words, this stone lion, like the one outside, stood alone.

Hadn't Elder Chen said it flew off to Youyang in Chongqing? How could it be here?

Qin Bing'er also saw the stone lion. Her expression grew thoughtful, and after a long silence, she said, "Ying Ying, I have a very strange feeling..."

"What feeling?" I replied casually, thinking anyone in this environment would feel strange.

To my utter astonishment, her next sentence nearly made me jump out of my skin: "...I feel like I've been here before!"

"...You've been here? How is that possible?"

"I know it's impossible. But seeing this archway gives me an inexplicable feeling of warmth and familiarity, as if I grew up here. I also seem to recognize this stone lion, and in my memory, this place wasn't this dark..." Qin Bing'er's voice held deep confusion, very low.

"..." I was speechless, pondering for a long moment before saying, "Didn't you say Master Qinghe raised you? Did Master Qinghe ever bring you here?"

"No, even if Master Qinghe brought me here when I was very young, I wouldn't have any memory of it since I was too young to understand. Since I gained awareness, I've always been with him on the mountain, certainly not living underground. It's just this faint, elusive sensation in my mind..."

"..." I was speechless again. But then it occurred to me: I had experienced this myself. Often, arriving at a completely unfamiliar place triggers a strong sense of recognition, sometimes even anticipating subsequent events as if watching a film I’d already seen.

When I voiced this thought, Qin Bing'er whispered, "...Maybe. This is the first time I've had a feeling like that; I've never experienced what you described..."

"Forget it," I comforted her. "There are many inexplicable wonders in this world. Take this embroidered shoe, for instance..."

I looked down at my hands—the embroidered shoe was gone without a trace!

I froze, patting both trouser pockets frantically, wondering if I had somehow tucked the shoe away. In those brief seconds, that slim hope vanished completely—first, the shoe couldn't possibly have fit in my pockets, and second, my pockets already had large holes, meaning most things must have fallen out.

Still clutching at straws, I reached into my shirt pocket. The only thing that hadn't escaped was the corner of my lighter snagging on a loose thread. Even my half-pack of cigarettes had vanished...

The embroidered shoe was gone!!

I was so remorseful I wanted to slap myself twice. That shoe might have been the key to finding Qin City!

Seeing my distress, Qin Bing'er became anxious, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, and tried to soothe me. "Don't worry, it was just an old embroidered shoe. If it’s lost, it’s no big deal..."

"No big deal? Sister, you’re talking lightly! That embroidered shoe could very well be the clue to finding Qin City..." I swept my flashlight beam wildly across the ground while hurriedly recounting my theories about the shoe to Qin Bing'er. After hearing it, she grew worried too. "Are you sure you were still holding it when you jumped down?"

"Yes!"

"Then maybe it fell in that stilt house up above?"

For more novels, visit storyread.net.