"Brother An, Brother An, where are you going?" Man Niaoniao, who had been stunned senseless by Ji Ye's strike with the Si Dao, shrieked, his throat tearing as Ji Ye bolted out of the stone archway like a whirlwind. and I were frozen, wondering what new trick the old rascal Ji Ye was playing. Picking up the snakeskin sack Ji Ye had dropped, and I rushed out of the enclosure hand-in-hand. We faintly heard the distant, fading tinkle of brass bells, but when we looked up, Ji Ye was nowhere in sight.

Man Niaoniao had already rushed to the eaves-trough outside the archway, sweeping his torchlight around, still shouting for the Tima of the Tujia people he idolized. "Brother An... Brother An..." and I also shouted, but the space remained utterly silent and empty. I had a chilling feeling that Ji Ye had slipped away from us once more.

I cursed him silently under my breath, preparing to use a few of Man Niaoniao’s favorite 'everyday expressions.' But remembering the old man Ji Ye was rumored to commune with the spirits, and assuming he had enhanced his abilities, I figured if he heard my mental curses, he’d surely come looking for a quarrel. Thus, not only did the curses fail to escape my lips, but I inexplicably strangled them deep in my core. Yet, the rising tide of resentment I couldn't suppress surged on: if you must leave, at least offer a civil goodbye! Why act so mysteriously, half-mad and half-sane, abandoning us young ones in this pitch-black place? Where are we supposed to go now? You can talk to spirits; right now, I feel like stabbing someone...

It was who remained the calmest. She sighed softly and comforted me and Man Niaoniao in gentle tones, "Uncle An leaving without a word must have his reasons. He is now a Tima of the Tujia, so his words and actions will naturally differ from ordinary people; there is a profound mystery in his demeanor that common folk cannot fathom. What we need to consider now is what to do next. Should we continue searching for Tan City, or find a way out?"

"Of course, we continue searching for Tan City! I refuse to rely on that Butcher Zhang for help," I ground out through clenched teeth.

"Yingying, look, your emotional temper is flaring up again. Didn't I tell you Uncle An might have his own intentions?" soothed, stroking my chest. Man Niaoniao also offered me a cigarette, taking the initiative to light it for me, saying, "Bottle says the truth. You turtle..." Seeing my glare, Man Niaoniao quickly swallowed the remaining two syllables and continued, "See? You still have my 'Scale' beside you. Didn't you say our 'Scale' and 'Weight' combined would propel this great adventure forward? Besides, you have Bottle and Hua'er accompanying you."

I took a few puffs, and my agitation subsided. I wondered secretly why my dissatisfaction with Ji Ye seemed to rise like the mercury in a thermometer dropped into a fire. Was it truly, as suggested, that my personality was excessively emotional?

Seeing me remain silent, brooding over my cigarette, changed the subject. "Yingying, did you truly understand what that song Uncle An sang meant?" Her soft hand squeezed my arm. Man Niaoniao, ever the opportunist, picked up ’s thread. "I’m like a rat jumping on a drum—ding ding dong—I didn't understand a single thing he sang, Yingying. Hurry up and explain it to us!"

I sighed. Man Niaoniao’s clumsy attempts at flattery and lowering himself were clearly meant to comfort me. I patted his cheek. "Buddy, when the old man Ji added fire to you just now, did you feel anything?"

"I felt something."

"What kind of feeling?"

"Let me think... Um, the sting of that knife made my scalp throb and go numb!"

"Ha!" was the first to laugh. I glared, and the resentment gradually receded.

"Actually," Man Niaoniao explained, noticing my tone had softened, "when he slapped my head with the Si Dao, I was startled at first, thinking he was going to chop me. Before I could react, I just felt a surge of heat envelop my head. That was the sensation."

"And do you feel your Yang Qi is sufficient now?" asked curiously.

"This... this... how would I know now? But I feel like I’m not quite as scared of this place anymore? — Oh yeah, what exactly is this place?"

"Didn't Ji Ye say it in his song? This is the 'Misty City isolated from the world by the White Tiger Tribe,'" I stopped being coy and began analyzing the song for them. "'The younger sister's flower needles cannot pierce the heart of the Black Tortoise' refers to the fact that sunlight cannot penetrate the interior of Mount Xuanwu. If you recall the legend of the brother and sister who coupled to populate the Tujia people, you must have heard the derivative legend: that the sister, out of shyness, transformed into the sun, and to avoid being seen by the world, she shot out needles of light in various colors—that’s the origin of the lyric, 'The younger sister's flower needles.' The next line, 'the chaotic world of the pot,' is even more direct. and I have already seen it; the surroundings are filled with stilt houses, and the terrain resembles a massive iron pot covered by its lid..."

"Really?" Man Niaoniao interrupted, quickly falling silent when he saw my eyes narrow again.

"As for the 'Gate leading to antiquity,' that is naturally this stone archway. The phrases 'The White Tiger and the Fish-Turtle are symbols of the ancestors of two tribes, the black-faced Zhang Fei and the ancient Azure Dragon totem' and 'The female clan matriarch riding a swift horse, embracing the rabbit to capture the ancestor, with endless love and tenderness'—the White Tiger, Fish-Turtle, Zhang Fei, Azure Dragon, swift horse, and rabbit mentioned here are the motifs on these very gates..."

When I paused, and Man Niaoniao asked, "What is it?"

"How come the central gate... is closed?"

"The gate is closed?" Man Niaoniao walked up to the central gate carved with the White Tiger, holding his torch, and peered. "Damn it, it really is shut! Bottle, did you close it?"

"How could I?" walked beside Man Niaoniao and reached out to push the stone door, which was locked tight, resulting only in a dusty failure. I stared at Man Niaoniao's back, feeling a strange sensation: usually, when encountering something bizarre like this, Man Niaoniao would inevitably throw his arm around my neck. Why was he so unusually calm now? Could it truly be that Ji Ye had used some trick to sufficiently boost Man Niaoniao's 'Yang energy'?

Suspiciously, I walked up to the stone lion and reached into its mouth. "Niaoniao, didn't you say that when Brother An touched inside the lion's mouth, the gate opened? Help me feel around..." Hearing the unusual tone in my voice, Man Niaoniao came over and groped all around the stone lion's mouth, but the central gate remained unmoving. "Damn it, Brother An really did touch the lion's mouth just now, and the gate flew open. I’m not lying to you, truly." Man Niaoniao’s eyes, like melon seeds embedded in his pale face, were earnest as his massive mouth—one I once intensely despised—opened and closed repeatedly.

also approached the stone lion, rummaged inside its mouth, and found nothing either. "Yingying, why didn't we realize the opening mechanism was in the stone lion's mouth back then? If we had known, you wouldn't have nearly fallen to your death..." I thought to myself that given the current situation, even if we had known about the mechanism in the lion's mouth, we might not have been able to open the stone door. Ji Ye could open it; perhaps he possessed other means or special methods. This new generation Tima of the Tujia was becoming increasingly shrouded in mystery, most notably expressed through the Baishou song he sang.

In truth, the content of this Baishou song was quite direct and easy to understand, largely following the form of a traditional narrative poem. If one possessed even a slight knowledge of Tujia history and had heard some of their myths and legends, comprehension shouldn't be difficult. The reason and Man Niaoniao were confused by many parts was that they lacked the insight from my experiences behind that 'layer of paper,' and several lines in the song precisely described my situation at the time.

"Yingying, tell us, who built this underground city? Why build it in such a dark, pitch-black place? Without light, how did the people here survive? Does the White Tiger Tribe refer to the early Tujia people?" Man Niaoniao bombarded me with questions.

"Who built it, we don't know yet, but I suspect it is definitely connected to the 'Eight Tribes Kings' and the 'Three Family Gods of Black, White, and Red' mentioned in the song, as well as 'Madam Ba Qing.' Thinking back, my grandfather once told me about some 'Eight Tribes Kings' and the three great deities of White Face, Black Face, and Red Face—said to be the ancestral gods of the Tujia. But it's been so long; if Ji Ye hadn't mentioned them in this song, I wouldn't have any memory of them at all. As for 'Madam Ba Qing,' that's the first time I've heard of her. I surmise that the cluster of stilt houses on the Four-Sided Slope was very likely built with Madam Ba Qing's funding; the line in the song, 'Madam Ba Qing who gifted future generations with flowing silver,' seems to confirm this..." In reaching this conclusion, I also thought of the female statue in the shrine on the third floor of the stilt house suspended in the air.