"As for why a stilt-house city was built in this gloomy place," I continued, "I suspect the builders' intention was not for the Tujia people to reside here long-term, but rather as a temporary shelter to escape wartime conflict, or even pursuit—something akin to a modern air-raid shelter. This is suggested by the line in the song: 'that gentle army bearing knives.'"

"Then... what about that 'gentle army'?" Tan Ping'er pressed.

"Female soldiers!"

"Female soldiers? How can you be so sure?"

"Isn't it clearly mentioned in the song about the 'Matriarch Saint riding a fine horse' who turned to hatred for the ancestor of the White Tiger tribe out of love? Besides cursing by 'planting masang trees in front' and 'growing peach orchards behind' the stilt-house, she must have sent people from her tribe to pursue and kill the ancestor mentioned in the song. The 'female tribe' here is likely an ancient matrilineal clan, and considering what the female 'Yin Spirit' in the Anle Cave said, I surmise she is the 'Matriarch Saint' from the song, and the ancestor in the song is naturally Lin Jun Ba Wu Xiang..."

"Suspended Tower? Masang? Peach Orchard? Yingying, you mentioned these before. Do these things really exist? Where did you see them?" Tan Ping'er narrowed her dark eyes to slits. "Planting masang in front and growing peaches behind is a curse?"

"...Well, perhaps in a dream! You know, lately, I keep having such strange dreams!" I mumbled, though my mind was actually wrestling with the meaning of the last line in Ji Ye's song: 'the heavy gloom that lost its way in the heart.' That line is the hardest to grasp in the entire song. From what Ji Ye implied, I wasn't dead then, my soul separated from my body; rather, my mind was lost. But why would this mental confusion be so bizarre? I suddenly recalled the scientists' explanation of the soul: an electromagnetic wave generated by brain activity after death. According to physics, energy is conserved. My 'physical body' at that time only retained a lump of heat in the chest cavity—could the rest of the energy have converted into electromagnetic waves? Of course, this conjecture is impossible to prove.

While I was thinking, Man Niao Niao had already explained the Tujia architectural taboo of "no mulberry in front, no peach behind" to Tan Ping'er in detail, saving me a lot of breath.

Tan Ping'er hummed an acknowledgment after listening, then fell silent for a long moment before suddenly saying, "Yingying, haven't we always wanted to uncover the secret hidden in the number 'Forty-Eight'? Could the key lie in the characters for 'Four' and 'Eight'? The song mentions the three great gods of White, Black, and Red, plus Lady Ba Qing—that makes four people. Add the Eight-Tribe King, and it perfectly corresponds to 'Four Eight'!"

I slapped my thigh, excited. "Exactly! No wonder that when I first saw the twelve statues on the shrine in the Suspended Tower, I felt a strange premonition. So the 'Forty-Eight' that we couldn't figure out was actually an encoded message left by our ancestors, meant to remind future generations not to forget them. Considering the Tujia tradition of ancestor worship and the arrangement of the twelve statues on the shrine, this guess is ninety-nine percent correct."

Man Niao Niao chimed in, "Buddy, you keep mentioning the stilt-house hanging in mid-air—what exactly was its appearance?"

I sighed, deciding that regardless of whether it was true or false, dream or illusion, I would tell them about my experience in the Suspended Tower. When I mentioned the pile of ** that lay pressed down in the Suspended Tower, Man Niao Niao, unexpectedly, didn't make a fuss, which was very uncharacteristic of him. I noticed him slightly narrow his dark eyes; his facial expression didn't reveal much change.

Tan Ping'er looked utterly astonished to hear that I had met Qing and the Master. Her dark mouth opened slightly, but she remained silent. She couldn't possibly press me further about a strange dream I'd had.

"...Yingying," Man Niao Niao said hesitantly, "the way you describe the layout of that stilt-house... it feels a bit similar to the style of the Tujia tiger totem? They are both vertically aligned..."

A flash of inspiration struck my mind, and I slapped my thigh again, laughing heartily. "Niao Niao, I didn't expect you to have a moment of clarity! The second floor of that stilt-house really is like the first floor rotated 180 degrees horizontally—it indeed continues the style of the Tujia tiger totem..."

Man Niao Niao, surprised to be praised by me for the first time, got a little carried away. "Three cobblers with their wits combined are better than Zhuge Liang!"

"...?" I was speechless. While Man Niao Niao's wording was passable, grouping me with 'cobblers' left a slight knot in my stomach. However, his reminder sparked an idea. From Ji Ye's song, it seems the early Tujia people were divided into the White Tiger and Fish-Tortoise tribes. The Tujia tiger totem features two tigers arranged in a ** pattern. Even if one section is inverted vertically, the two tigers still form a ** pattern. Could this arrangement be related to the two tribes?

At this point, almost the entire narrative ballad had been analyzed, and the sequence of events was gradually becoming clear. Yet, I was still plagued by doubts. First, from Ji Ye's Hand-Waving Song, I gathered that the old fellow knew the origin of this underground city and what happened to me in the Suspended Tower. However, based on my understanding of him, before we arrived at the Tusi Imperial City, he absolutely could not have known about an underground city in Xuanwu Mountain, let alone its origins. So, how could he sing a Hand-Waving Song with such direct wording yet veiled meaning? Considering his long period of disappearance, I vaguely feel Ji Ye must have acquired something through another channel. Perhaps this channel was so-called 'communication with the divine'—was this song told to him by a spirit? Second, even if Ji Ye could communicate with a 'spirit' and gain some information, why wouldn't he tell us plainly? Why express it only through song? Even if studying under a Tujia Tima involves various taboos, requiring initial instruction to be expressed through song to embody the concept of 'singing to pass down Tujia history'—even if we couldn't understand it immediately—he didn't need to leave us. Was it just to search for that book Man Niao Niao mentioned? Thinking of the old man's obsession with his 'profession,' this speculation is highly plausible. Third, even if Ji Ye obtained 'divine' instructions through means incomprehensible to ordinary people, are these so-called 'spirits' truly all-powerful, meticulously preparing a pile of straw and several sets of clothes, knowing that on a certain year, day, and time, certain people would arrive? Fourth, Elder Chen introduced that Tujia Tima sing 'Tima Divine Songs,' yet Ji Ye specifically sang a Hand-Waving Song with a melody familiar to me—why? And fourth, the most crucial point: what is the relationship between this song, this underground stilt-house city, and my experience in the Suspended Tower, and the Tusi King Qin City we have been desperately seeking?

Thinking of this made me even more distressed. Our purpose in coming to the Tusi Imperial City was to find Qin City, hinted at on the Blood Soul Stele. Although the old man and the Tima, through some strange means, guided us to find an embroidered shoe and fortuitously enter this world buried deep underground, the whereabouts of the Tusi King Qin City remain completely elusive. We are still in a state of being completely lost, and matters have only grown more complicated.

"Ping'er, you haven't told us where An Ge got that set of clothes, the Sidao, the Eight Treasure Bronze Bell, and the ox horn!" Man Niao Niao suddenly brought up a point I had almost overlooked.

"...Well, I don't know where he found them. I was terrified at the time, fetching straw and clothes from the coffin, and didn't notice Uncle An's movements at all. By the time I noticed him, he had already changed into those clothes and was holding those items," Tan Ping'er's answer didn't solve the mystery; instead, it elevated the mystique surrounding Ji Ye to a new height.—That old scoundrel!!

Man Niao Niao was disappointed and turned his head to me. "Yingying, what do we do next?"

"If the floating clouds obscure the view, I vow to lift the pot lid..." I ground out through clenched teeth.

"What does that mean?"

"Don't you get it? It means I absolutely must figure out this place, and I absolutely must find Qin City." I continued grinding my teeth, while inwardly sighing that Man Niao Niao's flash of brilliance was merely fleeting.

"So... how do we look?"

Right, how do we look? Are we supposed to search every single stilt-house on this entire slope?

"Yingying, I think those two lines Uncle An sang when he left might have a deeper meaning..." Tan Ping'er reminded me.

"The flowers that bloom toward the sun will eventually wither, and the end of the branch's extension is the cycle of reincarnation you have chased for a thousand years..." What did those two lines of lyrics mean? Where are the "flowers" mentioned in the lyrics? So far, the only things connected to "flowers" are the fellow named Hua'er, the peach blossoms behind the stilt-house, and... A sudden spark ignited in my mind. I took off the embroidered shoes I was wearing and looked down; the plum blossoms embroidered on the soles were starkly black and white...