My thoughts drove my actions, and with the dawn of victory clearly visible, my limbs naturally felt lighter. I repeatedly urged the three figures above me not to lag, "Gather your strength and climb! Gather your strength and climb! We’ll see Qincheng soon... right, Ji Ye!" I was both excited and anxious, and I certainly didn't want to speak that strained, colorful Mandarin! (: to exert effort)

Ji Ye said nothing, still keeping his head down and climbing.

When the last egg-shaped hollow in the rock was finally beneath my feet, I sprang up, grabbed with both hands, pushed upward, and finally bounded onto the valley's crest. Looking up, I saw Man Niaoniao and Qin Ping'er had squeezed Ji Ye tightly between them, all three with their backs to me, sitting utterly still—as silent as a bell and as rigid as a pine—staring fixedly ahead.

My view was severely obstructed! This panicked me. Ignoring the way Hua'er's rear legs felt like two heavy drumsticks thumping against my backside, I took several quick steps to get behind the trio, swept my arms forcefully, and squeezed through beneath Man Niaoniao's armpit.

I, too, was stunned by the scene before me, momentarily forgetting to stand up straight.

I wouldn't have been surprised if I were looking at the ruins of an ancient tomb; it would have been perfectly normal to see a dense jungle; even if I had seen the same sheer cliff face, perhaps with even more stone eggs, I would have been mentally prepared... But this was none of those things!

What unfolded before my eyes was a square pool of water, the water inside so jade-green and pristine that it reflected the light. What held my gaze even more transfixingly was the nine-bend covered walkway, carved from stone, arching over the water. Of course, what shocked me most profoundly was that the winding pattern formed by the walkway was the Tu Family's Tiger Totem. Right in the very center of the double-tiger pattern, at the X-shaped intersection, stood a bird's head three stories high. I couldn't tell what kind of bird it was, but I could clearly see its beak wide open, and inside the mouth—was—was—two fine horses poised to leap!

I was struck dumb by the sight. Could this be our final destination? But where exactly was the Tusi King Qincheng buried? Looking around as far as my eyes could see, I spotted no burial mounds whatsoever. This greatly exceeded my expectations, and my heart began to sink.

After studying it for a long time, I finally grasped the shape of the place. It resembled a skillet, but it was far larger than the place where I encountered the "Blood Marriage" in Anle Cave. It spanned about a hundred meters in diameter. The bottom of the "skillet" was the pool, and the water wasn't deep; I could clearly see the jade-green aquatic grass carpeting the bottom, and the aquatic life swimming within it: transparent shrimp about half an inch long, frogs with eyes bulging larger than their bellies, and vividly patterned water snakes darting through the weeds like lightning... Most of these creatures were shapes I had never seen before. About ten centimeters above the pool was the winding walkway. The walkway was overgrown with weeds, making its original form mottled and nearly invisible. Beyond the nameless bird's head stood a towering tree with gnarled, knotted branches. Its shade was dense, casting a chilling aura, and it just so happened to completely obscure the bird's head, meaning if viewed from above, this hidden spot would be absolutely invisible. Around the pool were clusters of slender Devilwood trees. I was familiar with this tree; I often cut it when gathering firewood as a child. It was naturally fragile and grew straight, usually not very tall, but these Devilwood trees before me were tall and large. The most incredible thing was that the top of every single tree leaned toward the bird's head, forming an unconscious dome, a kind of pot lid, covering the pool, the curved walkway, and the bird's head beneath it. Sparse sunlight managed to squeeze through the branches, casting a million golden snakes dancing on the water's surface, dazzling and overwhelming my vision.

After looking closely, I suddenly understood. Damn it, I had just been wondering how such a paradise could have remained undiscovered. Even if ordinary people couldn't reach this place, surely something like an airplane would have spotted it by now? Now I saw it: it was these dense Devilwood trees and the jade-green water grass at the bottom of the pool that draped this environment in a cloak hiding its true appearance.

Ji Ye, after all, was far more seasoned and had seen much more of the world. Seeing the three of us youths frozen in our initial positions, he was the first to snap out of it. He stretched his limbs, let out a long breath, and said, "This is the place we were looking for!"

This softly spoken sentence jolted the three gaping companions awake from their trance. I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth, smacked my lips, and casually retorted, "How would you know, Grandad?"

"Didn't you see the two fine horses in the bird's beak?" Ji Ye pointed at the bird's head. "Take a look; what's special about them?"

Qin Ping'er, sharp-eyed as ever, was the first to exclaim in surprise, "Those two horses look very similar to the ones we saw at Zhaomian Pavilion!"

Hearing Qin Ping'er state it with such certainty, I shifted my gaze from surveying the surroundings to the two horses. Although my eyesight was incomparable to what it used to be, it was still a long way from Qin Ping'er's vision. Furthermore, some encroaching branches obscured my view, so I couldn't see the horses particularly clearly. "Really?" I could only ask Qin Ping'er for confirmation.

"Didn't you say your dog eyes got better? How can you still not see clearly? Ping'er is right; those two horses are indeed very similar to the two carved by Madam Mo. The pair at Zhaoma Pavilion were practically their shells! Except these two look much more complete, and much handsomer than those two fellows at Zhaoma Pavilion!" Man Niaoniao couldn't resist giving me a sharp jab or two before seriously describing the horses in the bird's mouth, peppering his description with a few words he thought were witty.

"Birdie is right. Seeing these two horses, it's not hard for us to imagine they must be connected to Madam Mo, and if so, they must also be connected to the Tusi King Qincheng we are seeking," Ji Ye added.

"But there are no burial mounds or coffins in the bird's mouth, only two horses. So where exactly is the Tusi King Qincheng buried?" Although I agreed with Ji Ye, my heart was still filled with confusion.

"How did you interpret those eight characters on the Blood Soul Tablet?" Ji Ye asked back.

"'To unravel the Blood Soul, one must seek Qincheng'!" I was confused; I didn't understand why Ji Ye would ask a question he already knew the answer to.

"You guessed those eight characters based on that acrostic poem; the original words weren't those at all..."

"What do you mean?" Before Ji Ye finished speaking, I vaguely guessed what he was about to say, and a cold sweat broke out. Could my initial guess have been entirely wrong? — That realization was infinitely worse than being hit hard!

"What I mean is, 'Qincheng' in that phrase might not refer to a person. Perhaps, just as Old Man Chen suggested, it refers to a 'City with the surname Qin,' or perhaps the Tusi King Qincheng wasn't buried in a conventional manner—who told you that burial always requires a mound or a coffin?"

"So you mean Qincheng was cremated?" I was unwilling to accept that the words "Qincheng" meant "City with the surname Qin"; I stubbornly believed Qincheng was a person, the last Tusi King in Tujia history, and nothing else.

Ji Ye didn't answer, staring at the two horses for a long while before saying, "Whether it is or isn't, let's go take a closer look at those two horses first."

Although I knew Ji Ye's suggestion was the only viable option right now, for some reason, I felt profoundly uneasy, as if something bad was waiting for us ahead. Yet, when I tried to pinpoint exactly what was causing this feeling, I could find no trace of it. Excitement mixed with apprehension, a dreamlike sensation.

"Damn it, it's so quiet here, you can't even hear a bird—it's truly strange," Man Niaoniao said at the opportune moment. I suddenly understood why I was experiencing such complex emotions. Looking at the sun, it seemed to be around eight or nine in the morning. It wasn't hot; in fact, my body felt a bit cool. At any other time, in any other place, all sorts of birds would certainly be chirping in a chaotic din. But here, forget bird calls—even the dewdrops falling from the trees made no sound at all. The entire environment was unnervingly silent and eerie.

Ji Ye couldn't possibly have missed this extremely abnormal phenomenon. He stood silently staring at the bird's head for a moment, then said in a low voice, "There's too much water here (—a local saying implying 'there's too much mystery/confusion' or 'it's too murky'). Anything we say now is useless. If it's fortune, we can't avoid it; if it's disaster, we can't escape it. The location of those two horses must be our final destination."