"Daylight!" Man Niao Niao spat out a puff of smoke dismissively. "No one even knows that Suoluo trees never grow tall or large. That's basic common sense."

I managed a wry smile, thinking to myself, Didn't the Ma Sang tree also not grow tall? How did I see it in the underground Imperial City then? But I didn't stop talking. "Have you forgotten those huge things in Anle Cave?" Man Niao Niao was choked into silence by my retort.

"This image... does it depict the legend of the Tujia origins that Old Man Wenshu told?" Ji Ye abruptly interrupted my sparring match with Man Niao Niao.

Ji Ye's reminder jolted my memory of Old Man Wenshu’s tale—the myth of a brother and sister coupling to produce the Xue Tuo who then spawned the Tujia people. Comparing that with the image before me sent a jolt through me. Could this legend actually be true, or at least connected somehow to the ethnic origins of the Tujia?

All three young people had heard the legend, and Ji Ye, being an old expert, certainly knew it by heart. Seeing this image, the astonishment on the four faces was indescribable; calling it "staring blankly at each other" felt weak.

The great tree in the legend was indeed the Suoluo tree, and it was described as exceptionally tall—otherwise, the brother and sister couldn't have climbed it to reach heaven and meet the immortals. But the treetop in this depiction held no sign of any celestial realm or immortals. The dense foliage completely obscured whatever lay above. Furthermore, there was no flood beneath the tree, something clearly visible from the gnarled, sprawling roots clinging to the ground. In contrast to the rumored scenario, only these two aspects differed.

"Are the people on this tree perhaps what burst out of that Xue Tuo?" Man Niao Niao asked, looking completely unconvinced, his gaze so focused that a long ash on his cigarette never dropped.

"What do you mean, 'burst'?" Ji Ye swept Man Niao Niao with a stern glance. "Is your mouth running wild again? Even if you don't bathe before looking at such a divine object, you need to control your speech... These people might be our ancestors!"

Man Niao Niao’s face instantly flushed red from the rebuke. He stiffened his neck and retorted, "That's exactly how my old man described it back then..."

"Your old man isn't anything special either!" Ji Ye cut him off sharply.

That statement was a heavy blow. Man Niao Niao’s face instantly shifted from the red of Guan Gong to the dark look of Cao Cao, his neck thickening noticeably. He stood up, ready to argue with Ji Ye. Even when striking a dog, one has to consider the owner—and here, Ji Ye was insulting his father, and quite harshly at that. It would be strange if Man Niao Niao didn't get angry.

Qin Bing'er and I were also quite surprised by Ji Ye’s sudden comment. We exchanged glances just as Man Niao Niao kicked over a chair. I quickly reached out, pulled him back, set the chair upright, and urged him to sit, comforting him gently, "Forget it, forget it. Ji Ye was just joking. His mouth runs wilder than yours when he gets going... Stop fighting. Let's keep looking at this book!" Man Niao Niao shot a resentful glance at Ji Ye, shook his head, shoved Ji Ye's head aside, and muttered darkly, "Look at the back, look at the back!" Ji Ye didn't take offense, instead getting up, shrinking himself down, and shuffling off to a corner to stay put.

The second page displayed the image of the Blood Soul Stele, also embroidered in gold thread. As mentioned before, this embroidered Blood Soul Stele was identical to the physical one, save for the size and the two extra protrusions on the curved top. The main pattern depicted Lord Lin’s Ba Wu Xiang engaging in the act of 'pitching into a pot' (though ‘hole’ would be a more accurate term for the ‘pot’ here). Since the image was flat, of course, we couldn't see what was embroidered on the back. Flipping it over, we naturally saw nothing either.

Ji Ye had long speculated that the two indentations on top of the Blood Soul Stele were meant to hold something. Now, we saw these two objects in the image, but only a tiny portion of them was visible. Moreover, they bore no markings, and the depiction was abstract. What exactly were these two objects? And where were they now? Since the Blood Soul Stele still existed, these two items must still be in the world, even if we didn’t know where they were at the moment.

I looked up, ready to ask Ji Ye, but found the old man had vanished in the short time I blinked, leaving behind only the dense scent of herbal smoke in the room.

"Turn!" Man Niao Niao impatiently reached out and flipped to the next page. The moment he saw what was on the page, his arrogance instantly deflated. Starting from the third page, there were long passages of text, small as cigarette butts, many of which were pictographs. Simply put, these characters were foreign to Man Niao Niao, and naturally, he couldn't recognize them.

Man Niao Niao awkwardly flipped a few more pages, tossed the silk book aside, waved his hand at me, and said, "It’s your time to shine, kid. Once you’ve figured it out, tell us. I’m going to catch a nap. Goo’er bai—" (Mao Pi Pi: Show off. Goo’er bai: Man Niao Niao’s phonetic English for Goodbye, which also carries a derogatory connotation.)

Suddenly, only Qin Bing'er and I had our heads bent over the book. How could I possibly recognize all these dense, archaic characters immediately? I had to guess and cross-reference with modern characters for nearly every one, and I couldn't be sure my guesses were right. The speed of reading was predictable. Qin Bing'er looked for a while, seeming a bit tired, and gave me a sweet smile. "Ying Ying, you work hard. Tell us when you’re done; I’m going to rest a bit, okay?"

What could I do? I could only manage a bitter smile. "Go, go!" I said, moving to pat her pert backside, but thought better of it, pulling my hand back to scratch my head as a cover. Qin Bing'er took the initiative, bent down, planted a light kiss on my cheek, and walked away smiling. A hero can't resist a beautiful woman’s charms; as Man Ying Ying, I was certainly overwhelmed with undeserved pleasure.

I found a brush and a stack of white paper, comparing and guessing one character after another, writing my tentative translation on the paper. If I couldn't guess a character, I marked a circle in its place, planning to fill it in later based on the context once the content took shape.

The process was exceedingly tedious, but I concentrated entirely. I had no idea when it got dark, nor who turned on the lights. When my mother called me for dinner, my mind was still wrestling with the characters. I mechanically scraped my chopsticks in an empty bowl for a long time, only jolting awake when I accidentally bit into a piece of scalding-hot fatty meat my mother had given me, nearly blistering my lips.

After dinner, I resumed work, pulling an all-nighter. Fortunately, my knowledge of ancient scripts was reasonably solid, and through a mix of educated guesses and sheer luck, the work progressed smoothly, with simplified characters gradually appearing on the white paper.

The more I translated, the more astonished I became. Although there were still many circles on the paper and many awkward sentences, the secrets of the Blood Soul Stele and some other unheard-of events began to surface in my mind, fueling an increasing impatience. I desperately wished to finish translating everything at once, to finally grasp all the details clearly and completely.

Unconsciously, dawn broke.

As the first rays of morning sun spilled through the window, I finally finished translating all the text—filling more than ten sheets of paper. Luckily, my foundation in Classical Chinese was decent. After reviewing several transcribed passages, the origins of the Blood Soul Stele and the full cause-and-effect of everything we had encountered recently finally became crystal clear in my mind.

Despite yawning incessantly, I couldn't hide my excitement. I rushed over and dragged the carefree Man Niao Niao out of bed, enduring his loud, disgruntled mumbling. "Want to hear a story?" Man Niao Niao sprang up from his mattress. "You figured it all out?" I nodded. Qin Bing'er, hearing the commotion from the next room, also got out of bed with rustling sounds.

When we gathered in the main hall, I was surprised to see Ji Ye’s eyes bloodshot and his expression weary, as if he too had stayed up all night. Yet, a barely concealed joy shone on his face. After a brief thought, it dawned on me—Ji Ye must have spent the night reading that book about Xian arts! No wonder he seemed less enthusiastic about my silk manuscript since yesterday!

In truth, the content recorded in the book was incredibly complex, touching upon numerous aspects. I briefly organized my thoughts and decided to start with the two simple 'ears' on the Blood Soul Stele.

"Do you know? Those two rectangular 'ears' on this image are actually two ancient pottery seals, so old they predate the very origin of pottery, far preceding the Lin Jun era." I picked up the Blood Soul Stele again. "This Blood Soul Stele is actually just an outer shell; its purpose is to protect these two pottery seals. To use an analogy, if these two seals were a sword, this Blood Soul Stele is merely the scabbard. The two patterns on the Blood Soul Stele were indeed carved under Lord Lin's direction, merely to publicize how he became the chieftain of that tribe. What is depicted on these two patterns is true, just as rumored: the earthen boats Lord Lin built were indeed pottery boats, as Elder Chen said, and the Blood Soul Stele itself is also made of clay..."

"Then where are those two pottery seals now?" Man Niao Niao asked impatiently.

I chuckled, ignoring his question, and flipped the silk book to the first page. "Our next task is to find these two pottery seals, combine them with the Blood Soul Stele, and place them at the very top of this Suoluo tree!"

"Next task? Is this matter not finished yet?" Qin Bing'er asked anxiously.

"Of course not! And we also need to find this giant Suoluo tree!"

"You mean the pottery seals and the Suoluo tree are still in the human world? The book doesn't say where they are?" Ji Ye got straight to the point.

"Yes."

"Then... why must these two missing pottery seals and this Blood Soul Stele be placed at the top of this Suoluo tree?" Ji Ye pressed further.

"That’s complicated to explain. I’ll tell you slowly in a moment, but the book states that the purpose of doing this is to resolve the grievances and feuds between two tribes spanning a thousand years. Only by doing so can this Suoluo tree be brought back to life!"

The three froze upon hearing this. Ji Ye remarked, "Placing the Blood Soul Stele containing the pottery seals atop the Suoluo tree can revive it? Then what exactly is the function of this Suoluo tree?"

"The book doesn't say that either. The final sentence in the book is the instruction for this mission we must complete!"

"Must? We? Why must it be us? Why us?" Ji Ye was the one asking.