However, what neither Lin Jun nor the Goddess of Salt Water could have anticipated was that the origin of this giant python was extraordinarily unusual. The silk manuscript recorded it thus: the survival of the siblings Bu Suo and Yong Ni back then was entirely due to a massive gourd, and their successful journey to that suoluo tree was entirely thanks to a colossal black python. It was said that the siblings drifted aimlessly in the floodwaters while hiding inside this huge gourd, crying out in utter despair, when suddenly a gigantic black python emerged from the water, pushing them with its head toward the base of that massive suoluo tree, where it remained faithfully guarding them and their descendants ever since.

As I reached this part of the silk manuscript, the earlier contents increasingly felt like mere mythology, utterly impossible in reality. Yet, upon scouring numerous unofficial histories and even conducting an online search, I discovered that the Black Snake Cult had existed among the Tujia people long, long ago. Some experts even suggested that the character for the "Ba Kingdom"—the character Ba ()—was itself a pictograph of a snake.

This assertion has long been a subject of historical debate; here is an excerpt illustrating the discussion—

The primary basis for the claim that the character Ba () is a pictogram of a snake stems from relevant passages in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: The Classic of the Great Wilderness: South (Shanhaijing: Hainan Jing) and the Songs of Chu: Heavenly Questions (Chu Ci: Tianwen). The Shanhaijing: Hainan Jing states: The Ba serpent swallows elephants; after three years, it excretes their bones. If a gentleman consumes them, he shall be free of heart and stomach ailments. This serpent is blue-yellow, red, and black. Another account says it is a black snake with a blue head, located west of the rhinoceros.

The description of an elephant-swallowing serpent is also found in the pre-Qin text, the Songs of Chu. The Chu Ci: Tianwen records: A serpent swallows an elephant; how vast is its size? Although Qu Yuan's Chu Ci: Tianwen narrates the same tale found in the Shanhaijing: Hainan Jing, he does not explicitly call the serpent a "Ba Serpent" but merely says "a serpent" (yi she), implying the existence of such a creature. Guo Pu, in his annotation of the Shanhaijing: Hainan Jing, quotes this line from the Chu Ci: Tianwen as: "A serpent swallows an elephant; how vast is its size?" Wang Yi, annotating the Chu Ci: Tianwen, quoted it differently as "A spirit serpent swallows an elephant," neither calling it a "Ba Serpent," differing from the current text.

Regarding the explanation of "the Ba Serpent swallowing elephants," the Shuowen Jiezi: Ba Section explains: Ba is an insect; some say it is the elephant-devouring ta (it is a pictograph).

Duan Yucai’s annotation, Shuowen Jiezi Zhu, explains: “‘Ba is an insect,’ meaning a type of insect. ‘Some say it is the elephant-devouring ta,’ the Shanhaijing says: ‘The Ba serpent swallows elephants, and after three years, their bones emerge.’ ‘It is a pictograph.’ The pronunciation is bŏ jiă qiè, with an ancient tone in the fifth group. He does not mention the radical jǐ (), taking its form as a resemblance, not derivation from jǐ.” According to Xu Shen's view, defining Ba as an insect is its primary meaning, while defining Ba as the elephant-devouring serpent (where she is tā) is another interpretation known to him, hence the qualification, "some say." Duan Yucai's explanation elucidates Xu Shen's statement, but he himself does not commit to whether Ba refers to an insect or a snake.

In his annotation of the Shanhaijing: Hainan Jing, Guo Pu stated: Today, the large constrictor snake (jǔ shé, noted in the Zàng Jīng as mǎng shé) in the south swallows deer; once the deer is digested, it wraps itself around a tree trunk, and the bones emerge through its scales. This is a relative of that creature. The Chu Ci says: "A serpent swallows an elephant; how vast is its size?" Commentators say it is a thousand xún long. In Guo Pu's view, the so-called Ba Serpent was actually the python seen in the south, its deeds and form roughly corresponding. However, Guo Pu did not cite the "Ba Serpent" account from the Hainan Jing here, instead adopting a narrative similar to the Chu Ci: Tianwen. This suggests that Guo Pu consulted an older version of the Shanhaijing: Hainan Jing, where the entry read "a serpent eats an elephant" (yǒu shé shí xiàng), rather than the current text's "the Ba Serpent eats an elephant" (Bā shé shí xiàng).

Later scholars largely adhered to the modern text's account; consequently, many interpretations of the meaning of Ba concluded that its original meaning referred to a snake. Guo Qiutao, during the Qing Dynasty, wrote in his Wang Hui Pian Jian Shi: "Observing the Shuowen, Ba resembles a snake. The Ba of Bashu derived its name from this; perhaps the region was named after the creatures found there, just as Ju Ren County was named after the jū rěn insect found in abundance there; this is a clear parallel." Zhang Taiyan also affirmed this view, stating in his Wen Shi: "Ba probably means mǎng [python]; the ancient pronunciation of mǎng was similar to lǎo, borrowed for bā."

Mr. Pan Guangdan also believed, based on the Shanhaijing: Hainan Jing and the Shuowen, that the Ba in "Ba Serpent" referred to the "Ba People." He suggested: "Probably a type of large-headed snake existed in the region where the Ba People lived. Since the Ba People and this snake shared the same locality, legends might have compared the Ba People to the snake," believing this to be a metaphor for a different ethnic group, not an actual snake. Other scholars argued that the so-called Ba Serpent simply meant the serpent of the Ba lands, not referring to people or a tribe.

...

Furthermore, there are other differing views regarding the origin of the character Ba, such as it referring to a type of grass, being named after a river, referring to a dam, or referring to fish. Nevertheless, the interpretation that the character Ba is a pictogram of a snake remains the dominant one among these theories.

Of course, the origin of the character Ba is not the central point; the reason for mentioning it here is actually to confirm that Xidu was the core territory of the ancient Ba State. I have always held that Lin Jun was the founding emperor of the ancient Ba-Zi State, but this assertion cannot yet be firmly established. The common understanding is that the ancient Ba-Zi State was established in the area centered around Xidu, strictly speaking, the Ba Lands, which comprised many different tribes, including the Cóng tribe, to which the Goddess of Salt Water belonged, and the Yán tribe, where Lin Jun originated.

This tangent has carried us a bit far; let us return to the black snake. Since the notion that the character Ba is a snake pictogram holds the majority view, it is highly probable that a giant black snake did indeed exert a profound influence on the lives of the Tujia people in their history, leading to their intense worship of the black snake. Indeed, it is rumored that the Tujia people's custom of wearing blue silk headscarves and venerating the color black originated from the worship of this very black snake.

The silk manuscript does not explicitly state whether the black snake guarding Bu Suo and Yong Ni was the same one we encountered in Anle Cave. If it was the same one, then this python’s vitality is truly astonishing—tsk, tsk! In any event, the black python undeniably cast a very deep influence across Tujia history.

Of course, if it had merely been a black python, Lin Jun would not have uncovered the secrets of the Blood Soul Stele. Another factor, or rather, a very specific profession, played a crucial role: the Tujia Tima. In ancient times, when shamanistic culture flourished, Lin Jun was certainly not without such gifted individuals by his side. When the Tima learned that the Goddess of Salt Water’s lingering spirit had snatched the Blood Soul Stele, he sang the history of the stele and the ancestral grievances to Lin Jun. Upon understanding the situation, Lin Jun naturally became frantic. Alas, the black python had vanished without a trace, and he knew not where the spirit of the Goddess of Salt Water was hiding. Retrieving the Blood Soul Stele would prove to be no simple task.

What followed aligns closely with historical rumors. Decades later, "Lin Jun died, and his soul transformed into a White Tiger. The Ba Clan practiced drinking human blood as a tiger, thus resorting to human sacrifice."

Before his death, Lin Jun entrusted the tale of his love-hate relationship with the Goddess of Salt Water, the feuds between the Cóng and Yán tribes, the origin of the Blood Soul Stele, and the mission to find the Tao Seal and the suoluo tree to the man surnamed Qin, stipulating that this man surnamed Qin must pass these matters down through generations.

Reading this, I spotted a major "bug" in the text: the spirit of the Goddess of Salt Water clearly claimed that the poem with hidden beginnings and endings was a love poem Lin Jun had written for her. Therefore, she used the astonishing principle of "three-dimensional painting" in Anle Cave to leave behind this coded verse. So, did the Goddess of Salt Water have absolutely no idea that the poem contained the eight characters: "To unravel the Blood Soul, one must seek Qin City"? Furthermore, before the Tima revealed the secrets of the Blood Soul Stele to Lin Jun, Lin Jun knew nothing of its origins—how could he have presented the Goddess of Salt Water with such a poem that appeared to be mere verse yet concealed such a profound secret? Did he possess foresight, having already divined what the Goddess of Salt Water would attempt after her death?

When I voiced this query, Ji Ye fell silent for a long moment before stating, "This, surprisingly, is the merit of the Tima!"

I pondered for a moment and suddenly understood; the situation must have unfolded like this: That hidden poem was not written by Lin Jun himself. It must have been composed by the Tima of that era, who then secretly passed it to Lin Jun as a convenient favor. As for predicting that a descendant of the Qin line would eventually give birth to someone named "Qin Cheng," that too must have been the Tima's doing. The green fur pattern found on Qin Cheng and Qin Ping'er was likely also a maneuver by the Tima, and perhaps even our entire group's recent experiences were foreseen by them.

If it hadn't been for the incident involving Ji Ye and Old Man Xiang, I would never have believed that the mysterious Tujia Tima possessed such profound capabilities, not only transmitting Tujia history orally but also predicting the future. I wonder if Ji Ye has reached that level yet; if only he could calculate tomorrow's lottery numbers.

Up to this point, I truly began to grasp just how mysterious the Tima was in its pivotal role in Tujia history. It was no wonder that after inheriting Old Man Xiang’s mantle, Ji Ye seemed to transform entirely, becoming guarded and reticent, and I was beginning to accept the reasonableness of Old Man Xiang’s method of taking on a disciple.

The subsequent content in the book became far more detailed and factual. In that battle, the Goddess of Salt Water not only lost her life, but her clansmen were either killed or severely wounded. The survivors, driven by vengeance, pursued Lin Jun’s mud boat, intent on revenge. Lin Jun and his kin naturally dared not be careless. Moreover, Lin Jun felt deep guilt and tried to evade conflict as much as possible; when avoidance was impossible, a chaotic battle ensued. Thus, the enmity between the two clans deepened.

When Lin Jun’s clan migrated to Tangya in Xidu, they found the location to be a spot of supreme fengshui, so they settled there. Time passed again, unknowable how much, leading into the era of the Tusi Dynasty, by which time Lin Jun had been dead for many years. The clan of the Goddess of Salt Water had not managed to eradicate them completely, so they passed down the history generation after generation, pursuing Lin Jun’s descendants year after year. Lin Jun’s descendants, remembering their ancestor's dying injunction, avoided direct confrontation with the Goddess of Salt Water's clan, adhering to the strategy of evading those they could not afford to offend.

With the assistance of another legendary figure, Widow Ba Qing, Lin Jun’s descendants established the underground Tusi Imperial City. Of course, no fortress in the world is impenetrable. Over the millennia following Lin Jun’s death, the descendants of the Goddess of Salt Water had managed to breach the underground Imperial City on occasion, but none had ever left unscathed. The Lin Jun clansmen guarding the underground city, to prevent the vengeful spirits of the dead Goddess of Salt Water's clansmen from causing trouble, not only constructed the underground city to be utterly impregnable but also placed a statue of Lord Zhang Fei at the exit to deter them.

This implies that the multitude of wretched spirits I witnessed in Anle Cave, as well as the women suppressed beneath the cantilevered tower in the underground city, must surely have been the descendants of the Goddess of Salt Water.