Chapter 12: Ancient Path Of Chi County
“This ocean is the soul-returning place for all the deceased in the universe? Doesn’t that mean the underworld in mythological legends doesn’t not exist, but exists in the microscopic world?”
After shock and awe, everyone voiced their own opinions, discussing heatedly.
“Using scientific methods, we can’t find the three souls and seven spirits in the human body, perhaps because the three souls and seven spirits are too tiny, existing in the microscopic world in some special state. After death, the three souls and seven spirits lose their carrier and naturally return to the microscopic soul sea before our eyes.”
“Exactly! Human souls are born in the womb. Souls must be tinier than the embryo to fit, otherwise how could they be accommodated?”
……
Someone raised a question: “Are we really at Earth’s microscopic level? Is Earth the underworld where all souls from the entire universe return? I think at this microscopic level, Earth’s material state actually no longer exists; we might… no longer be on Earth.”
“Or rather, we’ve arrived at a special interface completely different from the macroscopic universe. We might really never be able to go back!”
……
The three words “never go back” were too despairing.
They meant an uncertain future, life and death unknown, and the atmosphere became oppressive.
Fierce souls were always roaring in the sea, and strange calls like thunder occasionally rang out from the distant deep sea, making people’s hearts uneasy, wondering if demons resided in the soul sea?
As the bronze ship advanced, more fierce souls flew like moths to a fire, trying to leap onto the deck, but all met their end without a burial place.
The power guarding the bronze ship was very strong; they couldn’t break through.
This was the only thing that temporarily eased people’s minds!
Amid the gloom and anxiety, there were naturally optimists too.
Gao Huan had his hand wrapped in a white bandage and stood at the very front of the bow, excitedly saying: “I told you we definitely fell from the Arctic Ocean into the underworld; now do you believe me? The Arctic Ocean is the ancient North Sea! Tell me, a kunpeng thousands of miles big couldn’t maneuver in the Arctic Ocean, but in this boundless soul sea before us, it should be able to flip heaven and earth at will, right?”
“Also, do you know why there’s the saying of the seventh day after death? Because after seven days, the soul can never return! The distance from Earth to the soul sea is exactly seven days.”
A third-year graduate student, yet extremely superstitious, full of mythological legends and conjectures; in the past, everyone would have secretly laughed, but now, everyone’s scientific faith had collapsed, and they could only rely on all sorts of messy guesses like him to explain everything before their eyes.
Li Weiyi had no interest in their baseless speculations; since they were here, they might as well make the best of it. After cultivating supernatural prowess, he was no longer as lost and bewildered as when he first woke up.
Life now had goals to pursue, motivation, anticipation, and a direction for effort and progress.
Cultivate the supernatural.
Even further supernatural.
He wanted to know, at the end of the supernatural, how powerful could humans become? Could they really fly to the heavens and escape into the earth, move mountains with strength, drive the stars, as in mythological legends…
Even if they really arrived in the underworld, the ghost wasteland world… so what?
He and Cai Yutong were taking those two old professors injured in the stampede to the medical tent for examination and treatment.
At this moment, the bronze ship was already very close to that stone peak pillar stele on the sea surface, only a few kilometers away.
One of the old professors who injured his leg wiped his glasses and finally saw the four characters clearly, exclaiming in shock: “This writing is completely different from the inscriptions on the bronze ship; it’s very much like oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions, of the same origin as Chinese characters.”
Though neither was a professional, both were enthusiasts of ancient scripts; these past few days, they had been studying the inscriptions on the bronze ship, trying to decipher them.
The other old professor, who was stomped in the chest and ashen-faced, was supported by Li Weiyi. He stared at the stone peak pillar stele for a moment and said: “Even earlier than the periods of oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions; the evolution of writing has traceable patterns, so it should be decipherable.”
The leg-injured old professor said: “I think it’s somewhat like the characters on the 《Cang Sheng Bird Track Stele》, possibly from the same period.”
There were a total of twenty-eight bird track characters on the 《Cang Sheng Bird Track Stele》, said to be the original forms of pictographs created by the ancestor of civilization “Cangjie.”
Li Weiyi was shocked inwardly: “These four inscriptions are of the same origin as Chinese characters? Doesn’t that mean that in the extremely distant past, ancient Huaxia humans reached here?”
“Probably so… Let’s decipher it first and see exactly which four words are engraved.”
The two old professors were extremely interested in the writing and not in a hurry to check their injuries; each took out ancient books on characters, fountain pens, and notebooks from their bags, discussing and studying seriously.
Soon, they reached a conclusion.
They wrote down four words on the notebook — “Chi Xian Ancient Path.”
“Chi Xian Ancient Path!”
Quite a few people gathered around, all puzzled.
Why would a stone peak pillar stele in the sea be engraved with such baffling four words?
The bronze ship’s sails were fully billowing, fast as a galloping horse, and it had arrived directly below the stone peak pillar stele. Viewed up close, the majestic and imposing oppressive feeling of the peak stele was even more vividly felt.
It had stood in this vast soul sea for who knows how many years, precipitous and steep, impassable even to apes and birds, so towering and eternal. In the sea, there shouldn’t be such a stone peak with a flat cross-section; perhaps some great power brought it here.
The four words engraved on it were chiseled out like divine axe and heavenly blade, each stroke resembling a ground crack.
The leg-injured old professor, while putting away his fountain pen and brown notebook, said: “Chi Xian is not a county in the sense of one city or one county as you understand!”
“The earliest record of Chi Xian is in the 《Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Mencius and Xun Qing》, where Zou Yan called ancient China Chi Xian Divine Land.”
“Legends say in ancient times, the lands ruled by the Flame Emperor were called Chi Xian, and those by the Yellow Emperor were called Divine Land. Ancient Huaxia, the name Chi Xian Divine Land, originated from this.”
Gao Huan exclaimed: “So that means Chi Xian Ancient Path refers to the road leading to Chi Xian Divine Land? The direction back to Earth?”
Li Weiyi looked back; the stone peak pillar stele engraved with “Chi Xian Ancient Path” was receding into the distance. Even farther, lead-black dark clouds covered the sky and sea level; the soul sea seemed to break off there, with no light able to penetrate.
The bronze ship had emerged from the black dark clouds.
Li Weiyi said: “With this stone peak pillar stele, wanderers who fall into the soul sea will one day find the way home. Chi Xian Ancient Path is the path the bronze ship travels in these seven days; in the dark clouds, there must be many secrets we cannot know now.”
In his mind appeared the scene of the Nine Infants being captured from the dark clouds by a golden giant claw; every time he recalled it, he was deeply shocked.
“It’s a pity the bronze ship is not under our control; if it turned around, perhaps we could return to Earth.” Director Yang said meaningfully, his gaze falling on Li Weiyi.
Li Weiyi took the two professors to the medical tent; soon after, Zhao Meng arrived.
“Come with me.”
Zhao Meng kept his rifle in hand and pulled Li Weiyi to a secluded grave mound below; along the way, his expression was very grave.
Seeing no one around, Zhao Meng said extremely seriously: “After the dark clouds dispersed, everyone’s fantasy of returning to Earth is shattered; this means the greatest restraint of law has completely vanished, and some restless people have no more scruples. I predict turmoil will erupt on the ship soon. Weiyi, every word I say next, you must remember firmly.”
“First, you’re too badly injured; in the turmoil, I’m afraid I can’t protect you. Tonight, while everyone is asleep, collect more food, then in the depths of the grave forest, find a grave mound to shallowly bury the food and yourself, make sure to hide well. Oh, don’t go near the nine-story ship tower; it’s very dangerous there.”
“Second, the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish and Yellow Dragon Sword, I buried in the grave mound where you first fell onto the bronze ship. There’s a white bone wind chime hanging on the tombstone in front; look carefully, it’s easy to recognize.”
“Third, I don’t know how long until the turmoil erupts or how many people are plotting in secret, so although I’ve united a group of brothers and made some deployments, there’s… really no chance of winning.”
Zhao Meng grabbed Li Weiyi’s right shoulder, his eyes fervent and complex: “Three days! We set three days as the limit; within three days, no matter what sounds or disturbances you hear, don’t come out, even if they threaten with my life.”
“After three days, I’ll come to the grave forest to find you and call your name. That means I’ve taken control of the situation.”
“If after three days you don’t hear me come call you, it means I’m dead! At that point, you should know the situation is extremely dire… but no matter how dire, you must understand you absolutely cannot hand over the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish. If you do, you’re dead!”
“Also, don’t trust anyone. Without the restraints of law and morality, in the face of survival, benefits, and desires, humans have no bottom line; morality, shame, dignity could all be worthless. Before torture, even the toughest man has no guarantee he can endure.”
Li Weiyi could feel his senior disciple brother’s concern and worry, saying: “Is this why Senior Brother made this three-day appointment with me in advance? Because you’re afraid you’ll fall into their hands and not hold out under torture?”
“No one who’s never experienced torture can swear they can endure it. If it really comes to that, with this three-day agreement, at least my heart has some buffer.” Zhao Meng smiled bitterly.
Li Weiyi hesitated, considering whether to tell him now that his injuries had fully healed and he had cultivated the supernatural prowess his master mentioned.
Senior Brother was naturally trustworthy.
But those people around Senior Brother might not be, otherwise he wouldn’t say “don’t trust anyone.”
In the end, Li Weiyi decided to keep it secret for now; that way, he could become a surprise force for his senior brother.
“Meng Bro, Meng Bro, the backup generator is repaired, haha!”
Chen Hong danced with joy, running over ecstatically, his body covered in engine oil stains.
He was the technician responsible for equipment operation on the research vessel, personally interviewed and hired by Zhao Meng, in other words, Zhao Meng’s absolute confidant. Li Weiyi was not unfamiliar with him, having seen him several times already.
The two stopped their secret talk.
Li Weiyi showed joy: “With electricity, doesn’t that mean the freezer room can be restarted?”
“Of course; now we’ve temporarily resolved the biggest crisis. The food on the ship is enough for us to eat for several more months.” Chen Hong beamed, very sunny and optimistic.
These past few days, Zhao Meng had been leading people to repair the freezer room and generator. Because only this could fundamentally prevent conflict from erupting over food shortages.
“Come on, take me to see.”
The gloom in Zhao Meng’s heart dissipated quite a bit, in a great mood, he went with Chen Hong toward the capsized and broken research vessel.
Li Weiyi watched their departing backs, a smile appearing on his face: “In this world, there are never lacking builders of civilization; no matter how dire the situation, there are always people patching and mending.”
Civilization and morality were born precisely to restrain human nature, to let humanity go further. Not like in primitive times, killing each other, enslaving the weak, cannibalizing kin.
Facing situation.
Kind and brave people often choose to use civilized methods to heal everyone’s shared home, to resist the destruction of primitive human nature. Like Cai Yutong reclaiming land to plant, Zhao Meng repairing the generator,
Self-interested and ambitious people, driven by primitive human nature, mostly choose to trample civilization without thinking of building it.
Ordinary people can only be followers.
……
Li Weiyi walked alone into the eerie and terrifying tomb sea stele forest, deciding to first retrieve the Yellow Dragon Sword and Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish.
