Chapter 34: The True Face of Master Shi

The legend of the Three-Eyed People of the Tibetan borderlands can be traced back to an age long before Songtsen Gampo unified Tibet. It is said that when Songtsen Gampo, Princess Wencheng, and Princess Chizun built Buddhist temples across Tibet to suppress the demoness in accordance with the Illustrated Map of Tibet’s Demon-Subduing Temples, three-eyed demon attendants once appeared at her side. Another tradition holds that the Three-Eyed People were connected with the ancient Guge Kingdom, whose distinctive silver-eyed statues were characterized by a third, vertical eye in the forehead.

In historical sequence, the demon-subduing undertaking of “one king and two princesses” took place in the seventh century, when Princess Wencheng entered Tibet. Using the Central Plains text Observations on the Eighty Forms of the Five Elements, she determined that Tibet’s terrain resembled a demoness lying on her back like a rakshasa. The Potala Palace was therefore built to pin down the demoness’s heart and bones, while the Jokhang Temple gave Lhasa the form of the Eight Auspicious Symbols. Then twelve demon-subduing temples were erected throughout the four regions of Ü-Tsang to suppress the demoness’s limbs and joints.

As for the Guge Kingdom, it was established around the tenth century by Kyide Nyimagon, the great-grandson of Langdarma, the last tsenpo of the Tibetan Empire. After the empire collapsed, he led his followers in flight to Ngari, where he founded a kingdom that dominated western Tibet and created seven hundred years of brilliant civilization.

On the basis of these two points, some archaeologists have speculated that the Three-Eyed People and the Guge Kingdom shared an exceptionally deep cultural and historical lineage.

Miss Xue pulled down the edge of the swaddling cloth, revealing the baby’s entire face. Apart from the strange birthmark, his features were perfectly normal.

“Perhaps only Stone Marvel can explain all this,” Ding Jun sighed.

“This is something no one can explain. An explanation is merely a cover-up. At this point, can you still believe anything he says?” Miss Xue’s face was as calm as chilled jade.

“At the very least, shouldn’t we give him a chance to explain?” Ding Jun asked.

Suddenly, a figure moved within the maze opposite them. Someone came charging out, a long spear in his hands.

Ding Jun immediately raised his weapon, but the man swiftly split into dozens of gleaming shadows, appearing in layers upon the shadow walls on every side. There was no way to tell where his true body stood.

It was Stone Marvel. At last, he had appeared.

With a sigh, Ding Jun lowered his weapon. He had lost by a single move and was already at a disadvantage.

“Let’s get out of here. Fall back—keep falling back—”

He heard the creaking groan of a mechanism being activated overhead, but the chamber was too vast. Even after pulling Miss Xue five steps back, they were still enclosed by iron grilles descending from all four sides.

The grilles were made of iron rods as thick as a thumb, stretching from ceiling to floor. The gaps between them were barely twenty centimeters wide; even the art of bone-shrinking could not have squeezed a person through. The situation was like a hunter using a stone platform and a baby as bait to set a bird trap ten meters across. Ding Jun and Miss Xue were the prey caught inside.

Stone Marvel approached the grille and frowned at Ding Jun.

“Little Ding, I knew you would come. Little Hai said more than once that your title of ‘King of Hunters’ was richly deserved. No one in the Delta Force is stronger than you. So even though I exhausted myself laying this trap, you were still able to see through every move and track me here. Looking back, he was right. If I wanted to lure you here, I had to arrange a labyrinth with all my strength, making you think you were breaking through it when in fact you were falling into one trap after another. Now it is time for me to draw in the net.”

“Uncle Stone, I don’t understand.”

Ding Jun released his grip and simply abandoned his spear. If he could not break through the grille, then even killing Stone Marvel would leave him trapped there until he died.

From the moment they had met, the two men had treated each other with respect and courtesy. Ding Jun had even been the one to volunteer to stay and lend his support. Yet in only a few days, everything had changed. Ding Jun had gone from an honored guest to a prisoner beneath the steps.

But he had weathered too many storms in his life to lose his composure. Facing sudden changes calmly and dismantling an opponent’s moves one by one had always been his guiding principle. He did not lash out or lose control.

Stone Marvel smiled. “I will explain everything.”

He pressed the remote control in his hand. Searchlights mounted in the dome blazed to life, bathing Ding Jun and Miss Xue in light. Before long, warmth spread through their bodies, bringing a strange comfort.

“Miss Xue, take a look at that stone tablet. Can you help me read the writing on it?” Stone Marvel asked.

Miss Xue shook her head lightly without speaking.

Stone Marvel burst into laughter. “Miss Xue, you are far too dishonest. Compared with your predecessor, Xue Honglou, you are far, far behind. She taught me a great deal, including the writing on that tablet. Now I will recite it aloud. If I make a mistake anywhere, please do not hesitate to correct me.”

Miss Xue’s expression grew darker and darker. Her shoulders trembled faintly, as though she could barely restrain the anger surging inside her.

“Don’t act rashly. Wait for an opportunity,” Ding Jun warned softly. In their present predicament, they depended on each other. If one of them broke down, the other would lose a capable ally.

“Xue Honglou. Xue Honglou. He actually has the nerve to mention that name!”

Miss Xue stamped her foot, tears welling in her eyes, then suddenly lifted her face. Even so, two crystalline tears slid down through her dense black lashes and hung trembling from their tips, poised to fall but refusing to do so.

When Ding Jun saw those tears, he suddenly felt as though the tip of his heart had been lightly pricked, bringing a faint ache touched with a trace of bitterness.

“Tuoyabaduosi, Duoladuolakusadadaquzhen, Yundaiyi, Quekelaleisijian, Gutujianjian…”

Stone Marvel recited the words loudly, each syllable obscure and difficult.

Ding Jun could not identify the language. Unable to contain himself, he asked, “What is that?”

Miss Xue thought for a moment. Her lips moved, but she hesitated to speak.

“If we do not join forces, we are finished. I have no intention of probing the secrets of Guge. Once the fight is over, I will force myself to develop amnesia and forget everything that happened today.”

Understanding Miss Xue’s predicament, Ding Jun made his position clear before she could say anything.

“That is… a passage from half of the Heavenly Book. It describes the secret inheritance of Guge’s divine power. Put simply, to inherit and possess the legendary power of Guge, one must first cultivate individuals who possess a special genetic makeup. What he has been reciting is the detailed procedure for cultivating such individuals. What I cannot understand is that only the Holy Maiden of Guge was permitted to know this secret. How did he learn it? Did Xue Honglou truly tell him?”

“Xue Honglou is the person lying in the ice coffin?” Ding Jun asked, following the thought to its conclusion.

The girl nodded.

From Madam Ge, Ding Jun had already learned a second version of the story about Stone Marvel’s killing of the Guge envoy. He understood that if Stone Marvel had been able to deceive the man, he must also have been able to obtain every secret he needed, including the contents of the so-called “half of the Heavenly Book.”

Stone Marvel continued reciting. At last, Miss Xue’s lips began to move, and she was actually repeating the words silently along with him.

“Tuobadoer kua, tuosituosi, yidumensi, babuduoyasi yunmeimeihanda—these are the final three sentences. They should translate as: ‘The vertical eyes roam unchecked, radiance covers the face, none may look directly upon it, and divine power enters without end.’ But where does this radiance come from? None of the preceding text mentions the word ‘radiance.’ What is its source? Does it refer to these lights? No, that cannot be. The people who created these mysterious characters lived centuries ago. How could they have foreseen electricity, electric lamps, and artificial light? Miss Xue, you are brilliant. Have you grasped some other meaning in these words?”

Stone Marvel questioned her.

Ding Jun had assumed that Miss Xue would continue to remain silent and refuse to answer any of Stone Marvel’s questions. But this time, as soon as he finished speaking, she replied.

“If the ‘radiance’ in the half of the Heavenly Book referred to artificial light, it would have specified ‘lamp light,’ ‘candlelight,’ or ‘firelight.’ It would not have recorded the general term ‘radiance.’”

Stone Marvel pressed her. “Exactly. Since the book says ‘radiance,’ could it refer to something that emits light by itself? From ancient times to the present, old texts have recorded such things as luminous pearls, moonstones, phosphorescent stones, and star diamonds, all of which shine on their own. But since the text says ‘none may look directly upon it,’ it must naturally refer to an extremely powerful light. The radiance emitted by those four treasures is far too faint to make them impossible to look at. It is truly baffling. You come from Guge, Miss Xue. It is said that only the Holy Maiden of your people has the authority to know every secret. You must know how to obtain Guge’s divine power. Tell me, and I will release you at once…”

He stepped forward and seized the same iron rods of the grille, then shook them with all his strength. The entire ring of bars clattered and rang, rising and falling to form a strange sequence of tones.

Ding Jun suddenly yawned. The sound made him feel languid and weak. From his limbs and seven apertures to his internal organs, an indescribable weariness spread through him, as though he were a baby listening to his mother hum a lullaby. He wanted only to close his eyes and sink into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Miss Xue also stepped forward and grasped the same two iron rods as Stone Marvel.

“At the summit of the snow mountain, the bright moon rests; ten million believers return without fear; receiving the will of Heaven, worshiping the Heavenly Emperor—through my divine power, Guge shall never fall,” Stone Marvel murmured.

Miss Xue repeated after him, “At the summit of the snow mountain, the bright moon rests; ten million believers…”

Suddenly, two eerie blue rays shot from Stone Marvel’s pupils. They pierced the grille and bore into Miss Xue’s eyes.

In that instant, Ding Jun saw his chance. He was one hundred percent certain that he could fire a small knife from the side and drive it through Stone Marvel’s temple. It was the quickest solution: all manner of evil and sorcery could be ended with a single stroke, bringing everything to a clean conclusion.

He had once taken part in Operation Thunderbolt Sword, the raid on the supreme leader of a terrorist organization. After a long-range forced march, they had killed with a single strike and completed their mission with lightning speed. His principle in battle had always been: end it with one decisive blow.

If he had not heard Stone Marvel mention the source of the Heavenly Kingdom’s power, Ding Jun would already have killed him.

“Tell me, where did the Heavenly Kingdom’s power come from? Was it Guge’s divine power? How was that power obtained, and how was it lost? Was it connected to the Wing King, Shi Dakai…”

Stone Marvel pressed his face close to the grille, the tip of his nose almost touching Miss Xue’s. The greed in his heart was plain for all to see.

“I don’t know. Only the High Priest knows those secrets. My mission was merely to retrieve the jade tablet and the lives of three people,” Miss Xue replied softly.

Stone Marvel immediately changed the subject. “What is the jade tablet used for?”

Miss Xue shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Stone Marvel pressed her step by step. “Then tell me this: if there is half of a Heavenly Book, does that mean another half exists? Is it with the High Priest?”

Miss Xue shook her head again. “I don’t know.”

Stone Marvel changed the question once more. “Draw me a map showing the route back to Guge. Once you have finished, I will give you the jade tablet.”

Miss Xue nodded. “All right. Where is the tablet? Give it to me first.”

Stone Marvel took a pencil and a sheet of white paper from his pocket and handed them to Miss Xue. Then he reached into his pocket with his left hand and produced the jade tablet from the ice coffin.

This time, he did not attempt any trick. He gently placed it in Miss Xue’s hand.

After he had retreated three steps, the evil light vanished from his eyes, and they returned to their former appearance.