After listening for movement to confirm nothing was approaching, he continued forward, heading towards the source of the sound.
Not far ahead, there was another upward staircase, and the sound came from above it.
Before even ascending, he could sense the temperature above was abnormal. It seemed rather hot, completely different from the cool tunnel environment.
What was going on? Curious, Yu Qing turned and went up.
Reaching the end of the stairs, the clanging sound overhead soon stopped, but he could hear some strange noises, and faintly, people talking.
Raising his oil lamp, he saw a large stone slab above, fixed in place by two iron bars. The temperature beneath the slab was even higher, with a scorching sensation.
He tried reaching out to touch it. The moment he did, it burned him so badly he shook his fingers, immediately realising there was a fire burning above the slab.
The staircase led to this place, clearly an entrance or exit. How could someone just happen to be burning a fire above? By rights, the entrance to such a secret tunnel should not be easily accessible to people.
Illuminating with his lamp, he observed that where the two iron bars met the slab there were actually metal grooves. That is, this slab could be pushed or pulled open, but one end was locked by a metal fitting. To push the slab open, one had to first turn the metal fitting.
He did want to open it and look, but there were clearly people outside, and he did not know who they were. He dared not act rashly.
Noticing the gap at the top of the slab was blocked by ash, he reached into the pocket of his servant’s clothes and pulled out a thin bamboo skewer. Gently inserting it into the gap above, he dug out the blocked ash bit by bit, eventually slowly clearing out a crack that revealed the firelight above.
Enduring the scorching heat, he leaned close and peered through the crack. After a brief look, he understood what was happening above.
Above was a stove in some kitchen. A fire was roaring inside, with sparks and ash constantly falling onto the slab. The clanging sound from earlier was probably someone cleaning ash from the stove chamber.
This entrance was actually inside a kitchen stove.
Yu Qing was somewhat speechless. He listened carefully again, faintly hearing several women chatting and laughing in colloquial speech, seemingly preparing a midnight snack for someone.
Finding it suddenly uninteresting, he turned and left.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he suddenly felt something was wrong. He lowered his oil lamp and stared carefully at the ground, faintly sensing a thin mist drifting along the floor, no higher than one foot above the ground.
Previously he had only noticed the tunnel floor and walls were rather damp, but had not seen any mist floating about.
Raising the lamp again to look carefully, he found the mist only appeared in patches here and there. Further away it seemed to thin out.
Looking back up the stairs, he felt it might be caused by the alternating high and low temperatures here.
To verify his guess, he crouched down and reached out to feel the ground temperature.
Who would have thought that the moment his hand reached into the mist, Datou, temporarily hiding in his sleeve, suddenly let out a sharp, piercing “dee dee dee” cry.
This cry, and the way it echoed in the tunnel, who knew how far it could travel. It nearly scared him out of his wits. He jumped straight up, switched the oil lamp to his other hand, and grabbed Datou in his sleeve, clearly trying to make Datou shut up.
At the same time, he blew out the oil lamp with a whoosh, to avoid being discovered if anyone came.
“You are my elder!”
Datou was pulled out from the sleeve and received a low, furious curse from the exasperated man.
He had slowly retreated back up the stairs behind him, hiding beneath the slab. If anything went wrong, he would lift the pot bottom above and crawl out first.
Datou in his hand did not cry out again.
This was Datou’s habit. Whenever he wanted to call out, once was enough. He would not waste his resounding voice.
Yu Qing knew this temperament, but just now he had truly been startled and instinctively wanted to cover Datou’s mouth.
Once his mind calmed slightly, he realised something was wrong. He knew Datou never cried out randomly. Either someone had provoked him, or something had stirred him.
He immediately thought of the scene just now when he reached into the mist. His heart jumped slightly. Was there something wrong with that mist?
He immediately circulated his energy to carefully examine his body, but found nothing abnormal.
With doubts in his heart and his nerves taut, he remained highly alert to his surroundings. Because of Datou’s outburst, he placed Datou on his own shoulder.
The colloquial chatter and laughter above the slab faintly continued, seemingly having not heard Datou’s cry.
He waited in silence for about half an hour. After confirming he heard no abnormal sounds, he lit the oil lamp again and quietly descended the stairs, not forgetting to once more examine the patch of mist below the stairs.
Having been startled by Datou’s cry, he no longer dared to linger. He quickly retreated, pulling out the markers he had stuck in the wall crevices along the way.
Moving quickly, he passed a fork in the path. He had already walked past it, but suddenly stopped, then retreated. Raising one hand to his ear, he listened intently, then quickly turned and groped his way down another path.
After walking a considerable distance, the “ao ao” cries grew increasingly clear.
That’s right. This sound, neither dog nor cat, somewhat like a tiger, was the voice he remembered. No wonder, it had run to his place early this morning to eat overnight spoiled food. It should be that little dog spirit pet.
Was this little dog not raised by that Third Miss?
It was precisely for this reason that he gave up on evacuating quickly and risked coming to see what was happening.
Thinking of Wen Xin’s appearance seen during the day, his heart was filled with the yearnings of youth, and his steps quickened.
With the temperament of youth, he had already forgotten the danger, only wanting to see what Wen Xin was doing.
Passing another fork, he suddenly stopped again. His nostrils flared. He raised his oil lamp towards another pitch black direction, unable to see the end, only smelling a fragrance.
A faint yet intermittently intense fragrance, like osmanthus.
What was in that darkness? Yu Qing was puzzled and curious, but his heart was ultimately lured away by the incessant “ao ao” cries, and he continued walking quickly.
The cries grew clearer and clearer, and they sounded very distressed.
An upward staircase appeared by the roadside. The cries came from there, and he immediately ran up.
The end was covered by a huge rockery. He saw a metal ring by the exit. Someone reaching in from outside through a crack at the right angle should also be able to touch that metal ring. He knew this was probably the mechanism to open the exit, but dared not pull it. There were people talking outside.
Extinguishing the oil lamp, he pressed against the crack to look out. In a pavilion not far away, three women surrounded a stone table. On the table was an iron cage.
The three women were Wen Xin, Song Pingping, and Xiao Hong.
Yu Qing only recognised Wen Xin. He did not know the other two.
His eyes did not see the other two women. He only stared at Wen Xin.
Wen Xin had clearly just come out after bathing, her long black hair draped over her shoulders. Under the lantern light she had a different kind of charm. On this moonlit night, in his eyes there were only four words to describe her: beauty that eclipses the moon and shames the flowers.
The dog was crying out miserably, rolling and thrashing in the cage without stop, just crying “ao ao” continuously.
In the middle of this night, Yu Qing did not know why this dog was howling nonstop. No wonder it had caused such a commotion that he heard it even in the tunnel.
In any case, it was so noisy that one could not hear what the three women were saying. Wen Xin’s face was full of distressed reluctance.
In the darkness Yu Qing watched her every frown and movement, indulging in wild fantasies. If only Wen Xin could give up wealth and honour to return to Linglong Temple with him. Poor would be poor, but farming and weaving could sustain them. As long as they could be together day and night, he would not bother taking risks anymore.
Of course, he could also work hard to earn money for Wen Xin’s sake.
Even the image of Wen Xin with a big belly, bearing children for him, appeared in his mind. He was even imagining what names to give their children.
Then again, she had wealth and honour. Why would she follow him into the mountains to suffer poverty?
You work hard to earn money for her? I’m afraid all the money you earn in a lifetime of hard work would not even equal her pocket money. The pet she casually raises is a Purple Cloud Hou.
Give up the identity of Linglong Temple head to marry into her family? In the Wen clan’s eyes, what is your Linglong Temple? Would they think highly of you?
What is the point of deceiving using the identity of A Shiheng the Tanhua scholar? Besides, it cannot withstand scrutiny. Sooner or later it will be exposed, and enemies will come knocking upon hearing the news.
She is already betrothed. She is to marry a son of a prestigious family. And what about you? No success in literature or martial arts, no money, no ability, no family background. Just a wild boy from the countryside. On what basis would she give up a prestigious son to go with you? Not even dreams are made this way.
As he thought, the beautiful fantasies dissipated like smoke and clouds, leaving only a face of dejection and sorrow.
“Ao…”
The little dog’s relentless cries suddenly stopped. Its nostrils flared. It suddenly rolled over, turned in a different direction, and wagged its tail enthusiastically towards the rockery.
“…”
The three women were dumbstruck, none knowing what was happening. All slowly turned their heads to look in the direction it was showing affection towards.
Yu Qing was so frightened he withdrew his head, quickly tiptoed back to the entrance, slipped back into the tunnel, lit the oil lamp, and only after walking some distance did he let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Soon, the little dog’s relentless “ao ao” cries sounded again.
Yu Qing muttered a curse. “Did your father or mother die? Why are you howling so miserably? Are you sick? You scared me. Today I’ve encountered nothing but strange things.”
What truly displeased him was that it had disturbed his appreciation of Wen Xin.
When he again reached the intersection where he had smelled the fragrance earlier, he smelled it again. His oil lamp shone forward, but ahead was still pitch black and bottomless.
After hesitating repeatedly, since he had already come, he thought for a moment and still stepped in to take a look, following the fragrance step by step as he explored forward.
This stretch of road gradually made Yu Qing feel strange. It was rather long, with no forks in the path.
Suddenly, the fragrance was gone. What greeted him was a burst of foul stench. The fragrance seemed to exist to prevent the stench from spreading out.
Holding his breath, he raised the oil lamp to inspect his surroundings, wanting to confirm where the stench came from. His gaze suddenly flickered, seeing a faint human figure floating in the air ahead.
His heart gave a violent start. Fixing his eyes for a closer look, the image of Wen Xin in his heart was instantly scared away.
The floating figure was faintly a skeleton.
The skeleton was still wearing clothes.
The highly alert Yu Qing quickly noticed something was wrong. The floating skeleton did not move at all. Steadying his mind and observing carefully, he discovered the skeleton was hanging by a rope around its neck.
He also saw steps beneath the skeleton’s feet.
Raising the oil lamp and approaching for a closer look, he found something abnormal about the skeleton. He then ascended the steps to look, and discovered that behind the steps was empty space, a deep pit filled with a chaotic pile of bones.
And the skeleton emitting the foul stench hung right before him, as if it might reach out to touch him at any moment.