All those thrown out were naked except for would-be loincloths woven from leaves covering their private parts. On top of that, they were all suntanned, their faces and arms bearing weird totemic markings, their hairs so knotted and straggly they looked like birds’ nests. It was unmistakable that these people were uncivilized savages.
Some of these savages were carrying bows which appeared very primitive, but everybody present could tell that it had been with these shabby-looking bows that those arrows had been fired without warning a few moments ago.
“Eek? Why are this savage’s teeth so repulsive?” Yuwen Jin suddenly jumped away from a half-unconscious savage whom he had just observed, a disgusted look on his face. That savage had been tossed out by a guard of the Millennium Pavilion and, maybe because of the hard fall, was now dizzy, his eyes unfocused, his mouth open, all his revolting, oddly black teeth revealed.
Ling Zhang, looking at Yuwen Jin’s face etched with intense distaste, replied with an affected seriousness, “That pirate said that cannibals are the only ones on this island apart from people-eating monsters and those from the outside world. This savage doesn’t look like a monster or one of those coming here for the treasure. Do you think it’s possible that he’s a member of the tribe of cannibals that you’ve been curious about?”
Yuwen Jin felt a cold shiver of fear run through him at these words, looking at Ling Zhang with a horrified expression on his face. “Y–You can’t be serious!”
Almost all those in the vicinity, as they heard Ling Zhang’s words, felt the hairs on the backs of their necks bristle and involuntarily took several steps backwards, the expressions in their eyes changing as they looked at the savage again. The marines on guard duty also felt their flesh creeping but didn’t dare back away. They had no choice but to hold their weapons tight, poised to slash at the savage the moment he rose from the ground!
Yuwen Tong turned to look at Ling Zhang, squeezed his hand and gave him a Stop-scaring-them glance.
Ling Zhang looked back at him with a Don’t-you-think-it’s-very-likely? expression of innocent surprise on his face.
Yuwen Tong gave a little cough. No matter whether it was true or not, it was unwise to scare their men in these circumstances.
The guards of the Millennium Pavilion were all kung fu masters and moved very fast. Those savages lying in ambush were overpowered one after another and eventually all of them were captured.
The couple of elders led those guards back to the coast. “There’s nobody else lying in ambush, Clan Leader.”
Ji Yanlai inclined his head and, looking at those savages lying on the coast and groaning in pain, asked, “What do you suggest we do with these people?”
“Pity that pirate is on the vessel. He’d be able to tell us who these people work for were he here,” said Ling Zhaowu.
“Since they want us dead, let’s just kill them,” said Ling Zhang. “There seems to be no way we can communicate with them anyway.”
The others raised no objections. These savages had murderous expressions in their eyes when looking at them, and the language they spoke was totally incomprehensible. It was inconvenient to bring these savages on the trip, and there might be some unexpected trouble if they were left on this coast, so the best option was to kill them.
The guards of the Millennium Pavilion disposed of all the savages quickly and cleanly, dug a hole in the ground and buried the bodies.
“Let’s go and find out what’s in there,” said Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Jin, heading the vanguard, led the way. Ji Yanlai had two elders and the guards go with the vanguard to check out the lay of the land. Yuwen Tong assigned a small number of men to stay watching over the ships and took all the others on a trip to other areas of the island.
“If things go south, you guys may sail the ships away into the fog bank. Here are some Guiding Bugs. They could smell a kind of special fragrance from dozens of li (a Chinese unit of length, equal to 500 meters) away, and the fog has no influence on their sense of smell. You may use them to find the right direction and navigate your way through the fog bank,” said Ji Yanlai, handing a casket to a naval officer assigned to stay on a ship.
Ji Yanlai had put some special spice in several spots along the coast and also had a bag of it on him. With the help of the Guiding Bugs which were sensitive to the fragrance, the marines would be able to sail the ships out of the fog bank and back to this island. They didn’t have to worry about getting lost.
“But remember, do not go too deep into the fog bank. It’s best if you stay in a particular position after entering it,” Ji Yanlai added.
The officer thanked Ji Yanlai and then looked at Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong gauged the distance between the fog bank and the coast before he said, “If there’s an emergency, blow the horn first, and if we don’t come back, sail into the fog and hide.”
“Yes, Sire,” answered the officer assigned to stay.
…
They set off to go deeper into the island. The forest of grotesque rocks stretched out as far as the eye could see. Those lying in ambush on this side had been wiped out, so they wouldn’t encounter any other danger anytime soon, but there was no telling what they might be faced with if they kept going deeper.
“Just now we made a lot of noises, but nobody apart from those savages came out to see what was going on. I wonder whether the others did not hear it or decided to take a wait-and-see attitude.”
“There’s no way they didn’t hear it, but it’s possible they’re taking a wait-and-see attitude.”
The terrain on this side of the island was somewhat steep. It took them half an hour to scale the escarpment, on top of which they found themselves greeted by a relatively flat area with sparse mounds in it.
“This is weird. I’m still not hearing the breathing of any living things nearby. Were those savages really the only ones that had come?” said Ling Zhang in an undertone to Yuwen Tong standing beside him.
Yuwen Tong was also observing. Ahead of them, Yuwen Jin and the others were still progressing, gingerly watching their step lest they trigger anything dangerous. “Let’s go a little deeper into it. Although there are some weird-looking rocks down there, the terrain up there is almost flat. Nobody would try to lie in ambush in a place where they can’t find anything to hide behind.”
“Look! Do you think that’s the stone city that pirate mentioned?”
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong looked up in that direction and saw that through the gaps between some stony mounds in the distance, tiny patches of what seemed to be rooftops could be vaguely seen.
But it was unmistakable that there were buildings there.
“He said that the stone city was the only area of the island that had buildings, so in all likelihood the stone city is right there.”
Yuwen Tong gave the order to head for the buildings behind those stony mounds, but he cautioned everybody to stay alert and be very careful where they stepped.
All the marines on this mission had been training regularly and were quite capable, but they might be ambushed if they underestimated the enemies.
The vanguard led by Yuwen Jin, cooperating with the guards of the Millennium Pavilion, were clearing the way inch by inch for those behind them.
…
To everybody’s surprise, they proceeded for half a day but the trip was very uneventful. They had encountered no danger apart from those savages on the coast by the time they had detoured around those stony mounds and seen what was on the other side.
It was a vast valley.
In the middle of the island lay an immense valley, at the center of which stood a large stone city. That pirate had not been lying. It was indeed a stone city. Every part of it was made of stone: the high city walls, the gatehouses, the towering buildings inside, etc. It was magnificent. There were stone houses of different sizes neatly ranged around the center. The building at the very heart of the city was the tallest, and the buildings surrounding it became shorter as their distances from it increased. Those on the perimeter were all single-storied houses meant for commoners.
Its city walls and gate towers forcibly reminded them of those of cities in the Great Wen, or those of cities in the Central Plains. The layout of streets in the city was clearly of Great-Wen style as well. What was different was that all the buildings in it were made of stone, including the roofs.
This was genuinely a city, which probably had accommodated over 100,000 residents when the construction work had been finished.
But now the whole city appeared lifeless, giving off an air of decay and faded grandeur.
Moreover, maybe because it had been soaked in water at the bottom of the sea for too long, everything in the city was a dull, peculiarly gray; on the walls and rooftops were remaining scorched algae, which also filled gaps in the walls. Though having withered, they really looked very ugly.
Standing on a height, they had a panoramic view of the whole city, which was in fact a long distance away.
To get there, they needed to go downhill and enter the valley first, then cross an area bristling with rocks, bushes and giant stone statues disposed in a particular pattern which seemed to be some kind of misdirection Formation.
“That’s a misdirection Formation. On the surface those stone statues appeared no different from common ones, but once someone intrudes into the Formation, they start moving – if the Formation is still in working order,” said Ji Yanlai.
“In the Xia Dynasty, people used this kind of misdirection Formations on a frequent basis. Normally, cities of strategic importance had this kind of Formations deployed around them. There are large controlling and connecting mechanisms underground. Once the Formation is activated, everybody in it loses their sense of direction. It’s very useful in wartime. At ordinary times those statues are positioned on the two sides,” said Ji Yin.
Yuwen Jin opened his mouth and hesitated for a brief moment before he said, “So it’s a misdirection Formation deployed in the Xia Dynasty. Does this mean that this island was above the sea at that time? And this city was built in that period?”
“It’s hard to say, but the Formation is probably no longer in working order, given that this island was at the bottom of the sea for that long.”
“Not necessarily. Did you not hear what that pirate said? There are a lot of people on this island. Just because we haven’t seen any of the others yet doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Maybe some of them know how to fix the Formation,” said Ji Yin.
Ji Yanlai gave a little cough and said nothing more.
Ling Zhang knew what words they held back. It was very likely Ji Yanlai’s father was in there, and who knew whether or not he had repaired the Formation?
“But there’s indeed nobody else around,” said Yuwen Jin, looking around him.
“Uncle Jin, you can’t be too careful,” interjected Ling Maomao.
Yuwen Jin smiled, “Don’t worry. I’m just saying.”
“But … just now you said that in the Xia Dynasty there was a row of statues on either side of a Formation like this. Wouldn’t that look weird? I mean, it’d look like a graveyard,” Yuwen Jin continued. “By the way, how come you guys know so much about it?”
It would seem the last question had hit home.
Ji Yanlai pretended not to have heard. Ji Yin, looking at Yuwen Jin’s face etched with strong desire for an answer, said, “I read about it in a book.”
Assuming an expression of dawning comprehension, Yuwen Jin gave a soft “Oh”, but there was thinly disguised disbelief in his eyes.
Ling Maomao decided not to interpose again, lest Yuwen Jin ask another question. He found that actually Yuwen Jin had become suspicious of them some time ago, that the latter just had never asked about it.
Ling Zhang sneaked a glance at Yuwen Jin and was somewhat amused at the Sooner-or-later-I’m-going-to-find-out look on his face.
“Get ready. We’re going into the valley,” said Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Jin immediately replaced the inquisitive look on his face with a serious one and said, “Yes, Sire.”
Ling Zhang slid him another glance and then breathed to Yuwen Tong, “Smart move.”
Yuwen Tong said, “Though he’s become suspicious, there’s no way he could guess what the Millennium Pavilion really is. Let him be.”
