Chapter 81 Remembrance: The Kingdom of Yougu
The expedition team was fixed. Besides Cheng s.h.i.+fei, Feng Luodi and Situ, twenty of the best soldiers and six of Situ"s Covert Guards were to head into the maze, with the Covert Guards spearheading the team. Two thousand soldiers would be situated outside the maze, ready to support the team at any moment. Meanwhile, the rest of the army surrounded the entire maze, engaged in a stand-off with the armies from the other kingdoms.
The door to the maze opened in a cloud of dust, but the air behind it was fresher than expected. The team filed into the maze. Situ instructed Feng Luodi to stand behind him, and to not be more than three steps away at any moment.
A long tunnel stretched out ahead of them, and the Covert Guards led the way, with Cheng s.h.i.+fei following closely behind them. Cheng s.h.i.+fei paused the group at times, giving out specific instructions to the team to prevent the triggering of the traps. Whenever that happened, Feng Luodi would always gaze in amazement at his ability to sidestep the traps.
“It"s just as if he"s been here before!” Feng Luodi exclaimed.
Situ answered her quietly. “s.h.i.+fei once said that all the traps and mechanisms in the world share the same roots, and are just different combinations of the same concepts. To him, every trap is nothing but an interesting challenge.”
“He looks really happy!” The more Feng Luodi interacted with Cheng s.h.i.+fei, the more she felt she understood the reason why Situ and his officers had such a strong bond. Cheng s.h.i.+fei was more than an advisor. In the core of his being, he"s every bit as adventurous and combative as Situ and Zhang Xin.
The team suddenly emerged into a large hall. The scene before them was a mixture of complicated carvings, luxurious furnis.h.i.+ng, life-like statues and countless corpses. They stared aghast at the dried corpses that hung from the ceiling, swaying from side to side in the gusts of wind. It was inexplicable: how light and wind reached the depths of the maze despite it being buried under the sand.
Situ stepped forward, blocking the corpses from Feng Luodi"s view. He commanded the team quickly.
“Search the area. See what you can find.”
From the decay of the bodies, it was evident that the corpses had dried from the blowing of the desert wind. Their bodies were stretched longer than natural for a natural human being, evidence of their struggle against their demise. Feng Luodi held in her urge to puke, and forcefully turned her attention away from the corpses in the air. Looking around, she noticed something and moved to take a closer look.
“Are these…words? But I don"t recognize them at all.” Feng Luodi pointed at a group of pictures and words on the wall, half eaten away by the exposure to sun and wind.
“Let me see.” Cheng s.h.i.+fei stepped closer and waved a few soldiers over as well. “These aren"t the characters of our language…but neither are they that of the other kingdoms. May it be the words of a lost civilization?”
Situ came over as well. “Are you sure that these are…words? Why do they look so curvy and squiggly?”
“I"ve seen such words before!” A soldier suddenly exclaimed. “My grandfather has the hobby of collecting old scriptures, and I"ve seen them in one of his books before. I"ve asked him about these words too, seeing as how they were different from any other words that I"ve seen before.”
The soldier rubbed his temples, trying to recall his grandfather"s words. “He said that…they were the words of the Yougu Kingdom.”
“The Kingdom of Yougu?” Cheng s.h.i.+fei was a man of the sword, but he was also very knowledgeable. Are you talking about the small kingdom that"d disappeared in a sandstorm two hundred years ago? It was said that some of its citizens had managed to escape into the neighboring kingdoms before its demise; I"ll a.s.sume that these corpses are of those that did not.”
“My grandfather told me that the ruling family of the Yougu kingdom were a prideful bunch, unwilling to leave their position and take refuge under the rule of another kingdom. That was why they"d chose to take their own lives in their ancestral shrine, choosing to die by the way that is closest to the sky.”
“The way closest to the sky, huh?” They looked at the corpses that hung from the ceiling. Such…a fanatical group of people.
A Covert Guard returned. “General, there are three paths ahead. However, I ran into a trap at the third branch and quickly returned, not wanting to trigger any traps by accident. Neither did I manage to locate the central mechanism.”
Situ nodded. “Just leave the rest to s.h.i.+fei.”
Feng Luodi was a little confused. “The central mechanism? Why are we looking for that?”
Cheng s.h.i.+fei quickly explained. “The traps of the maze are designed using a technique that connects the mechanisms of the maze with the movement of the quicksand around the area. When the maze moves, the quicksand s.h.i.+fts and exposes the entrance of the maze. That"s why we have to find the central mechanism and destroy it, stopping the movements of the traps of the maze, and sealing the entrance forever.”
Feng Luodi nodded along in understanding. Suddenly, the sound of a zither rang through the maze, and Cheng s.h.i.+fei broke out into a huge grin. He turned to Situ.
“I know which way to go! That is how the ‘songs of the sirens" of the desert had come about!” Cheng s.h.i.+fei led the team with the Covert Guards around him, and they quickly headed down the path closest to the sound of the music. Feng Luodi and Situ followed behind them, with the twenty soldiers sweeping the rear.
Perhaps it was indeed the correct route that led to the central mechanism, but the traps that they encountered along the way were much more than there was in the tunnel.
“Be careful!” Situ grabbed Feng Luodi who had strayed from the designated path, before a morning-star swished through the air where she would have been.
“Thank you.” Feng Luodi patted her face, trying to make herself more alert to her surroundings. A poisoned dart whistled through the air, narrowly missing Feng Luodi who had been pulled into Situ"s embrace. He did not let her out of his arms.
“Let"s walk like that, it"ll be easier for me to protect you.”
Feng Luodi tried to put an arm between the two of them, but Situ only hugged her closer. If it was in the past, Feng Luodi might have let Situ have his way with her. But this time, she did not want to deepen the misunderstanding between the two of them. She shoved against him, hard.
“I"ll keep close to you, I promise. Let me go.” She whispered.
Situ"s arm tightened for a second, but let go.
The team continued through the maze, turning from one hallway to the next. Just as they were getting tired, the music echoed through the maze again. The notes were obviously unstructured, but they were distinctive and clear, echoing gently through the tunnels as if through the pa.s.sages of time. It was indeed like the songs of the sirens, enchanting and magical. The team was slowly enchanted by the song, but with it came the sudden sound of sliding walls. The maze was s.h.i.+fting again! The team quickly got separated.
“Luodi! Hold on to me!” Situ immediately reached for Feng Luodi"s hand, but his hand swished through the air where she stood just a moment ago. He spun around, but she was not behind him anymore.
“Luodi! Please say something if you can hear me! Just follow the person beside you!” Situ shouted. However, his voice was quickly drowned by the grating sound of the moving walls, and the ensuing dust cloud obscured his vision.
Suddenly, the music stopped, and the walls stopped moving as well. In the dust, they quickly accounted for their manpower. Situ looked over the team carefully, but did not find the person he was looking for. “Did anyone see Feng Luodi?”
The Guards an the soldiers shook their heads in unison.
“d.a.m.n!” Situ punched the wall, hard.
“Calm down, Situ.” Cheng s.h.i.+fei quickly comforted him. “Miss Feng knows that she can reach the central mechanism by following the sounds of the zither, and we"ll be able to meet her there.” But when he saw Situ"s expression, he swallowed the rest of his words. She can indeed find the central mechanism by following the sounds of the zither, but she"ll also be finding many traps along the way. And that is not good for a demure lady like her.
“General, Quattor and I will look for Miss Feng. You can head to the central mechanism.” Two suddenly proposed a plan to Situ.
“Bring her back.” Situ"s voice was cold and hard as flint.
“Don"t worry, General. We will find Miss Feng.”
“Let"s keep moving, then. Cheng s.h.i.+fei waved the rest of the team onwards, pulling Situ with him. “Don"t worry, Miss Feng will definitely be fine.”
When the earth shook and the walls s.h.i.+fted, Feng Luodi found herself losing her balance, falling backwards. Before she could scream or reach out for Situ"s sleeve, she found herself sliding downwards in a tunnel that angled into lower depths of the maze. She tried to position herself better, but her head struck something hard and she blacked out.
She woke to find herself alone. Rubbing her sore head, she stood up and called out.
“Situ?”
“General Cheng?”
“Can anyone hear me?”
Where are the rest? Feng Luodi started to panic, but did not dare to move for fear of triggering any traps.
“Situ! Situ! Where are you!”
She was answered by silence.
She panicked, and headed down the nearest route she could find, shouting for help as she went along. She clenched her fist, and held it to her mouth, trying to calm herself down. She peered around in the dim lighting of the maze.
“Don"t be afraid, Luodi. It"s just a little darker than normal.”
She tried walking to the source of the light, but she could not get a sense of direction. It looked the same everywhere she turned – just like a maze.
“Situ, are you there?” Her voice was hoa.r.s.e. Will I be stuck here forever?
Just as she was getting desperate, the music started again.
“It"s Remembrance!” Feng Luodi spun around wildly. “I"m sure of it! The zither is Remembrance!”
Taking a deep breath, she swallowed her fear and slowly traced her way towards the sound.
“Quattor, the zither sounds much closer from here.” Two called out to his partner.
“It is indeed very clear.” Quattor had his ear to the wall. “I hear someone shuffling in that direction, will it be Miss Feng?”
“Let"s go!” Two immediately ran off in the direction. “Didn"t you see the expression on General"s face? We probably wouldn"t need to report to him anymore if we didn"t return with Miss Feng.”