“Three hundred lives…” Xue Xian was taken aback by the sheer scale of the array. “That’s insane. When humans wish to do evil, they’re no less terrifying than I am. Where did they manage to find three hundred people? That’s no small number. The loss of half that would raise a commotion. Over a hundred people missing? Even a blind person would see that something was wrong.”
Just as he was speaking, a clinking sound came from one of the stone statues Xuanmin was examining, and something fell out. It sounded like a piece of copper or iron. Since a corpse had been carrying it, it was covered in decay and filth. Xuanmin frowned, then pulled off a small section of his robe’s hem.
Xue Xian scoffed at the tearing noise. “Keep ripping your robe like that, and soon it’ll be a shirt.”
Of course, he was exaggerating. Xuanmin’s robes didn’t brush the ground, but they were very long, enough to cover most of his feet. When he walked, they glided over the earth, close but never touching, and each piece he tore off was no bigger than his palm. Even if he did it seventeen or eighteen times more, his robe wouldn’t be that much shorter. But Xue Xian could never control his tongue, and it was easy to take jabs at Xuanmin from time to time.
Picking up the fallen object with the white hemp scrap, Xuanmin held it up to the light and inspected it closely.
It was a small iron tag. One side was engraved with a beast’s head, while the other carried a name. However, the latter had been scratched out with a knife, rendering it illegible.
At Xuanmin’s lack of response to his insult, Xue Xian poked out of the pouch. “Huh. That looks familiar.”
“You’ve seen it?” Xuanmin considered pushing the marble back inside, but hearing his words, he held the iron piece out instead.
“I remember now,” said Xue Xian. “On the way to Wolong County, we came across many run-down temples in the mountains. We found one of these while we were resting inside. It was even stained in blood. From a battle, I assumed. Later, just before entering Wolong City, the bookworm and I found another one at the foot of the city gates.”
The tags had been cast from a single mold, so they’d been crafted together, and most likely originated from the military. Soldiers danced on the edge of life and death, and anyone who’d been in battle would have spilled blood, fulfilling the requirement for “fierce generals.” However, the military was strictly regulated. Could a hundred soldiers disappear without being reported?
After a half year wandering among the commonfolk, Xue Xian knew little about the military, but Xuanmin was aware of some things. Everyone in the military carried one of these iron tags, he explained. First, they were useful for administrative purposes. Second, they served to verify their owners’ identities. Third, if their owner perished in battle and their body couldn’t be recovered, the tag would substitute for the corpse and be interred in its place. If the soldier didn’t perish on the battlefield but grew too old or suffered a serious injury, rendering them unable to fight, they’d be discharged from service. The army wouldn’t reclaim their tags, but they’d scratch out the name written upon them.
“Where did you hear all this?” Xue Xian asked.
Xuanmin stiffened before shaking his head. “I forget. I might have overheard someone discussing it in the corner of an alley.”
Xue Xian found Xuanmin to be quite the oddball. Judging from his spider-shaped mole, he was suffering from some kind of sickness. The way he woke up unable to recognize others implied his condition must have been quite severe. A bald donkey, probably afflicted with dissociation but constantly acting aloof and almighty, who always kept people at a distance, had somehow managed to gather this much information by mingling on the streets? That was rather hard to believe.
“Do you look like someone who just chats with strangers?” Xue Xian asked. Before Xuanmin could answer, Xue Xian continued, “No, you do not.”
Xuanmin’s expression remained unchanged as he pressed down on Xue Xian’s round head…or maybe it was his body. Whatever. In any case, he pushed the marble back into the pouch.
Xue Xian refused to be silent as he dropped in. “So the ‘fierce generals’ were either old or wounded soldiers. What about the ‘suffering commonfolk,’ and the ‘wicked villains’?”
“Beggars and bandits.”
That answer hadn’t come from Xuanmin, but another gentle and steady voice.
Xuanmin turned to see that Lu Shijiu and Old Man Liu had woken up and were walking toward them.
Old Man Liu was wizened with age, while Lu Shijiu looked even frailer than Jiang Shining. Had they really come to so quickly? Being tossed by the whirlpool’s current and slammed into the pool floor would have been enough to seriously wound anyone, but both of them showed no signs of new injuries. In fact, they looked exactly the same as when Xuanmin had first encountered them behind the stone door. Even the bruises on their bodies and the dampness of their clothing was unchanged.
Xuanmin scanned them up and down. He didn’t say much, only turned to the remaining hundred or so stone statues and asked, “How do you know?”
Lu Shijiu raised the bundle of twigs he was holding and shifted his fingers. “I saw it and divined it. I touched a couple of them earlier. These soldiers were intercepted on their way home. They’re easy to kidnap—just say they died in battle and their bodies couldn’t be found. That would be enough to erase any suspicion.”
Regarding beggars and vagrants, no one paid any attention to whether they came or went. Sourcing bandits was even simpler, as the populace was happy to be rid of them. Wherever they were sent, whether to prison or to be put to death, no one would ask any questions.
With all three factions in hand, the array had been constructed.
Lu Shijiu’s blind eyes were much more potent than the average person’s. He looked around him, then pointed at two different locations. “Something’s there.”
Xuanmin walked over and plucked a stone shard from each place where Lu Shijiu had pointed. As he brushed his fingers over their surfaces, he could feel runes engraved upon them. Xuanmin held the shards and scrutinized them for a while.
“They’re familiar,” Xuanmin eventually said.
“What’s familiar?” asked Xue Xian.
“The runes. I’ve seen them elsewhere before.”
But the light in the tomb was too dim. No matter how hard Xuanmin looked, he could only make out rough outlines.
While he was examining the stone shards, Lu Shijiu turned to glance at Lu Nianqi, who was unconscious nearby. To Xuanmin, Lu Shijiu said, “Nianqi is…”
Sensing the hesitation in his tone, Xuanmin finished for him without looking up. “Very afraid of water.”
“He sure is. I was feeling too sluggish to sense anything earlier,” came Xue Xian’s lazy voice from the pouch, “but I did hear him screaming his head off.”
Lu Shijiu dropped his gaze. “That was my fault.”