Chapter Ninety-Two: A Land Like a Painting

When I returned from north of Agarwood Pavilion, I shut myself in my room. The two copies of the Luo Xuan Divine Stratagems were nearly identical; each page was covered with lines that made no sense to me. The copy I had obtained earlier from Yuan Chonghuan's altar changed on odd-numbered pages, while the one Qingyang had given me changed on even-numbered pages.

After wavering for a long time, I gritted my teeth and carefully separated the pages of both volumes one by one, then overlapped them according to their numbers.

At last, I held the reassembled complete volume over my head against the lamplight. From the first sheet, irregular patterns emerged clearly.

There were mountains, rivers, ancient structures, and every marker one would expect on an old map. Yet there was not a single word to be found.

"So after gathering the complete Luo Xuan Divine Stratagems, this is all we get?" Yue Leiting said from the side, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"What on earth are these markings for?" Xiao Lianshan asked in deep puzzlement as well.

Yue Qianling examined them carefully for a long while. Since she studied archaeology, she answered with confidence.

"From these patterns, this should be a set of map symbols. In other words, there ought to be another map that goes with them."

"Another map?" Gu Anqi blinked helplessly. "The Ming Fourteen Mausoleums are hidden too deep. We finally solved the secret of the Luo Xuan Divine Stratagems, and now where are we supposed to find the matching map?"

I set the papers down and smiled.

"After all, they are the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums. How could they be found so easily? Now that we have at least deciphered the Luo Xuan Divine Stratagems, we've finally taken another step forward."

The moment I finished speaking, Liu Hao hurried in from outside, looking tense.

"Boss, a car has arrived outside. They said they were here to invite Yan Hui over."

"Who has such nerve?" Yue Leiting said with a frown, clearly annoyed.

I drew in a deep breath and handed the sorted Luo Xuan Divine Stratagems to Yue Qianling, asking her to copy the patterns exactly as they were.

"It's Wei Yong looking for me."

Yue Leiting fell silent for a long time after hearing that. What was coming would come sooner or later; the only question was what Wei Yong was planning this time.

After I got into the car, I did not ask where we were going. I simply looked out the window in silence. Rong City was mostly flat, and the land stretched out level and endless at a glance. Yet the car stopped not far from the summit of a mountain. When I got out, the first thing I saw was the figure standing on the peak.

Wei Yong always seemed to hold himself perfectly straight. Seen from behind, he gave off an air of composure and wisdom wholly out of proportion to his age. Even standing alone atop the mountain, he had that unmistakable presence of a man surveying all under heaven from a higher ground.

I walked up behind him and saw that he had both hands folded behind his back as he gazed quietly down the mountain.

"What do you see?" Wei Yong asked with a faint smile without turning around.

I paused, took a step forward, and looked carefully down the slope. After a moment, I frowned and said, "This mountain rises high. In a place like Rong City, that's rare enough. It does have the feel of standing above all the rest, but there is nothing especially unusual about it. Even from a geomantic point of view, it does not seem to offer much of value."

"Hahaha. As expected, everyone sees and thinks differently. You are skilled in mystical arts, so you always look from the angle you know best." Wei Yong smiled faintly.

"Then I wonder what Secretary Wei sees?" I asked instinctively.

Wei Yong lifted a hand and pointed toward the distance, looking full of ambition.

"Land and rivers like a painting!"

I was startled. A person's vision is often proportional to his ambitions. I had only seen scenery and geomancy, yet with a single sentence he was already imagining mountains and rivers, as if he meant to direct the whole realm. The more I spoke with Wei Yong, the more I realized that I understood nothing at all about the man standing with his back to me.

Slowly, Wei Yong raised one hand and drew it through the air before him, gentle yet firm, as if stroking a magnificent map of mountains and rivers. To me, though, there was unmistakably both longing and grandeur in the motion, as if everything lay within the reach of those spread fingers.

"The first time I met you, I wrote the character for 'field.' At the time, Yue Leiting helped me interpret it and said I was a man who knew how to keep to my own. I wonder how you see it?" Wei Yong said, turning back with an expression of lingering amusement.

"Secretary Wei keeps his depth hidden and holds great power. He can hardly be a man content to tend a few acres and live quietly," I replied evenly.

"I'm in a good mood today. Why don't you interpret another character for me?" Wei Yong asked with a smile.

"Please."

Wei Yong casually picked up a twig and drew a single stroke on the ground: the simplest possible character for "one."

"Writing one character on the ground. Earth is soil; add one to soil, and it becomes king. Secretary Wei, that character was drawn very well. It is not hard to see that you are someone who stands above the masses."

Wei Yong did not seem to care. Smiling faintly, he used the twig to add another stroke to the one he'd drawn, turning it into a cross, then looked at me without speaking.

"Add one stroke to soil and you get king. Now add a vertical line, and the king character rises into 'leader.' Looking at Secretary Wei's face, you are clearly a man meant to sit high in the court, one of the Three Excellencies. Put it all together, and it means you are a lord."

The smile on Wei Yong's face remained as unreadable as ever. He shook his head lightly, as though dismissing the matter, yet he did not deny it either.

"It's just wordplay. You can say whatever you like. But I have always believed that man can conquer heaven. As for fate..." Wei Yong slowly raised his hand again, his tone firm. "Fate is always in one's own hands."

"Secretary Wei asked me here today, so I doubt it was for these little word games," I said calmly.

"I heard that the contest arranged by Gu Xiaotian was splendidly won by you. I did not misjudge you after all." Wei Yong fixed his gaze on me like a burning blade. "Since no one is competing with you for the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums anymore, what are your plans now?"

"So far I only have some leads and fragments. They are not yet connected, but I believe that if I keep searching along these clues, I will find the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums soon enough."

"That would be best. I have no great talents, but I have always been decent at judging people and using them well. Since I chose you, I knew you would not disappoint me."

"Secretary Wei, rest assured. I will do what I promised you. I only hope that when the time comes, Secretary Wei will also honor the agreement we made before."

"You mean the safety of Yue Leiting and the others... heh." Wei Yong gave a dismissive smile and said it lightly, "A pack of rabble, not worth mentioning. Since I agreed to it, I will see it through. But... that depends on what you ultimately give me..."

I froze and looked up at him in surprise, probing cautiously. "Of course, once the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums are found, I will hand them over to Secretary Wei intact. I guarantee that not a single treasure inside will be missing, not even a needle or a thread."

"I like hearing that. But I have always been clear about rewards and punishments. If you work for me, I will certainly not treat you badly. As for how much treasure is inside the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums, I do not actually care. Yue Leiting can take as much as he likes, and I will let him."

"Then let me thank Secretary Wei on Brother Leiting's behalf."

"However, I must have the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Manual."

My fingers twitched involuntarily. I looked up at Wei Yong in alarm. I had not expected that his true purpose from the very beginning would be the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Manual. Wei Yong was the sort of man who would never permit anyone to go against his will. Since he could state the name of that manual so openly, it meant he knew perfectly well that I understood its existence and value.

As for Wei Yong, I suddenly realized that I knew nothing about him at all. Even from the moment I had arrived on the mountain until now, I had examined his face from every possible angle. Aside from knowing that this man was of incomparable rank, and that there was even an indistinct hint of imperial bearing in him, I knew absolutely nothing else.

I had always been confident in my reading of fate and destiny, yet I had never encountered anyone as impenetrable and impossible to calculate as Wei Yong.

The consequences of not handing over the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Manual were self-evident. From my impression of Wei Yong, he was absolutely the kind of man who would prosper those who followed him and destroy those who opposed him.

"The Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Manual is only a legendary book. No one even knows whether it really exists. What if it is not in the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums..." I asked, still shaken.

"If it is not there, then my luck is simply too poor. I have searched for this book for many years and still missed it by a hair." Wei Yong smiled faintly, his voice cold. "But if it is there, and you do not give it to me, then you already know what the consequences will be."

I drew in a long breath and nodded without saying anything. Wei Yong was clearly the kind of man who acted far more than he spoke. With his words having reached this point, there was no need to think twice: if I concealed the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Manual, he would certainly leave no one alive around me.

After meeting Wei Yong, I remained uneasy the entire time. Things were not nearly as simple as I had imagined. From what Wei Yong had said, it was not hard to hear that he had never truly cared about the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums at all. Even if they contained wealth enough to rival a nation, Wei Yong seemed not to care in the slightest.

He had even promised that once the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums were found, Yue Leiting could take whatever he wanted from them. That was proof enough that Wei Yong held wealth in contempt. A man who did not even place the treasures of an empire in his eyes was the one who truly frightened me.

Wei Yong obviously knew that the real jewel hidden within the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums was the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Manual. What he wanted was power. When I had casually written those three characters for him before, every reading I made pointed toward the same thing: that Wei Yong would one day become a man who held authority over the whole world. For someone with such ambition, once he obtained the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Manual, I did not even dare imagine the consequences.

But by now, it seemed Wei Yong had never intended to leave me any choice at all. I had to win the contest arranged by Gu Xiaotian. I had to find the Ming Fourteen Mausoleums this time. And I also had to hand over the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Manual. It felt as though, from some unseen place, I had always been caught in Wei Yong's calculations.