Daomu Biji: The Mystic Nine
Chapter 24: Black Water Corpse Jar

Yushui hehuan was an array that was used in special circumstances, and it was recorded in Zeng Gong's book "Shui Duan Ba Tong" (1) during the Song Dynasty. Many people thought that this feng shui array was to promote the harmony between husband and wife, but it wasn’t. It was actually much scarier than that. It was used to catch things, and they weren’t ordinary things either. It was often used to replace bodies that were buried in the mud after earthquakes, or to replace people who had drowned in deep pools of water.

There had to be something related to the dead at the other end of this red thread.

If the expert set up this array here, was he looking for corpses in this group of earthen jars? Was there a corpse in these earthen jars that was an acquaintance of his? Or was it something else? Qi Tiezui’s thoughts were complicated. Although he couldn't figure out what this had to do with the train, he kept feeling like this array was the key to the whole thing.

This subsequent development proved that Qi Tiezui's intuition had been correct, but at this time, he couldn’t see what lay in the darkness at the other end of this red thread.

The method for setting up this array involved throwing the red thread into a deep pool of water or mud. After the red thread fell, it would quickly tighten as it rolled along the terrain, and the body would be found beneath the place it stopped. In deep pools, the red thread would often become entangled with the drowned bodies at the bottom. If the expert threw the red thread into the corpse jar, then he should have found the body he was looking for.

Qi Tiezui flicked the red thread and scratched his head. He didn't want to walk between the black water and the corpse jars, and he obviously couldn't force Lieutenant to do it, but he really wanted to know if there was a corpse in the jar at the other end of this thread.

When Lieutenant shouted and asked him what was going on, Qi Tiezui told him about the problem. Lieutenant said, "Based on your judgement, how did your family’s expert do it? Does it mean that although the black water is disgusting, it’s not poisonous?"

Qi Tiezui remembered how the expert had put so many nails in his body before returning to Changsha, and thought that maybe he had been careless here. He couldn’t help but wish that Er Yuehong was here. Er Ye was the only one who could come and go freely in this kind of place.

While he was lost in thought, he suddenly saw Lieutenant Zhang take off his boots and then carefully jump onto a corpse jar.

The jar shook, but Lieutenant had such good balance that it quickly stopped. Qi Tiezui covered his mouth and hunched his shoulders up, feeling like the goosebumps on his back were going to erupt. "Are you crazy?!” He cried out. “Get down quickly!!”

Lieutenant didn’t bother responding, but began carefully walking on the lids of the corpse jars. Since stepping on the middle of the lids would crack them, he made sure to step on the edges every time, which caused the whole jar to wobble. The old rotten iron sheets were already covered in layers of rust, and the dry mud beneath could be seen in the damaged places. They had been moldy for who knew how long, and started to crack when they were stepped on.

After watching him step on sixteen corpse jars, Qi Tiezui couldn’t look anymore and closed his eyes. When Lieutenant finally landed in front of him, he felt like he was about to collapse. He watched Lieutenant pat his boots, and then hit him on the head with the peach wood sword. "Bastard, I have to return you to Fo Ye in one piece. All you Zhang family members think you’re made of steel."

"I had to come over, Ba Ye. Who else is going to throw you back over?" Lieutenant said, looking at the red thread and poking it.

"Don't mess around." Qi Tiezui warned him.

Lieutenant tilted his head and smiled a little: "Ba Ye, the Zhang family have their own way of dealing with evil bugs and ants. We have to conduct a general investigation today, so there’s no time to hesitate. Get on my back, and I’ll carry you over to have a look. If something happens, I’ll carry you out even if I have to give up this life."

Qi Tiezui looked at Lieutenant's back and said to himself, if something happens to you, there’s no fucking way you can escape with me on your back. If you stumble, I'll fall into the corpse jars. But he looked into Lieutenant's eyes, thought about everything the expert had done, and felt his heart itch unbearably. He gave a grunt and climbed up.

With Qi Tiezui on his back holding his boots, Lieutenant stepped on the corpse jar and carefully walked forward step by step. They soon arrived at the place where the red thread was leading to and were surprised to replace that it really was a corpse jar. But the lid on the jar was nowhere to be found. They squatted down and lit a flare in the jar to see what the situation was. The bottom of the jar was empty, and there was a seemingly endless grave robbers’ tunnel going all the way down. The red thread stretched deep into the dark tunnel.

Interesting, Qi Tiezui thought. He couldn't see clearly, so he told Lieutenant to put him down. He placed his feet on the edges of the empty corpse jar and threw the flare down the hole. The small light quickly fell, and only landed and bounced when it had turned into a tiny spark. Qi Tiezui grabbed a handful of flares, lit them all, and threw them down. They only managed to illuminate a tiny corner, but he could see that something strange was lying down there.

"What is that?" Lieutenant asked.

Qi Tiezui showed a smug smile, "The crossties of a railroad track. We found it, let’s go down!"

****

TN Notes:

(1) I couldn’t really figure it out. Google sensei failed me ☹. It’s something like “Water breaking in 8 directions” I think. Tiffany couldn't replace anything either, so we think the author made it up. But Zeng Gong is a real historical figure.