Ghost Town North Slope Chapter Five: The Sixty-Four Hexagrams

Upon entering the tomb chamber, we found no main burial room. Instead, due to the dim lighting, all that was visible was a narrow passage about three meters wide and two meters long, stretching straight ahead.

The young man dressed in black calmly said, “Hand me the fire striker.”

Without hesitation, he took it from Old Zhang’s hand, carefully clipped the striker, and tossed it into a fixed ignition point.

Immediately, the chamber brightened considerably. We then ignited other fixed fire sources, preparing to explore further when the young man’s brow furrowed, and he warned, “Don’t move—watch out for traps underfoot!”

Everyone halted instantly, a cold sweat breaking out over us. Old Zhang grumbled, “Hey, next time could you at least warn us in advance?”

Step by step, the black-clad man moved to the center of the tomb chamber, glanced around cautiously, and said, “Stay close to me.”

Eventually, we reached the center of the lower-level tomb chamber. Looking around, we saw eight passageways surrounding us. Earlier, we had fallen in from one of these upper passages, much like being dumped down a chute. The labyrinthine network of corridors left us no time to prepare before the fall.

This central chamber resembled the eight trigrams gate from the yin-yang Bagua symbol.

I whispered, “Um, young man, what’s the plan now?”

He glanced back at me and said simply, “Wait.”

Then, he pulled several iron beads from his pocket and tossed them into different Bagua gates. Closing his eyes, he listened intently to the sounds within.

Suddenly, he opened his tightly shut eyes, caught the iron beads that ricocheted back, looked at us, and shook his head. “The three of us will tie steel wires to our bodies. You hold tightly to the steel ball at the end.”

Handing me the steel ball, he said, “We’ll split up and move separately.”

Old Zhang and Kaizi chimed in together, “Got it!”

I was about to say something when Han Xin gave me a meaningful look, so I held my tongue.

The black-clad man entered the tomb gate to my left first; Kaizi went through the one on my right; Old Zhang took the gate directly ahead of me.

Han Xin patted my shoulder, whispering, “Xiao Ye, this isn’t just the yin-yang Bagua—it’s actually…”

Her words jogged my memory.

I glanced around and said, “This… this is the sixty-four hexagrams of Fu Xi!”

Her brow knitted tightly as she said, “Could it be… something terrible?”

I shook my head to reassure her. She stared intently at the tomb gates.

Standing as the young man instructed, I turned to Han Xin with curiosity. “Hey, beautiful, what’s wrong? Do you know something?”

She replied, “Do you know the scariest thing?”

“What?”

“Karma. The cycle of cause and effect.”

Her words sent a chill through me. Sweat beaded on my forehead, slowly dampening my collar.

After a moment, she said, “They might get trapped in these six thousand four hundred identical tomb chambers.”

Han Xin paced anxiously back and forth. Uneasy, I asked, “What do we do now?”

She shot me a sharp look and said, “What else? Wait!”

I wanted to protest but seeing her icy demeanor, I swallowed my words.

The black-clad man and the others navigated the endless ancient corridors. Old Zhang seemed to notice something and began searching for an exit.

Kaizi spotted the tangled steel wire on the ground and felt a surge of hope. Following the path of the wire, he entered the chamber where Old Zhang was.

After emerging from the exit, Kaizi headed straight for Old Zhang, about to voice his doubts when—

Suddenly, there was a loud “thud,” and a familiar figure clad in black appeared, carrying a jet-black ancient sword.

Kaizi and Old Zhang focused, recognizing the newcomer as the black-clad young man. Both were overjoyed and ready to rush forward, but he cautioned, “Don’t move, stay quiet!”

He pulled out several iron beads again, tossing them into different tunnels, closing his eyes to listen.

The sound of beads ricocheting echoed through the tunnels. Then, a few iron beads flew back; the young man opened his eyes, caught them, and threw them into new tunnels.

After a moment, he opened his eyes and said, “Found it—left side, third row, fourth column. Move!”

Old Zhang and Kaizi quickly followed him into the tunnel.

After about a cigarette’s length of time, the sound of pacing footsteps came from my left.

A voice called out—Old Zhang’s.

Han Xin smiled slightly and said, “They’re back!”

I raised my waterproof flashlight toward the tunnel, but the black-clad man said, “Put that away!”

Soon, Old Zhang and Kaizi emerged, followed by the others.

The young man said gravely, “We’ve been tricked!”

I looked at him, puzzled. “Tricked?”

“Yes! We were deceived from the start!”

Old Zhang lost his patience and blurted, “So… are we just waiting to die here?”

The young man shook his head but said nothing further.

He then pulled out the map Han Xin had given me from my backpack and said, “This is fake. This tomb is fake. We need to leave—now!”

Everyone froze. The map had been provided by Kaizi and Han Xin’s direct superiors—it should have been reliable. Could someone have switched it?

I was at a loss, feeling as if all our assumptions had vanished. I looked toward the black-clad man.

His brow furrowed deeply, and an inexplicable unease settled over us. His expression had long served as our barometer for danger.

He drew the jet-black ancient sword and gripped it tightly.

Seeing this, everyone grasped their weapons firmly. Then, we heard footsteps—sometimes fast, sometimes slow, fading in and out.

A voice, young and about the same age as the black-clad man, spoke: “Master Feng, what kind of place is this?”

Another replied, “I don’t know.”

“Master Feng, are you sure this is right? Did we take a wrong turn?”

“Since we’re here, might as well look around. If there’s anything valuable, we’ll take it. If not, we’ll turn tail and run.”

The others agreed, “Alright, let’s go!”

The footsteps grew louder and more urgent.

Soon, I recognized several faces: a middle-aged man, a young man, and another in his thirties, all pacing slowly above our location.

Then, from different directions around us, more people descended. To my surprise, it was my brother-in-law.

He glanced at me and said, “You brat, not listening again? Ignoring your uncle’s warnings. Is this tomb some kind of playground? What am I supposed to tell your parents if something happens?”

I replied, “Uncle, what are you doing here? You…”

Beside him, Sanshi said, “Master Feng, what are you doing? We just met and…”

My brother-in-law shot him a glare, said nothing, and walked straight to the black-clad man. “Young man, what are you doing here? Have you found the exit?”

The black-clad man shook his head. “How did you get in here?”

Taking a sip of water, my brother-in-law hesitated before saying, “Ah, it’s all because we didn’t scout the terrain beforehand. We got lost wandering inside the tomb and somehow ended up in this damned place.”

After some brief exchange, everyone settled down beside the Bagua gates.

The black-clad man scanned the surroundings. “Don’t move.”

He pulled several intricately carved iron beads from his pocket and tossed them into the tunnels. In a flash, he caught the beads that ricocheted back and threw them again.

After a moment, he opened his eyes and said, “This place corresponds to earth; the entrance gate corresponds to metal. Earth overcomes metal. The entrance gate is the snake gate—proceed through the snake gate!”

Without hesitation, he led the way.

My brother-in-law rubbed his eyes. “Let’s go, nephew. Follow the young man, and we’ll find the exit.”

With that, he called to Sanshi and Haiyang, and we all followed their lead.

After a while, we arrived at an even larger tomb chamber.

It was about twenty feet long and thirty feet high. My brother-in-law said, “Young man, this is it, right?”

The black-clad man nodded silently.

My brother-in-law turned and said, “The entrance gate—the resting place of the tomb’s owner—everyone, be careful!”

Old Zhang exclaimed excitedly, “What? The tomb owner? Hahaha, we finally made it!”

My brother-in-law called to me, “Nephew, you’ve always wanted to see this. Today, I’ll take you down into the tomb.”

I hurried to his side, my mood lifting. “I’ve been eager for this.”

Just as I was about to step into the chamber, the young man said, “Don’t move! There are traps. Watch your step. Get back!”

But before he finished, my other foot had already touched the ground.

My brother-in-law sighed, “Young man, it’s probably too late. Nephew, don’t move. Everyone, stay still!”

The black-clad man said, “Follow me out one by one.”

He retreated first, stepping over the steel wire beneath my brother-in-law’s feet, then ducking under the wire behind Sanshi. He patted my shoulder, signaling me to follow.

After about the length of an incense stick burning, we all gradually exited the chamber.

The young man reached the tomb gate and fired several shots, which were followed by crisp sounds.

The grand spectacle we had seen earlier vanished in an instant, revealing the chamber’s true nature.

The tomb was still massive, with traps scattered within five to ten meters of the center. At the center lay a circular water reservoir about ten meters in diameter, atop which were four cloud dragons. Their heads spewed underground water.

Before we could react, the black-clad man pulled out the carved iron beads from his pocket and threw them into the chamber’s traps. The beads struck the steel wires, triggering nearly all the hidden mechanisms.

He turned and said, “Quick, take cover on both sides outside the chamber.”

Suddenly, a swift movement came behind me. Curious, I looked outward and saw a poisoned dart whiz past my left ear with a sharp “whoosh.”

The young man quickly pulled me back to my original spot.

Startled, I was about to speak when he covered my mouth.

“Don’t make a sound.”

Then, he began to use his extraordinary ears to listen intently to the chamber’s interior.