Chapter 11: The Fourth Door and the Uninvited Guest
An immortal may live for a million years and still misunderstand a single day.
Time measures how long one has existed.
It does not measure how much one understands.
The Fourth Door
The ancient celestial map rotated silently above the circular chamber.
Its countless silver stars illuminated seven stone doors, four of which remained unexplored.
Ye Wuchen stood before the fourth.
Behind him, Mu Cang and Han Zhen spoke in hushed voices.
Forty-three years had passed since the two scholars last saw one another.
For Mu Cang, those years had been filled with uncertainty, loneliness, and an increasingly desperate search for evidence of his missing companions.
For Han Zhen, scarcely a day had passed.
Neither knew how to reconcile those experiences.
Lin Qingyue watched them quietly.
Then she turned toward Ye Wuchen.
"Fellow Daoist Ye."
"Hm?"
"Do you think the other missing scholars might still be somewhere inside these ruins?"
"Possibly."
"Like Han Zhen?"
"Not necessarily."
She frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Ye Wuchen examined the fourth door.
"The chamber containing Han Zhen preserved him under unusual conditions. We shouldn't assume every other chamber functions the same way."
Lin Qingyue considered this.
"Then some of them might have experienced the full forty-three years."
"Yes."
"And others might have..."
She stopped.
Ye Wuchen glanced at her.
"Disappeared?"
She nodded.
"That's also possible."
His answer was calm.
Perhaps too calm.
But Lin Qingyue had begun to understand something about this strange young man.
He did not offer reassurance when he had no evidence to support it.
He also did not seem particularly troubled by uncertainty.
For someone whose cultivation aura was practically nonexistent, he possessed an extraordinary amount of composure.
"Fellow Daoist Ye," she asked, "are you never worried?"
"About what?"
"Things going wrong."
Ye Wuchen thought for a moment.
"Occasionally."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"What worries you?"
He examined the ancient door.
"Careless conclusions."
Lin Qingyue stared at him.
That was not the answer she had expected.
Before she could respond, Mu Cang approached.
"Young man, Han Zhen remembers Shen Yulan entering the fourth passage."
Ye Wuchen nodded.
"I heard."
"Then perhaps..."
The old scholar hesitated.
"Perhaps we'll find her."
Ye Wuchen looked at him.
"We may."
Mu Cang took a deep breath.
"Then let's begin."
The fourth door was considerably simpler than the previous entrances.
Its surface contained a single inscription.
LET THE WITNESS SPEAK.
Beneath it lay a shallow depression shaped like an open palm.
Lin Qingyue examined the mechanism.
"Another identification array?"
Ye Wuchen nodded.
"Most likely."
Mu Cang stepped forward.
"Should I try?"
"Not yet."
The old scholar stopped.
Ye Wuchen examined the inscription.
The first door had required a mechanical sequence.
The second had responded to the number of expedition members.
The third had preserved Han Zhen within a separate temporal reference.
The fourth appeared to require testimony.
But testimony from whom?
He turned toward Han Zhen.
"Did Shen Yulan enter this chamber alone?"
Han Zhen shook his head.
"I don't think so."
"Who accompanied her?"
The younger scholar closed his eyes.
"Lu Wen."
Mu Cang looked surprised.
"You remember him?"
"Yes."
Han Zhen opened his eyes.
"He was carrying a bronze seal."
Mu Cang's expression changed.
"The seal from the Hall of Witnesses."
Han Zhen nodded.
"I think so."
Ye Wuchen considered the information.
Then he looked at Mu Cang.
"Your pendant identified you as a witness in the second chamber."
"Yes."
"Try placing your hand here."
Mu Cang obeyed.
The depression illuminated.
A faint voice emerged from within the stone.
WITNESS RECOGNIZED.
A second line appeared.
TESTIMONY REQUESTED.
Mu Cang looked toward Ye Wuchen.
"What should I say?"
"Something you remember about Shen Yulan."
The old scholar hesitated.
Then spoke.
"Shen Yulan was a scholar of ancient languages. She accompanied our expedition forty-three years ago."
The inscription flickered.
TESTIMONY ACCEPTED.
The stone door trembled.
Then slowly opened.
Beyond it lay a corridor illuminated by pale blue lamps.
Mu Cang stared into the darkness.
His fingers tightened around the letter hidden inside his robes.
"Yulan..."
Ye Wuchen stepped forward.
"Let's see what she left behind."
The Room of Unfinished Testimonies
The corridor ended in a large rectangular hall.
Unlike the previous chambers, this room appeared to have been used recently.
Several wooden tables stood beneath the blue lamps.
Scrolls lay scattered across them.
Inkstones had been left open.
A chair had fallen onto its side.
The arrangement resembled a study abandoned in the middle of an argument.
Mu Cang hurried toward the nearest table.
"These..."
He picked up a scroll.
His expression changed.
"These are our notes."
Han Zhen approached.
"Let me see."
The two scholars examined the writing.
Their expressions became increasingly complicated.
Lin Qingyue looked around.
"Why would your expedition's notes still be here?"
Mu Cang shook his head.
"I don't know."
Ye Wuchen examined the room.
The papers were old.
But they had been preserved by a gentle formation that prevented ordinary deterioration.
Several writing brushes remained beside the inkstones.
One had dried ink upon its tip.
Another appeared unused.
Near the far wall stood a large stone board.
Hundreds of lines had been carved across its surface.
Names.
Dates.
Questions.
Corrections.
Some inscriptions had been crossed out.
Others were surrounded by circles.
Ye Wuchen approached.
At the top of the board was a title.
TESTIMONY COMPARISON — EXPEDITION SEVEN
Beneath it were seven columns.
Each column contained a name.
Mu Cang.
Han Zhen.
Shen Yulan.
Lu Wen.
Chen Shuo.
And two others.
But the final two names were missing.
Not damaged.
Not scratched away.
The stone beneath them was perfectly smooth.
Lin Qingyue approached.
"Seven columns."
Mu Cang stared at the board.
"Those were our companions."
Han Zhen stepped closer.
He pointed toward the fifth column.
"Chen Shuo..."
His expression softened.
"I remember him now."
Mu Cang looked at him.
"Do you?"
"He was always complaining about the food."
The old scholar laughed.
"Yes!"
Han Zhen smiled faintly.
"And he insisted that no ancient civilization could have been particularly advanced if its ruins didn't contain a decent kitchen."
Mu Cang laughed again.
For a brief moment, the two men looked like ordinary scholars remembering an old journey.
Then Han Zhen's smile faded.
"I remember his jokes."
He looked toward the empty columns.
"But I still can't remember the others."
Ye Wuchen examined the board.
Something about its arrangement was unusual.
Each column contained testimony concerning the same events.
But the accounts contradicted one another.
Mu Cang's column stated that seven people had entered the ruins.
Han Zhen's recorded six.
Shen Yulan's recorded seven.
Lu Wen's recorded eight.
Chen Shuo's recorded seven.
The final two columns were blank.
Lin Qingyue frowned.
"They couldn't even agree on how many people were present."
Ye Wuchen nodded.
"Look at the dates."
She examined them.
Then stopped.
The entries had been made over several days.
Yet the discrepancies appeared from the beginning.
Even before the expedition members had separated.
Mu Cang looked confused.
"How could we disagree about something so simple?"
Ye Wuchen continued examining the board.
"Perhaps the disagreement wasn't simple."
He pointed toward a note beneath Shen Yulan's column.
Mu Cang leaned closer.
The handwriting was hers.
He read aloud.
"All seven of us remember arriving at the mountain."
He paused.
"But only six of us remember leaving the village."
Han Zhen frowned.
"That doesn't make sense."
Mu Cang continued.
"At noon, we counted seven people. At sunset, we counted six. The number of shadows remained seven."
Silence settled over the hall.
Lin Qingyue looked toward the floor.
Seven shadows.
Six people.
The implication was unsettling.
But Ye Wuchen did not immediately accept it as evidence of an invisible person.
The record could have been mistaken.
The lighting could have been unusual.
Or the expedition members might have been affected by the ruins before entering them.
He continued reading.
Near the bottom of the board, Shen Yulan had written a conclusion.
THE DISAGREEMENT IS NOT ABOUT THE NUMBER.
Beneath it:
WE DO NOT ALL REMEMBER THE SAME PEOPLE.
Ye Wuchen stopped.
That was more useful.
The expedition's confusion had not simply involved counting.
Different members had remembered different companions.
And those differences had changed over time.
Mu Cang slowly lowered his head.
"She understood."
Han Zhen looked at him.
"What?"
"Yulan understood what was happening before the rest of us."
Ye Wuchen examined the remaining notes.
"She understood part of it."
Mu Cang looked up.
"Part?"
"She identified the pattern. That doesn't mean she discovered its cause."
The old scholar nodded reluctantly.
"You're right."
Lin Qingyue approached another table.
"There's something here."
Upon it lay a large sheet covered in carefully drawn diagrams.
Seven circles surrounded a central point.
Each circle represented one expedition member.
Lines connected them.
Some lines were solid.
Others were broken.
Beside the diagram, Shen Yulan had written:
A PERSON MAY BE FORGOTTEN BY ONE WITNESS WHILE REMAINING KNOWN TO ANOTHER.
Beneath that:
THE ARCHIVE PRESERVES THE DIFFERENCE.
Lin Qingyue read the passage twice.
Then looked toward Ye Wuchen.
"So that's what the Hall of Witnesses was doing?"
"Possibly."
"It wasn't preserving people themselves."
"Not necessarily."
"It was preserving evidence that someone remembered them."
Ye Wuchen nodded.
"A reasonable interpretation."
Mu Cang looked toward the stone board.
The countless contradictions suddenly seemed less meaningless.
Shen Yulan had not merely been recording confusion.
She had been studying it.
And perhaps trying to preserve enough evidence to reconstruct the truth.
The old scholar slowly smiled.
"That sounds like her."
The Uninvited Guest
Above the ruins, beneath the cold night sky, a green-robed cultivator approached the mountainside.
His name was Qiu Ren.
He was a wandering cultivator who occasionally accepted commissions from the Blackstone Sword Sect.
His cultivation had reached the late Foundation Establishment Realm.
Among ordinary mortals, such strength would have been extraordinary.
Among the great sects of the Lower Realm, it was respectable but hardly exceptional.
Qiu Ren understood this well.
That was why he preferred investigating ruins to challenging stronger cultivators.
Ancient treasures did not care whether their discoverer possessed a famous master.
At least, that was what he liked to believe.
He stopped before a section of seemingly ordinary mountain rock.
A faint spiritual fluctuation lingered nearby.
"Interesting."
He crouched.
Several stones had been disturbed.
Someone had moved them recently.
Qiu Ren examined the arrangement.
Then smiled.
"A concealed entrance."
He produced a small bronze compass.
Its needle spun rapidly.
Then pointed toward the rock face.
His smile widened.
"Excellent."
He extended his spiritual sense.
The mountain appeared ordinary.
But the compass insisted that something lay beneath it.
Qiu Ren considered forcing the entrance open.
Then reconsidered.
Ancient ruins were rarely kind to impatient explorers.
He removed a jade slip from his sleeve.
A faint image appeared within it.
A map of the Northern Wastelands.
He marked the location.
Then sent a short transmission.
Possible entrance discovered. Further investigation underway.
The jade slip dimmed.
Qiu Ren returned it to his sleeve.
He approached the stone wall.
Then noticed something.
A small pebble rested beside the entrance.
It was an ordinary stone.
No spiritual energy.
No formation markings.
Nothing unusual.
Yet its position seemed strangely deliberate.
Qiu Ren frowned.
He nudged it aside with his foot.
The moment the pebble moved, the surrounding rocks trembled.
A faint line appeared across the mountain.
Qiu Ren's eyes widened.
"The entrance!"
He hurried forward.
But before he could touch the opening, the line vanished.
The mountain became solid again.
Qiu Ren stared.
"What?"
He looked down at the pebble.
Then carefully moved it back.
Nothing happened.
He tried another position.
Still nothing.
After several attempts, his expression darkened.
"Someone modified the formation."
He examined the rock.
Whoever had entered before him had apparently disturbed the ancient mechanism.
That made the entrance difficult to locate.
But not impossible.
Qiu Ren smiled faintly.
"Very well."
He sat upon a nearby stone.
"If someone entered, they'll eventually have to come out."
He had no intention of risking his life against an unknown formation.
Waiting was cheaper.
And considerably safer.
The Scholar's Final Calculation
Back inside the fourth chamber, Ye Wuchen continued examining Shen Yulan's research.
Most of her notes concerned testimony.
How memories changed.
How witnesses contradicted one another.
How ordinary objects could preserve evidence when recollection became unreliable.
But one section was different.
It contained a sequence of dates.
Mu Cang approached.
"What are those?"
Ye Wuchen examined the writing.
"Observations."
"Of what?"
"Changes in the expedition members' memories."
The dates began on the first day.
On that day, all seven recorded columns agreed on the names of five participants.
By the third day, only four names remained common to every surviving account.
By the fifth, three.
Mu Cang stared.
"She was measuring how quickly we forgot one another."
Ye Wuchen nodded.
Then he noticed something.
The changes were not uniform.
Some names disappeared from one person's memory but remained clear to another.
Occasionally, a forgotten name returned.
Sometimes a witness remembered someone they had previously denied knowing.
Lin Qingyue frowned.
"Then the process wasn't permanent?"
"Not always."
Mu Cang looked hopeful.
"Does that mean I might remember the others?"
"Possibly."
Han Zhen stepped closer.
"Could the missing names be restored?"
Ye Wuchen looked toward the board.
"I don't know."
He examined Shen Yulan's final calculation.
It was incomplete.
Several numbers had been crossed out.
A line of writing beneath them read:
MEMORY IS NOT THE ONLY VARIABLE.
Below that, another sentence had been added in darker ink.
THE NUMBER OF WITNESSES CHANGES THE RESULT.
Ye Wuchen considered the statement.
That was a concrete hypothesis.
Perhaps the preservation of a person's record depended on how many others could still identify them.
Perhaps the archive was measuring that relationship.
But there were unanswered questions.
Why had the expedition members' memories changed?
Why had some been preserved in separate chambers?
And what was the connection to the seventh door?
He looked toward the final page.
A small diagram had been drawn there.
Seven circles surrounded an eighth.
The central circle was empty.
Mu Cang stared at it.
"Eight again."
Han Zhen's expression became troubled.
"That's what I remembered."
Lin Qingyue examined the diagram.
"Could the central circle represent the witness?"
Ye Wuchen looked at her.
"Possibly."
"Then perhaps the seven expedition members weren't counting themselves."
Mu Cang frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Lin Qingyue pointed toward the circles.
"Seven participants. One witness observing them."
Han Zhen stared.
"But who was the witness?"
No one answered.
Ye Wuchen examined the diagram.
It was a reasonable theory.
But the evidence remained insufficient.
The eighth circle might represent a person.
Or a position.
Or a function within the archive.
He turned the page.
On the back, Shen Yulan had written a final note.
I HAVE DECIDED TO REMAIN UNTIL THE COMPARISON IS COMPLETE.
Mu Cang froze.
He read the sentence again.
Then again.
"Remain?"
His voice trembled.
"She stayed?"
Han Zhen looked toward him.
"Perhaps."
Mu Cang's eyes filled with hope.
"Then she might still be here."
Ye Wuchen examined the ink.
The note appeared to have been written after most of the other observations.
But it contained no date.
And no indication of whether Shen Yulan had succeeded.
He looked toward Mu Cang.
"She intended to remain."
The old scholar nodded.
"Yes."
"That doesn't tell us whether she did."
Mu Cang lowered his head.
Then slowly smiled.
"But it's more than we knew before."
Ye Wuchen nodded.
"Yes."
A Message from the Blackstone Sword Sect
Above the ruins, Qiu Ren remained seated before the concealed entrance.
He had spent nearly an hour examining the surrounding stones.
His efforts had produced little progress.
Then his transmission jade illuminated.
A voice emerged.
"Qiu Ren."
He straightened.
"Elder Luo."
"Report."
"I located a possible entrance, but the concealment formation has been disturbed."
"Can you enter?"
"Not without risking damage to the structure."
A pause.
"Have you detected anyone inside?"
"Not directly."
"Then remain where you are."
Qiu Ren frowned.
"Should I wait for reinforcements?"
"Yes."
"Who is coming?"
The voice answered:
"Luo Cheng."
Qiu Ren's expression changed.
Luo Cheng was a Golden Core cultivator.
A respected representative of the Blackstone Sword Sect.
If he was being sent personally, the sect considered the discovery important.
"Understood."
The transmission ended.
Qiu Ren looked toward the mountain.
His earlier excitement had begun turning into unease.
A concealed ruin.
A disturbed formation.
An unknown group already inside.
And now a Golden Core expert approaching.
Whatever lay beneath the mountain was clearly attracting attention.
He looked toward the entrance again.
Then muttered:
"I hope this treasure is worth the trouble."
The Sword Palace's Forgotten Agreement
In the Upper Realm, Ji Wuhen stood before the oldest surviving records of the Nine Heavens Sword Palace.
Gu Shixuan had discovered a fragment of the agreement mentioned in the founding histories.
It was preserved on a narrow jade tablet.
Most of the text had deteriorated.
But several passages remained readable.
Ji Wuhen examined them.
The agreement appeared to concern the preservation of certain records.
Not cultivation techniques.
Not territory.
Not political alliances.
Historical records.
The surviving text required the founders to maintain an archive independent of the palace's ordinary administrative system.
Gu Shixuan looked troubled.
"Ancestor, our sect possesses no record of such an independent archive."
Ji Wuhen examined the tablet.
"Could it have been destroyed?"
"Possibly."
"Could it have been absorbed into our current archives?"
"Also possible."
Ji Wuhen looked toward the final surviving passage.
It contained a short instruction.
THE WITNESS SHALL NOT BE RECORDED AMONG THE FOUNDERS.
He remained silent.
The tenth seat.
The unnamed participant.
The strange symbol.
Now the agreement confirmed that the witness had deliberately been excluded from the official list of founders.
Gu Shixuan spoke quietly.
"Ancestor, this was intentional."
Ji Wuhen nodded.
"Yes."
"Then our founding records were incomplete by design."
"Apparently."
Gu Shixuan looked toward the ancient tablet.
"Why would our ancestors conceal the witness?"
Ji Wuhen considered the question.
Then shook his head.
"We don't know."
He paused.
"But we now know they made a distinction between the founders and the witness."
Gu Shixuan nodded.
A small discovery.
Yet an important one.
The tenth figure had not been forgotten accidentally.
Their exclusion was part of the original agreement.
Ji Wuhen looked toward the distant mountains.
"Search for the independent archive."
Gu Shixuan bowed.
"Yes, Ancestor."
"And examine every record concerning the agreement."
"Understood."
Ji Wuhen turned back toward the jade tablet.
The words remained before him.
THE WITNESS SHALL NOT BE RECORDED AMONG THE FOUNDERS.
He wondered whether the witness had been a person.
Or whether the title represented something the palace no longer understood.
The Uninvited Guest Makes a Mistake
Back in the Northern Wastelands, Qiu Ren grew impatient.
The mountain remained silent.
No one emerged.
No spiritual fluctuations appeared.
Luo Cheng would not arrive immediately.
Even a Golden Core cultivator required time to cross the Northern Wastelands.
Qiu Ren considered his options.
Then glanced toward the ordinary pebble beside the concealed entrance.
He had moved it several times.
Each adjustment had produced a different response.
Perhaps the correct position was only slightly different.
He crouched.
Carefully, he moved the pebble again.
The surrounding stones trembled.
A faint line appeared across the mountain.
Qiu Ren smiled.
"Finally."
He moved the pebble another inch.
The line widened.
A narrow opening appeared.
Cold air emerged.
Qiu Ren's eyes brightened.
But then the surrounding rocks began vibrating.
A low hum filled the mountainside.
His smile vanished.
"That's not good."
The ancient concealment formation had begun drawing spiritual energy from the surrounding earth.
Qiu Ren hurried backward.
The opening widened further.
Then stopped.
A sharp crack echoed through the stone.
The formation's outer layer began collapsing.
Qiu Ren stared.
He had not opened the entrance properly.
He had damaged it.
And now the entire mountainside was responding.
He turned to flee.
But before he could move, a calm voice spoke behind him.
"You've made a rather poor adjustment."
Qiu Ren froze.
He slowly turned.
A black-robed young man stood several steps away.
His long black hair moved gently in the night wind.
His silver eyes reflected the moonlight.
There was no detectable cultivation aura around him.
Qiu Ren stared.
"Who are you?"
The young man glanced toward the trembling mountain.
"Someone who would prefer that you stop breaking things."
Qiu Ren's expression darkened.
"Did you come from inside?"
"Yes."
"How?"
Ye Wuchen looked at the entrance.
"Through the door."
Qiu Ren stared at him.
The opening was barely wide enough for a child.
And the surrounding formation was collapsing.
"Impossible."
Ye Wuchen did not argue.
He approached the disturbed stones.
Qiu Ren instinctively stepped aside.
The black-robed young man crouched.
He examined the pebble.
Then moved it back into place.
The humming stopped.
The cracks ceased spreading.
The mountain became silent.
Qiu Ren stared.
The entire formation had stabilized.
With one movement.
One ordinary pebble.
He looked at Ye Wuchen.
"How did you do that?"
Ye Wuchen stood.
"You moved the wrong stone."
Qiu Ren's mouth twitched.
That much was obvious.
But how had the young man known the correct position?
He extended his spiritual sense.
Nothing.
No cultivation aura.
No spiritual pressure.
No hidden fluctuation.
An ordinary mortal?
Impossible.
Yet he could detect nothing.
Qiu Ren's expression became cautious.
"Fellow Daoist, may I ask your name?"
"Ye Wuchen."
Qiu Ren cupped his hands.
"Fellow Daoist Ye, I am Qiu Ren, a wandering cultivator."
Ye Wuchen nodded.
"Why are you here?"
Qiu Ren hesitated.
Then smiled.
"I heard rumors of an ancient ruin."
"From whom?"
"Travelers."
"Which travelers?"
Qiu Ren's smile stiffened.
"Does it matter?"
Ye Wuchen looked at him.
"You're standing outside a concealed entrance with a transmission jade and a formation compass."
Qiu Ren froze.
Ye Wuchen continued:
"You've already reported the location to someone."
Silence.
The wandering cultivator's expression changed.
How had this young man noticed?
His transmission jade was concealed inside his sleeve.
The compass had been returned to his storage pouch.
Yet Ye Wuchen spoke as though he had watched everything.
Qiu Ren slowly took a breath.
"Fellow Daoist Ye, I mean no harm."
"Good."
Ye Wuchen glanced toward the mountain.
"Then leave."
Qiu Ren hesitated.
He had been instructed to remain.
But the young man before him was strange.
Too strange.
His instincts warned him against confrontation.
"Fellow Daoist Ye," he said carefully, "I have already contacted my associates."
"I know."
"They may arrive soon."
"I know."
Qiu Ren swallowed.
Ye Wuchen looked at him.
"Then you should tell them not to disturb the mountain."
The wandering cultivator stared.
After several moments, he bowed.
"I understand."
Ye Wuchen nodded.
Then turned away.
Qiu Ren watched him.
The black-robed young man took several steps toward the mountain.
And disappeared.
Not through the visible opening.
Not through a spatial tear.
He simply passed beyond the rock face.
Qiu Ren remained motionless.
The night wind moved through the trees.
For a long time, he could not speak.
Finally, he whispered:
"What kind of formation is this?"
He looked toward the ordinary pebble.
Then slowly stepped away from it.
He had no intention of touching that stone again.
The Return
Deep beneath the mountain, Ye Wuchen returned to the fourth chamber.
Lin Qingyue looked up.
"Fellow Daoist Ye?"
"Hm?"
"Where did you go?"
"Outside."
She blinked.
"Outside?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Someone was damaging the entrance."
Mu Cang looked alarmed.
"Someone found the ruins?"
"Apparently."
Han Zhen frowned.
"Are they coming inside?"
"Not immediately."
Lin Qingyue examined him.
"Did you fight?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"I asked him to leave."
She stared at him.
"And he agreed?"
"Eventually."
Lin Qingyue closed her eyes.
She was beginning to suspect that the most dangerous thing about Ye Wuchen was not his mysterious knowledge.
It was how casually he described events that should have been extraordinary.
Mu Cang approached.
"Young man, should we leave?"
Ye Wuchen considered the question.
"Not yet."
"But more people may come."
"Yes."
"Then..."
Mu Cang hesitated.
Ye Wuchen looked toward the stone board.
"We still have unfinished work here."
The old scholar followed his gaze.
Shen Yulan's notes.
The missing names.
The strange witness records.
Mu Cang slowly nodded.
"You're right."
Ye Wuchen turned toward Han Zhen.
"Do you remember anything else about the fourth chamber?"
The younger scholar thought carefully.
Then shook his head.
"No."
Ye Wuchen examined the tables.
Most contained incomplete research.
But one cabinet remained unopened.
It stood near the far wall.
Its surface bore the same symbol as the pendant.
A circle.
A vertical line.
And an additional stroke.
Ye Wuchen approached.
The cabinet possessed a small keyhole.
Mu Cang noticed.
"My pendant?"
"Perhaps."
He removed it.
The pendant fit perfectly.
A soft click echoed.
The cabinet opened.
Inside lay a single wooden box.
Upon its lid was written a name.
SHEN YULAN.
Mu Cang froze.
His breathing quickened.
Ye Wuchen stepped aside.
"This belongs to you to examine."
The old scholar approached.
His hands trembled as he lifted the lid.
Inside lay a folded piece of cloth.
Beneath it rested a small jade tablet.
And beside the tablet...
A letter.
Mu Cang stared.
Another letter.
But this one was different.
Its envelope bore a date.
Great Yan Calendar, Year 4,317.
The current year.
Mu Cang's face went pale.
Han Zhen leaned forward.
"That's impossible."
Lin Qingyue stared at the date.
Shen Yulan had disappeared forty-three years ago.
Yet the letter had been dated this year.
Mu Cang slowly reached for it.
His fingers touched the envelope.
Then stopped.
He looked toward Ye Wuchen.
"Young man..."
His voice trembled.
"What does this mean?"
Ye Wuchen examined the date.
For several moments, he said nothing.
Then he looked toward the ancient chamber.
The preserved papers.
The testimony board.
The empty columns.
And the letter written in the current year.
He had encountered enough contradictions to know that the date alone proved little.
The letter might have been prepared in advance.
It might have been written by someone else.
Or Shen Yulan might have survived far longer than Mu Cang believed.
He looked at the old scholar.
"Open it."
Mu Cang took a deep breath.
Then broke the seal.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
He unfolded it.
His eyes moved across the first line.
And suddenly, his entire body stiffened.
Lin Qingyue stepped closer.
"Old sir?"
Mu Cang did not answer.
His face had turned completely pale.
He read the line again.
Then slowly raised his head.
"Young man..."
His voice was barely audible.
"She knew we would come."
Ye Wuchen looked at him.
"What does it say?"
Mu Cang swallowed.
Then read aloud.
"Mu Cang, if you are reading this in the year 4,317, do not search for me in the past."
He stopped.
His hands trembled violently.
Then he continued.
"I am waiting for you in the present."
Silence filled the chamber.
For the first time in forty-three years, Mu Cang had something more than a memory.
He had a reason to believe that Shen Yulan might still be alive.
And somewhere within the ancient ruins, the mystery of the missing expedition had taken an entirely new direction.
End of Chapter 11