Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 503, 502 Evening Smoke
Liu Weisen's expression turned even more grim.

They were the first to set off, but they were overtaken by those who came later. There was only one reason for this—he was the weakest in the group, which slowed them down.

The treasure-hunting team that came up the mountain also noticed them, but since there were only five of them, they didn't pay much attention and continued walking forward.

Liu Weisen quickly stuffed the whole pancake into his mouth and then urged everyone, "Let's keep going."

Butler Zhang, worried that Liu Weisen would get tired, pulled Zhang Kuisheng along, saying, "Go carry the master on your back."

Zhang Kuisheng, being honest, squatted down as instructed: "Master, let me carry you on my back."

Liu Weisen waved his hand in refusal: "Carrying me will only slow us down. I can walk."

Butler Zhang said with concern, "Master, you should rest more. When have you ever walked such a long way? It's all my fault. When you were little, I always carried you wherever you went. Now I'm too old to carry you anymore..."

Seeing that he was about to start rambling on and on, Shunzi got impatient, picked up Liu Weisen and put him on his back: "If you're going to leave, hurry up and stop talking nonsense."

The five of them set off again.

……

As the sun began to set, they finally arrived at the foot of Death Cliff.

Along the way, they encountered more and more treasure hunting teams. At this moment, standing at the foot of the mountain and looking up, the mountain was dark, and the scattered lights on the mountain road formed a line that stretched all the way to the top of the mountain—that was the treasure hunting teams going up the mountain.

Liu Weisen suddenly stopped and stood there, staring blankly at the road leading up the mountain.

Feng Xiuhu asked him, "What is it now?"

Liu Weisen said in a low voice, "The highest point on the mountain is the Cliff of Death and the Temple of Death. The ancestors of the Chen family went to the temple and down to the bottom of the cliff, but they all returned empty-handed."

This was a path he knew had no future, so Liu Weisen didn't know whether he should continue up the mountain.

But that wasn't what Feng Xiuhu was focusing on. He asked in confusion, "The Temple of Martyrs?"

Liu Weisen nodded: "The temple enshrines the officials of Nanyu who died for their country. Although the location is a bit remote, the incense has never stopped burning, and people come to worship almost every year."

"That's not what I asked."

Feng Xiuhu shook his head: "If the temple cannot tolerate the existence of the Yunhou Temple, then how has this Temple of Martyrdom survived to this day?"

The original Queen Shrine was also called Yunhou Temple, but it was only under pressure from the temple that it was forced to change its name to the current one—while the Temple of Martyrs still retains the suffix "temple".

Liu Weisen clearly hadn't considered this, and could only guess based on assumptions: "This temple is not that temple. The Temple of Martyrs enshrines officials who died for their country, not deities..."

Feng Xiuhu interrupted, "But Empress Ke Yun is not a deity, so how do you explain that?"

Liu Weisen couldn't explain it.

Shunzi interjected, "Since there's nowhere else to go, why don't we go up the mountain and take a look?"

That made sense, Liu Weisen nodded in agreement and gestured for everyone to go up the mountain.

At the highest point of Death Cliff is a flat open space, where only the Death Cliff Temple stands.

When Feng Xiuhu and his group arrived at the mountaintop, a large number of people had already gathered in the open space.

Liu Weisen looked up at the western sky: "The bell has rung."

Feng Xiuhu looked up—the clouds had gathered even more densely.

Previously, the afterglow of the setting sun could be seen at the foot of the mountain, but now it could only barely reflect a dim and murky rust red. As the clouds grew thicker and more gloomy, the remaining light source was squeezed out layer by layer, and in the end, only an extremely pale color remained.

They weren't the only ones to notice this; the entire treasure-hunting team on the mountaintop also discovered it.

Someone asked in a clamor, "And then? All three bells have been rung, where are the clues?" Liu Weisen murmured the poem in a daze, "Asking the evening mist, for heavenly secrets will enter the jade palace...Asking the evening mist, for heavenly secrets will enter the jade palace...Where exactly is the evening mist? And what are heavenly secrets?"

No one knew the answer to this question, and for a time all the treasure hunters on the mountaintop were completely lost.

Meanwhile, Feng Xiuhu and Shunzi, the two outsiders, had already strolled to the entrance of the Temple of Martyrs.

The temple is not big; it's just a single-story detached building.

Feng Xiuhu entered through the main gate. Inside the temple, there were statues in the center and on the left and right sides. Without asking, they were naturally the statues of the officials who jumped off the cliff.

Shunzi muttered, "It's really infuriating to compare people. When Empress Yun died, the emperor built a temple for her throughout Yu'ai Prefecture. So many officials here died for their country, but they can only squeeze into this small house."

"This brave man is unaware of something."

A voice suddenly came from behind.

When Feng Xiuhu and Shunzi turned around, they saw a small old man dressed as a farmer—he had been standing by the wall from the beginning, and Feng Xiuhu had thought that some treasure hunting team had come in to look for clues.

The old man bowed humbly: "I am the temple keeper here."

He chuckled dryly twice: "Actually, I'm the only one in charge of this place."

Shunzi asked, "Did I say something wrong just now?"

The temple keeper nodded slightly and explained, "The Yunhou Temple was built by order of the Southern Yu Emperor, so it was naturally grand in scale. The Temple of Martyrdom, on the other hand, was built spontaneously by later generations to commemorate him, so there is only one here."

Shunzi nodded silently: "I see."

Feng Xiuhu didn't take it to heart. He was casually looking around at the temple's furnishings—the already small temple was now crowded with treasure hunters searching for clues, making it seem even more cramped.

Feng Xiuhu casually replied, "That doesn't make sense either. The employees are jumping off the cliff to show their loyalty, and the leaders aren't doing anything about it. If it were me, I would just build a big monument here, and then turn it into a tourist attraction and charge admission fees later."

The temple keeper smiled and waved his hand: "Young man, you're joking again. Back then, this place was a strategic military location. From this natural barrier, one could see the north and south of Zhen. How could such an important place be used to build anything else?"

Feng Xiuhu hadn't taken it to heart, but suddenly he was taken aback and turned around sharply: "You mean—before the Temple of the Fallen Warriors, this wasn't an empty space, and something else was built here?"

The temple keeper nodded in agreement: "That's right, the Temple of the Martyrs was built on the site of the ruins, and many of the bricks and tiles were even salvaged from the site. They would be considered antiques and cultural relics today."

Feng Xiuhu isn't an archaeologist; that's not what he's interested in.

Under Shunzi's surprised gaze, Feng Xiuhu pulled the temple keeper to a secluded corner and asked in a low voice, "Then tell me, what kind of building was originally built here?"

The temple keeper, unsuspecting, replied with a smile, "You've come to the right person. Apart from my lineage of temple keepers, I doubt anyone else remembers what Death Cliff was originally for."

"A strategically important location, overlooking Beizhen—what else could it be?"

"It's a beacon tower, of course."

……

When Liu Weisen found Feng Xiuhu, he discovered that he and Shunzi were standing at the entrance of the Temple of Martyrs.

The two of them moved in unison, tilting their heads back and staring blankly at the thick clouds directly above.

"What are you looking at?"

Exhausted, Liu Weisen asked helplessly.

Feng Xiuhu spoke slowly.

"...treasure."

(End of this chapter)