Chapter 13 — An Adventure in the Mountain Cave (Part Two)

On the night of the full moon, the stone door opens wide. Only one with fate may enter.

Leave before dawn, without fail. Five years hence, the stone door will open again.

As a child Wei Zhao had learned seal script from Old Man Wei, so he made out the eight lines on the tablet with ease. Having read them through, he began to turn over their meaning in his mind.

"The night of the full moon" was easy enough to understand, for tonight was precisely a night of the full moon. "The stone door opens wide" must surely refer to this vermilion stone door. But what did "only one with fate" mean? Could he himself be that fated one, and that was why he had been able to come in?

The thought struck Wei Zhao as both wondrous and baffling. He did not seem special in any way. He was but an orphan taken in by Old Man Wei, drifting in a daze to the age of eight, and he had never felt anything in him different from other men. At least beside Old Man Wei, there was nothing in which he was the better.

Still, since he had already come in, he might as well count himself as that fated one.

As for "before dawn," that was clearer still. It meant before the sun rose and the sky grew light. And "without fail, leave" meant he must get out before daylight? Yes, taken literally, that had to be the meaning.

But what of that last part, "five years hence, the stone door will open again"? Could it mean that if he failed to leave this place before dawn, the stone door would close by itself, and would not open again until five years later?

At this thought Wei Zhao could not help shuddering. Good heavens, it was lucky he could read seal script. Otherwise, had he foolishly stayed here a whole night until the cave mouth shut, would he not have been finished? Forget five years, even five days without food or drink would have done him in.

Now that he knew this rule of the cave, so long as he got out before dawn there should be no trouble. With this thought, his heart settled a little.

Only then did Wei Zhao look closely at the scene within the great hall. The four walls were all inlaid with luminous pearls, and that was why the place was as bright as day.

Anyone with even a little knowledge could see that every pearl set in those four walls was beyond price. Take but one out to auction in the outside market, and it too would fetch a fortune.

Yet Wei Zhao had grown up in the mountains from childhood and cared little for gold, silver, and jewels. He thought them marvelous and fair to look upon, but he never imagined such things could sell for any great price once taken outside.

The crux was, here in the mountains, to whom would he sell them? The richest of all was Widow Wang at the head of the village, who kept a snack stall and a small shop, and could save little more than a thousand yuan in a year.

And rich or not, who would spend money on such impractical things? In Wei Zhao's eyes, money was better spent on two slabs of fat pork to eat, for how fragrant that would be. These luminous pearls were pleasing to the eye but of no use, and they could not be eaten.

So Wei Zhao did not let his gaze linger on the lavish adornments of the hall, but began to search about on all sides. From all those Jin Yong novels he usually read, he knew that when a man for no reason walked into some cave or valley or such a place, some strange adventure was sure to follow, such as finding a manual of peerless martial arts.

At this thought a thrill ran through Wei Zhao's heart. If he found a manual of peerless martial arts, he would no longer have to suffer the old man's oppression. Once he had mastered it, the old man would not dare beat him again.

The hall was vast, yet empty and open. Apart from the glittering splendor on all four sides, there were only two structures at its center. One was the stone tablet he had seen at first glance upon entering, and behind the tablet stood a high platform.

The platform much resembled the divine altars of ancient times used for sacrifice, and also like the place in a sect where important things were kept. In any case, it looked to be of a very distant age. At least in modern times no such building would appear.

Wei Zhao gave it little thought and bounded up the platform in a few strides. At the very top he saw a small wooden box of antique grace, and his heart surged at once. Could this be something like a case for hiding scriptures?

Carefully Wei Zhao lifted the box. The moment it was in his hands, he leapt straight down from the platform and hid himself away, for he had heard that such ancient buildings often concealed hidden traps. Having moved another's treasure, should some device be set off, he would be in deep trouble.

Yet Wei Zhao waited a long while and saw nothing strange happen, and only then breathed a secret sigh of relief. He was in no hurry to open the box. After all, the stone door of the cave would close before dawn, while the box could be opened at home. For now, he resolved to use his scant remaining time to search the cavern further.

Circling past the platform, Wei Zhao found to his amazement that behind it there was yet another stone door, and beside that door stood another small tablet, likewise written in seal script in eight lines of four words each, just like the tablet he had seen upon entering.

Greatly astonished, Wei Zhao hastened to read it with care:

"In five years, when divine skill is first mastered, strike the door with the palm, and you may enter."

"If the wish is unfulfilled and the skill unmastered, wait five years more, and come to try again."

After reading these eight lines, Wei Zhao was lost in fog. What did "in five years, when divine skill is first mastered" mean? Could this box in his hand truly hold some martial manual? And when he had mastered it, he need only strike the door with his hand, and the door would open?

With this thought, Wei Zhao gave the door a casual push, but the stone door did not stir in the least. Then the latter four lines were easy to understand. "If the wish is unfulfilled and the skill unmastered, wait five years more, and come to try again" meant that if he could not push the door open, his skill was not yet trained enough, and he must wait another five years, until the stone door opened again, to come in and try.

Gazing at this door that would not open, Wei Zhao felt an itch in his heart. By all reason, if this first hall already held a manual of divine skill, then the hall behind this stone door must surely hide something still more precious.

Yet Wei Zhao also knew that with his present power he could never open the second door. At best he was only a fated one, and that he had passed the first stone door into this hall was coincidence enough.

Since that was so, Wei Zhao forced nothing further, but holding to his breast the box he had taken from the platform, he walked toward the mouth of the cave. By now the sky was no longer so dark. The east had paled to a fish-belly white, the sign that the sun would rise and daylight would soon break...

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