Sludge suction system

At the beginning of midnight, the bamboo leaves rustled in the west courtyard of the Sang residence. Tan Ge walked close to the wall, his boots carefully avoiding the third bluestone slab that would make a clattering sound. The study of Sang Xuan was lit by a dim lamp. He counted the watchmen's calls until they were far away, then he took out the key he had secretly made—the brass key gleamed coldly in the moonlight, its teeth marks exactly the same as the ones on the string of keys at Sang Xuan's waist.

As the hidden door opened, a strong smell of rust mixed with the fragrance of agarwood wafted out. Tan Ge took out a tinderbox, and the firelight illuminated the blue dragon relief on the stone wall. Two jade thumb rings were inlaid in the dragon's eyes, one engraved with "Xuan" and the other with "Lian". He took off the thumb ring engraved with "Xuan" and put it on. The relief suddenly rotated, revealing a deep purple secret passage, at the end of which dark red light flowed.

In the center of the secret chamber, a blood-jade Guanyin statue floated in a bronze cauldron, viscous liquid seeping from the cracks in its body. Tan Ge held his breath and approached, but his pupils contracted sharply when he saw the scene inside the cauldron—a woman covered in blood was curled up at the bottom of the cauldron, her wrists and ankles were chained, and her veins extended along the chains to the blood jade, forming a spiderweb-like pattern of blood.

"Don't come any closer..." The woman's voice sounded like it had been sanded. The moonlight illuminated her pale face; it was Xia Menglian, the wife whom Sang Xuan claimed had "died in childbirth." The jade bracelet on her wrist was broken into three pieces, revealing the two characters "Jiu Yu" engraved on the inside. There was a hole in her abdomen that matched the shape of the blood jade, from which blood was seeping out.

"This is... the host of the Blood Jade?" Tan Ge gripped the sword hilt tightly, nearly dropping the tinderbox. Xia Menglian shook her head with a bitter smile, strands of hair falling to conceal the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes: "I am the nourishment. Sang Xuan draws blood from my heart every day with a silver hairpin, mixing it with Sang Yu's birth date and time to nourish the jade... For twenty years, this jade has long since become a living thing."

Tan Ge's fingertips touched the blood jade, a chill creeping through his body. Just as he was about to remove it, Xia Menglian suddenly struggled violently, the chains rattling against the cauldron's walls: "You can't take it! It lives on my blood, and once it leaves me, it will find another host...like Sang Yu." Her pupils reflected the red light of the blood jade, and she suddenly grabbed Tan Ge's wrist. "Smell this fragrance, it's a mixture of agarwood and the stench of corpses. Sang Xuan is long dead; now he's just a soul being nourished by the blood jade!"

The watchman's drumbeats suddenly became urgent. Tan Ge heard Sang Xuan coughing from the secret passage and quickly retreated into the shadows. The old man walked in, leaning on his cane. Moonlight shone on his face, and Tan Ge was shocked to realize that his skin was like wax. Sang Xuan lifted the lid of the cauldron and plunged a silver hairpin into Xia Menglian's heart. The moment blood gushed out, the blood jade emitted a pleasant hum.

“Another blood transfusion is needed.” Sang Xuan’s voice was lifeless. “When Sang Yu turns twenty, we will use her blood to prolong your life… Do you think she would be happy if she knew that her blood could make her father live forever?” Xia Menglian closed her eyes, tears mixed with blood sliding down her cheeks. Suddenly, the broken jade bracelet on her wrist emitted a bright light, illuminating Sang Xuan’s ankle—where only white bone remained, wrapped with the same blood-red patterns as the blood jade.

Tan Ge clutched the blood jade tightly, his nails piercing his palms. Xia Menglian's words echoed in his ears. He gazed at the woman in agony within the cauldron, recalling Sang Yu's daily pale face. The blood jade burned in his palm. Suddenly, he smashed it to the ground. The moment the jade shattered, Sang Xuan let out a piercing scream, transforming into black mist and disappearing into the cauldron. Xia Menglian's chains snapped in response. She staggered towards Tan Ge, shoving half a jade pendant into his hands: "Take Sang Yu away, go to Kunlun Mountain to find the Abbot of Wusheng Temple... Only the snowmelt there can extinguish the blood jade's root."

A sound of collapse came from the ceiling of the secret chamber. Tan Ge helped Xia Menglian run out, the blood jade fragments behind them were reforming, and the water seeping from the cracks was no longer blood, but Sang Xuan's resentful face. When the morning light pierced through the clouds, he finally understood Xia Menglian's eyes—it wasn't the look a mother gives a stranger, but the look she gives another victim.

Moonlight streamed through a crack in the ceiling of the secret chamber, and Sang Xuan's figure materialized from the black mist, his cane tapping on the ground. His face still appeared to be that of a forty-year-old, but his pupils had turned a blood-red, jade-like red, and an unnatural smile tugged at the corner of his mouth: "My adopted son has some nerve, daring to touch my foundation."

Tan Ge shielded Xia Menglian as she retreated, a shard of jade in his hand slicing through his palm. Xia Menglian suddenly coughed violently, blood splattering onto the jade shards, which miraculously healed the cracks automatically. Taking advantage of the moment, Sang Xuan swept the jade away with his sleeve, the fragments reforming into a complete Guanyin image in his palm. The blood seeping from the cracks was no longer blood, but a viscous black mist.

“Menglian, it’s time to go home.” Sang Xuan stretched out his hand, his sleeve slipping down to reveal his skeletal wrist. “Look, the soul I nurtured with your blood has already materialized.” Xia Menglian trembled, but when she saw the jade ring on his ring finger, she suddenly sneered: “Twenty years have passed, and you’ve even worn the ring backwards… The real Sang Xuan died in the mine accident long ago.”

Sang Xuan's smile froze. Only then did Tan Ge notice that the character "Xuan" on the jade thumb ring was engraved backwards, mirroring the character on the plaque of the Sang family mansion. The blood jade suddenly emitted a shrill shriek, and Sang Xuan's body began to disintegrate. Countless miners' faces emerged from the black mist, all wearing Xia Menglian's broken jade bracelets.

"Leave her to me!" Sang Xuan's voice was mixed with the roars of countless vengeful spirits. Just as his cane was about to smash into Tan Ge, Xia Menglian suddenly lunged forward and grabbed his leg. Tan Ge heard the sound of bones breaking and saw the broken jade bracelet on Xia Menglian's wrist emit a bright light, drawing Sang Xuan's black mist into the blood jade.

“Take Yu’er away…” Her voice grew softer and softer, her body gradually becoming transparent. “The root of the Blood Jade is in the underground mine of the Sang Mansion… With your blood… you can completely destroy it…” Tan Ge tried to grab her, but only touched nothingness. Xia Menglian’s last wisp of soul breath burrowed into the wound in his palm, resonating with the fragments of the Blood Jade.

The sound of the night watchman's drum shattered the dawn, and the ground of the Sang residence began to collapse. Tan Ge, clutching a fragment of the Blood Jade, rushed out of the secret chamber, followed by Sang Xuan's furious roar: "You think destroying the Blood Jade will save them? Sang Yu's blood has already become one with mine... The fifteenth of next month will be her death day!"

In the courtyard, Sang Yu stood amidst the ruins, holding a candlestick. Blood seeped from the cinnabar birthmark between her brows, echoing the wound on Tan Ge's palm. Tan Ge gazed at the silver bell on her wrist and finally remembered Xia Menglian's words—those silver bells were forged from the bones of mine victims and could awaken souls suppressed by the blood jade.

"Take it." He placed the blood jade fragment into her palm, and the fragment automatically merged into her birthmark. "Go to Kunlun Mountain and find the Abbot of Wusheng Temple. Tell him... the host of the blood jade has come to repay his debt." When Sang Yu looked up, she saw the resolute look in his eyes, the same look Xia Menglian had given Sang Xuan in the secret room last night.

In the distance came the sound of Qian Wanguan's horse hooves. Tan Ge reached for the lotus-shaped sachet at his waist, which contained the talisman paper that Xia Menglian had left him last. The blood jade in Sang Yu's palm emitted a faint light, reflecting the entrance to the underground mine, where piles of birth dates and times closely related to her were stacked, each one inscribed with "I'm sorry" in Xia Menglian's blood.