Sludge suction system

Day Seven: Remnants of Ice Crevice

When they discovered half a scroll of "The Sang Family's Jade Cultivation Record" in a glacial crevice, Tian Xue'er's scales were just beginning to appear around her eyes. On the yellowed pages, cinnabar circled the passage stating that it would take three years to cultivate a jade person, and that the blood jade must be absorbed into the marrow to be complete. The accompanying illustration depicted a seven-year-old girl with blood jade implanted behind her ear, and the silver hairpin she wore was similar to the one Sang Xuan wore in his hair.

“I had a strange illness three years ago,” she said, touching the old scar behind her ear, where scales were particularly dense around the scar. “Qian Wanguan said I had ‘cold disease’ and needed to be nourished with snow water from the Tianshan Mountains… It turns out he was giving me ‘warm jade’.”

As Tan Ge's dagger sliced ​​across the words "Warm Jade," it scraped off a layer of wax—beneath which lay a note written in spiritual liquid: "Blood Jade is not poisonous, but a seed of the Dragon Turtle's spiritual bone. It needs to be nourished with the blood of twin souls to sprout." He suddenly recalled the skeletons in Sang Xuan's dungeon; their palms had lost all flesh and blood, yet hidden in the crevices of their bones were crystal clusters similar to those on his wrist.

Day Fourteen - The Sound of Moonlit Tides

Every full moon, Tian Xue'er's scales would emit a faint hum. Tan Ge discovered that the frequency was synchronized with the heartbeat of the distant mine—thump, thump, thump, just like the bronze chime in the Buddhist hall of the Qian family. During the seventh tidal wave, the lotus birthmark on her palm suddenly opened, revealing the blood jade fragment hidden inside, with the words "Xiangya" engraved on it.

“It was part of Madam Yuan’s dowry,” Tian Xue’er clutched the broken jade, the scales reflecting human figures in the moonlight. “Qian Wanguan used her blood to nourish me, and then used my blood to warm the jade, in a continuous cycle… We are both his ‘jade mines’.”

Tan Ge's scales softened in the sound of the tide, peeling away from his skin to reveal newly formed pale blue patterns underneath—a totem of feathered serpents entwined with lotus flowers, matching the dark pattern on the hilt of his dagger. He suddenly recalled the murals in the old ancestral hall of the Sang family: the first jade figure holding a lotus in her left hand and a serpent in her right, her feet treading on shattered blood jade.

Day 25: Memories of Wind Erosion

A sudden blizzard buried the road ahead. When Tian Xue'er woke up behind the windbreak rock, she saw Tan Ge melting the snow with his scales. The crystal cluster on his wrist had shrunk to the size of a thumb, while her scales had spread to her collarbone.

"Don't touch it!" He brushed away her hand that was reaching for the puddle. "My blood... can accelerate your jade-like transformation."

Looking at the bloodshot in his eyes, she suddenly recalled the "Jade Couple Pairing Record" in Qian Wanguan's study: "Twin souls need one strong and one weak, one attacking and one defending, in order to trigger the resonance of their spiritual bones." Her fingertips touched the spirit deer patterned handkerchief hidden in her clothes. It was left behind by Sang Yu when she fled. The character "Lian" on the handkerchief revealed the outline of a map in the faint light of her scales—pointing to the bone-shedding pool deep in the mine.

Day 30: Reflection in the Mirror Pool

When the glacial meltwater formed a mirror-like surface, the two finally saw their reflections clearly: Tan Ge's left cheek was covered with translucent scales, and the iris of his right eye shimmered with the ethereal blue of a dragon tortoise; Tian Xue'er's right shoulder and neck were covered with lotus-shaped scales, and her birthmark had transformed into a single red dot in the center. Their reflections overlapped in the water, forming a complete dragon tortoise totem.

“It looks just like the reliefs on the Twin Platforms.” Tan Ge used his dagger to lift the surface of the water, and the blood pool in the Sang family’s Buddhist hall was reflected in the ripples. The scales of the skeletons at the bottom of the pool were arranged in the same pattern as them. “Sang Xuan is right. We are ‘vessels’, but what’s inside the vessels… may not be the blood jade, but the key to break the curse.”

Tian Xue'er's scales suddenly emitted a bright light, turning the meltwater indigo, and Sang Yu's projection appeared on the surface. The projection was much thinner than it had been half a month ago, with fragments of tortoise shell hanging in her palm, each fragment covered with blood streaks, much like the lifeline connecting them.

"Fifty days left," the projected voice echoed amidst the roar of the glacier, "but don't rush. The Dragon Turtle Spirit Bone awakens once every three hundred years, and every scale on yours... is a countdown to its awakening."

The moment Tian Xue'er's fingertips touched the blood jade fragments in the vein's fissure, the entire ice wall suddenly oozed crimson. Before Tan Ge could even draw his feathered serpent dagger, he saw the jade spots on the back of her neck spread like a spiderweb, with bluish-gray crystal clusters piercing her skin, gleaming with a cold fluorescence in the snowy light—it wasn't the gentle jadeification from before, but rather corrosive poison spots.

"Don't move!" His voice was torn apart by the wind and snow, and the "Xuan" tattoo on his wrist burned intensely. "This is Sang Xuan's 'Jade-Activating Array,' your blood is activating all the old bones in the mine!"

It was too late. Tian Xue'er's pupils quickly became clouded with white light, and jade spots crawled up her neck towards her heart, each crystal cluster edged with jagged black edges—a sign that her spiritual bones were being contaminated. She staggered and fell, the lotus birthmark on her palm shattering into pieces, revealing a writhing blood jade worm beneath, its body engraved with the character "Xuan" from Sang Xuan's silver hairpin.

Tan Ge used his dagger to pry open her sleeve, revealing a fragment of a secret document from the Sang family sewn inside: "The bloodline of the sixteenth-generation Jade Maiden is impure and needs to be purified with the blood marrow of the seventeenth generation." The edges of the page were stained with old bloodstains, the same color as the spiritual fluid seeping from Tian Xue'er's body. He suddenly remembered the "Jade Maiden Cultivation Log" in Qian Wanguan's study: "Tian Xue'er, mother abandoned child, father a mine slave, blood jade affinity 97%, can be used as a 'blood guide'."

“You are a ‘flawed product’ that Sang Xuan deliberately left behind,” his dagger sliced ​​through the jade mark on her wrist, the blood flowing out was purplish-black, mixed with fragments of jade, “your blood is not the key to break the curse, but the sacrificial fuse to activate the old bones of the dragon turtle.

The sound of gears turning came from deep within the mine. Tian Xue'er's jade spots resonated with the Taotie patterns on the stone wall, transforming the entire ice wall into a blood-red jade mirror, reflecting layers upon layers of illusions: Sang Yu falling into the altar while holding a tortoise shell, Qian Wanguan laughing wildly at the Twin Platform, and Sang Xuan's silver hairpin piercing the heart of the first generation of jade figures—all the scenes pointed to the same ending: Tian Xue'er's blood would awaken the old bones, while Sang Yu would become the vessel for the new bones.

Her jade-like hand pressed against the mirror, and Sang Xuan's projection appeared. The projection was dressed in the clothes of the first generation of Jade Maidens, and the cuffs revealed the tattoos of Tan Ge: "Tan Ge, do you think you are the game-changer? No, you and Tian Xue'er are just two pawns used to ensure the successful sacrifice of the seventeenth generation of Jade Maidens."

Tan Ge's dagger clattered to the ground. He saw on the twin platforms deep within the mirror, the real Sang Yu was bound by chains, with no scales behind her ears, only blood jade nails embedded deep in her skull—those were the true marks of the Jade Maiden. The "Sang Yu" before him was merely an illusion projected from the mineral vein's spiritual bone.

“Tian Xue’er’s jadeification is real,” the projected voice said, mingling with the bubbles of blood jade liquid, “but she is not a vessel for breaking the curse, but the ‘flesh and blood key’ of the old bones. When her scales cover her entire body, the old bones of the dragon turtle will be reborn through her body.”

Tian Xue'er's jade spots had spread to her heart, where the pattern of Sang Xuan's silver hairpin appeared. Tan Ge finally remembered the blood pool in the Buddhist hall of the Sang family mansion—the scales on the skeletons at the bottom of the pool were arranged the same as Tian Xue'er's. They were both marked with the character "Xuan" when they were sixteen years old, becoming sacrifices for the rebirth of old bones.

“Ager…” Her voice was muffled, her jade-like lips cracked and bleeding, “Do you remember the skeletons in the mass grave? The word ‘Jie’ on their palms… a lie carved with their last strength…”

The ice wall suddenly collapsed, and Qian Wanguan's gilded sword was pressed against Tan Ge's throat. His entire face had turned to jade, and the phantom of the old bones danced in his pupils: "Congratulations on seeing through the truth, but it's too late. Tian Xue'er's blood has activated the old bones, and Sang Yu's tortoise shell is absorbing her spiritual liquid—soon, everything will return to the trajectory of three hundred years ago."

As Tan Ge gazed at Tian Xue'er's gradually transparent body, he saw the real Sang Yu reflected in her eyes—the girl imprisoned on the Twin Platform, cutting her wrist with a fragment of tortoise shell, her blood dripping onto the altar inscribed with the character "解" (jie, meaning "relief"), shattering all illusions.

"You think you've got everything under control," the real Sang Yu's voice came from the altar, "but I've already replaced Tian Xue'er's Blood Jade Worm with Dragon Turtle Elixir. She's not a sacrifice, she's the gravedigger of the old bones."

Qian Wanguan's jade-like body suddenly shattered, and Tian Xue'er's scales transformed into thousands of luminous butterflies, each carrying a fragment of the character "解" (jie, meaning "solve"), flying towards the core of the old bones deep within the mine. Tan Ge caught her as she fell and discovered that those seemingly fatal jade spots had actually gathered into a real lotus flower on her heart. The petals were not covered with poison, but with the blood jade tears of Sang Yu's mother.

"So... the lotus is the key to breaking the curse..." Her fingertips traced the tattoo on his wrist, where it had somehow transformed into the real character for "unlock." "Sang Xuan used us as bait... to make the old bones believe they had victory in their grasp..."

The mournful cries of old bones echoed from the depths of the mine. Tang Ge carried Tian Xue'er and rushed towards the crevice. The blood jade mirror behind them shattered, revealing the true inscription on the stone wall: "Use lies to break lies, use blood to awaken blood, only then can there be rebirth."

Snow fell again on Tian Xue'er's face, her jade spots had completely faded, leaving only a faint lotus mark on her heart. Tan Ge looked towards the summit of Kunlun Mountain, where the clouds and mist dispersed, revealing the true Wusheng Temple—not an altar made of blood jade, but a stone statue carved from lotus stones.

"We... survived?" Her voice trembled, but she smiled with relief when she saw the word "Jie" on Tang Ge's wrist.

Did Tian Xue'er really survive? Tan Ge could only smile helplessly, and faced with the cold wind of Kunlun Mountain, he was once again lost and confused.